Dawn arrived relatively quickly.
The suction force from the earth increased, just barely manifesting itself to Su Ren's senses.
Damien stood up off the cave floor and stretched his body, cracking his joints and refreshing himself after a long day of laying on the rocky floor.
He walked out of the cave and was soon greeted by the group of five women from Prismatic Sun Holy Land.
"Good morning, ladies," Damien said with a smile.
"There is no need to make small talk," Pandora responded uninvitingly.
"Before we set off, there is one more thing we must do."
She raised her hand and, on the spot, made a Mana Oath.
The terms were simple.
As long as Damien didn't target the Prismatic Sun Holy Land disciples and provided the information he promised, he would be able to travel with them and share their resources.
Damien shook his head wryly and made his side of the oath easily.
'Though, I don't know why you're so worried when all of you are draped in God-rank artifacts.'
When the procedure was finally finished, the atmosphere cleared up considerably.
Pandora's tone was no longer obviously hostile as she continued the conversation.
"Have you prepared your side of the agreement?"
"Haha, of course, I have. Do you think I'd be dumb enough to sign a Mana Oath if I hadn't?"
"Fair argument. Then…?"
Damien handed over a small jade slip, on which he recorded the locations of almost 80% of the geniuses on Pandora's list.
It only took a quick sweep of his awareness to estimate their positions, and anything too specific would've been suspicious, so that was enough.
Nevertheless, these geniuses were only low and mid-level targets on the list, nothing too spectacular.
"With the way you were talking, I assumed you knew the location of a top-level target," Pandora muttered.
Damien raised his brow.
"Oh? But I do," he said, "only, I can't really put his information on the same level as the rest, right? If you want me to take you to him, you have to pay up."
Pandora looked at him for a second before closing her eyes.
"Very well, name your price."
"Haha, we can talk about that later. Just consider it as owing me a favor."
"A favor from me is worth more than you can imagine."
"Then isn't that the perfect reward?"
"Hmm…"
Damien smiled and shrugged, knowing she'd already conceded.
"Since it's settled, let's not waste any time. Instead of boring ourselves with weaklings, why don't we go see the universe's number one first?"
"H-huh?"
Pandora's junior sisters finally showed a reaction. They truly hadn't been able to understand the conversation until this point, and they were even more confused about why their senior sister was allowing this hooligan to travel with them.
But as if laughing at their childish thoughts, Damien's response was absolutely shocking.
"Didn't you want to see the Blade God? Give me a second and I'll call him over."
""C-call him over?!""
The group of four exclaimed it as one, unable to process what he just said.
And even Pandora shared their next thought.
Just who was this man who dared to speak so arrogantly???
***
At this point, with the first month already passing, the forces gathered actually added up to an immense amount.
The experts from these forces already filled up the first and second banquet halls, and the third was starting to reach that point as well.
Other forces from the Infernal Realm finally made their way to Luxurion, their speed no match for their leader. The Giant Domain and Soul World and also sent many more forces, showing their sincerity.
The Beast Domain was a bit further away, so their clans were still on the way, and many forces from Soul World and Hephaestus were missing, but the congregation of experts at this moment had reached an unprecedented degree.
And their geniuses all entered Holy Light Star in the most dangerous circumstances they weren't even aware of.
Luciel didn't greet all of them, as most of that was work was allocated to lesser angels, but he was keeping a close eye on each and every force that entered.
More specifically, their geniuses.
He watched thousands upon thousands of them entering Holy Light Star, and indiscernibly, he sighed.
'It is time. I didn't expect it to come at this time, but it cannot be helped. Instead, I can only pray they survive the coming days.'
His attention shifted to a nearby Angel, who nodded in acknowledgment and left, following unknown orders.
Meanwhile, events in the mystic realm were about to get far, far more chaotic.
***
Unlike Luciel's bleak prediction, nothing much changed in the mystic realm, at least not at this time.
It had been around two hours since Damien and the Prismatic Sun Holy Land group set off to meet Su Ren, and they were approaching the given destination.
Yet, despite the closeness of the meeting, those accompanying Damien still couldn't believe what he said.
"Your name is Long Chen, right? I've never heard of you. How can you know the Blade God?"
"Yeah, like Junior sister said. How can we be sure you aren't leading us into a trap?"
Two of them were specifically chatty, standing on both sides of Damien and barraging him with questions.
He could only shrug and smile wryly. What kind of answer could he give them?
"I've already told you a million times. Since I've signed a Mana Oath with your senior sister, is it even possible for me to lie? Anyway, we're almost there. If you still can't believe me, just come and see for yourself."
He didn't know how many times he'd repeated the same line, but he was extremely thankful that this would likely be the last.
The group stepped into a valley between two mountains in the northernmost part of Holy Light Star, and Damien led them to shade from the sun under an isolated tree that somehow managed to grow alone in the valley.
"We're here," he said, sitting down and leaning against its trunk.
"Here?" Pandora said suspiciously, looking around at the desolate scenery.
"Don't judge it so quickly. After the firestorm, everywhere in the realm looks this barren."
Damien suddenly glanced up at the peak of one of the two mountains around them.
"Looks like he's arrived as well."
From that peak, a small shadow drifted down, becoming bigger and bigger in their eyes until it finally cleared, turning into the figures of a man and a little girl.
"Da—"
"Hey, my good friend! It's been a while!"
Damien immediately interrupted Su Ren before he could say anything and walked over, using sound transmission to give Su Ren a quick rundown of the situation.
Su Ren's eyes narrowed in scrutiny for a second before he turned to the Prismatic Sun Holy Land group.
"You wanted to talk to me?"
"Yes."
Pandora stepped up and pulled an envelope out of her sleeve.
"Sir Blade God, we've been specially tasked to invite you to our Holy Land," she said, handing him the envelope.
Su Ren took it out of courtesy, but didn't hesitate to offer an immediate rejection.
"I am unaffiliated, and it will stay that way. Thank you for the offer, but I will have to decline."
However, Pandora immediately shook her head.
"In fact, our goal this time is not to recruit you, but to invite you. Our Holy Master has prepared a gift for the universe's top geniuses, and we hope you will graciously accept it."
Su Ren suspiciously looked her up and down before turning to Damien, who could only shrug.
After all, it was his first time hearing it as well!
But…a hidden Holy Land that never showed itself to outsiders was suddenly opening its doors?
Wasn't this quite interesting?
