The few remaining men of the Pangu Lineage felt saddened and assumed of their fellow gender and family members. The thoughts on their minds were practically written on their faces:
'How is it possible for so little of us all to qualify to be brought back to life? And how are the few of us supposed to populate the Lineage now?'
While all of them enjoyed the idea of being studs, they're still worried about genetics and longevity, as there might not be enough for the next generations.
"There is no need to worry about things. Through providence, there are exactly nine of you remaining, and each of you has a different specialty. Henceforth, the Pangu Lineage, like the Morningstar and Radiant Lineages, shall be renamed as the Immortal Lineage!"
Shuangtian spoke majestically, her decree coming to life in front of her as the pen wrote, but this time, it didn't launch into effect since she wasn't done. Rather, the pen listed her first sentence as the first term and then numbered the second one while waiting for her to speak.
"Henceforth, each one of the men before me shall act as the head of a new branch! Fengtian, Litian and Dongtian will be the three heads of the Barbarian God branch. Gangtian, Wutian and Batian will be the three heads of the Titan King branch. Huotian, Shuitian and Mutian shall be the heads of the Elemental Golem Lord branch!"
The face of the nine changed as they understood that Shuangtian was reshuffling the Lineage from top to bottom. Establishing them as branch heads meant that for the newly christened Immortal Lineage, they would be the ancestors of their branches, starting from them and spreading out to the future generations!
This was an unprecedented honor!
All of them, even Fengtian and her own father Litian, knelt down with respect and loyalty. "We obey the Jade Empress!"
"Finally, the Immortal Lineage shall abide by the following creeds..."
After that, Shangtian listed the new laws for the Lineage which mirrored what Draco and Eva had established in their own Lineage, making everyone nod. With the three main Lineages abiding by these humane rules, it would be a joke if they couldn't rise up and take back the world from both the Primordials and the sub-humans.
The decree came into effect, causing the nine men to become officially recognized ancestors of their branches as well as the Lineage name to change. To cement this, Shuangtian finally displayed her bloodline tree which overwhelmed all those of the Pangu Lineage present.
Like those of the Morningstar and Radiant Lineages, their bloodline values rose crazily, only that Shuangtian didn't have as many scruples as Eva or Draco. She directly raised the 9 branch leaders to 99% and the mature women above age 18 to a base of 90% while the various children were raised to 80%.
These changes were the greatest among the Lineages of today. The 9 men instantly became younger and more robust, Fengtian especially returning to his prime youth of 20, his robust handsomeness enough to put even his nephew to shame.
The women stayed feminine, but their power was no longer something that could be suppressed by others nor could they be bullied by their male counterparts. Given the gender of their new leadership at the helm and the change of rules, that would have been unthinkable, though their rise in power cemented.
The change in the children wasn't visible, as they were still in the process of slow awakening. However, their future would now be far brighter than it had been before, not to mention that now actually had futures seeing as they were dead previously.
At this point, the core members knew it was time to exit as they left the Immortal Lineage to sort its internal affairs. Only AP, Tunder and Armonia stayed behind as they were not simply bestowals, but actual avatars of Pangu Lineage so they needed to handle leadership.
It was also because they were avatars that Shuangtian refrained from turning them into branch heads. Putting them on the same level as the 9 men would be an insult to those three whose importance to the Lineage was on the level of Supreme Elders.
The rest of the core members spent time touring China once more, as Shuangtian handled the establishment of the Lineage, the creation of their private pocket space and the reconnection with the Chinese government.
In regards to the last point there was a need to greatly shift the political status quo as the ones currently in power were remnants of a worse era. The replacement would be chosen carefully to take the roles of leadership so that the Pangu Lineage could remain in the shadows... for now.
"And it will only get worse when we defeat the Primordials and return Worldly Energy to Earth. Having stat feedback is one thing, since it's simply raw power without the skills. However, Worldly Energy would allow any bloke with a bit of skill to begin using magic and skills unique to Boundless freely." Shuangtian's finished the explanation.
Misery nodded in understanding. The core members had long come together and speculated about this problem, which was one of the reasons they were so engrossed in conquering the main plane in Boundless while suppressing the playerbase.
Soon these toothless tigers would become behemoths if not dealt with properly, but that was also not too bad because if common players could benefit from Worldly Energy, how could the bloodline holders also not gain something?
The troublesome Bloodline Wnergy which had long shackled their abilities would now be replaced by Worldly Energy which was abundant, allowing them to freely achieve many things which were formerly impossible.
The Ultimate Manifestation technique would no longer be something requiring humongous effort to find energy for, easily achievable with a snap of the finger. The summoning of powerful elemental golems would be easy for the Immortal Lineage members, making they capable of summoning entire armies.
Casting magic would be easy for those of the mage line of the Merlin Lineage among other plentiful examples.
The future was full of huge changes and they were currently in the calm before the storm.
"Apart from me, who else did you choose?" Misery couldn't help but ask.
"Since you asked, let me gather them. It would be better to let you all know at once anyway." Draco pondered and opened a portal that caused two fellows to be spat out beside Misery, while Kiran walked over obediently when Eva and Shuangtian looked at him.
Misery, Kiran, Luke and Gage stood in a row, glancing at each other with hints of understanding.
"Alright, you four represent the best talents of the Merlin, Buddha, Zeus and Anansi Lineages. As such, we have chosen you to become the incarnations of your respective progenitors. Any complaints or disagreements?" Eva explained straightforwardly, using her aura to suppress them.
The four fellows couldn't help but have their lips twitch. Even if they had a problem, with how the First Lady Boss was glaring at them like a tigress, how would they dare to voice it out?
"What about the other two?" Kiran asked as he glanced at the empty spots beside Gage.
Understanding what he meant, Draco slapped his forehead. "My so-called father was not very good at raising children but he was pretty good at killing enemies. He had beaten those two such that they scattered to the wind. Heck, we are infinitely lucky to already have Gage here."
"Should we actively look for them?" Luke inquired succinctly.
The Evil Trio hesitated, but it was Misery who spoke. "Nah, no need. We all came together naturally because fate willed it and precisely because it was fateful, everything clicked together. Give it time, I'm sure they will appear just as Gage did."
Everyone couldn't help but nod and feel that this was the right way to handle things.
"Fine then, we'll wait until all six of you have gathered and our Lineages to have stabilized before handling the incarnation bestowal. Until then, you all should return to Boundless and continue our conquest there." Draco said as he teleported the entire group of core members from wherever they were in China back to the Immortal Lineages backyard.
Luckily, no one was doing anything that couldn't be canceled at the time, but Draco already knew that. He then flicked his finger and opened a portal that led back to the Central Country, specifically to the Purgatory Gaming Studio.
"Holidays over guys, back to work!" Draco declared like a cruel taskmaster, making all the core members groan.