The Monarch-Chapter 459: The empire

Author’s note: I had unexpected events these days, sorry about that.

From three rays to eight rays was an absurd change, it was light-years of difference. Eight rays would place you directly at the top of the universe, something that 99.9999% of ordinary people would never even see in their lifetime.

"I promise that anyone who passes our test will reach this power, but our test is something difficult that only the mentally strongest are capable of achieving. The strength you have at this moment doesn’t matter to me, only what your mind is capable of really makes a difference."

The mages in the sky began casting some spells to impress the crowd, something that worked perfectly. Even those in the fourth realm would feel slightly intimidated. Kayden was using his soul manipulation all the time.

It was a huge effort for him to do this in such a large crowd, so the boy opted to make small mental suggestions to everyone there using his sixth sense, complementing it with a truly worthy display to impress these people.

"The test consists of taking a single step forward over my aura." The test seemed very simple, especially for those few high-realm mages present at the scene. "I will give you a small taste of what it’s like. Those who don’t want to experience it, please raise your hands, and you will be protected."

Only a small portion raised their hands, as most believed they were mentally strong. Like it or not, they had lived hard lives, right? Working every day to support their homes and raise their children.

Kayden smiled at the sweet pride that mediocre minds automatically created. It was funny how most rational people always believed they could handle more than they actually could. It was practically an effect of exaggerated optimism.

"Ready?" Those who were not participating were protected by Kayden’s disciples, some of the only mages there who could do so.

As soon as Kayden released his aura slightly, many immediately fell and began having epileptic seizures. Their bodies recognized a predator and entered fight-or-flight mode, but unfortunately, it was too intense, and they passed out.

The more Kayden increased his killing intent and his aura, the more these mages fell to their knees and passed out. In just a few seconds, Kayden released only 10% of his aura and took down 60% of all the mages in that place.

After snapping his fingers and shocking the souls of everyone who was unconscious, Kayden stopped attacking them with his aura. The boy simply waited while the majority regained consciousness and looked at him in absolute fear.

Almost all of them had some degree of panic attack, and some even suffered heart attacks. Fortunately, Kayden was controlling the intensity of his attacks at all times. Not only that, but medical teams were stationed all around.

"As you’ve noticed, we don’t want those with weak minds. We only want the peak of the peak of our realm." Kayden’s words caused some to shrink back in shame. "The next test will be at full strength. If you didn’t feel perfectly fine in the last one, I strongly recommend you don’t try this one, as many may end up dying."

Kayden’s words sent a chill down the spine of many who thought they had done well. Some there had really pushed themselves and managed to withstand Kayden’s aura, but unfortunately, they hadn’t been 100% fine, and that would make all the difference now.

"Those who want to join the Knights of the End, step forward."

*************

Kayden managed to recruit only one mage capable of passing the test, but he hadn’t expected much. Only people who had gone through great trials or possessed monstrous talent were able to succeed.

Most of these people had only faced common difficulties in their lives. Moreover, most of the time, they were just things that passed after a few weeks. That would change after Kayden began putting all his plans into action.

The person Kayden recruited had strong talent. Kayden only had to make some modifications to his soul and begin training him. Slowly, his number of genius servants was growing.

His plans were delayed by Reyna. As much as the woman was completely in love with Kayden and fulfilled his every request, she had not yet reached the point of renouncing her entire life for him.

It would still take a few more years or decades for that to happen. Meanwhile, Kayden was just taking the opportunity to recruit whoever he could and whoever would be useful to his organization.

With the resources and support of the Father of the Gods, Kayden practically had a vast information network and was able to recruit people from distant planets with no connection to the one he was on.

Four decades later, Kayden finally managed to fully dominate Reyna. At that moment, the dynamics of his realm changed. Kayden began to implement a system where the powerful were free to do as they pleased.

This meant that the number of murders and assaults increased at an alarming rate. Kayden only prohibited slavery; everything else was allowed, as long as it was done to weaker beings.

Kayden numbered people, as had been done in his previous world, but the difference was that everyone received a number. It was a gigantic process, but after a few years, everything was aligned, and it didn’t take long for people to get used to it.

It happened faster than Kayden expected. He also started making each city independent from one another and encouraged a strong rivalry between them—so strong that wars were permitted and encouraged.

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Of course, changes of this magnitude couldn’t be made without opposition, but luckily, Kayden only needed to convince the majority with soul suggestions, and the rest quickly followed.

It was an impressive herd effect. Nobody wanted to be the one swimming against the current. It was much easier to just follow the crowd. Kayden understood this effect very well and simply used it on a large scale.

It would take a few generations for them to fully understand just how surreal the change would be by introducing more challenges to the lives of common people. Kayden understood that only hardships made people grow stronger.

All his disciples had at least eight or nine rays in one of the first four realms. The only one progressing extremely slowly was Atlas, but Kayden was extraordinarily polishing him.

All the others would achieve a high level of power in a short time. Probably in a thousand years, some of them would be in the seventh realm, perhaps even the eighth, but that was it.

Kayden was first creating cannon fodder, and only afterward would he start creating true monsters. Not that these first ones were weak, but they were just strong—they weren’t special in any way.

Atlas had 30% of his soul cleansed of past lives, and his strength grew at an incredibly alarming rate. But that wasn’t even the main thing; Atlas grew as a person. Kayden’s ideas entered his mind deeply.

Since the boy accepted becoming Kayden’s disciple, he only needed to be seen as alive by his father. That was all. It was no longer necessary for Yan to take care of his mind and desires, as he was a grown man and had accepted following Kayden’s path.

It was something Atlas did not regret. He was in the same realm while his siblings were already in the fifth, but his strength had soared to unprecedented heights. He was fully confident he would achieve nine rays in his next ascension test, which would elevate him to the same ray level as his three strongest brothers.

The pain caused by Kayden’s session was slowly disregarded in his mind. He no longer even cared about going through the process. Kayden had fully shaped his soul.

He was practically a perfect version of Kayden in his youth, from motivation to mentality. Kayden didn’t even have to do much work; Atlas was ridiculously focused on his goals.

The boy’s mind only needed a few touch-ups. He would probably stand out over time. His brothers were too used to just living life and training as their father wanted.

Only that girl with nonsensical talent—Kayden knew she was something beyond what she showed. What exactly, he wasn’t sure, but her soul was unique and had no past lives. That was very strange.

How could a soul naturally have no past lives? Kayden had never seen that before in his entire life, even after killing thousands of people and studying trillions. He still hadn’t seen anything like it.

In the decades that passed, Kayden also began a new study. He started learning about sleep and its role in the soul. It was something trivial that most people gave up on in the early realms, but he remembered his conversation with Hypnos.

The god had introduced himself as a god of dreams and also a god of souls. What exactly was the relationship between them? Kayden wasn’t entirely sure, but after a few years of study, he reached some conclusions.

The soul was cleansed of its defects every time an individual slept. Even those in the fourth realm could benefit from this cleansing, though to a ridiculously small degree. But after some calculations, Kayden arrived at a terrifying conclusion.