All good things eventually came to an end.
The dark miasma that surrounded him for an unknowable amount of time gradually started to disperse and fade.
The golden light of Messier 87 eventually shone on Ves yet again, much to his regret.
He wished he could have immersed himself in the darkness a bit longer. It had been so easy for him to connect a lot of dots and recognize how so many parts of himself already shared an existing relationship with darkness!
Ves had emerged from the darkness as a different person.
He did not feel as if he lost any part of himself. Instead, he had the illusion that he had always been incomplete, and that his embrace of darkness had just managed to fill up a lot of missing parts.
He was still not quite complete, though.
This was because he only managed to identify and resonate with a handful of concepts related to darkness.
Ves felt an intimate connection with conflict, disorder, secrets, adversity, weakness, concealment and a few other related meanings.
None of them sounded benign or pleasant, but Ves did not regard them as undesirable. Each of these words had always been an intricate part of his life. He would have never been able to become the mech designer he was today if he was not shaped by all of these concepts.
Ves understood that if he wanted to maintain or strengthen his relationship with darkness, he would have to continue to live his life in a way that conformed to the spirit of these keywords.
It shouldn't be too difficult to maintain his new state. The real challenge lay in forging ahead.
Without the handy miasma of darkness at his disposal, it would become a lot harder for him to develop this brand-new aspect of his nascent domain.
He would have to put a lot of work into progressing his design philosophy, gaining new inspiration and subjecting himself to a lot of adversity.
Nonetheless, his vastly improved understanding of darkness also gave him the confidence that he would definitely be able to master its greater potential in time.
As the heavenly authority was about to retreat now that it fulfilled its mandatory obligation, Ves looked forward to getting out of the sight of the shadow of the Subjugation King.
Ves grinned in a vindictive way. "This isn't what you expected, eh? I am so sorry that I managed to spoil myself. I am tainted now according to you. I guess I have desecrated myself so much that I am probably the least valuable 'worthy slave' in your collection now. I hope I have taught you a lesson about messing with humanity. We may be weak, but we shall never bow down to your tyranny!"
The God King had reined in his temper by now. The Subjugation King recognized what had happened and accepted the outcome.
What else could he do now that the heavens had taken action?
Though the Subjugation King was practically incapable of feeling regret, he did convey a sense of profound disappointment towards Ves.
"#$&#%&$@%%$@$."
"YOU WERE WEAK AND IGNORANT, BUT YOU HAD GREAT POTENTIAL AS A WORTHY SLAVE. I EXERCISED MY POWER TO PLANT A MARK OF OWNERSHIP ON YOU. THROUGH YOUR FOOLISH AND SHORTSIGHTED ACTIONS, YOU HAVE TURNED IT INTO A MARK OF SHAME. YOU HAVE DOOMED YOURSELF TO DESTRUCTION AT MY HAND. THE FIRST ACTION I SHALL UNDERTAKE ONCE I REACH YOUR DIM AND MISERABLE SEA OF STARS IS TO TRACK YOU DOWN AND PUNISH YOU FOR THE GRAVE INSULT THAT YOU HAVE DELIVERED UNTO MYSELF AND THE GREAT LIGHTHOUSE."
Ves had a very simple response to the Subjugation King's parting remark.
He raised his middle finger at the alien!
There was no need for him to explain the meaning of this quintessential human gesture. His attitude and open defiance provided enough clues that this was anything but a flattering move!
It was over.
The empty heavenly paradise disappeared.
Ves returned to the command center in an instant. The shadow of the Subjugation King was nowhere to be seen.
As he started to take stock of the situation, he quickly learned that the Dominion of Man had just completed her profound restoration and transformation.
The giant rainbow-colored beam that shot through the hull had bestowed everyone with the gifts they deserved!
Even if the multi-modal lightning tribulation skipped out on the most arduous 9th round, the dreadnought and everyone related to the vessel still performed above and beyond to make it past the final wave. Each of them clearly deserved additional recognition for their noteworthy contributions.
The heavens may be harsh, but they were ultimately fair.
Ves became amazed by how much improvement the giant rainbow beam had left in its wake.
The crew of the Dominion of Man each became stronger than ever. It did not matter whether they knew nothing about cultivation. From the moment they tied their lives to the ship, they had automatically become contract cultivators.
Not only did they receive a round of direct strengthening, but the comprehensive evolution of the Dominion of Man herself also fed back into significant boosts to the fleeters who had forged a Bloodfire Pact with the vessel!
Alas, not everyone had been willing to place their dedication to the dreadnought on top of every other concern, so they clearly missed out on the latter benefit.
Regardless, no one was truly unhappy with what they received. It was already unimaginable for mortals to feel as if they had magically grown stronger, smarter, tougher and more prepared to face the tough challenges ahead!
Everyone gradually began to smile and laugh as they celebrated their survival and embraced their new and improved dreadnought!
Ves still possessed temporary guest access to the Dominion of Man's control system, so he activated a few projections and quickly inspected a lot of different data points.
"Masterwork."
He could already feel and see the difference, but he wanted to take a peek at other parts of the massive hull before he felt confident enough to make this conclusion.
The Dominion of Man had successfully been elevated to a masterwork. Her vastly restored though not quite complete hull exuded an undeniable charm that signified that her overall quality had reached a transcendent level.
Even if it was just the second rung of Senfovon's Ladder of Craftsmanship, the appearance of a masterwork dreadnought was far more significant than the emergence of another god mech!
The reason why this was the case was because there was already an existing pipeline of the latter.
The difficulty of producing another god mech was insanely high, but at least humanity managed to produce a hundred of them! The method to create another one was no longer a mystery.
The Dominion of Man held an entirely different meaning. She was the first and only living warship and Carmine dreadnought for the time being!
Ves was vaguely aware that masterwork starships were not unique. Many Star Designers dabbled in this area for one reason or another.
However, Ves was not aware of any masterwork that possessed the exceedingly mighty combination of size and power as a dreadnought!
He had definitely broken a record in this aspect!
As the reality of the outcome of the lightning tribulation settled into his mind, a deep sense of satisfaction flooded his mind.