As was the case for most isolated realms and spaces, time flowed differently in the Severed World.
Damien and his companions entered the sub-universe roughly a day and a half ago, but over two weeks had already passed in the outside world!
Heaven's Army was working tirelessly this entire time to remove any traitors they became aware of, and soon enough, the first Infected Source World raid would begin.
It was a monumental time for the universe as a whole, to be attacking these scourges they could never get rid of before, and anyone who had an interest in the survival of Grand Heavens Boundary paid great attention to the coming raid.
Meanwhile, the man who brought them the ceasefire that allowed them to make such bold moves was…
"Ack! Hey, knock it off!"
…struggling in other ways.
Grah!
A small white tiger cub climbed over his body like it was its personal perch, scratching and biting as it pleased.
"Damn kid, don't think I won't do anything to you!"
He reached back and tried to grab the cub off his back, but it very conveniently dropped out of his reach and scurried around elsewhere.
"Haa…I knew it was a mistake," Damien sighed.
"Haha, so this is the little cub you were talking about? It's so cute!"
Elena's voice cut off his melancholy as she picked the cub up and adored it. Rose and Ruyue also joined in somewhat, standing around and curiously looking at it.
Their group had met up just a bit ago after finishing their day-long hunts, and while they were going over rewards, the only thing Damien had to present was this little guy.
"I don't know what his specific race is, but I'm hoping he'll evolve into a divine white tiger or something," he said, scratching his head.
"Well you do have luck when it comes to beast companions, but I don't think we'll find anyone as special as our Zara, no?"
"Hmph! Exactly. I can't believe you'd betray me like this."
Zara strutted around pompously, glaring at Damien in faux jealousy.
Damien shrugged.
"When did I betray you? You act like this bratty kid could ever be better than you," he told Zara with a grin, scratching her head teasingly.
Grr?
The cub's attention turned to them, a glimmer of intelligence in its eyes as it looked between Damien and Zara.
So this wolf was its competition?
Hmph!
It jumped out of Elena's arms and proudly strutted up to Zara, puffing its chest with an expression that screamed, "I'm better than you!"
"This brat…" Zara growled.
"Alright, calm down," Damien interrupted before she could do anything.
"He'll be traveling with us from now on, so you can always teach him a lesson later. For now, shouldn't we get moving?"
They'd been standing around for a few minutes already, and they'd already checked their inventory and gains.
The girls were truly able to find a great deal of treasures in that single day.
Rose mainly found supplements that would help with mana replenishment and resources that the Alchemists in Theavel could use to create other elixirs, while Elena and Ruyue found mainly strengthening elixirs and resources, along with a few strange metals they weren't able to identify.
Overall, their harvest wasn't beneficial in the short term, but as all of them had seen the Sanctuary at least once, they were aware of the greater goal they all shared,
That was to create their own major influence!
Theavel's people were completely loyal to Damien, so nurturing them was an absolute benefit for those he was close to.
Plus, there would come a day when the few of them were no longer enough to hold off the threats they faced.
Regardless, they had their fill of the Perilous Sanctuary in the past day, and more than treasures, what they saw was people dying to their own idiocy.
It was a great place to grab resources for one's influence or even to solidify one's own foundation, but it wasn't for everyone.
And it sure as hell wasn't enough for Damien's group!
They began their trek to the third layer soon enough. It was only a few tens of kilometers away, but they had to take the entire distance on foot, which made it a bit more troublesome.
Because now, they were entering the main ecosystem of Skyrend Mountain.
Skreeee!
Skreeee!
Skreeee!
The second they got within a few kilometers of the boundary, incessant screeching filled their ears.
Toucan-like birds sat in the trees and flew through the air, screeching as if they'd die if they'd die if they ever stopped.
Elena frowned and raised her arm to shut them up, but Damien quickly stopped her.
"Don't. The last thing we want to do is anger the Messenger Birds."
In reality, Skyrend Mountain was the domain of aerial beasts.
There were several customs that needed to be followed if one wanted to traverse it safely.
Mainly, they could only stay at an elevation level they'd earned the right to occupy.
Higher elevation signified higher status to these flying creatures, and a violation of this status quo was absolutely disallowed.
Anyone who dared would be attacked by every beast at that elevation and forced back down where they belonged, most of the time as a corpse.
Messenger Birds were different from the rest, though.
They were considered envoys of the Cloud Emperor who sat at the peak of Skyrend Mountain, and regardless of how high they flew, none dared to mess with them.
They'd screech all day and all night as if to provoke any and everyone they came across, but the second one retaliated, the entire swarm of Messenger Birds would turn into demons that relentlessly pursued them until they were tortured to death.
The worst part was that they were as weak as paper! A single flick from a common practitioner was enough to drop one out of the sky!
Damien gave the girls earplugs and put his own in as they crossed the boundary into the third layer.
'The first move is to find a relatively powerful beast around here and kill it silently so I can search its memories,' Damien thought to himself.
Void Breathing was blocked and he couldn't do anything about that, but Devour's expanded capability was still in effect, one of the only things he kept from his original portfolio.
He spread his awareness into the nearby surroundings and carefully scanned for a target before finding a sleeping jaguar hidden within the nearby foliage.
'I almost couldn't sense it.' Damien thought with a grin.
'Perfect.'
His body flashed away, instantly appearing above the jaguar's head. He grabbed Mirage and plunged it into the beast's neck, setting up a Vector Wall to block the smell of blood from spreading.
'Nice kill.'
He placed his hand on the now-dead beast and said that special word that made the world go round.
"Devour."
There was only one reason for this move: information!
Aside from the Messenger Birds, who were a known threat, and the class system, barely any information about the third layer was present.
Damien wasn't trying to find out why through experience:
As the tendrils of blackness left his body and swallowed the beast below him, a frown formed on his face:
'Yeah, that's going to be a problem.'
