The Super Races did not ease their preparations.
On the contrary...
After the appearance of the Transcendents and the return of ancient power to the Upper Continent, the training of their people became more serious than ever.
The empires no longer regarded the training of the younger generation merely as a means of increasing the number of powerful cultivators.
It had become an essential part of the future of every race.
In the Human Empire, the academies and sects continued expanding their training programs.
Ancient cultivation resources were being utilized more systematically, and an increasing number of cultivators were being given the opportunity to reach higher levels.
The focus was no longer placed solely on a handful of geniuses.
The goal was for the younger generation as a whole to become stronger.
In the territories of the Dragons, the ancient Blood Arenas continued receiving new generations.
Young Dragons were subjected to increasingly difficult trials, while ancient combat techniques that had remained buried for thousands of years were taught to them once again.
As for the Elves, they continued restoring their techniques related to the Laws of Nature, while the Dark Elves worked on developing warriors capable of fighting in the harshest environments.
In the territories of the Demons, the brutal training that relied on survival and real combat continued.
The Phoenixes, Giants, Merfolk, Dwarves, Qilins, Beasts, and Vampires...
Every race continued along the same path, though their methods differed.
There was no agreement between them.
Nor was there anyone forcing them to do so.
But they all saw the same change taking place in the world.
And as time passed...
Their efforts began to bear fruit.
More powerful cultivators appeared.
The number of geniuses increased.
Ancient bloodlines began manifesting with greater strength among the younger generations.
And the armies that had once relied on a limited number of powerful cultivators gradually transformed into forces containing increasing numbers of warriors capable of reaching higher levels.
Yet the Transcendents continued pushing their people forward.
They did not allow them to stop at what they had already achieved.
The higher the younger generation's level became, the greater their demands grew.
As though they were waiting for something.
Something that had not yet arrived.
Years passed.
Then more years passed.
And Iberon continued to change.
Until...
Another thirty years passed.
With that, a full fifty years had passed since the beginning of the Awakening Wave.
Only fifty years in the history of a planet that had existed for millions of years.
Yet during this relatively short period, the Upper Continent had changed in ways that no one could have imagined before the beginning of the Awakening.
The Racial Empires had grown stronger.
The number of cultivators had increased.
The ancient bloodlines had gradually regained their potential.
And a great number of beings that had remained sealed or dormant for thousands of years had returned to the world.
It was an era completely different from the one that had existed before the Awakening.
And yet...
The Awakening had not ended.
On the day the fiftieth year since its beginning was completed...
Something happened.
At first, there was no sound.
No earthquake.
No storm.
Only...
The wind stopped.
Across the Upper Continent.
Across the islands.
Above the seas.
Even the air itself seemed to freeze for a moment.
Then...
The earth trembled.
Once.
It was not strong at first.
But it was different from every tremor Iberon had experienced during the past fifty years.
Its source was not a single region.
It did not come from any specific place.
It came...
From the depths of the planet.
And in the next instant, something happened that no one had expected.
The earth split open.
In scattered regions across Iberon, enormous cracks appeared across the surface.
They stretched for vast distances, and a strange force surged from within them—a force the world had not felt for countless ages.
Then...
Massive pillars emerged from the depths of the earth.
One after another.
Then dozens.
Then hundreds.
Then countless numbers spread throughout Iberon.
The pillars rose from the earth toward the heavens, so enormous that some of them could be seen from incredibly distant regions.
They were not merely pillars of light.
There was something else within them.
A different kind of energy.
Ancient.
Profound.
Majestic.
The pillars continued rising higher and higher, piercing through the clouds as the entire sky above Iberon began to change.
Birds stopped in midair.
Beasts ceased moving.
Cultivators raised their heads.
Mortals emerged from their homes.
And the armies stopped their training.
There was no place on Iberon that remained untouched by what was happening.
Then...
The second change occurred.
The mountains began to tremble.
In some regions, portions of the earth slowly rose, while others sank.
Ancient rocks shifted from their places.
Some mountain ranges began to crack.
As for the seas...
Their surfaces began to rise.
The waves surged to enormous heights before retreating once again.
At the same time, the ripples that had emerged from the depths of the planet spread across the entirety of the world.
It was as though Iberon itself...
Had awakened.
In a distant Human city, a cultivator was standing in the middle of a training ground when the earth trembled beneath his feet.
He raised his head.
Then he saw the enormous pillar that had appeared on the horizon.
He froze in place.
He did not understand what he was seeing.
Elsewhere, an ancient Dragon stopped in mid-flight.
It stared silently at the sky.
Deep beneath the earth, a Mermaid raised her head toward the surface of the sea.
Even the wild Beasts, which understood nothing about cultivation or the history of the world, sensed the change.
This was not something that concerned cultivators alone.
Every living being on Iberon felt it.
The change was so physical that it could not be ignored.
Then...
The pillars began to spread.
Waves invisible to the naked eye flowed outward from them through the earth.
They passed through the mountains.
Crossed the plains.
Swept through the forests.
And penetrated the seas.
They continued spreading until they covered the entire world.
After that...
The energy within the air began to change.
At first, the mortals noticed nothing more than that the air had become different.
But the cultivators...
They felt it.
There was a new energy entering the world.
An energy that had not existed within it for an incredibly long time.
It was heavier than Immortal Energy.
Pur er.
And of a higher level.
Some beings stopped breathing for a moment.
They stared into the empty space before them.
Then they began to feel the new energy gathering around them.
One cultivator whispered:
“What is this energy...?”
No one answered him.
Because those capable of knowing the answer had already understood.
And in other places across the Upper Continent...
The Transcendents had raised their heads.
There was no astonishment on their faces.
Instead, their expressions carried something far more complex.
They knew this energy.
They had known it in their ancient era.
They knew the sensation it carried.
And they knew what its appearance meant for a world that had lost it long ago.
One of the Transcendents spoke in a low voice:
“It has returned...”
No one asked what he meant.
Because they had all felt it.
Divine Energy.
It began seeping into the world.
At first, it was faint.
Then it gradually grew stronger.
It spread through the air.
Penetrated the earth.
And seeped into the regions that had remained sealed since ancient times.
As its concentration increased, some ancient lands began responding to it.
Places that had remained dormant for thousands of years began regaining their activity.
And the ancient seals scattered throughout Iberon began reacting to the new energy.
Nothing else happened.
The Gods had not awakened yet.
But the world...
Had begun restoring the environment in which they could awaken.
Time passed.
And Divine Energy continued to recover.
It did not suddenly appear at its full strength.
Instead, it began returning gradually, as though Iberon itself were reclaiming something it had lost long ago.
This recovery was different from everything that had come before.
The first stage of the Awakening had restored Spiritual Energy to the world.
Then Immortal Energy returned.
Then beings belonging to the higher levels of the Immortal Stage began to appear.
But now...
A new stage had begun.
A stage that surpassed the Age of Immortals.
And in places unknown to anyone...
There were ancient seals.
Seals that had endured throughout the ages.
Seals surrounding beings that had not seen the light of the world for an incredibly long time.
As Divine Energy spread...
Those seals began responding.
They did not break.
The beings imprisoned behind them did not awaken.
But they...
Moved for the first time in countless ages.
And in that moment, the Transcendents realized that what was happening was not merely the return of energy.
The next stage of the Awakening had begun.
A stage that would return to Iberon...
The Divine Era.