Whoosh!
A calm wind blew through the air, unobstructed.
Four pairs of feet touched ground on this rocky plain, their eyes darting around to assess the situation.
There was nothing behind them.
A cliff that dropped into a void of blackness marked the edge of the world. The only way one could go was forward.
1000 kilometers away, the faint outline of a misty rainforest could barely be made out through the fog that obstructed it, and though the cliff behind the group only meant death, the one before them was their first hurdle.
Ghost King's Crevice.
Covered in a layer of ghostly fog that contained countless evil spirits and demons, this crevice spanned almost a thousand kilometers, a distance impossible to fly over with the strength restriction.
'According to the jade slip, it's almost impossible to cross the crevice without the help of a guide, but before we look for one…'
Damien followed what the girls had begun doing a second ago and sent his senses inward, trying to understand the state of his body.
'My physical strength hasn't been affected as much, but my body is definitely weaker. The real problem is my mana…'
Damien flicked his finger, summoning a wisp of amethyst magic power with a wry smile.
'Void Mana wasn't a thing back then, and neither was Void Essence. The Sanctuary is…also restricted. Damn.'
He finally understood what entering a sub-universe meant. Its laws had suppressed his own to the extent that he no longer had the power to utilize his connection with the Sanctuary!
'If there's one thing I can always rely on, though, it's the Void.'
Naturally, this force that surpassed the true universe also couldn't be hindered by a less complete one. Void Breathing might've been blocked, but if Damien spent some time acclimating, he was sure he could accomplish something similar.
'Haa, at the end of the day, the core of my power is now Vector Control. I need to be careful from now on, since I wasn't able to uncover the full potential of this class at all back then.'
Damien concluded his thoughts and raised his head.
"How's it look?"
"Not great, but also a little interesting," Elena replied.
The other two also nodded. They were definitely thrown off by this development, but it wasn't entirely a bad thing.
After all, was this not a way for them to fix some of their past mistakes and perfect their strength?
"The most important thing now is to find a guide. The Ghost King's Crevice is an illusory maze that I don't think I'll be able to see through with my current perception. If we make a mistake and end up encountering the Ghost King…"
Rose let her words trail off. The Ghost King's Crevice's namesake was a terrifying existence that represented unavoidable death. Wariness was utterly important when traversing his domain.
For once, Damien also agreed that an expert's help was necessary. His All-Seeing Eyes were also far less powerful than they used to be.
He led the group through the rocky plain and towards the crevice's edge. There were several stalls set up here, filled with guides waiting for new customers to approach.
Damien scanned them with a frown. None of them looked particularly extraordinary, but perhaps it was their lack of presence that set them apart.
As he pondered on which of these guides to choose, he felt something tapping on his leg.
"Hm?" he muttered, his eyes widening alertly.
When he looked down, however, what he saw was a little old man, roughly 3 feet tall, with an old wooden cane in his hand.
'Ah, my perception.' Damien realized as he looked at the man inquisitively.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Oh no, but I can surely help ya, old boy," the old man replied smugly.
"Yer new here, no? This old man is the best guide in the area. Forget those amateurs and hire me!"
Damien and the girls looked between each other in confusion.
Were the guides supposed to be so proactive?
"Yer thinkin' I'm untrustworthy, no? But there ain't a single trustworthy soul in this place, so do it matter?" the old man said again, a sticky expression on his face.
Rose opened her mouth to reply, when suddenly, a large brown-skinned man approached behind the old man.
"Oi, Bertram, you fart! Stop scamming newbies and come over here! We have work to do!" He yelled, grabbing the old man by the back of his cloak and lifting him up.
"Ah?!" The old man exclaimed angrily. "Who do ya think ya are, bastard?! This is honest work! Put me down!"
"Honest work, my ass! What kinda newbie do you think can handle your stupid ass paths?!" The man spat back.
"Hmph, just because yer bald ass couldn't handle it don't mean no one else can! Let me go!"
The old man, Bertram, swung his tiny fists at his captor, who also didn't let him go.
As the two men squabbled and the bigger man dragged Bertram away, Damien suddenly stepped forward.
"Wait," he said, stepping in front of the large man, "do you mind letting him go? I want to hire him," he said.
""Huh?!"" both men exclaimed in unison.
"Hey, did you not hear what I just said? If you go with him, you're just gonna get yourself killed!" the big man said incredulously.
"And?" Damien replied with a shrug.
"It's my own decision. What's your problem with it?"
"You…! Haa, never mind. Everyone who comes here is fucked in the head."
The big man let go of the old man's cloak and dropped him to the floor, scratching his head as he gave Damien one last look as if he were looking at a dead person.
"You said it yourself! You can't blame anyone else when you get torn to shreds out there!"
Damien smiled and nodded, sending the grumpy man off.
He looked back at Bertram with the same smile.
"So what's your rate?"
"One Black Card and I'll get you to the best part of the Perilous Sanctuary!"
"Black Card? You're quite expensive."
"Kek, old boy, don't you know that experience is priceless?"
"Haha, I guess that's true."
Damien fumbled around in his spatial storage for a bit until he found some of the currency he obtained back when he first came to the Divine Realm, forking over a Black Card without a fuss.
"I hope you can deliver on your word," he said as he handed it over.
"Keke, ya don't have to worry about nothin' when yer with me!" Bertram responded confidently.
Damien smiled without a word.
According to the brown-skinned man, this Bertram was someone who scammed newbies and led them to their deaths.
But Damien wasn't sure this was true.
Because with the disappearance of many of his skills, many others returned.
One of which being his danger sense, the instinct that pointed him towards lucky chances and opportunities, the same one that saved him countless times in the First Dungeon.
And this sense was blaring right now. It was telling Damien that this little old man was the absolute best person to be their guide.
Though it had been a long time since this sense was overshadowed by his great perceptive ability, he still remembered what it had done for him.
Now that it was back in action, he was going to abuse it as much as possible!
