“How is it possible that you can see through me despite the level difference?”

  Prescribed Dream silently smiles at Lawrence’s question.

  As time progresses, no one remains static, not even for Princess Reminiscent Euphony, nor for Lawrence and his wives. Everyone has progressed towards different goals, and his is none other than to understand the origin of this phoenix girl.

  She continues walking by his side, observing the landscape, extending her hand and caressing the flowers or the sculptures in her extensive garden. When a gentle breeze moves her beautiful sky-blue hair, Prescribed Dream responds.

  “Destiny is not something related to the current era, it has existed since your birth, even before that.”

  Lawrence remains silent and then sighs. Those few words are enough to clarify everything.

  “I see.”

  Though questions remain, he is confident in answering them himself. There is just one question he needs to satisfy his uncertainty.

  “Is there more than one destiny related to a person?”

  “You don’t miss a slip of my tongue, eh.” Prescribed Dream smiles softly and responds, “As you might have deduced, yes. With every step you take, one becomes more certain than another, until you have chosen your path, which will lead to the inevitable end.”

  Death will always be the final destination; the question is which of them will lead there first and from which you can deviate.

  “I will be absent for a few days, though I believe you already knew that, didn’t you?”

  Prescribed Dream sighs and then shakes her head, “Just one slip per day, remember it.”

  “Tsk.”

  She had anticipated that Lawrence would try to get another prediction from her, unfortunately for him, Prescribed Dream is a mysterious woman. If it weren’t for her predictions being written in proverbs, he might fear that she had deduced his intentions.

  Once he moves away from her, he feels strange again.

  “This phoenix girl is sometimes bold and at other times demure. Who is she really?”

  He decides to keep walking simply because he knows this question will not receive an answer.

  As he does, he loses sight of Prescribed Dream's expression. A face that resembles her true nature.

  “Soon… my cycle…”

  +++

  Dragonfall Mountain. Divine Plane

  The last time Lawrence saw the portal was at the feet of two demonic beasts that were using it as a sharpening stone for their horns, and if after all these years they are still using it as such, the likelihood it's ruined is not small!

  He is already annoyed enough at having to have bribed one of those guys for a few days off, only for the damn portal to not be functioning. He hates not being given vacations at work, but he hates having had to pay for them even more!

  Since Dark Root stopped supporting him, all conveniences disappeared. But this was necessary, something that would happen sooner or later.

  "It annoys me! It offends me!"

  “Let's kill them! But no, better not. Another day!”

  Sky Petal stops and points in the distance. “There they are.”

  There, two red Rhino Beetles are furiously chatting about something, their childish language leaving many holes in their conversation. Perhaps if they stop to listen they can deduce what they are talking about, something Lawrence and company are not willing to do.

  “Who goes there?! Come out and meet this majesty!”

  "Don't make me use my horn, otherwise I'll screw you!"

  The demonic beasts immediately notice their presence, extend their wings, and begin to fly, ready to attack at the slightest movement.

  “Tsk, these bugs…”

  Sacred chains appear from the ground and all directions. The Rhino Beetles are surprised, try to dodge but cannot, there are too many! But what scares them most is not that, these chains are more powerful than they themselves! They must escape and use their numbers to turn the unfavorable table around!

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  “To the ground.”

  “AAAH!”

  The demonic beasts wail pitifully, the chains stick to their bodies and their wings are miserably destroyed in the process. Both fall to the ground unable to move a leg.

  Lawrence walks towards them and crouches in front of their insect heads. “Where is your treasure vault?”

  “We don’t have one!”

  “Right, we don’t have one!”

  “Is that so?”

  "Yes, that's right!"

  "Just like that!”

  Lawrence cannot understand the harmony of these two insects, he does not know if they are a couple, siblings, or friends. What is certain is that they coordinate their responses very well, will they coordinate as well in torture?

  He extends his hand and mercilessly dismembers one of their legs.

  “AAAAH! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”

  “Answer my question, where is it?”

  “I don’t know! I don’t know!”

  Lawrence cannot stand its shrieks of pain, so he quickly dismembers not only its legs but also the horn it were so proud of.

  “NOOO! AAAHH! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”

  If the insect had greater intelligence, it would know that after such damage, survival is impossible, but its insect brain still seeks life before death.

  “Don’t say it, because I’ll kill you!”

  Even when the other Rhino Beetle tries to interfere, the demonic beast blurts out everything it was keeping. “It’s on a cliff! There’s a large rock and a tree nearby!”

  Lawrence waits for the response from Serene Will, who frowns, attempting to deduce the strange thoughts of these beasts. Their mentality is very different from humans, as is the frequency with which they think. The feeling is so annoying and nauseating that Serene Will takes several seconds before signaling to Lawrence.

  This is one of the enhancements granted by the Boundless Fruit, but it is not perfect.

  “Good boy, now die.”

  “Eh?”

  The chains compress once more, but this time the bodies of both insects are destroyed, spilling strange-colored blood on the ground. Lawrence walks away from them and looks to Sky Petal, who closes her eyes for a second and then nods.

  “This way.”

  As they fly following Sky Petal, Serene Will clears her throat trying to forget the repulsive feeling after reading the minds of those demonic beasts. If possible, she does not wish to do it again.

  Some time later they arrive at the place.

  “It’s quite hidden, eh.”

  Lawrence looks down the cliff and manages to find the hideout of the Rhino Beetles. He jumps fearlessly, and all light quickly disappears. Just before hitting the ground, he channels his mana to fly, stopping just inches above the ground. His wives do the same.

  Coldness Divine uses fire magic, and with it, the dark cliff is lit and the extensive cave in front of them becomes visible. They enter cautiously, but none of this is necessary. Just minutes after entering, they reach the end of the journey.

  There exists a mountain of objects, some shiny and others dull, but all share one thing in common. They are unbreakable, so tough that even their weapons would struggle to scratch them.

  “At first glance, there’s nothing interesting, I need to look more closely to be sure.”

  Serene Will is in charge of checking the treasure vault, which is composed of various items and magic artifacts. There are even spiritual herbs in the place, Sky Petal entertains herself by talking to them while gently unearthing them, sending them to the Inferior Plane with Lawrence’s help.

  Moments later, Serene Will sorts all the items and approaches him with her hands behind her back.

  “The portal is not in this place.”

  “Damn it…”

  Lawrence clicks his tongue, before she said anything, he had already obtained the answer. He hoped those insects had buried it, but that was not the case. “Tell me we didn’t make this trip for nothing.”

  “Not at all, look at this.”

  Smiling, she reveals the object she was hiding. In her hand appears a magic artifact shaped like an octagon, ancient symbols adorn every inch of its structure. Lawrence receives it, but cannot determine its purpose.

  “Cardinal Inscription.” Serene Will explains, “This magic artifact is capable of strengthening magic formations and reducing their weaknesses. It has no level limitation, but it generates unbearable pressure for faulty magic formations.”

  After hearing her explanation, Lawrence smiles joyfully, casually tosses the artifact into the air and then catches it.

  “It strengthens the perfect and destroys the imperfect. If used properly, a magic formation can easily double in power. Incredible, just for this our detour gained meaning.”

  Magic formations are a discipline that everyone can use, regardless of their affinity or innate ability, but it requires a great amount of effort and resources to advance in it. The interesting thing is that the materials can be replaced by users. If dozens of hunters activate the same formation, the same result can be achieved simply in exchange for mana and mental exhaustion.

  There are exceptions, but this defines the vast majority.

  “Yes, it’s a shame that the most outstanding of the articles has lost its usefulness for our current levels. I’ll take them with me anyway, one man’s trash is another's treasure.”

  Serene Will sighs and stores all the items collected by those two demonic beasts. If only they had a bit more intelligence, they would not treasure objects solely for their quality as a sharpening stone. Because of this, they did not question them about the main matter, because if the portal was not in their treasure vault, it would be impossible for such insects to remember that they once sharpened their horns with it.

  After leaving the cave, they engage flight magic and return to the surface.

  Their goal has not changed despite this setback, their confidence remains high because from the beginning, they expected to kill two birds with one stone. They did not achieve this, so it is necessary to return to the original plan.

  “Dimensional Rift.”

  Lawrence descends to the Lower Plane and seconds later returns. Only this time with an item in his hands.

  The female portal.

  “Show me the location of the portal I lost that day…”

  He supplies mana to the portal and it activates. In his mind, Lawrence perceives a point, a point which reflects the current location of the portal he lost that day. This carries many implications, among them, the portal is still in this place and still functional!

  With a smile on his face, Lawrence leads the way with the female portal in his hands, but only minutes later, an unexpected event occurs.

  “Eh?”

  The portal in his hands begins to behave strangely. Its frame lights up faintly and then its interior distorts, this is...

  “After long years of waiting…”

  From the distortion, a shadow speeds through and stops at a considerable distance from them. A man has just been transported before their eyes.

  “Lunar Cascade Sect! We have not forgotten the great harm you caused us!”

  For the first time in a long time, Lawrence and his wives feel danger.

  “Today our sects will start a conflict that will last for decades! Only one of us will stand, and it will be us!”

  The original owner of the portal has appeared. The Sacred Rock Sect.