The Next Morning...
Levi, Arthur, and the chosen representatives of the Raider Faction embarked together through the World Tree’s dimensional mirror... an instant later, they emerged from another dimensional mirror inside a Willow Tree.
Without hesitation, Levi expanded his Harmonic Spine’s range to its latest limitation after the evolution... it stretched for hundreds of meters in no time, stopping around six hundred meters... a big increase compared to what he had before.
Levi was left astonished at the sight of his world of darkness getting painted nonstop until a massive forest of giant Willow Trees surrounded him everywhere.
He could tell that the forest went beyond the boundary of his vision, as most of it was cut off in the middle.
’Is this the outer circle of the Solar Aegis Sanctuary’s Interdimensional Headquarters in the 1st Province?’ Levi wondered, recalling that he had seen some images of the SAS Interdimensional Headquarters.
If he was right, then he should be inside the Willow Grove forest that was connected to all the SAS branches on other invaded planets in the same dimensional sector... There wasn’t just one forest.
Abruptly, a gentle humanoid golden fish walked to Dominic and his people... He was wearing a white robe with blue stripes and runic designs and a sun symbol on the left side of his chest. He wore a white cape with the same symbol as well.
He showed a welcoming smile and said, "Welcome to Willow Grove C433... the Interdimensional Willow Grove Nexus of Terra planet."
"Shelby! How is it going?"
Dominic went for a friendly DAP with a cool smile, still wearing his relaxing Hawaiian outfit. Shelby glanced sideways with a hesitant expression... when he saw that his boss wasn’t around, he dapped Dominic with a new smirk.
"You haven’t visited for a while... we thought you dropped out of midnight’s poker game after we wiped you out clean the last time."
"Heh... you wish," Dominic smirked. "I brought you our version of poker, and I sure as hell ain’t dropping out until I win my money back."
"Then what’s with the long disappearance?"
"I have been caught up in management for the past months... a lot has happened." Dominic sighed while walking by Shelby’s side, narrating some of the major events that went down on their planet.
Meanwhile, Levi and the rest merely followed them like sheep following a shepherd... They weren’t even surprised by Dominic’s gambling habits, as it was well known that he liked to play poker on the low.
"This is so bizarre... I feel like I am inside an alien spaceship." Arthur commented in amazement as he tracked the varied racial pool of staff around them.
There were tens of races, ranging from Dwarves, Elves, Centaurs, insect-like creatures, and more... Despite their differences, they were all wearing unified robes, but in different colors and runic designs... each outfit was reserved for a specific job within The Interdimensional Willow Grove Nexus.
"So many races are working hard to protect our planet..." Mira whistled, feeling partially special.
"I doubt any of them cares about what happens to us." Tyrese scoffed lazily. "Their current job is to keep the lights on, and that’s it... once our planet falls to the corruption, they will sever their connection to our planet and restart their duties with a new endangered planet."
Evangeline, Ndlovu, and Levi nodded in support... They knew that their responsibilities were based on the planet’s ranking in the priority list of the Supervising Radian... those at the bottom received the least attention.
That’s why, even though the Interdimensional Willow Grove Nexus appeared full of staff members, most of them were doing nothing noteworthy.
One careful look was enough for the similarities with the ancient Ubisoft gaming giant to become obvious... too many staff members, and barely any real work being done.
After a short while, Dominic and Shelby guided everyone to another portal outside the Willow Grove... it was built inside a small miniature tree, resembling the surrounding forest.
Unlike Heliodor’s Willow Grove, the forest was born out of tall and graceful golden trees with illuminating sun-like leaves... From a distance, the forest resembled the surface of a peaceful yellow star.
"How marvelous... the Radians bless these Willow Groves with divine light, turning their appearance into this," Levi murmured, feeling his nerves tingling from the insane amount of divine light spread across the forest.
’I know what you’re thinking about, but you shouldn’t even consider it as a joke.’ Ash’Kral warned sternly. ’You can’t use the divine light here to feed your Sun Seed... it will get spotted instantly.’
’Hmmm, really?’ Levi raised a brow. ’I thought your veiling array had it covered.’
Levi’s three Origin Seeds were fully masked by Ash’Kral’s veiling array since the moment Levi had signed the contract... only a Shadowlife Seed appeared in their plane if someone used their unique visions to peek at his abdomen.
Not even Willow Groves or the World Tree had discovered the Origin Seeds when the array was active.
’It’s different around here...’ Ash’Kral pointed north and said. ’Far, far away... at the center of the Willow Grove forests... the Ancient Mother Willow Tree has stood tall for eons. She is the mother of all Willow Groves, World Trees, and some other similar species across the Nine Great RootRealms... Her senses are as potent as a Radian when it comes to Sun Laws... the moment you attempt to absorb divine light in her presence, she will spot you and pluck you instantly.’
Although Levi couldn’t see it with his limited vision, he recalled her appearance from memory when he checked the SAS Headquarters’ pictures in the network... His reaction when he first saw her was one of utter disbelief.
Her size alone was big enough to dwarf a hundred-kilometer mountain... She was so massive that Willow Groves and World Trees appeared like newborn children.
’Say less...’ Levi sighed. ’I was considering it to accelerate my natural growth a little... It’s been a month of constant natural divine light and sunlight absorption, yet I barely reached 3%.’
’I always told you that natural growth slows down immensely at Pathfinder rank since the energy requirement tripled.’ Ash’Kral replied. ’If you would rather not abuse growth totems, suck it up and keep a steady pace... no point in rushing when you have yet to master most of your aspects.’
’I know, I know... I also thought like that at first, but now...’ Levi shook his head. ’A big storm is fast approaching, and I want to be in the center of it... Taking down a Bishop is never easy, and it will be even harder without Va’ren’s enmity on our side. I have to get much stronger and faster not to miss the opportunity.’
Levi had spent the past month cultivating naturally without abusing any totems or treasures... he wanted to judge the natural cultivation’s average speed after evolving to Pathfinder, and if it was as bad as Ash’Kral described it.
To his surprise, it was even worse... He had spent most of his spare time focusing on pushing the Nine Senses Seed to the first stage, yet he barely hit 3%. The speed was abysmal even with the divine light’s assistance.
He wasn’t bothered at first by the slow speed, as it gave him a good pace to focus on what he had already learned and unlocked... however, after the bomb Wei-Lan dropped on his lap, Levi slowly started getting antsy about his strength not being enough... especially when he was getting involved in a war between two Tier 8 Bishops.
’If you’re one of the Keys for the plan’s success, as we assumed, then... You don’t need to rush anything.’ Ash’Kral said calmly. ’You will have the leverage to decide on the timeframe... You can negotiate with Va’ren. I don’t think he will refuse to wait a year or more for you after holding it together for a century.’
’We will see how it goes after the Faction’s event.’
Levi dropped such thoughts from his mind for now and stepped inside the miniature portal... the instant he stepped into the light, his Harmonic Spine showed him a massive free-roaming landscape in the Boundless Void.
It had nothing but grass and dirt... but it didn’t remain for long.
Shelby floated to the sky and snapped his finger with a faint smile.
Rumble! Rumble!!
The ground shook for a moment, then split into a gigantic abyssal chasm... the chasm’s width was about five kilometers. From a close distance, it looked nothing like a chasm... more like two distant cliffs bound by a dreadful, pitch-dark abyss.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
With another snap, the chasm was engulfed in ghastly, violent howls... When Arthur and the girls got closer to the chasm, their hair flailed madly, assaulted by nonstop windy gales. Jojo was the only one left unaffected, her gleaming scalp wrinkling a little from the chill.
Before Arthur could make fun of her, the ground rumbled again, and two gigantic wooden humanoid giants sprouted on both sides of the chasm... They were holding a giant silver rope that dangled across the chasm, too thick and heavy to be moved by the howling winds.
A few moments later, the rumbling stopped, and the Death Game’s stage was built to near perfection... a one-to-one copy.
"I tried to push my supervisor to permit you fifteen days of free use of our training grounds, but unfortunately... the timing conflicted with two Savior Squads’ friendly bouts... I managed to get you ten days." Shelby shared, somewhat apologetic.
"Ten days... hmm, ten days isn’t as ideal as fifteen days, but it’s okay." Dominic smiled. "I appreciate the assistance."
If it wasn’t for the Saviors’ interjection, they would have gotten fifteen days without a problem... unfortunately, as much as Sanctuaries appeared to care for natives, they prioritized their Savior Squads above everything else.
The Raiders always had to sit in the backseat when they were around, even if it was for an important event like this.
"Alright, everyone... go get ready. You will climb the rope in fifteen minutes." Dominic said sternly. "Show me that it wasn’t a mistake to include you in the event."