Death… And Me

Chapter 4358: Now We Are Talking!

The missions posted by the Godly Subjugation Guild for the construction of the new corridor were attracting a huge number of experts. It made perfect sense, as the Guild was paying quite handsomely for anyone willing to help clear and secure the route leading toward the future settlement.

Naturally, the Guild was spending an enormous amount of resources on the project. However, nobody involved saw it as a loss. The benefits that would come from establishing a permanent route deep into Godly Creatures’ Territory would far surpass the current costs.

New resources would become available, travel times would decrease dramatically, and future operations would become significantly easier. Because of that, the first large-scale expedition toward the settlement was assembled.

More than ten thousand cultivators joined the first expedition, their cultivations ranging from the Anchor God Realm to the Aura God Realm. Together, they formed a force large enough to deal with most threats encountered along the way. On top of that, three Zone Gods accompanied the expedition to oversee the operation and intervene if a Godly Predator happened to appear.

They wouldn’t go all the way to the settlement since it was too far, but they would start to build the basis for that route.

The group advanced steadily through the northern territories. Every one hundred kilometers covered, approximately five hundred experts would remain behind. Their job wasn’t simply to guard the area. They were also responsible for assisting the builders in constructing the outposts from scratch.

Defensive arrays had to be established, communication systems installed, supply storage prepared, and patrol routes organized. Every completed outpost would become another link in the future corridor. The Guild definitely intended for the Besgol Network to reach all the way to the settlement.

Fortunately, the timing for the project couldn’t have been much better. After the war ended on the northern front, the Godly Creatures gradually began returning to their own territories. Many remained behind to occupy the domains of fallen creatures, fighting among themselves for control and resources. Even so, their overall population was significantly lower than it had been before the war.

As a result, attacks still occurred, but they were nowhere near as devastating as they could have been. Godly Creatures occasionally emerged to assault the cultivator groups, forcing battles to break out along the route. However, only a handful of incidents caused serious trouble.

There were losses, of course. Nobody involved had expected this project to be completely safe. Still, compared to the casualties suffered during a normal defense campaign, the numbers were almost negligible. Everyone participating understood the risks from the very beginning and had accepted them before joining. More importantly, the rewards offered by the Guild were substantial enough to make those risks worthwhile.

---

Meanwhile, Rean paid a visit to the Godly Subjugation Guild. More specifically, he headed toward one of the isolated residential districts reserved for the Guild’s direct subordinates.

Living there wasn’t mandatory. Guild members were free to purchase or rent residences elsewhere in the city if they preferred. Nevertheless, many chose to stay within the Guild’s facilities. The accommodations were excellent, security was guaranteed, and the level of privacy offered there was difficult to find elsewhere.

The reason for such treatment was quite simple. The Godly Subjugation Guild wasn’t a private organization owned by a single power. It was jointly managed by all the major forces of the Besgol Region for the sake of maintaining the region’s safety and prosperity. Because of that, the Guild rarely recruited people directly. Most cultivators simply worked with the Guild through missions, temporary assignments, or military campaigns.

Direct subordinates were different. For someone to be personally recruited by the Guild, they were expected to be among the very best the Besgol Region had to offer. Strength, talent, loyalty, and accomplishments were all taken into consideration. More importantly, they had to be willing to place the interests of the Besgol Region above those of individual organizations.

Naturally, very few people met those standards. Those who did were treated exceptionally well, not only because they were valuable, but also because they often worked under the authority of multiple organizations simultaneously. The Guild needed to ensure those individuals had every reason to remain cooperative and continue contributing to the region’s development. Those reasons were more than enough for the twins’ group to stay in the Guild’s residential district rather than rent a place of their own.

Inside their residence, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky were cultivating when Rean arrived. The three had spent the previous months focused almost entirely on cultivation while Rean devoted most of his time to array research and the airship project.

Thanks to the enormous amount of resources obtained after the war, their progress had been remarkable. After absorbing nearly all of the Godly Spawn Crystals available to them, the three had reached the limit of the Middle Stage of the Anchor God Realm. Their foundations had become stable enough that they could finally prepare for another breakthrough.

As soon as Rean entered, he tossed a Spatial Ring toward Celis.

”You can have this back.”

Celis caught the ring with one of his roots and immediately inspected its contents. His eyes widened as he looked inside.

”This... weren’t you going to use it on the airplane?”

Rean nodded. ”I was. However, after proposing my new teleportation array concept, I don’t think resources will be a problem anymore. If I need materials for the airplane, I’ll just use the Guild’s money. Considering the potential value of the teleportation project, they won’t complain.”

Celis’ eyes immediately lit up. ”This is great! We haven’t even touched the Godly Beast Crystals yet, and now you’re returning the other three thousand Godly Spawn Crystals as well. I think we can actually reach the Peak Stage of the Anchor God Realm before exhausting all our resources.”

Kentucky, on the other hand, looked less enthusiastic. ”Doesn’t that mean it will take twice as long before we’re done cultivating? Sigh... I’m dying of boredom here.”

Celis couldn’t care less. ”Then keep dying quietly and cultivate. We need strength if we want to survive in the Celestial Plane. The stronger we become now, the safer we’ll be later.”

Kentucky rolled his eyes but didn’t continue the argument.

Roan ignored the exchange entirely since he already knew both of them would continue cultivating regardless of how much Kentucky complained. Instead, he focused on something else.

”Have you checked it?”

Rean immediately understood what he meant. ”I did. Tobao wasn’t lying. Or, at the very least, he’s hiding it so well that I couldn’t find a single clue.”

When Rean had been granted access to the secret Array Masters project, Roan had taken the opportunity to ask for a small favor. He wanted information regarding the Sacred Relic. Back during the war, Tobao had explained that nobody truly knew where the Relic came from. According to all available records, the Besgol Region had simply been built around it. The first settlers had already found the Relic floating there exactly as it remained today.

At the time, Roan had accepted the explanation. That didn’t mean he wasn’t curious.

Thanks to his elevated authority within the Arrays Guild, Rean had gained access to records normally unavailable to ordinary members. He even had permission to examine information regarding restricted arrays and historical documents. Naturally, he searched for everything related to the Sacred Relic. After all, the Relic itself was maintained by generations of Array Masters. Even if nobody knew how to create such an object, countless experts had spent their lives studying it and ensuring it continued functioning properly.

Unfortunately, the results were disappointing.

”The records all say the same thing,” Rean explained. ”The oldest documents describe how the Relic allowed the Besgol Region to flourish and develop. Beyond that, there is almost nothing.”

Roan narrowed his eyes. ”Some things don’t fit.”

That immediately attracted the attention of Celis and Kentucky.

”What do you mean?” Celis asked.

Roan looked in the direction of the Sacred Relic before speaking. ”Godly Creatures attack Besgol because they want to destroy the Relic, right?”

Everyone nodded.

”Then think about it. The Besgol Region was built around the Relic. The same seems to be true for every other known region. That means the Relics existed long before cultivators arrived. If that’s true, why wasn’t the Relic destroyed before civilization appeared? If Godly Creatures hate the Relics so much, then there should have been nobody protecting them during that period.”

The room fell silent. It was an excellent question, and none of them had an answer.

”There’s another issue as well,” Roan continued. ”The Transition Hub.”

Rean immediately understood. ”The place where ascenders first arrive before entering the Besgol Region?”

”Exactly. Besgol is an ascension point. However, the Relic clearly predates the ascension point itself. The Relic was already here first, so why is the ascension point located here? Did the Relic somehow cause an ascension point to form in this region? Did the appearance of the ascension point attract the Godly Creatures? Or was it the opposite?”

The more Roan spoke, the more questions appeared.

”And if that’s the case, could there be Relics elsewhere that don’t have settlements? Relics without ascension points? Places the Godly Creatures don’t even bother attacking? We know almost nothing about the origin of the Relics, so there is no way to know whether Besgol and the other known regions are special cases or merely the examples we happened to discover.”

Rean shrugged. ”I doubt you’ll find those answers in the Arrays Guild Network. Besides, you didn’t detect any lies when Tobao said nobody knew the truth, right?”

Roan nodded. ”Indeed.”

That was one of the reasons he hadn’t pursued the matter further. Tobao genuinely seemed unaware of the answers himself. If even someone at his level didn’t know, then the truth was likely buried far deeper than a simple search through historical records could uncover.

For now, there was little they could do about it.

”In any case,” Roan finally said as he set the topic aside, ”this is just something I was curious about. It has nothing to do with us at the moment. Let’s focus on what actually matters first.”

His gaze moved to the resources inside the Spatial Rings. ”It’s time to break through into the Late Stage of the Anchor God Realm.”

Celis immediately brightened. ”Now we are talking!”