Void Evolution System

The guardian beast seemed to know what he was after, because the moment he looked at it, it sighed.

"It seems I have no choice in this matter."

Damien nodded.

"If you wanted to skimp me, you shouldn't have made that promise."

"Yes, it is indeed my fault. That is why I am entertaining your wishes despite your tedious personality."

Damien nodded with a smile.

"As it should be."

Matters that had to do with his mind, he didn't run away from them anymore, but he also didn't needlessly entertain them.

The tree had presented him with questions to ask himself, and he would take sufficient time to ask them when he could deeply ruminate over how he felt.

Until then, wasn't it more fun to unravel mysteries?

"Ah, but before that. Do the two of you have names or anything? It's more convenient for my thought process if I don't have to refer to you as 'the tree' and 'the beast.'"

"I feel somewhat offended by the last bit, but I do indeed have a name. I am Katya. Though I am an Ice Luan, I, obviously, have a considerable draconic ancestry as well. It is complicated."

"As for her…"

"She does not have a name, nor is her species defined. There are none like her, and I did not dare to name her without permission."

Katya, the Ice Luan (dragon?), was the tree's only friend, but even she could only minimally communicate with it.

She could interpret its behaviors and gestures, but until Damien came and provided them with a proper means of communication, she couldn't hear the tree's voice.

Naturally, she wouldn't arbitrarily name it. Not when it was a conscious entity of its own.

"I see…" Damien said, nodding his head in understanding.

"With the properties of the Harmony Fruit taken into consideration, I guess the tree species should be named something like the 'Three Spirit Tree…'"

Since it connected the mind, body, and soul, three spirit made some sense.

"Plus, if that's translated into the ancient language of the Northeastern Region, it would be the Ahaiyute Tree, which sounds pretty nice."

Damien knew quite a few languages. It turned out that devouring people's existences was a great way to stack up random skills.

[Ahaiyute Tree…I see. This is a good name.]

Luckily, it seemed the Ahaiyute Tree liked the name he gave it, so there wasn't a problem.

"If you want a specific name for yourself, it's better to pick that when you're more familiar with language. For today's purposes, this is enough."

He didn't want the tree to know, but it really was only a matter of convenience, since he really was getting tired of calling it "the tree."

Nevertheless, that wasn't something that anyone needed to learn. With names sorted out, Damien was ready to get into the main conversation.

"Katya, if you will."

The ice luan sighed. It was already an unavoidable thing, so there was no point complaining anymore.

"The information I am about to tell you is related to the Western Region, Arulion, the Kingdom of Dragons. I must make it clear before I say any more. None of this knowledge can be known to others. Even those closest to you."

According to Katya, the Dragon Clan had a method to find people who knew certain keywords that were not allowed to be spoken. If those people were found to be outsiders, they'd be killed without mercy.

Regardless of innocence or status.

Damien naturally understood, and he could easily bypass such a low-effort system, so he readily agreed.

With his affirmation, Katya sighed in relief and continued.

"Simply put, the Western Region is a completely different world compared to everything else. The borders you all see are illusions. The real border to Rulion cannot be crossed unless one has a sufficient amount of dragon blood."

Arulion was a society of its own, hidden in plain sight.

The Dragon Clan used the Western Region as the source of their power, but it was not their home.

It was a place for their home to connect to, so that the dragons could also come and go from the Heavenly World.

Their desire for isolation was more severe than anyone would have expected.

"Truthfully, I cannot tell you much about Arulion aside from the general facts. After all, the class system there is extremely strict. A half-blood like me…well, it's best to say that I didn't receive the best of treatment."

Damien could imagine it.

Dragons were a bipolar species. Half of them loved all people with dragon blood and tried to raise them up to the best of their abilities. Bai Yuxuan fell into this category.

As for the other half, they hated people who weren't pure dragons to the core. They believed those people had tainted bloodlines and were staining the image of dragons.

According to what Katya was saying, Arulion was led by the latter faction.

She went on to speak about what life was like in the cities, what kind of economies they had, and more before she reached a point where Damien started tuning in again.

"Ruling the kingdom is the dragon nobility. They are dragons with extremely pure blood and connections to Godbeast Ancestors."

"There are only 10 Godbeast Ancestors in the Dragon Clan now, but there were once over 16. They are the true rulers of the clan, and most importantly, they are the only ones with the qualifications to inherit the throne."

Damien's eyes narrowed.

Katya continued, as if to tell him that his thoughts were accurate.

"The six who no longer exist were killed for their qualifications, or so it was thought. As it appears, one of those six managed to find you, and for some reason, he trusted a human to carry his qualification."

A qualification to inherit the throne.

The throne of the entire Dragon Clan? Of dragonkind as a whole?

"What is the nature of that throne?"

Damien had to know.

But Katya only shook her head.

"I cannot tell you any more than this. To us commoners, the race for the throne was a mere legend, far too out of our sight that we could only imagine it. If you wish to learn more, or perhaps uncover the secrets that lay in that place, then you must visit Arulion."

Damien nodded slowly.

'The Azure Dragon…'

Did that senior truly want him to take over the Dragon Clan?

Or rather…

'I get it.'

[Azure].

It was a gift, but also a request for a favor.

After all, it didn't come alone.

Damien gained [Azure], and at the same time, he received an egg.

Neither had shown any sort of connection to each other until now, but that was because there wasn't one yet.

'[Azure] is my special card.'

And with it, he was to accomplish something insane.

'That senior was really expecting a lot from me.'

To think he would leave something that wouldn't be useful until the Heavenly World. It seemed the Azure Dragon had long predicted Damien's rise to power.

Still, regardless of the size of the favor, it was a favor Damien had to do.

Because it was a favor he was asked by someone who gave him everything in return.

'If I don't even repay something like that, then I'm really no better than a beast.'

A road to a new adventure had presented itself to Damien just as he finished one he thought would be no more than him going through the motions.

It was a trip worth more than he could have ever expected.

And now that he had both the information he wanted and the fruit he'd come for, it was almost time for him to return to Void Palace.

'Dante Void…'

A man Damien still couldn't quite convince himself to call "father."

'...I really hope this wakes you up.'