A thorough search later, nothing out of the ordinary turned up. This was the most likely result, and also the one which Theodore had wanted to end up with–yet whilst he could hope for the best, he nonetheless needed to prepare for the worst.
With nothing else standing in the way of his takeover of what remained of the Enki Imperium, he brought his Subordinates here, where he had them unceremoniously take over the planet-turned-imperial palace. They met no resistance at all, because Cheong Suhyeon converted everyone left here into her believers instantly.
Afterwards, she set off for the rest of the populated universe, to spread faith in her far and wide. Meanwhile, Theodore got busy moving this world's previously placed Compound Array Disk to the centre of the palace. A couple of adjustments later, he teleported from world to world, relocating and modifying the Array Disks that his Subordinates had activated there.
By the time that he was done, the Lesser Void Sealing Array was only covering his own half of the Enki Imperium's worlds, and a few more functions had been added to it. Whenever he found the time, he would keep upgrading it, eventually transforming this region of the void into an extremely fortified stronghold.
Lastly, he rearranged some Energy Veins and set up a hub of long-range Teleportation Arrays. It would allow his people to easily move to and fro between all of the different worlds that he controlled, whether that be in this region, back over at the destroyed Han Empire, or anywhere else that he would conquer during this round.
Meeting up with the others for a quick meal, he instructed them to scour through the worlds that they had taken over, bringing with them everything of value that he could need, or anything mysterious that they didn't recognize. Fortunately, they didn't have to be too careful and anticipate enemy attacks, as during his visits to his new lands, Theodore hadn't noticed any potential Heaven's Chosen.
Judging by the Imperium's response to his arrival, it seemed probable that they had genuinely obliterated everyone else who had the displeasure of starting out in their territory. Anyone of lesser background than from a Named Family likely outright died, whilst the rest had fled and paid with their single use life-saving items.
Eventually, only he and Cheong Suhyeon remained in the dining hall. When she and her sister were leaving, Xie Mei had shot a somewhat jealous, pouty glance at the fledgling goddess, mourning the fact that she herself couldn't enjoy some alone time with her lover right now. If Han Junqiao hadn't dragged her out, then she would have continued to stand there for a considerable while longer.
"... what is that girl thinking about again? I swear, her mind's always in the gutter."
Sighing to himself, he shook his head, blissfully ignoring the fact that it was he who had initially opened that door for her to begin with. Not minding Cheong Suhyeon's gaze, which told him exactly that, he turned to look at her with a smile.
"As you probably already expected, the reason as to why I didn't let you go on the same mission, and asked you to stay behind, is that there is a far more valuable use of your time. Yes, the citizens of all of the worlds now under our control, they're all yours. Go and bolster your flock's numbers, I'm looking forward to how much of a difference they'll make!"
Reciprocating his smile, her eyes shimmered with happiness. Naturally, she had known that this would happen, as Theodore would not take the lives of the truly innocent. However, to finally hear the good news still filled her with great joy.
"I won't let you down! Thank you for this wonderful present. I'll properly show you my gratitude once I'm back~"
Having long since felt that it was about time for them to take the next step, she got closer, wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep kiss. Only after more than a minute did she let go again and step backward, seductively licking her lips with an amused glint in her eyes.
"See you soon, dear."
A softly whispered goodbye later, Theodore was left all by his lonesome, still relishing in what had just happened. For a moment or two, he was in deep thought, then he smirked in acceptance.
'I've certainly grown very fond of her, and my last doubts about her faded long ago. It's time to stop holding back.'
But other than this blossoming romance, there was still another mountain of work waiting for him. Namely and primarily: Heavenly Dao notifications as far as the eye could see.
'Time to get busy.'
Not discouraged by their sheer number at all, he calmly worked through them one by one, with the overwhelming majority of them ending up bolstering his Attribute Point reserves.
Although percentage-wise he had not killed as many people as back with the Han Empire, due to the significantly bigger population and partially higher Energy concentration of the Enki Imperium, even merely the majority of its military force amounted to a lot. They had presented him with an astonishing number of points!
In total, he now had around 10.35 trillion of them by the time that he was finally finished a few hours later. This was just about enough to upgrade one of his Epic-grade Talents to Legendary-grade, but if he chose to do so, he would be left with 'only' some scraps. Therefore, for now, he did not do so yet.
More importantly, there were a number of Talents that had caught his eye during this harvest–to be specific, three of them–with the first one originating from Enmerkar.
[ Fire Authority (Transcendent):
• Holding authority over flames, one is able to transform into, produce and manipulate Fire.
• The production of Fire depends on the Energy Attribute, its manipulation on the Mind Attribute, whereas the transformation into it does on both.
• Fire Affinity: +99,900%
• Fire Technique cultivation difficulty: -99.9%
• Fire Technique cultivation speed: +99,900%
• Fire Laws comprehension difficulty: -25% ]
In essence, it was very simple and straightforward. While it was a lot more basic and general than–for example–his Eternal Ice Talent, it was essentially an upgraded Fire-element version of his Darkness Incarnate Talent. Seeing absolutely nothing wrong with it, he chose to accept it.
At that time, just like when he had obtained Ziusudra's Foundational Element Conduit Talent, his Golden Cores underwent a small change. Whilst previously, four mystical symbols had appeared on their white halves, now, another tiny, red spot came into being on all of them. It was a bit different in colour from the one that had already been there previously, yet it was also located quite close to it, akin to a natural satellite orbiting around a celestial body.
With a satisfied nod, he recalled the other discovery that he had made back when he had finally arrived at Enmerkar's part of the notifications: Contrary to his father, his Ur Family Member Talent was of Supreme-grade and indistinguishable from those of normal Supreme Pillar heirs. If one ignored the fact that except for his Fire Authority Talent, all others were quite subpar–no doubt due to his parentage–he could be treated as a genuine descendant of the Ur Family.
'Evidently, they're aiming to churn out huge numbers of these 'mass-produced' Supreme Pillar heirs, a few of which might actually end up being quite outstanding. As for the rest of them, as long as the Ur Family has a way for the favoured descendants to control them, then they'll have a ready-made army of at least decent quality at their disposal. It's not a bad tactic.'
Moving on, next on his list of newly acquired gems, there was the Talent that Ganzer had so generously offered up to him.
[ Spawn of Shadows (Transcendent):
• Born with the ability to produce and manipulate Shadows, as well as to enter the Shadow Realm.
• The production of Shadows depends on the Energy Attribute, its manipulation on the Mind Attribute, whereas entering the Shadow Realm does on both.
• Will be harder to perceive by others while in the Shadow Realm.
• Shadow Affinity: +99,900%
• Shadow Technique cultivation difficulty: -99.9%
• Shadow Technique cultivation speed: +99,900%
• Shadow Laws comprehension difficulty: -25% ]
Although it was of a higher grade than his Darkness Incarnate Talent, Shadows were ultimately merely one aspect of Darkness. However, this didn't mean that acquiring this Talent was meaningless, as it would still improve a certain part of his capabilities.
The ability to enter the Shadow Realm especially was quite valuable. It could be seen as a layer of existence solely comprised of and inhabited by the shadows of all things. He had previously been capable of spying Ganzer while the young man had attempted to approach him via this method solely due to his Darkness-related Talent. While he himself had been unable to enter this layer, perceiving it had not been an issue.
Considering how similar the two Talents that he had chosen from Enmerkar and Ganzer were, it only proved further how significantly less capable than his friend the Imperium's crown prince had been. He had not even been able to transform into Fire, although he had an additional Ur Family Member Talent backing him up and making all of his progress an order of magnitude easier!
Shaking his head at the comparatively incompetent brat, Theodore made Ganzer's primary Talent his own, adding a satellite each to the black spots on his Golden Cores.
Last but not least, Shara had gifted him a noteworthy Talent as well. It was a lot shorter of a read than the two before it, and of a lower grade, but nonetheless welcome.
[ Overflowing Vitality (Legendary):
• Immune to all negative or controlling effects at or below Legendary-grade.
• Lifespan: +900%
• Life force recovery speed: +900%
• Wound healing speed: +900% ]
This was the first time that he had obtained a Talent that could increase his Lifespan in any way–and nobody could never have enough of that. Numbers-wise, it might not seem like much, but at higher cultivation stages, this single multiplier would make an almost unfathomable difference. That aside, whenever he added to his Lifespan via his Existence's Foremost Calamity Talent, he would now get ten for the price of one.
Finally finished with all of his matters, he strolled along to a cultivation chamber that had already been properly cleaned up and prepared for him. Some of the maids had been brought over, and the entire planet-sized palace rearranged whilst he was busy. Having so many capable Subordinates under his command meant that he didn't have to micromanage all of these matters himself any longer.
A week flew by before he knew it, and some of his people that had been sent out to scour their territory for anything of note had begun to return. Amongst them were both a pair of sisters, as well as their sister-to-be.
Evidently, Cheong Suhyeon had sought out Xie Mei and Han Junqiao while they were on their way back, discussing the upcoming changes with them in advance. Fortunately, even the more reluctant of the two had accepted her into the 'family' long ago, therefore, she faced no resistance.
Seeking out some of the maids for help, the three women busied themselves for an entire afternoon, renovating one of the bedrooms of the palace. Only after Cheong Suhyeon was fully satisfied did everyone else tactfully withdraw.
Having taken an extraordinarily pleasant bath with the help of Han Junqiao a short while ago, the blonde-haired goddess-to-be inspected her nigh-transparent white nightgown and risqué black lingerie a few more times, eventually taking a deep breath.
Admittedly, her heart was aflutter. She felt nervous and embarrassed. Whilst their illusory lives had enabled people like her and Theodore to endure many things, when it came to the matters of the heart, once they allowed a genuine connection to be formed, they would still experience this sort of vulnerability.
'I know that I've talked a big game before, but this is so much more nerve-wracking than I thought. Well, the first time is always the hardest...'
With a blush spreading on her cheeks, she finally took the plunge and notified him to meet her here in her bedchambers. Needless to say, for many a day, the two of them practically vanished, enjoying their honeymoon phase.
Three days after she had helped out her new sister, Xie Mei stormed into Han Junqiao's cultivation chamber right when the latter had only just finished her most recent session. Grabbing her shoulders, she stared directly into her honey golden dragon eyes, her own gaze more serious than ever before.
"Qiao'er. Remember the time when you barged in on me and Theo going at it, asking to join in?"
Feeling a little sheepish at being reminded of that day, the horned girl nodded, confused about what was going on.
"Well, I thought about it for quite some time, and I've decided: We'll make it a tradition! No new sister of ours shall have Theo to herself for too long during their first bout! The rest of us can't be left out! Now, come with me!"
Feeling herself being dragged away at incredible speeds, all Han Junqiao did was stare at her sister and roll her eyes.
'What kind of nonsensical excuse is this!? You're just jealous, aren't you?'
But despite her 'complaints', she didn't offer up any resistance. Clearly, her sister wasn't the only one who felt this way.