The spirit ship came from the main estate of the Veritas Clan. The Grand Elders directly left from there and picked up each party one by one, giving them adequate time to get acquainted with each other.
The Veritas Clan's Patriarch, Julian Veritas, only had two children. They were the Young Master and Young Lady mentioned before.
The rest of the geniuses of the clan came from collateral lines or were picked up from the outside, but the Veritas Clan didn't treat them any differently.
Their fairness principle applied everywhere. As long as one had talent and ability, one could do anything.
There wasn't even a real "Veritas Main Family." The family of the Clan Head was considered as such, but the Clan Head was always chosen fairly through competition whenever the time came for the previous head to step down.
Nevertheless, the Young Master and Young Lady of the clan in this generation were still put on a pedestal above the rest. Not because of their status, but because of their ability.
When Damien and the rest entered the spirit ship, they were immediately greeted by the Grand Elders, whom they respectfully greeted back.
Afterward, they were separated and taken to the geniuses they were meant to guard.
'Right, this is how it should be.'
Rather than just having a few elders focus on central targets, each genius had a powerful protector that couldn't be looked down upon.
Only, Damien was the only one who didn't have true status in the Veritas Clan, so he did feel a bit strange.
He didn't plan to shirk his duties, though.
He put away thoughts about the talented youths and focused on the woman in front of him, the genius he'd be protecting.
"Hello!" She greeted him optimistically when they first saw each other.
"My name is Celeste Veritas. Please take care of me!"
She bowed respectfully and looked at him with shining eyes, as if expecting him to introduce himself with the same enthusiasm.
"Hmm…I'm Damien Grey. I don't know if you've heard of me, but I'm confident in my abilities, so don't worry about anything else and focus on your opportunities in the secret realm. I won't let you die."
Was it a bit too direct? The expression on Celeste's face became a bit awkward for a moment before she regained her usual positive demeanor.
There wasn't much else for them to say to each other. It was a three-day journey to get to the secret realm from the nearest teleportation gate, and while most of the geniuses spent time talking to each other, Celeste had a habit of bothering Damien instead.
'Haa…what an energetic individual.'
She reminded him of the past Damien. The one who had endless energy and will to do whatever they wished.
'But why is she clinging onto me? Is it just a whim, or…?'
He did notice a strange atmosphere among the geniuses, as if they were avoiding Celeste.
A few of them did try to make conversation with her, including the Young Master and Young Lady, but after just a few minutes, they left awkwardly and didn't approach again.
'Either her position in the clan is strange, or something else is going on. I don't know, and I don't plan to get involved unless they try something.'
He knew the Veritas Clan's reputation, but he didn't put it past them to attack their own if the need came.
After all, there wasn't such thing as a major clan without conflict.
'Even if they plan to do something, it'll happen in the secret realm, so I should focus on that now.'
Damien still didn't know much about where they were going, but just a few hours ago he was given a jade slip describing it.
Since he'd gotten rid of Celeste and found peace in his own room now, he could finally take a look at it.
'What? It's unnamed?'
That was his first thought.
It was always just referred to as "the secret realm" or something along those lines, never specifically named.
'That's lame. But considering the contents, let's call it the Forbidden Secret Realm.'
It wasn't a good name by any means, but it was better than nothing. Plus, since when was Damien good at naming things?
'It makes sense why the surrounding forces, even allies like the Vega Clan, made a fuss about this place.'
It was an environment he found familiar.
It was a secret realm, but he understood its mechanics at a glance.
'This is just like the First Dungeon.'
According to the information, the Forbidden Secret Realm was a birthplace of Gods.
Every beast and creature in the place had some sort of Divine Bloodline, whether it be Godbeast blood or something of similar strength,
Every plant and material was heavenly and could be used to craft countless artifacts and treasures that couldn't be comprehended by a common practitioner.
It was basically a land of only treasures.
However, it had its own mechanics.
'Everyone can only bring out one thing?'
No matter where the treasures were hidden, even if they were placed in an alternate reality, they'd disappear once one left the secret realm, leaving only one behind.
There were mechanisms through which one could gain the chance to take out two or three, but never more than a number under five.
'Plus, to even get your hands on something good and keep it is difficult in its own right.'
This was that type of secret realm.
Every treasure would be accompanied by dozens of more dangers, and even the treasures the Veritas Clan knew of were contained within roughly a fifth of the secret realm's surface.
'The rest is unexplored. Not just by the Veritas, but by all of them. The entire battle has taken place in this fifth of the secret realm for as long as it has existed.'
There were boundary steles blocking off the rest of it from those who entered, and even the power of a True God wasn't enough to break them.
'How fun.'
Damien started getting a sense for the kind of encounters he would have in that place and the things he needed to watch out for.
'It's quite novel when I think about it.'
'This time, I'm not the genius exploring the secret realm.'
He'd grown past that point.
Rather than the one adventuring for opportunities, he was the one protecting that person from the shadows.
'It's quite novel when I think about it.'
He'd experienced the former side of things, but he'd never been in this position before.
He'd never even considered it, because, to him, he was still counted as a young genius.
'But these people don't know.'
Except for Yulia, nobody knew.
He was still in his 70s.
Each and every person at his level was at least a few thousand years old.
No, even disregarding them, most of the so-called geniuses in this place were older than him as well.
But who could guess that?
His altered appearance didn't let people easily guess his age, and with his power level that rivaled high-rank Demigods easily, who could ever imagine that he was only a few decades old?
Even Yulia took several years to finally come to terms with this fact.
But, that was also beside the point. Since he was in this position, he'd gladly accept it. It was more fun experiencing new things from this perspective, after all.
And with three days passing in a flash, the group finally arrived.
Dozens of spirit ships decorated the skies around a seemingly empty mountain range.
This was the location where the gate would spawn.
Sometime in the next few days, they would enter that place.
The Forbidden Secret Realm.
