1346 There
The process of transportation took longer than any teleportation that Ryu was familiar with. He had even traveled through from the Fourth Heaven to the Sixth Heaven before, a distance across two entire Heavens, and it had still not taken this long. Let alone that, he had once gone from the Fourth Heaven all the way to the deepest depths of the Ninth Heaven before, and it still hadn't taken this long.
The length of time was truly baffling, and it was only after three or so seconds of shock that Ryu came to understand something.
When he had first entered the Incomplete Heavenly Path, he had to move through a miasma. lanjor had already said that this world didn't have an Incomplete Heavenly Path, but this Birth Right matter, although much rarer than the Incomplete Heavenly Path, did seem to be something similar. At the very least, it mirrored the Heavenly Paths somewhat.
In that case, this process could be similar to that.
'I see...'
Ryu floated for a long while. He didn't push or pull anything, and eventually, an entire half an hour later, he heard the rumblings of an argument. Unfortunately, it was too muffled for him to hear anything clearly, but it was getting closer and closer until everything around him suddenly popped like a bubble.
Ryu could finally see something other than the endless swirling violet around him. He found that he was standing within a hall far too grand to fathom, and yet also quite natural in its construction. It was clear that it wasn't formed entirely by intelligent creatures and was very much the work of mother nature for a great deal of its composition.
The walls had this curved and rough, earthy texture to them. The "pillars" were just fused earth carve outs that curved from the ground to the tall ceilings above. And that, they truly were. These tall ceilings extended upward for what must have been at least 500 meters, one could only crane their necks to get a glance.
"... Finally, we had to wait here for almost an hour for this piece of trash to finally get it together, is it really worth it? How far behind are we by now?!" Leah's voice echoed.
"If you think you can go ahead without a Ruin Master, be my guest!" Mae said coldly.
"A Ruin Master?" Leah scoffed. "What a joke."
"Then why are you still standing here? You've been running your mouth for the last hour, don't you have anything better to do?"
"I'm here for Empana and no one else, it he doesn't move, I won't. What does it have to do with you?" Leah growled.
Ryu blinked and seemed to regain his bearings. He looked down from the ceiling and found the remnants of what must have been a bubble had collapsed around him. Then he noticed that he was already the last to come out, and aside from that, this area that seemed to be a gathering point was entirely void of others, Clearly, they had already gone ahead, maybe into one of the surrounding tunnels, or maybe straight ahead.
The problem with how large this space was that it was impossible to tell where to go. If not for gravity, maybe even up and down would confuse a person. Even as a Ruin Master, there were almost no clues to go by. Just by this alone, Ryu was certain that whatever groups had been here previously hadn't left immediately, they definitely spent quite some time figuring out which direction to go, and that was probably the only reason why Empana had been willing to wait for so long.
Even so, Ryu could tell by his current expression that even he was getting anxious. It was only after he realized that a mere hour in the scheme of an event that might very well last years was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
Of those with serious chances to win, none had moved immediately. It was only those straggling few who had been lucky enough to have a gateway appear before them that had scattered immediately, not wanting to be dealt with by the larger numbers of the well established families.
'Interesting...' Ryu thought calmly.
He took Mae's hand and smiled as though to say there was no need to argue back and forth with this sort of person.
Ryu wasn't a demon, so his time to break out was already slowed. On top of that, this was a test designed for Sky Gods, a level of existence he was not, and even further than that he was currently crippled. It wasn't a surprise at all that he had taken so long, he wasn't moved by it all.
Mae finally seemed to calm down when Ryu took her hand, but Leah only snorted.
"You have time to act all lovey dovey now? How about you hurry up and point us toward a direction, "Ruin Master""
Ryu didn't seem to have heard her speak at all and was only checking to make sure that nothing had happened to Mae. After he did that, he checked the temperament of each and every person. Even as Sky Gods, they couldn't seem to sense the scan of his Void Spiritual Sense at all, in this path moth, his skill with his soul had reached an entirely new level, he didn't even need to project his Birthed Phenomena first despite being crippled.
'As expected.'
The moment Ryu had taken Mae's hand, there were several who had fierce reactions despite reacting as though nothing at all had happened. They could hide their expressions, but they couldn't hide the fluctuations of their souls.
Mae had likely broken out of her cocoon before anyone else had. And it also seemed that the others were far more aware of their surroundings than Ryu was otherwise so many wouldn't know.
If Ryu was correct, these people had probably come to "understand" why Empana had taken Ryu, and they all felt that it was due to Mae. In order to keep her compliant and obedient, he had allowed Ryu to be here until he wasn't needed anymore. Maybe Empana already knew which course to go as well.
There seemed to be several in the crowd who had been scheming before, although they were unobtrusive about it. This explanation would explain a lot of things.
After he had his answer, Ryu sneered inwardly.
"That direction."
Not even a few moments after coming from his bubble, Ryu pointed.
Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com