Nexus Ascension: My Comprehension Defies the Heaven-Chapter 381: That is my answer

[So that being who calls himself the master of Lord Grey is the author of the Aether evolutionary path?]

[Who would’ve thought.]

[I always wondered how this path came to be. So it turns out there was an outside intervention.]

[Is the Aetheric path the reason Grey Lockhart is so strong?]

[Speaking of it, I’m one of its users, but I can no longer use any of my powers anymore. I am merely physically strong now.]

[Didn’t you hear Grey’s master speaking? He said he was rewriting the path. That’s probably the reason.]

Grey naturally noticed the chat logs.

"That is indeed the case, everyone. My master was recreating the evolutionary path, which is exactly why your powers were cut off."

"For those who are at the second rank and below, if you are willing to change your path, I can utilize my authority as a pioneer of the Aether evolutionary path to swiftly convert all of you."

Comments immediately flooded the screen.

[Really? Is that possible?]

[Lord Grey, is it true that you became this strong because of the Aether evolution?]

"That is indeed the case, everyone," Grey nodded with a smile. "As I am right now, I am just a fourth ranker, but my powers easily go beyond the limits of the fifth rank."

"My master has also made it easier for one to climb the ranks."

The people were convinced.

They had just witnessed Grey’s display of power. If he was an Aether evolutionary pathstrider, it would perfectly explain his monstrous strength, especially considering the commotion the path had caused when it was first released.

Soon, thousands of comments of affirmation from evolvers in the first and second ranks flooded the livestream on his mind interface screen.

Seeing this, Grey hesitated no further.

He immediately utilized the creator invocation across the planet.

Within minutes, over eight billion people directly transferred their cultivation method.

"Eight billion?" Grey was momentarily stunned.

That was close to the total population of the Starcrest continent. Ten billion.

"So many people have transformed."

This was far beyond Grey’s expectations. It looked like everyone here was more than eager to embrace the results of the new path.

Comments continued to flood in, but the feed was suddenly cut off as the space around Grey twisted and turned.

The instant his surroundings shifted, a familiar, warm sensation abruptly enveloped him. The moment he felt it, a genuine smile formed on Grey’s face.

"Looks like your boldness grew along with your rank, Lia."

The warmth belonged to none other than Lia.

She had thrown her arms around him, pulling him into a tight, desperate hug. Pressing her face against his chest, she listened to the steady rhythm of his beating heart, a simple confirmation that he was truly alive and well.

"I missed you," Lia’s soft, slightly muffled voice came.

"You disappeared without any notice. I couldn’t even find a single trace of you," she added, a hint of lingering fear in her sad tone.

Grey laughed somewhat awkwardly. He still wasn’t entirely used to this level of deep, vulnerable connection with someone, but he knew Lia genuinely cared about him.

"I was in another world," Grey softly replied, wrapping his arms around her and returning the tight embrace.

"Another world?" Lia tilted her head, looking up at him from his arms with wide eyes. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Yep," Grey chuckled. "It’s a long story."

Settling into the quiet moment, Grey began explaining everything that had transpired up until now.

"So a lesser heaven holds that sort of power," Lia said, clearly surprised.

"Then could the hell portal also be considered something related to the world-breaking source power?"

"I don’t think so," Grey replied, shaking his head gently. "I’ve tested the hell portal once, and it was being upheld by the power of a god."

"It is a mysterious power that even I cannot fully fathom yet."

Lia nodded slowly, taking the information in. Then, a subtle look of hesitation crossed her face.

Grey naturally noticed the shift in her expression.

"Although I might have called you my girlfriend before, I did so in the heat of the moment without properly asking you," Grey said, his voice dropping to a softer register. "I know I’ve been neglecting this. I’ve been focused on surviving and fighting, but I don’t want to ignore us anymore."

He reached up, gently brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "So, I am asking you properly now. Will you be my girlfriend?"

Lia looked up at Grey, a soft, affectionate chuckle escaping her lips.

Instead of answering with words, she leaned up. Her eyes locked onto his, a beautiful shade of crimson blooming across her cheeks, before she closed the distance and pressed her lips warmly against his.

Grey was caught slightly off guard at first, but the surprise quickly melted away. He leaned into the kiss, pulling her closer, entirely lost in the shared moment of intimacy.

"You already know my answer," she whispered against his lips after they parted, her hands resting firmly against his chest.

"Since the day you rescued me, you have always been my knight in shining armor."

"Every day, I thought of you. Even when I was sleeping or in the middle of a fight, my mind would wander to you." She rested her head back against him. "I was worried sick for your safety these past few months, thinking that you had been struggling on the streets for years."

"But looking at you now..." Lia couldn’t help but trail off into silence.

To go from someone who was mistaken as the traitor of humanity to becoming the absolute ruler of this very planet. It felt like decades had passed, yet this monumental transformation had happened in less than a year.

"Do you plan on just hugging me like this forever, Miss Lia?" Grey teased lightly, breaking the heavy silence. "We still have a few things to take care of outside, don’t we?"

Hearing this, Lia pulled back just enough to shoot him a playful glare.

"Is it wrong for me to want to spend a little more time with my man? Especially when he vanished without a trace and had me worried sick?"

Grey’s teasing smile faltered into an apologetic grimace.

Then, letting out a low chuckle, he tapped into the spatial layers. The world around them blurred, and in the next second, they arrived atop the serene mountain peak of his former secret realm, a space that had grown endlessly vast from the accumulation of seals.

Grey sat down on the soft grass. With a gentle tug on her hand, he pulled Lia down until she fell softly into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist, securing her comfortably against his chest.

"Then let’s just spend some time together," Grey said, his grin returning, softer this time.

Without hesitation, Grey leaned in to capture her lips again.

Lia didn’t object in the slightest. She met him halfway, her hands tangling into his hair as she readily matched his rhythm.

Grey would never admit it out loud to anyone else, but this deep affection was a profoundly refreshing feeling. It was foreign to a life usually dictated by violence and logic, but he certainly didn’t hate it.

Two hours passed in quiet tranquility. Lia and Grey remained close to one another on the mountaintop. Eventually, the exhaustion of the recent events caught up with Lia, and she drifted into a soft sleep in Grey’s embrace. Or rather, she was taking a peaceful nap, completely confident and safe within the shelter of his arms.