Damien knew a lot about the Heavenly World. From the memories he'd devoured, he learned things from massive secrets to small things.
He didn't care about what was for dinner on Monday or who had cheated on who. Usually, he filtered out memories unrelated to the things he was looking for when he devoured those people.
However, included in the tidbits that usually went forgotten were tales of things impossible, myths and legends created by the people of this world.
Damien never got rid of the useless information, because there was always a chance that it would come in handy.
Today proved his hoarding valid.
He barely remembered it. The memory was extremely vague, and he wasn't even sure of who it came from, but it was a legend from ancient times about a location not many had ever dared to explore.
The Heavenly World, while mostly covered in civilization, had a lot of unexplored land. These areas were usually forbidden zones, hazardous areas where even Gods could easily die.
No major force was willing to risk the lives of their greatest assets for what lay beyond the horizon, but many a wanderer and adventurer had tried their luck with these places in the past.
Some returned with glory, finding things unseen to the rest of the world, while the majority died, their corpses unable to ever be retrieved.
In one of such places, a man was said to have found the cure to all disease.
A fruit that could turn one into a reflection of Buddha, granting one longevity and fortune.
Damien rushed to find Persia's encyclopedia because he knew that Void Palace would have records of such an item.
And he was correct.
Written in the book was not only the first legend that Damien knew, but also several other accounts of adventurers who'd seen the fruit in the wild.
'Only the one man was able to actually take it out of that place alive.'
The rest didn't speak about anything other than the fruit's existence.
'Either they were scared away from the start, or they encountered something they can't talk about.'
Whatever the case was, it didn't matter to Damien.
Several eye witness accounts were enough to validate his random hope.
'That fruit, judging by the effects that were recorded in the legend…'
The original man lived to be over a thousand years old. It was said that his body never aged, his mind never dulled, and his spirituality increased by the day.
'...it's not just a fruit containing immense vitality.'
If it was something like that, the man would've gone insane.
There was no record of that man being a practitioner, despite him entering that dangerous place, and if a thousand years was considered a long lifespan, then the most he could've been was 3rd class.
A mortal's mind wasn't made to last such a long time.
The power that came with longevity for a practitioner allowed them to adapt to the lengthened lifespans. They had a constant goal to reach a higher level, and when they were engrossed in training and seeking out practical experience and wealth, the years passed by fast enough for change to happen on its own, unnoticed.
His body never aged.
His mind never dulled.
His spirituality was always increasing.
These three things didn't happen one by one. They were related. No, they were all caused by the same thing.
'The base effect of that fruit isn't something outwardly recognizable, but if I'm not wrong, it should be exactly what I'm looking for right now.'
It was a fruit that could bring one's mind, body, and soul into harmony. It formed an everlasting connection between them that would only fade when one's lifespan was truly at its end.
'This is such a reach.'
Damien smiled wryly. Even for him, this was too coincidental.
The chance for him to remember the exact legend he needed and for that fruit to be the exact thing he needed was…actually quite probable honestly.
But that didn't mean Damien could easily accept that this solution would be THE solution.
Still, wasn't it worth trying?
'Existence won't work, and if anybody else had a solution it would've worked by now.'
Damien wanted his father cured sooner rather than later.
It was truly his final worry.
Even if it seemed like he was reaching for the clouds, making up facts to support his point, it didn't stop him from wanting to try.
'The location of that fruit…'
The tallest mountain of the Frostbound Mountain Range, Ice Luan Mountain.
It had only been seen from afar by most observers, so it was named for its unique shape, like a luan rising from its nest in the morning.
Ice Luan Mountain was one of the tallest mountains in the entire Heavenly World, and it was just as dangerous.
However, Damien didn't think it was too much for him.
'I should set out soon. The Frostbound Mountain Range is in the Eastern Region, so the Northeastern Region, so it'll take a bit longer to get there.'
Luckily, the territory of the Vega Clan was somewhere Damien could act without worry.
He had met the executives of that clan many times while he was working for Veritas. Though their relationship was with Damien Grey, not Damien Void, he was sure that they wouldn't bother him as long as he didn't do anything extreme.
'And as long as I'm in the Frostbound Mountain Range, the extreme doesn't happen unless I destroy it and everything around it, which would never happen…'
He remembered his last memorable experience in a mountain range, and, well…
'...I wasn't the one who destroyed it that time, so it should be…fine?'
Putting aside his track record, with a plan in mind, there was nothing more for Damien to do but act.
He spent the rest of the day informing others about his plans and making preparations, and by daybreak the next, he was already gone.
This was the first time Damien had left the palace in over a year, and when it came to adventures like this, it had been even longer.
Damien was quite excited, but he wasn't too hung up on the excitement. His first priority was the goal, so even if he had to skip the adventuring and go straight for it, he would do so without regret.
Nevertheless, he arrived in the Northeastern Region within a day and moved towards its northernmost point, where the Frostbound Mountain Range was.
In fact, the mountain range was the very thing separating the Vega Clan and the Straea Clan. It was a natural border that even Gods didn't dare to cross, so it offered a sufficient amount of protection for those like Vega and Veritas.
Otherwise, how could the Vega Clan remain uninvolved in a war between its neighbors?
It wasn't hard for Damien to reach the mountain range, nor did he face any sorts of obstacles.
But that was temporary.
Because while Damien was unaware of it, he was being watched by many eyes.
Many of whom were aiming for his throat.
This trip to the Frostbound Mountain Range was destined to be a turbulent one.
And that wasn't just because of the threats Damien would face from those outside.
