Damned Healer-Chapter 466: Long-dormant Mechanism

Haruto also examined the daggers carefully and soon came to a conclusion.

"They’ve fully mastered about 51% of their cores. It’s the entire half that holds the elemental power, with only a tiny trace of Draconic power left. That’s what allowed them to connect, but their potential’s pretty limited unless they get the rest."

Darian nodded. If it weren’t for the Primordial-level Stellar Ores, they never would’ve managed it. For them, mastering the elemental part was probably easy, but that last 1% must’ve been exhausting work that left them completely drained.

That wasn’t normal sleep or simple weakness from lack of power — their souls were readjusting to that 1% of draconic power. It would take some time before they fully recovered and woke up.

"It’s fine. Once they wake up, I’m sure they’ll slowly learn how to control the rest." Darian muttered, storing the daggers with renewed energy.

He turned to Haruto. "Good work. That kind of knowledge must be tough for you to use again since it needs compatible spirits, like the Heavenly Elemental Spirits. But when we get back to that training universe, I’ll introduce you to several from that race who were turned into weapons. You can study them and try a few modifications. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of ideas and insight from that."

Haruto nodded excitedly. He really had no intention of enslaving any souls to make weapons, even though there were plenty available. Still, studying the ones already trapped in that state would bring him valuable knowledge.

"Sir, when we reach the other universe, I’ll be able to make three rune seals for your daggers. In that universe, where there’s power all around, the success rate’s insanely higher — almost 15%. Here on Earth, though, I’ve got less than a 2% success rate. Sometimes it takes me a whole year just to make one rune seal. That’s why I always created and tested everything there, storing it in the academy’s treasure vault."

Darian nodded. When he returned to Earth, he’d bring back a massive stock of weapons with rune seals. He already had a huge amount of materials from that universe, but it would take time to turn them into something usable. Over there, though, everything was ready.

Once they returned to Earth, they could arm themselves and start cleaning up the planet much more aggressively.

"Let’s go. Everyone’s probably getting ready to leave." Darian said, turning quickly to leave the forge.

They left the place, and Tian Yu guided them toward the Empire’s celestial altar. Along the way, Lucy and Tian Lin arrived, both smiling lightly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Lucy said her goodbyes, and the other girl smiled brightly back. In just a few days, they seemed to have gotten along really well.

Lucy looked at Darian and sent him a mental message, explaining the situation with a bit of irritation as they walked.

The Emperor’s daughter was just an ordinary human, but that Empire had a culture completely different from the western kingdoms.

Things that would seem strange or problematic elsewhere happened naturally there; likewise, things that could cause serious conflict in other places were solved easily or didn’t happen at all. It wasn’t better or worse — just different.

Having visited other human planets like Aethel, Darian understood that well. Humans were unpredictable in every way. On each planet, they had different cultures and could act completely differently in even the smallest things.

On Aethel, for example, society functioned in a harmonious and fair way — something nearly impossible to imagine on Earth, where division was part of the culture instead of unity.

As for Tian Lin, she was deeply respected and admired throughout the Empire. Part of it came from the fact that no one dared to do anything against the Emperor’s daughter, but also because people believed her family carried a special bloodline inheritance.

The fact that Tian Yu’s grandfather had been the previous emperor made that belief even stronger. And since he now had only one daughter, everyone believed that if Tian Lin ever had a son, he’d surely be exceptional and become the next emperor.

Because of that, everyone tried to stay on good terms with her — constantly approaching and introducing young men around her age in hopes of a favorable marriage.

Lucy, using a disguise artifact, pretended to be just some ordinary traveler accompanying Tian Lin. But after seeing her being constantly approached by men, Lucy started driving them away brutally.

After getting more and more aggressive — to the point of scaring them off — everyone eventually got the message and left them alone... or almost. They never really stopped; there was always a new one showing up. But Lucy never stopped throwing them out. It was like Tian Lin was a divine light, and they were moths desperately chasing her.

The Emperor knew all about it but never interfered — he thought it was normal, part of the culture. And no one was suicidal enough to come within two meters of her now.

But after Lucy beat them up to the point they begged for mercy, for the first time, Tian Lin could finally walk freely through the Empire in peace.

Along the way, Lucy muttered mentally to Darian, her expression pained.

’Bro, she said she trained her whole life to become a Spiritual Guardian like our mom. But she’s already past the awakening age, so her mother called her a failure. Now everyone just wants her to get married and have a kid soon... I can feel so much pain in her. Why does it have to be like this? Can’t we do something to help her?’

Darian sighed softly.

The secret behind a Spiritual Guardian’s awakening lay in the energy within the souls of those born in that universe, connected to an ancient power of that world. In short, it depended on a person’s true will and imagination.

On Earth, where power and survival relied on Spiritual Guardians, ordinary humans were seen as useless and disposable. So anyone born into an influential family who didn’t awaken was seen as a total failure.

’It’s possible her mother raised her to want to become a Spiritual Guardian. She was taught to chase that goal — it didn’t come from her own will. Think about it: does Tian Lin really need power to survive? For her, everything’s easy and nothing’s missing. Unlike us, who had to fight every day just to stay alive,’ Darian explained calmly.

’Our mom was like that at first. But when she found her true path, she probably realized that the past was just an illusion — not what she really wanted. Unfortunately... everyone has their own fate, and only time will show her what hers is.’

Lucy took a deep breath, thinking about his words. After a few seconds, she muttered:

’I get it... It hurts her, but it’s not really her fault or anyone else’s. On Earth, if you’re just an ordinary human, you can easily be used by others. That’s why the culture became obsessed with awakening at any cost.’

Darian nodded. ’Yeah. The path to becoming a Spiritual Guardian is completely wrong — and we need to change that. Making normal humans suffer, even if it increases someone’s chances of awakening, only makes the problem worse. Everything the Empires do is just a reflection of the people themselves. After all, the awakened aren’t aliens — most of them come from normal humans who went through terrible things.’

"So, as things stand, everyone who awakens ends up with a twisted mindset, believing they’re really superior just because they awakened. They even came up with that ridiculous title that only exists on Earth, calling themselves ’High Humans’. In the end, the weak-minded ones always take out their past suffering on regular humans. And the worst part is, most of the time, they’re never punished for it. It’s a vicious cycle."

Lucy looked at her brother, watching his firm and thoughtful expression, and sighed. She had never thought about it that deeply before. She’d spent years focused only on training and taking care of the clan — but now, on this random journey that led her to meet Tian Yu, she finally understood what drove Darian.

Soon, Earth would fall into chaos — and countless people would die. But if no one did anything, the long-term result would be far worse.

They finally reached a celestial altar — one similar to those found in every empire.

Darian looked toward the center of the place. About five meters above the ground, a globe of intense light floated gently. Inside it existed a much larger world, where people’s bodies stayed safe while their souls were sent to that universe.

Niara stayed silent, but deep down she was nervous. She was finally returning to that place, and Darian had promised they would meet in their true bodies for the first time.

Haruto and Lucy looked at Darian, who gestured for them to go first.

Nearby, Tian Yu said, "Empress Camille has already been informed about your departure. Everyone’s been waiting for you. She and I will send the others there right after."

Then the two of them moved toward the altar, and a blue celestial light wrapped around them.

In that instant, as it happened with all Spiritual Guardians, they lost consciousness and were carried by the light into the globe, vanishing inside it.

No one had any memory of what it was like inside. From the outside, using the ring’s power, it was possible to see their bodies inside the space. The Empire could also connect to the altar and sense the Merit each person possessed before awakening, allowing them to calculate their Points accurately.

Once the two disappeared, Darian focused.

Inside his soul, his primordial core burned with the full power of chaos.

Tian Yu held his breath as he saw an intense, multicolored aura surround Darian. His soul fully awakened, and his entire Primordial Physique was activated.

At that moment, he stepped toward the altar.

*BUZZ*

Suddenly, everything started shaking.

Tian Yu’s eyes widened as he witnessed something that had never happened in all of history unfold before him.

The celestial blue light tried to cover Darian but instantly pulled back, as if recognizing him as something untouchable.

In that instant — without Darian or anyone else realizing it — the altar of that place, and every other altar across the universe, connected together. It was like some long-dormant mechanism had been triggered upon recognizing Darian. And then, everything changed completely.

Unaware of what had happened, Darian took a deep breath and jumped straight toward the globe of light on his own.

He passed through it fully conscious and without resistance, entering its interior.

It was like diving into the depths of an ocean — except instead of water, he found himself surrounded by a strange energy that seemed to contain the three energies of life perfectly united.

’Is this the power of faith?’ Darian thought, remembering what he had read in that book. In the past, the current Heaven’s Will had been worshiped as a God by others, gaining the power of their faith, which was precisely the three energies of life fused into one.

He looked around — the place seemed infinite. Everywhere he looked, countless bodies floated, soulless but still alive, in a coma-like state.

He searched for Lucy and soon found her at a distance. But her soul suddenly vanished, taken away right before his eyes, without him seeing or sensing how.

’Shit, how do I get out of here?’ he thought, lost.

Then he decided to try and forcefully manipulate the energy around him, activating his domain.

*Buzz*

Suddenly, the space trembled, and a white light appeared before him, opening like a spatial portal.

Darian swallowed hard. Was that it?

He thought about it — this entire altar mechanism had been created by Heaven’s Will. Surely, only something far above an immortal — like the technique created by Meru — could interfere with a place like this. So if anyone could, it would be one of its missionaries. There had to be some kind of built-in mechanism for when a missionary entered here.

’But... how do I get back later?’ he muttered inwardly, having no idea what would happen next. ’Well... whatever, there’s gotta be an easy way to do it.’

Without caring much, he stepped into the white light channel.

...

For a few seconds, his senses completely vanished — but both Darian and Niara remained conscious.

They only felt a strange spatial fluctuation surrounding them and twisting around.

Since neither of them understood much about spatial power, and they’d never stayed conscious during a universe crossing, they assumed it was normal.

Until...

The color of the world returned to Darian’s eyes.

"?"

He found himself among ruins. Everything around looked destroyed — like the remains of a devastated city, with countless collapsed buildings.

He looked up. The sky was dark, like it was night, and there was only a single star above, which must have been the other galaxy with life, where one of the Academies was located.

Where he stood, he couldn’t feel the presence of any nearby sun.

If he’d been brought the normal way, he would’ve awakened inside the Shadows of Heaven Academy, where Niara’s body was. But since he came differently and with his real body, it didn’t seem strange that he ended up somewhere random.

Activating his senses, he detected faint traces of life — proof that this wasn’t just some random galaxy or planet overtaken by the Risen.

And seeing that other living galaxy in the sky, he could only conclude that he was still inside one of the two living galaxies.

’Were we brought to a destroyed planet inside the Celestia Academy galaxy?’ he thought.

Niara suddenly murmured, ’Dan... I can feel it... my body’s close.’

Hearing that, Darian’s eyes widened.

"What? We’re really in the Shadows of Heaven Academy?!"

Suddenly, he sensed a presence approaching and turned sharply.

There... a pair of trembling red eyes stared right at him.

"...Howlyn."

Before him stood a wolf — skinny, frail, its gray fur faded, exuding only a faint trace of life energy. It looked like an ancient beast, worn down by countless years.

Yet Darian recognized it instantly.

A light surrounded her but quickly faded — it was as if she tried to transform, but didn’t have the strength, remaining in her true form.

Then she trembled and lowered her head, pressing her forehead against the ground.

’My... My Lord!’

The voice echoed in his mind, full of emotion, leaving Darian stunned.

’Forgive me... I waited and fought... but I failed to protect everything during these thousand years.’

Darian jumped in shock. "WHAT? A THOUSAND YEARS?!"