That day was a slow one.
The entire Hidden Death Valley was in an uproar over Julius' incident. After his body was taken down from Damien's door and inspected, it was found that his mind had completely collapsed with no hope of recovery. Even taking the duel arena into consideration, the level of mental duress he needed to endure to reach this point was absurd.
Naturally, the cruelty of Julius' situation caused people to wonder about the one that left him in such a state. As people with higher and higher status became curious, the name Damien Void was revealed to the public.
However, just as before, nobody was able to associate a face with this name. Damien was simply too new and hadn't had the chance to do any proper work in the academy yet.
Nevertheless, the nature of their circumstances didn't stop Damien or Zara from freely meandering the sect. With his spatial abilities and her concealment abilities, nobody could detect them when they left the dorm.
The commotion slowly died down within a few days. While Julius' state was rare to see, geniuses taking severe mental damage in the duel arena was a common occurrence. People only thought it was a shame that such a genius was reduced to this state and, at the same time, they wondered what the Wellspring Family's reaction to his death would be.
What they did know for certain were two things. Firstly, Damien Void wasn't someone to be messed with. And secondly, his true worth would be revealed based on the Wellspring Family's response.
'How troublesome.' Damien thought as he relaxed in a cafe and listened to the conversations around him. 'This Wellspring Family seems like a big group of assholes with tiny egos. Most likely, my expedition into the Emperor Bone Sea won't be peaceful…'
If the Wellspring Family wanted information on his whereabouts, it wouldn't be hard for them to receive them. And it wasn't just them. The Bloodlock Prince Damien had gone to great lengths to offend would also send pursuers after him.
Since he'd already accepted the mission, there was no way for Damien to back out from the challenge. To drop a mission without just cause, one needed contribution points.
'I need to prepare for the worst-case scenario. I can be sure that no Demigods will be sent after me, so I at least have assurance that I can run if things get too big for me to handle. Aside from that…'
He stood up and left the cafe after paying for his drink and perused Star City's streets. To say the city was convenient was an understatement. Unlike most facilities in Hidden Death Valley, a majority of the shops in Star City took currency cards as a valid payment method. This meant that as long as he was in Star City, Damien was rich.
It would be stupid to ignore this advantage.
He had plenty of preparations to make before going to the Emperor Bone Sea. Of Death Emperor Star's danger zones, it was one of the most mysterious. The reports he'd seen made the ecosystem seem evolved specifically to kill those who dared to intrude. But even then, he'd only been able to find information on the sea's outskirts.
His mission would take him far beyond that.
'Haa, I've only been rich for a few months and now I'll have to spend so much of it in one place. My heart can't take this.'
Despite his thoughts, Damien wasn't frugal in his spending. In order to attain the best results possible, he spent as much money as he needed to.
And thus, two days passed.
The time for his mission to begin was upon him.
***
The past two days were mostly uneventful. While Damien made preparations for the mission, Zara was actually the more active one among them.
Her first stop on the day after ruining Julius was the administrations building. As Damien suggested, she decided to enter Hidden Death Valley as an individual.
It was hard to tell since she spent most of her time shadowing Damien, but Zara was a freak of nature in her own right. Even when compared to Damien's wives, who were all peak talents, Zara was still superior.
It had to be remembered, Zara reached 4th class far before Damien. The only reason their strengths remained similar is because she didn't do too much training after she reached this level, instead opting to wait for Damien to match her.
Since she was the one who put them on an even playing field, she couldn't complain if she ran into a situation where he surpassed her by leagues. The only thing she could do was diligently work to increase her personal strength.
As Damien said, personally registering was extremely important for her future growth.
The registration was much smoother than either she or Damien expected. Her strength had already been proven in her duel with Julius, and since she was the contracted beast of a genius recommended by a Paragon, she had a degree of security when it came to her identity.
After her background was checked and her strength verified, Zara was handed the Hidden Death Valley uniform as Damien was before. Since Damien was still in the process of preparing for their expedition, Zara decided to spend her time wisely.
She returned to the dorm room and went through the information Damien obtained on the Emperor Bone Sea. She didn't want to hold him back due to her own naivety.
After memorizing everything over the course of a day, she spent the next day purely training. Her routine mainly consisted of individual training since she couldn't yet access Arcadia's training centers, but she wasn't shy about challenging other geniuses.
Her rank steadily rose during the time she had. With only a day of beating up those who accepted her challenge, her rank had already surpassed Damien's.
Still, this didn't mean anything to her. Right now, neither of their ranks reflected their strengths.
At the end of the second day, Zara returned to the dorm exhausted. She'd learned a myriad of techniques from Tang Lingzi and practicing them took a lot out of her. Slowly but surely, she was unraveling the Shadow Laws' mysteries, understanding the fusion of light and darkness that resulted in her affinity.
The Zara right now was a beast waiting to be unleashed. And she was truly anticipating the moment she was.
Emperor Bone Sea…sounded like the perfect place to fuel her evolution.
Damien arrived in the dorm not long after Zara. When the two met, they spent a few hours going over the information they had before resting their minds and bodies.
When dawn arrived upon them once more, they already stood in Hidden Death Valley's central area.
Here, aside from the administrative buildings and main security site, there were portals connecting to various locations across Death Emperor Star.
After all, the danger zones of this world weren't close to each other at all. It wouldn't reflect well on the academy if their students died in transit to their destinations. This portal system was an assurance that those who died would at least do so without embarrassing themselves. At the same time, it made sure that the academy could properly respond to any situation on Death Emperor Star regardless of distance.
It was a measure of both convenience and safety.
Right now, Damien and Zara were using this exact method to reach the Emperor Bone Sea.
With their mission registered in the academy's database, it didn't take long for them to gain access to the portals.
And only a few minutes later, their figures vanished from Hidden Death Valley.
