Aaron knew that the Rise to the Heavens cultivation method was special, but something like this had never happened on Earth. Either his homeworld had suppressed the phenomenon somehow, or this world had unique conditions that forced the bud to sprout. Or both. He would need Divine Energy of his own to investigate it, but he needed to be at the Immortal level to control Divine Energy. That wouldn't happen for a long time yet.

Either way, a plant capable of balancing the elements so perfectly was a treasure. Under normal circumstances, its value would be somewhat limited because it had only a single particle of Divine Energy inside it, no matter how balanced it was. But in a world like this, where Divine Energy wasn't even accessible?

The sprout was priceless.

Aaron could work several miracles if he got his hands on it, the most useful of which would be cultivating three energies at the same time with no side-effects. They would all be able to grow at the same time and wouldn't be limited by his Qi cultivation. The least useful would be concocting a pill that extended one's lifespan. What was the point of that? Cultivators' lifespans extended as they grew stronger anyway.

He couldn't use that bud though. The two puppies were already linked to it, and the sprout was slowly using that particle of Divine Energy to change them. Interrupting the process would only cause the remaining energy to dissipate. If Aaron had arrived two or three days earlier, the bud would still be usable. In its current state, it wouldn't last for more than a few hours.

"Doggie!" shouted Lana, still approaching the puppies. "I always wanted a doggie!"

She reached out to touch the animals but was stopped by an invisible barrier surrounding them.

"Oh no!" she said and turned to Aaron. "Can we have a puppy?" She put her hands together in a prayer position. "Please? Pretty please?"

Aaron approached, still watching the puppies.

"This is a wolf, not a dog."

"Wolfie!" she said excitedly. "Please, Patriarch!" Then she laughed. "Patriarch... It's very silly to call you Patriarch, you know. You don't even have a family! Or do you? Maybe a wife waiting for you somewhere?"

She wasn't very subtle about what she really wanted to know.

"Patriarch can also mean the head of a clan or tribe. It is not usual for Patriarchs to have no family, which I don't, but it is possible," Aaron explained without paying much attention. Instead, he was watching the puppies as he approached.

"Uuuhhh, soooo serious," replied Lana while waving her hands mockingly. Then she started poking him in the belly. "I was joking! Joking! You're soo booooring." Suddenly, he stopped poking and felt Aaron's abdomen. "Wow. Are those muscles? I thought it was just some makeup skill! All guys use those." She was still feeling it, now with both hands. "Just... Wow."

Aaron's clothes had been destroyed by the electric discharge. Picking up clothes from his damaged ring was too dangerous, so he had just hidden his intimacy with a few vines a few hours after he had started carrying Lana and Alys away. However, he had prioritized getting away from danger, not getting fashionable. Then, he had just not cared about his semi-nakedness since Lana hadn't commented on it, though maybe her previous compliments had more meaning to them than he had given her credit for.

Now that she did comment on it though, to the point of touching him? She might be uninhibited at the moment, but she wasn't really drunk. There would be no convenient amnesia when she went back to normal, and the little he had seen about imperial culture painted them as prudes.

To protect her, he took a step back.

"Do you have a spatial artifact?" he asked. He doubted it, for he couldn't feel any, but a man could hope.

She shook her head negatively, not paying attention to him, coming over again to feel his muscles.

"Wait here, then," he ordered while placing Alys on the floor.

He ran into the forest before she could reply and found more vines quick enough. He took some and ran back to where Lana was before she could do something stupid like disappearing into the Forest. Fortunately, she was still there, her attention back on the puppies.

Aaron used the vines to cover Alys entirely, leaving only her head out. He had planned on stopping to cover her closer to the city — and safety — but he saw no point in delaying anymore. Then, he made a kind of kilt and a T-shirt for himself by intertwining the vines.

Lana watched him work as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. He ignored her and was soon dressed up. The vines would fall apart if he moved too fast, but they were better than nothing.

"I want it too!" Lana said decidedly and started taking her shirt off.

Aaron immediately focused on Qi in the throat.

"Lana!" he said firmly.

She looked at him, startled and confused, her hands still holding the shirt. It was already raised enough to show her bare waist.

"No," he said, pointing to her belly. "Do not take your clothes off."

Lana released the shirt, but her eyes watered.

"Do you think that I'm ugly?"

"No, Lana, I don't think so. But you would regret it later. Didn't you tell me you need to obey your parents? What would they say about you taking off your clothes in front of me?"

She opened her eyes wide and released her shirt.

"You think I'm pretty, then?"

"Yes."

She blushed.

"How pretty am I? Just a little?"

He sighed. It was his fault she was acting that way; he owed her at least some cheering until she recovered. It felt like he was always taking care of her these days.

"You and Tia are the most beautiful women I have seen in this world." She smiled, but he quickly raised his hand and continued, firmly, "However! I don't have the time for a relationship, and you don't want to disobey your parents, remember?"

"T- Tia too?!" she stammered. "B- But the Goddess of Light is against p- polygamy!"

"Me too, Lana," he replied tiredly. "Taking good care of a single woman is difficult enough even for an immortal."

"S- So which one of us...?"

"None. As I said, I don't have the time for a relationship."

Lana was still blushing. Aaron ignored her and observed the barrier around the puppies.

In fact, it was a prison. When the puppies had approached the sprout, it had reacted automatically and pushed the most compatible fragments of Laws into them together with the Divine Energy. However, when a mere fragment of Law left the bud, its energies became unbalanced, and it activated a defense mechanism.

Not to protect itself.

To protect the world.

The moment the internal disharmony reached a critical point, the bud would explode. Without the barrier, kilometers would be destroyed, and a void zone would appear in the area of ​​the explosion. Then, the void would consume the planet until nothing was left.

Divine energy was powerful and dangerous for an ordinary world.

A talented Immortal could neutralize the void zone before it grew too much. Unfortunately, Aaron had detected only one Immortal when he scanned the world before he crossed the portal. He didn't know whether that person would be skilled enough to handle this.

He would prevent that then.

Now, Aaron wasn't a hero, but it would be too cold-blooded of him not to stop a world calamity before it happened. At least not when it was so easy for him.

"I- I'm not a fanatic," Lana said suddenly. "The goddess is against polygamy, but she doesn't meddle. And I always wanted a sister. If the emperor can have a harem..."

"No," Aaron replied firmly while analyzing the barrier. "Harems only bring problems. I tried three times, none of them worked, not even when I divided myself to have one copy care for each woman exclusively."

"T- Three?!" she shouted, shocked. "H- How many women did you..."

"Countless. After a certain point in immortality, you try everything to pass the time. Sex distracted me for longer than I expected."

"S- So Tia and I won't be the first?"

He turned to her.

"Lana, you are not even making sense. You don't want me, remember? You can't have me. Your parents won't let you. You will not be my first, millionth, or last. You will be none. Get that idea out of your head."

"I do want it!" she shouted quickly, then blushed flushed slightly; despite her state, some confessions were still a bit much for her. "But I cannot."

It was then that Aaron saw an opportunity. If her feelings were so out of control, it was easy to bring up what she felt for Logan to fight what she felt for Aaron.

"Lana, what about Logan? We both know he won't stay away from me. He'll attack me again and I'll kill him. Are you going to romance the man who killed your brother?" He was direct, brief, and rude. Cold.

It shut her up for a long time. Aaron took the opportunity to look at the barrier again. A few minutes later, he touched it at nine points in quick succession.

The barrier burst like a soap bubble and the energies in the bud imploded harmlessly. The sprout withered quickly and was soon nothing more than a useless little piece of dry wood.

The puppies opened their eyes and started crying.

That was enough to distract Lana further. She quickly approached the male wolf cub, picked it up, and started rocking it.

"Shhh... I'm here... Shhh..."

Aaron looked at the panther cub, another female for his entourage. Not only did it feel cruel to leave her, but he was also interested in the changes she had gone through. Crouching, he took her by the scruff and went over to Alys, whom he grabbed under his arm.

"Come on," he ordered Lana. "We need to feed them. We can buy food in the Red City."

Lana followed him while talking to the wolf.

This time, they arrived in Red City just before sunset. The portcullis was already only half-open, about to be closed, but they got in with no major problems.

One guard looked at Alys being carried by Aaron but did nothing, probably because of the group's levels. Two Three Star people accompanying an unconscious Four Star Arcanist wasn't something a mere guard would want to get involved in unless ordered otherwise.

When they were inside though, a guard with black hair and eyes approached. He wore chainmail and held a paper stack.

"Beast Tamers?" he asked, his eyes going from the wolf in Lana's arm to the panther in Aaron's hand.

"Only if she wants to keep the wolf," replied Aaron while nodding at Lana. "I mean, unless it's a class name. In that case, no."

"I want to!" she replied excitedly.

The guard frowned. "What are the gentleman and gentlewomen's classes, if I may ask?"

Aaron liked that man. Respectful, but determined to do his duty, despite being a mere One Star Qi Manipulator in front of much more powerful people.

"I am a Learner..." He nodded to Lana again "... the lady is a Priestess of Light..." He then gestured to Alys. "...and I carry a Sorceress. Is there a problem?"

He swallowed. "Unfortunately, we cannot allow beasts without a contract to enter the city. Orders of the Red Baron." He was even shaking a little. His resolve in doing his job despite his fear of the consequences impressed Aaron.

"What is your name, my good man?"

"Private Lamus Tarlor." The guard seemed to want to be anywhere else instead of here, giving his name to a powerful person he was trying to prevent from entering the city.

"Private Tarlor, I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule. A Four Star Sorceress of the Arcane Circle certainly has some benefits, doesn't she?"

This time, Lamus swallowed twice. "The Arcane Circle announced its departure from the Kingdom of Illyria. Under orders from the Goddess of Light, the Circle's responsibilities and privileges now rest with the Herald of Light."

Aaron didn't enjoy hearing that, but he did his best to keep his voice neutral. "What responsibilities and privileges?"

"A mere Private like me cannot know such things, sir. All I know is that Circle people at the Three Star level or higher had free passage in the city."

Tomorrow, Aaron would go after a very detailed list of the responsibilities and privileges that had been assigned to him without his consent. But today, he had another priority. The sooner he cultivated a second energy, the better.

He smiled at the man. If he had political power, he would use it, no matter where it came from. "Well, in that case I believe we have no problems. I am the Herald of Light Aaron Ironblood. The Priestess of Light beside me can testify on my behalf."

Lana stopped looking at the wolf and smiled. "Attention, attention!" she said in an exaggerated ceremonial voice. "Attention, followers of the Light, for a Blessed One walks among us. Serve him and help him, respect him and fear him, for his will is one with the Light, and his judgment is the decree of the goddess herself. May the Goddess of Light bless us through her herald, Aaron Ironblood!"

To Aaron's surprise, a tiny amount of Holy Energy left Lana and rose to the skies. The next moment, a pillar of golden light fell on him. He could tell Lana hadn't done it on purpose, it was a kind of automated spell that activated when she said those words, validating or rejecting them.

In the near-darkness of the twilight, the pillar of light was striking and flashy.

The eyes of everyone on the street widened. Some kneeled and bowed their heads, others prostrated themselves on the floor. The words "Praise the Herald of Light" were constant.

"Private Tarlor, I believe I can enter now?"

"Y- Yes, Blessed One, sir!" he blurted, and to Aaron's surprise, he also prostrated at his feet. "Praise the Blessed of Light!"

Clearly, being a Blessed of Light had much more meaning and power than Aaron had been told. He nodded to the guard and headed into the city, to the tavern where the Fire Wolves had stayed previously.

When he entered the tavern, he saw two Sorcerers who wore the clothes of the Arcane Circle sitting by a corner, staring at the door.

As soon as they saw him, they stood up and came his way.