Emperor of the Source

Within the alchemy department of the Azure Garden's inner-zone base, Elder Lara and Maelis sat within a private chamber, the atmosphere around them quiet yet heavy with unspoken thoughts.

Maelis broke the silence first, her voice carrying a subdued weight. "Some of the disciples are reacting just like we once did."

"Even though we had always speculated about the capabilities of the great sects and held a general understanding of the powers that existed beyond our reach, when we finally witnessed those powers directly, it was difficult to accept them."

"Now, many of the core disciples who grew up with a deep passion for alchemy and plant cultivation are struggling in the same way."

Lara lifted her gaze from the holographic interface before her and responded calmly, her tone steady with quiet assurance. "They will adapt, Maelis. Just like we did."

Unlike many of the younger disciples, neither Lara nor Maelis felt unsettled by the emergence of healing artifacts. Their dedication to alchemy and plant cultivation remained unwavering, but they were not blinded by it. Their long journey through the universe had exposed them to countless systems of power, including divine concepts that could heal and artifacts designed for the same purpose.

Lara leaned back slightly as she continued, "Just as Master guided us, it is now our responsibility to guide them."

"Our disciples are not ignorant. They understand that such things exist. What they are facing now is not a lack of knowledge, but the difficulty of reconciling belief with reality. We simply need to help them navigate that transition."

She understood clearly that healing artifacts themselves were not the root of the issue. Many disciples had grown up believing that plants were the sole source of miraculous effects, placing absolute faith in their cultivation. To them, plants were not only the foundation of healing but the answer to nearly every challenge they could imagine.

The sect's teachings had reinforced this for generations. Every lesson, every demonstration, every success story revolved around the careful nurturing of natural life.

Now, the sudden introduction of healing artifacts had begun to shake that belief, forcing them to question whether their lifelong dedication held the same value when such effects could be replicated through runes and inscriptions.

Maelis exhaled softly, her shoulders lowering, "The recent auction played a larger part in this than the healing artifacts."

"Many disciples had never encountered such a willforce recovery artifact before and had always believed that the Crimson Will Lotus was the only viable method for recovering willforce. Witnessing a tool capable of achieving the same effect, and perhaps even more efficiently, had shattered that assumption."

Her voice carried a note of resignation.

"Now, with healing artifacts emerging within our own sect, these accumulated revelations are pushing them to reevaluate everything they once believed."

Lara nodded. She had watched some of those disciples grow from outer sect members to core disciples, had witnessed their pride when they successfully refined their first high-grade pill, their determination when they failed.

"I still have faith in them." Maelis's words drew Lara's attention back.

"They are talented, and I do not believe they will falter because of this. They will adapt, and they will grow stronger through it."

Lara allowed a faint smile to appear and rose from her seat. "Yes. And if you think about it carefully, the emergence of healing artifacts was something inevitable. The moment Elder Adrian introduced us to Verdant Genesis and shared the knowledge of arcane concepts, I knew that something like this would eventually happen."

She walked to the window, gazing out at the garden below where disciples moved between rows of plants, tending to their growth.

"Once disciples within the inscription department began to comprehend the arcane concept of life, it was only a matter of time before they could create artifacts like these. Even the possibility of directly using healing spells was not far beyond reach."

Her fingers traced the window frame absently.

"However, I never imagined that it would happen this quickly. I had expected it to take centuries, giving the disciples enough time to adapt gradually."

Maelis stood as well, joining Lara at the window. Below, a young disciple carefully harvested petals from a Moonlight Blossom, his movements reverent. Another disciple approached him, offering something, likely one of the new healing rings. The young man hesitated, staring at the artifact before finally accepting it with a stiff nod.

Maelis said, "It seems even the mortals Elder Adrian brought with him are far from ordinary."

Her observation carried no envy, only acknowledgment of an undeniable truth.

Lara nodded in agreement. She turned from the window, decision crystallizing in her eyes. "Come. It is time we spoke with the leaders of the inscription department."

…

Within the inscription department, in a private chamber filled with softly glowing formations and scattered materials, Selena and Lysandra were engaged in their work, carefully converting pure mana crystals into arcane life conceptual essence crystals.

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Selena let out a quiet sigh, her tone laced with mild frustration. "This feels inefficient. If we could use origin ink, we could automate most of this process. In fact, we would not even need to create artifacts at all. We could simply use the tattoo method."

She set the partially converted crystal down, rolling her shoulders to ease the tension that had built during the extended focus.

Lysandra chuckled lightly, her expression amused as she continued her work. "I agree that origin ink would simplify things, but don't you think you might be overestimating the value of tattoos? Is it because you were the one who created them? It feels like you are looking at everything through that lens."

Lysandra already knew that Selena had been the one to pioneer the tattoo system, and it had played a crucial role in their survival and growth in the Milky Way Galaxy. She'd heard the stories, how Selena's breakthrough had transformed their entire approach to warfare.

Selena shook her head quickly, her hands gesturing as she spoke. "That is not the reason. Think about it logically. If we inscribe these as tattoos, we eliminate the need for base materials entirely. We would not have to worry about degradation periods, and we could avoid this repetitive process of converting pure mana crystals into essence crystals."

Her voice carried conviction, but beneath it lay something else, a need to prove the method she'd created still held value in this wider universe.

Lysandra finished her current conversion, setting the completed crystal aside before turning to face Selena fully.

"Both approaches have their advantages, Selena. If we use tattoos, the disciples would need to at least comprehend the basic planetary-level knowledge of the arcane life concept. Without that understanding, the concepts within the tattoos would reject them."

She gestured toward the ring bases scattered across the workbench.

"With these ring artifacts, however, the user does not need any comprehension at all. Additionally, tattoos would still require the user's own mana to operate, whereas artifacts draw from embedded essence crystals."

Selena leaned forward, her tone quickening as she countered immediately. "That is true, but it is more beneficial in the long term. Once they comprehend the concept, we no longer need to worry about anything like materials. And regarding essence crystals, we could integrate storage runes into the tattoos themselves to achieve the same effect."

The words came rapidly, as though she'd been rehearsing this argument in her mind for some time.

Lysandra raised an eyebrow slightly, her tone shifting into a teasing challenge. A faint smile played at the corner of her mouth, "Are you certain about that? Do you really think a person's body can handle storage runes so easily? Have you forgotten what happened when we tried to replicate storage rings by etching storage runes onto warriors? It failed completely."

The reminder struck home. Selena's expression flickered, a brief flash of remembered frustration from those early experiments.

She paused briefly before replying, her voice quieter but still insistent. "That was when we were still mortals. Now that we've reached the Rule Stage, our bodies are far stronger. We should be able to handle such inscriptions."

Lysandra leaned back slightly against the workbench, crossing her arms as she considered the assertion. "Then what about divine concepts? With artifacts, we can inscribe divine concepts, and the users don't need to understand them. But if we embed a divine spell into a tattoo, what happens then?"

She let the question hang for a moment before continuing.

"Even arcane concepts reject users who lack sufficient understanding. Wouldn't divine concepts behave the same way? In that case, the user would need to comprehend the divine concept themselves before they could use it. That is basically at least forming the rule core for that divine concept. And if they already have the rule core for the divine concept, then what is the point of the tattoo? They could simply cast the spell on their own."

Selena fell silent. The logic was undeniable, each point building upon the last until the conclusion became inescapable.

Lysandra's expression softened, losing its teasing edge. She uncrossed her arms and stepped closer, her voice gentler now. "Artifacts are the better approach in this context, Selena. I am sure you don't need me to explain this logic; you should have already thought of this, isn't it? Its just you are still struggling to accept it now. I understand what tattoos mean to you, and how important the tattoo method was for us back in the Milky Way, but the scale of power here is different."

She gestured broadly, encompassing not just the chamber but the entire universe beyond it.

"Even if tattoos lose some of their relevance in the long term, the value of Origin Ink itself remains undeniable. In fact, imagine what we could achieve if we combined Origin Ink with artifact creation. An artifact powered purely by mana, either from the user or from embedded reserves, would be revolutionary."

Selena remained quiet for a moment, her gaze fixed on the workbench before her. The method she had created, something that had once been revolutionary, now felt limited in the face of the wider universe. It stung, but she could not deny the truth.

After a long breath, she finally nodded, her shoulders dropping slightly. "Yeah, at least we still have origin ink. Though at this point, even using it to assist in converting mana crystals feels out of reach. The idea of creating artifacts with it still feels very distant."

The admission cost her something, but speaking it aloud brought a strange relief.

Lysandra smiled gently, reaching out to place a hand on Selena's shoulder. "Even if we cannot use it right now, it might become something greater in the future. We will get there eventually—"

Her words were interrupted as a notification appeared on her UNI-OS, the interface materialising as a translucent display before her eyes. The message icon pulsed with soft urgency.

Lysandra's attention shifted, her expression changing from reassurance to mild curiosity as she read the contents. It was a message from Lyra, whom she had recently accepted as her personal disciple at Adrian's suggestion.

"Master, Elder Lara and Maelis have arrived. They are requesting to meet you."

A small smile appeared on both Lysandra's and Selena's faces, transforming the atmosphere in the chamber entirely. The melancholy that had settled over their conversation evaporated, replaced by something sharper, an anticipation mixed with a hint of competitive satisfaction.

They had met Lara and Maelis before, but that had been under entirely different circumstances, before their ascension, before their rise within the inscription department. Back then, they'd been newcomers, outsiders to the sect's established hierarchy, mortals elevated by Adrian's vision but still finding their footing in this universe.

Now, they stood as its leading figures, preparing to meet the representatives of the alchemy department as equals.

Lysandra glanced at Selena, that small smile still playing at her lips. "This," she said, her voice carrying a faint glint of anticipation, "should be an interesting meeting."

Selena's expression matched hers; the earlier frustration replaced entirely, "Let's not keep them waiting."

This meeting would set the tone for how two departments, two philosophies, two approaches to power would coexist within the Crimson Vital Sect.

And Lysandra intended to ensure that inscribers would never again be dismissed as secondary to alchemists.