A few months passed without any attacks on Humanity.
Those who arrived through a special method that bypassed the Twisted Heavenly Bulwark did in fact choose to round up their troops in the meantime, not bothering humans at all.
There were activities all over the world. The Strays were basically punished and dealt with by the new arrivals, not allowing the Mystic Guild Members to do in their stead.
As a result of that, there were frequent times when teams that went out to hunt returned empty-handed.
Although they failed their mission, Ashton was just happy that they managed to return in one piece. After all, the invaders who just came into this world were a lot stronger than the ones they're used to and more experienced as well. He's just glad that they haven't had any heavy casualties so far.
That being said, they couldn't really avoid a clash forever. Eventually, they will come and disturb Fantasia's peace again.
Thankfully though, the Guild Members were briefed about the current situation. They were already informed that there were more invaders that came and they were a lot stronger.
This caused the guild to double down in their efforts to become stronger since their home needs them.
The situation caused the Guild to see drastic improvements in its strength. Not only that, but they've also recruited more people recently and they too are working hard to catch up.
While his men were busy, Ashton was also fully booked.
He had fully internalized the Beast God's advice and doubled down on his aggression when it comes to development.
Ashton had moved forward some certain plans that he had in order to prepare for the worst. It's been a while since he has been this busy but he's fine with that.
He also accepted more Beneficiaries as well. Adding more to the potential revenue he could receive from the System by raising them. Of course, he didn't forget about the ones he already have as well.
Ashton made sure to spread out his attention to each of them, fully understanding what they need and guiding them in the right direction. This way, they wouldn't be too dependent on him without giving them the impression that he's useless either.
He also made sure to periodically go out to spy on their enemies.
Recently, he discovered that there had been some scouts sightings within the vicinity of the Last Bastion. They used weird methods to catch any relevant information about Humanity and it's safe to assume that if they got some, they will instantly report it back to their headquarters.
Sadly for them, Ashton discovered them early.
So before they could even start their attempts in gathering information about them, Ashton already placed them under his control. He didn't even need to try that hard.
Now, he's got a new set of spies doing work for him.
But Ashton didn't rely on them for everything. He knew that his methods aren't going to affect him every single time. There will come a time that his machinations will be discovered and once that happens, he couldn't use those methods anymore since the enemies will be prepared for it.
This is why he still goes out himself to spy on them periodically. At least this way, he'll know everything in real-time.
So far though, nothing much has changed in the situation of the Celestials and Hypogeans.
They're still in their preparatory stage after all this month, though he'd give to them, they are surely efficient.
It only took them a short time to settle down the chaos that he left previously and make it all work again. If it weren't for the fact that they're enemies, he'd admire their efforts without a doubt.
But since they were being too efficient as enemies, then this isn't something he could be happy about.
That's why he decided to impede their progress in an attempt to slow them down for a bit.
Really, Dream Laws were amazing for these kinds of operations.
The fact that he could invade their dreams and plant a deep-seated suggestion in their minds without being discovered was phenomenal. He only needed to 'convince' them with words like:
'You can sleep some more, it's okay.'
'It's okay, you can finish that task tomorrow, no need to be in a hurry.'
'Eat a little more, you're hungry and you deserve it.'
'You've worked hard today, you can rest, it's fine.'
'Drink some more.'
'It's not slacking if you're not caught.'
And so on...
Ironically, he feels like the bad guy here for manipulating them like this but he won't lie and say that it wasn't fun to mess with them because it was.
He giggled to himself as he saw their productivity take a sharp dive with his machinations. He rejoiced inwardly in celebration knowing that he was buying Humanity even more time to prepare themselves for the eventual clash.
No invader could resist his temptations. They weren't immune to his manipulations so long as they were dreaming. And because of how clean he operated, nobody could trace this back to him.
Although it may not seem much for now, these little things are weakening them. It's not obvious but that much was the point of it all.
He wanted them confused, flabbergasted and puzzled until the day they died.
Ashton didn't care if this was considered dirty play because this was war, everything was fair game. He's not to be blamed for them not having anything to protect their dreams from him.
In his solo missions, he also discovered that both the Miraculous Son and the Demon Emperor were really hands-off about this whole operation. All they're expecting was positive results eventually, they didn't care how it was done or how long it takes.
So long as they succeeded, they'd be happy.
And to this, Ashton thinks that his 'suggestions' to their subconscious mind were a little too effective. Well, since it's working he couldn't really complain.
He would continue his impediment of their progress to buy more time. He just hoped that his efforts would be worth it when the time comes.
***
Today, Ashton just finished another meeting.
He just signed off on some new projects, if there were no interruptions then another massive upgrade will happen for Fantasia as a whole. But that's obviously going to take some time.
Ashton's schedule was empty for the rest of the day, but this doesn't mean that he's free.
He cannot slack off, so even though he's a bit tired already from all the things he had to think about, he still dragged his body to the cultivation chambers in order to practice a little bit. He inching closer to the next realm so he needs to exert more effort.
On the way there though, Ashton was interrupted by a sudden fluctuation. He paused in his tracks for a bit before his gaze sharpened. He disappeared from wherever he was and appeared in front of Alice whose eyes were closed in deep focus.
With a wave of his hand, he teleported her to a place where there was an abundance of Aether. He also did the same for Blake, and Mary as well.
Once they were here, he smiled wryly and said to himself: "Unbelievable, even in these, you three are in sync!?"
Sharp fluctuations interrupted his train of thought and the surroundings darkened considerably.
A phenomenon occurred where everything seemingly vanished. Suddenly, he couldn't see, hear, or feel. He can't smell or taste anything either.
There came a feeling of emptiness that seemingly drenched his soul into a bucket of cold water, causing him to violently flinch and freeze up.
Ashton shook his head and managed to extricate himself from this phenomenon. He should've expected that to happen yet he still fell for it. But it wasn't a bad thing to experience that, he could certainly remember that sensation and used it as an inspiration when it was his turn.
Anyway, back to those three...
Previously, Blake and Alice were displaying their physiques while Mary had her Mageroot visible. Now though, it's completely gone.
What remains is an empty field of nothingness around them. In there, they're the only thing that's allowed to exist.
That blanket of nothingness surrounding them was called the Void Shroud, a clear sign of someone who had broken through the Void Rank.
This meant that the three of them managed to break their mortal shackles and truly ascend.
From here on out; Alice, Blake, and Mary are no longer considered Mortals. Their lifespans are too long and they are too powerful to be considered as one.
Just like that, this era just welcomed the birth of 3 Ascendants. And if the trend continues like this, there would be more in the future.
As the three of them worked their way to consolidate their new ranks, Ashton glanced over the list of System Prompts that appeared before his vision.
[Beneficiaries; Alice, Blake, and Mary had broken their Mortal Shackles and Ascended, stepping into the Void Rank.]
[Their achievements were largely thanks to your help, without your advice and the resources you provided, this would've been nearly impossible for them.]
[×10,000 Beneficiary Return, triggered! You received...]
