"With such a heaven defying beast, how do I get it to acknowledge me as its master? With its intelligence, it couldn't be that the first person it sees will be its mother, can it?"

'You're right, with the Celestial Hamster's intelligence, it can obviously tell the difference between its species and another even as a newborn. In fact, this egg is a little larger than it should be, so it might be even more troublesome.

'That said, Celestial Hamsters don't choose their masters based on strength or battle prowess, they choose based on intelligence. If it thinks you're smart enough, it'll choose you. That simple.'

"Interesting" Dyon pondered for a moment before asking a question. "How do I hatch it?"

'The Celestial Hamster is an ancient era beast, just like the Celestial Deer once was before their bloodline declined. If you want to hatch it, you need Primordial Energy, or a suitable replacement for it. Luckily for you, your Inner World happened to accumulate a lot of it.

'Whatever you do, do not try to establish a soul pact with the Celestial Hamster before it hatches. Not only can it circumvent such an attempt, such an underhanded tactic will make it hate you forever.'

"Alright." Dyon nodded before allowing the egg into his Inner World, then he turned his senses inward to see if there were any changes.

Currently, his Inner World was quite barren, but the land was brimming with vitality, as though it was only waiting for vegetation to be planted. Other than some hills here and there, it was mostly flat, golden lands. In addition, in corresponding with his cultivation level, the land itself was only about a few dozen meters in every direction from the center.

In all likelihood, the land would mature a bit more before his soul and wills were unlocked. From what Dyon could see, his soul manifestation was still meditating silently in the air, and there were also 4 primordial yins circulating him. This gave Dyon another boost in morale, but the fourth was definitely Amphorae's. He found it odd that he didn't see Luna's, but he brushed it off as being a result of her special constitution. After all, so many powerful clans were seeking her out, maybe he wasn't worthy of taking possession of her Primordial Yin.

However, despite all this, the most shocking event happening currently was the rampaging Primordial Energy. An endless supply seemed to be funneling directly into the small egg, causing it to wobble every now and then. It seemed that it wouldn't be too long before it hatched at this pace.

Normally, it would have taken the Celestial Hamster a few more millions of years to hatch because Primordial Energy was practically extinct in these times. But now, it might only be a few more days until Dyon could see its furry and adorable appearance. After who knew how much time the little hamster spent in its egg, it was probably more excited than Dyon.

"Lastly old man, I need some aurora stones. Are there any here as a reward?"

'There is a spiritual vein you can take as a reward, but it's nowhere near the size of the Angel Clan one. The Angel Clan vein could produce even dao level energy stones, meaning even Earth aurora stones weren't an impossibility. However, these can at most create essence level energy stones. There's potential for growth, especially since you have the Energy Core though. That said, don't let anyone find out you have it, because even Emperor God Clans would go crazy for it.'

These weren't ancient times. Spiritual veins were especially rare. Even the spiritual vein of the Celestial Deer Sect was dug up and taken away by its enemies.

A spiritual vein capable of producing saint level energy stones was already the peak of this era. Some of the exceptionally powerful clans might have a spiritual vein capable of producing lower celestial level energy stones, but that was the absolute cap.

In truth, this wasn't only because of the era, but also because of the limitations of spiritual veins. If they became too large, they would cause vicious apparitions of heavens to descend and destroy them. This would also result in the destruction of the clan that owned them. Only the Energy Core was able to mitigate this.

This might seem odd. If even peak Emperor God clans could only produce lower celestial stones, then where do all of the high level stones come from?

At this point, it's important to separate the idea of energy stone mines from spiritual veins. The purpose of spiritual veins isn't to produce regular energy stones, but rather, to draw the energy of the universe toward a clan, making it easier to cultivate there. A by-product of this would be the various energy stone types that are created.

But, energy stone mines are different. They don't have the same restrictions as Spiritual veins because their abilities are much more focused. Their only reason for existing is to produce energy cultivation energy stones. As such, they don't produce things like Life stones and Aurora stones, and as such, don't deft heaven's laws too much. Thus, they're allowed to fully mature.

Essentially, the term "Energy Stones" has both a broad and narrow definition. The broad definition includes every energy stone in existence, while the narrow definition only includes the currency of the martial world.

...

After Dyon planted the spiritual vein within his Inner World, he suddenly felt that something within him had changed, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was.

It turns out that the spiritual vein reward was one often chosen by God Trial takers due to the poking and prodding of their various clans. So, for the greater good, they give up one of their rewards for it.

However, Dyon was definitely the first one to plant it within himself. As far as he knew, he had the only Inner World cultivating technique in existence. So, aside from his Demon Generals, no one else had the ability to do this. That said, Dyon didn't specify which treasures his Demon Generals should choose, so he had no idea if they acted the same way he did.

If they had though, their spiritual veins would be at an even lower level than Dyon's considering they didn't take the God trials. According to the old man, only the Emperor and God trials provided it as a reward, so his dream of having 3001 spiritual veins was dashed before it began.

Taking out a 5th level aurora stones, corresponding with the Lower Essence soul stage, Dyon removed his ragged clothes and replaced them with a fresh pair of black, rolled up sweats and a crisp white shirt, before strapping his massive sword to his back again.

After thinking about it a bit, he changed the appearance of his sword as well. It would be a shame if he went through so much trouble to hide his appearance, only to be exposed by his sword. He would change the appearance back when he was Dyon, but when he wasn't, it would appear to be a regular large black sword of the master level.

Although using the aurora stones was a heavy tax on himself, it was worth it.

**

"DYON!" Eli jumped up from his squatting position. He had just been inside of the spatial ring Dyon gave him, experimenting with a few new plant cross-sections when he heard Dyon's voice.

In the next instant, Delia flashed out as well, so Dyon had to deal with an overly tall lanky giant, and a petite woman jumping into his arms at the same time. However, he still smiled genuinely, he was happy to see them.

The three of them spent quite a long time talking. Dyon had long seen Delia and Eli as his own brother and sister, so there was no doubt that he missed them.

"Ah, we've taken up too much time." Delia said, covering her mouth. "There are a few people who miss you even more. Don't worry about us, we're happy here."

Although the cultivation room was quite plain, the spatial ring inner world was quite lively, so Dyon didn't doubt her words. It also seemed that Delia was already reaching the higher level of the middle saint realm. Since she had first grade meridians, this wasn't too surprising.

The staple of a true genius was making it to sainthood before 18, celestial with 100 years of cultivation, and dao formation with 1000 years of cultivation. The reason it was denotes as "years of cultivation" was because time spent in the trials were subtracted.

That aside, a person with first grade meridians had more than a 90% chance of accomplishing this, while someone with second grade meridians had about a 50% chance, and so on and so forth.

Either way, by now, Delia was well on her way to the celestial mark. After that, she could safely have her baby.

"I'll be heading out then." Dyon said with a smile. "I look forward to having a little nephew or niece soon." He grinned wildly before running away from the fists of the blushing couple.