Chapter 704: Lily's Alchemy 2, Spar!
"Damn!! Who was that? COME OUT!" the phantom man epic powerhouse shouted with anger.
"No use in shouting. I searched and couldn't find any presence beside the people of our groups," said the orbs lady epic powerhouse while shaking her head with a dark expression.
"That person should be at Epic-evolution stage as well, considering he managed to destroy the flower's barrier in such a short time," the phantom man spoke while gritting his teeth.
He then looked at the lady and spoke, "how about we work together? Because if we find another treasure and clash with each other like before, that unknown powerhouse could come again with their sneaky method and steal the treasure."
The orbs lady thought for a moment and nodded, "alright. However…how will we distribute the treasures we find from now on?"
Narrowing her eyes, she continued, "I have an idea if you don't have one."
"What?" the phantom man asked.
"We will take turns getting the next treasures. One your, one is mine. What do you think?"
"Alright," the phantom man nodded before saying, "then the next one will be…your."
"Okay," the lady nodded as both of them approached their groups and started moving together.
After spending a few days together in this adventure of theirs, those two powerhouses fell into love with each other as they experienced life and death situations against other epic powerhouses in this dimension rift. They decided to become life partners after going out.
Happy ever after.
….
"It's been two hours. Are you sure it's going well?" Dreevindo asked Lily with a bored expression as he sat at the round table.
"Shut up and sit at the corner," Lily said with a frown, "It's my first time doing this, so I am doing it slowly and carefully.
"Fine," Dreevindo shrugged and stood up moved towards the mystical pond to check it out.
Huarin was sitting crossed while training as she absorbed the pure orchos energy of this ark space and was making progress in her genealogy path.
Since the path was complicated, she would ask Dreevindo every now and then about all those points and roots on the genealogy path that she had to purify using Orchos energy.
On the other hand, several loud sounds were booming behind the mountain range as Athan and Mimi were sparring against each other.
Athan was practicing his skills and finding new ways to improve them. Mimi volunteered because she was the most powerful one in the group after Athan.
"What kind of genome power is that?" Athan asked as he dodged another sonic punch projection attack from a strange fluffy creature that looked like a panda. There were other colorful fluffy creatures around Mimi beside the panda.
Mimi chuckled and said, "Everyone walks on their unique genealogy path by making progress. The relic they would invoke is 70% up to their thought and style while they can acquire catalysts during adventuring and imbued their powers within their genealogy path."
"So those fluffy colorful creatures with various powers is your unique power that you are developing?" Athan asked with raised eyebrows.
"Hehe, yep," Mimi nodded with a grin, "If I ever become an Absolute Transcendent Mythos, other people would be able to use my developed genome power, which I would name, Mimi's Fluffy Kingdom."
Athan smiled and spoke, "you will definitely become one."
"Alright, now check out my ultimate attack," Mimi said as a fluffy and furry outfit covered her with two cat-like paws on her hands.
"Paws of Mystic Force."
Athan saw two one-hundred-meter giant paws materialized on top of Mimi as they shot towards him.
"That's big and fast," Athan was surprised, but he decided to clash head-on with it as he used his Zontheos Prime void frame and used his 2nd Void Art's skill, Oblivion Fist of Wisps.
"Brother Athan, this attack of mine is not a simple attack, hehe," Mimi said before both of their attacks clashed with each other.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM…*
Right when they classed, a strange repulsion force released from the paws with intense wind pressure.
*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOH..*
Athan was blown several meters away, but he suffered no injuries. On the other hand, the fist projectile of Athan turned into countless mouth wisps as they started biting through the paws.
However, the giant paws glowed as they released more power, and they managed to consume all wisps before shooting towards Athan.
"Oh, brother Athan…that was exhausting," Mimi said with a tired face, "your attacks really consume a lot of my energy if I want to nullify it."
Athan embraced himself as the paws hit him, and he was flung back even more. Naturally, he didn't use Sanctuary of Void because he didn't want to waste too many of his Abyssal Blood Crystals.
For now, he had 472 Abyssal Blood Crystals inside his Void Crux.
*BOOOOOOM….*
The paws even blasted and released a vortex force that surrounded Athan and released chaotic magnetic power to jumble Athan's physical body and trap him while dealing damage.
Naturally, Athan consumed 12,000 points equivalent Abyssal darkness and condensed it into an exploding orb before triggering it to nullify the vortex that trapped him.
"That was a powerful attack," Athan said with a smile.
"I could follow up with more attack once the enemy is a trap, hehe, good, right?" Mimi said with a chuckle.
Suddenly, both of them looked in the direction of Lily as they sensed a wave of potent energy and an intense fragrance.
"It looks like sister Lily finished her alchemy."
Athan nodded as he and Mimi returned and saw Lily with six lollipops floating around her.
"Lollipops?" Athan uttered with a surprised expression.
"Yep, hahaha," Lily chuckled and nodded with a smile. She then gave one lollipop to everyone and spoke, "just put it in your mouth and lick it to extract its potent power every now and then while training. You can use that energy to progress in your genealogy path."
Dreevindo had a lifeless look on his face as he muttered, "that was an epic-grade catalyst resource! An epic-evolution powerhouse could make progress and comprehend new abilities, but this…lollipop? Does it have the same effect?"
"Of course not! I broke it down and made it purely for progress. Since it was epic-grade, then it was useless for us anyway," Lily spoke with a shrug.
Athan looked at Dreevindo and said with a smile, "if you don't want it, then you can give it back."
Hearing that, Dreevindo hurriedly put the lollipop in his mouth and sat down at the table with a blank expression. Turning to Athan, he asked, "did you say something?"
Chapter 705: Dual Decian Chakrams, Instant Kill.
Currently, Mimi, Athan, and Dreevindo were moving outside while Huarin and Lily were meditating and training to absorb the lollipop's power and make progress in their path.
Lily had passed on secondary control of Ark to Athan since she could do it now. With this, Athan could feel the presence of Ark and move it with him so he and others could enter inside anytime they wanted, even if Lily was not available during this time as she was training.
"Athan, if we encounter the exit portal, then let's leave. It would be better to go into other Dimensional rifts than this one for better resources," Dreevindo said.
"The resources in this rift are very niche. We should enter into a rainbow rift portal. They are more common and more valuable both," Dreevindo continued, "the resources here are more sought after by devilish people, and it's epic-grade as well; the danger is too much."
*Roarrrrrr…*
*Crack…*
Suddenly, the ground trembled, and a few kilometers in front of them, where a lake was situated, a giant creature came out along with an even larger and brighter beam shooting in the sky than that flower. This beam was dark green with bright green sparks.
The creature was 300 meters tall, and it looked like a giant gorilla wearing armor.
The Gorilla had black armor with a dark green pattern, and there was a shining green crescent moon disk behind his head.
The armor looked like it was made up of crystallized energy of black with dark green patterns on it.
The aura it released was even more powerful than those two Epic powerhouses they encountered earlier.
"Shit! This…this is a Treasure Beast!" Dreevindo exclaimed with both horror and greed in his eyes.
However, the greed disappeared and was replaced by disappointment, "this is too much for us to handle."
"Let's hurridly enter inside the ark space because, in a while, every single person in this rift zone will rush here—the aura released from this monster and that shining beam in the sky would attract everyone here," Dreevindo said with a serious expression.
Athan nodded as the three of them entered inside and moved towards the giant fancy gorilla while inside the Ark.
As they neared the giant Gorilla roaring in the sky, Athan narrowed his eyes and spoke while watching the cloudly screen, "I want at least one soul of an Epic powerhouse from this event.
Dreevindo looked at Athan with a speechless expression and spoke, "stop joking. There will be many epic powerhouses present there, and…the entire will be full of danger."
"Brother Athan…do you have a plan?" Mimi asked with a worried expression, "that place is really going to be very dangerous."
Dreevindo nodded as he looked at Athan.
"Just observer the situation and call me when you notice that an Epic powerhouse was near death or escaping," Athan said before he sat down crossed-legged, "I am going to prepare something."
After closing his eyes, Athan started to work on his idea.
Void Weapons.
He had already done the groundwork of this when he was training in Chaosverse, but he didn't have time to make that to fruition at that time.
Athan directly took out ten Abyssal Blood Crystals from his Void Crux and put them inside his void region as they floated in a circle pattern.
Afterward, he gathered a voidpulse, abyssal darkness, and soul energy before shaping them into two weapons.
Naturally, those weapons were chakrams.
He didn't crudely make them but micro-managed the structure of the chakrams and created a system based on his body structure inside it. The system could make use of the energy of Abyssal Blood Crystals as fuel and power.
Since he already had a prime example of it, which was his body, he rapidly formed its structure. With his recent boost in soul as it became significantly stronger, his cognitive, perception, and comprehension power also increased, causing him to work faster on this.
After ten minutes, two chakrams with the black structure on white patterns were ready.
The chakrams were two diameters big and were simple looking as they had sharp blade edges. However, 1/6th of both chakram's parts didn't have an edge or anything but a handle for Athan to hold them.
Both chakrams were thicker from the center, and that thickness decreased as it reached the edges of the chakram; the edge became extremely sharp with extremely tiny teeth-like blades at the border.
There were five tiny slots the same size as Abyssal Blood Crystal on the chakrams as well.
Athan put five Abyssal Blood Crystals on each of those chakram's five slots.
The white patterns on the chakrams started glowing as they turned faint dark-red, and from the teeth-like blades at the sharp edges of the chakram, a sharp, laser-like dark-red aura appeared that projected additional sharp laser-blade edges, increasing the length of the chakram by half a diameter.
Those two deadly chakrams exuded a fine sharp aura filled with the power of abyssal darkness in condensed form.
Athan named these chakrams as…Dual Decian Chakrams.
After he was done, he stood up and took out the chakrams as they floated on his left and ride side, "how is the situation?"
Dreevindo and Mimi turned around only to be surprised.
"Woah…," Dreevindo was surprised as he looked at those chakrams. After a second, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "those chakrams are activated, right? Then…how come we didn't even hear a single sound from it? I still can't sense their aura."
"Because they are covered by field similar to my void mask. This field exuded from the center of the chakram and covered it in its aura, preventing anyone from sensing the chakrams."
"With those laser-blades, the wind would also be devoured into silence. Even though it would consume some energy of the chakrams, it's worth it," Athan concluded with a faint smile.
"Brother Athan, those seem really deadly," Mimi said with sparkling eyes.
"Of course, they are powered by five Abyssal Blood Crystals. I have stretched the absolute limit of the chakram's structure with that," Athan said with a wry smile, " I also need to see how long the energy of those five Abyssal Blood Crystal lasts because these chakrams would always perform at their full power and would consume their energy fast when attacking."
While speaking, Athan walked towards them and looked at the cloudly screen as he observed the devastating battle.
"So many?" Athan uttered in surprise as he noticed at least fifteen Epic powerhouses attacking the Gorilla while also dodging and blocking even more devastating attacks of Gorilla.
"All of them together are having trouble? Is that Gorilla already walking on Legendary Path? The barrier around it is not budging," Athan asked with a frown.
"Nope. But Treasure beasts are like that," Dreevindo said with a wry smile, "they are blessed by the power of this Dimensional Rift, and they will have to attack and break that barrier around it first. That barrier is the main blessing of this Dimensional Rift."
The Gorilla roared and released laser beams from his eyes, punched with his hands as they produced dark green vortexes, roared loudly to attack with unique energy waves all around it, etc., while staying safe inside the barrier.
The barrier blocked all attacks of those powerhouses while the Gorilla could release its attacks from inside the barrier.
"The attacks and abilities released by that treasure beast are that large in magnitude and strong because of the blessing of this Dimensional Rift," Dreevindo said with a wry smile as he looked at the cloudly screen, "some of them are already injured but still not seriously injured as all of them are exercising caution while attacking."
"But the rewards will also be very good after they finally defeat this treasure beast, right?" Mimi asked.
"Very good," Dreevindo nodded, "it can increase their chances to enter the Legendary-evolution path by a lot."
Athan was observing the cloudly screen and suddenly spoke, "I'll go and complete a hunt."
After saying that, he held both chakrams in his head and also consumed 2 Abyssal Blood Crystals as he activated Extremity Drifter void frame.
What he needed was speed. As such, Extremity Drifter was a perfect option. He could manipulate his chakrams as well, but he needed absolute speed in this situation.
And…the speed of manipulating chakrams was far slower than the speed he gets when he uses his Extremity Drifter void frame's power.
"Be careful, brother Athan," Mimi said and then smiled, "However, I also believe that brother Athan can succeed."
Athan nodded and disappeared from the ark space as he arrived outside.
Without wasting a second, he flew towards his target; a middle-aged woman was staying further than other people and was unleashing devastating attacks from there.
She was unaware that a devil…even more, terrifying than these devilish people had targetted her.
*Zooooooooom….*
She sensed a loud sound cutting through the atmosphere and turned around.
However, what greeted her was death.
There was a barrier around her that she conjured to defend against Gorilla's attacks, but it was broken like a knight cutting through water before cutting off her head as well.
*CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…..*
The space itself trembled a bit as Athan swung his chakrams at extreme speed.
He flew in a circular motion when he arrived at the barrier as the first chakram broke the barrier and the second chakram cut off the woman's head.
When he suddenly made that circle motion, the force of moving around pushed both sides and his speed of that increased even more, resulting in the trembling of space itself.
After cutting off her head, Athan directly used his Gaze of Void on her and devoured her soul before disappearing.
Chapter 706: Chakram's Power, Coming Out.
After entering inside the ark space, Athan hurriedly sat down crossed-legged and entered meditation.
'Powerful!' Athan thought as he sensed the pure power of the soul that was actually still struggling and resisting the power of his Purity Soul Whirlpool.
…
"What the….," Dreevindo was dumbfounded as he looked at Athan, 'how? Why couldn't that epic powerhouse resist for even a second? Sure there was a surprise element, but still…that was a damn EPIC powerhouse. They are a hundred times more powerful than Atomix-stage powerhouses.'
"Hehe, those chakrams are really too powerful," Mimi chuckled as her eyes glowed a bit and a faint spark left from her forehead as the crystal on her forehead was activated.
"Chakrams…," Dreevindo muttered and saw the projection that Mimi displayed from her forehead.
She showed the scene of Athan going out and attacking that woman from start to finish.
"See, that barrier is very powerful, but when those chakrams hit the barrier, they just sliced it like butter…," Mimi said with a thoughtful expression, "that powerhouse couldn't channel more energy into the barrier and strengthen it before it was broken due to surprise attack and died."
"I can't sense the power of those chakrams but seeing how those laser blades intensified when hitting the barrier shows that Athan really went on with the full power possible by him," Dreevindo said with a nod.
"Brother Athan said that that Abyssal Blood Crystal contains the highest potential energy produced by him, and it's a combination of his physical power, abyssal darkness, voidpulse, and his soul energy," Mimi said with a wry smile, "create one Abyssal Blood Crystals consumes all those four energies and it's condensed through a unique process in his body into an ultimate energy source for him."
"Oh?" Dreevindo was surprised because he didn't know much about Athan's newfound powers and was constantly shocked at the changes that Athan displayed recently.
"No wonder…," Dreevindo said while shaking his head helplessly, "It's unthinkable how he could combine those energies and create such a condensed energy source, but it should be possible with his unique powers."
"Now then…he did say that those chakrams had five of those abyssal blood crystals each, and their powers were consumed concurrently to maintain the performance of chakrams at peak," Dreevindo muttered and nodded, "I'm curious how much energy was consumed to break that barrier and kill that Epic powerhouse in that second."
…
"Finally, It's over…," Mimi said as she sat down at the table and took out some food to eat that Lily had prepared.
"The battle lasted for four hours," Dreevindo said with a wry smile as he also sat down at the table. He then looked at Athan and wondered, "Athan sure is taking longer this time."
At this time, both of them looked behind and saw that Lily was exuding a powerful aura from her body.
"She broke through to 2nd-Rise of Raisor-stage," Dreevindo said as he raised his eyebrows, "that was fast."
Lily opened her eyes and stood up with a smile, "It feels good to become powerful. My entire body seemed to have gotten stronger along with my soul."
"Yeah," Dreevindo nodded, "there is a big difference between Raisor-stage and Atomix-stage. In the Raisor stage, you will have a big improvement in overall strength and strengthen your body and soul to a certain point by purifying your Genealogy path and completely making it clear. After that, you can start your evolution by transforming everything to a higher existence in the Atomix stage."
"Sister Lily, Once you break through to Atomix-stage, you will finally start to develop your own unique genealogy power and bloodline. The development direction of your genealogy power and bloodline will depend on the Relics you invoke and catalysts you refine," Mimi said with a smile.
"Mhmm, you will go through three existence transformations in Atomix-stage as you slowly but steadily start your path and receive large boosts your strength with each transformation, letting you wield more powerful abilities," Dreevindo said while nodding.
"The previous well-known master of Ark of Exordium was a powerful human on the cusp of becoming a Myth. Unfortunately, he died from ambush while he was overcoming the Mythical Disaster. The phenomenon when he died was present in the entire Orchos Firmament," Dreevindo said as he shook his head wryly, "how unfortunate."
"Is it such a big deal when a person of that level dies?" Lily asked with a surprised expression before she suddenly chuckled, "I am sure Athan will kill a bunch of individuals of that level in the future."
Dreevindo smiled wryly as he looked at Athan and sighed, "He is undoubtedly an anomaly."
"Is that the exit portal? It looks the same as the one in which we entered and arrived here," Lily said as she pointed at the screen.
Mimi and Dreevindo turned to look at that as Dreevindo hurridly spoke, "let's go and leave! There's no use in staying here anymore!"
"Alright," Lily nodded as she went out and entered inside the portal.
Mimi and Dreevindo saw the scenery in the cloudly screen getting closer to the portal before bright darkness appeared, and they returned to the Firmament Chasm.
After arriving at the Firmament Chasm, Lily once again entered inside the Ark and sat down at the table beside Mimi, "so what do we do now?"
"This time, let's find a Rift portal that is consisted of multiple colors instead of any single one. The multi-colored rift portals are the best. When they appear, they stay for ten to thirty seconds, and their multi-colors keep changing every second," Dreevindo said.
"Then how do we determine which grade is it?" Lily asked with a frown, "you said that purple and purple sparks around the portal mean that it's epic, and icy blue with dark blue sparks around the portal means it's Atomix-grade, but what about the colorful portal?"
"It's the same; the borders of the portal will not change colors," Dreevindo said, "grey is for Wrux-stage, red is for Raisor-stage, blue is for Atomix-stage, purple is for Epic, bright orange for 1st Legendary, dark orange for 2nd Legendary, and 3rd Legendary's portals are bright orange with colorful vine patterns on them."
"Alright, let's look for the multi-colored portals," Lily said.
Chapter 707: Conflict
"Anyway, you broke through very fast. I guess it's thanks to that unique physique you got that is related to this Ark of Exordium," Dreevindo said.
"Yep. Sister Huarin also has a special physique like that, but it's of a lower version than mine," Lily said with a smile, "anyway, she will be done within eight to twelve hours too."
"What about Athan? What happened while I was training," Lily asked.
Mimi and Dreevindo told her what Athan did while the three of them looked at the cloudly screen to the lookout in case any rift portal opened near them.
According to Dreevindo, multi-colored portals are more common, and it's been five minutes since they came out of the previous rift dimension. So, one should appear around them anytime.
"So he killed an Epic powerhouse," Lily muttered as she looked at Athan and smiled, "he is really in a hurry to get his family back."
"I also miss sister Avelia, Tiana, Qerin, and brother Mike," Lily said with a pout.
"Your brother Athan will surely bring them back very soon," Lily pinched Mimi's cheeks and spoke with a smile.
"A rift portal appeared!" Dreevindo exclaimed as he saw a multi-colored rift portal a few kilometers in front. He then disappeared as he went outside and rushed towards it.
Hearing that, Lily and Mimi also went outside and rushed towards it.
Lily couldn't take the Ark into any portal while staying inside the ark space. If she could, they wouldn't have to pay for teleportation as well.
The Ark stays in its separate dimension; it's like a permanent parallel space that sticks to whatever space its master traverse. So, even if Lily controlled the Ark and moved it towards the portal, it wouldn't enter inside but pass by it since the portal is also a path to a different dimension and space.
As such, If she wants to go other places through rift portals or teleportation rings, or formation, she has to go through that with her real body.
Dreevindo was the first one to reach the portal…no.
Before Dreevindo could go into the portal, he was smacked back while coughing blood as a middle-aged man with a blue robe appeared in front of the portal.
Dreevindo stopped himself and wiped the blood before looking at the front with a fearful expression. Mimi and Lily also stopped.
"No one shall enter this rift portal," the middle-aged man said with an expressionless face.
Six more people arrived at the portal, but they also stopped hearing the middle-aged man and sensing the powerful aura from him.
The middle-aged man was exuding the same power as those kings, meaning that he was at the Epic stage and walking the path of becoming an Epic existence.
"What do you mean, senior?" one of the people who arrived here asked with a frown.
Suddenly, four men and four women arrived here, but they flew towards the middle-aged man and bowed slightly, "thank you, uncle Aoukin."
The middle-aged man nodded and turned to the side as all those eight people entered through the portal.
The portal was Atomix-stage according to the colors around its border.
The middle-aged man looked at everyone and spoke indifferently, "go look for another rift portal."
"Are you doing this to reduce the competition inside?" Dreevindo spoke with a frown, "but you know that in this vast Firmamemnt Chasm and other Firmament chasms in other Lerento's would have some more rift portals that lead to the same rift dimension."
"It doesn't matter," the middle-aged man answered indifferently, "one less is one less; you lot are around fifteen, so fifteen people less in the competition."
More people had arrived here, and eight seconds had already passed.
"Old man, you are an idiot," Lily snorted and spoke.
*Swoosh…*
A sharp glowing dagger shot out from the middle-aged man's sleeves towards Lily, but it missed as Lily entered inside the Ark space.
Mimi and Dreevindo disappeared as Lily sent them inside the Ark space.
Before others and the middle-aged man could display their surprise, Lily appeared outside once again.
She looked at the middle-aged man and spoke with a smile, "since you care about those eight people that much, then I am sure a few of them will die."
"At least, I will make sure that some of them do," Lily said with a grin before she disappeared again.
However, her voice reverberated, "you used your power to block other people; I will use my power to kill your people when I encounter them inside."
The middle-aged man frowned as he didn't know what had happened and thought, 'her aura was not that strong, just at Raisor-stage. So, how did she disappear? Those two who disappeared should be her companions as well. However, I can't sense their presence anymore. Hmmm…'
"Bye~"
Suddenly, the middle-aged man turned around as he sensed his presence and after that, he heard a voice.
However, he didn't see anything, but his face turned dark as he turned around and looked at other people, "did that girl just enter inside the rift portal?"
Everyone nodded as they clearly saw Lily suddenly popping out very near the rift portal entrance and entering inside.
"Damn!" The middle-aged man cursed, but he couldn't do anything.
The portal was of Atomix-grade, so he, who was an Epic powerhouse, couldn't enter inside.
People who are at higher than the rift portal's grade can't enter inside, while lower-stage people than the rift portal's grade can enter inside.
…
"Let's go!" Lily said as she called out Mimi and Dreevindo from the Ark space.
"That old man really hit me hard," Dreevindo said with a frown and a painful expression.
"Humph, he almost killed sister Lily," Mimi said with an angry expression, "if we encounter those eight people, then we will also not spare them."
Lily smiled and patted Mimi, "yep. I am sure we will eventually encounter them while searching for resource treasures and catalysts."
…
While Lily, Mimi, and Dreevindo started moving in a random direction, Athan inside the Ark space suddenly started oozing out black and white threads as they rapidly whirled around him.
The threads increased, and soon, a cocoon formed around Athan.
Lily and others didn't know that Athan was going to take one hell of his time coming out of the cocoon this time.
Chapter 708: Resource Hoarding, Encounter.
Lily, Mimi, and Dreevindo started roaming the dimension rift searching for resource treasures.
This was an Atomix-grade dimensional rift, and Lily was still not powerful enough to content against Atomix powerhouses, so when it was time to fight, Lily didn't do much as Dreevindo and Mimi handled the fights.
Naturally, Lily's job was simple; Taking the resource treasures.
With the Ark, she would disappear while Mimi and Dreevindo handle the enemies, and during this time, Lily would pop up beside the resource treasure and take it.
However, if there were powerhouses in Raisor-stage in enemy groups, even if they were at the peak of Raisor-stage, Lily would fight hard and hone her battle abilities.
After ten hours, Huarin opened her eyes as she also managed to upgrade herself like Lily and reached the 2nd Rise of Raisor stage.
She then came out of the Ark space to join others in this adventure of gathering resources.
Just like this, time passed as they spent two days roaming and gathering resources they could.
Many fights occurred, and they killed people, just like how Lily and Huarin also almost died due to a sneak attack.
On the third day, they encountered a birth of catalyst, and also those eight people.
The eight of them saw Lily, Dreevindo, and Mimi with shock.
"How did you enter here?" A man in his mid-twenties appearance asked with a frown.
Lily grinned and asked, "that old man outside, what was he to you?"
"Obediently tell us how did you enter here while the grand uncle was blocking the rift portal. Otherwise…we are eight, and you are only four," the man spoke with a dark face.
The woman beside him then snorted and spoke, "we are six Atomix-stage beings and two people at the peak of Raisor-stage while you are four and only that shorty and that little girl are in Atomix-stage. If you are not idiots, then speak what happened outside."
"Hahaha," Lily chuckled and shook her head while she hurriedly told Dreevindo, Mimi, and Huarin about the ploy she thought.
"Don't you all have any way to check your uncle's current status?" Lily spoke with a mock, "do you think he would let us pass through?"
After saying that, Lily observed their expressions carefully.
Lily's words seemed to have impacted those eight people as their expressions finally showed some caution.
"What do you mean?"
*shuaaaaa….*
All of them riled their powers and pointed their weapons at Lily and others.
"Our grand-uncle is almost at the peak of the peak of his Epic path…you lots can't do anything to him," said the man, who spoke first and also seemed to be the leader of the group.
The eight of them knew that just like how they had backing, those people in front of them must have backing as well.
Lily smiled and spoke, "sorry to tell you, but your grand uncle…died."
"Impossible!"
"Stop lying!"
"No need to listen to user bull shit and just attack!"
The eight of them spoke their part and released their attacks.
However, Lily was prepared, so she and others entered inside the Ark.
"Dreevindo, Mimi, you two need to kill a few of them before they leave," Lily said with cold eyes, "they will now become anxious and will have an unstable state of mind. I will control the Ark and position your exit behind your targets."
Mimi made a fist and nodded with determination.
"Alright," Dreevindo nodded as well and got ready.
"Be careful," Huarin said, "don't hold back and one-shot them so that others won't get a chance to retaliate, and Lily can hurridly take you back here."
"We will prepare here first," Mimi said as she waved her hand, and her eyes shined a bit before a panda and Crocodile appeared beside her.
"Yin-Yang spirit bomb Panda and Pile Driver Croc, ready!" Mimi said with a smile as the panda started accumulating some kind of energy before condensing into a black and white orb, while the Crocodile's entire body had sharp spikes as they started rapidly spinning while glowing in grey-red color.
"Is your Genome power related to summoning?" Lily asked with a surprise, "previously, you had different fluffy creatures."
"My Genome power is a Mystic Animocity of Yuzardin, and the genome power I am developing is Fluffy Kingdom Factory. My summoned creatures' powers and abilities are through my relics and genome bloodline abilities that I gradually awakened.
I can build different creatures by using those two Genome powers. For now, I can design creatures with single power in them and summon them. Each creature consumes 10% of my soul energy as well, but I need 20% of soul energy to maintain them, so my current limit is eight summons," Mimi said with a grin.
"Sigh….your bloodline powers are really strong, though," Dreevindo said with a sigh, "was there any Legendary peak powerhouses in your clan?"
"Hmm, If I am not wrong, my mom and dad were legendary beings," Mimi said as her lips twitched and her eyes revealed sadness, "I don't know about my clan because my parents seemed to have left them when I was just born and was in my outer Embryo form to develop my existence."
"Cough…," Lily glared at Dreevindo, 'stop reminding her about her parents. This is the second time you did that!'
Dreevindo smiled embarrassedly and changed the subject.
"Anyway, let's go. I am also ready," Dreevindo said as he took out his hammer, and a blood-red river flowed around him with purple sparks in it.
Lily nodded as she sent both of them out. She targeted the leader and his woman first because those two were alone on one side while the rest were in front of them because they were listening to the leader.
…
"WATCH OUT!"
"BROTHER!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM….*SCREEEEEEEEEEE….*Shrawwwwwwwwww…CRACKK….*
The six people shouted and conjured their power, but it was too late as four devastating attacks hit their eldest brother and sister-in-law, which entirely obliterated them.
Chapter 709: Depart
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
"FIND THEM!"
"Fifth, your attack was fastest and cleared the red-purple mist. Did you sense their presence? where did they go?"
"I…I can't sense their presence. Even though I blew away that mist with my attack, I didn't sense their presence in that. They disappeared into thin air with no trace."
"Previously, we thought that they mass teleported somewhere using an Artifact, but that doesn't seem to be the case, DAMNN!!"
"Do you think…what that woman said was true? Did our grand uncle really die?"
"I don't think…No..since they disappeared and appeared suddenly like that, they must have entered in this place with that same method as well."
"WE WILL NOT SPARE THEM!"
"Let's start searching for them; I am not returning without avenging my brother and sister-in-law."
"Stick together and observe all directions. They might appear suddenly again and deliver a fatal sneak attack."
…
"Want to go for one more round?" Mimi asked.
"No need," Lily said with a grin, "now they will stay tensed all the time and leave this place when they encounter an exit portal. We don't need to waste time on them anymore; let's start gathering resources."
"Yep," Huarin nodded with a smile as she agreed with Lily.
"Do you know how long Athan would take? He had turned into a strange cocoon," Lily asked as she looked at Dreevindo, "you've known Athan since he ascended to upper-Chaosverse."
"There was an incident where Athan turned into a cocoon as well," Dreevindo nodded with a serious expression, "that was also the time when all of his companions disappeared along with that island bubble. At th-"
"That beam! According to its size, it looks like a birth of a Catalyst!" Huarin said as she pointed at the cloudly screen.
"Let's go and take it first! We need catalysts to comprehend powerful abilities," Lily nodded as she controlled the Ark and moved in that direction.
…
"It's been five days," Lily said as she looked at the cocoon, "There's not a single change on the cocoon."
"Let's enter into deep meditation since we have gathered a lot of resources already. It's time to progress," Huarin said.
"Yep. Let's get stronger and give brother Athan a surprise when he returns to normal," Mimi said with a smile.
Dreevindo thought for a moment and spoke, "let's enter into a Lerento portal first and move to a different Lerento. If it's higher than 2nd, we will luck out."
"What do you mean?" Lily asked with doubt.
"Although this Ark space is really good and training here is fast, this is still not fastest," Dreevindo said with a smile, "since we also have gathered a lot of Etons, then we should use them to increase our training speed at a Blessed Houses."
"They are very expensive, but the use of the Blessed House is very powerful and effective," Dreevindo said, "Blessed Houses are connected to multiple Blessed lands that are similar to this Ark space and more important, those House can condense and gather the Orchos energy to make it more effective for us. There are multiple formations at work as well which mellow out and buff the Orchos Energy so we can progress faster and our comprehension also gets a boost while we are inside."
"Woah, they sound really good," Lily said in a surprised expression, "although we have gathered a lot of common-tier, rare-tier, and some epic-tier Etons, I doubt we stay in those so-called blessed houses for even a year considering their benefits."
Dreevindo smiled, "but the progress we make in that short time will be solid and fast both. If you want to keep up with Athan, then you have to use those Blessed Houses. There are three grades Blessed Houses, Low-grade, Mid-grade, and High-grade.
"High-grade is like a paradise and hell both. But it's only for Epic and above powerhouses. As for us…hehe, we will enter into Mid-grade Blessed Houses," Dreevindo beamed as he finished speaking.
Lily suddenly grinned and spoke, "Then let's gather more resources and Etons before leaving so we can stay in the Blessed house for a longer time."
"Hmmm…we can do that as well," Dreevindo nodded, "This Dimensional Rift will be destroyed soon, so we better find another. We also snatched the Treasure Beast's treasure here, so there's not much to discover here anymore as well."
…
As such, they stayed and searched for the Exit portal before leaving after thirty minutes.
They exited at a different place in Star-Seer Firmament Chasm and started moving upward.
However, suddenly, they heard a loud voice towards them.
"THERE THEY ARE!!"
"They look the same as the poster except for that one woman."
"It doesn't matter! She must be their companion as well."
Lily and others were dumbfounded to see several people coming towards them and shouting.
"Could it be that grand uncle and his nephews?" Lily muttered.
"That's the only reason why we would attract such attention," Dreevindo nodded, "he must have created our arts and spread to them. Although this Star-Seer Firmament Chasm is big, the exit portal wouldn't teleport us to that far from the place we entered."
"Which means that they should be nearby as well," Mimi muttered before she suddenly looked in the sky.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
The middle-aged man, who almost killed Lily, shouted with anger. Destructive power pulsed around him as he dashed towards them and attacked.
Lily stuck out her tongue and disappeared along with others.
However, her voice reverberated in her place, "dumb old man, stop troubling us anymore, or I will really kill all of you in the future."
"Be glad that those six nephews are alive instead of wasting time on two dead ones. Otherwise…"
…
"Let's go and continue while staying inside Ark, humph," Lily snorted.
"That old man is really bad," Mimi said with an angry face, "he was stupid to block the entrance in the first place for a few people when there are already a hundred inside that Rift dimension. He also tried to kill sister Lily first! And then he expects people to not antagonize him for what he did? how dumb!"
"Well, his plan would have succeeded.. Also, we don't know which clan he is from and how high his backing his is," Dreevindo said with a wry smile, "however, this Ark of Exordium is the best treasure for sneaking in and out in entire Orchos Firmament, so he met an iron wall like us."
Chapter 710: Legendries!!
Lily, Mimi, Huarin, and Dreevindo roamed for a while before entering another multi-colored rift portal at Atomix-grade.
With the Ark, they had an easy time stealing and getting resources.
After staying in this rift dimension for eight days, they left. Naturally, the treasure beast appeared on the eighth day, everyone gathered to defeat it, but Lily stole half of the rewards.
This treasure monster was on top of a mystical giant volcano, and after it was finally killed, eight peak Atomix-grade catalysts were produced from the volcano. Since Lily was right under the treasure beast while staying inside the Ark, she stole four peak Atomix-grade catalysts and disappeared before everyone could attack her.
Inside the Ark space…
"Alright, we have gathered a lot of resources in this rift dimension. Now it's time to use them," Lily said with a smile, "let's lookout for a Lerento portal and leave through it."
…
After three hours of traveling, they finally encountered a Lerento portal and entered inside.
After going through it, they arrived in another Firmament Chams, but it was different.
This Firmament chasm has countless colorful square check box phenomenons littered everywhere in the sky and bottom. Other than that, there were many grey orbs with different colors of patterns on them floating everywhere. Some were a few meters big, while some were kilometers big.
"Woah, which Lerento is this?" Lily asked as she looked at the scenery of this Firmament Chasm.
"I don't know," Dreevindo shook his head, "I've never been here before. But let's find the exit platform and enter the actual Lerento to find where we are."
"Why don't we check out those orbs?" Mimi spoke curiously, "A faint light is coming out on top of each orb; that light is exuding space energy, so we might be able to go somewhere if we go on top of any grey orb."
"Grey orbs with different colors patterns on the….," Dreevindo murmured, "let's go and check; I am also curious."
"I don't see any people here as well," Huarin said as she looked around and then asked Dreevindo, "didn't you say that Firmament Chasms are filled with people?"
"Indeed, but numbers decrease if we go higher or lower since most of the people would spend time inside dimensional rifts."
Suddenly, a blinding orange spark appeared several hundred kilometers away and became big as its bright orange light spread everywhere.
"What's that!!?"
"Oh my god…such a big portal?" Lily spoke with a dumbfounded expression.
Huarin, Lily, and Dreevindo were also dumbfounded.
However, they suddenly felt immense pressure on them and saw giant silhouettes with different mixed colors aura around them at the portal as they entered inside.
"Legendary…," Dreevindo muttered with wide eyes, "they are all Legendary beings! Even a gaze of theirs could kill us!"
"Legendary?" Lily murmured as she looked at that grand scenery, "how powerful…"
"Hohoho, kids…what are you doing here?"
Suddenly four of them heard a voice behind them and shivered. They didn't even sense the presence and were still not sensing anything. If they didn't hear any voice, they wouldn't even have known that someone was behind them.
Lily was going to Ark space and disappeared with everyone, but she didn't do it as her brain's gears turned fast in this situation, 'It's better to not attract the attention of this powerhouse by disappearing like this…there's a chance that she might discover the Ark's existence if I use it.'
'Since she didn't intend to kill us when she could and opted to talk, I shouldn't risk it either,' Lily thought.
Lily, Mimi, Huarin, and Dreevindo slowly turned around and saw a slim middle-aged-looking lady with long-snow white hair looking at them with an amusing smile.
"How did you end up here?" the lady asked with an interesting expression.
"S-senior…we entered a Lerento portal from a Firmament Chasm of 2nd Lerento and arrived here," Dreevindo said. His voice and expression were both nervous.
"Oh? That's rare!" The lady spoke and chuckled.
"Rare? Wait…," Dreevindo said before a light bulb lit up in his head as he asked with a shocked expression, "don't tell me we are in a 6th or 7th Lerento?"
"Indeed," the lady nodded with a smile, "it's very rare that one would enter 6th or 7th Lerento's Firmament Chasm through another 1st to 5th Firmament Chasm's Lerento portals unless…"
The lady paused as she glanced at Mimi, "unless it was affected by something."
"Me?" Mimi pointed at herself with confusion, "but…I've never been to 6th or 7th Lerento's Firmament Chasm."
"Hohoho, then I don't know," the lady chuckled and shook her head, "anyway, I am getting late, so here is a portal. You are at the very deep part of this Firmament Chasm, and it will take a lot of time to encounter the exit platform. So…," the lady said and winked, "enter through this portal for a shortcut."
After saying that, she disappeared in front of them.
There was a portal in the potion where she floated, however.
"Should we use this porta?" Huarin asked with doubt.
'Come close to me and fly towards the portal,' Lily said with a stoic expression, 'however, don't enter inside the portal.'
Everyone was surprised as to why Lily sounded so serious. However, they followed her instruction.
After moving towards the portal, Lily took one step forward to enter while putting Mimi, Huarin, and Dreevindo inside the Ark space.
And…just as Lily saw different scenery with her eyes, she also entered inside the Ark space and disappeared.
These portals didn't have another portal connected to them, but they were like teleportation porta. After entering inside, they would appear at the intended location, but not from another portal. The rift portals were like that as well.
After entering inside the entry rift portal, they would randomly appear inside the rift dimension, and after leaving through the exit portal, they would randomly appear outside that was near their entry location.
…
Inside the Ark space…
Everyone was looking at the lively scenery through the cloudly screen.
"We should have asked that lady which Lerento was this. 6th or 7th?" Huarin asked.
"I don't know anything about 6th or 7th Lerentos because I've never been there," Dreevindo said with a wry smile.
Lily had a frown on her face and was in deep thought.
"What's the matter, sister Lily?" Mimi asked seeing Lily's current state.
Lily snapped out of her thoughts and spoke, "that lady said that something affected the Lerento portal, which caused us to arrive at such a rare location…
"I think…," Lily paused before she stretched her arm as something appeared in her hand.
That thing had a lotus-like base with a square on it with a single hole on all of its sides. There were also colorful patterns on the square. The lotus was shining black as even though it was black, it gave off a faint black shine with a hint of very faint gold in it.
"This…, "Dreevindo narrowed his eyes and muttered, "is this Ark of Exordium's core control Artifact? I have seen records and ancient carvings in some library, and this matches it."
"Yep," Lily nodded and continued, "I also think that the reason we ended up here in this place was due to the Ark of Exordium."
"It could also be a coincidence," Huarin said with a smile, "that lady said that was rare to come there through the Lerento portal; it was not impossible."
"Yeah, that could be the case as well," Mimi nodded.
Lily revealed a hesitant expression and nodded but then shook her head, "that could also be possible, but I just have that faint feeling that it was because of this Ark. Also…I don't know why, but I felt that it would be bad news if I used Ark's power in front of that lady. That's why I didn't use it."
"Also, that lady clearly knew about Mimi's identity or rather her race. She readily saw through the disguise," Lily continued.
"Yeah, the way she looked at me, I felt like she was looking at my forehead," Mimi nodded.
Lily looked at Huarin and Dreevindo as she hurridly sent through telepathy thoughts, 'You both already know about Mimi's situation, so we will have to stay cautious from now. We also can't stay in this dangerous Firmament Chasm.'
…
"Lily, you should stay inside for now while me, Huarin, Dreevindo go out and use the exit platform to leave this Lerento," Lily said as she patted Mimi's head, "once we enter a city and find Blessed Houses, you can come out, okay?"
Mimi smiled wryly and nodded, "I understand. It seems that my identity is a bit sensitive, but why?"
Lily hesitated, but then she smiled and pointed at Athan-cocoon, "I will tell you once Athan wakes up and come out of that cocoon, okay?"
"Alright, then I will start training here while you all find the Blessed Houses," Mimi said as she raised her eyebrows and nodded as she went to her bedroom and started training on top of the bed.
…
Lily, Huarin, and Dreevindo came outside and moved towards the exit portal after buying the ticket.
When it was their turn, they went on top of the silver disk.
Dreevindo turned to his left side and asked a stranger, who was also a dwarf-like him, "Hello, brother. Do you know which Lerento is this?"
The other dwarf had a long and thick beard that reached his toes. Hearing Dreevindo's question, he spoke in a cranky-thick voice, "6th Lerento. Why you don't even know something like that while being here?"
Dreevindo smiled wryly and said, "eh….we entered through a Lerento Portal so…"
"Oh…alright.. Have a good productive day."
Chapter 711: Plaza
After Lily, Huarin, and Dreevindo disappeared from the teleportation platform, they arrived at the 6th Lerento; they arrived on a very large platform inside a city.
"This…the atmosphere here is too thick, orchos energy is not as pure as in our Ark space, but it's thicker," Lily muttered.
"Hmmm, it should be because of several large formations in this city," Dreevindo nodded.
"Let's go and find a place that has Blessed Houses; we shouldn't waste more time and start training with the resources we have gathered, "Huarin said.
…
After leaving this area, they entered the grand city with lavish buildings. They were built with different types of wood and metal materials with exquisite designs. Every building exuded elegance.
It had a middle-aged royal feel, but it was mixed with sci-fi and magic because of the magical crystal lamps, silver-blue lightning paths, hoverboards, and such things. It looked like an entirely new civilization.
"This city should be under a powerful Empire," Dreevindo muttered as he looked around while walking in the streets of the city.
After walking for a while without asking anything and just absorbing the information that other people occasionally spoke without an isolation barrier, they found that this city was under Mabunogi Empire, one of the top ten most powerful Empire in this entire 6th Lerento.
After a while, they went to a store and asked about Blessed House and readily got the address.
As such, they didn't waste any time and arrived at their destination after walking for a while.
[Euthernia Blessed Houses Plaza]
However, they were surprised at the size of this plaza. It was….simply too small.
It looked like a small store rather than a plaza. The building was one story big, and it was just 200 meters wide. Behind this building was actually a hundred stories big tower with a glowing board of [Infinatum Hotel] at the very top in all four directions.
Occasionally, a few people would enter the Euthernia Blessed Houses Plaza through its one large door.
They couldn't see anything past the door as it was all darkness. Even if some people entered, they would disappear into the darkness.
Naturally, it was common sense not to judge anything by its outer appearance as Lily, Huarin, and Dreevindo entered inside.
*Dhoom…dhoom…*
"Everyone! I have two entry coupons for the Wardancer Zone entry! If you want to comprehend Epic-grade Esoteric Abilities, then you can bid for one. The lowest bid is 2 million Epic-tier Etons."
"10 million! Now give it to me,"
…
"What the…," Lily, Huarin, and Dreevindo were surprised as they felt like they had arrived in an entirely different world.
"It's really a plaza…," Huarin murmured.
The plaza was a five-kilometer radius vast; it was truly huge.
"It looks like the building from where we arrived here is just one of the many entrances of to this plaza," Lily said as she saw some people appearing at the border of this plaza on a black footpath like them but at other locations.
"No wonder there are so many people here," Dreevindo nodded.
The entire plaza had six districts and six extensive paths in six directions. On top of each of those six paths was a giant floating board with glowing carvings that changed colors every three seconds, giving it a cyberpunk feel.
[Market District]
[Gambling District]
[Blessed Houses District]
[Mystic Zones District]
[Arena District]
[Entertainment District]
Lily and others directly started walking towards the path leading to [Blessed Houses District]. After walking for a while, they encountered a giant dreamy blue portal from which people would occasionally come out and enter like them.
…
Once they entered the portal, they arrived at sunny, beautiful scenery with a large palace in front of them.
[Blessed Houses Registration Palace]
Lily and others entered the palace, and right after that, a staff approached them and explained everything about how things work here.
Afterward, they took out all of their Etons, of low-tier, mid-tier, and high-tier, and paid at the desk and registered themselves before getting four ID cards.
Those four ID cards had a Digi-magical frame on them that displayed how long they could stay in their Blessed houses.
Naturally, they divided equally, and Lily made an extra card for Mimi with an alias name, Mileni, since the registration didn't require anything other than a name and, of course, Etons.
Each card had 1 year, 2 months, 18 days, and 9 hours displayed.
"Since you have four cards, then it means that there will be one more companion of yours that will join you, right?" asked the staff lady as she looked at Lily and others.
Lily thought for a moment and nodded with a faint smile, "Mileni is with us, inside a Bolean Life capsule right now in my inner space, recovering her injuries."
"I see," the staff nodded before she asked, "then do you want a private island block? or want to go to a multi-zone in a large floating area?"
"What is the difference?" Dreevindo asked.
"Private Island block is a private island amidst an ocean. These islands have four to six Blessed houses. Nobody will disturb you there. On the other hand, a multi-zone is a large floating island where there are twenty to fifty Blessed houses and some other facilities. It's a lively area where people would come out of Blessed House after breaking through and do some combat or training with others in facilities," the staff lady explained patiently.
"Then we would like a private island block with four blessed houses," Lily said with a smile.
The staff nodded before she looked down on her desk and did something on a large tablet and a display in front of her.
*tinnn…*
Lily and others saw the #7 number appearing at the corner of their card.
After a second, a middle-aged man approached them and spoke with a polite smile, "please follow me. I will lead you to your destination."
Following the middle-aged man, after walking through a corridor, they arrived at a portal and entered inside a portal door.
Chapter 712: Blessed Houses, Seven Thrones.
After entering, they arrived at the shore of a private island with beautiful scenery of various trees and beautiful plants.
In front of them were four houses, two on the left side and two on the right side but with some distance between them. Behind the four houses was a large waterfall, and its water parted into two rivers that went around from behind two houses on each side.
"This is really peaceful," Lily said with a smile, and Mimi also came out from the Ark space.
"Hehe, we can also eat fishes from the ocean," Mimi said as she turned around and looked at the ocean.
"This waterfall's water is coming from the sea behind it by some formation. I also sensed some beasts in the small jungle behind the waterfall," Huarin said with closed eyes as she observed the island using her soul sense.
"Let's enter inside the house and start training," Huarin said as she opened her eyes and walked towards the first house on the left side.
There was a slot on the door that fit the card. The door opened after she inserted the card, and the card disappeared.
Lily, Mimi, and Dreevindo also entered inside different houses and started training.
They had already divided the resources between them but not all of them. They only divided 1/4th of the resources while the rest was with Lily as she would be using the Ark's power to enhance them. Once she was done, she would divine the rest of the resources as well.
…
Time passed, and after two months, Huarin and Lily came outside with an even stronger aura on them. Naturally, they broke through. Lily broke through earlier, but she was refining the treasure resources using the Ark's power to upgrade them after she finished her breakthrough.
After coming out, both of them started sparring while waiting for Mimi and Dreevindo to come out.
Naturally, when they opened the door and came out, the card also came out from the slot as the timer on it paused.
After half a month, Mimi came out, and after another two days, Dreevindo also came out.
Lily then divided the upgraded resources and spoke with a smile, "Huarin and I will only come out after we breakthrough to Atomix-transformation stage now."
"I might not be able to breakthrough to Epic, though," Dreevindo said with a wry smile, "however, we will definitely be only one step away from Epic after this session."
"Same here," Mimi said before she suddenly asked with knitted eyebrows, "what's the status of brother Athan? is he still the same?"
Lily nodded with a helpless smile, "he is still in the same condition. I wonder when he will come out from that cocoon?"
"It makes sense, though," Dreevindo said with a wry smile, "he devoured two Epic-level powerhouses souls, and he also said that his absorbing method is not more efficient; the surge in his soul power was really too high, and that should have caused him to upgrade in his unique path further."
"The difference between Atomix to Epic and further difference in sub-stages of Epic are huge. From Epic to Legendary is a huge leap as well," Dreevindo said with a wistful expression, "didn't you see those Legendary beings? No matter how many Epics are there, they can't do anything to a Legendary being unless they truly combined their powers and used some other means like union-type formations."
"And Athan devoured one such Epic powerhouse's soul," Huarin muttered and nodded with sweated expression, "do you know how strong was that Epic powerhouse?"
"I couldn't assess that, but the soul that Athan devoured was definitely not at high-epic," Dreevindo shook his head, "The King I served previous is of high-epic, so I know for sure that the power of that woman Epic powerhouse hadn't reached high-epic yet."
"There was one person attacking that Gorilla who was very powerful," Mimi said, "I think he was at Peak-Epic. He was also the one who took the grand reward at the end."
"Yeah, he was at the Peak-Epic, definitely more powerful than the King I served," Dreevind nodded.
"Enough chit-chat, now let's get back to training," Huarin said as she turned around and left.
Others nodded as they returned to their Blessed Houses as well.
…
Time passed as hours turned into days and days into months before a year actually passed.
Mimi and Dreevindo arrived outside as their time was up, while Lily and Huarin also arrived outside after their time was used up as well.
Naturally, both of them had broken through but spent the rest of the time consolidating their Genealogy path using the powerful, pure, and thick orchos energy inside the Blessed House.
Both of them had reached the Atomix-transformation stage and would soon do their first transformation as well.
"It looks like we will have to leave," Dreevindo said wryly.
"Let's gather more resources and come back here," Huarin said.
"Wait, I have an idea," Lily said with a smile, "I have some valuable items that we got from those we killed, remember? Let's sell them to the market and then visit the Gambling District to try out luck for more resources."
Mimi's eyes shined as she nodded hurriedly, "I want to go there!"
"Athan is still the same?" Dreevindo asked.
"Unfortunately or fortunately, yeah," Lily said with a wry smile, "I also can't sense anything since he is inside that cocoon."
…
Somewhere in a mystical place, there were seven thrones floating in the dreamy faint golden-white cloudy zone.
Out of those seven seats, one seat was empty while the other six thrones were filled by humanoid beings.
None of them were pure humans but had different features on them in the humanoid frames.
"Staercia, how is that brat doing?" asked an old man who had a purple-green woody body and a cane in his hand. He sat on a viney throne and there were small colorful leaves of beautiful different shapes floating around him.
Staercia was other than the woman who took away Tiana and others' souls and put them inside the Origin realm of Abyssal Void Of Fabrication.
"He has already arrived at Orchos Firmament and…is indeed progressing by leaps and bound," Staercia said with a nod.
"Mhmm, I looked at the AVOF realm a few days ago, it was getting hyper." said a buffy man with explosive muscle, and bare body. However, he looked like a werewolf with fur on his body and wolf head but also had exquisite giant twelve horns on top of his head with golden patterns.
"Hyper? What do you mean?"
"It was shaping up."
"I see…then he should have passed the 40% mark."
"Yep."
"That's really fast."
"Huh? It's not as fast as how you progress though, humph."
"hahaha, that's because I was simply born for this power. I had too much affinity with it and rapidly understood it."
"Anyway, since we have talked much, then let's go and continue our work. I sure hope that brat Athan comes here fast, so we can finally open this damn path."
"Patience old man, patience, hahaha. Either he comes here or he dies halfway, we will open this path. Since we have outgrown our powers now, we can force origin AVOF realm for our bid as well."
"But let's hope it doesn't come to that point."
"Indeed."
….
Chapter 713: Big Money, Athan!
"Shit…you better win next time, shorty!" Lily said as she clicked her tongue, "you lost 3 out of 4 games already, while we at least won 2 out of 4 games."
"Sigh, my luck is bad. All weapons I got inside the game were something that I couldn't use properly," Dreevindo sighed.
Currently, everyone was inside one of the gamble game zones in the Gambling District.
They had sold all items they got from the people they killed in Dimensional Rifts and then went to Gambling District to win more money.
They were playing a game where they could only bet on themselves and play the game. If they win the game according to the milestones, they get more money according to their bets.
The game was simple; it was about killing and passing stages in a Virtual Mystic Zone. This was like Virtual reality, but it was supported by magic power and technology.
After entering the Virtual Mystic Zone by infusing their soul energy into a crystal and putting their hand on that crystal, they would virtually enter into another world.
However, they will have to bet money on themselves with the specification before starting.
Lily, Mimi, Huarin, were standing behind the open booth and inside that booth was Dreevindo.
There was a staff member besides the booth who spoke, "add your bet amount, odds, and milestones for the 4th round."
"I understand," Dreevindo nodded as he wiped the sweat on his forehead before speaking, "this time, I bet 20,000 rare-tier Etons on myself."
"What! Are you kidding me?" Huarin snapped, "that's all you have left after losing three times."
Dreevindo gritted his teeth with determination spoke, "if I lose, then I will sell one of my items that is worth twenty-two thousand rare-tier Etons."
"Go on," Lily nodded, "let's hope you get good luck this time."
Mimi and Huarin smiled wryly and nodded as well.
As such, Dreevindo betted 22,000 rare-tier Etons. The staff member received the amount through the card and asked, "odd and milestone?"
"One to hundred," Dreevindo said with a somber expression, "As for milestone…It's stage 6."
"Are you kidding me?" Lily, Huarin, and Mimi were dumbfounded.
"One to hundred…," the staff member didn't input the details on a mystical tablet in his hand right away but asked, "are you sure about one to hundred odds? In case you forgot, if you select higher return odds, then the stages will also become difficult."
"I'm aware," Dreevindo nodded, "do it."
Lily and others looked at Dreevindo and narrowed their eyes.
'Is he up to something?' Huarin asked.
'Something is fishy; he wouldn't take a risk like this considering how stingy he is,' Lily nodded.
…
Dreevindo indeed had a plan as he used a very rare that he possessed. He got this ability by comprehending a natural catalyst, and the conditions to use this ability and countdown were unique and high.
After all, it was a luck-increasing ability.
After using that ability, which he could only use once every hundred years, Dreevindo started the game after completing the betting details and went on for another game.
He put his hand on the crystal and infused his soul sense as his consciousness appeared in another world.
There was a display behind the booth and in front of the booth that displayed Dreevindo in that world.
Inside that world, which was simply grassy plains right now, Dreevindo stood there with a giant floating roulette wheel in front of him.
The roulette had 999 numbers, but all numbers were different sizes as they became smaller and smaller with increasing numbers. 1 number's box was the biggest while 999 number's box was the smallest.
There was also a small handle in front of Dreevindo, and he pulled it strongly as the roulette started to spin. The roulette spun at blinding speed as its needle was waiting for a number to stop in front of it.
After five seconds, Dreevindo pulled the handle again as the roulette came to a sudden stop from its blinding spinning speed.
It directly stopped at the 991 number box.
*TRIN TRIN TRIN!!!*
A buzzing trin resounded across this large betting game hall.
[Booth No.23rd got 900+ number! A jackpot game has been activated.]
[Current pool prizes have gathered to 13 million epic-tier Etons after 43 years of no one getting 900+ numbers in roulette.]
*uproar!!*
The giant screens on all corners of the hall displayed Dreevindo's game as they clearly saw the roulette's needle pointed at 991.
"Holy sht! He got 991! What kind of item is in that number?"
"All items after 900 are hidden. We can't see their details in the catalog."
"Hahaha, look at his odds! Even though he got an item at number 991, his odds are one to a hundred. Will he be able to reach his milestone with that high odd?"
"The box appeared!"
…
Dreevindo clenched his fist and thought, 'It worked!'
He then looked at the exquisite treasure box in front of him and stretched his arm forward before touching the lock on the box with his hand.
Colorful sparkles appeared before a loud announcement reverberated once again.
[Duality Twilight Koutei Hammers set has made its first appearance!]
A pair of hammers appeared in front of Dreevindo as the box disappeared. The hammers looked divine and powerful with golden, red, and blue ocean patterns on their dark grey material body.
Dreevindo's face turned red in excitement as he grabbed the hammers with his trembling hands. He was not going to take this item with him since it was not real.
However, THEY WERE HAMMERS!
And he was master of hammers! He had reached a peak in Hammer Esoteric Arts because of his bloodline and talent.
As he grabbed the hammer, He and all the other audience got the hammer's information.
[Duality Twilight Koutei Hammers]
-Phantom Mythical Weapons
-Unique Energy Basic Attacks: Divine Pyr, Twilight Lighting, Aurelion Shade.
-Ultimate gauge: 0/100
-Skills: Onslaught Mirages, Phantom Menace, Burst of Starpath, Hyper Aurelion Nova.
-Ultimate skills: Dome of Duality Twilight, Obliterating Hammer Clap.
-Trait 1: 50% less stamina consumed while fighting.
-Trait 2: 0.001% chance to summon Grand Twiling Duality Wave while attacking that will easily clear an entire stage, no matter the difficulty.
-Trait 3: Permanent increase of Movement and Attack Speed by 30%.
"That's powerful damn!"
"Indeed…But I wonder if he will be able to win the Prize pool, though."
"We'll find out soon enough."
…
The scenery entirely changed after Dreevindo grabbed the hammers and got its information.
The Virtual Mystic World turned into a hellscape with giant volcanos and an army of demonic beasts coming his way.
Dreevindo's expression was somber and excited both, 'I'll show you what is called the Dance of Unbound Hammers.'
Three giant hammer images appeared behind Dreevindo, with all three exuding different types of energy. One was Black and white, another was dark purple with light purple sparks, and the third was pitch black with golden designs.
Dreevindo dashed forward in a unique moving pattern while waving his hammers; the hammers created shockwaves of three types of powers as they spread in all directions.
…
After an hour and a half, the entire hall was silent for a moment before cheers erupted.
"What the heck was that hammer art? I am damn sure that he inherited it from somewhere."
"He didn't even use the ultimate skills and passed the 6th stage."
"Geez…"
Lily, Huarin, and Mimi looked at each other with unbelievable expressions.
"Did we just get 13 million Epic-tier Etons?" Huarin asked with a dumbfounded expression.
"We did," Lily nodded with a blank expression.
"Yey!!!" Mimi cheered as she looked at Dreevindo coming out of the portal with a proud expression, "Good job, uncle Dreevindo!"
After that, they left the Gambling District and directly used those 21 million Epic-tier Etons to book the best Blessed House and even bought more resources even though they still had the previous batch of refined resources left.
After increasing their timing to 12 years on each card, they directly went back to their Private island and started training.
…
They trained, broke through, practiced, and fully committed themselves to get strong.
Time passed as hours turned into days, days into months, and months into years as eight years passed.
Today, inside the Ark space…the Athan the cocoon finally displayed some changes.
The mystical black, white, and light grey cocoon with an upside-down water-drop symbol with whirlpool in it was exuding streams of black and white aura that circulated around the cocoon.
The cocoon slowly but surely started to turn faint as one could see Athan sitting in a meditating stance, stark naked.
His body was fully inscribed with eccentric black and white patterns with a hint of light grey in all of those patterns.
After the cocoon fully disappeared, or more precisely, absorbed inside Athan, he opened his mystical eyes that had a strange symbol that was the same as on the cocoon.
At this moment, Lily, who was inside the Blessed House, finally felt something inside the Ark space and opened her eyes.
"Athan!"
Lily disappeared and entered inside the Ark space as she saw Aren standing up.
"You finally woke up!" Lily said with a smile as she approached Aren.
Athan faintly smiled and asked, "how much time passed?"
"Nine years," Lily said with a wry smile.
"Your aura," Athan raised his eyebrows, "It's almost as powerful as Mimi's aura."
Lily shook her head and grinned, "Well, current Mimi's aura is even more powerful, she has broken through to Epic. Dreevindo is the same. Both of them have broken through to Epic and are progressing."
Afterward, Lily told Athan about everything that happened while he was in his cocoon form.
"Blessed House?" Athan muttered but then he shook his head, "It's useless to me."
After thinking for a bit, Athan said with a faint smile, "drop me at the Plaza, I will measure my newfound strength and absorb some more knowledge while you are all training."
"Good idea," Lily nodded with a chuckle, "there are a lot of things in this place."
Afterward, Lily came out of the Blessed House and returned to the plaza where Athan came out from the Ark space.
"You can go now and continue training," Athan said to Lily and nodded.
"Yep."
Chapter 714: One Year In The Tower
[A/N: Read the ending of chapter 712 In case you haven't read the extra paragraphs I added in It after several minutes of publishing it that day.]
Athan looked around the Plaza and those six giant boards, which displayed the six districts. After a moment, he started walking towards the Arena district.
After he entered through a portal, he arrived in a nightly land filled with shiny stars. This land was filled with artificial crystal lights that lit up everything. There were various types of stadiums with different sizes spread here.
However, there was a large tower a few hundred meters deep in this land that towered over all buildings.
[Skybreath Tower]
There were boards around the tower that had written that this tower had opened its new season's ten challenges and all people at Atomix-stage and Epic-stage were welcome to participate by paying some fees.
The fees of entry were 50,000 rare-tier Etons for Atomix-stage and 50,000-epic tier Etons for Epic-stage powerhouses.
The 2nd stage of challenges had already started, but people could still participate in the challenges. After a month, this challenging season will close down, and a new tournament will begin for the top 32 people with the highest score in the ten challenges.
Athan felt that the tower must also have the most people since it was that big, 'perfect for what I need right now.'
What Athan needed now was to broaden his horizons on the powers of this world, powers wielded by powerful people of Orchos Firmament. So he can absorb that knowledge and use it for himself in his way.
He started walking towards the tower and arrived at the entrance after a while.
There was a line of people entering inside at the four entrances of the tower.
Athan stood in the line, and after ten minutes, his turn arrived as the guards blocked the path and asked, "participant or audience?"
"Audience," Athan replied and gave the guard his card.
The guard nodded and swiped the card on a metal tablet with blue patterns before giving the card back to Athan along with a rectangle pass that was produced from the tablet.
Athan took the card and the pass before the guard opened the way for him to the tower entrance.
As expected, the internal structure of the tower was even bigger. The outside of the tower was large; the inside was even larger!
There was a giant stadium in the middle, and people were everywhere around the stadium. The stadium was actually a large bubble, and it displayed a scene from another place.
There were four bars at four sides as well as people were enjoying drinking while watching the challenges.
There were four elevators as well, and people could go up to 200 floors.
Athan looked at this lively but grand scene as his lips curved into a smile, "A lot to absorb, I see."
…
One year.
Athan spent a whole year inside that tower. All he did this year was to watch all challenges and battles closely.
The challenges were about defeating powerful creatures and completing tasks, so people watched them through a giant bubble in the stadiums.
However, the battles between people happened inside the stadium in the flesh with a thin barrier covering the stadium.
Athan stayed all the time on the 200th floor since it was the biggest, and he could watch multiple fights here since there were ten stadiums here. However, he was actually watching hundreds of fights at the same time while always staying on the 200th floor of this tower.
Several tiny eyes with wings were hidden on each floor of this tower. They were the Ocular-voidlings that Athan created after arriving here. He put some on each floor as he climbed the floors in a few days and arrived at the top floor.
Today was the last day of Athan's stay in this tower as he had decided to leave today.
He walked towards the bar and sat down on a stool.
"Sup, Athan. What do you want today?" The bartender asked with a smile.
"Stop it, already. Aren't you two fed up doing this every day?" A man in his late twenties arrived at the bar and sat down on a stool as he spoke while shaking his head, "it's the same as always."
This man in his late twenties was a devilish person from a powerful Devil Empire. His name was Yokan Thornal. He was slim, tall, and looked handsome with mixed dark silver and red hair.
"Give me anything you prefer, but different than what I had before," Athan answered the bartender Joe's question, which was the same answer he always gave.
"Alright," the bartender grinned before he looked at Yokan, "this process of asking is important for me, hahaha."
Athan was looking at multiple stadium's fights through hundreds of windows in his mind.
"When are you going to participate, Athan?" Yokan asked after he ordered his drink as well, "I've been only here for two months, but Joe told me that you were here for a year now but still haven't participated?"
"It's ready, Athan. A special one today as well," Joe said as he mixed up a bubbling drink for Athan. It was light red with literal sparks of black and white occurring in the glass every second.
"Thanks," Athan said as he took the glass and took a sip before nodding his head, "good."
He then turned to Yokan and spoke with a faint smile, "I've been participating in every single fight here since I arrived."
Yokan shook his head with a wry smile, "whatever."
"I saw your fight as well," Athan continued with a sip from the glass, "too bad you lost against 3rd rank. That guy really had a tricky illusionary skill."
Yokan was startled, "but you were not on the 43rd floor at that time! How did you know?"
"Secret," Atan said with a grin as he emptied the glass in one go before saying, "also, I am leaving today."
"Oh? Haha, too bad I wouldn't get to see your power, Athan," Joe, the bartender, said as he laughed wryly.
"You might in the future," Athan shrugged slightly with a smile. He then turned to Yokan and grinned, "by the way, you are coming with me as well."
Hearing that, Yokan was startled.
Chapter 715: Destination: Main Devil Realm 1
"Me?" Yokan was startled, "why?"
"Because we will be going to your main devil realm," Athan said with a grin as a dangerous glint flashed across his eyes.
In the past year, he had also gathered much information. The thing regarding what Mimi's parents did here was huge.
After all, they had destroyed one of the most powerful Empires here with precise planning with tricks and their power using the treasure, Ark of Exordium.
As such, almost everyone here knew about that matter.
"Main devil realm?" Yokan said with confusion, "why do you want to go there? Are there some other devils you know there?"
Athan didn't answer but took out a two-meter tall from his void region and put it on the floor. This attracted everyone's attention as the egg was exuding a powerful aura.
"Woah, Athan. Don't take out such things casually," Yokan wryly smiled as he sensed many gazes directing towards them.
"This Epic-grade egg is yours if you lead me to a place in the main devil realm," Athan said. His expression had a simple smile, but it told Yokan that he was not joking.
Yokan put a palm on the egg before closing his eyes. After two seconds, he opened eyes that had traces of excitement as he nodded with a grin, "deal. It looks like you haven't tried to hatch it at all, hahaha. In that case, I can add my clan's bloodline in it for a perfect fusion."
"Take it," Athan said with a carefree expression, "we will leave after an hour."
"Really?" Yokan's eyes shined. He thought he would get the egg after he led Athan to his destination but didn't expect he would get it in advance.
"Thanks, brother Athan! I promise I won't run away after taking it," Yokan said as he put the egg inside his inner space.
"You can't run away anyway," Athan nonchalantly said before he expressed his curiosity, "but you are a bit too excited for this than I expected. I don't think Epic-grade eggs are that hard to get for you considering your backing."
Yokan nodded with a smile, "it's true that I can get them, but this egg is different. I've never seen this species before. It's from a lower Lerento, right?"
"Indeed, It's from 2nd Lerento," Athan nodded.
"No wonder," Yokan nodded with a grin, "My occupation is also Beast Tamer, and I like to do experiments by infusing my clan's bloodline into different beasts when they are still in their embryo form. I fiddle with this to create a powerful beast."
"I see," Athan nodded before he turned to the front and closed his eyes to watch the hundreds of battles in his mind, "we will leave after an hour. get ready."
Soon an hour passed as Athan opened his eyes…
"I'll contact Yokan," Joe said as he saw Athan opening his eyes.
"Thanks," Athan nodded.
"Here, one more drink on me before you leave," Joe said with a laugh as he passed a glass to Athan.
"Alright," Athan said with a smile.
After a while…
Athan and Yokan left the Skybreath tower and then left the Plaza as well before arriving outside in the city.
While walking, Athan used one of his newfound abilities and contacted Lily directly to her soul using his soul power. This was only possible with people who have accepted Athan's Touch of Transcendent and Seed of Transcendency.
…
At this moment, Lily, Huarin, and Mimi had a freestyle battle among them and were planning to fight in Arena after that as well once Dreevindo comes out from his Blessed House.
This new island was way better than the previous one after they paid more to get the best Blessed Houses for them. The island had food and drink facilities as well as a direct teleportation platform that could allow them to go directly to any district from here.
"Wait!" Lily said as she suddenly stopped with a surprised expression on her face.
Mimi and Huarin also stopped before they approached Lily, "what happened?"
'How are we able to talk like this, Athan?' Lily replied to Athan as she felt a connection with Athan and saw a mirage of Athan in her mind talking to her.
'It's because of the soul abilities I used on you all,' Athan said with a smile, 'anyway, I contacted you all to tell you that I am leaving for a while.'
'Where?' Lily asked as she raised her eyebrows.
'That…I will tell you later,' Athan said as he shook his head, 'anyway, you all still have three years left to train in your blessed houses, right?'
'Four years,' Lily replied with a nod.
'Then I will return after four years,' Athan said, 'until then, get as powerful as you possibly can.'
After that, the connection was cut off.
Lily looked at Mimi and Huarin before telling them what had happened.
"Brother Athan…he is not going to do something dangerous alone, right?" Mimi asked with a worried expression.
Lily helplessly smiled spoke, "he didn't tell me anything."
On the other hand, Huarin's expression became determined as she spoke, "then we keep our focus here. At least, we need to get powerful enough to be aid of Athan rather than holding him back."
"True," Lily nodded as her eyes blazed, "let's continue!"
…
"Let's go, brother Athan. We will first go to Sorendal firmament chasm where there is a hidden portal of my clan," Yokan said.
Athan snapped out of his thoughts as some sadness flashed in his eyes and nodded, "alright."
The reason for Athan's sadness was that he tried to contact Tiana, Avelia, Sen, and others using his newfound powers but failed.
He couldn't make a connection with the origin AVOF realm like he could previous despite reaching 55% in the understanding of AVOF.
'Sigh…' Athan shook his head, but a determined expression soon appeared, 'I just have to continue moving forward and get strong as fast as I can to reach there eventually.'
'The first thing I need to do is to strengthen this physical body.. The soul power and my AVOF have gotten strong to be contained in this physical body right now,' Athan thought as he looked at his hand that had black and white cracks.
Chapter 716: Main Devil Realm 2, Encounter
Yokan led Athan to a Firmament Chasm before both of them traveled for some time.
After an hour, Yokan took out a medallion and did something with it, which produced a portal. Both of them entered inside that portal and arrived at a hidden island.
There were a few people of the same clan as Yokan on this island.
Seeign Yokan with a stranger they didn't recognize, they asked who he was and whatnot.
After ten minutes of talking and other things, they entered another portal inside the palace on this island, which led to the Main Devil Realm.
"I changed the portal's coordination to match with a small manor I have in one of the biggest cities in Main Devil Realm, the Lugian City, " Yokan said as both of them arrived in a room, which was Yokan's private manor.
Athan nodded and said, "First, I want you to lead me surging spots filled with powerful energies; there should be such spots here, right?"
Yokan nodded before asking with a doubt, "if you can tell me why do you want to go to such places, then I can help you better, I think."
"I just want to absorb powerful energies and use them to refine and strengthen my body in my way."
"I see," Yokan nodded before he revealed a thoughtful expression for a second before he grinned, "then I got a perfect place for you. Let's go."
They both left the manor and started walking on the strength full of different kinds of devilish people. Athan saw humans and people of other races as well.
After walking for five minutes, they finally neared the exit gate.
However, at that time, a huge uproar suddenly resounded as someone important was entering the city.
A small army hurriedly entered inside the city and created a border.
The pedestrians and guards bowed respectfully as well.
'Oh shit…it's Reventas Kiely! Head down, Athan! Head down!' Yokan pulled Athan to the side with other pedestrians and transmitted the thought talk to Athan.
After saying that, Yokan bowed with other pedestrians. Devils, Elves, Vampires, Dragowits, Humans, everyone bowed their heads.
At this time, a lady with half-veil on her face that only showed her eyes entered through the gate. She had long black hair with a magical silver sheen on them. Her eyes were deep blue with a white patterned iris, and her body had perfect curves as she wore a long-sleeved dress with a half cleavage showing. There was a gem accessory on her head, and her ears had big black crescent earrings.
As she entered through the gate, a helpless expression flashed through her eyes, 'sigh, I already told him that there's no need for this treatment, that idiot Nukkil.'
Nukkil was none other than the City Lord of this powerful city and a clan master of a powerful clan. A figure who had stepped into the Legendary path.
There were two guards following behind the lady known as Reventas Kiely. One was a man, and another was a woman. Both of them exuded a powerful aura that was even more powerful than the kings in 2nd Lerento.
They were at the Disaster stage, a stage above Epic where one would emerge as a disaster after creating their Epic tale in Genealogy.
As for the lady Reventas, she didn't exude any aura at all.
The three of them entered inside the gate, but right after walking for a few steps, their gaze went on to the nearby Inn's 2nd floor where a man with an appearance in his early thirties was looking at them with interesting expression. This man had shoulder-length silver hair and dark pink eyes with a slim build.
Inside that Inn's second floor…the man saw them looking at him, but he just smiled and nodded.
"Who is he?" Reventas asked with curiosity.
The lady guard spoke in a somber voice, "Kion from Yaggdris clan. That clan with unique beings who possess core powers of Vampire Ancestor and Pyratin Devil."
A shocked expression flashed through Lady Reventas's eyes, 'what is he doing here?'
'Who knows?'
On the other hand, Kion looked at the crowd as his interesting expression intensified, 'It looks like someone is courting death.'
Everyone on the street was bowing their heads except for one person.
The two powerful guards and Lady Reventas noticed that person instantly when they continued started walking after the small interaction with Kion.
However, they did nothing and continued walking. Athan looked at them with indifferent eyes with slight curiosity. After all, he was somewhat surprised that all people bowed because of their entrance.
They showed respect and fear while bowing, but Athan was not one of them. If someone wants him to bow, then that person has to earn enough of his respect. As for fear? That was out of the question.
Reign supreme against weaker and remain dominant against stronger. This was his mentality, and it wouldn't change. How he remains dominant is up to him, but no one shall have their influence on him.
Athan watched them silently and indifferently as those three people continued walking.
Reventas had curiosity in her eyes as she looked at Athan, 'I wonder who he is? His aura…'
Reventas eyes revealed a faint symbol as she tried to use her powers to observe Athan. However, she was startled as all she gleaned from Athan was…nothing. She could at least see him with her eyes, but when she used her power to observe him, he actually disappeared from her radar, 'What's going on?'
She was trying various ways to observe Athan while walking and soon neared him. Her eyes glued on Athan.
However, the two guards behind her were obviously dissatisfied with Athan's behavior. They also cross-checked about his identity but found that they had no record of anyone looking like Athan.
As the three of them continued walking and arrived at the place where Athan was standing, the two guards suddenly released a concentrated pressure on Athan, intending to make him bow.
"Wait!" Reventas suddenly spoke as she snapped out of her reverie and knew that the guards would pull that off, but it was too late as the two guards started with the intention to test whether Athan was powerful or not by trying to suppress him.
If Athan was more powerful than them, then they would just leave him be. But if he was weaker, then they would have him kneeled for days in this spot. After all, this was the great Lugian city and was filled with Legendary powerhouses. Even if Athan turned out to be more powerful than them, he wouldn't dare to do anything here unless he wanted to die.
"What's your deal?" Athan asked as he looked at the two guards with an indifferent expression. Naturally, their pressure couldn't do shit to him. It couldn't even budge his natural void field.
Yokan looked up and almost pissed his pants, 'Wha….What in the bloody devil's hell are you doing?'
"Sir Vinatin, and ma'am Searisa," Yokan looked up and hurriedly spoke as he called out to the two guards behind Reventas, "he…he is new here and doesn't know about anything here. Actually, it's his first time ever in one of the Devil realms. Please don't take this matter too seriously. He was just curious, that's all."
Vinatin and Searisa looked at Yokan with a frown.
"you are…that third young master from Thornal clan?" Vinatin recognized him and spoke, but then he shook his head, "you should know that Lord Nukkil's orders are absolute. He had set this rule in this city, and those in this city must obey this rule barring the exceptions."
Afterward, they looked at Athan and spoke, "Bow down!"
'Athan, my brother,…please! Just bow your head for a few seconds!' Yokan literally begged Athan.
"Stop it, you two!" Reventas suddenly spoke in a slightly higher voice and turned to look at them, "he doesn't need to bow."
"Sigh…this rule is stupid. I will have to tell Nukkil to stop it, and if he doesn't, then I will not come here anymore."
Reventas shook her head with a sigh before she turned to Athan and smiled behind her veil, "nice to meet you. I am Reventas Kiely."
Deep within Athan's gaze were flashing two mystical bolts of black and white right when those two guards told him to bow down. However, hearing Reventas, he turned his gaze away from those two and looked at her.
Nodding his head, he returned the greetings, "Athan Void."
"Void?" Reventas muttered before thinking, 'he is literally void in my Roushi Divine Eyes…how strange.'
Afterward, she spoke loudly, "everyone! Please stop bowing."
The pedestrians and guards looked up with curiosity and wondered what had happened. Of course, they had heard the conversation, but they couldn't glean much from it.
On the other hand, Vinatin and Searisa were dumbfounded as they looked at each other, 'she has never spoken like this before.'
'Clearly, the guy we were trying to suppress invoked that reaction in her.'
Both of them glanced at Athan for a few moments before turning to Reventas with a helpless smile.
"Lady Reventas, we were just doing our jobs. After all, Lord Nukkil specifically made this rule to show respect to you."
"Let's go, Yokan," Athan spoke as he didn't want to waste time here and started walking towards the gate, ignoring everyone.
"Eh..wh-what?" Yokan was startled, "wait…"
He didn't move but looked hesitantly at the two guards and Lady Reventas.
Lady Reventas looked disappointed that Athan left because she wanted to talk with him to know more about him. However, she didn't stop Athan and looked at Yokan with a smile and chuckled, "you don't need permission to leave, haha. Go with your friend."
Yokan sighed relief and nodded with a grin, and left.
'Athan, huh? I feel like we will meet again,' Reventas thought as she looked at Athan and Yokan leaving through the gate.
After that, she turned to Vinatin and Searisa and spoke with a determined expression, "I have said to Nukkil to abolish this rule many times before, but he had refused. However, I am determined to make him remove it today."
"Let's go," said Reventas as she turned forward and continued walking towards the castle at the center of this city.
Vinatin and Searisa wryly smiled at each other and followed her.
"Lady Reventas. That person didn't even budge in her concentrated aura pressured on him. So, he was definitely more powerful than but he can't be more powerful than you, right?"
"I don't know," Reventas replied without looking back, "he felt rather…unique. It's like…he was out of this world but here at the same time. Very strange."
On the other hand, Kion Yaggdris was surprised by the turns of events.
"Who the hell was that? To be able to invoke a reaction from her like that?" Kion muttered.
"Shadow first, fifth, and eight. Follow that person and attack him. However, don't go with the intention to kill," Kion suddenly spoke, "if he tries to kill you, then crush the Worpal stone, and I will arrive there."
Three being suddenly appeared from the darkness below Kion's feet and disappeared.
…
"Phew, Athan! What the hell was that?" Yokan said with a sweaty expression.
"What?" Athan looked at him with a confused expression, "don't tell me that I would bow to some random person just because you said so?"
"Eh?…," Yokan smiled wryly hearing that before sighing, "brother Athan. I was saying that for our sake. Even if I didn't bow, they wouldn't kill but I would have to suffer something. However, you are a stranger with no name and backing so if you didn't bow, they would really kill you."
Pausing there, Yokan's gaze turned strange, "Indeed. I actually don't know how powerful brother Athan is. I can't really sense your strength so I figured that you are at least more powerful than me and possess some powerful aura hiding Esoteric ability. However, you seem to be more than what I imagined considering Lady Reventas's reaction."
Yokan looked at Athan with intense curiosity and asked, "tell me brother Athan, or rather senior Athan? Haha, anyway. I really want to know how powerful you are. Don't tell me you are a Legendary being?"
Hearing those words, Athan looked at the sky and shook his head, "actually…I don't know how powerful I am as well."
…
[A/N: Oh NO!! I made a mistake! Lily and others directly went from Raisor-stage to Atomix-stage! The peel-stage, where they basically reform their soul and literally peel their body and existence and reconstruct them to hold more power using their upgraded Genealogy path was SKIPPED by mistake :(. I just forgot the mention it but in those 8 years in super-duper Blessed Houses and resources, Lily and Huarin indeed reached the Atomix stage.. Naturally, they could reach because of their newfound talent and power of Ark.]