This continent below seemed not to follow any of the normal conventions of continents in this realm, for one it was so large it defied all concepts of size when it came to lower
continents.
There were no mountains on this land, nor were there trees, nothing could grow on its surface because its nature was alien to this world, and despite its massive size, it floated on the surface of the ocean. The inhabitants of this land were stuck with exchanging the rare resources they could find on this land for food, weapons, and other living necessities.
They were stuck in a vicious cycle where they had to perform back-breaking labor for just the barest necessities for survival, as they fought against the land and the Calamities that inhabited its dark corners, despite all that when the time was ripe, Ascendants would swoop down and gather the youngest and strongest of their numbers and send them to other continents to be used as fodder in the endless war.
Ascendants were not afraid of the number of Blood Bounds running out because they would regularly gather mortals from other continents to this forsaken land where in a short while, the alien nature of this place would corrupt their bodies, mutating them into Blood Bounds whose distinctive traits were their heights, enhanced strengths and bronze scales on their bodies.
At lower levels, these scales only covered a small part of their forearms and spine, but as they grew stronger, the scales covered more of their bodies and hardened like armor. With this natural defensive armor and their increased strength, they could fight and survive in harsh conditions, but the inability of any of their members to become Ascendants meant they would forever be slaves.
Usually, continents grow in size when they ascend to higher ranking, but the greatest lower continent in existence could not reach a thousandth of the size of this one, meaning the number of Blood Bound in this single location was in the tens of billions, despite the horrifying death rate.
Rowan kept his presence shielded and descended toward the continents below, his golden robe rippled as if it was being attracted by the continent below, their similar roots drawing them together, the bones of his children called to him.
Before he stepped foot on this land, Rowan would not have cared about this but after eight months of understanding the plight of these mortals, especially those who had unknowingly shared his blood due to being corrupted by the shattered bodies of his Ouroboros Serpents, he could not wipe them out as easily as before, a small part of him saw them as his children.
He wondered if there was a small part of him that wanted to replace those that he had lost with these new ones. Rowan shook his head, surely he was not that lost and jaded. His children were irreplaceable.
Rowan was at a crossroads, he could make two choices, the first would be to go ahead, integrate this land into his Natal Treasure, become an Ascendant, and take the third part of his consciousness, pushing the battle against this world to the next stage or he could slowly strip his power from this land leaving just an empty shell behind, the Blood Bound would lose their fleshy body powers and when he integrated with this land, he would not be harming any of the mortals.
The second option would mean he would have to give up a sizable portion of his advantage in this conflict. After nearly a million years of slumber, his enemies had become stronger, the Eye of Time had grown, and the Undying was stirring as Ascendancy fell.
Without completing his consciousness he had no leverage against these forces, and every single second he could use to gain more power was necessary.
Was he willing to give it all up for mortals who had only a tainted version of his bloodline? Were they worth the sacrifice?
He could be done with gathering a third part of his consciousness, unlocking more of his abilities, and becoming an ascendant in less than a year, or he could spend maybe four to five years slowly stripping away his bloodline from mortals who would perish not long after he
was gone.
The answer to this was so simple, yet why did he hesitate?
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