CHAPTER 294: CHAPTER294-DANIEL’S CONCERN

The Revelation was indeed in Daniel’s possession—

not just any copy, but the very one he had carried back with him from four thousand years in the past.

When Daniel gave a slight nod, confirming its presence, Milla’s expression grew serious.

"It’s time," she said. "Time to open the gate to the Divine Realm."

Her voice was calm, but the words carried a weight that could not be ignored.

"Once the sun—Apollo—appears..." she continued, "we divert Aurelia’s attack and turn it onto Apollo instead."

But midway through her explanation, Milla’s brows drew together. A faint shadow crossed her face, as if some unspoken thought unsettled her.

"No... something isn’t right," she murmured, almost to herself. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

She began studying Daniel with unusual intensity, as if trying to read secrets from his relaxed posture.

"Lord Daniel," she said slowly, "there’s something about your state that feels... off."

Daniel, lounging comfortably, looked back at her with an easy smile, unconcerned by her scrutiny.

"You think my state is off?" he replied lazily. "Then tell me—what exactly is wrong?"

For once, Milla’s composure cracked, replaced by a hint of embarrassment.

"That’s the problem... I can’t quite explain it," she admitted. "I just feel something isn’t right."

Her gaze didn’t waver. "Even though I can’t sense any information about you directly, I have this impression—you shouldn’t be like this right now. You should be brimming with energy."

Even as she said it, she knew how flimsy the claim sounded. Maybe even ridiculous.

After all, it was perfectly reasonable for someone to want rest after such a massive battle.

And for beings at their level, the passage of a few hours—or even centuries—meant little. Their bodies could go unchanged for ages, and breaking through to a higher level was a monumental challenge.

Still, no matter how she tried to dismiss it, the feeling gnawed at her. Something about Daniel felt... wrong.

Daniel didn’t take her concern too seriously. Instead, he stretched lazily, then gave a small nod.

"Milla, I’ll admit—you’ve got sharp instincts."

He straightened slightly. "Now, why don’t you tell me what exactly we’re doing next?"

Milla hesitated for a moment, her expression caught between reluctance and seriousness. Then, as if making a decision, she fixed him with a firm look.

"You might not know this," she began, "but four thousand years ago, the sun violated the laws of the Primordial Plane. As a result, Apollo suffered a severe injury—one that cannot be reversed."

"For a stellar-class being, even one as mighty as Apollo, forcibly defying the cosmic laws comes at a terrible price—often fatal."

"Even the Goddess of Gold & Silver Aurelia would need a very long time to heal Apollo completely. And on top of that, the Luck Goddess interfered in subtle ways, causing unexpected setbacks to his recovery."

"In the end, Aurelia was forced to leave this world before the sun was fully healed. She never completed the treatment."

Milla’s tone sharpened as she leaned forward slightly.

"And now, Aurelia is about to hold her descent ritual. The primary executor of that ritual will be none other than the sun—Apollo himself."

"If we followed the original plan, we would have secretly opened the gate to the Divine Realm, misdirected Aurelia’s power, and then used that redirected force to strike Apollo."

She gave a short, humorless laugh.

"But I never expected you to actually take down the Emperor of Angels. That changes things. We don’t have to sneak around anymore."

"Our plan has shifted. You’ll be responsible for opening the gate to the Divine Realm. I’ll handle the misdirection of Aurelia’s power. After that... it’ll be up to luck, hah!"

Daniel’s mouth twitched slightly.

This was it? This was their plan?

For something involving gods, shouldn’t the strategy be a little... tighter? More detailed?

But judging by how things had unfolded so far, it was clear—when it came to the Luck Goddess’s devotees, meticulous planning was not on the menu.

"...All right, I understand. I’ll see you later then," Daniel said at last.

With that, he activated Time Stream, rewinding himself to a few hours earlier—back to the moment right after he had completed the Star Upgrade Quest.

The prisoners had not yet descended onto the myriad races’ lands.

The Emperor of Angels had only just fallen.

The brief period of relaxation earlier had worked wonders for him. It wasn’t about physical exhaustion—his current physique didn’t allow for such a thing.

It had simply been about easing his mind, loosening the tension that had coiled around his thoughts since the battle began.

Now, refreshed and clear-headed, he looked again at his choice of custom artifact materials.

He already knew the principle:

Choose the ones he couldn’t easily obtain elsewhere.

And he would have to make the decision now—without it, he couldn’t progress to the final stage of the tier-1 quest.

After a short pause, he made his first selection: [Sands of Time].

This material was itself a God Rank Skill, though ranked toward the lower end of the list.

More importantly, it was one of the necessary components to synthesize the God Rank Skill [Complex Time Fluctuations].

Its function was straightforward yet profound: it recorded every moment of time and space it observed.

If anyone attempted to alter the timeline, the skill would alert him instantly.

Daniel’s choice was simple—he had realized that his battles had reached the law-level of combat. Time, as a law, was among the highest powers even among gods.

But that didn’t mean others couldn’t wield temporal abilities.

Take Time Stream, for example—its sheer potency was terrifying. Without it, Daniel was certain he wouldn’t be alive today.

It was thanks to Time Stream that he had been able to survive countless encounters, outmaneuver overwhelming foes, and even gather vast amounts of intelligence without risk.

His second choice came after another short contemplation: [Light Avoidance Spell], a God Rank Skill ranked below the 90th position.

On paper, it wasn’t impressive. It had no offensive capacity whatsoever.

But precisely because it was so specialized, it was also incredibly powerful in its own niche.

This skill was designed solely to counter light-element abilities.

It had no damaging effect, but it rendered all light-based skills completely ineffective against the user.

The most important part was that its singular focus allowed it to block even god-level light attacks.

That meant if Daniel ever faced Aurelia again and she used the same attack she had before, he wouldn’t even need to activate his Reflective Shield—he could simply nullify it outright.

Of course, there was a catch—if Aurelia switched to a different attribute, she could still deal devastating damage.