Damned Healer-Chapter 471: Start Over (2)
The days passed slowly on the planet of the Shadows of Heaven Academy.
Almost a billion people had been organized with Darian’s help, according to where they used to live in that world — which also indicated their power level — and that would later help Howlyn divide them between safer or more dangerous areas.
The first task was rebuilding the Academy. They had brought almost endless materials from that world, so everything of the highest quality would be used to create the first pillar of their new beginning.
With so many people working, in less than three months, Howlyn saw a new Academy rise — one that was ten times bigger than the previous one. The strongest among them, those from the Divine Seven-Star Sect, helped build everything with top-tier standards.
After that, Darian gave the Divine Seven-Star Sect permission to rebuild their clan on that planet and, at the same time, to raise a central city around it, separate from the Academy.
He also allowed the Wilding Kin Sect — the sect he had joined in the Wild World — to settle there. Darian learned that after he destroyed the other eight sects and left the Wild World, his army of Heavenly Elemental Spirits had united all of their race and raised the Wilding Kin Sect as the sole ruling power of that world.
That sect officially became the home of the Heavenly Elemental Spirits, but it accepted other races too, as long as they passed strict tests. Darian taught the young ones how to easily identify greedy idiots... it was simple — just push them to train hard, close to death.
Only those who truly wished to grow stronger would endure it to the end. Those who only sought power for themselves valued their own lives too much and gave up quickly.
In six months, the entire planet had completely changed.
Luckily, Darian had up to thirty years to stay in that universe, so time was no longer an issue. The planet where the Shadows of Heaven Academy was located was now officially named Shadowheart.
There were three major centers of power: at the center of the planet stood the Academy. Howlyn preserved essential cores from the old Academy, such as the inscription core and the altar of Heaven’s Will, which allowed the creation of new Summoners. With Lucy working on the inscriptions, they managed to reestablish everything — technically, they had been completely reborn.
To the north of the planet rose the capital city, along with the Divine Seven-Star Sect, which governed that metropolis. It was a place where ordinary people could live and start over. It would also serve as the planet’s main link to the rest of the universe.
To the south, another great city was built, governed by the Wilding Kin Sect — it was a special home, where only selected people, like the Heavenly Elemental Spirits, could live.
Once construction was partially complete, everyone deposited in the Academy’s treasury everything they had brought.
When Howlyn saw the amount, she was stunned — she had created five massive underground vaults, but her calculations were completely surpassed. She immediately ordered the construction of even more.
Work only stopped when there were nearly thirty vaults, all absolutely full. But... they didn’t store the treasures directly — instead, they held spatial crystals, each containing vast internal spaces, half the size of the vaults themselves. In other words, the real amount of resources was terrifying.
Meanwhile, Darian spent that time evaluating the karma of those he didn’t know and talking with the ones close to him.
His small army of Heavenly Elemental Spirits already knew everything about what Darian had done in the Trial. Then, he showed them Eleri, Tir, and Awel inside the daggers — still deeply asleep.
Haruto, who kept analyzing them, stated that the three could wake up in a few months since their souls were already well adapted to the new environment. He had also been deeply studying all those who had been turned into weapons, learning a lot and helping them strengthen themselves.
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten to work on the rune seals for Darian’s daggers.
Once the rune seals were perfectly created, they became ethereal runes that fused into an object capable of supporting them. After Haruto made them, there was a limited window of time to insert them into a weapon before their energies destabilized.
When Darian saw his work, he used the Divine Seal with the power of chaos and stored the three sharpening seals in his inventory. Creating seals in that universe was far easier than on Earth, so Darian asked Haruto to make as many as possible. That way, he could seal and store them all to take back later.
Darian also spent a long time talking with his army of Chromaraics, who had been trained in the Divine Seven-Star Sect. Thanks to the Chromaraic Cataclysm, that sect and many others didn’t rely on the primordial power that had once existed in that world to fight.
Because of that, in this universe, they could defeat the Risen easily. The strongest among them, like Zatrian, could possibly slay a Risen Lord with his sword if given the right chance.
When Howlyn realized that, she was completely speechless. Darian made it clear that she would take care of them while he focused on the Spiritual Guardians. She now had a terrifying army that didn’t depend on any external power. With her vast experience, the possibilities were endless.
Once construction was finished, Darian met with Howlyn and laid out the next steps.
"You’ll lead several groups and take over the four member planets of the Academy’s central inscription first. Then, recover and cleanse the entire galaxy of the Risen as fast as possible," he said seriously, and Howlyn nodded.
They had rebuilt everything — but at any moment, the Celestial Shadow could attack. It would be impossible to detect or block it. The only way to prevent that was by cleansing the entire galaxy.
"You have to do it as fast as you can, using all the newcomers. As for me, I’ll take the Summoners and their partners to Enfield’s Sacred Tree. You can probably imagine what’ll happen when I go there — I’ll take everything useful and wipe out any traitors or Risen inside. That’s why the Celestial Shadow will probably try to attack the galaxy again," Darian said firmly.
Howlyn replied confidently, "Don’t worry, my Lord. I’ve already gotten a good estimate of their power over these past months. I can send groups of two hundred per planet; each group should clean up the place in five days. I estimate there are around one and a half billion planets with Risen in this galaxy. It should take about four years to completely wipe them out."
Darian nodded. In the ten years he’d been gone, Lucy, Lucius, and everyone from the Academy had worked hard, cleansing the galaxy’s planets. The twins, with the power of their blessings, could wipe out an entire planet on their own in just one day. That’s how they managed to get so many rings so quickly — they basically had an endless source to earn Points and Merit Power.
In just eleven years as Spiritual Guardians, the twins had reached seven rings — a feat comparable to cultivators from the ten strongest planets in the universe. It shocked everyone on Earth. But it wasn’t just them — the entire clan had advanced at almost the same pace.
"Good. When people enter that place, they don’t have a set time to return, right?"
Darian asked, and Howlyn nodded before explaining:
"From what I remember, back when I was a Risen Lord, that place is divided into five separate worlds. Each one is so vast it could take hundreds of years just to explore one of them. But... everything there is completely overrun by the Blood Race, left behind by Enfield as a test."
Darian took a deep breath and asked for all the information Howlyn had. For the first time, he knew absolutely nothing about this race, since there was nothing about it in that book.
The first thing she explained was that the Blood Race were a type of Heavenly Beasts — they were also an ancient race, just like the Chromaraics were for humans.
Nowadays, there were no pure-blooded members left, and the race had split into three major branches. Each branch represented a different level of danger, power, and even personality. These three branches occupied three of the five worlds in that place.
The name "Enfield’s Sacred Tree" was a metaphor created by its founder — it represented a beast climbing a tree and ascending in power. The place was built to train Spiritual Guardians from one to nine rings, while also pushing the power of Mannaz with Enfield’s blood to its absolute limit.
Those with up to four rings could enter the first world, called the "Root World." From five to seven rings, they could go to the second, higher world — the "Trunk World." Those with eight or nine rings could go straight into the "Leaf World."
The two remaining worlds, however, couldn’t be accessed easily. There was a passage in the Leaf World that led to the "Flower World," but its entrance changed location every day and was guarded by the natives with their own lives.
The entrance to the final area, known as the "Fruit World," was also located somewhere in the Leaf World — but no one knew exactly how to reach it.
In short, the three known Training Worlds were relatively straightforward: in the first and second, the goal was to face the Blood Race and push forward until finding the passage to the next one. In the third, you had to rely on luck to find the entrance and then fight to cross it again.
But the fact that the Blood Race was chosen as the challenge wasn’t by chance.
By killing them, each one released a Celestial essence within their blood, which strengthened the Mannaz with Enfield’s blood. So the real purpose wasn’t just to cross through the worlds — it was to exterminate that race.
As for Mannaz with Divine Dragon blood, they weren’t barred from entering, but their gains were much more limited. The draconic bloodline refused to absorb the Celestial essence, as if it were something impure and unworthy. Still, there were unique treasures born exclusively in that place — so those Mannaz could focus on that instead and still get something valuable.
Howlyn, having already seen the level of treasures Darian brought back, commented sincerely, "Compared to what the Lord already has, those treasures are almost trash. But, simple as they are, they’re incredibly rare — even if you searched through countless universes... at least, that’s what Enfield said in the past."
Darian nodded, satisfied. Treasures weren’t really a problem for him — what mattered was variety. It didn’t matter if he had a thousand or two thousand of one thing. What he needed was many different types — to open up more possibilities.
