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    the timeless king summoned the overseers, his most trusted and powerful lieutenants. each one of them was a master of a certain spell that he needed in order to make his plan work.

    "overseers..." he spoke with his voice that echoed through the hall...

    suddenly, several figures immediately appeared. their appearance was blurred as they weren''t truly within the palace. what the timeless king was seeing was merely their clones that were left in this place.

    "we have confirmed the presence of the paragon''s divine extraction power in the human realm. this power poses a significant threat to the balance of our realms. we must act swiftly and decisively."

    the overseers listened intently. their expressions could not be seen, but they were all shocked and took everything seriously. they knew the gravity of the situation and the potential consequences of their actions.

    the three paragons caused plenty of problems not only for the celestial beings but also for them.

    "we have two options," the timeless king continued. "we can either take the power from its current holder or isolate the human realm entirely..."

    the king paused for a moment after revealing the options he had thought of.

    seeing that everyone doesn''t have any opinions, he continued.

    "given the risks involved, i have decided that we must ensure the human realm is forever incapable of accessing the other realms. we will block them from any possible dimensional travel."

    the overseers nodded in agreement, understanding the necessity of the decision.

    none of them wanted to deal with such a powerful figure. no one would volunteer to be the first sacrifice.

    after all, even though they believed that they could overpower the extractor, numerous time manipulators would be sacrificed. they didn''t want their descendants or even themselves to be those sacrifices.

    unlike the celestial beings who are immortals, time manipulators like them had finite lives... only the timeless king had the power to last forever, thanks to his crown.

    as for them, they would have to use their soul force to use the power of time. at most, they could leave for a few hundred years with a few tricks, but that was it. they may be able to manipulate time, but it comes with a cost.

    ''this is weird...'' vale thought to himself.

    suddenly, he received telepathy from merlin, the overseer of the human realm.

    "lord vale, i think that an outside force is trying to harm our home... you might have to consider asking the avatars of the deities that were hiding within their holy grounds..." merlin said cautiously. after all, he wasn''t sure about vale''s relationship with the churches.

    "if that''s the case, i''ll try to speak with them..." vale answered after some thought.

    "then, please visit the church of the lord of the secrets first. i had a feeling that their goddess would assist you." merlin said mysteriously.

    it seemed that working as an overseer for a long time allowed him to have some relationships with the prominent churches.

    vale trusted merlin''s judgment and decided to investigate.

    without any more hesitation, vale vanished from his room and reappeared at the base of a towering mountain. before him lay a daunting staircase of 2,000 steps, leading to the nearest branch of the church of the lord of the secrets.

    this was his first time coming here, and he had only read about this in the reports from the arcane bureau.

    the path was steep and flanked by ancient trees, making this place truly different.

    vale took a deep breath and began his ascent. as he placed his foot on the first step, a voice broke the silence.

    "hey... the church is closed today. even if you wish to go up, you have to pay first."

    vale turned to see a young acolyte, who he had initially thought was sleeping, sitting on a nearby rock.

    the acolyte''s eyes were sharp and alert, but a mischievous grin was also playing on his lips.

    on the other hand, vale realized that he was actually wearing casual clothes, making him look like an average person, especially after he suppressed his aura.