For some reason, Darian vividly remembered his sixth birthday. That day, his mother had brought him a gift he would never forget.
He had just learned to read—his mother had taught him and noticed his thirst for knowledge. So, she scraped together what little money she had and bought him a fantasy book.
Darian didn't know where she got that book. He remembered it looking brand new, with firm pages made of a unique type of paper, and it was surprisingly thick.
His mother couldn't have afforded something like that. A physical book was a relic of the past; almost no one had the money to buy something so unnecessary. The few who could just used electronic devices to read. She must've gotten it from a collector, but even then, it was strange that she had enough to pay for it.
Her cheerful words didn't stand out to him at the time:
"A pretty young woman sold it to me and recommended it. She said it was a great story, perfect for young people who love action and fantasy. Unfortunately, it was never that popular, so there were still a lot of copies left, and they were being sold cheap."
Young Darian took the book and saw a plain black cover, adorned only with two mystical symbols—one white, one black.
From the moment he read the first page, he was completely hooked. He read and reread it countless times, as if each reading revealed a new layer of the story.
When Darian returned to Earth as a full-fledged Spiritual Guardian, he asked Rhea to buy that book for his brother. But it wasn't available anywhere in the Empire's capital.
During his recent time at home with his siblings, Darian searched for it online. He found nothing related to that book.
He thought it was strange, but a lot of things from the past had been lost to time, forgotten forever. The wars to stabilize the empires had left deep scars; internet servers and countless historical records had been destroyed.
He thought about going back to the place where he had awakened. Back then, he had brought the book with him. But after waking up, he remembered seeing everything around him overturned and half-destroyed. An old book like that should've turned to dust.
Now, in another universe, he had come across signs of that book again.
'I'm not sure, but on the ground around the altar, there are some violet markings carved into it. They remind me of the Divine Protection Universe's inscriptions. Maybe it's a trap? It seems weird...' Leander concluded, opening his eyes, returning to his body.
He and Eric both sensed the sudden change in Darian and turned to him, confused.
Darian took a deep breath and looked at them. 'It's probably just a coincidence... but we have to go in anyway.'
The two could tell something strange was going on. Meanwhile, Darian gripped his group crystal, speaking to everyone from a distance:
'This law should recede in an hour or two. We found something potentially important here. I'm sure our target will panic if they sense we've broken into this place.'
Nayara responded excitedly: 'Perfect! We still have a few artifacts left. Better save them and set a trap in there.'
Darian thought for a moment. Instinctively... no. Definitely. Deep in his soul, his two marks seemed to vibrate. Their energies started to move subtly, like a compass pointing toward that place.
It was a calling. He had to go in.
Darian thought about everything related to that book. Then, about everything related to himself. It was obvious there was a connection. And now, maybe, he could uncover something truly important.
A little over an hour passed in silence.
The three of them moved back to the surface. Eric's blessing was incredibly useful and nearly impossible to detect, but once the law retreated, it would be deactivated.
They looked up at the sky and saw the laws beginning to withdraw. At that moment, a powerful gust of wind hit them. It was an artifact's power—within seconds, the rest of the group had gathered.
All of Darian's artifacts had been used—he was the one who had the most. As for those with Raon, his allies, and the others in the group, they were used for support.
Everyone burned 20% of their energy, but they managed to create nearly ten violent, sudden explosions.
Some were offensive, killing thousands. No one hesitated—everyone in this universe was being controlled; if they didn't kill, they would be the ones to die.
But half of the explosions weren't lethal. Some released paralyzing poisons, while others emitted substances that made the senses fail for a long time.
In the end, it was enough to terrify the target. He could never find the culprit, nor did he have any idea how the attacks were happening. The artifacts gave off no signals before exploding.
All it took was to inject ring energy into them, and even from a distance, whoever had infused the energy could activate them. Then, everyone would escape using another movement artifact.
'Let's move,' Leander said seriously, and they all grouped up.
Eric activated his blessing on everyone, turning them invisible. Then, they rushed toward the castle.
Luckily, few people had stayed behind to guard it. The target was inside, coordinating the troops with his power and searching for the intruders.
While the law was active on the planet, he was completely confident that he would sense anything entering the castle… or even anything within a large area around it.
But just like the artifacts were abnormal, Blessings had the power to alter reality and logic.
The ten of them descended the staircase leading underground.
When they were close to the bottom, they all felt the power hiding them fade away. It was the sign that the veil of that law had finally withdrawn from the planet.
They were already deep underground and far from anyone, so they simply continued.
When the gates appeared, Nayara stepped forward, thoughtful, organizing the five remaining artifacts. She already knew about the strange things on the other side because Leander had told her.
As soon as she buried the artifacts, she turned to Darian with a question. 'What are you thinking? Do you know what that book is?'
'I'm not sure, I need to confirm it. But I might have found the same book on Earth,' he said seriously through their mental link.
'So that's the secret of the Red River Pact clan?' Leander murmured. 'How did they know…'
He stopped mid-sentence, and Nayara finished:
'At the missionary's altar, the incoming mission describes everything, but it also gives information that's sometimes irrelevant. Like the age of the universe, the most common races, and even the name it's best known by.'
'By understanding the pattern over many years, based on its age, you can gauge its level of knowledge and technology. That doesn't determine power, but technology means unique artifacts to bring back to Earth. And knowing the dominant races helps anticipate how easy infiltration will be. If humans aren't common, everything gets harder.'
Leander scoffed. 'This universe we're in is insanely old. There are patterns to universe names. This one is called Final Salvation Universe, number 5XXXX. As you can guess, there are thousands of others like it, with different numbers. Missions to other universes are random, you can't just go wherever you want. Maybe… they've been wanting to enter one like this for a long time…'
Nayara nodded. 'If that clan knew that in universes with this name, being old enough, there might be something amazing hidden as a bonus… maybe it was worth doing all this… but what could be so valuable in a book?' She gave Darian a serious look.
He shook his head. 'I'm not sure, but since we're here, we're going to find out.'
Everyone agreed. They needed to see it for themselves.
Then, Nayara removed the core of the supreme artifact.
At the same time, they all stepped forward and pushed the massive doors open with ease.