Selene stood before the class, enveloped in the stillness of ancients watching time pass.
Yet now, something shifted—her eyes burned with a new brilliance: deeper, more intense. As if behind her poised surface, a lighthouse pierced cosmic mists.
"The final stage of a mortal journey..." Her voice dominated without rising. "Is when you don't merely observe creation's paths—you become them."
She raised a hand. The tree she'd conjured from vital flows—magnificent, alive, sentient—began dissolving. Not violently, but beautifully. Organically. Ceremonially. Each golden particle drifting toward the ceiling carried a story, a memory, a fulfilled purpose.
"You'll learn that undoing is as vital as creating. Every cycle, every form, has its time to exist... and its time to return."
Particles danced upward. Some touched the ceiling like prayers returning to heaven. Others vanished mid-flight—missions complete.
"This is true power at its peak: not imposing your will upon the world, but knowing when to release."
Selene turned. Her steps moved to an ageless harmony. When she paused between desks, reverence and unease swelled in every chest. They were called to look within.
"Cultivation isn't conquest" she said, touching her heart. "It's revelation. You shape not just the world—but yourselves. Outer mastery begins here."
She approached a meditating disciple, resting a hand on her shoulder like touching a sacred leaf. The girl trembled—as if something forgotten within her awoke.
"You believe power is Aether. Technique. Transformation. But true power... is clarity. Balanced emotions. An unbroken spirit. Profound self-knowledge."
Words fell like cosmic seeds—not to be grasped at once, but to grow with time, practice, and pain.
"The ascension path spans a thousand lifetimes. What you plant now, you reap across eternity."
Later, Selene walked Eryndor's halls. Architecture hummed with her presence.
Sunlight streamed through crystal-adorned windows, painting living mosaics on white marble. Distant enchanted fountains blended with the whisper of dimensional layers. Reality itself breathed here.
Her steps held purpose, not haste. Each one an unspoken thought:
'How to teach infinity to finite minds?'
'How to share the incomprehensible without shattering a learning soul?'
'How to preserve innocence while revealing truth?'
Students and masters bowed—not with empty formality, but soul-deep recognition. Not just respect... belonging.
In the dining hall, Selene sat among disciples like settling among flowers. No ceremony—yet formality melted.
Those near her breathed easier.
She spoke little.
She listened.
In silence, she heard more than words: pauses heavy with fear, smiles masking doubt. Patient eyes caught unspoken questions. Subtle gestures welcomed dreams even dreamers didn't understand.
Here, with bread and tea and unanswered wonders, she taught more than in any lecture. No theory—only humanity.
Here—more than any battlefield—she truly cultivated disciples.
---
『Character Record』
Name: Selene Aetheris Vitalia
Title: Empress of Infinite Life
Age: 850 Trillion Years
Cultivation: Transcendent
Lineage: Primordial Life Immortal
Spiritual Root: Eternal Source of Creation
Soul: Divine Soul of Life's Origin
Daos: Creation and Life
Key Trait: Absolute Perception of Existence Cycles
Presence: Breathes life into spaces
Alignment: Cosmic Neutrality
---
Meanwhile...
Morning breeze kissed Eryndor's eastern treetops. Here, skies felt wider—clouds conspiring with unfolding wisdom.
In a sacred garden where mystic flowers whispered secrets to the wind, young disciples sat in silence. A semicircle facing Zarathor Silvanius.
His steps on enchanted grass were soundless, yet earth itself bent to his wisdom.
The old alchemist halted. Silver-stitched symbols glinted on his blue robes—weight of ages in their weave. His eyes held no time, only essence.
"Alchemy" his voice echoed like tamed thunder "isn't about metals or elixirs."
Wind stilled.
Birds silenced.
The garden listened.
"It's the art of transforming spirit."
The quiet that followed brimmed with unformed thoughts.
"All existence—stone, thought, emotion—flows. Alchemy realigns these streams. Inside ↔ outside."
He crouched, palm on soil. Grass glowed beneath his touch. Blue sparks leapt like blessings before vanishing.
"But before reshaping the world... reshape yourselves."
A slender boy raised a reverent hand.
"Master... is it true mental energy awakens at age ten?"
Zarathor's gaze answered—a look spanning eons.
"'Awakening' is merely noticing what's always been there. Refinement starts at birth. Every breath, every feeling—ingredients. The soul eternally cooks itself."
A bold disciple leaned forward.
"Where do we begin?"
Zarathor moved to the circle's heart, sitting as if grass welcomed him.
"With silence. Silence the world. Your mind. Your desires. Then—breathe intentionally. Meditate with living crystals, not dead stones. Feel them as allies."
He raised his hand. A translucent blue flame flickered above his palm—not fire, but memory given form.
"This flame doesn't burn. It reveals."
Young eyes locked on its dance. Not a power display... a path unveiled.
"Alchemy begins here" he touched his chest. "Where what you are meets what you could be."
Disciples sat motionless—eyes shut, hands on organic crystal shards. Sacred grass pulsed beneath them, syncing with their heartbeats.
Zarathor walked among them, murmuring like summer wind:
"Feel your impurities. Don't destroy them—refine them."
"See your fears. Don't reject them—transmute them into vision."
"Every doubt holds alchemy—if you listen."
Some wept silently. Others smiled. Each touched a hidden part of themselves.
Zarathor watched. Taught. As time teaches mountains to rise from stone.
At dusk, he sat alone. The blue flame still floated above his palm, now swirling with unreadable symbols—meant only for those who'd touched their own core.
He closed his eyes.
"The more I teach, the more I learn.
Every awakened disciple is a star lit in eternity's sky.
And I... am but time's alchemist."
---
『Character Record』
Name: Zarathor Silvanius
Title: Supreme Alchemist Arcanist
Age: 950 Trillion Years
Cultivation: Transcendent
Physique: Eternal Elixir Body
Divine Eyes: Absolute Perception
Soul: Divine Soul of Transmutation
Spiritual Root: Root of Creation
Daos: Alchemy, Mind, Creation
Key Trait: Absolute Perception of Cycles
Presence: Calms all around
Alignment: Cosmic Neutrality