Demon Army Headquarters
Militopolis
South Eastern Gledea
April 14th
531st Divine Year (Aramis)
Artemisa and Beatrix strolled through the quiet, nearly empty residential sector of the Headquarters building, passing by a few janitors busy with their mundane cleaning tasks but neither side paid the other any mind.
In fact, the janitors didn't even notice that two goddesses had just passed them.
The duo reached Evan's room, finding the door already open and revealing Evan seated comfortably atop a table, his legs crossed and his eyes glued to a portable console.
He surely noticed them long before they entered, but he didn't say a word as his fingers moved with near-sonic speed, tapping the buttons in a blur that made it almost impossible to follow.
Beatrix couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, amused by his intense concentration.
Evan's ga of choice was no ordinary one. He was imrsed in a title designed specifically for superhumans, the kind of experience he'd never find on Earth V.
Back ho, he'd been used to normal gas designed for normal people (since he was one), ones where skill and strategy were often enough to overco the challenges.
But Arthur's ho world where the console he was using had co from was a place where Living Legends casually strolled through the streets, and their everyday life teetered on the edge of what Evan would consider a myth.
Naturally, the gas created and sold there were tailored to match that level of intensity.
Evan was playing 'Souls of the Dark', a title he was already familiar with; but as stated earlier, it was a version for superhumans.
It was a combat-heavy, ultra-realistic simulation built to challenge even the most battle-hardened veterans.
The boss he was currently facing, a towering digital knight clad in silver armour, attacked with a speed and ferocity that would break a normal player in seconds. But Evan, with his inhuman reflexes, grinned as he dodged the knight's vicious sword strikes, returning swift counterattacks of his own.
"Got you now."
He muttered under his breath as his eyes glead with excitent at the challenge.
As Evan's character ducked under a devastating blow from the knight and delivered a critical strike that sent his opponent crashing to the ground, he let out a triumphant laugh.
"And that's how you beat Souls of the Dark's hardest boss."
Before he could fully savour the mont, Artemisia's voice cut through the quiet room, calm and asured as always.
"Impressive. But we have sothing more pressing for you to take on."
Hearing her words, Evan finally turned his gaze to the goddess, his lips pressed in a thin line.
'Should I really…?
No... there's no point. In this world, I'll have to use my full strength sooner or later and Artemisia would eventually see it if I'm sticking around with Arthur.
Better to control the situation from the start. If anyone else asks, I'll just tell them I'm from Earth V and leave it at that.;
Thanks to the Ti Difference skill, those thoughts passed in less than a heartbeat and his expression shifted into a smirk as he responded to Artemisia's words.
"Oh? Harder than Souls of the Dark? I doubt it."
Beatrix, who had been leaning against the doorfra with an amused glint in her eye, let out a small chuckle.
"Pfft…Reality tops any ga out here in difficulty."
"Of course, it does. There's a real risk of death in reality, while in gas, you just respawn. Man, I wish I could respawn at will…"
The two goddesses exchanged looks after hearing Evan's words and then shook their heads before Beatrix spoke.
"Okay, be serious for a second here.
We're calling you in as backup since Arthur's... occupied at the mont."
"Backup? What's going on?"
Evan raised an eyebrow, curiosity piqued by whatever reason he was being summoned as a 'backup' and Beatrix.
"Also, Arthur's still not awake? Does it usually take this long to comprehend laws? He's been sitting there silent for a week.
And this is leaving out the fact that ti's passing faster for him."
As Evan spoke, he rembered another crucial factor that he most definitely had to ask about.
"Co to think of it, how is he even able to comprehend laws before Transcendence?"
From what he knew, once soone reached Level 900, the real battle began—comprehending Universal Laws to gain Authorities.
Only with an Authority could one beco a Higher Existence.
The issue here was that Law Comprehension was supposed to be a Transcendence thing. Non-Transcendents should at most be able to use ambient law energies.
"He's a Progenitor.
Progenitors of Races can comprehend laws before they reach Transcendence. They're the only exception to the rule."
Artemisia responded to his query and this led to another question from Evan.
"Then what happens when he becos Transcendent?"
"It won't change. He'll continue to comprehend laws as usual, but by that ti, his comprehension will already et all the Stage Requirents. All he'll need to do is level up to 1000.
Progenitors probably spend the shortest amount of ti as Transcendents compared to any other beings."
The Stage Requirents Artemisia ntioned referred to the levels of Law Comprehension one needed to move through the stages of Transcendence. Typically, the higher you wanted to go, the more you had to comprehend.
'Is this why Kolvar and the others have been stuck as Inferiors? Or is it simply because they lack things to kill?
The Five aren't stupid, so in the centuries they've spent as Transcendents, they must have comprehended a lot of laws.'
Evan was 100% correct.
The only one who hadn't reached the point of having at least a Pseudo-Authority from 50-60% Law Comprehension was Rathal, but that was because he was the youngest of the lot.
Altrishia, Kolvar, Zaos and Vulwin had comprehended quite a few laws, so if they were given EXP to level up…
'The issue is where to Find the EXP. I can use the Tower of Trials, but I need to first get to that level before I can unlock anything that'd give a Transcendent EXP.'
"The more laws you comprehend, the stronger you beco, right?"
"Exactly.
Comprehending laws and being able to generate law energy significantly boosts your innate energy quality. And that's a major key to strength."
The higher your energy quality, the less of it you need to use at a ti to achieve greater effects.
Evan nodded in affirmation to Artemisia's response. He too, understood this key and worked to increase his Energy quality as much as he could.
As it stood now, his energy quality was 5x the average Epic Level, and he had every intention of taking it higher.
"So, you said you were calling as Backup since Arthur is out of commission? Explain that."
Evan returned the focus of the conversation back to the main reason the two goddesses were here as he set down the console on the table and Beatrix obliged his request.
"Before you arrived, Arthur, Artemisia, and I were doing a lot of exploration around Gledea—this continent is Gledea, by the way."
Evan raised an eyebrow at her needless clarification.
"I know. I've been here for a week. My mory isn't that bad."
Beatrix flashed a quick smile but continued.
"Right. Anyway, we did a lot of explorations—mostly Arthur just dragging us around so he could test Arty's powers—but sowhere along the way, I developed a taste for exploration myself.
Now, we found a place that Arthur would surely want to explore given that it's related to the Fake Divines, but he's out…"
Evan nodded in understanding, but still, this didn't explain how he entered the picture. The way he saw it, they could just go on their own.
He asked this and Beatrix responded with a sigh.
"The place is fricking huge! Arty and I can't deal with all that on our own. So, we need an extra hand.
Besides, we found so other requirents to unlock the main doors that made your presence go from 'wanted' to 'needed'."
"Which is?"
"We found a Gate that needs two Divinity Signatures and One Magic Signature to unlock.
Arty and I have the divinity part covered, but we can't manage the magic power on top of that without causing interference. It just wouldn't work."
So, they needed Evan to handle the magic power part.
"You and Arthur dabble with destruction law energy so if anything goes wrong, we can always count on you to just nuke the place."
She spoke about 'nuking the place' with such casual indifference that it gave Evan pause. It sounded like they'd done this before—many tis.
And, as it turned out, he wasn't wrong.
On one of their previous explorations, Arthur, Beatrix, and Artemisia had been stuck in so underground ruins for over a week. In the end, Arthur got pissed and just as Beatrix said, he'd 'nuked' the entire ruin by conjuring a ball of destruction energy in his palm and slamming it into the ground.
The resulting explosion had made the Tsar Bomba look like a spark from a lighter compared to an industrial flathrower.
"Is that so? Oh well, I was curious about these Fake Divines anyway. Might as well tag along."
Evan got to his feet and stretched, casually adding a line that had the two goddesses raising their brows.
"Besides, there's sothing I wanted to let you two see for a bit."
He didn't elaborate further, simply using his hands to rub his eyes in silence. Seeing this, Beatrix glanced at the console he had set on the table and then asked,
"We're headed out soon. You in?"
"Yeah, I'm in."
Evan powered off the console and tossed it into his inventory, before raising his hand and telling them to wait for a mont.
Exactly two seconds later, his sword ca flying in through the open door and into his hand. He then unsheathed the blade to examine the clean-up work the Demon craftsn had done.
'Can't exactly expect mortals to maintain a forr Deity's weapon. Clean-up is about the best they can do.'
Satisfied, Evan sheathed the blade with a crisp click and began following the two goddesses. As they walked, he decided to ask for a briefing on where they were headed.
"It's sowhere in Western Gledea. If our guess is correct, there's probably one of the First Generation Fake Divine Human factories in the area.
Probably abandoned, but we might be able to dig up so valuable information."
When he asked Beatrix exactly why she wanted to unearth information about the Fake Divines, wanting to know her motives, she turned to him with an incredulity-laced, as if he'd asked the most obvious question in the world.
"Obviously because Alvey would need it."
"…yeah, you did have a crush on him…."
Evan had forgotten that for a mont. He shook his head with a wry smile behind his mask, but then, a stray thought hit him, causing him to pause.
Future Alvey's son was only half-Greater Demon, which ant his mother had to be from another race.
"…"
After a mont of silence, Evan decided to completely ignore the conjecture that just blood in his mind and asked another question about their destination.
"This place we're going to. What's it called?"
In response to this, Beatrix shrugged a reply.
"No idea what its real na is. Probably sothing long forgotten by now. But I've got my own na for it…"
She paused dramatically, puffing out her chest and flashing a mischievous grin as she turned to face him.
"The Labyrinth of Forsaken Divines."
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