Chapter 378: Efficiency Amplification

Outside the building, a gentle breeze blew as Priam waited. It didn’t take long before he saw Dandara appearing and walking toward him.

Her head was lowered. But when she saw him, her face lit up, and a faint smile appeared on her lips as she quickened her steps toward him.

"How did it go?" he asked softly, extending his hand and naturally intertwining his fingers with hers.

Dandara gave a slight snort, making an adorable pout, realizing that he already knew about the situation.

"Orlaith seems pretty nice and confident," Dandara began, shaking her head. "I had to make her promise that she’d give me plenty of siblings and take really good care of them. My dad is kind of scatterbrained and acts without thinking whenever he gets too relaxed... he desperately needs someone to keep things balanced, otherwise my future siblings are going to have a rough time!"

Priam was slightly surprised. Wasn’t that almost the same demand he had made of his own father in the past? He and Dandara really did think alike.

Thinking about it, that couple was made up of two people who had suffered far too much and needed a fresh start. Rebuilding their lives and having children again was a simple and effective path forward.

And from a practical standpoint, their future children would be half-beasts, possibly carrying Vanculari bloodlines. If they used their race’s Ancestral Art, they could become extremely powerful figures alongside their spirit partners, without relying so heavily on Ether. Those future children had the potential to become Mages who were, at the very least, above average.

"Well, now then. We need to properly prepare for the inner sect entrance test," Priam said, gently squeezing her hand.

At that very moment, Dandara froze and turned toward him, completely caught off guard.

Priam smiled at her reaction. It was understandable: both Dandara and the entire faction were already Level 9 Mage Masters. Quickly advancing through the levels while having every possible resource at their disposal was quite simple. But none of them had any perspective or confidence to try advancing to the Sage level so soon.

Deep down, Dandara had been carrying a profound apprehension.

She feared the moment Priam would move up to the inner sect and she would end up being left behind in the 11th Branch. But when she heard him include everyone—and especially her—in those plans, Dandara felt her heart race.

The two arrived at the faction headquarters together.

At that same moment, Priam gave a clear order to all the members: they were to stop whatever they were doing and relax for the rest of the day. The next day, the entire faction would go to the Celestial Sanctuary.

After giving the instructions, Priam walked toward his room. However, before crossing the doorway, he stopped and turned toward Dandara.

"Don’t you want to live here with me too?" he asked, looking into her eyes. "Our lives are basically divided between going through dangers far from home and, when we’re here, staying locked up meditating and studying. So, at least while we’re in the room, we can stay close to each other all the time."

Dandara’s face lit up with a radiant smile.

"Yes! I’ll be right back!"

Without wasting a second, she ran off with light steps to get her belongings from her old room.

Priam let out a soft sigh, feeling warmth in his chest. Having Dandara around always made everything better in every way. Besides the company, he could share knowledge and discuss plans with her much more easily. In the past, he had avoided doing so because it felt strange for her to spend so much time in his room... but now, everything between them had changed.

Just a minute later, Dandara returned carrying her belongings.

Although most of a Mage’s valuable items were kept inside spatial rings, their more personal and meaningful possessions were usually kept outside.

To the surprise of anyone who didn’t know her well, Dandara loved collecting clothes and books—even though she almost always wore the same simple outfits.

There was a reason for that. First of all, she had lived alone in the humanoid city for a very long time. Back then, she had been nothing more than a half-beast girl without any power or faction to protect her.

If she wore flashy clothes that attracted men’s attention, she would have drawn serious trouble. So, she learned to dress as simply, discreetly, and practically as possible.

Combined with the fact that her beast bloodline caused an initial aversion in ordinary people, those simple clothes served as invisible armor to keep her safe.

She even used very tight bands around her chest to make it look smaller and less noticeable. She was simply too eye-catching. Surely, if she hadn’t done those things, trouble would have come knocking on her door back then.

As for her collection of books, it was made up mostly of fantasy stories. They were tales written by Mages who had visited other worlds on missions, heard local legends, and, after returning, wrote everything down by hand, adding dramatic details to make the stories more interesting.

Dandara was fascinated by other worlds, distant cultures, and exotic customs. But her favorite genre, without a doubt, was stories about romances between monsters/beasts and heroes in chaotic worlds.

Her favorite story of all was about a half-humanoid Dragoness who fell in love with an eccentric healer hero. Together, the couple had saved an entire universe from a terrible Calamity... although, tragically, the hero ultimately gave his own life to protect the world and his beloved.

Besides books, Dandara’s other great passions were beautiful natural landscapes and good food. Breathtaking nature was easy to find in that universe, but truly good food was a rarity, since the culinary culture of that world was extremely underdeveloped.

Because of that, Priam using his basic knowledge of Earth to cook was already enough to make the result infinitely superior to anything people there could make. To Dandara, every meal he prepared felt like a divine feast, and she devoured everything as if it were the best thing in the world.

She was a woman of simple tastes, and Priam could say with absolute certainty that he loved everything about her. Every little detail about Dandara seemed perfect. Even her collection of clothes—he only thought they were beautiful because she was the one wearing them.

Dandara turned toward Priam, proudly showing him her small collection of books and carefully organizing everything. Priam nodded warmly, and when he saw the genuine happiness on her face, he silently made a promise to himself: in the future, he would search for as many of these things as possible for her.

The two sat down on the bed, and Priam gave Dandara all the knowledge about the Essence of Creation and the Creation Runes that he possessed. That would keep her occupied for now.

Then, he finally took a deep breath and focused on the System.

A few new alerts had appeared earlier when he broke through his Rank, but he had preferred to leave them unread until now, when he could read them calmly.

[An ally’s Loyalty Level has reached the maximum threshold!]

[Dandara Growlyn]

[Loyalty: Transcendental]

[By reaching the maximum Loyalty Level with an ally, you have completed an important milestone in your journey. The System has now automatically changed to better favor you in your main mission.]

[You will no longer gain points from increases in Loyalty or Morale.]

[Your Secret World has gained the function: Efficiency Amplification (Divine Grade)]

[Every celestial body within your domain, once controlled by an allied Sage or by you, receives a +300% bonus to overall efficiency. In the case of allies, 50% of all generated energy will remain in your Secret World and can be used by you.]

[NOTE: Whenever an ally manages to control celestial bodies within your world, you will gain points as a reward.]

Priam read everything, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

First of all, it had been a very long time since he had gained any Morale or Loyalty points. The lack of Morale gains was probably because he had already reached the maximum level with the people of the 11th Branch a long time ago.

Besides that, Priam’s name had spread throughout the Branches after that mission, causing the disciples who had fought alongside him during the war to already expect a lot from him. Priam had exceeded their expectations by far, but apparently not enough for the System to reward him again.

Maybe it wasn’t helping the army fight properly and teaching them how to survive that had earned him Morale points, but rather acting like a ’hero’ and making them depend on him to live. But doing that would be pretty immoral. Priam had even briefly considered it at some point, but he preferred to act in the most proper way.

As for his closest allies, something similar was happening. Everyone he had interacted with individually already had their Loyalty at either "High" or "Very High." Going beyond that was extremely complicated and required time.

Once he entered the inner sect, Priam would have a chance to gain many points again. Even so, it wouldn’t take long for him to reach the same point of stagnation he was currently at.

So, this change to the System was infinitely better in the long run, leaving him quite satisfied.

As he reflected on this Efficiency Amplification, he felt euphoric.

Previously, he had already been thinking about having his allies try to control the celestial bodies within his Secret World.

Since that place was his domain—and Priam had easily obtained his first comet by using his influence within it—he was completely confident that he could help everyone with this task.

Now, however, doing so had become absolutely essential.

That place contained an infinite number of celestial bodies, and even if he wanted to, Priam couldn’t possibly control everything by himself.

So, with several Sages controlling those celestial bodies and establishing new connections, he would continuously receive an immense amount of points.

And that wasn’t all: everything would have +300% efficiency, while Priam would receive half of everything generated. It was as if each Sage were receiving a direct +150% bonus, which was already incredible.

His allies would have an astronomical natural advantage over any other Mage in the world. Meanwhile, Priam himself would benefit immensely from this entire process.

’So... this is the true power of a World Mage...’ Priam murmured inwardly, his eyes shining with ecstasy.