As Merin walks out from beneath the military jail, dawn breaks above the horizon.
He steps into the early morning light, calm but tired, and starts the journey home.
Before leaving the district, he spreads his field to sweep through the city, checking for signs of trouble.
The city appears quiet—wounded, but recovering.
But his field brushes against something alarming.
Inside his home.
A body.
Faint breath.
Merin's eyes narrow, and in the next moment, he vanishes from the street.
He reappears inside his house, his gaze falling on the bloodied, unconscious form of Valerie lying on the living room floor.
Her injuries are severe—wounds deep, aura fading, barely stable.
Without hesitation, he lifts her gently and carries her to the guest room, placing her on the bed.
He summons magic from the field, carefully weaving threads of energy into her body to stimulate healing.
The process is slow and delicate, but effective.
Hours pass.
The sun now fully lights the sky when Valerie stirs awake in the quiet room.
She blinks, confused, and sits up slowly.
Pain still lingers, but dulled—her wounds reduced to mild bruises and aches.
She touches her side and winces but realizes her recovery is progressing fast.
Still, she doesn't know where she is.
The room is unfamiliar, but the faint scent clinging to the air is not.
Adam.
She hears a soft clatter and sizzling sound from outside the room.
Cautiously, she pushes open the door and steps into the hallway barefoot.
In the kitchen, Adam—Merin—stands at the stove, flipping something in a pan.
He turns casually toward her.
"Come sit," he says. "Have breakfast."
Valerie stares for a moment, then lets out a small smile and nods.
"But let me clean up first."
Merin glances at her with a frown.
"I don't have women's clothes. You can wear mine."
Her heart leaps silently.
So he doesn't keep any woman's clothes in his house.
She accepts the T-shirt and pants he hands her and slips into the bathroom.
Inside, she raises the shirt to her nose, breathing in the lingering scent of him.
Her fingers clutch the fabric for a moment longer than necessary before she washes and changes.
When she returns to the kitchen in his clothes, Merin is already seated at the table.
She joins him and starts eating slowly.
Halfway through, she glances at him.
"Why aren't you asking me anything?"
Merin continues chewing, then swallows.
"It's normal to get injured in chaos like yesterday," he replies. "I would've taken you to the hospital, but I noticed you aren't human. Also, the hospitals are packed."
Her brows lift.
"You know about supernatural races?"
He nods.
"I'm a professor at the university. The Republic plans to release that news to the public later. I only found out a couple of years ago."
The rest of breakfast passes in peaceful silence.
And when she finishes, Valerie stands.
Merin watches her quietly as she walks to the door, looks back once, then leaves.
He enters his room and pulls open the drawer, retrieving a small purple crystal gem.
It was extracted from the corpse of the devourer leader.
All the magic a devourer absorbs gets stored in such gems, hidden within their bodies, and converted into a unique type of energy that strengthens them.
Merin stares at the crystal, intrigued.
This energy can consume and transform any kind of magic, meaning to understand it is to touch the roots of all magic in the world.
And if he can comprehend it, he might be able to forge a cultivation method for humans of this dimension—one that allows them to absorb magic and step beyond their limits.
From that day forward, Merin began comprehending the devourer's magic energy in silence and focus.
At the same time, Valerie begins her pursuit of him.
Merin, fully aware of her intentions, acts indifferent—pretending not to notice.
But a week later, Valerie speaks plainly about her feelings.
Merin refuses.
"You're a supernatural race," he says calmly. "You'll live longer than me."
A lie.
He will outlive her by centuries.
"And if your intended mate returns," he adds, "you'll leave me. And it'll destroy me."
She is his mate—he knows it.
But he keeps that truth buried, pretending to be nothing more than a human.
Valerie, for her part, does not reveal that Adam is her destined mate either.
Still, she refuses to give up.
And as the days pass, her presence grows closer, her persistence steady.
A month later, Merin lets out a quiet sigh—
—then gives in.
He acts like he's tired, like her pursuit wore him down.
And just like that, they begin their relationship.
Two months later, Merin's comprehension of the devourer's magic and the world's magic energy reaches a breakthrough.
He creates a basic cultivation framework that allows certain humans to absorb magic energy—enough to reach Professional Rank 5.
But it isn't for everyone.
Only those with traces of magic in their blood can practice it, and even then, the comprehension required is high.
Failure would mean lifelong crippling, or worse.
Merin begins refining the method—his goal is to make it safe for all humans, even the ordinary ones.
He wants a system so forgiving that mistakes may injure, but never ruin.
For the next three months, he works in silence, reshaping and tempering the method.
He names the first realm Magic Apprentice, dividing it into Ranks 1 through 5.
Then, he hands the prototype to his teammates at the base, asking them to spread it cautiously.
It won't make humans kings of the world—but it gives them the power to survive.
And survival is enough.
Most of the danger never came from the elites of supernatural races anyway—it came from the undisciplined lower ranks who couldn't control their strength.
A week later, chaos ignites.
The Holy Cross Kingdom launches simultaneous attacks against every nation on the Holy Cross Continent.
They are winning.
Their secret weapon?
A terrifying unit known by enemies as The Invincibles.
Merin learns the truth behind that name.
The entire unit is made of devourer-human hybrids.
While the world reels in shock, the Republic declares war against all remaining nations in the Axis Continent.
They know they can't stop the Holy Cross Kingdom alone.
But they can still strike, still resist.
War spreads across the dimension like wildfire.
And amid it all, Merin continues his quiet life.
His strength grows steadily.
He has already named the next realm after Stone Body—Earth Transformation Realm, a level equivalent to Professional Rank 9.
It stands parallel to the Demon Weaver realm of demons, the Archduke stage of supernatural races, and the Grandmaster rank of witches.
To break through, Merin must refine his biological field into a visible one—shaped by resonance with the world's own field.
A domain where he can manipulate particles of matter, energy within it, and he would be a god.
As the pressure mounts, Merin dedicates himself to advancing.
Three months later, he enters a closed-door retreat.
He still hasn't told Valerie his true identity.
And Valerie, too, never reveals that Merin is her intended mate.
Before leaving, Merin tells her he's joining a secret Republic project and will be gone for a while.
Valerie doesn't suspect a lie.
She's reluctant to let him go, but with the world now engulfed in war, she understands—every ounce of strength is needed if the Federation hopes to stop the Holy Cross Empire.
But a week later, while walking alone in the city park, Valerie is ambushed by masked men and vanishes.
Robert searches everywhere.
He exhausts every contact, every favour.
But he cannot find her.
And he doesn't tell Merin.
Not yet.
Because Merin's breakthrough is far more important.
He believes Valerie was just a test subject—a piece in Merin's quiet experiment to uncover why the dimension allowed a supernatural to be his mate, and what power their children might hold.
But Robert would've panicked—if he knew what Valerie now carries within her.
She is pregnant.
The masked figures take Valerie underground.
They move through a hidden passage for weeks—until, a month later, they emerge on the other side of the ocean, deep within the Holy Cross continent.
In a secluded forest, they enter an ancient, crumbling structure swallowed by vines and moss.
Inside, Valerie is brought before a woman draped in flowing white robes.
The woman speaks calmly, almost kindly.
Valerie demands to know why they've kidnapped her.
The woman answers, "Not for you. For the child growing inside you."
Valerie's eyes widen—stunned.
She asks in disbelief, "I'm pregnant?"
The woman nods. "Yes. And it's all because of Mother."
She continues, "Your child will be the vessel for the descent of the Mother of Magic. She will return through your child to restore order—and drive the invaders out of this world."
Valerie's voice drops. "What invaders?"
The woman looks her in the eye. "Your mate—he is an invader. From another world."
Valerie shakes her head. "No. Adam is an ordinary man."
The woman raises her hand, and a projection shimmers into existence—showing Adam suppressing the Devourer leader during the battle in Ocelian City.
Valerie stares in open-mouthed shock.
She struggles to process the truth.
Then she speaks slowly, "If he's that powerful… he must be important to the Republic. Aren't you afraid of what he'll do if he finds me?"
The woman's expression doesn't change. "He won't find you."
Valerie looks down, murmuring, confused. "If Adam is from another world… how can he be my mate?"
The woman answers, "To gain power here, invaders altered their bodies—became vampires, werewolves. Through that change, the world accepted them. And then Mother chose the strongest among them to be your mate."
Valerie stares at her like she's mad.
"The world chooses mates?"
The woman gives her a soft smile. "The world and Mother are the same."
Then she turns and leaves.
Valerie is locked inside a cold, stone room—alone.