CHAPTER 163: CONNECTED

That night, Lucius had his hands full, cooking with ingredients from another universe—stuff that didn’t even exist on Earth. But his cooking instincts and talent were razor sharp. He was just a caterpillar, so everyone helped while he prepped food for the whole group.

Niara and the two Summoners ate nonstop, like it was the best thing in the world. Technically, because of their powerful bloodline, the Mannaz didn’t need to eat or sleep. But going too long without it made them seriously stressed. Plus, eating and sleeping helped their bloodline recover a lot faster.

Besides using a bit of their partner’s power to perform martial arts, Summoners also burned a portion of their bloodline every time they fought. The stronger the martial art, the more it consumed. That’s why they had to rest now and then.

When Niara noticed Lucius looking kind of desperate, and Lucy looking a bit serious, she stopped eating.

Darian sighed. Niara had a black hole in her stomach and could eat endlessly. He could clearly feel the food inside her being instantly converted into energy by her bloodline... and then disappearing.

After eating, they went to sleep, and Darian had to stay close to her... maybe a little too close, just to "make sure" her bloodline recovered fully.

Niara didn’t say or do anything provocative, because the twins were in the cave too. Darian was relieved—having his sister around kept Niara’s teasing in check.

While she slept, he spent the night going over the info he’d gathered and rereading everything he thought might be useful. Lucy and Lucius also got a few Jade Slips from Darian to study, so the hours wouldn’t go to waste.

The next morning, all six of them gathered in the center of the village.

"Sir, I’ve received the latest updates from the Elders at the Academy," Lanalia quickly reported to Darian. "The assault on the galaxy made it through and managed to stabilize near the outskirts. They’re advancing toward the central planet. They’ll probably get halfway there by the time the days run out."

Darian nodded. Technically, the goal of this first group was just to weaken the galaxy’s defenses as much as possible. They were focused on invading and killing as many powerful Risen as they could. That drained a ton of energy, and it’d be impossible to reach the Academy afterward.

Once the last day of the month came, those Academy Elders would stay behind, using powerful spatial inscriptions to defend themselves—and later open a channel for the next group of Summoners to arrive. Of course, the resource cost for something like that was insane, and it would also cost the lives of many Elders. If they failed to reclaim the Academy in the end, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The second wave would be the one to arrive on the planet and launch a major attack. At that point, Risen from other galaxies would start pouring in, and the conquest would become impossible.

But there were Spiritual Guardians with blessings capable of sealing off and blocking the mass arrival of reinforcements to the planet. That would allow them to push further and weaken the defenses even more. All of it so the third wave could have a golden opportunity to finish the mission.

Darian looked seriously at Lanalia.

He still hadn’t talked to her about that egg of hers. But he’d heard that her husband—the one she had that child with—had recently died fighting the Risen. Her life had been rough. She didn’t get to stay with her child, and now she was alone. That’s why Darian hadn’t had the guts to bring it up yet. But before going back, he’d have to.

He nodded and tossed a spatial ring to the beast leader.

"When the time comes, I’ll trigger the runes inside that ring. That’ll be the signal for you to use the spatial pearl. It’ll take you straight to where I am, permanently. Stay ready here."

The leader nodded, tense. Darian then turned to Lucy and Lucius.

"This is gonna be pretty dangerous..."

"Ugh, come on, bro. You already dove into that abyssal nest the first time, did a bunch of scary stuff, and saved everyone, didn’t you? And that was just with your partner," Lucy replied, snorting.

Lucius nodded. "We can help, even with just one ring. Our goal is to save this universe. We’ll keep our promise and do everything we can."

Niara smiled, sensing the same pure resolve in the twins that she always felt in Darian. The three siblings were seriously reliable and shared that same spirit, even if their personalities were totally different. Still, they got along really well and always looked out for each other with everything they had.

Darian scoffed. He’d only agreed to bring the two of them because they were the only ones he could safely take along. And in the end, having help was always useful.

He nodded, and his black power flowed out, condensing into a cloak that completely covered Niara. Her whole physical form vanished, like she had become a dark shadow.

Even her aura and presence as a living being disappeared.

Everyone around saw it, and their expressions changed. After so many battles against the Risen, their senses were sharp, and it really felt like she was one of them—like she wasn’t even alive.

This was a way Darian had learned to use his black power some time ago. That layer over the skin rejected the person’s living presence, stopping it from leaking out. He’d even used it against Raon in that final fight, to scare him and make him think he was a Risen.

Darian nodded again, and the same cloak covered the twins and their Summoners.

"Activate your blessings and push the black glow to the max," Darian ordered, and they did exactly that.

Thanks to their unique blessing, connected to Darian’s power, the black cloak stabilized perfectly, covering both pairs just like Niara. Other people wouldn’t be able to use it like that—aside from being unstable and leaking presence, it wouldn’t last long.

"Alright, let’s go," Darian said, pulling the spatial pearl out of his inventory.

Niara took a deep breath, grabbing the artifact Darian handed her. She didn’t hesitate and activated it. Instantly, the space around them twisted, creating a link to a faraway place...

Within seconds, the channel stabilized. Then she and the other two Summoners jumped right in.

*Whoosh*

The channel was insanely stable and ridiculously fast. No one even had time to get nervous—within ten seconds, everything disappeared.

Miasma could be felt from every direction around them. The black karma of countless Risen was also present.

The miasma wasn’t that dense though. They all looked up—and above them stretched an almost absolute void, a dark sky that looked like it had never known light.

At first, they saw nothing. No stars, no sources of glow, and they couldn’t feel the warmth of any distant sun.

After a few seconds scanning the darkness, their eyes caught a single point of light—tiny, static, almost imperceptible. Way too far to give off any heat, way too weak to light anything up, but... there it was. A reminder that somewhere out there, life was still burning.

The inner universe, and pretty much all its galaxies, had already been taken over by the Risen. After conquering a galaxy, all the stars and all life got completely absorbed by the enemy.

Meaning... that tiny point of light they were seeing was the only galaxy where life was still fighting to survive—the same place they’d left just seconds ago.

From how far they could see it, it was like standing on Earth and looking at the Andromeda galaxy near the Milky Way.

"Partner, we’re definitely in a neighboring galaxy," Niara confirmed what Darian had already guessed. "Can’t say for sure, but this might be the galaxy where the Divine Dragon Academy is... and where the assault’s happening."

Darian let out a long sigh. They had no idea where this thing had dropped them. If it really was the same galaxy, they might be able to take advantage of the fact that the Risen were focused elsewhere.

He focused on the spatial pearl. According to the records, after being used, it’d take at least thirty days to recharge. Lucky thing they’d found two of them, which let him come first and then bring the others.

"Bro," Lucy muttered, "Ariu said he’s sure we’re at the far east end of the galaxy, way far from the central planet... the one that might have the Academy."

Darian nodded. The twins’ partners had sharper senses when it came to feeling power concentration in the environment, thanks to the Enfield bloodline. They could point towards the strongest concentration—which, obviously, would be the galaxy’s center.

Distance wasn’t really the issue. The Divine Protection Universe was way different from Earth’s universe. There were artifacts, powerful elements, and all kinds of natural forces. Ores that allowed travel between planets weren’t hard to find.

Even on these dead planets with nothing alive, some of those materials still stayed intact.

If they searched the planet with their perception, it wouldn’t be hard to find a bunch and move between planets. Of course, not just anyone could use these materials like that. Raw resources straight from nature had to be refined first. That’s why there were valuable inscriptions, artifacts, and techniques made just for this kind of safe movement.

He needed to make a decision fast. Darian closed his eyes and focused. Niara’s spiritual root activated, and his senses expanded.

"!"

Suddenly, Darian’s eyes shot open, surprising everyone and making them turn towards him, tense.

’This... my karma’s connected to something on this planet.’ He muttered, stunned.

He tried to pinpoint exactly where, but all he could sense was that it was somewhere far away on this planet. He could feel the direction, but absolutely nothing else beyond that.

Everything Darian interacted with and influenced created a connection to him. But the karmic link he was feeling right now... wasn’t small. This didn’t make sense... how could he have a connection to something here?

He had to find out what this was.

Darian turned to everyone: "I don’t know what we’re gonna find, but... something useful might be waiting for us here."

He made his decision. Heading straight for the central planet wasn’t gonna solve his problems. He needed to sneak in quietly, and he still didn’t know how. If he found something good here... maybe that would make things easier.