The boost was because I was getting the Blessing of the Moon on my Blessing Magic, which I was also administering to Ice Phoenix’s Blessing Element, each of us was increasing the effect of the other’s magic!

There were no Seeds, no Contracts with Blessing Magic. Nobody would be silly enough to expend such a Blessing on the Blessing Element, losing so many benefits from multiplied power. It was almost universally treated as a massive combat Buff to a fighting Element.

Which was the route to personal power, sure, but not the route to Greater Power. If the Blessing Element’s effects were doubled in power, what would that mean to those who received such a boon?

Broader and low power for one’s allies and servants...

The Blessings I was bringing down, instead of dissipating at all, began to get stronger and stronger as the Blessing upon me magnified that Elemental Affinity for me. I might not have had the Element itself, but it could still affect my attunement and ability to wield that Element when I cared to do so.

The Sublime Chord wrapped it all up, harmonized it, and delivered the magic to where it was best suited to be.

Notes echoed and re-echoed off crystalline thorns sharper than any metal. Four Imperial Avians tilted their heads back and joined the Song, while Lightning flashed, Thunder joined all our hearts as one, and the stars fell from the Heavens to Bless us all.

Normally, the effectiveness of the Blessing was dependent upon the Will and discipline of the recipient. That wasn’t a problem here, with Sages and Emperors. The weakest thing here was the Ruler-Class Roses Contracted to me, and they were completely harmonized with my magic. Everything else was an Emperor... none of this magic was going to get away.

+150%, or x 2.5, was a nice addition to any Element. +375% was better... and the Stars Blessing of +50% to all other non-Dark Elements not affected by Sun or Moon was now up to +125%, making the Stars Blessing more potent than most Sun or Moon Blessings...

The world had never seen a Blessing as powerful as the one I was administering right now, and those the Ice Phoenix would administer in the future. The Fire Phoenix’s ability to Flame-Heal was also being magnified to nigh-godly levels!

The Luans were not as gifted as the Phoenixes. Their Fire/Ice, Light/Air, and Healing Elements were all getting magnified, however, benefitting from the Boon of the Phoenix. Their Air and Light Elements would place them firmly among the top in the entire world now.

The Roses were visibly being refined as their Ice/Fire, Plant, and Earth Elements were so treated. Increased metallic threads wound through the Vines of parents and progeny alike as they digested their Blessings.

I popped open an eyeball as we reached about ninety percent done, noting that Flowing Silver High Emperor had been alerted to what we were doing and had popped up, towering over His descendants as He stretched out over yonder, watching all this taking place.

Thunderbird was perched next to Him on a roost yanked up out of the ground; He’d come up to about the shoulder of the Nine-Tailed Silver Fox High Emperor if the latter was standing. They were definitely conversing by the tremble of Psychic power about them, but it was Emperor business, and none of mine.

However, the fact that I could Bless a True Emperor I wasn’t Oathbound to was certainly going to revolutionize something...

I could tell the High Emperor was enjoying himself. A Beast Realm Emperor naturally had no experience with Human society, and we just seemed to be doing strange new stuff all the time! After a zillion years of watching Beasts do the same-old-same-old, it looked like He’d gotten a taste for the chaotic pacing the Netherworld invasion had stirred up.

Us Humans, always with the something so strange and new and ground-breaking...

One of the backbones of the Church of Light and the Acropolis was the use of the Blessing Element. This was now firmly in my court, and at a level of effectiveness beyond anything they could hope to equal. It was a pure support Element, taking a special mindset to Awaken, making a person a less effective combatant while simultaneously increasing the prowess of all those around them. They would be considered an important person to protect, not a powerful combatant in their own right, and so subtly lose status and influence for taking such an Element, even as they were greatly desired as an underling.

The Acropolis had only turned that around by having sworn Knights serving its Healers and indoctrinating the Knights to obey them. In most other organizations, such Healers and Blessers would be secondary to those with the muscle, obeying instead of being obeyed.

Not a problem with a Typeless Mage. Blessing Magic was just one more way to use spells in downtime...

On a personal level, this wasn’t draining me of anywhere near as much raw Mana as it could have. That was mostly because the three additional Heaven-tier Seeds were pulling in Mana at a cumulative rate, all of which was being swirled and ignited and turned into Typeless Arcane Mana inside. My Mana Regeneration had increased radically.

Meditation allowed a mage to get all their Mana back in eight hours guaranteed if they could hold it that long, the same as sleeping. However, most of that Mana came at the back end as the hours went by, having an accelerant effect the longer you were Meditating.

I was basically in Waking Meditation all the time, so I had a single rate of Mana Regeneration. That was being magnified by my Heaven Seeds to eight-fold normal, meaning I could get all of my Mana back in only one hour.

Since I had over seven hundred thousand or so points of Mana at this time, that was not a small thing. Nearly 12k Mana a minute, almost 200 points a second, was an immense flow of incoming power. A ‘typical’ Sage spell costing 2401 Mana would be paid for in only twelve seconds! Archmage-tier spells were basically free to Cast, I regained the spent Mana so quickly...

It completely trumped the 6/second rate I’d been getting off my Heaven Pact, and the additional 2/second from Zeben’s Sage-tier Mana Renewal, plus the 7/second (increased to 11/second with my Firefrost Seed, and 20/second with all Seeds) of my ‘natural’ Renewal Rate.

Mana/second might not have been the highest in the world, but it was definitely not slow! After all, there were Sages out there with five Elements, swimming in over a million Mana between them...

------

When the Blessings were finished all the way around, the Fire and Ice Emperors withdrew back to the Mortal Realm through a single joint Portal. There were snowcapped mountains in the Fire Phoenix Emperor’s Firelands, and those would become the new nesting site of the Ice Phoenix Emperor.

If The Ice Emperor took umbrage, all it was going to take was both of the Phoenix Emperors appearing together now, and He was going to back off. Phoenix harmonics plus almost five times the strength in their Ice/Fire match-up meant like a x22 boost in power. They could totally take The Ice Emperor on now, and with the False Stars Rifling method, outlast His superior Mana capacity as they did so, plus they had incredible Healing on their side.

The Rose Emperors went with them, but they were not far apart now, and more Imperial Roses might be coming in the future.

The Luan Emperors were, for the moment, basically at the top of the world in Air Magic. While that wasn’t going to last with Thunderbird and His six Stormcrown attendants going next, they’d also received major boosts to their other Elements, and now were True Emperors in Fire and Ice, without any doubts, and they benefited from the same species harmonics as the Phoenixes.

Thunderbird and His Great Ruler attendants had watched it all, and would be ready when I could bring forth these Blessings in another week.

---

A week later...

“HEALER FAE,” Thunderbird addressed me. There was a shade more respect in His voice than before. “DO YOU RECOMMEND THE MOON BLESSING FOR OUR AIR ELEMENT, OR THUNDER?”

Flowing Silver was looking on, probably curious about my reply.

I lifted a hand, and brought it down.

A Thunderbolt descended screaming from the sky, crashing into the Pyramid and was absorbed harmlessly. The boom of its stroke broke over us a moment later.

“Where there is Air and Lightning, there is Thunder, Your Imperial Majesty. Wield them as one, and Thunder will bear the might of both Lightning and Air combined.”

He actually blinked at me a couple of times, turned that over in His head, and nodded slowly.

“THEN MOON To LIGHTNING, SUN TO AIR, AND STARS TO THUNDER AND VOID, IF VOID BE EVEN AFFECTED.” His words were directed at the fourscore Commander and Ruler Stormcrown Eagles here as much as I, and they all agreed quickly. Void was based on one’s Will. Even if the Element was reinforced, the Will decided everything. The only thing Tempering a Human’s Void Stars did was grant them more Mana to use, which was still totally worth it.

The Commanders didn’t even have Void yet, but it was moot. Lightning, Air, and Thunder were the important Elements here.

“As Your Imperial Majesty desires,” I acknowledged simply. Attempting to hide their eagerness behind aloofness, the Great Raptors all headed for perches on the Pyramid.

“CAN YOU ADMINISTER THESE BLESSINGS TO A HIGH EMPEROR, HEALER FAE?” Flowing Silver asked me before I flitted off to take my position above them.

“With utmost respect, Your Imperial Majesty, this one does not think so. Your Majesty’s Mana capacity is simply too vast. The effect of the Blessings would be diluted at least fifty-fold, barely something Your Majesty could feel. Yet once it is done, it can never be applied again in the future.

“This one is not sure this one will ever reach a point where this one can administer such a Blessing, but Your Majesty knows that if this one can, this one will let Him know.”

He nodded slowly, doubtless having expected that reply. There was simply too vast a gulf in true power between us. The Blessings let a True Emperor hit above their weight, but it did not give them the physical power or raw Mana of a High Emperor. He simply had too much goddamn power for me to affect it with the magic I could wield. It would be like trying to perma-Buff a god and thinking it would stick.

“I WILL BRING MY DESCENDANTS HERE IN ONE WEEK, THAT YOU MAY BLESS THEM,” He stated, and I bowed in midair in acknowledgement.

“Of course, Your Imperial Majesty.” He knew that only a Blessing of the Moon would be required, as both Psychic and Void Elements worked on Will. The only Element the Many-Tailed Silver Foxes had which could be Blessed was Air. “This one recommends none lower than six Tails, or part of the Blessing may be wasted.” Six Tails would put them solidly at Great Commander, with Wills surpassing most experienced Archmages, able to fully utilize the Blessing’s power.

He nodded, and I was effectively dismissed to attend to Thunderbird Emperor and His descendants.

I zipped up to my place in the sky, and the Heaven and Earth Seals spun into place in The Broom Closet once again. Power gathered as the nebulae-filled sky opened up, and the Blessings of the Sun, Moon, and Stars came down.

Thunderbird would be back on top of the world in Lightning and Air, and if used with them, Thunder. Leviathan Emperor could equal Him in Thunder with the Blessing I would administer to Him, but that was fine. Thunderbird would be at High Emperor power in Air, the Element most important to all flying Avians, and in Lightning, the Element He Himself valued the most, and for which He was the most famous.

Thunder came after Air and Lightning to the Stormcrown Eagles, and Void was gained at their Ruler Level, last of all. I was not wasting the Stars Blessing by administering it early. Thunderbird’s descendants, as well as Himself, were going to rise in power once again, and woe to the Dragons who contested them!...