999-1013

Chapter C999: Back to Gionia

Ning did what he thought was right. He brought back the four generals and the army to the Demon King's city again and placed them there.

He couldn't stop them from going out, but with the absence of a Demon King, they would first have to sort that out before they could attack. If Hyesi was right, that would take a few years for sure.

That was the most Ning could do to save the humans, but also not hurt the demons who Hyesi saw as his own people.

The thousands of years worth of memory he had as a cultivator definitely overshadowed the few dozens of memories as the Demon King, but Ning still couldn't discount the feelings or connections he had made here.

"That should be enough for the humans to prepare when the demons come knocking eventually," Ning said. "Is that enough?"

The young man frowned a little. "It's not nearly enough, but I have to take whatever I can get. I am not in the spot to make demands anyway. So, thank you, sir."

Ning smiled. "You should return with us," he said. "I can take you back home."

"Y-you can?" the young man got excited. However, a second later, his excitement faded away. "No, I can't go back."

It had been too long since he had been here, and his only sister was sure to have outgrown him by now. He would love to go back and see how she was doing, but deep in his heart, he knew he had to stay here.

If humanity was ever going to have any chance against the demons, it was through him and this opportunity he had received. He could not squander it by just going back.

"Are you sure?" Ning asked with a surprised look on his face. "I don't think you can go back in any other way."

"I can," the young man said. "I just have to wait a while."

Ning looked at the man weirdly. "How old even are you? Can you live in time?"

"Me? I am 24 years old," the young man said. "Or wait…" He moved his hands in front of him and checked something.

"Yes, I've been 24 years old for the last 8 years," the young man said. "Don't worry about me, sir. I'll be fine. But if I may make a request."

"What is it? Go on," Ning said.

"I have… well, had a sister on the outside. I don't know how it is, but I hope she is still alive. If she is, can you please check up on her and see how she is doing? Maybe help a bit? Here, please give her this if you can. If you can't, just keep it," the young man said.

Ning took the stones he was handed and was a little surprised. Some of the stones were mana stones that he was familiar with, but the other was not.

He had to ask the system to learn what it was.

A Skill stone.

Using that stone gave anyone a skill they wanted. Ning had the thought of using one on himself.

But, he didn't really need any stone to give him skills. He could do it himself.

"Sure, I'll take these to her. If her life is not going well, I will help her improve it a bit, rest assured."

The young man smiled. "My sister's name is Andrea L—"

"You don't have to tell me, Adler. I know everything," Ning said.

The young man looked surprised as he hadn't even given his name out yet. He understood that Ning wasn't lying. "Thank you," he said. "I will have to go now. I need to complete this mission before the next week."

"Go ahead," Ning said.

The young man left the town and went back into the jungle where he hunted magical monsters for himself.

"Alright, we should leave now," Ning said. He grabbed onto Night and Hyesi and teleported next to the wormhole that led outside. It wasn't usable by just anyone, so Ning had to use quite a lot of energy to open it again.

"Ooh, before we go, I need to do some makeover on you." Ning waved his hand and Hyesi's demonic body changed to that of a human. "I am sure there is a human body in there somewhere. It will take some time before I can reverse the process of your corruption."

Hyesi nodded.

The three of the walked through the portal and appeared in the park outside. Ning took the two of them far away to the outskirts of the city before leaving them for a few minutes to visit Andrea.

Adler's sister had awakened as well and was working in some guild to make ends meet. She was a D-ranked awakener, so there wasn't much she could earn, but whatever she did earn was enough for her.

Ning arrived at her home and told her about what happened to her brother and how she wouldn't be seeing him for a long time. He was likely to be inside even after she died.

Ning handed her what her brother had given her, and in that, he sneaked in a small SS-ranked mana stone. He told her what it was and to never reveal it to anyone.

With that, the girl could rise up in ranks quickly and become self-sufficient once that happened, her life would change for the better for sure.

Ning arrived back to see Night and Hyesi talking to each other about what they had been doing since the last time they were together.

They stopped talking once Ning was there. "So, where are we going Inikaka? Back to Kumia?" he asked.

"No, it's a new planet called Gionia. You two are the last ones that have yet to return," he said.

He tore a silver hole in the fabric of space that led directly inside the Origin of the Gionia.

Ning walked in along with the final group of people he had to bring back. With this, he could stop roaming the world and enjoy his life with the ones he loved and cared about.

Chapter C1000: Good and Bad News

100 year passed in the blink of an eye.

"Why did you call us, Inikaka?" Hyesi asked.

Ning had called everyone to come to assemble for a few minutes as he had some things to say.

Hyesi, Anya, Night, Aegis, Blue, Hijaka, Dahlia, Iris, Varsil, Halios, and many other people that were staying in the Origin assembled to where Ning had called them.

Hyesi stood at the front. He was the weakest of them all with barely any cultivation base, but he was certainly the one with the most authority beside Ning here, perhaps even more so than Ely.

As the one that gave his life to protect them all, everyone in the group respected and adored Hyesi. He also had a naturally cheerful personality that everyone adored.

At the moment, he looked nothing like a demon at all. His horns were gone, his wings had shed, and his claws had transformed into normal nails. Even his crimson skin was nothing more than rose-tinted at the moment.

Ning had spent an extensive amount of time helping him recover from the effects of corruption that came with using magicules. It had taken a long time to get completely removed from his system, but now it had, and Hyesi had even started on his cultivation journey.

A few more years and he would become an Immortal. After that, he could fully use the terrifyingly amazing cultivation skill that Ning had provided to every individual that had broken through to immortality.

"Master, I was making some pills. If it is not very urgent, I will need to go back," she said.

Anya had learned the Alchemy books that Ning had provided her and at this moment her alchemy knowledge was terrifying. There would be nothing wrong with anyone saying that she was the best Alchemist in the entire galaxy.

She was even better than Ning, albeit Ning hadn't practiced making pills in a long time.

Her cultivation base had also increased quite a lot, but it was obviously not as good as it should be since she had to spend most of her time learning Alchemy from the books.

She had made it a habit to teach her descendant every day and as such her cultivation speed had definitely slowed a lot. She didn't mind it though. Having an Immortal King cultivation base was enough for her to make pills.

Ning looked at everyone that was gathered there for him.

Blue and Night had cultivated a bunch. Aegis had also cultivated, along with his family. The Klavians had improved a lot, and Anya's clan was doing quite well as well.

Even Varsil had managed to cultivate and become Immortal in the last 100 years.

He was a much more experienced person now than he was a century ago. After Halios was freed, he and Halios went around the world to experience what it was like.

They had gone through many things in the last 100 years and were much more learned and jaded. Varsil no longer looked like a mortal even as his mannerisms had changed.

As for Halios, he was no longer a naive Will, but one that understood the world that had formed him.

Ning looked at the improvement of the bunch and couldn't help but smile.

"I have one good news... and one bad news," he said.

The crowd looked at each other, trying to guess what he was talking about.

"Master, what's going on?" Anya asked with a bit of a confused and concerned look.

Ning smiled again. "I will start with the good news first," he said and called Ely who was standing not far behind him.

Ely walked up front and stood next to him.

Ning looked back at the crowd. "Notice anything different?" he asked.

The group looked at her, but there was nothing different about Ely at all. Even if there were some physical changes, why would that be bad news at all?

As everyone tried to figure it out, Halios was the first one to notice the change as he was the only other person in the group that could possibly understand the height of what had happened.

Also, he could read Ning's mind.

"She's stronger now, much stronger," he said.

"Strong?" Hyesi looked at Ely, but his mortal senses could tell nothing.

Even Anya couldn't tell anything with her Immortal King senses. However, judging by the context, she could guess what had happened.

"Immortal God?" she asked. "Has sister Ely reached the Immortal God realm already?"

Ning smiled widely. "Yes!" he said. "She reached the Immortal God realm yesterday. I had taken her out to the flatlands so she could break through, so none of you realized."

"That's amazing!" Anya said. She came forward to hug and congratulate Ely as everyone else did too. They all celebrated as she was the first person to become an Immortal God.

After a while, the elated emotions faded and the people looked at Ning with concerned looks. Since the good news was done, they were now waiting for the bad news.

"What is it, Inikaka? Just tell us," Hyesi said.

"Fine, here is the thing," Ning said. "The time has come for me to leave you guys and return."

"Return? Return where?" some of them asked. However, the ones that were more important to Ning knew exactly what he meant.

"You did say you had a family back where you came from," Anya said. "Are you going to return to them?"

"Yes," Ning said. "I promised them I would return after I was done finding you all. I would have left a long time ago, but I decided to wait until Ely could reach the Immortal God stage. Now that she has, it is time I go back."

"W-when do you plan on leaving, Inikaka?" Hyesi asked.

"Within the week," Ning said. "There are problems back on earth too, so I should return as quickly as I can."

"Okay!" Hyesi said with a puffed-up chest. "Since this is going to be Inikaka's last week with us for who knows how long, let's make this the best week he's ever spent."

The crowd shouted in agreement and everyone found something to do immediately.

A festive atmosphere was created in the Origin as everyone found something to be happy about. Some sang songs, some danced to them.

Some laughed at old stories and some cried to them.

Ning spent time with everyone for that entire week as they all made the best of the little time as they could. The Origin was never as happy and chaotic as it was for that week, and neither would it be for years to come.

Then after all that was over, they gathered for one final goodbye.

Ning opened a portal to earth and looked back at his own students and friends. Of the ones there, he had agreed to take only Night and Blue as they were the only ones that he could take without feeling bad about taking them with him.

Aegis had a family, so he was left behind.

"So, this is goodbye," Ning said. "But it's not permanent. It may take a thousand years or even tens of thousands of years, but once I solve the problems on Earth, I will come back for you all. After that, I will never be away from you."

"Goodbye, Inikaka!"

"Goodbye, Master!"

"Goodbye, Sister Ely!"

"Goodbye, Night. Goodbye, Blue."

Ning turned around and along with his wife and two beasts, entered the portal.

Chapter C1001: Back Home

Ning, Ely, Blue, and Night arrived on earth, on the same island where Ning had previously been when he killed Stryxus.

It was nighttime, there was no sun to light up the world around them, not that they needed it anyway.

"Are we here?" Ely asked as she looked around. All worlds looked the same with the difference usually being the people living in it, so Ely couldn't really tell if they had in fact come back to earth.

"Yes, we are here," Ning said as he looked around. "How do you guys feel? Any uncomfortable feelings? The Qi here is not as strong, so…"

"No, I feel fine. I don't really have any problem," Ely said. "The Qi is indeed quite thin, so it may take a lot of time to cultivate if I ever do use it up, but I don't think I will have to, will I?"

"No," Ning said. "Especially since you are physically very strong as well." He looked at his two beasts as well. "And you two?"

"I'm fine, master," Blue said.

"I feel fine as well," Night said.

"Great," Ning said. "Now, take your human form if you can, which you should."

The two beasts nodded and slowly changed into their human form. Blue changed into the bare-chested, blue-haired, blue-eyed champion of the fighting arena where he had remained for the longest time before Ning took him back.

Night changed to a young man with a black robe and long black hair that seemed to light up in a fire at the ends. His pupils were pitch black, while his face was stark white, giving him a deathly look.

Ning dabbed out the fires on his shoulders with no damage to his own hand. "Don't keep these fires around you. They are dangerous. These people here are mostly mortals, so you have to be careful," he said.

"I'll keep that in mind, master," Night said.

"Also, make sure to remember the rules I taught you all. It is very important that you stay in line here so you don't get out of line," Ning said.

"What happens if we get out of line? Are there people here strong enough to stop us?" Blue asked.

"No, but it will cause me a headache, that's for sure," Ning said. "Just don't hurt people unless they are trying to hurt you back," Ning said.

He turned around to find Ely with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. Ning was a little surprised. "Honey? Why are you crying?" he asked.

Ely quickly wiped the tears off her face. "I just saw my brother," she said. "I can't believe he really is still alive."

Ning couldn't help but smile when hearing that. "Wanna go meet him?" he asked.

"No, not right now," she said. "He seems to be busy with his guild work. I will go meet him once it is tomorrow for him."

"That works too," Ning said. "Then let us go visit my family first."

Ning didn't even have to teleport with them. All 3 of them could fly with him and arrive in Korea in less than 10 minutes.

It was evening time in South Korea at the moment, so it was just the right time to go back home.

They were so fast in the sky that South Korea's aerospace defense didn't even realize they had entered. They were systems put in place to warn against super-fast missiles, and the four of them were able to avoid it.

Ning flew over to his Uncle's house and landed in front of it. He rang the doorbell and walked inside just as people were starting to walk out.

"Brother?" Jung-Hee couldn't help but get excited when he saw him. "Are you back?"

"Jung-Hee, how has it been?" Ning said as he walked in. Ely, Night, and Blue walked in as well, a little curious about how Ning's family would be.

"Brother, I've missed you!" Jung-Hee cried and ran in front to hug him. But Ning stopped him before he got too close and patted his shoulders instead.

"I'm sure you've only missed the mana stones you could get from me," he said.

"N-no way. I really did miss you," Jung-Hee said, but it was clear he wasn't trying to hide the fact that it was really the mana stones that he wanted.

He looked behind him and saw the 3 foreigners. His eyes fell on all 3 of them, ending on Ely. "Gasp! Wait, is she?"

"Yes," Ning said. "Let's go in. I will introduce her to everyone."

"Yes," Jung-Hee said. "Sister-in-law, please come in."

Ely smiled and said "Thank you" in perfect Korean, surprising Jung-Hee.

"Woah, you can speak such good Korean. Are you sure you're foreign?" Jung-Hee couldn't help but ask.

"I'm certain I am," Ely said.

Ning continued walking in and saw Hi-Ah, who was coming out to check on just who had come for her brother to shout this much.

"Oh, cousin. You're back?" Hi-Ah said with a surprised face. "When did you come back?"

"10 minutes ago," Ning said. "And I've brought people."

"Hmm?" she looked behind him to see the 3 people. "Jung-Hee, it's cold out here. Don't go on talking out here."

"Oh, sorry," he said. "Please come in."

All of them entered the house, and Ning could already hear the cartoon playing in the TV.

Saphandra realized that Ning had come back as well and couldn't help but shout. "Ning!"

Ning turned around to look at her and Sorlus who were on the couch together. "Hey! I'm back you guys," he said.

Jung-Hee went to call his father, and along with him their Grandmother. In less than a minute, everyone in the house was gathered.

"Everyone, this is Elenora Rigot, my wife," Ning spoke out loud to introduce her.

Ely walked forward and bowed a little to greet everyone. "Hello, I'm Elenora. You can call me Ely. I'm very pleased to have finally met you all," she said.

They all remained quiet for a second before Ning's Uncle spoke. "Welcome to the family, child."

Chapter C1002: Talk with the Family

Ning's grandmother asked many different questions to Ely about who she was, where she was from, and many other things.

She and Ning had planned this for a literal hundred years, so there was no question out there that could stump them.

Except one did come up.

"When will I get to see my Great-grandchildren?" the old woman asked.

Ning coughed suddenly, and Ely found it hard to hold in her chuckle. "Grandma, that's not something you should be asking so suddenly," he said.

"That's right, mother. Don't go asking the kids something like that. They are still very young," the Uncle said.

"Young? What young? I had you when I was only 22, and they are way older than that," the old woman said.

"Don't compare the old times to today. Let the kids decide what they want for themselves," the Uncle said. "Don't listen to her. Do what you want."

Ning gave a wry smile and said nothing else. Just then, Hi-Ah nudged him to get his attention, which was something he absolutely wanted from this situation.

"What?" Ning asked as she turned around.

"Something is happening there," she pointed towards the other corner of the room where the only two blue-haired and blue-eyed people were having a staring contest at each other.

One was tall and buff, while the other was small and a child. However, that didn't stop the two from glaring at each other.

"Oh, of course, that would happen." Dragons were proud creatures after all.

"Sorlus, don't try to pick a fight with Blue. You'll lose," Ning said.

"Hehe, listen to master, little brat. You are weaker than me. Call me big brother from now on," Blue said.

"Tsk!" Sorlus clicked his tongue and turned away to leave.

"Wait, I said call me big brother. Don't just leave like that," Blue said before following behind Sorlus.

Ning sighed. "Can you check on them? Make sure they don't fight because of their ego?" he asked Saphandra.

Saphandra sighed. "Sure," she said and flew away.

Night sat on the couch, curiously watching the flashing images on the screen which was the cartoon that the spirit and dragon had left playing.

He had no idea what he was looking at, but he was absolutely entranced by it.

Hi-Ah nudged Ning again. "Cousin, our rooms are full. We don't have any more place for all these people," she said.

"Oh, it's fine," Ning said. "The other two don't sleep at all."

"Oh," Hi-Ah was surprised. She looked towards Night and got suspicious. "Wait, are they… similar to Sorlus?"

Ning smiled and nodded. "Not exactly, but in a way."

She couldn't believe it at all. "Where do you find these people?" she asked.

"I found them long ago, and I only just went back to get them," Ning said. "Speaking of which, I've been away for nearly 2 months, so why are you still living here? I would've thought that at least you or your brother would be living in a new house."

"We've tried looking for one, but the housing market is insanely pricey. You can't get a piece of land to build a house on without having to sell your soul to get it," she said with a sigh. "We've been fine here anyway, so I didn't bother looking for any after the first few days."

Ning sighed when he heard that. "Fine, I will go look for a good one soon. It won't really matter what it costs anyway," he said.

He reached into his storage space and pulled out two mana stones before handing it over to the two of them. "I'm sure you were waiting for this, so have them.

Hi-Ah's eyes shined when she finally saw it again. "Thank you," she said, but her eyes weren't even looking at Ning anymore. Her entire focus was on the mana stone.

Jung-Hee was the same. He was completely entranced by the mana stone and didn't even say anything.

The last stone, along with the technique that Ning had provided them with had helped the two brothers and sisters go beyond what they could've reached in the next 5 years had they taken the normal trajectory in life.

However, now, Hi-Ah was an S-ranked Mage, and her brother was also on the very of becoming an S-ranked Mage.

Going from D-rank to S-rank in just 2 months was something Jung-Hee could have never thought of in his entire life.

"Well, I will have to go and make more for dinner now, so just sit around and—"

"Let's just order some takeout for today, father," Jung-Hee said. "It's too late to make anything anyway."

"It's alright," Ning said. "We ate before we came."

"But you have to eat something," Uncle said. "We can't let a daughter who has come home for the first time go to sleep without feeding her anything."

"Well," Ning didn't know what to say.

"Alright, Jung-Hee. Order some takeouts," the Uncle said.

"Okay," Jung-Hee said and pulled out his phone.

"But only for you and your sister. We will feed Ning and daughter-in-law today," the uncle said.

Jung-Hee shrugged. Takeouts were tastier anyway to him.

"I will go put on dinner," the Uncle said and stood up to leave.

"Let me help you, Uncle," Ely said.

"No, no, sit. You don't have to do anything," the Uncle said.

"Why not? Am I not a daughter of this home?" she asked.

The uncle had no retort. "Alright, fine. Come help me in the kitchen," he said and continued. Ely went after him.

"Well, I've already eaten, so I'm going to sleep," his grandmother said and left as well.

After they were gone, Ning turned to Hi-Ah and called her closer. "Tell me, what has happened in the time I was gone?" he asked.

"Well… many things have happened, but I suppose you want the biggest news first," she said.

"Which is?" Ning asked.

"Another SS-ranked dungeon has formed in Germany a month ago," she said. "Until now, many have entered, but none have managed to leave."

Chapter C1003: Wedding

"Another SS-ranked Dungeon? Well, that's bad," Ning thought.

"Can't you just enter and destroy it?" Hi-Ah asked.

"I can, but…" Ning sighed. Even if he ignored the political situation of the world where he wouldn't be allowed to enter a country's dungeon on a whim, there was still the problem with the Constellations.

He didn't know what the 'good' constellations would do, but certainly, the 'bad' ones would get angry at him for destroying another dungeon of such power.

They had been waiting for the dungeon to develop so that they could show themselves to the world and gain some recognition. If he took that away from them, then the angry constellations would come to attack him.

As a lone fighter, he would not be able to fight against all of them at all.

'I will have to be careful,' he thought to himself.

"How many have entered exactly?" Ning asked.

"Let me check," Hi-Ah said and pulled out her phone. "20 A-ranked hunters and 3 S-ranked hunters."

"What? Why the hell would they send such weaklings?" Ning was angry to hear the news.

"Apparently none of the Apostles are accepting the task at all. They are all refusing to enter, even when offered a lot of money," she said.

"Dammit, their constellations must have let them know how dangerous it is," Ning said to himself.

"Constellations?" Hi-Ah asked with a confused look.

"Nothing, you don't have to think about it," Ning said.

As he tried to think of something to do, his Uncle came out and told him that the food was ready.

Ning stopped thinking about it for now and went to have his dinner. He talked with his uncle over dinner too and sneakily checked his mage tier.

'3rd tier, huh?' he thought. That wasn't that bad considering he had barely awakened as one before.

'3rd tier… that's B-rank equivalent?' he thought to himself. What people wouldn't do to have the same speed in mana cultivation as his uncle.

His Uncle asked many different questions to Ely, constantly trying to learn more about her.

Ning was glad that they had practiced everything previously, or they would definitely be struggling at the moment.

"Where did you hold the wedding? In China or France?" the Uncle asked.

"Nowhere," Ning said. "We never officially got married."

"What? No way, not even a court marriage?" his uncle asked in surprise.

"No, not even that," Ning said. "We never wanted it, so please don't suggest it."

"But…"

"With the world the way it is now, we couldn't afford to at the time," Ning said. "So many years have passed that we don't want it anymore."

"Well, let's not say no right away," Ely said from the side. "Who knows? Maybe we change our minds someday."

"Will we?" Ning asked.

"I might," Ely said.

"Fine, we will have it after I no longer have to worry about the earth," he said.

The two of them continued eating alongside his uncle, and after they were done, his Uncle sent the two of them away.

Ning walked out to the living room to find the two brothers and sister just starting to have some fried chicken.

"That's all you're going to eat?" Ning asked.

"This is the best stuff, brother," Jung-Hee said.

"I know, I ate that a lot when I was in Nulwurn," he said. "They only had fish there, so it was heavenly to have some chicken."

"Oh, where is Nulwurn? Sounds European. Is that where sister-in-law is from?" he asked.

"No, Ely is from France," Ning said. "Nulwurn is well…"

"Nulwurn is where Ning and I and Talon went after we were abducted by Genesis," Saphandra said from the side.

"What? Abducted?" Jung-Hee cried out in surprise.

"Saph!" Ning gave a disappointed look.

"What?" Saphandra asked. "You should just tell them already. It will be easier."

"Sigh, just go watch TV or something," Ning said.

"No, I want to talk with miss Ely here. I want to know why you would go so far just to return to her," she said.

"Fine, talk with her," Ning said and sat down beside the two siblings as he took a piece from the little brother's place.

Jung-Hee tried to object, but Ning was already biting onto it before he could say anything.

"She sounds jealous," Hi-Ah said softly so that Sphandra who had moved far away couldn't hear at all.

"She's not," Ning said.

"I trust my eyes," Hi-Ah said. "Anyway, what's his deal? He hasn't talked ever since coming here. He's just been watching TV all along."

"Who, Night? He's just shy. You can go talk to him and he will talk with you. He's the silent type after all," Ning said.

Jung-Hee looked at his cousin and softly asked, "Why is his name Night?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Ning asked.

"I mean, what sort of parent would name their kid Night? Wouldn't most want to call them something related to day or something related to the sun and moon?" Jung-Hee asked.

"But Night is a nice name," Ning said.

"I don't think it is," Jung-Hee said. "Whoever came up with it wasn't thinking straight."

Ning gave a blank look. "No, it's a nice name," he said.

Hi-Ah looked at him with an awkward look on her face. "Uh… did you give him that name by any chance?" she asked.

"Of course," Ning said.

"And… what about Blue?" she asked.

"I came up with his name as well. Don't you dare tell me that's a bad name," Ning said.

"Ahem, no no, that's a g-good name, brother," Jung-Hee said. "Especially Sorlus's name. That's the best one for sure."

Ning looked at them blankly again. "That's his actual name," he said. "I didn't give him any."

The two siblings didn't know what to say anymore. "Oh, look brother. This piece of meat looks tasty, do you want it? I bet you'll love it," Jung-Hee said and pushed a piece next to Ning.

Ning instead gave an angry look. "Just you two wait, I will come up with a name to call the both of you. Then you will see."

Chapter C1004: House Hunting

None of the cultivators needed any sleep at all. So after everyone went to their rooms, Ning and the rest sat around watching TV to learn various things.

At some point Ely asked for a phone, so Ning created one that worked better than any out there. She remained on the phone for the rest of the night after that.

Early morning, as the others started walking out of their room, Ning finally decided to tell some people that he was back.

He asked his system for a skill that could emulate phone calls by sending and receiving them from anywhere in the world and used that to call the director.

"Who is this?" the director answer the call with clear hesitation in his voice.

"Oh, hey director Sung. It's me, Ning. I called to let you know that I'm back," Ning said.

"Wait, Ning? You're back?" he asked with a tone of surprise. "Can you come to meet me today? I have a few things to talk about with you."

"Sure, I will come by the office around 10 or 11," he said. "See you then."

Ning ended the call and turned to Ely. "When do we go visit your brother?" he asked.

"Uh, what time is it right now in France?" she asked.

"Uhh... like 1 or 2 in the night," he said.

"Okay, then let's go around 6 hours later then," Ning said. He turned towards Saphandra and asked, "Hey, can you take Blue and Night out into the city today to see around? I need them to get used to earth as fast as they can."

"Sure," Saphandra said. "I haven't been out in a while. Sorlus just doesn't want to go out at all."

The other family members got down and talked for a while as well. Hi-Ah had successfully become an S-ranked mage, so she had been scouted by the various different guilds.

Since she no longer had to worry about her family or even herself, she had stopped worrying about what would happen if she joined a guild, and had just joined the best one.

In the place they were at, the White Devil guild was definitely the best one.

Jung-Hee still hadn't revealed the fact that he was also improving his rank. He wanted to hide it until he had successfully become an S-ranked mage himself.

He sat around the kitchen table for breakfast with Ely by his side. His uncle, his cousins, and his grandmother also sat down. However, there was no space for the other 3 in the kitchen at all.

"Go back, you guys don't have to eat," Ning said and turned around the beasts. "Saphandra will take you to the restaurants later, you can try out different stuff there."

Night and Blue didn't mind not eating, but Sorlus was used to eating, so he still grabbed his breakfast and went to the living room to eat.

"What are you going to do today? I heard you on the phone, but shouldn't you be resting after returning from a long journey?" his Uncle asked.

"Don't worry about me Uncle. I'm not tired at all. As for today, I plan on going house hunting. While this place is good, I need to find my own place too. One that is massive enough to house everyone," he said.

"That's not a bad idea. You two need some privacy yourselves," his Uncle said. "Although, don't try to find one in the city. They will rip you off badly. Find one outside of the city. Those are the best places."

"I will consider that, uncle," he said.

There really wasn't anything he needed to consider, however. He had already found a few choices, so all he had to do was go around with Ely and choose the best one.

After finishing their breakfast, Hi-Ah and Jung-Hee had to leave for their job.

"Wait for us, we will come with you too," Ning said. He and Ely changed to casual earth clothing and got into the back seat of the car that Ning had left behind so long ago.

Hi-Ah drove the car and the 4 of them made their way to the city.

Ning's first stop was a place just outside of the city. He got off the car and turned to Hi-Ah. "Find Kim Min-Soo and tell her I'm back and I'm willing to negotiate any contract if she still wants to," he said.

Hi-Ah nodded and left.

Ning walked with Ely the rest of the way which was about 200 meters far away from the main highway.

"There, that plot of land. We can buy that," he said.

"Hmm, that's quite a lot of land for Earth," she said. "Why is that empty?"

"Same reason why any of it is empty really. The Dungeon break killed a lot of people, including the farmers who used to farm this land. Because of that, many farmlands are completely open for grabs," he said.

"I see," Ely said.

The plot of land was about 4500 meters square in area with about 45 meters in width and 100 meters in length.

"This isn't so bad, but it's not that close to any sort of road," Ely said. "There should be better ones for sure."

"The road isn't that much of a problem for us anyway, although now that I look at it, this area isn't that visually pleasing at all. Hopefully, the next one will be better," Ning said.

"Yeah, let's go check out the next one," Ely said.

The two of them teleported away from their current location, arriving at another location that was just outside of the city, separated by a large river.

The plot of land was right next to the river and was completely barren.

"Ooh, this one is much better," Ely said. "Hmm, although it looks a little small."

"Yeah, it's only 3800 meters square in area," Ning said. "It's much smaller than the earlier one. Although, it does have a good view."

"Come on," Ely said. "Let's go check the other ones."

Ning nodded and the two of them teleported again.

Chapter C1005: Meeting the Director

Ning and Ely went around looking at the various places where they could build a home for themselves.

In the end, they decided upon a piece of land to the south of Daegu that was surrounded by a lake on two sides. It was a little further from the city than they would want, but they could always just have a bit more road leading up there.

Once deciding on where they were going to build their house, Ning needed to visit Director Sung.

He and Ely teleported to Seoul, arriving a little away from the Department of Dungeon Defense. Ely looked around the city gleefully while Ning went directly to meet the director.

"Do you want to stay out here or go in with me to the meeting?" he asked her. "It might not be very fun inside."

"Let's go inside. I want to see how it all is," she said.

"Sure, then let's go," Ning said and took her.

He arrived in front of the assistant for the director and told her he was there for the meeting. The girl, knowing who he was now after his last barge-in, quickly let the director know about it.

Ely walked with Ning, going into the room alongside him. The assistant wanted to stop her, but since she was with Ning, she didn't dare say anything. She didn't want to anger an Apostle after all.

Ning opened the door and entered, only to see that it wasn't just the director that was there.

"Young Ning, you are here. I've been waiting for you," the director said and stood up to greet him.

Ning nodded and looked at the other two that were in the room. "I didn't expect brother Lee and Sister Soo-Yun to be here as well," he said. "It's been a while."

"It has been a while indeed," Lee said.

"I didn't expect you to just disappear like that," Soo-Yun said.

Unlike Apostles Bak, Park, and Kim, both Lee and Soo-Yun were from the Seoul district, so they were able to come here to meet him.

Lee looked more respectful now than he was before his small mock battle with Ning. As for Soo-Yun, she didn't dare use her charming skills on him at all.

After Ning walked in, Ely walked in as well. "I hope you don't mind that I brought her over as well," he said. "My wife wanted to see what sort of things happen in these meetings."

The director was surprised, and so were the other two.

"Your wife?" the director asked. "I didn't realize you were married."

"Of course, you didn't," Ning said. "I never told you at all."

Lee stood up to greet her quickly. "Hello, I am Lee Kwon-Yu. Leader and Apostle of the Frost Empire guild," he introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Elenora," Ely said. "I do not have any title such as yourself."

"I'm Ja Soo-Yun from the Silver Star guild. Pleased to meet you," Soo-Yun introduced herself simply.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you too," she said with a wide smile.

"Miss Elenora, Please sit," the director got out from behind his desk. "I'm Sung Han-Sum, director of the Dungeon Defense department. May I ask what your nationality is? You don't look Korean or Chinese."

"I was born in France," Ely said. "Although I'm not sure if I can say that I'm of that nationality right now."

"Ah, I see. You're in a similar situation as Ning then," he said. He let the two of them sit and got behind his desk to sit down.

"Wait, so are we going to talk confidential information in front of a civilian?" Lee asked with a curious look. "I don't mean any disrespect, miss Elenora."

"No, of course not," Ely said. "I just wanted to come here is all."

"It doesn't really matter though," Ning said. "I'm going to tell her everything in the end anyway. This just removes the trouble for me."

"Sigh, I suppose I will have to let this one slide then," the director said. There was no way he was going to argue with Ning on any matter that would make him see them unfavorably.

"So, what was it that you wanted to see me for?" Ning asked.

"Right, I've been trying to contact you for so long," he said. "We have received a request for help."

"For help?" Ning asked.

"I'm sure you know what has been happening in Germany right now, right?" he asked. "The German government has requested your help in getting rid of the SS-ranked dungeon that they have.

"They asked for me?" Ning asked with a surprised look on his face. "How did they even know about me in the first place?"

"Ahem, they… they were asking for help from anywhere they could, and we happened to let them know that you had destroyed one before. After that, they have been asking us to lend you over to them. Is that… a problem?" the director asked.

"It's… complicated," Ning said. "I'll think about it. And… there goes my privacy."

Ely looked surprised when she heard him speak that way. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"The vultures are back," he said, looking at the two Apostles, who didn't understand what was happening.

"Will you sit here for a while? I need to go talk with them for a bit," he said.

"Okay," Ely said worriedly, not understanding what was happening at all.

Ning stood up and walked towards Lee with massive strides, surprising and intimidating Lee into standing up and trying to back away. "Uhh.. Brother Ning, is something wrong?" he asked while cowering backward.

"Don't worry, I'm not trying to hurt you," Ning said. He grabbed onto his shoulder and his System started working.

Using the energy in Lee, Ning was able to find a connection directly to Lee's god. After finding him, he teleported away.

He arrived in a white space with almost nothing around him except for some bumps in on the floor. He sat on one of them and look ahead at the Constellation that sat down as well.

"So, you must be Noraxis."

Chapter C1006: The Constellations

Noraxis was a dark, demonic figure with two horns coming out of a head that had a whirling abyss inside of him. His fingers were 5 tentacles, each of which dropped black flakes from them continuously

The black flakes fell to the floor and turned into nothing but black smoke that dissipated into the air.

"How did you find me?" the Constellation asked in an archaic voice that seemed to come from far away even though he was right in front of Ning.

"You've let your powers around, so it is easy to find you," Ning said. "Can you call Yemis here? And Helus, Graves, and Thaluxus if you can."

"What reason do I have to call them here?" the Constellation asked. "To kill us all as you did to Stryxus?"

"Do you think I can kill you all?" Ning asked with a creepy smile on his face.

"I don't know what you can do. I don't even know what you are," the Constellation said.

"Then, do you think I'm here to kill you?" Ning asked.

Noraxis paused. He wasn't sure about that anymore. "What are you here for then?" he asked.

"To stop you and the rest from constantly staring at me," Ning said. "I hate it when you do nothing but state at me as if you're trying to figure out what I am."

"We are," the Constellation said. "You are an anomaly that we have never seen or heard of before. We thought that you were a normal system user, but then you killed Stryxus, so you can't be a system user after all."

"Well, can you stop trying to figure it out then?" Ning asked. "Even if you don't want to, at least stop paying attention to me. Your stares prick like thorns and I hate when that happens."

"Is that it?" Noraxis asked. "Is that what you are here for?"

"That was what prompted me to come here, but now that I'm here, I have another plan," Ning said. "As I said before, can you call the other 4 Constellations too?"

Noraxis thought for a moment and accepted the request. He sent an invitation to the four constellations that Ning had named and a moment later, they were all there.

Yemis was the one that had appointed the speedy Park as her Apostle. She was a humanoid figure with everything human except for her eyes, chest, and back.

She had demonic crimson eyes that were 3 pairs each instead of one. Her chest had nothing demonic, but it was fully open and one could see a beating heart inside of it. As for her back, there was a bat wing, like most demons did.

Helus was the Constellation behind the Sorcerer apostle Bak. He was a half-human, half-squid, with his head and legs belonging to that of a squid. He looked unnerving for sure and even vomited out constant black Ink that marred the floor black.

Graves had a rotting face and his body was full of holes through which one could see through. There were snakes and worms that constantly moved in and out of holes, giving him a creepy feeling than the rest of them. He was the Constellation behind Soo-Yun.

Thalaxus was the White Devil behind Kim Min-Soo. He had a goat's skull with horns on his head while the rest of his body was a skeleton.

They all stood by each other and looked at Ning with concern.

"Looks like a few of us are here at least," Ning said.

"What do you want?" Yemis asked.

"What did you call us here for?" Helus asked as well.

"We should get rid of him and be done with," Graves said hurriedly. He was the one here that was most afraid of Ning.

"If he could, he would have killed us already. I don't think he can fight the 5 of us if we work together," Thalaxus said.

Ning smiled. "Do you want to test that hypothesis of yours?" he asked.

Thalaxus stepped back a little in fear. The one thing that all Constellations wanted was to have more energy and grow stronger by living in the minds of as many as they could.

The one thing that all of them hated was the thought of dying. The thought of inexistence. The thought of disappearing without anyone else with the same thought and memory to be born again.

Constellations were born from others, so they were the ones that feared for their own lives the most. As such, they were also the ones that would go to any length if it meant their longer survival.

No number of death was too much, and no atrocities were too far. These were the ones that made themselves the gods of whoever they could find, and if that didn't work, they would destroy them and move on to someone else.

Ning looked at the 5 of them and prepared his own escape route. Teleporting was impossible from this space, so he would have to open a portal instead. However, the problem with portals was that anyone could enter after he left it behind.

Ning sighed and spoke, "I'm not going to kill you. I'm here to give you an opportunity to have your influence back in Korea," he said.

The 5 constellations got curious after hearing that. "What do you mean?" Thalaxus asked.

"Let me ask a question first," Ning said. "If the people on earth were to all die, would that benefit you in any way at all?"

"No," Noraxis said. "We need them to live so we can continue to live off of their memories."

"Then, are you doing anything to stop them from dying?" he asked.

"We created the Apostles," Thalaxus said.

"And gave them a whole lot of knowledge," Yemis said.

"That's good," Ning said. "But what about the other Constellations that are waiting for the apocalypse to arrive and the whole world to be turned upside down?"

"What will you do when they will destroy the world, and people will remember you as the one that failed?" Ning said. "And what will you do as you fade off of their memories, replaced by the other ones?"

Chapter C1007: Alliance

"That is unlikely to happen," Graves said with a raspy voice that was more whispering than actually speaking. "We have more of us on our side. When the world does get overturned by monsters, we will emerge victorious in the end with the Apostles we have gathered."

"And what about the millions, even hundreds of millions of people that will die in the end because of the monsters? Are you willing to let so many thoughts, so many minds just disappear?"

"A small sacrifice that we're willing to make," Noraxis said.

"That's a small sacrifice to you?" Ning asked, anger visible in his eyes. He knew he hated these Constellations for what they did, but he didn't know he would hate them so openly.

"Hundreds of millions of people is nothing to you?" Ning asked.

"We only care about our own survival," the squid-faced Helus said. His tentacles slopped around the ground, moving unnaturally.

"What if you could save those lives from disappearing? Wouldn't you rather have so many more people thinking about you?" Ning asked.

"But they will die when the monsters attack," Thalaxus said. "We cannot stop that."

"Why not?" Ning asked.

"Stopping the monsters ourselves means that we place ourselves against the others who have been waiting for that moment. They will attack us," Graves said.

"And you are worried about being attacked?" Ning asked. "Aren't there like 90 of you against mere 45 others? You outnumber them 2 to 1."

"Yes, but there is a chance we may die when fighting the others. We cannot afford that," Yemis said.

"You are cowards," Ning said. "You have the number and yet you fear them. Fight and emerge victorious. You will be remembered far more than doing any of this."

The Constellations thought about it, but it was clear that they weren't giving it the serious thought it deserved.

"Fine, if you don't want to fight them when the Apocalypse happens, then I have a better idea," Ning said. "How about stopping the Apocalypse from happening altogether? What do you think?"

"How do you plan on doing that?" Thalaxus asked.

"By destroying every single dungeon in this world," Ning said. "What do you say?"

The Constellations quickly shook their head. "No, we cannot accept this. We need those dungeons as the source of fear that makes humans look up to the Apostles we have chosen. Without those, they will forget about us soon enough."

Ning frowned. They weren't wrong about that. There was no reason for them to help him clear the dungeons when it meant they came out worse than they started in the situation.

"Fine then," Ning said. "Not all dungeons, just the ones that are SS-ranked. What do you say?"

The Constellations looked at one another to make a decision. "What do we get out of that," they asked.

Ning smiled. "Exactly what you want," he said.

"What do you mean?" they asked him with an unsure voice.

"Every time I destroy the dungeon, I will make sure to say that I was able to do it due to the powers vested in me by the 5 of you. Humanity will soon do nothing but praise you for making me an Apostle," he said. "How does that work for you?"

Ning had learned from Hi-Ah that people were already calling him an Apostle because of all the feats he had been able to accomplish. No normal human being should have that sort of power otherwise.

Since that was the case, he had decided to play along with it, and right now, that made the most sense.

"I get to go around doing what I want without people questioning me, and you get to make a name for yourself, far more than what your apostles can," Ning said. "How's that for an alliance?"

"That sounds… good," Noraxis said. "I don't see how this helps you though."

"How does it not?" Ning asked. "All I want is peace in my world. Destroying those dungeons makes me feel safe."

Of course, that wasn't the only reason. Having 5 constellations behind him helped keep some others off of him just out of fear of having all of them get mixed into any sort of conflict.

These constellations hated conflicts, so even with the tiniest bit of chance there being a threat of losing their life, they would back off.

"Does that answer your question?" Ning asked. "Unlike you four, I don't have anything to gain, and neither do I want anything like you. All I care about is protecting the people of my world. The question now is, do you accept my offer to work together so you can start getting benefits from what I do?"

"I accepted," Graves said without any more consideration. "I won't do anything else to help you. I won't fight any battles that may come your way."

Ning grunted a little. "Fine, what about the rest of you?" he asked.

"I… see nothing wrong with this," Helus said. "I accept as well.

"I would like to reap the benefits of what I haven't sowed as well," Yemis said, blinking her 6 eyes.

"I see no downside on this for me, so I would like to accept as well," Thalaxus said.

"I shall join you in this as well," Noraxis said.

"Great, we are all in this together then," Ning said. "I will start using your name starting now."

He stood up to leave. "Also, stop staring okay? All of you. I don't like it. If you want to talk, just contact me. I can come anytime you want. See ya."

Ning opened a portal and teleported away from this separated space to arrive back inside the director's room.

"Where did you go?" Ely asked with a curious look on her face.

"To talk with a few gods," Ning said and turned towards the director. "I have some good news."

"Oh, what's that?" the director asked.

"Contact the German Government, I will be destroying their SS-ranked dungeon, just as they want."

Chapter C1008: Germany

Ning went around the city of Seoul with Ely. He went to some restaurants and had some delicious meals.

Ely was lacking some clothes, and she didn't want Ning to make any for her. She wanted the feeling of finding new things while shopping, so the two of them went on a shopping spree.

"When do we get our house ready?" Ely asked while going through some clothes.

"As soon as the director speeds up the land transfer. We should be getting the land within the next 2 days, and then I can make the house in less than a day. It's just a bunch of design work anyway. The system will do the rest," Ning said.

"Let me know about the design. I want to create some artifacts integrated into the house," Ely said.

"Sure, that works too," Ning said.

They spent nearly 5 hours in the city of Seoul before returning to their uncle's house.

"Blue, Night, Sorlus, Saph, you guys want to go on an adventure?" Ning asked.

"Yes, master. I've been bored sitting here for the last 2 months," Sorlus said, almost pleadingly.

"Ooh, another Dungeon? Let's go," Saphandra said happily.

Blue and Night had only heard about the dungeon and had never seen its inside, so they were very curious about it as well.

"Alright, let's go."

The 6 of them teleported at once and arrived at the southern side of Berlin, Germany. The Dungeon department was set up near a river in the north of Potsdam, so Ning and the rest had to walk there.

Ely looked around at the different men and women that spoke a language that she did not understand at all.

"Oh, this is weird," she said to herself. It had been a very, very long time since she had heard a language she did not understand at all.

Even Korean was something she learned by herself through Ning's help, so she had never experienced it beforehand at all.

He touched a small necklace that was hidden in her clothes and activated it. Suddenly, she could hear everything around her and understood it perfectly.

At the same time, the other 3 beasts did the same as well.

Saphandra was the only one that did not need this as the System directly translated anything and everything Ning heard for her.

"You guys been to Germany before?" Ning asked Sorlus and Saphandra.

"No, this is my first time," Saphandra said. "We never left the house after all."

"Great, this is my first time as well," Ning said. "What about you Ely?"

"I may have come here before, but I was very small at the time," she said. "I don't even have a memory of it, despite what you gave me."

"Hmm, well, let's treat this as your first time as well," Ning said.

They arrived at the German Dungeon Department headquarters and walked inside.

The place here looked more sophisticated than anything in South Korea. It was definitely more expensive for sure.

He walked on top of the marble floor and arrived in front of a receptionist. "Hello, I'm here to meet the Director of this place," he said.

"I'm sorry sir, the department hasn't opened just yet. Please wait for an hour or two," she said.

"Oh? Is the director not here? I thought he would have arrived given that he was notified of my visit," Ning said.

The woman looked up curiously. "The director has come, but he won't be see— AH!" she screamed suddenly as she realized who she was looking at. "Are you… the Apostles Ning?" she asked.

Ning smiled. "I am, and I'm here to meet the director."

"I'm so sorry for not recognizing you. Please, forgive me. I will notify the director right away," she said and was already on the phone.

A moment later, hurried footsteps came from the hallway to the right as many figures, all important for sure, walked out with surprised looks.

"Apostle Ning, welcome," one of the men said. "I am the director of this dungeon."

A translator tried to translate his words, but Ning stopped him.

"Hello," he said and shook his hand. "Thank you for welcoming me."

The director was a little surprised and smiled. "I didn't know you knew German," he said.

"I know many things," Ning said.

The director smiled in response. He was a short and bald man, but he was definitely not a nobody. From the handshake alone, Ning could tell that he was at least an A-ranked hunter in terms of strength.

He quickly introduced everyone to Ning and Ning shook hands with everyone too. There were ministers, generals, and even 3 Apostles that had come to see him and talk with him.

"I'm sorry you had to come here by yourself. How did you come here though? I had people stationed at the airport for your arrival. I wasn't made aware that you had landed already," he said.

"Oh, I didn't come within any vehicle. I have better methods myself," Ning said.

"I see, please let's go talk in my office," the director said. Everyone around him was incredibly respectful to Ning, not out of tradition, but as a necessity.

Since Ning was most likely their only solution to the current predicament, they couldn't afford to offend him at all.

"You guys want to stay outside for a while? I will be right back," Ning said.

"Sure, go inside. I don't think there's much for us to do there anyway," Ely said and sent him away.

Ning walked along with the director and ministers and many important governmental figures.

Ning arrived at their office which was a long room with a long table. Ning was made to sit on the longer side of the table, while the director sat opposite to him.

"Thank you for coming here," the director said. "You have no idea what it means to us now that you have accepted our offer."

"Of course," Ning said. "I'm sorry for not coming earlier. I could have saved some life from being wasted. Unfortunately, I was busy and didn't know about this until now."

"It is unfortunate," the director said. "But as they say, it's better late than never."

Chapter C1009: Berlin Dungeon

Ning spoke for a few more minutes, confirming the terms of his aid.

He was to receive a good chunk of money for removing the SS-ranked dungeon, but anything he got from inside there, except the dungeon boss's core would be their property.

Ning agreed easily as there wasn't much need for SS-ranked mana stones for him anyway. He had some other plan for that himself.

The Apostles there tried to talk with him, but Ning kept asking for them to come with him to the dungeon, so they stopped talking with him.

Ning was slightly rude to them partly because he didn't want to be friends with them at all, and partly because their constellations were staring at him and he was getting annoyed.

"Now that everything has been finalized, I will go clear the dungeon," Ning said and stood up to leave.

"Yes, let's go," the director said and took him along.

Once out, Ning met up with Ely and the rest. When the director realized that Ely and the other two were going to go along with Ning, he was surprised.

"Who are these people exactly?" the director asked. He tried to figure out if these were the apostles from Korea, but as far as he knew, they were some people else.

"These are my family," Ning said. "This is my wife, and these three are someone I adopted."

"Oh, I didn't realize you had brought your wife and children along," the director said with a weird look on his face.

Sorlus was young enough that he could be adopted by Ning, but no matter how he looked at it, there was no way either Night or Blue could be Ning's children at all.

At best, he looked 30 years old.

"I will have rooms reserved for them in a hotel while you clear the dungeon," the director said and looked towards his assistant to give the order.

However, before he could do it, Ning shook his head. "I can't let you do that," Ning said. "I brought them here so they can enter the dungeon with me. They have been excited about it since I told them about it a few hours ago."

"What?" the director couldn't help but shout in surprise. He wondered if Ning was an idiot for sending his family to danger. Especially in a place like an SS-ranked Dungeon.

"Are you sure, Apostle Ning?" the director asked. "It could be very dangerous."

"Haha! Don't worry. Such a thing is easy for me. I have the power of 5 gods on my side after all," he said with a proud expression on his face.

"What? 5 gods?" one of the apostles not far away shouted in surprise.

"Ye, 5," Ning said. "Yemis, Thalaxus, Graves, Noraxis, and Helus are the 5 gods that are helping me today."

He was doing his part of making the 5 constellations popular so they would be enticed to continue keeping their alliance with each other, without the thought of betrayal ever crossing their head.

Later, he would spread the news through some interviews as well and maybe even help remove those mana circuit problems from many that were still unconscious.

'I should try and improve my mana too,' Ning thought. As of now, he was only a Tier 5 mage. He needed to be tier 8 for removing the mana poisoning permanently.

The director was still surprised, perhaps far more so even as he realized what it meant to be blessed by 5 gods at once. He could see why Ning was as strong as he was said to be.

They drove about half an hour before appearing inside the city of Berlin in an area that was not as populated.

It used to be the most populated place in the entire city, but after the dungeon break, many people died, and thus not many chose to live here.

Now, the place was mostly barren, the dungeon given a wide perimeter so no human could enter again.

Ning could see that there was nearly a kilometer of radius around the dungeon. It looked like it had gotten worse after the dungeon had turned to an SS-ranked dungeon.

They all arrived outside the dungeon gate and Ning got ready to enter. He stood in front of it with everyone and looked towards the director.

"I do not know how long this will take me. It is supposed to take a very long, so you might have to wait a while. I suggest you go back and have others tell you when we are out," Ning told him.

The director nodded. "I will leave after you are all in," he said.

"Alright, let's go," Ning said and walked through the gate with all 3 of them.

He, Ely, Blue, Night, and Sorlus arrived in an entirely new place. Saphandra flew out of Sorlus' clothes which she had been hiding inside this entire time and looked around her.

"What the hell is this place?" she asked.

They arrived in a dark place with a dark fog covering everything, not even letting them see anything. The black fog visually impaired every single one of them there, including Ning.

"I… can't see anything," Blue said. "Night, is this you?"

"No, not me," Night said. His divine sense spread from him and covered a massive area, only to be surprised that he couldn't find anything.

"There's nothing here," Ely said in surprise as well. Even she couldn't see anything but flat land with her god-like senses.

Sorlus frowned a little. "Master… I sense evil," he said.

Ning nodded. This much darkness, especially this thick and black fog, it was definitely from some dark magic that had been used in this place.

"What exactly is going on here?" Saphandra asked. "Can you guys even see any monsters to fight?"

"No," Night said. "There is nothing to fight."

"Was Sorlus' dungeon like this too?" Ely asked Ning.

"No, this is different," Ning said. "But, I do believe I know what's going on. If my theory is correct, we will find our foe not far from us."

Chapter C1010: Tier 6 Mage

Ely and the rest didn't understand what Ning meant. "We will find our foe soon?" she asked. "But I can't see anything."

"You're not looking properly," Ning said. "Either way, since our foe is waiting for us to arrive, let us make them wait a little longer."

Ning sat down on the ground and closed his eyes.

"Master?" Blue called with a weird expression on his face. "Are you tired?"

"No, I'm trying to cultivate," Ning said.

"Here?" he couldn't help but ask. "But there's barely any Qi. We have to use our own Qi to fight. There's nothing to cultivate."

"I'm not cultivating Qi," Ning said. "I'm cultivating Mana. I want to improve my mage tier so I can use more useful magic spells."

"Hmm, this might be the right place to do so," Ely said and sat down next to him. "To be honest, I haven't gotten the time to rest properly since we came back. I want to just sit back and relax."

"Here," Ning said and brought out something. He created a few beds for all of them to lie down in. It felt quite weird to lie down in a place that reeked of evil, but what else could they do while waiting for Ning to be done with whatever he was doing?

Ning took out an SS-ranked mana stone and started devouring the mana in it to advance himself. Just a single one was enough for him to reach Tier 6.

The rest simply talked and waited while Ning did so.

Time passed slowly, but none of them cared. Every single one of them was used to spending a large amount of time doing basically nothing.

There were a couple of times that Sorlus and Blue tried to get into a fight to figure out who was the better water dragon, but thankfully Ely was there to keep the two in order.

Ning finally stopped a few hours later after finishing absorbing 3 different SS-ranked mana stones. He was Tier 6 by now and had made considerable advancement towards Tier 7. Just 2 more tiers were all he needed, but the tier 7 to tier 8 journey would take a lot of time.

'I'll need to find a way for that,' Ning thought. He hoped to be able to do that by killing many Tier 7 or as the humans called it 'SSS-ranked' monsters.

Ning didn't get the last SSS-ranked mana stone from the monster he fought since he ended up becoming its master. However, this time around, he was certain that he had no plan on becoming the master of anything like this.

"Let's go," Ning said and stood up.

The bed they were all standing on vanished, and the group began their journey toward the center of the dungeon.

"Light of Holy Grace," Ning said softly with his left hand pointed in front of him. In that very moment, a bright yellow flash of light shot out from his hand that pushed away the dark miasma that was blocking everyone's vision.

When it went away, Ning and the rest could finally see ahead of them, not that there was anything to look at exactly.

Or so they thought.

Blue took a few too many steps and suddenly the ground in front of them started making some sort of sound. "What's that?" he shouted in wonder. He wasn't worried in the slightest bit.

A hand pushed its way out of the ground as the dirt separated. The group looked at the hand and instantly realized what they were looking at.

"A Skeleton? Ew!" Saphandra said. She was the first one to react out of every one of them, even Blue.

She used her powers and both pushed and pulled the skeleton. She pushed its front side and pulled its back side.

Essentially, she crushed the skeleton with its own body, destroying it to pieces. Those pieces tried to move, but they weren't strong at all.

Soon enough, they stopped moving as the spell that animated them stopped working as well.

"Skeletons? We're going to fight Skeletons?" Saphandra asked.

"Yes," Ning said. "Although, hmm… that's a problem."

"What's the problem?" Ely asked. She couldn't see anything that could be considered a problem at all.

"Look at this," he said as he scattered around the skeletons. "It's not here."

"There's no mana stone," Sorlus was the first to realize.

"Hmm, that makes sense though, doesn't it?" it's like a puppet, puppeteered by some sort of corpse slaver," Ely said.

"Yeah, and that's problematic… slightly," Ning said. "I won't get any SS-ranked mana stone. If everything we fight ends up becoming a summon or reanimated skeleton, then we might have a bad time. And I promised the German government I would give them everything."

"Don't worry, we will figure something out," Ely said. "Besides, what's there to worry about? We're doing them a favor so they will have to accept whatever we tell them anyway."

"Yeah, I know," Ning said with a sigh. "But I don't want to go down that route. I don't want to antagonize the countries or I would have to fight them to even try and enter their SS-ranked dungeons afterward.

"As I said, we'll figure out something," Ely said. "We should continue moving."

Ning nodded. He had no other choice.

Skeletons popped from the ground one after another. Ning wasn't sure if the skeletons were prepared to jump out of the dirt in their presence or if the boss at the center was using its magic every single time.

Whatever it was, Ning and the rest were new fighting skeletons, and those were incredibly easy to destroy.

The first variation came with a skeleton with a sword and shield. It didn't know how to use it, but it was fighting. Then came ones with bows and arrows, daggers, and hammers. There was even one that could use some magic.

Then came the Death Knights, skeletal monsters that were fully clad in armor, and rode the skeleton horses.

Sorlus destroyed them with a single water spell.

"Let's go meet the boss."

Chapter C1011: Boss

Ning and the rest of them arrived at the center of the field where nothing was there. However, a moment later, a coffin lifted itself out of the ground and flew overhead.

"Who dares tread inside my realm?" a raspy, evil voice spoke in a language that only Ning and Sorlus could understand. The rest of them had to rely on their translation skills in their artifact to get it secondhand.

Ning looked at the monster that had appeared in front of them.

It was a floating humanoid body that had its clothes wrapped in a cloth that was furthermore wrapped around in chains. Various magic circles were drawn on its leg, but from the look of it they were no longer working.

The figure wore a blue mantle that was completely torn up in most places ad only covered up to its chest. Its stomach and arms were visible and to everyone's surprise, they were skeletal arms.

Its head was a half-rotten human head, with bones being visible through some of the cheeks. Its eyes were nowhere to be found, and instead, it was glowing a crimson red.

The figure held a black skull that seemed to have some immense amount of power.

"I knew it!" Ning said with a wide smile. "A Death Lich. Which one of you wants to fight it?"

They all looked at the beasts. Saphandra looked a little disgusted and didn't want to fight it at all. Ning wasn't even sure if she could. Mana was far stronger than Spiritual energy after all.

"I can give it a try," Blue said and walked forward.

Seeing this, Sorlus had to show off as well. "No, I will fight it," he said and walked forward.

The two started quarreling as to who got to fight and neither of them actually started fighting. However, seeing as the two had moved towards it, the death lich moved.

Suddenly, the black skull on its hand opened up and a terrifying screech left its mouth. Nearly everyone had to hold their ears to ward off the sound and even that didn't help.

Sorlus was the only one affected in the group for some reason, but the most he was feeling was slight dizziness. "Urgh! I hated that," he said.

"Are you okay?" Ely asked Sorlus. "What was that?"

"It's attacking our souls," Ning said. "You three have a strong soul so you weren't affected. Meanwhile, Saphandra and I don't really have any souls, so we are also fine. In the end, Sorlus is the only one that took some damage, but he's too strong to be hurt the same way a normal mage would be."

"That must be it," Sorlus said. "My head aches slightly, but I'm fine."

"Alright, Sorlus, step back. I don't know if you are strong enough to face it or not, but it won't be an easy match for you. Whether you like it or not, you are one of the weakest of the group after all."

Blue gave a wide grin that screamed 'I'm better than you towards Sorlus. Sorlus grumbled and went backward.

"Alright, Blue, go take it ou—"

"No, wait! I want to fight it," Ely said and moved forward. "Can I fight it?"

"Of course, sister Ely. Please go ahead," Blue said.

"Are you sure, honey? You're too strong for this fight," Ning said.

"I know," Ely said as she reached into her storage amulet and brought out something. "But I have a few artifacts that I've been wanting to test out for a while. Let's see how good this work."

The Death Lich moved again. Its left hand grabbed on top of the skull on its right hand, and together they pointed it into the sky.

The skull opened its mouth again and this time ie shot something into the sky.

"Be careful, it's attacking you," Ning told Ely.

"It's fine," Ely said, not giving much thought to the attack that was going to fall on her at any second. Instead, she planted something firmly onto the ground and propped it out.

Ning looked at the camera like equipment and almost even thought it was one. Except, Ely opened the front of the artifact and there was nothing but a giant hole.

Ely grabbed it by two sides and just like a camera lens, a long tube popped out from the front.

Like lightning, something flashed from the sky and struck the ground right where Ely was, destroying everything in a small radius. However, when the light disappeared, not a hair on her head had been touched.

"Well, I hope this works," he said and poured Qi into the artifact. Suddenly, the tube at the front glowed and something shot out of it, just like a cannon.

A massive Qi blast shot from the front and struck the lich right where it stood. The world shook at the attack and even Blue and Night had to step back in surprise.

The power was just too much with it.

"It must have all been decimated," Saphandra couldn't help but say.

"I don't see how anything could have survived that—" Ely's words stopped in her mouth when she saw something still floating in the air, even after her cannon had attacked it.

"No way!" she shouted in surprise. "How can that monster still be alive after taking an attack from my— oh wait, it's just Ning. Honey, what are you doing?"

Ning floated in front fo the mostly destroyed lich. "You should have told me if you were going to destroy it so suddenly. You nearly destroyed the mana core hidden in it too," he said. He turned around and looked at the remaining body of the lich.

His hand reached into its chest and pulled out the SSS-ranked mana stone. When the lich's dead body fell to the ground, it dissipated in flakes of darkness and a portal appeared right in front of them.

Now that they had cleared the dungeon, they were free to leave.

So, one by one, all of them walked out of the portal, arriving back in Berlin where Ning could see the director just turning around to leave.

Chapter C1012: Leaving the Dungeon

Ning and the rest appeared outside the dungeon.

The german director looked at them with confused eyes and opened his mouth to ask something, but then he saw something else instead that made it stuck open as he looked in shock.

Ning felt the change as well and saw what was happening behind him.

The entire white swirl of energy that was the dungeon gate suddenly shook and then collapsed, disappearing in wisps of energy that almost made it look like it was an illusion.

However, many had gone in beforehand and thus they knew that the dungeon was real. This was to say that their seeing the current dungeon meant that the dungeon had truly disappeared.

The director was shocked, but not for the reason Ning believed it was. The director had always known that the moment the dungeon was cleared, it would collapse.

The thing that had surprised him the most had been the speed at which it was cleared.

Ning looked to the sky to see where the sun was and then down towards the people that were still standing around. Ely and the rest noticed it too and couldn't help but be surprised.

Even the stoic Night showed a bit of emotion at this moment as he hadn't expected this to happen.

After all, from what they had learned from Ning, the opposite was supposed to have happened.

"How long were we in?" Ning asked the director.

"5, Maybe 10 seconds," the director said, trying to hide his shock. "Did you really clear it in just 10 seconds?"

"No, it took some time," Ning said. "We spent nearly half a day inside, and it seemed that translated to nothing out here. The last dungeon I was in was the opposite, so it seems not all dungeons follow the same flow of time."

Ning would have to remember that the next time, or... he could just ask the system to tell him. He should probably do that starting now.

"So it is really gone?" the director asked. "No chance of the dungeon appearing again?"

"Yes, it is gone," Ning said. "Also, I have a small bad news."

"Wh-what bad news?" the director got ready to be disappointed.

"Let's talk elsewhere, away from prying eyes," Ning said while looking at the few people that were gathered around.

"Oh, yes. Please, come with me," the director said, taking Ning and Ely to a large SUV. With a few other important figures, the SUV was quickly full, making Night, Blue, and Sorlus have to move to another vehicle.

However, before they could go in, Ning's voice stopped them. "You guys go have fun. You don't have to come with us," he said. "After this, we'll be going to France for a while so make use of your free time to see the city."

The three beasts accepted and with Saphandra at the lead, they left the dungeon area on foot. They could have flown away, but Ning told them to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

The director wasn't happy with this after he was notified in the SUV since letting people so valuable alone was not what he wanted, but he respected Ning's choice and let the three be.

What else could he even do? Deny the person who just cleared an SS-ranked dungeon by himself? He might have been heavily stressed the past 2 months, but that hadn't made him go senile.

"So, what is this bad news?" the director asked.

Ning told him about the dungeon. The director was surprised that a dungeon with plant monsters had turned into one with a Death lich and skeletons inside. He could swear that he had heard about it being able to change somewhere before, but it wasn't in the forefront of his thoughts, so he hadn't thought of it.

"Was it strong?" the director asked.

"Relative to who you sent before, very. I doubt anyone could have survived it," he said. "I even suspect that they were turned into skeletons to fight for the lich."

"I see," the director said. He had half hoped for the people to still be alive, but they had all but confirmed those people's death. Now that the dungeon was gone, their funerals would have to be held.

"Well, time moved fast in there, so it must have been years since they entered. They would've died due to the lack of food even if they hadn't had to fight the lich itself," the director said.

"Yes," Ning said. "And here is the worst part. Since it was a lich, its summons were monsters without any mana, as such we weren't able to harvest any mana stone, aside from the lich's itself."

Ning pulled out the mana core he had acquired from the lich. "This is what I got, only this," he said. "What should we do in this case?"

The director hesitated a bit. Ning hadn't truly broken the deal, but it still felt bad for the director to give him what he had asked for without getting the same worth in return.

Besides, he was suspecting that Ning was lying as well. It wasn't impossible to have a dungeon where only the boss had a mana stone, but they were incredibly rare. He had to keep that in mind too.

"How about this," Ning said instead. "Since I couldn't bring you anything but get rid of the dungeon, pay me what you think is a fair price. How does that sound?"

"Are you sure? It was on us for not thinking of the possibility," the director said.

"I know, but I feel bad for you guys not getting anything. I wish to give you some leeway so we can keep the relationship good. Please decide what you wish to do on your own," Ning said. "For now, I have some things to do in France, so I will have to get moving."

"In France?" the director asked curiously. "Would you like us to book you a private jet?"

Ning smiled. "No need," he said. He grabbed Ely's hand and said, "Goodbye."

Suddenly, he and Ely disappeared from the van, surprising the director and everyone else in it.

Chapter C1013: A Memory

Ning and Ely arrived on the outskirts of Nantes city in France. They arrived alongside an abandoned alleyway and walked out with hands still holding each other.

As soon as they were out, Ning could see the river Loire across from them. Seeing that gave him an idea of where to go.

However, as he was about to move, he noticed that Ely wasn't moving at all. He turned around to see that she was staring at the river with wide eyes, which were starting to get misty with tears.

"You okay, honey?" Ning asked her.

Ely's hands shivered a little before she got a hold of herself. "Yes," she said, wiping her years. "I just got emotional. I remembered seeing this river all the time when I was stuck in my room, and the memory overwhelmed me a little."

Ning noticed her slightly trembling hands and held them together tightly. "You must be nervous," he said.

"I am," Ely said truthfully. It had been ages since she had seen her brother, so just the thought of seeing him caused her to get nervous all of a sudden.

What would he think when he saw her sister that was supposed to be dead? How would she explain it to him? Should she even explain it? Many thoughts swarmed her head, making it hard to think properly.

Ning patted her hand and squeezed it tightly. "It's all okay," he said. "I'm here with you."

Ely took a deep breath and smiled. "Thank you," she said. "Let's go, I think I remember my way home."

Ning let Ely take the lead since it was her hometown after all. Even if it was thousands of years ago for her.

She remembered mostly, but it had still been over a decade since her memory, so things had changed. The dungeon breaks had especially changed it quite a lot.

Ning helped her through a few turns, but she was still able to remember most of it. Finally, she arrived in front of a tall apartment building and stood there silently for a second.

"This is it," she said. "This is where I used to live. He's still here, right?"

"Yes, he still lives in your same old apartment," Ning said.

Ely took a deep breath and looked at the metal panel on the side with apartment numbers. She remembered the apartment she lived in and pressed the button.

She could hear the buzzing all the way up from the 15th floor and if she were to use her divine sense, she could even see her brother, but she found it hard to do that right now.

She buzzed again, and this time she got an answer.

"Who is this?" the voice asked.

Ely took a sharp breath when hearing her brother's voice. She tried to speak but found it hard to make any sound. Still, she forced herself to speak.

"This is Chase, right?" she asked.

"Yes, I am Chase. Who are you?" he asked.

"Chase, it's me, Claire," Ely said.

The voice paused for a second. "I don't know any Claire," he said.

"No, it's me, Claire, your sister," Ely said. "Brother, it's me."

The voice paused again for a second and this time spoke with an angry tone to it. "Is this some sort of sick joke? My sister is dead and has been for many years," he said. "I don't know how you found that out, but please leave."

Chase left, leaving Ely in a stunned state, unable to do anything.

Ning saw that and sighed, "you expected this, didn't you?" he asked. "He doesn't believe you, he has no reason to. Do you have anything you can tell him to make him remember?"

"I… maybe," Ely said, forcing back the tears. She buzzed in again and waited for her brother to answer.

It took nearly 3 buzzes before Chase answered again, "What?" he asked with a sharp voice.

"Do you remember my 7th birthday?" Ely asked.

"What?" Chase was confused. "What are you tal—"

"We were poor since father had just passed away, and mother was sick that day. She couldn't go out to get anything for us and you had to stay with her the entire time. I was starting to think my birthday would pass away without any celebration. I was sad."

"But right before midnight, you surprised me with a strawberry cake. It was small and you told me you asked the people from the bakery to give it to you since they were going to throw it anyway. We didn't have candles, so you stuck a matchstick on the small cake and lit it."

"I remember the smile on my face when I blew it," Ely said. "Do you remember that, Chase? That is one of the happiest memory I have of my childhood, and a memory of just how much you loved me and cared about me."

Ely waited for a bit, but it didn't look like her brother was going to speak at all. However, he suddenly spoke again, his voice barely containing his involuntary tremblings.

"H-how do you know that? No one but my sister and I should know that," he said. He was too shocked to ask anything else.

"That's because it's me, Claire," Ely said. "It's your sister."

"But… but my sister died," Chase said.

"Yes, and I was born again. I reincarnated," Ely said.

"That's… not possible!" Chase said. "How can someone come back to life?"

"The whole world breaks with gods giving powers to everyone, and you think reincarnation is not possible? I know you are hardheaded, brother but please think a little," Ely said.

Chase took a deep breath, loud enough that he could be heard from the intercom. "If you really are my sister, reborn or not, you should know the combination to our door's lock," he said.

The gate buzzed and opened up. "Come up and enter, I will wait for you," he said.

The speaker crackled as it was shut off and Ely looked at the open front gate. "Let's go in."