As Max continued exchanging a few more words with Lucia, trying to grasp as much information as he could before their arrival, Isabella's voice suddenly reached them from the front of the Star Shuttle.
"We are about to reach Orion."
Her words imdiately drew their attention.
Max turned his head and looked toward her before shifting his gaze to the large viewing window ahead. What he saw caused his eyes to narrow slightly as his focus deepened. In the vast darkness of space, a massive planet ca into view. It was unlike anything he had seen before.
The entire surface of the planet was covered in a dark red hue, as if it had been soaked in blood over countless years. The color was not uniform. It shifted and pulsed faintly, giving the planet an ominous and unsettling presence.
With every passing second, the planet grew larger.
The closer they got, the more intense its aura beca.
Even from a distance, Max could feel that this was not an ordinary world. There was a faint pressure emanating from Orion, sothing ancient and chaotic that seed to perate its very existence.
"Which section of the planet should we head to?" Isabella asked as she kept her hands steady on the controls, her gaze shifting briefly toward Max and Lucia.
Max paused for a mont.
He realized that he had no answer.
This was his first ti coming to Orion, and despite all the information he had gathered, he knew nothing about the actual layout or safe entry points of the planet.
Lucia stepped in without hesitation.
"Head to the southern region," she said calmly. "There is usually a neutral camp established there by multiple forces. It is the safest place to land and gather information."
Isabella nodded imdiately, adjusting the trajectory of the Star Shuttle as she guided it toward the southern part of Orion.
The descent began.
As they entered the atmosphere of the planet, the surroundings changed rapidly. The red hue beca more intense, and the air outside seed heavy and turbulent. Strange fluctuations could be seen across the surface, as if the land itself was unstable.
Within a few minutes, the Star Shuttle approached a wide open area.
Dozens of other Star Shuttles were already present, each one belonging to different forces across the Divine Realm. So were large and imposing, radiating power and prestige, while others were smaller but no less dangerous.
Isabella carefully guided their shuttle down and landed it among the others with precision.
The mont the shuttle ca to a stop, a faint silence filled the interior.
They had arrived.
This was Orion.
The so called forbidden planet.
The place where opportunity and death walked side by side.
This southern camp was known as a neutral zone, a place where multiple forces had established a temporary balance. However, the word neutral was only relative. It depended entirely on the strength of the forces present.
If a stronger force chose to act, that balance could shatter in an instant. Even so, within the boundaries of the camp, most of the weaker third rate forces chose to maintain peace, even if they held grudges or blood feuds against one another.
Because everyone understood one thing.
Outside the camp, there were no rules.
Once one stepped beyond this area, it beca a true battlefield where only strength determined survival.
The three of them soon exited the Star Shuttle.
Lucia was the first to step onto the surface of Orion.
The mont her feet touched the ground, she paused briefly before turning back to look at Max and Isabella. "The pressure here is different," she said. "Both the gravity and the environntal force are heavier than usual. Be careful when you step out."
Isabella nodded and carefully descended from the shuttle.
The mont her feet touched the surface, her body trembled slightly. The increase in gravity and pressure imdiately made itself known. It felt as if an invisible force was pressing down on her from all directions.
However, she quickly steadied herself, adjusting her stance and circulating her energy to stabilize her body. Within a few seconds, she adapted to the conditions, though the seriousness in her expression increased.
Max stepped down next.
However, the mont his feet touched the ground, there was no visible reaction from him at all.
His posture remained relaxed.
His breathing did not change.
The imnse pressure that affected Isabella seed to have no effect on him whatsoever.
Even without activating his defenses, his two thousand Dragon Scales provided a passive protection that made his body far more resilient than ordinary cultivators. The weight of Orion's environnt simply could not reach a level that would trouble him.
Max looked around calmly.
The air was heavy.
The ground beneath his feet carried a faint warmth.
And in the distance, the red landscape stretched endlessly, filled with an unknown danger that could not yet be seen.
Lucia crossed her arms as she looked at the two of them, her expression turning serious as the weight of Orion's atmosphere seed to reflect in her eyes. "Now tell ," she said, her voice firm, "what exactly brought the two of you here?"
Max did not avoid her gaze this ti.
Instead, he answered directly.
"It is the corpse of the true Black Dragon," he said calmly. "The sa one from which our clan took the heart."
For a mont, Lucia simply stared at him as if she had misheard.
Then her eyes widened.
"What?!" she exclaid, her composure breaking instantly. The shock on her face was unmistakable. "Are you insane?" she continued, her voice rising slightly. "Do you even understand what you are saying? That is your goal? The Black Dragon corpse?"
Max remained calm despite her reaction.
"What I need it for is another matter," he said with a faint smile. "You can consider it a separate secret. I only need your help to locate it."
Lucia felt a headache forming.
Of all the possible reasons she had imagined for Max coming to Orion, this was the last thing she expected. The corpse of the true Black Dragon was not just any resource. It was a matter deeply tied to the legacy of their clan, sothing that existed at the very edge of what could be approached safely.
She could not understand why he would even think of going there.
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down before speaking again, her tone becoming more controlled though the seriousness remained. "Do you even know why our ancestors only took the heart from that corpse and left everything else behind?" she asked.
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