Daniel slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on a luxurious bed. Before he could properly analyze where he was, something flying suddenly rushed toward him.
"Haha, calm down." Of course, the flying thing that jumped at him and started licking his face was none other than Finn.
He hugged him and gently stroked his head, and with a closer look, he realized that the baby dragon had grown bigger again.
After pampering him for a bit, he set him aside and stood up.
He left his room, with Finn following behind him. Evangelin’s palace of life was completely devoid of any living beings except for her, Finn, Eva, and the woman herself.
Because of that, even though the place was very large, it felt extremely empty.
He tried to contact Eva using the communication Talisman she had given him, but no matter how much he tried, it was useless and the girl did not respond.
Most likely, she was either busy with something or training. Since he couldn’t contact her, he decided to contact the Mad Empress directly.
However, before he could do that, he suddenly felt the world around him darken, and the next moment he found himself standing in front of that same woman.
"I said seven days, but you came back right on time," Evangelin looked at him and said in an indifferent tone, though it sounded somewhat sarcastic.
"Where is Eva?" Daniel immediately changed the subject.
"She’s training. After seeing that someone her age is stronger than her, her competitive spirit awakened."
"It seems she has changed a lot in terms of personality during this time," Daniel laughed. He didn’t remember the girl being competitive. In fact, it was the opposite, she used to seem very calm and chill.
Or maybe, because of the situation she had been in, her true personality had been suppressed, and now she was finally showing her real self.
"I talked to that old man about the question you had," Evangelin didn’t comment on his remark and changed the subject herself.
"About the Fallen Heart fragments?" That was what he had asked about, what the Fallen Heart fragments were actually used for.
The Mother System had not given any explanation about them, and he himself didn’t know anything either. That was why he felt it wouldn’t hurt to ask this woman.
Even so, she herself didn’t know much about those fragments either, but she had said she would ask one of her friends.
"That’s right. That old man is the guardian of a very important place, and he happens to know you as well. I asked him about those fragments," she added.
"He didn’t know exactly either, but he said that those fragments might be able to form the Fallen Heart and the source of all of its power. Maybe if you can gather all of its fragments, you will gain the full power of the Fallen One, or at least its source."
"He also proposed another theory, that the Fallen Heart might be the key to accessing the true army of the Fallen One, the army that once terrified all the gods," she finished her explanation.
After hearing all these possibilities, Daniel fell silent. Any of these possibilities sounded far too good to be true.
If he could obtain the source or the full power of the Fallen One, would there be anything left in this world for him to fear? Would anyone even be able to stop him?
At the same time, even if he obtained the true army of the Fallen One, he would still have no rival left in this world.
But all of these were just possibilities, not reality. Even so, they greatly increased his motivation to collect those heart fragments.
"He also told me where you can obtain the remaining fragments," Evangelin said.
"Really? Where?" Daniel’s eyes lit up.
"One of them is in the hands of the Divine Church, another is with the dragons, and one is in the possession of the Central Mage Tower," Evangelin replied.
That answer caused the light in Daniel’s eyes to fade. Obtaining each remaining fragment sounded extremely difficult.
Especially the one held by the dragons. How was he even supposed to get it from them? By force? He doubted that was even possible.
As for the Central Mage Tower, he already planned to go there. After all, he had promised a certain girl that he would go there and help her become the heir.
’Actually, that might be the way to get it,’ he thought to himself. If he could make that girl truly become the next leader of the Mage Tower, he might actually be able to obtain that fragment.
As for the Divine Church, in that case, he could either ask for help from the Saintess or use force. The first option sounded much better.
First of all, using force against the Divine Church, which is supported by all churches and tens, hundreds, or even billions of people, would be a foolish move.
Even if he were to seek Evangelin’s help, he doubted it would end well, especially since the Divine Church definitely had hidden weapons and trump cards.
He had a relatively familiar relationship with the Saintess; perhaps he could use that to obtain the fragment.
Of course, this wasn’t certain. After all, their relationship was only at the level of acquaintances, and he had only helped her escape indirectly.
Even that couldn’t really be called real help, but still, maybe this acquaintance could be useful, or at least open the door to easier options.
"You might be able to obtain the fragment held by the dragons soon," Evangelin suddenly said.
"What do you mean?"
"I talked to the dragons. They agreed to let you enter their lands and meet them."
"They agreed to help me?" Daniel asked again, his eyes shining.
"They didn’t agree. They said they want to examine you first." Hearing Evangelin’s cold response, the light in his eyes disappeared again, and he sighed.
"We will go to the place where the dragons live today, but before that, there is something you need to do," Evangelin said seriously.