Immediately after leaving the toxic forest, the group made their way to Theasi. Even though Damien said it was close, in reality, it was close to 2,000 kilometers away.

The only reason this distance looked short was because of the power of their squad.

Because everyone in the squad had power that at least surpassed mid-rank 4th class, they made it to Theasi within half an hour.

“Tyler, how do the three of you usually do reconnaissance?” Damien asked when they arrived a few hundred kilometers away from the base.

“Reconnaissance usually ends up being my job. I have a few tamed beasts with stealth-based abilities and transformation abilities, so I can get by. Though, since stealth isn’t my specialty, it can only be called base-level information gathering.” Tyler responded after some thought.

He didn’t hide anything, telling the blatant truth even if that meant bringing down his value as a team member.

Damien nodded in appreciation at his straightforwardness.

“That’s fine then. Zara, do you mind taking the job?”

“No problem.”

Zara responded without much thought and melted into the ground, turning into a shadow that blended with the scenery and disappeared.

“That…” Tyler muttered.

“Hm? Is there a problem?” Damien asked curiously.

“No, it’s morning. I’ve just never seen someone who can use Shadow Laws so blatantly. The shadow affinity is one people tend to disregard since it can only show its prowess with the presence of darkness.”

“Is she that strange? She’s been able to do things like this since she was young.”

“Mm, she is talented enough to utilize her Laws in innovative ways that others couldn’t think of. This level of talent far exceeds us.”

“Aha, that reminds me. I never got to know you three’s Heaven’s List rankings.” Damien suddenly said.

Tyler scratched his head sheepishly.

“That’s probably because we aren’t too special. We’ve barely made our way into the 10,000s. Synth has the highest ranking at 8,127. Ash is second with 8,442, and I’m…well, I haven’t made it into the 8000s yet.” He spoke in an embarrassed tone.

Damien shook his head. In fact, making it into the top 10,000 on Heaven’s List essentially meant that they were in the top 1% of the universe’s geniuses. While not everyone was counted on Heaven’s List, it still outlined a considerable portion of the universe’s talent.

This ranking couldn’t match up to Emperors like Damien and Atticus, but it was more than just decent.

While Damien and Tyler continued conversing, the shadows nearby coalesced and Zara’s form emerged from the ground.

“Got everything?” Damien asked.

“Of course,” Zara replied with a smile.

She’d only been gone for around ten minutes, but that was more than enough time.

Her mana moved delicately, particles of ice forming in the air and combining into the form of a city. This ice sculpture was precise down to the very last detail; a scaled-down model of Theasi.

“The city’s layout isn’t very complicated, and the Nox didn’t change it when they overtook it. Infiltrating wouldn’t be a problem, but there’s no need for it.” Zara started explaining.

“There is a considerable number of 3rd class Nox and below, but the main firepower of the base lies in the 100 Higher Nox residing there. But even they’re only early-stage 4th class beings with a single mid-stage 4th class leading them.”

Damien nodded as he watched Zara explain the base’s structure and the troops’ positioning. It was thorough intelligence to the point where it was overkill for the size of the base they were raiding.

After thinking for a moment, Damien opened his mouth to speak.

“I’ll take this one with Zara. Save your strength, since I’m going to make you do all the heavy lifting from this point forth.” He said to the accompanying trio.

“A-all of it?!” Synth exclaimed.

Damien grinned. “Chill, I’ll help out if it looks like you guys can’t handle it. But…you came here for experience, didn’t you…?”

With an evil smile decorating his face, he finished his words. “I’ll make sure you get all the training you could possibly want.”

With that, he grabbed hold of Zara and teleported away, arriving at Theasi.

“Was it okay to leave them by themselves?” Zara asked when they rematerialized.

“Eh, it’ll be fine,” Damien replied nonchalantly. “Instead of worrying about them, let’s take care of our own business. What do you think, should we do it like old times and race to see who kills the most?”

Zara glanced at Damien and smiled. “Hmph, if you think you can still beat me as badly as before, I’ll prove you wrong!”

pαndα-noνɐ1,сoМ

Kraaaaah!

Together, thousands of mindless Nox beings charged at Zara with claws and razor-sharp appendages slashing about. Their inky black forms were gruesome to look at, and as Zara began killing them, ink splashed about onto the paved roads of the city.

Zara didn’t even bother to use techniques on these lesser beings. Back when she first fought one with Damien and Rose, they’d been too weak to cope with the Nox’s frightening regeneration factor. But now…

With every swipe of her hand, hundreds fell. It wasn’t even a challenge to take out the several thousand Lesser Nox that were charging towards her.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Ink piled up on the streets like rainwater as Zara’s shadows permeated the air. She moved through the city with ease, slowly making her way towards the 4th classes.

But before she could reach their location, she noticed something odd.

The ink polluting the ground was wriggling around like it was alive. It was coalescing together, and with each second, the large ink ball they formed grew larger and larger.

‘What is this?’ Zara wondered. Unlike Damien who’d seen many imparted memories of the Nox, Zara didn’t have much information on them.

Instead of stopping the process before it could finish, she decided to watch what happened when they were done.

And soon she found her answer.

The ink ball grew until the streets were clean once more. Its surface hardened into something akin to a shell, and when it cracked…

A greyish-black hand punched out from within.

“Hm…” a mutter came from the being that stepped out of the ink egg. It looked at its new body in marvel.

“We have been…reborn…”

Zara’s eyes narrowed. ‘A…4th class? How is that possible?’

Even if they were otherworldly invaders, the Nox still followed the same growth system as everyone else. For a phenomenon like this to take place was simply impossible.

After all, a 4th class wasn’t just an amalgamation of 3rd class beings. Even if one transmuted thousands of 3rd class beings into a single larger existence, it would merely be a stronger 3rd class.

To access Laws, to connect with the universe, to contain higher forms of mana, one needed to pass their Baptism and reach 4th class.

Yet…why was it that she could feel the energy of laws from this newly-born Nox?

For a moment, Zara was stumped.

‘Never mind. I can just ask Damien about it when we finish here.’ She thought to herself. She’d yet to ask him for information about the Nox both due to circumstance and pride, but in a situation like this, she didn’t care about pride anymore.

What she wanted were answers, answers about her origins and answers about her race. And if she had to lean on someone to get those answers…

As long as it was Damien, she didn’t mind at all.