Death... and me

Chapter 3615: Gathering of Knowledge

Everything played exactly as Royer mentioned. The pollen got thicker, but that only meant Rean and Kentucky had to use a little bit more of Light Element to get rid of any hallucination effects. With Celis there, their Energy Reserves were always full. Not to mention that Elsie and Royer were immune to this kind of thing, so it didn’t matter to them.

With no obstacles on the way, crossing this region only took them five days. In fact, they found the portal of this region on the third day. But since Royer explained about it, they completely ignored this portal as well, pressing forward.

The next region was actually pretty good for Rean. Light Element there was plenty, and it was the type of place an Angel Race member would thrive. There were many paths of light that could be selected, but Royer ignored all of that. Instead, he ran sideways, following the outskirts of that region but not entering it.

It didn’t take more than four hours, and then, they found a portal just a few hundred meters inside that region with thick Light Element. They all looked at Royer, who seemed satisfied with his knowledge. All the times he entered this Golden Palace weren’t for nothing.

Coincidentally, they also bumped into another group. This group wasn’t made of experts of a single Universe, though. Instead, the lights on their chests showed at least five different Universes. It was quite a rare sight this far into the palace as the experts would usually band together with experts of their Universe instead.

Of course, it wasn’t impossible, and there was a reason for this combination of experts. Neither of them was part of the controlling powers of their own Universes. They were all in the Divinity Realm Peak Stage, and after acknowledging each others’ situations, they formed this group on the fly and made it this far.

They were just like Royer, who had entered the Golden Palace more than once and now had quite some experience regarding some of the various regions. By putting together all their knowledge, they arrived at this place. Seeing there was a Spirit in their midst, it was obvious that the Spirit was the one to help the others snap of their hallucinations when they got to this pollen-covered place.

"We don’t want any trouble," a woman stepped forward to speak. Her name was Cafantrie, obviously from one of the humanoid races, and the light on her chest was blue, a mark of Universe F953. "Seeing where you came from, it is pretty obvious that none of you are part of the Camazotz Bats. Has anyone of you been to the palace before?"

Royer took the role of leader once again, and with the twins’ approval, he answered. "That would be me. This is the fourth time I’ve come into the Golden Palace."

Another guy came forward from Cafantrie’s group. He also had a Green Light on his chest, showing he came from F956, like the twins’ group. "Hi, I’m Werkel. Perhaps I know you, friend?" He spoke to Royer.

Royer pondered a bit. "Werkel, Werkel, Werkel..." Royer was trapped in this Golden Palace for over a hundred thousand years, so he wasn’t around when many other Divinity Realm experts appeared. But then, he seemed to remember something. "Werkel Runei? The Runei Clan Patriarch?"

Werkel smiled brightly. "So friend does know me. May I know your name?"

"I’m Royer, but I’ve not been around for a while. Also, my home is pretty far from where your Runei Clan is located," Royer explained. "I just happen to know about you because I did a little bit of business once back in the continent where your clan resides."

Werkel thought about it, but he shook his head in the end. "Sorry, I don’t seem to remember any expert called Royer. Regardless, may I ask another question?"

"Go ahead," Royer answered.

"We made this group with experts that have been to this palace at least once. We can’t really compete with the big powers and their accumulated knowledge. In fact, even they don’t know everything there is to know about this place. So, how about it? Don’t you want to join us and put our knowledge together to try to make it to the end?" Werkel finally made his proposition.

Royer glanced at the twins. ’That’s up to you guys. If everyone puts what they know together, we might truly make it further ahead with lower risks. This seems a good idea.’

Roan actually liked the idea. Why? Because their priority didn’t lie on reaching the end of the palace but on the Light Element Crystal Pods instead. ’I’m fine with it. How about the rest of you?’

Grititi was also added to this conversation. ’Hmph! Even if you are all together, do you think you would know more than the Camazotz Bats? What if they slow us down instead?’

Rean looked at him. ’So far, you seemed to only know about the Molten Ocean. You knew nothing about the slowed time and the hallucination pollen regions. Are you sure your Camazotz Bats race really knows all that much? Master here was of a lot more help to us so far than you ever were.’

Grititi wanted to give an answer, but he did not have one. He was indeed one of the Camazotz Bats who received plenty of knowledge about quite a few of the regions in this place. It’s just that the previous two regions were not included in the information he had. ’We will eventually get to the regions I know about, okay?’

Roan didn’t want to waste time with that. ’In any case, we have nothing to lose. We just need to keep an eye on these guys. Once we get to the Astral Tree, we will separate from them. Minimize the risks; that’s the call of the day.’

Royer was happy the twins’ group thought the same as him, so he quickly answered Werkel’s question. "Very well. However, they will come with me. If that’s not a problem, I will happily join your group."

Cafantrie warned him. "Although we are banding together, it doesn’t mean we will risk our lives for each other. In the end, we are all just doing what we need to do so we can have a chance at reaching the Celestial Realm. If your companions end up needing help for whatever reason, don’t expect any of us to help."

"That’s fine with me." Royer obviously didn’t mind. Help? Chances are those guys would need the twins’ group help, not the other way around.

Cafantrie and Werkel smiled, and so did the others. "Then, welcome to the group."