While the girls were inside the room accommodating more beds for the newcomers, and also chatting with each other, they were all on the same boat, so it was better for them to get along, Daimon waited outside for Aurora.
Currently the only ways he had to get stronger, were the concentrated liquid which was brewing in his beast pouch, and probably the legacy of the hero.
That doesn't mean he isn't prepared, since he has bought a lot of things from the shop of the system in the past years, not to mention the rewards he has piled just in case, but one can never be too cautious, especially if the things he saw in his dreams were what was awaiting for them in the Global Raid.
'Damn magic core, hurry up and let me advance already', thought Daimon.
There have been a few occasions in which he has felt his magic core waking up, he doesn't know when or how much, but he should be advancing in his mage path, at least up to the same realm in which his knight cultivation currently is.
And that will allow him to train and advance in the knight path, since that's how it seems to work for him.
Daimon came out of his daze when he saw Aurora appearing in front of him, she then handed Daimon black inked storage ring, which had a shark fin emblem on it.
"Originally, I was supposed to hand this over to anyone who proved to have the Black Armored Shark lineage without any other conditions, that was the wish of my ancestor, but to be honest I was going to destroy it if the situation ever happened, because I can't stand losing another member of my family due to some guy's recklessness", said Aurora, with a sad light glowing in her eyes.
Daimon didn't say anything, he is not stupid, and Jasmin's parents aren't on the picture, so it's obvious they had a bad ending, probably because the guy did something stupid and ended being saved by the lineage of the Jasmin's mother, twice which led to her death.
"Phew, but then the one who has that lineage I hate and is also a man, turned out to be you, someone whose will to live shines more than anyone I have seen or met in my life, so I will bet on you, don't die kid… and don't abandon Jasmin, this isn't a condition or a request from the matriarch of the Light Palace, but a plea from a grandmother".
After saying that Aurora vanished into thin air, leaving behind a Daimon who was lost in his thoughts, call it fate, random, luck or maybe the interference of the system, but those who end up tangling up with him, have their lives go through a big change.
Whether it's a positive one or a negative one, varies depending on the case, Aisha returned from death, while Victor will be killed by his own hands, the only thing he can assure is that big changes often surround him, or are impulse by his actions, Jasmin has benefitted him and she also benefits from him, so he is sure she will go through a different path than those who preceded her, and Aurora probably instinctively knew it too, that's why she made a bet, because there is a high chance that she will die during this conflict, or more accurately she will choose to do so, if that means saving the little happiness she has left.
Daimon entered the room and then sat on his bed where Aisha was laying down leisurely, he put on the ring which suddenly grew a small needle that punctured his skin to get a drop of his blood.
Only then the ring unlocked and Daimon was able to see its contents, inside there was a perfectly preserved map, Daimon was honestly surprised that the contents were so straight, he expected it to be some kind of riddle or another of those cliché things that old powerhouses loved to leave for their descendants, to "test their worth" and similar stuff.
Daimon extended the map on the bed and the girls curiously approached him, including Thea who was floating on the air randomly, as she was clearly not fully sober even now.
Naturally, Daimon had no ide of the locations drawn in the map, but that's why he has companions, in this case there is girls from three of four seas present in this room, and as one would expect, one of them recognized the land distribution in the map.
"I have seen these hills before, they are in the border of our continent, you remember Cassy, we once camped near that place, since the vegetation is quite unique", said Jasmin.
The daughter of the patriarch of the Bamboo Forest sect nodded, until not too long ago, Jasmin was way more livelier, and that is something she has had with her, since she was little.
They visited all kinds of places in the territory of the Elemental Sea, together when they were kids, with proper supervision… most of the times.
"How can I not, the trees in that area have a darker green colored leaves, I even brought some for my mother to study since they looked interesting and got scolded, because a certain someone lied to me saying we were allowed to leave alone", said Cassy.
Daimon nodded, it made sense that the hero who was the lover of the ancestor of the Light Palace, left something behind in the land she ruled, and since the guy was most likely a system owner, then it should be quite a decent item.
"I guess, everything falls in its right place, I'll accompany you back to the Elemental Sea after winning the tournament", said Daimon.
Tessa and Femi stared at each other, they wondered how could he affirm with such confidence that he will be the winner, but they didn't say anything, Daimon has proven to not be someone to brag, and they were already in the same boat, so it was better for them if he had such confidence.
…
The rest of the night went uneventful, with Thea guarding the fort, Annete and the others used the time they had to keep making preparations, since they will start moving as soon as the tournament ends.
After a few hours, the sun replaced the moon in the sky and thus the morning came for Neptune, Daimon was curious about how there was a sun and a moon in this place where only one planet existed, but apparently no one knew about, they couldn't fly past a certain height.
And they couldn't see anything besides the sky and the sun and moon, even if they used magic devices, probably because Neptune was isolated, and separated in layers.
Daimon slightly stretched his body, the first thing he saw after opening his eyes, was naturally Aisha who was hugging him to sleep, the four newcomers were surprised to see them being so close, despite their ages, but apparently the story Erin invented of them being orphans, who only had each other did the trick, and they didn't ask anything else.
'I wonder how are those three going to react, when they know Aisha is your mother, not to mention your soulmate', said Evangeline with an sleepy voice.
'They like Daimon, so they will understand it", added Narasha.
'You still don't understand emotions Nasha, the natural in that situation is they being death-surprised by a the guy who made his mother his lover, however given how lucky Daimon is, I bet they'll overcome it quite easily with some kisses and sweet words from this predator~'.
Daimon chuckled.
'Good morning, you two seem quite lively today, even the normally grumpy Eve is being so cheerful nowadays, did something good happened perhaps', he said.
Narasha and even Evangeline laughed, which made Daimon shake his head, they were clearly hiding something, but he didn't look further into it, they will tell him when they have to.
Aisha woke up almost at the same time as Daimon and after making sure that the others were still sleeping, he sneakily pecked Daimon's lips.
'Good morning darling~', she said through the mental connection, Daimon smiled and then they got up, not even a minute later the other girls started to wake up one by one, the last one was Thea who has tied Marlene with a bed sheet, because she moved too much while being asleep.
Just like before, the girls entered the bath together, even the Black Empress and Marlene joined them, from outside Daimon could hear some giggles and other sounds, which would make anyone's imagination fly.
Luckily, they didn't take too long, and then Daimon had the bathroom for himself, which made him miss Erin and the others, leaving aside the lewd stuff, it was always fun to take a bath with them, still they will be together soon and if everything goes well, he'll also be taking a big step in his relationship with all his soulmates.
Daimon noticed his sword raising up ready to pierce the sky and he bitterly smiled and jumped into the pool, while he doesn't drown in carnal pleasure or debauchery, it's not as if he's made out of stone, spending practically all his time surrounded by beauties is quite hard, sometimes he doesn't know where to look at, and the group keeps growing.
"Damn, Apex Predator body", he mumbled, placing all the blame in his body constitution.
While Daimon was relaxing a bit in the bathtub, he saw his shadow which extended behind him, due to the light crystal in the ceiling and he said.
"I forgot to ask yesterday, did you notice something strange about the people we were close to when we left, Rita?".
Daimon wouldn't have stopped near the Minister just for a petty exchange of disguised insults, he had better things to do with his time, he exchanged words with him, because that way, Rita who lives in his shadow, could try to see if there was something off about the Minister.
While she is in Daimon's shadow, not even Vincent can detect her, but can't manipulate Daimon's shadow, or she will be noticed, so he had to be close, unfortunately the apologetic voice of Rita made it clear she had no luck.
"Sorry young master, I was unable to discern if that guy is like that maid or the creature, but I could indeed feel an ominous sensation coming from him, his ice affinity is not like the ones young master or me have seen so far".
Daimon nodded as he got out of the bathtub and started drying his body with a towel.
"Okay, he might not be a creature but he should have a deal with them, that or some kind of spell like the one the guy behind the Skelefiends and pirates, gave to them".
"Thank for the hard work Rita, inform me as soon as you notice something suspicious", said Daimon.
"As you wish young master", after saying that, Rita returned to silence and Daimon who had fully dressed left the bathroom, the girls were waiting for him so that they could have breakfast together.
They went to the dinning room, where Vincent and the others were already at the table, Mina was serving the breakfast.
"Good morning kid, I'm just telling you in advance, today I will retire early from the tournament, because I will "receive" a call from the one of the outposts at the border of the kingdom, I will be meeting with some of my trusted subordinates in secret, there would be no suspicions since I always use some excuse to not be all the time in Raymond's event, as he skips mine", said Vincent.
Daimon nodded, as long as one of the two maximum Stellar ranks of the group stayed behind, in case the Minister tried some tricks, it would be fine.
After finishing their meal, Vincent directly brough them to the center of the city, where all the participants as well as the spectators from the noble houses were gathering, everyone seemed to be in a good mood, probably because the festivities were still ongoing even after the whole night.
Still, there was an schedule, so not even five minutes later all the participants and their families or forces were present, the doors of the Minister's mansion opened and Raymond came out of it, accompanied by his grandson and the other members of his family.
"Good morning to everyone, I hope you have enjoyed the first day of the event, and have had a good rest, because today's event is going to be as exciting as yesterday's", said Raymond as he waved his hand to open the portal.
Just like yesterday, the people crossed the portal to the Calm Tri-Lake Forest, since they already knew where they had to sit, today's start went smoother than yesterday and soon the twenty teams were already on the stage.
Today it was the turn for the knowledge competition, which would be held on the platforms that floated in the lake which was in the middle, in other words the Spirit Enhancing Lake.
Daimon was curious as to what the effect of the lake on the participants would be, the first one numbed the senses, which was related to the fact that when Raymond threw a stone in it, the thing froze.
Cold destroyed the receptors on the body, but contrary to what one would think, not being able to feel anything due to cold wasn't a bless but a disgrace, since normally that would mean, the tissue was death and it would need to be removed.
The stone the Minister threw at the lake in the middle exploded at contact, but naturally that couldn't be the fate of the participants or who in their right mind would accept such conditions.
'It's a knowledge competition and the lake this time is called "Spirit Enhancing", maybe there is a time limit to answer, and some kind of penalty if you fail or get a wrong answer', wondered Daimon.
The last people occupied their places and then the Minister left his seat to float in the middle of the lakes, which meant the second round of the three-art tournament was about to start.
