Ashton no longer had any reason to stay within the Celestial's Camp. Well, he didn't have a reason to stay there permanently at least.
Since he already knew what he wanted to know, there was no reason for him to stay there. He could just visit from time to time to check on Hilda.
He returned to the ground and parked the library at an inconspicuous spot within the Warzone, then he stopped worrying about it for now.
Admittedly, there were things that Ashton wanted and needed to do but none of them are achievable right now. He need to become a little bit stronger first before he even dared to take action.
Ashton was tempted to go out and go on a killing spree again. He wanted to remind both enemy camps of his presence since they've had their guards down already but in the end, he prevented himself from doing that.
Maybe he could do that later, for now, he had to organize his thoughts...
He made a promise to Hilda that he will free her and take the Dragon Vein out of this place.
Knowing what the Celestials and Hypogeans wanted to do by specifically targetting this area allowed Ashton to see everything clearly. He knows that this can't continue on and that he needs to take action.
The plot of Celestials and Hypogeans was quite sinister. Stealing the luck, fate, and destiny of Humanity for themselves before leaving them with a broken world? How cruel!
The fact that they're quite confident that they could just come and go as they pleased, pissed Ashton off. Seriously, what did Humanity ever do to them? Why would they do something like this?
Then again, those questions don't really need answering. In fact, even if nobody answers him, Ashton already knew the answer. It is something that would infuriate him if he hears it but it's also obvious.
There's no reason why. They simply did it because they could and Humanity couldn't stop them. It's that simple.
Weakness wasn't originally a sin but now that it has come to this, it might as well be...
If things continue this way, Humanity could only watch as the Celestials and Hypogeans drain the vitality of this world, leaving nothing behind but a desolate and dying world. Humanity will perish as a whole and there's nothing they could do to stop it.
Thankfully though, all hope is not lost.
There's a chance for them still and right now, it depends on how patient Ashton was...
There's no way he could rush this. Even if he could, he wouldn't. Even more so than now, Ashton had to be careful. He absolutely cannot die. So long as he's alive and he could complete his mission, there will be a chance for Humanity.
He's aware that alone, he couldn't possibly do much. He needed allies, Heroes, to answer to their destinies. He would stand behind them but ultimately, this isn't a battle that he alone could wage.
He already has enough capital. He's amassing more and more as days passed. And even when he returns to his home, this won't stop. If anything, it'd just be faster.
What he needs to focus on right now, is promoting his strength and making plans for what he eventually needs to do.
Aria was already made aware of Ashton's discoveries. At this point, nothing was truly hidden between the two of them.
She realized just how much burden Ashton must be carrying right now and that just made her even more determined to help him.
As for the matter of her knowing that there were other Spirits around...well, it didn't cause her any concerns. In a sense, she's different from the kind of Spirit Hilda was.
She was once a Human whose soul was bound to this library, making her a Library Spirit/Ghost. Hilda and her kind are created by the world itself. There's a huge difference between them and she didn't feel particularly compelled about that.
So what if her origins weren't as glamorous as theirs? What's important to her is that she's with her beloved and the fact that he needs her help.
Just like Ashton, Aria never became idle. Ever since she decided that she wanted to share his burdens, she worked just as hard as he did. Often holing up inside her lab, sometimes even falling asleep there due to how focused she was.
It was exhausting but also rewarding at the same time. She wasn't discouraged especially when she could tell that her progress was nothing short of amazing.
'The Core' is already up and working. This crystal ball which was as big as a volleyball could essentially support an entire city. Throughout their tests so far, it was working as intended and as it is right now, it has already begun charging.
At this rate, it'll take about a year before it is fully charged. Considering that this thing could carry the burden of an entire city, that's not that long. Not to mention, they could just have it absorb more resources to expedite the process so there's no need to worry about it for now.
Making the entire 'ARC' isn't possible right now. They simply don't have enough space for it. That is something they could only do once they returned to Last Bastion.
That being said though, Aria's already confident enough that so long as she met the minimum requirements to start the project, she could definitely make the 'ARC' possible.
Of course, her work didn't stop there...
Aside from her growing discoveries about Demonic and Angelic Trinkets, she's also making improvements to Humanity's technology.
Since Ashton could access the Grand Archives, he could also borrow some books there to lend to her. One of the books there was a compilation of theories that could potentially lead to technological breakthroughs. Aria had been studying them and testing them out.
This is what's making her busy these past few days.
As for Ashton...
Well, he's also working hard as well. Nothing new about that.
As days passed, he could feel his responsibilities getting heavier. When they said that; 'Sometimes, knowledge is a curse', Ashton was convinced that they were telling the truth.
Had he remained ignorant about all of this, perhaps he could still live easily and laxer, but fate had other plans for him, he supposes. And there's nothing he could do but follow the path laid out in front of him.
To get his mind out of it, he threw himself into Simulation Battles, fighting the Angels and Demons to his heart's desire.
The more he fought, the more refined his techniques got. His utilization of his Virtues was also getting finer the more he trained.
Recently, he had been having fun wrecking Angels using Black Magic.
Right, just like how White Magic was harmful to Demons, Black Magic is just as harmful to Angels.
Even the most simple debuff like, say: Blind, could produce a deadly effect when he used it in conjunction with his guns.
The Blind Spell causes him to fire a homing shot that will automatically seek Angel's eyes. The more eyes the Angel has, the deadlier this Spell becomes.
Discord is a Black Magic Spell that makes the enemy's mana turbulent, thereby increasing their spell-casting failure rate. Though when he used it as a bullet, it makes it so that the targets he hits will instantly turn hostile to their comrades.
These are just simple examples of what Black Magic does to Angels. It's a little bit strange but Ashton wasn't complaining.
Sadly though, he didn't have many Black Magic Spells. He was a White Mage and when he enrolled in the Black Magic class, it was only to discover a way how to be freed of his curse. That resulted in him not learning as many Black Magic Spells. Heck, he doesn't even have a single High Order Black Magic Spell!
Still, it doesn't mean that he's completely helpless. He had other ways to kill Angels despite lacking Black Magic.
There's still his Bone Scythe, you see.
Even when his Black Magic Spells don't work, he could always hurt them using the Scythe. And the more Angels he kills, the deadlier this scythe becomes against them.
As for his Cultivation, he's reached the 2nd Refinement of 2nd Virtue, he's still an Lv.2 Warlock and he'd be one for quite some time.
His progress had slowed down to a crawl at this point, but Ashton didn't mind. Even if this meant that it'll take him nearly a decade or more before he breakthrough into the Sorcerer Rank, that's fine with him. It's not like he's weaker than normal Sorcerers anyway.
Plus, he's still young. Even if, say, he used a decade to go from Warlock to Sorcerer, he'd just be 28 or 29 years old by that time. That's still very young compared to other sorcerers out there and his cultivation could still be considered fast.
In short, Ashton wasn't worried. He's taking his cultivation step by step, he's not in a hurry since time was on his side.
The fact that he's carrying this much burden is even more of a reason for him to not hurry his progress for the sake of immediate gains.
Slow and steady wins the game. So long as he's alive, there will be hope.
