"He can speak..."
Standing roughly fifty meters away from the World Tree, Ethan muttered the words under his breath. His voice was low, but the Angel beside him caught every syllable clearly.
"Yes," Ulric smiled calmly, exhaling a thin trail of smoke. "He’s a special one."
The two of them stood in silence, watching Adam interact with the World Tree.
There was something strangely tranquil about the entire scene. Adam had only just been brought into this world, yet he displayed none of the confusion or disorientation Ethan had come to expect from new summons.
He wasn’t looking around in fear, instead, he stood beneath the colossal boughs and spoke with the World tree, a god as though the two had shared a familiar bond for millennia.
That alone broke the established rules.
Ethan’s other summons had always materialized directly from the Spirit World, bearing distinct personalities, fragmented thoughts, and sovereign wills, but always tethered by a clear operational link to the system of the spirit world.
Adam was fundamentally different: he hadn’t crossed over from the Spirit World; he had emerged directly from the heartwood of the World Tree itself. And even more bizarrely, the World Tree did not know of his existence .
It was like birthing a child not knowing you were pregnant in the first place.
After several minutes of silent communion, their exchange ended. Adam turned away from the massive trunk, and with a soft shimmer of light, simple woven clothes manifested over his bare frame.
He strolled casually toward a patch of emerald grass and lay flat on his back. A swarm of pale, luminescent butterflies fluttered toward him, some resting lightly on his shoulders while others circled his tranquil face.
Adam simply watched them with quiet curiosity.
Ethan stared, the absurdity of the contrast striking him immediately. This was the First Man, a legendary existence destined to defy gods, and right now, he was idling in a sunlit meadow playing with butterflies.
"Interesting." Ethan’s eyes narrowed as he pulled himself back to the most critical priority: Adam’s status profile.
He willed the interface open, scanning the translucent runes as they populated his vision.
[Name of Creation: if Adam knows the name of a beast, he can exert absolute authority over it. Against beasts stronger than himself, particularly those at the Demi-god level, the authority becomes significantly more difficult to establish. For such beings, Adam must know their True Name rather than merely the name by which they are commonly known.]
Ethan’s breath hitched slightly. *’Absolute authority?’*
This wasn’t basic beast domination, psychic intimidation, or forcing a creature to submit through physical pain. It was absolute conceptual command. If Adam learned a beast’s designation, he could seize control regardless of its racial talents—and if he somehow uncovered the True Name of a Demi-god sovereign, the strategic implications were terrifying.
He continued scrolling down the interface.
[Perfect Body: Crafted by the hands of a god, Adam’s body possesses an extraordinary ability to withstand attacks of varying degrees. The more energy accumulated within his body, the greater his ability to withstand attacks from stronger beings.]
Ethan’s eyebrows raised. This was completely distinct from Gilgamesh’s *Undying Giant*—where Gilgamesh relied on rapid cellular regeneration to piece himself together after taking catastrophic damage, Adam possessed pure, unyielding physical durability that scaled directly with his stored energy reserves.
Then his eyes locked onto the third passive.
[Story of Humanity: Adam is capable of learning anything and everything at a glance. Spells, techniques, ideas, knowledge, and hidden principles: if something can be understood, Adam can learn it.]
Ethan went dead silent, reading through the description three times to ensure he hadn’t misread the translation.
"That’s ridiculous."
Ulric glanced sideways at him. "What is?"
Ethan didn’t answer, his gaze remaining fixed on the resting figure. Every summon under his command excelled in a specific combat niche: Vlad possessed unmatched physical transformation, Morgan wielded terrifying psychological and arcane mastery, Arthur stood as a flawless martial vanguard, and Gilgamesh wielded titanic strength alongside the Divine Forge.
Adam, however, possessed zero structural flaws. He controlled beasts, resisted crushing damage, and absorbed all forms of knowledge instantaneously.
Then Ethan read the final prompt at the bottom of the ledger.
[Evolution Requirement: Withstand the full brunt attack of a God.]
Ethan’s expression instantly froze. His eyes traced the line back and forth across the screen.
"...What?"
Even Ulric noticed the sudden shift in his posture.
Ethan rubbed his temples, feeling an immediate headache coming on. "Withstand the full brunt attack of a God?"
The condition was downright suicidal. A Demi-god could barely survive a glancing blow from an authentic deity, an Angel would struggle desperately to stay intact, and Adam was currently sitting at Tier 5.
The system hadn’t specified enduring a weakened deity like Levi, nor merely withstanding divine aura—it demanded taking an unmitigated, full-force divine strike head-on.
Ethan looked back at Adam. The young man remained sprawled beneath the golden leaves, smiling gently as a butterfly rested on his index finger.
Ethan’s mouth twitched. *’This guy is completely insane.’*
Ulric let out a low chuckle. "Perhaps."
Ethan dismissed the status screen. There was no point agonizing over a divine trial just yet; he had far more immediate decisions to handle.
"So, what is your final decision?" Ulric’s voice broke the silence, his tone growing serious.
Ethan turned his head. "The decision?"
"You know what I’m referring to," Ulric replied evenly. "The Bastion of Humanity."
Ethan let out a long sigh. "So that’s what this meeting is really about."
The proposal had been circulating through the council for weeks. The Bastion of Humanity was the premier citadel of human authority, the human counterpart to Divine Beast Mountain, uniting the supreme human bloodlines, ancient sects, sovereign kingdoms, and top-tier academies.
It was where the race’s greatest minds congregated to plan their collective survival, and where generational talents were groomed.
By every standard, Ethan had shattered normal metrics. A Tier 5 Summoner at his age was rare enough, but his recent operational record, aiding in the downfall of the Blood Serpent God, surviving the Bamboo Mirage Dungeon, hunting a Demi-god beast, and summoning the First Man, made him an asset the Bastion would aggressively recruit.
The question was whether Ethan was willing to accept the entanglement.
"I’ll need to speak with my wives first," Ethan replied, his expression turning firm. "And settle things with the White Tower."
Regardless of the World Tree’s divine prestige or Ulric’s backing, they could not unilaterally dictate his movements. His family was non-negotiable, and his ties to the White Tower remained a cornerstone of his influence.
Ulric nodded in agreement, unfazed by the boundary. "That’s only natural. We leave in two weeks."
Ethan raised a brow. "Two weeks?"
"Yes," Ulric smiled faintly. "That should give you enough time to put your affairs in order."
Ethan looked back toward the pond where Adam was now sitting upright, staring quietly at his own reflection in the clear water.
Their eyes met for a fleeting second, and Adam offered another calm, enigmatic smile.
Ethan felt an unsettling chill. He had commanded legendary summons across multiple tiers, but Adam felt fundamentally different—not merely stronger or weaker, but an enigma that even the World Tree could not fully define.
Ethan turned back toward the exit path. "Two weeks, then."
He had an immense amount of preparation ahead: securing his household, negotiating terms with the White Tower leadership, and uncovering the true nature of the First Man.
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