Back in the Severed World, the third day of Damien's intense meditation was coming to an end.
And finally, his eyes fluttered open.
He glanced around, noticing the number of people gathered around him, and smiled awkwardly.
"Well…hi?"
"Mhm, good morning," Elena replied.
"You must've had a great time the past few days, huh."
He scratched his head and stood up, stretching his body.
"It was okay. I gained a bit, so I guess it's a plus, right?"
"You could say that, but now isn't really the time, is it?" Ruyue chimed in.
"Hm? How long has it been?"
"3 days," Rose said, rolling her eyes.
"Ah, 3 days…oh wait, 3 days means…"
Damien's eyes went to the top of the great tree to see the Overseer was watching him with an annoyed look on his face.
"Umm…"
"No need to speak. I understand your delay, but I won't tolerate further delays."
The Overseer scoffed, but didn't have any actual negative feelings about it.
The group had been gathered here for over a day waiting for Damien to wake up, so their expressions were justified, but unlike the girls, who thought Damien was just being a training freak, the Overseer had a bit more knowledge.
'Something amazing happened to that human.'
He didn't know what it was, but for a second, he felt a fluctuation from Damien's body that made him want to kneel and submit himself to the human.
It was an instinctual response, which made it all the more surprising!
The Overseer gained an interest in Damien at that time, but for now, their business relationship took priority.
Damien glanced into his spatial storage, hoping Elvira was able to get the task done on time, and as expected, she didn't fail to deliver.
He swept his hand through the air and summoned a metallic pendant with a jade crystal in its center hung on a glossy black chain and presented it to the Overseer.
"As promised, your treasure," he said with a smile.
Swoosh!
The Overseer's body flashed down the tree and appeared before Damien, shrinking his body to face the man eye to eye.
"This is the treasure? This is not what we agreed upon," he frowned, scrutinizing the necklace.
"Don't worry about that," Damien responded instantly.
"Just put it on first and you'll understand."
The Overseer nodded and followed his words. They were under Mana Oath, so he couldn't be lying, right?
The necklace fit surprisingly well on the strangely shaped neck of the Overseer. It rested with the pendant at the top center of his chest, and as he gazed at it, the Overseer couldn't deny that it was appealing.
'It kind of looks like a dog collar when he puts it on…'
Damien chose not to voice that thought and instructed the creature to stream its mana into the pendant.
A mystical scene took place at that moment. The green jade shined and the metallic casing it resides in expanded, consuming the Overseer's body.
When the transformation ended, he was draped in a domineering set of battle armor, and the aura fluctuations he emitted had gone up several levels.
"Very good!" The Overseer croaked, flapping his wings.
"My movement is not limited, but I can feel power coursing through me! Human, your means are truly impressive!"
Damien smiled wryly. It wasn't even that great of an armor, just low Chaos rank, but in this place, it was treated like a heavenly treasure.
Though, it didn't matter as long as it worked, right?
"Since three days have passed, the Ascension Ceremony should be starting soon. When do we leave?" Damien asked.
"We've been waiting for you," Rose responded.
"Now that you're up, we should rush over. I have a feeling we'll be late if we don't hurry."
Damien nodded and glanced at the Overseer.
"Since we're already here, do you mind giving us a ride?"
The Overseer raised his brow, a strange motion from a bird, and considered it.
He definitely felt a bit offended at the request, but Damien was someone he wanted to befriend, so he put down his feelings and accepted.
His body returned to its original size, tearing apart some of the surrounding trees. Damien and the girl hopped on without hesitation, and in the next moment—
WHOOOSH!
A single powerful flap of his wings shot them into the sky with such velocity they almost fell off!
Damien used Vector Control to stabilize them and stared down into the canopy below.
The usual travel time to Skyrend Mountain was around a day, but with the traffic caused by the mass migration of aerial creatures to the mountain, it was inevitable there would be many clashes along the way.
The Overseer's flying altitude was around 8000 meters, not bad yet not good. It was a level that was inhabited by many beasts, as the lowest level of the central region wasn't far from the highest level of the third layer.
But the Overseer had status due to his position and beasts in this altitude didn't try to do anything to him.
It was those above that were concerning.
As they got closer and closer to their destination, the eyes on them grew more numerous.
'The Overseer has a lot of enemies…' Damien thought to himself, separately wondering if the central region also had an Overseer.
'Well, we're participating separately anyway, so it should be fine.'
Damien's curiosity was drawn by another topic after a short bout of pondering.
'I remember seeing those kids making their way over when I first spread my perception. I wonder where they went…?'
Damien closed his eyes and connected his awareness to the world again.
After entering the state for the first time and breaking the sub-universe's laws for a brief moment, he learned how to do so on command.
'Eh? They're here?'
He suddenly glanced just a bit below, around 10 kilometers in front of them.
The sparrow creature Virgil befriended and his group were flying there, quietly making their way forward.
'Interesting. I should remember that guy. His luck will probably get him places.' Damien noted.
'Besides that, didn't they have another companion?'
That strange woman who hadn't been a part of the group when they first met, Damien didn't pay her much mind but he still remembered her.
The strange part wasn't her existence, rather, it was the complete opposite!
'I can't sense her presence anywhere. What kind of concealment skill is this, to be able to literally hide from the world?'
Damien's interest was piqued by the skill.
He kept that woman in mind too, noting to find her and get to the bottom of her anomaly.
But it seemed…he wouldn't have to do that at all!
Bang!
A small explosion rang out on the ground below, and a projectile suddenly shot past Damien's group.
His eyes widened as his gaze followed it. It made a narrow arc and descended slowly, landing on the Overseer's back.
The creature didn't even notice her presence as it kept flying.
It was only Damien and the girls who were graced with this surprise.
'Hah, that's not just good concealment, that's fucking godly!'
That strange woman had appeared, and in such a grand fashion!
The remaining question was…
Who was she, and what was she doing here?
