The Norn Family was openly hiring mercenaries that could pass their tests, so Damien didn't need to do too much digging to find what he needed.
The only real requirement was combat power. Everything else was relative, and things like unity were completely unnecessary. There was already the Norn Family's personal army among the participants, so the mercenaries were being treated more like meat shields than anything else.
Though, Damien didn't care much.
The reason he chose this task out of everything else wasn't that complicated. He wanted to form a connection with the Norn Family, and if possible find himself an audience with the Sapientia Clan.
If he could get that far, finding ways to gain experience wouldn't be difficult and he'd have an umbrella to shield him if the need ever arose.
He didn't doubt that he could've gone straight to the Veritas Clan with Yulia if he just asked, but that wasn't what he wanted.
He had to think things through. In the Heavenly World, "Damien Void" wasn't a nameless genius.
He was a high-level figure of Void Palace. Even if he himself didn't consider it so, others weren't the same.
If he took a favor from the Veritas Clan without knowing anything about the ongoing circumstances, how would that reflect on Void Palace?
Whether the Veritas Clan was a hostile power or an ally, he couldn't accept favors easily when his decisions had so many implications.
Instead, he had to stack up favors from others, so that when the time came for him to see his birthright for the first time, he could approach with confidence and a name that others couldn't look down on.
Naturally, forming relationships with other forces was a great way to do this.
'I didn't think about it, but maybe the Saint Emperor's memories made me more conniving.'
Those memories had engrained themselves in his psyche and subtly changed his thinking, allowing him to make informed decisions with more accuracy and caution than ever before.
And with that caution in mind, Damien made his way over to the designated location to apply as a mercenary.
It was a martial field roughly ten kilometers away from the Norn Family's main residence. From the employer family, there was a strange old man, a woman roughly Damien's age, and a man who looked like the middle ground between them.
They watched and vetted the participants as they fought against members of the Norn Family's army. Not all those who won would be selected, and sometimes, even if the challengers lost they'd be recommended for the party.
Damien arrived as another nameless mercenary without even the credentials to prove his qualifications. He watched amidst the crowd as person after person was chosen.
The number quickly stacked into the hundreds, and yet, the Norn Family continued allowing people to test.
'It really is like grabbing meat shields. If they actually needed help, they wouldn't need so many mercenaries.'
Damien frowned as his turn arrived. His name was called, and as he made his way onto the martial field, he fell into thought.
'From what I've seen, those with too much power for the Norn Family to control aren't chosen, and those with high defense power are chosen regardless. It's a little unsettling, but the general consensus seems to be that the Norn Family cares about the common people, so there must be something more to it.'
Damien shook his head and took a battle stance.
The fight started without delay, and instead of showing off and using his Destruction Law to win, Damien played a different game.
He took hit after hit, to the point where his opponent was provoked by the lack of damage he was taking.
Stronger attacks continued to rain down on him, but with his impenetrable skin and Authority of Immortality, what could this low-rank Demigod even hope to do to him?
The combat power he showcased wasn't spectacular, and he painted himself as a martial artist more than a practitioner who had great achievements in law, but it was fine.
He was chosen anyway.
After all, who could deny someone who could tank so much damage without a single scratch?
Several other tests followed the first one to verify Damien's identity and make sure he wasn't hiding anything dangerous, and after he passed all of these flawlessly, he was sent with the rest into a new facility where they were informed of the mission details.
It went something like this.
There existed a desert a thousand kilometers from Asteron that separated it from the cities to the northwest. It was hot, dry, and filled with beasts that even Demigods fear. The desert itself was treacherous enough for most to take the long way around it for safety, but within that danger was an even more terrifying environment known as the Vanishing Dunes.
They seemed to come and go as they pleased, like vestiges of an ancient environment that didn't want to be forgotten. Anyone caught in the dune area when it vanished would vanish along with it, and when it reappeared, those people and their traces would be gone as if they never existed in the first place.
The task was to enter that area and uncover its secrets. Survivors would be paid hundreds of thousands in True Gold, the currency of the Eastern Region, and the families of those who died would be compensated double that amount.
It was a great deal, so most of the mercenaries ignored the obvious danger and agreed to participate. Contracts were signed to make sure neither party reneged on the terms, and after over 300 mercenaries underwent the same process, the expedition party was completely formed.
Damien went through all the processes without attracting much attention. Since a meat shield could only be a meat shield no matter how good of a shield it was, most people didn't spend time on him.
This gave Damien enough opportunities to observe and scope out those he'd be traveling with on this mission.
'For the most part, there's nobody worth looking at.'
The Norn Family group was interesting, but that was granted since they were the employers.
'That woman looks around my age but her soul is a few hundred years old. Is that the standard of geniuses in this place?'
Geniuses in the lower universe reached Divinity after several thousand years, and geniuses in the Heavenly World did the same in a quarter of that time at most.
'Where does that leave me?'
The guy who reached Divinity in less than a century…
'...wow. If I wasn't me, I'd want me dead expeditiously.'
Damien smiled wryly.
The expedition was set to take place in three days, so he had some time to prepare, not that there was really anything to do.
'But since I do have time, I should use it properly.'
Asteron was a melting pot. With so many people coming from all over the place, there was no shortage of geniuses in the city.
'Three days, huh…'
Damien smiled to himself.
'Then, let's spend three days properly understanding the standards of these higher world existences–'
–was what he said.
But really, truly, honestly, if one looked into his heart…
He just wanted to beat some people up to relieve his boredom.
It seemed the status of an average man had affected Damien, because his demeanor as a peak genius had completely left him.
Instead, he was reverting just a bit to that man he used to be, who didn't have to worry about responsibilities and put his own fun over everything else.
Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing…?
Only the Heavens knew at this point in time.
