It took a while for the three of them to calm down. After that, Darian was the first to hold Alear in his arms, though a bit awkwardly. Niara let out a small laugh when she saw it, wondering if in the future she'd manage to make him look that silly holding another baby.

Darian stared into those little eyes and that round face, feeling something rise inside him that he had never felt before. She didn't cry in his arms, just stared back at him with a small smile that melted him completely.

Then, Lucy and Lucius held her, glowing with happiness, getting the same kind of closeness.

Everyone in the room welcomed this little girl, who would be raised by all of them with the utmost care. But seeing the difference in how she reacted to Darian and the twins… she would probably become deeply attached to them in the future.

After all that, Darian had an open conversation with everyone.

"This matter about her past identity has to die here between us forever. Starting today, her name is Alear, and she's getting a completely fresh start."

Everyone agreed. It was best to bury this and never touch the subject again. They wouldn't even tell her old family in the other Empire, keeping the number of people who knew to the bare minimum.

Darian could see people's pasts and understood better than anyone how beneficial it was to have no memories when reborn. He couldn't break that and risk hurting her.

After doing so many terrible things, if people knew who they were before, they'd never be able to forgive themselves and start over. His mother was the biggest example—if she saw what Darian saw her doing, the guilt would be unbearable.

Because of that, Darian also decided not to tell Niara about her past. She didn't care much anyway.

A while after they returned, he briefly told Niara that he had learned a few things about another life of hers because Enfield knew her. Niara didn't want to think too much about it.

She understood that she was probably a very different person, maybe someone she wouldn't even recognize. The past should stay in the past. And of course, one day she would remember everything, but that wasn't really important now. What mattered was the instinctual knowledge and lessons from that life that were clearly imprinted on her; the rest was just details.

After that, Darian discussed with everyone how they would handle the logistics of this baby. When Harper and the others held Alear, she started crying, only calming down near Darian or the twins.

Because of that, it was decided that Lucy, Niara — who would always be close to Darian — and Veyle — for the same reason, because of Lucius — would be the most active caretakers until Alear became more independent. Meanwhile, the others would provide whatever support was needed.

Darian and Lucius even tried to say something about it, but the three women ignored them, saying it would be better for Alear if they handled it. In the end, it would be like having three mothers and two fathers.

After everything was settled, Darian left the place, returning to the room with Awel, now feeling insanely more motivated.

***

A week later.

"Master! It's perfect!" Awel said excitedly in the middle of the room.

The two of them were staring at two small pulsing runes. They had a grayish tone and gave off a sensation similar to the bodies of the Heavenly Elemental Spirits. Inside them, a trace of a very unique power existed.

Darian tested that power and compared it to his ring's power... it was truly perfect, not the slightest bit weaker. They had managed to create something genuinely terrifying.

Darian was excited as well, so he immediately called Lucius and Rhea.

The two arrived quickly. Then, Darian moved one of the runes toward Rhea and fused it with her old core. The process was simpler, since she was alive thanks to Darian's curse power.

In just a few minutes, Rhea felt a major change: she had gained a new power core.

Before, all Shadow Heroes depended on receiving the partner's ring power in order to fight.

It wasn't a bad thing; depending on the situation, they would receive all the ring's power and fight alone head-on against much stronger enemies, protecting their partners — after all, they couldn't die.

Since all Shadow Heroes used to be Spiritual Guardians when alive, they had a complete and usable spiritual root. Only their rings were lost, because the process of connecting with Darian's power destroyed them.

So, using the partner's ring power, they could activate their spiritual root and even use the blessing they had when they were alive, though a much weaker version.

On missions in other universes, the 200 people from the clan who received the Shadow Heroes were practically unbeatable. Every mission was completed perfectly thanks to that cheat.

They could fight in pairs, having two blessings and perfect sync. Or, in dangerous situations, let only the Shadow Heroes fight or act as scouts, safely assessing the enemies' power.

But now...

Darian saw Rhea's look and explained lightly:

"Yeah, from now on, you won't depend on your partner's ring power anymore. I'm calling this thing I made the Shadow Core. It can't generate energy on its own, unfortunately, but it can absorb and store a lot of power if you use natural stuff that's extremely pure."

"Luckily, now we've got an infinite stock of those things. You'll never run out, and you can carry a huge supply stored with you. And that's not even counting the pills; Veyle will probably be able to create something compact and super easy to absorb."

"And it's not just that. The Shadow Core has nine levels, and you only have the first one. The more you use it and connect with it, the easier it'll be to upgrade. You'll be able to increase its size and its capacity to generate way stronger shadow energy. By my calculations... at level nine, your combat power should be close to someone with nine high-level rings. But that's just a prediction, without considering all the other possibilities to boost your strength."

Rhea heard that and got completely euphoric. Besides not depending on partners to fight anymore, now they could grow on their own and, one day, reach a terrifying level of power individually. It felt like a dream.

Darian and Awel exchanged excited looks. All of this had been based on that world's primordial core, they had lived in, but it was also a mix of everything Darian had learned. Even he couldn't believe he had managed to create something with so much potential.

This Shadow Core could generate a peculiar power, close to chaos energy, converting the energy of pure natural resources back to their origin; after all, all energies were born from the power of chaos. It didn't become pure chaos power, so he named it shadow power. But still, it had extremely high potential, not inferior to ring power.

And the best part: Darian could write down the whole technique and hand it to anyone in the universe without any fear, because it was completely impossible for someone to replicate the creation of the core. Even if they adapted it and made something similar and weaker... who would have infinite resources, with primordial Yin and Yang, to burn endlessly?

In the other universe, and even in this one, all herbs and resources that came from that place had been planted. Possibly one-third of them would grow, guaranteeing infinite farming.

Finally, Darian turned to Lucius.

The two exchanged looks; Lucius was incredibly anxious. Darian moved the other rune to him.

This time, it took more than twelve hours, testing and learning.

But thanks to his mastery over soul power, Darian managed to find a way to fully connect that thing to Lucius's soul. Soon, a new core was created inside him, independent of his seven rings.

Darian calmly announced:

"From now on, you're not just a simple Spiritual Guardian anymore. That's in your past. You've become a Shadow Lord."

The principle was the same as the Shadow Core, even the name would be the same. But since Lucius had seven rings, he'd be able to evolve this new core and level it up in a different way, gaining more unique and personalized properties.

The base of the nine levels and how to improve them had already been created by Darian. Shadow Heroes only needed to absorb pure energies, and as they adapted to this power, they would slowly level up. Meanwhile, Shadow Lords would use this same evolution base, but adding new layers, obviously becoming much more powerful.

In the end, they all depended on terrifying resources that only Darian had available. But...

Darian stared into Lucius's eyes: "Your title of Spiritual Guardian still exists, so you can take missions like before, and I can take you to that universe again without any issues. In the end, you might even become stronger than a Spiritual Guardian with nine rings; the potential of a Shadow Lord is unpredictable. Your path will just be different and steeper... not that different from mine."

Lucius swallowed hard, feeling strong emotion.

"About your blessing, since you created your own, you just need to adapt the use of it with the shadow power coming from the new core."

Darian continued, took a deep breath, and explained more simply:

"Now, I officially have two Spiritual Techniques. The *The Shadow Taming Codex*, where I can connect a soul that used to be a Spiritual Guardian to another living being, making them fight again and evolve, turning them into a *Shadow Hero* and giving them a second life."

"As for the second Spiritual Technique, it'll be called *The Shadow Warrior's Canon*. With it, everyone who lost their partners can use it to become Shadow Lords or... people who lost their memories and power, stopping being Spiritual Guardians. Those will be able to use this technique to become a weaker version, similar to the Shadow Heroes, and they'll be called *Shadow Soldiers*."

Darian spoke slowly, making Rhea and Lucius widen their eyes.

Darian was excited too. Those who ceased being Spiritual Guardians, even without rings or any leftover power, still had a complete spiritual root in their souls. They had become something similar to people who went through an awakening but chose to keep living as mortals.

It was a tremendous waste. Darian couldn't return the memories those people lost, but he could give them the power to fight again, if they wished and were worthy.

So Darian intended to start new types of recruitment.

Besides new Spiritual Guardians, he would choose those who could use The Shadow Taming Codex better: people with blessings that depended on a lot of support to work, so they could gain partners who complemented them. After all, he didn't have infinite souls to give everyone.

And he would also search across all allied planets for those who could use The Shadow Warrior's Canon: standout people who, by destiny, had died and lost everything, or those who were unlucky enough to have their Summoners die in the other universe while they were away.

In a short time, Darian intended to create a terrifying army in this universe. He wasn't going to limit himself only to the usual Spiritual Guardians and would explore every possibility.