Ascension of the last Celestial

Soft sunrays shone through the gap in the dark curtains, lightly illuminating a large, luxurious room. At its center rested a massive, king-sized bed that could easily hold multiple grown adults at the same time.

Lying on the bed, covered by soft velvet blankets, was a boy. He possessed long, snow-white hair that reached nearly to the middle of his back. Protruding from his head were two onyx-black horns, which over the years had grown to be around twenty centimeters long, curving elegantly backward.

His eyes fluttered open as the morning light pierced the room. They were a beautiful, vibrant purple with sharp, vertical slits. His striking irises, paired with long eyelashes and refined facial features, created an image of a handsome young man with a touch of feminine beauty, a look that would undoubtedly bloom fully once he grew older.

Woken by the sun, he sat up and pushed the blankets aside, revealing a physique packed with dense, compressed muscles that no ordinary fifteen-year-old had any business possessing. Standing at an impressive 180 centimeters, he easily towered over anyone his age. His build leaned toward the sleek and agile rather than the bulky, yet the sheer, latent strength hidden underneath his skin was undeniable.

He let out a soft sigh, slightly frustrated that the sun had disturbed his sleep so early. "No matter," he murmured.

The moment the words left his lips, his body vanished from the mattress, leaving the space he had just occupied completely empty. He instantly reappeared inside the luxurious bathroom attached to his quarters. The transition between the two locations was seamless—as if he had never existed on the bed in the first place. There was no disruption in the ambient mana, nor any of the visual distortions that usually accompanied standard spatial teleportation.

Leaning against the marble sink, Valerian stared at his slitted purple eyes in the mirror. He rested his right hand against his chin, marveling at his own reflection with a smirk. ’God damn... I really just keep getting handsomer.’

Before he could waste another hour admiring himself, a routine that had practically become a morning ritual, a soft, polite knock echoed from the door, followed by the gentle voice of a maid.

"Young Master Valerian, His Majesty requests your presence at breakfast to celebrate your birthday."

’Right, it’s my birthday... I turn fifteen today.’

"I will be right there," Valerian called back from the bathroom. Hearing his confirmation, the maid’s footsteps faded down the hall. "Haah, better make this quick."

He stepped under the shower to wash up. As the warm water cascaded over his shoulders, he couldn’t stop his mind from drifting back to his very first day in the palace, ten years ago.

"What would you say if I told you I am going to adopt you?"

The king’s sudden proposal had left his five-year-old self completely stunned. He hadn’t expected the monarch to offer adoption; in fact, the phrasing made it clear the decision had practically already been finalized by the crown.

"I... I don’t think I can follow?" Valerian had stammered.

Hearing the boy’s confusion, King Helias had smiled gently and explained. "Do you remember the elf standing beside the throne earlier?" At the mention of the elf, Valerian had remembered him vividly, especially those void-like, terrifying black eyes. He had offered the king a tight nod.

"Good. That is Arken. He has been my personal butler since I was a little boy. But do you know what makes him truly special? He possesses a unique skill. While having a unique skill is rare in its own right, his is extraordinary. Arken can see through any secret, any illusion, and any lie—the absolute truth is always revealed to him. And with it, he can perceive the status screen of any individual."

At the mention of the status screen, cold sweat had broken out across Valerian’s back. Panic had seized him at the thought of a stranger knowing about his forbidden Celestial race and divine dragon bloodline.

"After our meeting in the hall, he went ahead and transcribed exactly what he saw when he looked at you," the king had continued, opening a polished wooden drawer at the side of his desk. He pulled out a crisp piece of paper and slid it across the desk.

With trembling, nervous eyes, Valerian had scanned the written text:

[Status Window]

[Name: Valerian von Astrea]

[Age: 5]

[Titles: ???, Child of Mana]

[Race: ??? 60% | ??? Dragon 40% (Hybrid)]

[Bloodline: ??? Dragon]

[Core: Rank G+]

[Affinities: Space, Cosmic Fire]

[Attributes]

[Vitality: F-]

[Strength: G+]

[Agility: G+]

[Dexterity: G+]

[Intelligence: G]

[Mana: F+]

[Charm: S+]

[Unique Skill]

[Law Breaker]

’Huh?’

Tilting his head in profound confusion, Valerian had looked back up at the king, who was currently sporting a wide, intrigued grin.

"Something like this has never happened before," King Helias had chuckled. "In the hundred-plus years that I have known Arken, his unique skill has never failed to read a target’s information. Yet, when he looks at you, the system itself censors your very identity."

Rattled by the revelation that the butler’s absolute appraisal had been completely blocked by his innate Celestial heritage, Valerian hadn’t known what to say.

"I know about the orphanage, Valerian. I know exactly what happened there," the king had said, his tone turning incredibly earnest. "To be completely frank, you have no one left. No family, no friends, not even a place you can call home. But I am offering to give all of that back to you. Be it a soft bed, warm meals, or the familiar love of a parent, my wife and I are ready to officially adopt you as our son. The only thing I ask in return is that when you grow strong, you protect our kingdom and the people living within it. That is all I want."

’He’s right... I am completely alone,’ Valerian had realized. ’But... maybe I can actually trust him.’

After a few minutes of heavy silence, with the king patiently letting him process his thoughts, Valerian had made his choice. "Okay. I accept."

From that moment on, his life had moved at a breakneck pace. He was introduced to the Queen of the Solaria Kingdom, Freya Solaria. To his surprise, she was extraordinarily kind, and honestly, a bit too affectionate. She would frequently squeeze his cheeks until they turned bright red and insist that he sit on her lap, completely unbothered by the fact that he wasn’t her biological child, or even entirely human.

A year after his adoption, Queen Freya became pregnant and gave birth to their first daughter, Elara Solaria. The entire kingdom celebrated her healthy birth with a week-long festival. On that note, the general public was never informed that the king had adopted a child from the woods; the news was kept strictly confidential, shared only among the highest-ranking nobles. This wasn’t because Helias or Freya wanted to hide him, but rather because it was Valerian’s own decision to remain within the safety of the castle walls rather than stepping into the public eye as a royal prince.

Valerian was provided with the greatest magic tutors the kingdom had to offer, though he didn’t truly need them. As the Child of Mana, anything relating to the arcane came to him as naturally as breathing. And just like that, ten years had passed, surrounded by parents who loved him as their own blood, and a little sister who stubbornly refused to leave his side most of the time.

Recalling the warmth of the past decade, Valerian couldn’t help but smile beneath the running water, feeling incredibly lucky to have found such a family. But aside from his new bonds, the most drastic changes lay within his own power.

’It’s been a while,’ he thought. ’Status.’

A translucent, golden screen materialized before his eyes:

[Status Window]

[Name: Valerian von Astrea]

[Age: 15]

[Titles: Last Celestial, Child of Mana, Prince of Solaria]

[Race: Celestial 60% | Cosmic Dragon 40% (Hybrid)]

[Bloodline: Celestial Dragon]

[Core: Rank S-]

[Affinities: Space, Cosmic Fire]

[Attributes]

[Vitality: S-]

[Strength: S-]

[Agility: S-]

[Dexterity: S-]

[Intelligence: S-]

[Mana: SS-]

[Charm: SS]

[Unique Skill]

[Law Breaker]

Following his successful breakthrough the previous night, his attributes looked drastically different compared to the day he had first arrived at the palace. It was completely understandable, considering ten full years of relentless training had passed.

His gaze drifted down toward his Unique Skill: [Law Breaker]. Over the years, he had conducted numerous private experiments to test the exact parameters of the ability, and to describe the results as overwhelming would be a massive understatement.

The skill literally allowed him to manipulate and rewrite the fundamental laws of reality. Making water solid without freezing it? Trivial. Making an object float? He just had to temporarily suspend the law of gravity acting upon it. Avoiding damage from a devastating fire spell? He could simply command the laws of physics to remove the heat from the flame. It was a literal cheat code.

Of course, Valerian wasn’t yet at a level where he could cause an entire kingdom to turn to liquid, or force the mana inside an enemy’s core to transform into oxygen. But just conceptualizing what he would be capable of in the future filled his veins with pure excitement.

After confirming his monumental progress, he stepped out of the shower and held out an empty hand. From absolute nothingness, a clean towel materialized directly into his palm.

This was a specialized trick he had developed using his Space Affinity, a private, pocket dimension that only he could access, which he used to store various items. Technically, he knew it was possible to manipulate the flow of time within that space, making it move at a completely different pace than the outside world. However, manipulating time on a dimensional scale was still far beyond his current capabilities. Even as the Child of Mana, he was still only at the beginning of his true journey.

After drying himself off, he teleported directly in front of his massive wardrobe, selecting a simple black, loose-fitting tunic accented with golden embroidery. Pairing it with comfortable grey trousers, he casually tied his long white hair back into a sleek ponytail, leaving a few loose strands to perfectly frame his handsome face.

Finally ready, he opened his bedroom doors and made his way through the palace corridors, eager to join his family at the breakfast table.