Chapter 887: Advancement Mentorship
Arthur’s conversation with Denerth Sect Master Chang Shaoting went pretty smoothly, in no small part thanks to the introduction letters from Malorum and McEnda II.
McEnda II had suggested Denerth Prime when Arthur asked him the same question after the meeting with the Demon Kings to discuss adjustments to their Demon-godslayer cooperation.
There were many things they had to talk about, such as the level of forces Gozon sent to the godslayer worlds, and they revised their expansion plans while reducing the amount of infrastructural help Gozon was providing Nienope.
It had been nearly a century since the end of the war, and the planet had recovered more than enough from the damage.
Shoisan was also now strong enough to stand on its own without needing an artificial inflow of resources from Gozon.
The two planets also had their own interplanetary exports that they managed, which allowed them to handle business on the Interstellar Stage.
McEnda II introduced Arthur to several demon merchants from other galaxies he worked with, who were interested in the mineral deposits on Shoisan and wanted to extract and sell them.
Only after completing all the negotiations, securing third parties to act as guarantors, and having the first set of mining infrastructure brought onto Shoisan did Arthur finally head to Denerth to meet Shaoting.
As stated earlier, the meeting went smoothly because Shaoting already had a place in mind that fit Arthur’s requirements, though it wasn’t in Denerth Sect territory but in the Blood Moon Sect’s.
That sect was Denerth Prime’s second most powerful, and its territory lay on a different continent from the Denerth Sect’s.
On a side note, every top Denerth Prime sect had its own continent as territory, with minor sects that paid taxes to them occupying specific regions within that territory.
On their way to the Blood Moon Sect’s territory, Shaoting brought up something he’d been thinking about.
"Your power is one that grants you advantage against divines, right? Does it affect items sealed with divinity as well?"
At this question, Arthur blinked in light surprise, then asked, "You got something sealed with divinity that you want to crack open?"
Holding up a finger coated in anti-divinity, he continued, "This might help, provided the Authority on it isn’t anything on your level."
Shaoting was a High-Tier Deity, one who had taken a step out of the Cosmic Limit of power allowed for High-Tiers, but was still stuck in the limbo between his tier and the Monarch Realm.
An Authority on his level wasn’t anything Arthur could deal with, even using his Aspect of Destruction.
"That won’t be a problem. The divinity is just what we need to get rid of. There’s far too much of it."
The Sect Master’s words made Arthur’s eyes widen in shock. "Too much? I’m really curious about something someone of your power level would consider ’too much’."
The energy of a High-Tier Deity was quite literally galactic in scale, something Arthur knew all too well since he was only halfway through gathering the baseline amount necessary for that Realm.
"You’ll see it if we succeed in moving the item here," Shaoting replied.
"Okay. Hopefully, you guys aren’t tampering with something dangerous that should remain sealed for good."
When Arthur said that, Shaoting paused for a moment, and that pause made Arthur stop in his tracks and turn toward him with a narrowed gaze.
"You guys aren’t tampering with something dangerous that should remain sealed for good, right?"
Arthur repeated his question with far more intensity behind his voice, and Shaoting blinked at this reaction before pushing the leaning godslayer away.
"No, we’re not. A tussle with some foreign galactic gods over a secret realm ended with the main treasure of the realm being sealed by the gods in a last-ditch attempt to prevent us from getting it when they realised they were losing."
Shaoting’s explanation had Arthur raising an eyebrow.
"A secret realm? I’ll have you know your universe is filled with the echoes of the presence of Cosmic Powers, so make sure that secret realm isn’t anything they left behind when they were around."
Arthur said that as he turned around and continued walking forward, but his words carried an ominous ring that Shaoting couldn’t ignore.
"Presence of what Cosmic Powers?"
The man knew Arthur was from another universe, and long before Arthur, he’d known Jamie, who was also an existence from another universe, one who’d travelled through many universes before this one, and Shaoting had learned a great deal about the Great Powers from Beyond Valmone from Jamie.
Arthur saying these powers had been present in Valmone naturally caught his attention.
"Progenitors like myself. I can count at least 2, maybe 3 races whose progenitors have been here. And that’s just the start of it."
"What races?" Shaoting asked, eyes slightly narrowed, and Arthur held up three fingers.
"Demon: There’s a statue of the Progenitor Demon outside Gozon’s Interstellar Citadel.
Angel: The Book of Truth Replica I broke? That could only be in this universe if the Progenitor Angel brought it here herself. I even met the soul fragment she left behind in that thing when I destroyed it.
Lastly, Vampire: There’s a non-zero chance that Vlad Dracul Tepes was here, since his descendants live on in this universe.
And that’s just Progenitors. Don’t get me started on the Eternals..."
Arthur already sounded worn just thinking about them, and before Shaoting could ask for more details, especially about the part where he’d mentioned the Progenitor Angel leaving a soul fragment in the Book of Truth Replica, Arthur clapped and spoke aloud.
"Hey, Berlal. Mind sending Elaine over?"
It hadn’t even taken a second before the teenage godslayer Arthur had called for appeared out of thin air a few feet in the air, dropped onto the floor, and hurried toward him with her arms spread wide.
"Arthur!"
She called his name as she hugged him, and Arthur returned the hug, lifting her up onto his right arm as he spoke.
"Well, someone’s getting taller..."
"Hmm? It’s not much, though. Just a few inches," Elaine replied, before finally noticing Shaoting a few steps behind Arthur.
"Oh. Hello. Good Eve—"
She paused midway after noticing the bright light outside, blinking in mild surprise before rephrasing her greeting.
"Good Morning?"
"...Morning," Shaoting replied after a moment, his mind still trying to process how Elaine had been pulled right through all of Denerth’s interplanetary shields and through his spatial perception without him noticing anything until he actually saw her appear in front of him.
’He just called someone to ’send her’, didn’t he?’
The thought crossed Shaoting’s mind, and he immediately asked Arthur about it.
"Who did you just call out to...?"
"Our teacher. An Ancient-Dragon from another universe. One of the ’Cosmic Powers’ I just mentioned," Arthur replied absentmindedly, seeming more focused on calculating Elaine’s height difference.
Seeing how distracted Arthur was, Elaine sighed softly and took it upon herself to explain to Shaoting.
"She’s the oldest Ancient-Dragon that exists. Due to circumstances, both Arthur and I are under her tutelage, and she came along out of curiosity about this universe.
Provided no idiot provokes her, your universe would be fine. Even then, it’s only that idiot who’d get snuffed out of existence."
"Elaine, your words would only make whatever fears he has worse," Arthur interjected after she spoke, recording Elaine’s new height on his watch before looking up at Shaoting.
"But she’s not wrong. Berlal is the calm sort. You have virtually nothing to worry about."
"Virtually?" Shaoting asked, eyes slightly narrowed.
"Virtually," Arthur confirmed, then turned his gaze toward their target warp gate as he added,
"Oh, and she currently has this thing activated where she knows the moment you say her name. Just letting you know."
With those words, Arthur stepped through the gate that led directly into the Inner Area of the Blood Moon Sect’s Headquarters.
Of course, two spears were immediately raised toward his neck the moment he stepped out, but they lowered quickly when Shaoting emerged right behind him.
The wielders bowed and greeted Shaoting with respect, and one of them ran off to report his arrival to the Blood Moon Sect Master.
Everything from there continued as smoothly as the earlier conversation with Shaoting.
It seemed that before disciples from prestigious Denerth Prime families formally joined certain sects, those families sometimes followed the same method Arthur planned with Elaine: the families’ stronger combatants would defeat suitably stronger opponents, allowing the disciples to deal the final blows and gain enough experience to level up and meet conditions like the minimum Existence Realm requirement.
’Advancement Mentorship’, they called it, and it appeared that someone from one of those families was being groomed by the Blood Moon Sect Master in the same way so they could be formally accepted into the sect.
It also included training the prospective disciple to control their newly gained power afterwards, making it a perfect fit for Arthur’s target.
The location for this Advancement Mentorship was a special pocket realm on the Blood Moon’s Continent, only unsealed during recruitment periods, and the starting region within the realm varied depending on the initial level of the prospective disciple.
After speaking with the Blood Moon Sect Master, Arthur received permission to use the realm alongside the new prospect, though there was a slight change.
For one, the stronger combatant who was supposed to accompany them was swapped from the original Sect Deacon, and the Head Core Disciple was assigned instead.
The reason was that this was someone Arthur was already familiar with, and the reason he suspected the Progenitor Vampire had once visited the Valmone Universe.
It was his reunion with the Ancient-Breed Vampire, Crim Saoirse O’Gorman Tepes, after 83 years.
