Adrian stood at the entrance to a conversion chamber within one of Origin's conversion facilities on an industrial world. Hundreds of formations covered the floor before him, their white-grey inscriptions connecting central crystal supplies to rows of shallow trays.
Each tray held thousands of small pure mana crystals, already cut to fit the sockets in the recovery rings. Disciples moved through the passages between formations, collecting finished batches and replacing them with fresh crystals, while the formations continued drawing mana from the larger crystals at their centers.
Adrian watched the nearest formation as pure mana flowed into its inscriptions. The Origin Ink changed it into the essence of his willforce-recovery divine concept, and thin streams of golden energy spread along the lines leading toward the trays. As the essence entered the prepared crystals, a faint golden glow slowly spread through their clear interiors.
The conversion formation followed a simple instruction: direct the newly formed divine essence into the surrounding crystals and convert the pure mana held within them.
Without Origin Ink, a cultivator who possessed the matching divine concept would have to perform that conversion personally. No other sect could use a formation to turn pure mana into whichever divine essence its instructions required. Here, disciples who had never formed the willforce-recovery concept could keep hundreds of such formations running.
Adrian moved toward an empty stretch of floor beyond the working formations and opened the records Lysandra had sent him. He studied the existing formation's design, then drew a stream of Origin Ink from his storage ring. The ink spread beneath his guidance, forming the outer boundary before dividing into the smaller lines within it.
He kept the arrangement for drawing mana and directing essence into the trays, changing the part that controlled the conversion itself. The new inscriptions carried the understanding behind his Mid-level recovery spell. As he joined the final lines, he checked the paths through which the mana would flow, then placed a supply crystal at the center and brought a tray of unused crystals into position.
Golden essence began passing through the formation. Adrian followed its movement with his perception, watching it enter the small crystals until the conversion was complete. He lifted one from the tray and took another from a finished batch beside the older formation, holding the two between his fingers.
Their essence belonged to the same divine concept, but the difference in purity was clear. The crystal from the new formation held more refined essence, matching what a cultivator with Mid-level mastery of that concept could produce.
A cultivator at the Early Rule Stage had only begun to understand their divine concept. As that understanding deepened through the Mid and High stages, the essence they generated became purer. At the Peak Rule Stage, Ultimate-level spell mastery brought their understanding of that particular concept to completion. The formations could reproduce those differences through the knowledge written into them.
His recovery concept was still Low-tier. Refining its essence through deeper mastery did not change the concept's tier, but it allowed him to prepare fuel suited to the stronger spell structures he already understood. How well the crystals performed inside the new rings would be tested once Selena, Lysandra, and Mira had suitable artifacts ready.
Adrian set the two crystals aside and turned toward the remaining empty space. With the Mid-level formation working, he began preparing the High and Ultimate versions, recording their structures alongside the corresponding spells. Once each design was ready, he continued inscribing more formations, filling the available areas before moving to other conversion facilities. Dozens of new installations became hundreds as he worked, giving the disciples far less to build before production could expand.
While Adrian moved between the facilities, Hestia was working through another part of Origin's plans.
…
Aelion sat beside his father in a private room overlooking one of the Elyrian capital's broad terraces. The seats left ample room for their folded wings, and an open archway faced the nearby towers, where people crossed between the upper districts in flight. Across the table, Mariska set down the cup she had filled for Hestia and settled into her chair.
Hestia thanked her, then placed a knowledge sphere on the table. Aelion looked toward it, wondering what had brought her to their world for a private meeting with all three of them.
"This contains the Providence Sect's Fate inheritance," she said. "Adrian gave it to me, and I came to offer it to your people."
Mariska's hand paused beside her cup, while Elyras looked more closely at the sphere. Aelion had expected a matter concerning their world or some work Origin needed done, but he had not expected her to place the inheritance of the sect that had hunted them on their own table.
Before he could ask how Adrian had obtained it, Hestia continued. "We are preparing several departments within Origin. One will help us gather information, track possible threats, and judge how events might develop. Cultivators who understand Fate would help our people make better decisions during a battle."
She moved the sphere a little closer to them. "We would like suitable people to study this inheritance and help build that department. If any of your people are interested, the opportunity is open to them."
"There is something else you should know before you consider it," she continued. "Adrian has completed Origin's first foundational divine concept. We have begun preparing disciples to learn it, although we have not announced it across the sect yet."
"Senior has completed it?" Mariska asked, leaning forward slightly. "The inheritance he went to find has already helped him create one?"
"Yes. It uses Time, Space, Life, and Void," Hestia replied. "That is why I wanted to speak with you directly. Your own inheritance already uses Space and Life. Anyone who has already used those concepts in a foundation cannot use them again to form Origin's."
Aelion looked toward his father. This was a possibility he had considered before, although hearing that Origin's foundation was ready made the question far more immediate. Their civilization had joined a sect whose own cultivation path was still being developed, and he had always known that its completion might change what their descendants would be expected to learn.
Hestia caught the worry within Aelion and others instantly. She said, "Don't worry. Your ancestors developed two High-tier foundations that can be joined into an Ultimate-tier Astral concept. I know how much work it takes to build an inheritance like this. Just because you are in Origin does not mean your people have to abandon their ancestral inheritance."
Aelion's gaze lifted from the sphere. "Senior, you are saying that our people can cultivate our inheritance even after Origin's becomes available?"
"Yes. Your people are free to choose. They may choose yours," she replied. "And they will still belong to Origin. The Origin sect will not make that choice for them or interfere with it."
"And this inheritance?" Aelion asked, looking at the sphere between them. "Would studying it mean giving up what we already cultivate?"
"No. This inheritance doesn't conflict with the arcane concepts used in either your inheritance or Origin's foundation," Hestia said. "So suitable people can study this alongside whatever they choose. Joining the department is their choice as well."
She looked between the three of them. "You do not need to decide one path for your whole civilization. Explain what is available, and let each person choose what they want to learn."
Aelion remained quiet as he considered her words. For more than a hundred years, he had watched Origin give his people the space to rebuild. His father and their councils still governed his people, their teachers still taught the knowledge their ancestors had preserved, and no one had arrived to take those responsibilities away.
He had trusted that freedom, but he had also expected cultivation to be different. Most sects built their future around the two foundations that carried their disciples through the Rule Stage and into the Astral Stage. Once Origin possessed its own inheritance, asking its future disciples to follow that path would have seemed ordinary. Aelion expected the same to happen here.
But Hestia was leaving their descendants free to preserve their ancestors' inheritance, while offering another path for those who wanted it. People who made different choices could still remain together within Origin.
His gaze settled on the knowledge sphere. He remembered the dull ring he had carried for so many years without knowing what it was. That small object had drawn Adrian toward him, and the things that followed had given his people a home where their children could think about what they wanted to become.
"Thank you," Aelion said, meeting Hestia's eyes. "Our people held on to our inheritance through everything that happened to us. Knowing they can keep teaching it here means a great deal."
Hestia nodded.
Elyras drew the sphere closer. "We will explain the paths to our people and support the choices they make. We will also ask who is interested in studying Fate and joining the department you described."
"Give them time to consider it," Hestia replied. "When they are ready, send me their names, and we can arrange their studies. For now, keep the sphere among the three of you. The department's work will remain private, and we will need to change how its spells appear before anyone uses them outside."
…
Later that day, Hestia met Octaven and Kaelar in a meeting room on another of Origin's worlds. Three knowledge spheres rested before them, containing Devour, Ruination, and the method Adrian had developed to join them into an Astral inheritance.
"Origin's first foundation uses some of the same concepts as your foundations," she explained. "But future generations of your people may choose Origin's path before forming their cores, or they may continue yours. These inheritances offer another choice for those who can learn them."
Octaven and Kaelar exchanged a brief glance before nodding.
Most of the cultivators who remained with them in the Virelith Galaxy had once belonged to their respective sects and had already formed their first divine concepts. Their existing foundations drew upon several of the same Arcane Concepts now required by Origin's Time, Space, Life, and Void foundation, making it impossible for many of those established cultivators to simply abandon everything and begin again along Adrian's newly created path.
The additional inheritance made that far less restrictive. Even those who could not cultivate Origin's first foundation might still gain another method of contributing directly to the sect.
"You helped protect Crimson Vital's people during the war while keeping your presence hidden," Hestia said. "We are now building a force intended to perform a similar role."
"This inheritance also does not conflict with your existing foundations," Hestia continued. "That means you may study the knowledge yourselves if you wish. Speak with the others who might be interested, check which concepts they have already committed to their foundations, and send me the names of those who can safely learn this path. Once we know who is suitable, we will arrange their training together."
Octaven nodded. "I will speak with our people and find those who want to take on that duty."
"I will do the same," Kaelar said. "We will explain the other paths as well. Once we know who wishes to join us, I can arrange a place for them to train."
Hestia pushed the three knowledge spheres across the table toward them.
…
After leaving that meeting, Hestia continued travelling through the Origin headquarters and passing the new inheritances to the people responsible for different groups within the sect.
She visited the Azure Garden on the relic planet and handed the relevant knowledge to Caelum, placing him in charge of helping the disciples there understand the cultivation paths now available to them and identifying those interested in studying something new.
From there, she visited Adrian's parents, spoke with members of the Celestials, and travelled to the worlds where the Origin warriors recently brought from the Origin Empire in the Milky Way had been settled. Wherever she went, Hestia explained the available inheritances and made the same point clear: the existence of Origin's first official foundation did not mean every disciple would be forced into the same cultivation path.
Some cultivators immediately showed interest in the specialized departments connected to Fate or the Devour-Ruination inheritance. Others preferred to remain with the foundations they were already cultivating. Many of the younger disciples chose to wait until Origin's foundational divine concept had been fully verified by the four candidates currently testing whether an ordinary cultivator could reproduce Adrian's path safely.
Hestia did not rush any of them.
Adrian had given her the inheritances and explained the kind of forces he hoped to create around them, but he had left the organizational details in her hands. Hestia therefore decided whom to approach first by considering the foundations those people already possessed, the concepts they had committed to their Rule Cores, and the experience they could bring to the roles each new department required.
The first stage was simply finding the people who wanted to walk those paths.
Once the willing cultivators had been identified, Hestia's next responsibility would be arranging their studies and setting aside the knowledge spheres, cultivation resources, instructors, and training facilities each group would require.
For now, Origin's different paths were beginning to spread throughout the people who would eventually decide which of them they wanted to follow.