Daekol memang sedang sibuk. Di sela-sela menyerap energi bergizi yang diberikan Aula Powa kepadanya. Namanya Panen Universal, sebab energi itu dipanen paksa dari alam semesta sendiri.
Energi itu teramat langka, bahkan sebenarnya tak bisa didapatkan. Bahkan para Dao Lord tak punya cara memperolehnya. Setahu Daekol, Aula Powa satu-satunya tempat yang memilikinya, dan energi itu diberikan kepada mereka yang menyelesaikan misi tersulit. Nilainya di luar nalar.
Energi itu berperan penting dalam rencana Daekol. Dengan Panen Universal, ia akan menciptakan fondasi terkuat bagi pendakiannya ke alam Dao. Ia tak puas hanya sekadar masuk alam Dao. Tidak, tujuan dan ambisinya lebih jauh, itulah sebabnya ia menyiapkan kondisi terbaik untuk memperkuat dirinya.
Mendapatkan sistem yang lebih kuat adalah salah satu syaratnya. Ia sudah menyadari bahwa gara-gara campur tangannya pada fungsi sistem, sistem itu dicegah memberinya imbalan terbaik. Untuk mendapatkannya, ia harus mengikuti aturan sistem itu sendiri—namun ia tak tertarik.
Kalau ia bisa menaikkan level sistemnya cukup tinggi, imbalan yang biasa saja pun akan cukup untuk tujuannya.
Jadi, bahkan saat mengolah Panen Universal, Daekol tak berhenti bekerja. Ia tak berhenti bersiap. Perlahan, ia mengumpulkan informasi tentang targetnya—tentang keunggulannya, kelemahannya, titik lemahnya.
Salah satu hal yang ia pelajari adalah pada dasarnya mustahil melacak Lex. Sering kali Lex ditemukan di dalam Midnight Inn, tapi setiap kali ia keluar, bahkan para Dao Lord tak bisa melacaknya. Tapi, dengan dukungan Dao Lord seperti Pengelola Inn, hal itu masuk akal.
Maka ia mulai menyiapkan cara untuk memancing Lex. Menggunakan kekuatan dan keistimewaannya di Aula Powa, Daekol memperoleh Mirage portabel—wujud yang lahir dari pikiran seorang Dao Lord kuat. Apa pun yang terjadi di dalamnya akan tersembunyi dari pendeteksian semua makhluk di luar, Dao Lord maupun bukan.
Namun, itu jauh dari cukup. Ia bahkan menggunakan pengaruhnya untuk tanpa henti menyisir alam semesta demi kelemahan Lex. Ia tak berharap hasil cepat—ia hanya berharap mendapat sesuatu saat siap bergerak. Siapa sangka ia menemukannya jauh sebelum itu?
Sebuah penglihatan muncul di hadapannya, terdeteksi lewat cara rumit para Dao Lord dari Jalur Kekacauan. Penglihatan itu menunjukkan seorang gadis kecil, terkurung dalam kandang, diserang Fenrir yang tidak murni. Itu hampir tak cukup menarik perhatiannya. Namun, tindakan pertahanan di sekeliling gadis itu, terutama proyeksi Lex yang muncul sesaat kemudian, sangat menarik minatnya.
Jadi gadis kecil ini berada di bawah perlindungan Lex? Ia bisa memanfaatkannya. Daekol memanggil pengawal pribadinya, yang dilatihnya sendiri, dan mengirim mereka dalam misi. Mereka hanya perlu menemukan gadis itu, dan memastikan Lex tak bisa menemukannya.
Daekol, bagaimanapun, terus menonton ulang penglihatan itu, memetik setiap serpihan informasi yang bisa ia pelajari tentang Lex. Tanpa ampun dan tak kenal belas kasihan... sifat itu juga dimiliki Daekol. Terlebih lagi, ia sangat teliti.
Sementara Midnight Inn fokus menarik tamu-tamunya dari alam Dream, kekuatan tak terhitung di seluruh alam semesta juga tak tenang. Aliansi Humanoid, entitas raksasa itu, mulai bergerak sebagai satu kesatuan. Aliansi itu menguasai lebih dari satu atau dua alam Mayor. Hampir semua ras utama di dalam aliansi, seperti Elf, Celestial, Iblis, menguasai setidaknya satu alam Mayor sendiri.
Lalu, aliansi sebagai entitas juga menguasai alam Mayor. Jumlah kekuatan dan sumber daya yang dibutuhkan untuk menguasai aset yang ada sudah tak terbayangkan, itulah sebabnya dalam perang ini mereka sejauh ini bertahan.
Namun, kini banyak kekuatan yang mengamati dan memata-matai aliansi mulai melaporkan aktivitas mencurigakan dan tak biasa, seolah mereka bersiap untuk sesuatu.
Di dalam Eden sendiri, perang antara Angel dan Seraphim memanas. Keduanya punya banyak Dao Lord, tapi bedanya, sebelumnya Seraphim mengandalkan aliansinya untuk menahan Angel.
Kini seluruh alam semesta kacau, Seraphim tak bisa mendapat bantuan sebanyak sebelumnya. Kecenderungan umum perang tampak berpihak pada Angel. Terlalu dini untuk memastikan, tapi dengan laju saat ini, dalam hanya beberapa ribu tahun, kendali seluruh Eden akan jatuh ke tangan ras Angel.
Jika itu terjadi, rencana nephilim Iblis dan Angel bisa berlanjut. Itu... kemungkinan yang terlalu berbahaya, dan banyak yang tak ingin melihatnya terjadi. Namun, selama bertahun-tahun tak terhitung, Angel juga tak tinggal diam. Mereka pun membuat banyak aliansi secara rahasia dengan janji berbagi kekayaan bila proyek nephilim selesai. Hasil akhir pertempuran ini pun menjadi tak pasti.
Banyak pertempuran penting lain terjadi antara ras-ras saingan di seluruh alam semesta, semuanya diamati oleh kekuatan tak terhitung.
Namun, ada beberapa yang tak bisa diamati, seperti ras Sage, atau ras-ras tua yang terlupakan yang sengaja menghindari sorotan Spektrum Cosmic Ascendance. Apakah mereka tetap diam, atau sudah mulai bergerak, tak ada yang bisa tahu pasti.
Itu tak mencegah rumor. Rumor mengatakan bahkan ras Sage dan ras tua yang terlupakan mulai bergerak... seolah mereka menerima perintah yang bahkan mereka tak bisa tolak.
Di tengah semua kekacauan dan ketidakpastian ini, peristiwa kecil yang tampak sepele menjadi mudah terabaikan. Damian Arban Williams, seorang thrall tak dikenal dan tak berarti dari Asosiasi Heavenly Overlords, muncul di dalam alam Tyranum—alam yang dikuasai ras Tyranis. Fakta bahwa alam ini dulunya dikuasai beberapa keluarga manusia kuat seperti Sephore atau Agnew, sudah dilupakan sebagian besar orang.
Daekol was occupied, that much was true. Between absorbing the nourishing energy provided to him by the Hall of Powa. It was called the Universal Harvest, for it had been forcefully harvested from the universe itself.
It was beyond rare, for it was actually unattainable. Even Dao Lords had no way of acquiring it. As far as Daekol knew, the Hall of Powa was the only place that had it, and it was awarded to those who completed the most difficult missions given out. Its value was beyond comprehension.
It played a significant role in Daekol’s plan. With the Universal Harvest, he would create the strongest foundation for his ascension into the Dao realm. He was not satisfied with just entering the Dao realm. No, his goals, his ambitions lay further, which is why he was preparing the best possible conditions for himself to grow stronger.
Getting his hands on an even stronger system was one of his requirements. He had already noticed that because of his interference with the function of the systems, it was prevented from giving him the best rewards. To do that, he’d need to play by the rules of the system itself - yet he was not interested in that.
If he could raise his systems level high enough, even a substandard reward would be good enough for his purposes.
Thus, even while he processed the Universal Harvest, Daekol had not stopped working. He had not stopped preparing. Slowly, steadily, he had been gathering information on his target - on his strengths, his weaknesses, his vulnerabilities.
One of the things he learned was that it was basically impossible to track Lex. A lot of the time he was found inside the Midnight Inn, but whenever he left, even Dao Lords could not track him. But then again, with the backing of a Dao Lord like the Innkeeper, such a thing made sense.
So, he had begun his preparations to find a way to lure Lex. Using his powers and privileges in the Hall of Powa, Daekol had acquired a portable Mirage - an existence born from the thoughts of a powerful Dao Lord. Anything that happened within would be hidden from detection from all beings outside, Dao Lord or not.
However, that was far from enough. He’d even used his influence to relentlessly search the universe for any weakness he could find for Lex. He did not expect quick results - he merely hoped that he’d get something by the time he was ready to move. Who knew he’d find something long before then?
A vision appeared in front of him, detected through the complex means of the Dao Lords of the Path of Chaos. The vision showed a small girl, caught in a cage, being attacked by an impure Fenrir. It was hardly enough to catch his attention. However, the defensive measures around her, especially the projection of Lex that appeared a moment later, were of great interest to him.
So this small girl was under Lex’s protection? He could use that. Daekol summoned his personal guards, trained by himself personally, and sent them out on a mission. They merely had to find the girl, and make sure that Lex could not find her.
Daekol, however, continued to rewatch the vision, gleaning every shred of information he could learn about Lex. Merciless and unforgiving... those were traits Daekol had too. Moreover, he was incredibly meticulous.
While the Midnight Inn was focusing on retrieving their guests from the Dream realm, the countless forces across the universe were not at peace either. The Humanoid Alliance, the behemoth entity, had begun to move as a whole. The Alliance controlled more than just one or two Major realms. Almost all of the main races within the alliance, such as Elves, Celestial, Devils, controlled at least one Major realm themselves.
Then, the alliance as an entity too controlled a Major realm. The amount of power and resources required to control their preexisting assets was already unbelievable, which is why in this war, they had been on the defensive so far.
Now, however, many forces that had been observing and spying on the alliance started to report suspicious and unusual activity, as if they were gearing up for something.
Within Eden itself, the war between the Angels and the Seraphim was heating up. Both of them had numerous Dao Lords, but the difference was that previously the Seraphim had relied on its alliances to keep the Angels at bay.
Now that the whole universe was in chaos, the Seraphim could not get as much assistance as they had previously. The general trend of the war seemed to lean in the Angels favor. It was too soon to tell, but at the current rate, in only a few thousand years, control of all of Eden would fall to the Angel race.
If that was the case, the Devils and Angels nephilim plan could proceed. That... was too dangerous a possibility, and many did not want to see such a thing happen. However, over the countless years, the Angels had not been idle either. They, too, had created many alliances in secret with promises to share in their wealth if the nephilim project was completed. The final outcome of this battle, thus, became uncertain.
Many other key battles were happening between rival races across the universe, all of which were being observed by countless forces.
However, there were a few who could not be observed, such as the Sage races, or such as the old, forgotten races that purposefully avoided the limelight of the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. Whether they remained idle, or they had begun to move, no one could know for certain.
That did not prevent rumors, though. Rumor had it that even the Sage races, and the old forgotten races had begun to mobilise... almost as if they had received orders even they could not reject.
It was in the midst of all this chaos and uncertainty that small, seemingly trivial events became easily overlooked. Damian Arban Williams, an unknown, insignificant thrall of the Heavenly Overlords Association, appeared within the Tyranum realm - a realm controlled by the Tyranis race. The fact that this realm was once controlled by a few, powerful human families such as the Sephore or Agnew, had already been forgotten by most.
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