Damned Healer-Chapter 556: Definitely Suspicious

Darian and his group returned to the imperial planet of the Rainbow Cranes after a few days away. As soon as they arrived, Clanne and all the important figures of that race, except the Emperor, ran out to welcome them.

During that time, the Rainbow Cranes followed the coordinates Darian had given them, using flying ships and burning the resources they couldn’t keep. They trusted his words and arrived at the planet where the large army of Spiritual Guardians allied with Darian was stationed.

They quickly presented a rune with the dark power Darian had left behind. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Lucy and Lucius were the only ones who could absorb and read his message. They quickly understood the general situation and selected a few people to go with Veyle.

She arrived on the planet a few days earlier and began making pills, as well as teaching the Rainbow Cranes alchemy. They weren’t good at creating or developing those things, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t learn. Because of the big problem their race faced, many of them gave their all to become alchemists over time.

In a short time, everyone realized that those teachings would forever change the race. But it wasn’t just that: the people who came with Veyle were the most skilled trainers of the clan. Alongside Czaza, who ignited their Bloodline, those people began teaching these Heavenly Beasts.

Of course, they were cultivators and had fought their whole lives; they didn’t really need training. But they soon discovered that they had only fought against cultivators and knew almost nothing about the Spiritual Guardians. It was like they were two completely different races. That’s why this training was essential.

Meanwhile, Darian went to have a new meeting with the Emperor.

He negotiated for the resources the Rainbow Cranes had, using everything he had recently "earned". The Emperor quickly became embarrassed. That was because Darian didn’t mind clearly taking a loss in that exchange, making everything very favorable to the Rainbow Cranes, helping them a lot.

Then, the Emperor told Darian something interesting. Something Darian had skimmed in the library but never looked into deeply.

In the war of the three past divinities against the missionary, they weren’t alone. In this universe, there was also a Primordial Beast.

This Primordial Beast was weaker than the three divinities, and it also fought on their side to protect the universe. But... in the middle of the war, they discovered that the Primordial Beast had betrayed them. It negotiated with the missionary to become his spy.

The three divinities were furious and obviously killed it. But they did so intelligently, because losing their combat power completely would have been a big problem.

In short, they picked an empty rocky planet in the universe and created a massive immortal inscription there. They lured the Primordial Beast to that place, then joined forces and destroyed its soul. But they managed to preserve its power core, sealing it inside the planet.

That planet became a great primordial tomb, called Planet Graveheart.

The three divinities configured the immortal inscription to turn that place into a training ground for the three races, using the beast’s power core. Over time, it proved extremely effective, raising the average strength of the soldiers significantly.

Later, when the final battle erupted and the divinities died, the immortal inscription still worked, but the planet only opened when the Convention was close to happening, because it sensed the connection with the other universe getting weaker.

Soon, planet Graveheart became a kind of pre-Convention training ground for the three races.

Exactly six months before the Convention started, the place could be visited by everyone. Inside it, if the three races dared to fight each other, the inscription would detect it and kill them all as punishment. So it was a safe place to train.

"This place doesn’t stop other races from entering, right?" Darian asked the Emperor.

He nodded. "Anyone can enter planet Graveheart. But the main benefits were left only for the Heavenly Beasts."

Darian smiled; good things were waiting for him to collect. High-level universes were incredible, and now he wanted to visit as many as he could whenever possible.

The Emperor saw Darian’s smile and expression, feeling a chill run down his spine. Darian was full of bad intentions, like a professional looter.

***

The first six months inside that universe passed.

At that moment, Darian selected only a thousand Spiritual Guardians from all the ones who came with him into this universe. He had a good idea of the type of training that existed on that planet: it was a training of will and psychological endurance.

That was essential for cultivators because cultivation was like going against the Laws of the world, always pushing yourself to the limit.

But Spiritual Guardians were literally favored by the heavens, and could reach immense levels of power without dealing with any of that. All they needed was luck and techniques to survive in the training universe; that way, they would kill the Risen and accumulate Merit Power. Meanwhile, cultivation wasn’t just a matter of resource accumulation; it had many complex factors involved.

Darian specifically chose a thousand people he judged to have weaker wills. Most were people who were already powerful when they joined Darian and hadn’t gone through major storms in their lives.

Niara obviously went with him, and Alear would follow him anywhere he went. Darian was now destined to walk with those two everywhere.

The Rainbow Cranes said goodbye to Niara and Alear with a bit of relief. In those six months, they ate every day like two entire armies, and the race had to move ships to dozens of other planets just to find enough food for the two of them.

Meanwhile, Darian helped the Rainbow Cranes a dozen times. The Twilight Owls, knowing Darian was with them, started attacking the few remaining Rainbow Crane planets with intense hatred.

Eleri and Tir were very satisfied with the great feasts offered to them every time.

Once everything was ready, the flying ship shot toward a distant point in the universe. Inside, besides the thousand Spiritual Guardians, there were almost a hundred thousand distinguished Rainbow Cranes, commanded by Supreme General Clanne.

In less than a day, Darian spotted a planet covered by a barrier of colorful runes. They weren’t very bright, but when he focused on them, a chill ran down his spine. That was the power of three immortals, the Divinities of the universe.

The flying ship approached and passed through the runes easily.

There were no oceans, no cities, nothing like that. It was a rocky planet with no life at all, the ground completely red, as if it were made of blood. Its size should’ve been about half of Earth’s, by comparison.

At the center of everything, there was a powerful spatial distortion a few meters wide, clouding whatever was inside. That was where the body of the Primordial Beast and its power core were.

No one had ever entered that place, not because it was impossible, but because the difficulty level was absurdly high, and no one had ever been capable. The whole planet had been designed as a training ground by the Divinities, and it was said that inside was the hardest test, and also the one with the greatest rewards.

Everyone who arrived on the planet was forced to land at the poles. That was where the test was the easiest.

Darian landed at the North Pole. As soon as they stepped onto the dry ground, besides the strong and nauseating smell of blood, everyone felt something pressing on their bodies, as if a hammer hit their chests.

It was still subtle and bearable for anyone, but with each step toward the center of the planet, it became harder and harder.

The Heavenly Beasts were pretty simple. It wasn’t a complex test or anything like that. Basically, within one-third of the way to the final barrier, an increasingly strong physical pressure pushed down on everyone. Then came a mental pressure, and lastly, a spiritual pressure.

All you had to do was walk and endure. The further you went, the better and more beneficial it was.

The Rainbow Cranes always stayed in the first layer, because of their physical problem and the decay of their entire race. The Twilight Owls managed to reach the second, and a few even reached the third. But...

The third Heavenly Beast race of this universe was the one that benefited the most from this place. They were called the Three-Eyed Raven.

Darian and all the planets that received the Rank S mission had gotten summarized information about the three ruling races of this universe. In short, the Three-Eyed Raven had complete control over the three energies of life.

Not only that, they had techniques capable of accumulating and sealing those energies inside their bodies to use in emergencies. And, in this training planet, luckily for them, the power core of the Primordial Beast released exactly that kind of energy.

Because of that, the Three-Eyed Raven race always sent all their people whenever the planet was accessible.

Not only that, that race had triple the population of the Twilight Owls. That was because they had no shame in producing hybrids with humanoids, who were way more fertile, and accepting them as soldiers with a minimum status in the race.

With even a bit of Bloodline, even hybrids could reach the third level of this place and accumulate a lot of power in their cores. So, in the Convention, they all had terrifying fighting potential.

As a result, the Three-Eyed Raven were always the most benefited in the Convention, and could be considered the number-one race of the universe in terms of power.

But the Twilight Owls reversed that by focusing on another area. They organized themselves to be the main commerce of the universe, as well as hired assassins and anything that generated money. So, even being inferior in strength, they were the richest and could compete for first place. The power of money!

As for the Rainbow Cranes... currently, they were like mediocre ants, waiting for the day they’d be wiped out.

Darian took a deep breath, activating his curse and senses. Awel also appeared and vanished, merging with the atmosphere to see everything Darian couldn’t perceive.

Besides the cloudy region in the center, everything was analyzed by the two in a few minutes.

There was nothing noteworthy on the planet. And, unsurprisingly, the place also had a large population of Spiritual Guardians.

Certainly, after six months, the most powerful ones began exploring the universe. Not because they cared about the three races, but because there could be interesting resources to steal. That’s how they discovered this place.

Darian and Awel saw many Alvs, the race from the number-one planet in the universe. That meant that the people of the three enemy Spiritual Sovereigns knew about the place, and the strongest had come to investigate. But...

"No one from the Wube family?" Darian muttered, surprised. He could easily identify who was from that family, and there really wasn’t anyone.

It had already been a week since the planet opened, and every day inside was too beneficial to waste. So, it was definitely suspicious.

He huffed, signaling everyone to start walking. He couldn’t guess anything without a concrete clue, so he just had to move forward and hope something would show up.

Alear roared, stepping ahead excitedly: "Go Go! Treasures are waiting for us, let’s stea... I mean, conquer everything legitimately, hehehe."