Ray recognized two men despite their now aged faces, but the rest were completely new faces to him.
After a few seconds of inspection, Ray stopped, realizing their level from a quick scan. All three of them were 99-limit Douluo, and the rest were not far from it.
"Please stop with the bowing," Ray said with a sigh. First, they were elderly, and it wouldn't feel right for him to have them bow. Second, they were nearing limit Douluos; he had to give them face.
Looking at Sophia for an introduction, she smiled and stepped in front of them. "These are the current council elders."
"From the right, we have the Agriculture Elder, Amey," Sophia said, pointing at a middle-aged lady with brown hair and green eyes, standing just shy of 1.9 meters tall. From Ray's perception, he could sense the wild beast aura beneath her title level.
"If I'm not wrong, you're a soul beast, right?" Ray couldn't help but ask curiously. "I hope you're comfortable here."
Amey was confused for a second—not about him figuring her out, but the question itself—then realized what he meant.
"Comfortable? This heaven is for all of us, King, human or beast alike," she said, looking at him warmly. She explained how her beast clan had defects and couldn't surpass 200K years, so to get stronger, she chose to transform and re-cultivate from scratch as a human. Not only that, but she was one of the few who used second-generation system users.
"Second generation? What's that?" Ray asked, confused, looking at Sophia, who, in response, pointed at a young man in his late twenties with black hair and glasses, wearing a white lab coat.
"Let me introduce you to the most promising talent Plana has produced—Hu Zi, also known as the Architecture Douluo," Sophia introduced the stoic man and gushed about how he designed Boat Cities and came up with the new way of awakening. By the time she finished, the man had a small blush on his face from embarrassment.
Not minding him, Sophia moved on to introduce the others to Ray, including the old man he had rescued from the evil masters, and the soul ancestor he had saved first.
"You remember Wang Yu," Sophia said. "Currently, he's the Grandmaster of the Blacksmith Department, and the one who helped advance our crafting methods and quality."
Ray nodded, sizing him up. He hadn't met him personally, but Sophia had done much of the work. Greeting him, Ray then looked at the old man he had once traded blows with while he was imprisoned.
"Good to see you. All good. Though I didn't get your name before?"
"Don't mind it. This old man's name is Chen Wang," Chen laughed heartily, "and I am great, thanks to your saving grace."
Ray smiled at him and nodded in appreciation, then ended his gaze on the last man. He could literally sense strange electric waves coming from him.
"Finally, the recreator of advanced communication and trading methods," Sophia said, noticing Ray's confused face. "Put simply, he recreated the internet, along with the devices needed—phones, computers, and so on."
"Fascinating!" Ray snapped his gaze to the man with shining eyes. "And you used electricity harnessing?"
"As expected of the King," the man raised an eyebrow for a second before nodding, offering what felt like a somewhat forced praise. From what Ray could tell so far, he was the quiet type.
"The Tier Two didn't come here, as they had their hands full, so I'll introduce them later," Sophia added.
Ray nodded and looked below. Now the space—both in the air and on the land—was full of humans and beasts alike, but only the five people in front of him were flying above the forest. The rest hadn't entered the forest or its airspace.
Sensing their delight and happiness, along with the faint excitement of Plana itself, brought a smile to Ray's face. Just from the feedback he sensed from Plana, he knew they had truly taken care of this place.
"Thank you for taking care of our home," Ray said, fully aware that Plana's advancements were definitely not only Sophia's work. More than that, such growth without draining Plana's worth—instead increasing its vitality—shocked him as a great feat in his book.
Casting a smile at them, he bowed his head humbly, causing a stir in the hearts of the people in front of him.
"No, it's the least we could do for our saving grace," Amey and Chen Wang said.
"Well, how about we take this to the council hall and talk more specifically?" Sophia suggested, seeing the conversation was about to stretch on. As she moved to lead the way, she looked around and smirked.
"Hey, Ray, you won't send your subjects away empty-handed after they came all this way to see you," Sophia commented playfully, knowing Ray wasn't really the type who liked being led. She used the chance to push him to the front.
"I hate you," Ray said. Sure enough, it was her idea to call him that. Looking around, he sighed, then an idea came to him.
"Well, let's make it a good show," Ray murmured and looked at Sophia. "Watch."
Releasing his Lang Material Soul and taking a deep breath, five black ink rings appeared beneath his feet, and soon his chest lit up with golden light.
The next moment, his first three rings lit up. Ray released his breath, and dense, fog-like mist expanded outward, forming a cloud above the forest.
Under the stunned eyes of the people, he raised his left hand, and the mist surged upward, merging perfectly with the cloud above. The sky darkened, clouds rumbled, and in the next moment, rain began to fall across the entire forest, extending outward to the borders of the cities beyond.
With one glaring difference—the rain carried a golden hue.
At first, no one noticed anything unusual, but the five elders beside him felt it immediately. Every time raindrops struck them, their souls felt strengthened, their spiritual energy undergoing a qualitative change—not extreme, but noticeable even at their level.
Elsewhere, people began to feel old wounds heal. Some who had lost limbs felt itching at their stumps before visibly regrowing.
Sophia was shocked by the out-of-the-box use of his ability, wishing she hadn't come to underestimate it. Nevertheless, it worked as proof of what he had said about his ancestor.
She only snapped out of her shock at the sound of cheers and joyful screams erupting all around.
"Now, what do you think?" Ray asked, smirking at Sophia.
That earned a smile from the others as well, knowing from Sophia exactly what kind of Young King he was.
"Excellent," Sophia said with a sigh, skipping toward one of the cities.
...
Unknown to all of them, three shadowy lights lingered high above Plana's sky, observing everything with smiles.
One of them murmured something before the one beside sighed and blew into her open palm. Her breath carried playful silver lights that seeped into the void.
The next second, a small crack opened in the trunk of the great tree. Minutes later, a woman in her late thirties stepped out, her eyes glazed.
Soon, clarity returned to her gaze. Confused, she looked around, then her eyes widened in realization.
"Yu!!" she shouted, breaking into a run as if she searching for someone.
The smallest shadow glanced once more in Ray's direction before taking off with the others, hand in hand. In the blink of an eye, they vanished, as if they had never been there at all.