"Who would have thought it would take me 5 years to get to level 8..."
Looking at the other two, who still had a bit of time left to advance, Noah concentrated and refocused on consuming his share of his remaining resources.
Barely a month later, Magna advanced again followed by Lena a few days later.
Then the two went back to consuming the resources at hand.
Two years later, the three had completely finished all of their remaining resources and had only advanced slightly.
Noah saw that there was one year left until the scheduled date and began to think about his next plan to reach level 9.
After a while, he used the space gate.
Appearing in space, he saw the desolate view in front of him.
The solar system, which previously had nine orbiting planets, now had only two.
In the original place of the other planets, there now remained only huge dead moons formed from the unenergized debris of the planets.
On the edge, near the largest moon of all, a gigantic golden titan whose height could not be measured, sat cross-legged with its legs crossed and eyes closed.
Without opening his eyes, the golden giant communicated with Noah through his telepathic link.
"Is it time?"
"Yes, the energy tide will occur in less than a year."
The giant's eyes snapped open and he looked at the landscape of destruction left behind after consuming these planets.
The only planet left in this solar system was the smallest planet, which was the size of Earth and still had no intelligent life inhabiting it.
With a couple of steps, the giant arrived in front of the planet and with his two hands, grabbed an entire continent before ripping it off the planet.
Noah, sitting on the giant's head, pulled a strange orb out of his magic gourd before pressing a button and throwing the orb.
The orb expanded and became a huge metallic bowl some 50 million kilometers in diameter.
The giant held the continent with one hand and the bowl with the other hand before he brought his face close to the planet and began sucking.
The seawater was sucked from the planet and the giant spit it into the bowl until it was almost full before placing the continent in the bowl.
Just like that, a huge continent was created inside a bowl.
The giant made sure to remove any trace of bacterial or similar life from both the continent and the water, leaving only the plants.
Noah flew out of the giant's head and down to the bottom of the huge bowl before opening a compartment into which he placed a glowing sphere.
This was a planetary core, which would serve to power this huge structure.
When he was finished, a semicircular blue barrier covered the entire top of the bowl, turning it into a round sphere.
In the middle of the sky, a small artificial sun was formed that would serve to give light to this entire continent and a few clouds formed around it.
This bowl was actually a device for storing separate continents and the energy machinists used them to set up their own private research sites.
Noah flew straight through the protective barrier before flying to the center of the continent and using his willpower magnetic force field to cover a kilometer of ground, leveling it and sending any surrounding rocks, trees or plants flying before pulling out his magic gourd and bringing out two individuals he hadn't seen in a long time from inside.
They were the divine Yang tree and the yin-yang ginseng.
Noah let them plant themselves on the ground before pulling ten drops of golden blood out of his mouth and sending them to the divine Yang tree, communicating with it and informing it that this would be its new temporary home.
The golden giant also opened its mouth, from which a gigantic ball of purple liquid came out.
This was the blood essence of the golden giant, the result of the fusion of the Yang blood of the demon god and the Yin blood of the hellfrost peacock.
The ball of blood shrank into a small droplet.
Despite its appearance, that drop alone weighed tons.
The drop penetrated the barrier and headed for the head of the yin-yang ginseng.
Noah looked at the little ginseng and smiled, intrigued to know what this little guy would become if he kept feeding it with resources from different worlds.
Now, the two entered a deep sleep from which they would not awaken until they could evolve.
Leaving them aside, Noah went to the edge of the continent, where he began to reshape the land and plant seeds of the plants he obtained from the Tong Xuan realm.
When he was done, he went to the highest mountain on the continent before using earth magic to remodel the entire mountain peak, turning it into a huge stone palace before he began to place his things in one of the rooms that would be his personal laboratory.
He first placed Nexus in the center, then the biochemical pool and then proceeded with the other machines.
A few days later, he finished tidying everything up and returned with the golden giant before putting the entire floating continent into his magic gourd.
This way, he would no longer need to take it out and could enter inside it with a single thought.
The golden giant continuously shrank until it reached 10 meters in height before entering the magic gourd.
For the next few months, Noah simply stayed in his new lab while researching various things to waste time.
After six months, he took out the interdimensional gate before opening a portal to mother federation planet.
He then flew to the farthest planet from the mother federation planet.
Sitting cross-legged on a mountain on this desolate planet, he contemplated the barren view for a moment before closing his eyes and sitting down to meditate.
On the other hand.
Garen, who had reached level 7, thanks to the help of an inheritance he obtained from his sect could summon an ice armor that could raise his power to level 8.
He headed to the mother federation planet and met his previous master, with whom he ended up arguing and then headed towards the polar region.
On the way, he met one of his former subordinates whom he had given the task of protecting his parents a long time ago.
Because she had the distorted seed inside her, her former subordinate felt an instinctive dread towards him and as soon as she saw him, her survival and submissive instincts kicked in and she began to apologize and beg for mercy desperately.
Garen did not understand what she was referring to and it was not until he forced her to calm down that he was able to question her.
She learned that, during the evacuation of the city of Blackboard caused by the war, her parents were killed by a storm that wiped out the warship they were on.
Garen suddenly froze, not knowing what to think.
Over the years, he had personally spoken to his parents by video call more than once and now someone was telling him that they had been dead for years.
He couldn't believe it or understand it.
After more research, Garen arrived in front of a cemetery, looking at the three graves in front of him.
Using his willpower, he explored the ground beneath the tombstones, where the skeletons of a middle-aged couple and a young woman were buried.
Manipulating his willpower, Garen made three strands of hair come out of the ground.
Grabbing them with one hand, he pulled out a lock of his own hair before passing them to the lab personnel at his side.
Ten minutes later, the results came out.
"My lord. According to the results of the genetic match grade, the three corpses that were buried here really belonged to your deceased relatives. There is no doubt about it."
"Are you sure?"
It seemed as if the air had suddenly become much colder.
The laboratory staff felt a slight indescribable chill in their hearts, but since they could not decipher it clearly, they merely nodded their heads firmly.
"I am quite sure. Any laboratory could provide you with these results without any problems. There is no uncertainty."
The cold winds grew colder.
Garen's expression grew colder. Although he was not emotionally attached to the biological parents of this body, he had previously promised Nonosiva that he would take care of them. Now, however, he could not do so.
He waved his hand. "You can all leave first."
With a cold expression, Garen took the communication device in his hand and dialed a number.
"Is it Nono? Why is your side completely dark? I can't see anything," Celine's voice echoed over the video.
"My house has suddenly been sealed off and the signal here isn't very good." replied Garen.
"How have you been lately? Are you still okay?"
"Fine. My strength has increased now. However, I still feel like it's not so easy in certain places.
Do you still have any of the minerals you gave me earlier? The dark red metal ores." Celine had always been this direct with Garen.
"Of course I do. Just send me a message and tell me how much you need." laughed Garen.
On the surface, it sounded like he was speaking softly. However, a chilling coldness seeped through the depths of his gaze.
"That's right, how are my mother and the rest? Are they still well? I haven't seen them again in so many years and come to think of it, I haven't been filial at all. I'm planning to go back and visit them. Send me their full address."
An indifferent look instantly appeared on Celine's face.
"They moved house recently and may not have a confirmed address at the moment.
If you're coming here, you'd better inform me first. The Central Star Region is not the best place to pass through.
I can get you a pass through my master's connections. However, since you are now an Energy Machinist, this should be easy.
Can you get out of your sealed Stargate now?"
"I can get out because I have a way." replied Garen as he smiled.
"That's right, your mother wanted to talk to you. You should talk to her yourself. I'll transfer you and connect you to the call."
A mysterious smile appeared on Celine's face suddenly before the screen went off. She quickly switched to another location with a small garden in the background.
The warm face of her mother, Amy, appeared in the center of the screen.
"Is that Nono?"
"Yes, it's me, Mom. My little sister and dad are still okay? I plan to come home and visit them after a while." replied Garen's voice in a softer tone.
"That's not necessary. You are the backbone of our home and your career is important. We've been living well, so you don't have to worry about us.
However, we haven't heard from your younger brother all this time. If you hear from him soon, remember to let us know right away. Just knowing that he is still alive is enough."
His mother spoke softly and occasionally wiped tears from her eyes.
Garen chatted with his mother about some domestic matters as he listened to her constant praise for Celine.
As he listened to his mother inquire about his well-being through the video, Garen's consciousness focused on the severely rotting corpse of his mother beneath his feet.
An indescribable shudder suddenly arose from deep within Garen's heart.
A person who died years ago was still chatting and smiling at him through the screen?
In the end, who was real...?
To repay Celine for her feelings and for taking care of her family, Garen was constantly sending her the available resources he had in his possession.
These items had traveled back and forth and he wasn't sure how many things he had sent.
Every time he saw the video calls from his family members assuring him of their safety, he felt he had treated Nonosiva correctly. However, he had never delved deeper to get other likely answers.
"It's okay, I still have business to attend to here. We'll talk again soon," after conversing with his 'mother' for a while, Garen could not suppress the murderous intent in his heart and disconnected the phone call quickly.
"In the end, I never recognized them as my family from the bottom of my heart. That's how this ending came about," Garen knew the source of this in his heart.
Only then did he remember that Celine had almost completely given up her femininity in pursuit of power. She had created a foundation that even he could not see clearly.
Despite her deep feelings over the years, she had merely helped herself without concern for anything else?
No longer suppressing the murderous intent in his heart, Garen turned around before his silhouette disappeared into thin air instantly. Immediately, everyone could feel a cold wind rising into the sky before it flew away and flew off into the distance.