RE - Ascension

"Heinz! Zeke! What are you two doing?"

When Gareth's group was in the middle of enjoying their lunch, Diandra suddenly shouted.

"Sorry Diandra, but wearing this talisman is a bit weird for us."

"Yes, Miss... It's uncomfortable to not feeling our furs after a long time. Please, let us take the talismans off just for a while..."

Heinz and Zeke were complaining about the talismans they just take off, but there was something odd about their appearances. They were no longer looking like a pair of human twins, but instead, their form currently was completely different.

Heinz has a huge robust body that was entirely covered by grayish furs, and his head similar to a wolf head.

While Zeke has a lean but tall body with black furs that appears to be very soft. Different from Heinz, Zeke has a dog-like head.

"But..." As Diandra was about to retort them, she was stopped by Gareth who said, "It's alright, Diandra. Just let them take off those talismans. There's nobody else here except for us. No one will saw them..."

Diandra could only sigh and let the matter go after she heard Gareth's words.

Both Heinz and Zeke were not from the human race and they were also not twins, they're not even related to each other. They were, in fact, the members of Beastman races.

Beastman races were collections of sentient races which the members mostly have humanoid bodies and animal-like heads. Some of the Beastman races even have human-like bodies and heads, but their bodies also possessed animal characteristics like tails, unique ears and many others.

Heinz was a Wolfman and Zeke was a Kobold.

Before they set off from the central continent, Gareth has given them a pair of talismans that can change the wearer's outer appearances.

According to the information regarding the eastern continent that Gareth has. Almost 70% of Eastern Profound Continent's landmass was populated by humans, and these local humans hold animosity attitudes toward the Beastman races.

Every member of the Beastman races suffered harsh discriminations inside the regions governed by humans.

Not many safe havens exist for the Beastmans, except for a region near the eastern coast of the continent, where several kingdoms ruled by the members of Beastman races were located.

The relationship between these two races has always been bad ever since a long time ago. Several wars have been waged due to these constant frictions.

That was the reason why Gareth had ordered both of them to mask their real appearances. He doesn't want any unnecessary problems to arise because of this matter.

If this place was the central continent, there would be no problem for the two to show their real appearances. Humans of the central continent have no special opinions regarding Beastman races or any other races. In fact, most people there didn't even care at all about racial differences.

Power and wealth were the things that mattered the most in the central continent. If you were strong and rich, people would admire you, but if you were weak and penniless then people would look down on you instead.

"Hahaha, you hear that Diandra? Young Master said we can take this talisman's off, hehe..." Heinz laughed in satisfaction.

"Thank you, Young Master." Zeke thanked Gareth by bowing slightly.

Gareth looked at his two subordinates. Both of them were now busy scratching and c.a.r.e.s.sing their furs, a typical habit of the furred Beastmans.

Each of them has different personalities: Heinz was brash, loud and he always said everything that comes into his mind without a filter, while Zeke was a bit reserved, calm and polite. Even though they were from different races, these two always stick to each other as if they were a pair of brothers.

Gareth always felt funny because of their antics.

Sitting next to him was Arda, who was busy eating his lunch without care of other things. This kid was really gluttonous.

"Take it easy while you're eating, the food isn't going anywhere." Gareth advised him as Arda devouring his food furiously as if he hasn't eaten for days.

Arda waited until he had finished munching the food in his mouth before replying, "Big bro, mind your own business... I'm having a battle now, don't disturb me."

Then, he continues eating again.

'This kid eats a lot, but his body still not growing. Incredible...' Gareth wondered inside his mind.

As he already finished his lunch earlier, he began to relax his body and enjoy his rest.

Diandra was still a little worried about the possibilities that Heinz and Zeke would be seen by local people.

However, she thought that even if they were being seen, there should be nothing bad happens to them as she remembered those two were also powerful warriors.

Each of them has the cultivation of 4th rank Martial Saint.

4th rank Martial Saints were extremely powerful entities even in the central continent, not to mention if they were placed in this backwater land.

To be honest, they were really famous back at home due to their strength. Who doesn't know about the two Beastman guard of the Dorian clan in the central continent?

The answer was no one.

What's more, Diandra was with them this time. She was also a capable warrior. In fact, she was stronger than them.

Diandra was a distinguished female warrior with the cultivation of 5th rank Martial Saints. She was regarded as one of the most celebrated cultivation genius in the entire central continent.

Not only did she have a powerful strength, but she's also a beautiful woman. Due to that, she has become the object of adoration by many people, especially men who have seen or heard about her.

Powerhouses across the central continent were extremely envious of the Dorian clan because of those three.

Reaching the realm of Martial Saint at their age was extremely difficult and tedious. Only the most talented geniuses could have done that, and those geniuses were as rare as diamonds.

After she realized that, Diandra's mind becomes relaxed.

As she had known through the information that they have. Martial Saint was the peak powerhouses in the eastern continent, and their quantity wasn't as much as the central continent have.

Even though those local Martial Saints could not be underestimated, Diandra and her group should be fine if they didn't deliberately provoke any trouble.

If their strength wasn't enough, they still have their powerful Young Master.

The Young Master was an enigma to the people who didn't knew him personally. Different from the three of them, their Young Master was almost completely unknown.

Most people only know that the Dorian clan has two young direct descendants, and one of them was their Young Master.

It was the result of Young Master Gareth being too low-profile when doing his activities.

But as one of the closest people to him, Diandra knows exactly how powerful he was.

She felt that describing him as a mere genius was simply insulting him. He was the most talented person Diandra has ever seen, and she was sure that he has no equal.

He was the one who had trained her and the other orphans in the matter of cultivation. All of their achievement was because of him.

Even though he seldom showing his cultivation to her, Diandra knew that Young Master Gareth's cultivation has reached the Martial Sage realm. Unfortunately, she didn't know what stage he exactly was.

But undoubtedly, Young Master Gareth was a genuine Martial Sage cultivator.

A 31 year old Martial Sage. Someone who could do that was not simply a genius but a monster instead.

Many cultivators didn't even dare to dream about reaching the Martial Sage realm. They were already satisfied and happy enough if they could become a Saint or at least a Grandmaster.

If the news was leaked, it would definitely shake the entire Profound Magnificent World.

Martial Sage was a legendary cultivation realm in the minds of every people of this world. This realm represents the peak existences that cannot be defied by other lesser realm.

The number of Martial Sages that exists in this world did not exceed 40 people. And almost all of them were concentrated in the central continent.

A power that has the protection of even one Martial Sage could be regarded as a medium power. The Dorian clan, for example, only has five Martial Sages among their ranks, six if Gareth was included.

But with only those five Martial Sages, the clan was able to command the respect of many people and was regarded as one of the major powerhouses. A key player in the central continent's geopolitics.

Because of the resources that were important to cultivation was extremely rare, and the fact that the concentration of Martial Essences was insufficiently low compared to the central continent, which further combined by the low amount of martial heritage as well as the scarcity of talented cultivators.

Both the eastern and western continents could not produce the same amount of Martial Sages as the central continent. Resulting in Martial Sages has become a mere myth in the minds of people from both continents.

However, each of those two continents still has a Martial Sage expert that acted as protectors from behind the scene.

All of that was the proof of Martial Sage's prowess.

Diandra thought, with Young Master Gareth beside them, there were nothing and no one in this continent that could be a threat to them.

But she was still clueless about the exact reason why they came to this place. Gareth hasn't informed them yet.

Diandra keeps staring at Gareth while she's pondering about her curiosity.

Sensing her stare, Gareth also began to look at her.

"What's wrong Diandra? Is there something bothering you?" Asked Gareth calmly.

Diandra was hesitated for a moment before inquiring, "Young Master, for exactly what reason we came to this place?"

Hearing that, Gareth suddenly recalled something, "Ah! I still haven't told you all about it, huh?"

"Yes..." Diandra replied shortly while nodding.

Heinz, Zeke, and even Arda started to listening as they were also curious about Gareth's motive.

"Alright." Said Gareth, then he took a small crystal-like item from his Space Ring.

"We're here for this particular thing..." Gareth declared the reason as he handed over the item to Diandra.

After Diandra received it, she closely examined the item. The other three people curiously staring at it as well.

"That... That is a Crystal Essence right?" Heinz suddenly asked.

Beside him, Zeke shakes his head, "No... Although it's similar to the Crystal Essence, this thing looks kinda different."

Diandra nodded in agreement, "That's right, this is not a Crystal Essence." She looked back at Gareth and asked, "Young Master, What is this thing exactly?"

"Well, that is precisely a Crystal Essences..." Gareth answered with a light smile.

Crystal Essences was one of the most important cultivation resources that every cultivator needed. It's basically a crystallization form of Martial Essences that was produced naturally. These crystals can only be found in locations where there was a high concentration of Martial Essence.

Those places were located mostly deep underground, so people need to built mines around them in order to extract the crystals.

Central Profound Continent has the largest quantity of Crystal Essence's mines in the entire Profound Magnificent World, and these mines were mostly under control by major powerhouses.

Crystal Essences possessed a very pure and abundant Martial Essences. It's more beneficial for cultivators to absorb the essences from these crystals, instead of absorbing it directly from nature.

In addition, Crystal Essences was also being utilized as a form of currency in the central continent.

"What! It can't be, right? I mean, I didn't sense any Martial Essences inside this thing. Besides, this crystal has a different color. What kind of Crystal Essences is this?" Hearing that the item was actually a Crystal Essences, Diandra was stupefied.

The other three people also have mixed expressions of surprised and confused.

Because according to their common sense, the usual crystals that they know of has an almost transparent white color, while the one in Diandra's hand has a beautiful blueish color.

On top of that, cultivators should be able to sense or feel the presence of Martial Essences within the crystals, even if the essences have been completely used. However, they didn't feel any trace of Martial Essences inside Gareth's crystal at all.

Gareth took the crystal back from Diandra, and played it with his hand as he replies, "It's a different type of Crystal Essences, the type that couldn't be produced in this world."

Gareth's word makes the four people even more stupefied.

All of them wondered, 'If that crystal cannot be produced in this world, from where did the crystal come then?'

Seeing that the other people have gotten even more confused, Gareth decided to explain to them about his crystal.

Basically, the crystal in his hand was a different type of Crystal Essence, and it was called the "Divine Crystal."

Divine Crystal was originated from the Divine Realm, and it has similar functions to the Crystal Essences of this world. Unlike the Crystal Essence, the Divine Crystal was formed from the crystallization of Divine Essences, a more powerful type of natural energy than Martial Essence, which only exists in the Divine Realm.

This energy can only be sense and utilize by cultivators above the Martial Emperor realm. That's why Diandra and others were unable to feel the energy inside Gareth's Divine Crystal.

Actually, with Gareth's current level, he shouldn't be able to use the crystal too, but he has a trick under his sleeve that would allow him to utilize the crystal.

Gareth only explained some necessary information to his people, he did not reveal anything that was too complex to them. He had even omitted the source of his knowledge, he only said that he had acquired the knowledge from a place he visited in the past.

To be honest, what he had told them was partially true.

He has been trying to find the Divine Crystals ever since he was being reincarnated. During the age of the Divine Emperors, the circulation of Divine Crystal should have reached the Mortal Realm as well, even though the amount was probably small.

However, he couldn't find those crystals even after searching them for years.

But about 2 years ago, Gareth discovered an old record inside a vestige, that was left behind by an ancient cultivator, in the central continent. The record shortly mentioned the existences of an unknown type of bluish-colored crystals. Gareth assumed that the bluish crystals should be the Divine Crystal.

His conjecture was based on the fact that the crystal, that was mentioned in the record, have the same description as the Divine Crystal.

Then, he followed the trace of that ancient cultivator into another vestige, where he proved his conjecture by finding the actual Divine Crystal.

However, he could only found one crystal, which was not enough for his consumption.

"So, that's why you've been ordering the clan's intelligence apparatus to investigate Sage Galhart." Said Diandra as she had realized about something.

"That's right..." Gareth nodded and replied shortly.

Sage Galhart was an ill.u.s.trious cultivator from 10,000 years ago, and he's the one who had left behind the record about the Divine Crystal.

The record also mentioned several other vestiges that Galhart has. But their exact location wasn't completely described.

Gareth postulated that Galhart might still possess several more of those crystals, and had stored them inside his other vestiges. That's why Gareth had ordered his clan's intelligence agency to gather information regarding everything related to Sage Galhart.

His luck finally turned for the better, when one of his subordinates informed him that Galhart's name was mentioned by a group of people from a rival powerhouse.

After further investigation, it was revealed to Gareth that those group of people has discovered one of Galhart's vestige that was located in the southwestern coast of Eastern Profound Continent, and they have also start preparing to excavate it.

Knowing that, Gareth did not hesitate, he and his group immediately rushed to the eastern continent.

"Now, since I've already told you the reason we came to this place, are you satisfied?" Asked Gareth after finishing his explanation.

"Yes, Young Master. You can count on us. We'll definitely help you find those crystals." Diandra replied energetically.

She was always happy whenever she has a chance to be useful for her Young Master.

Heinz, Zeke, and Arda nods in agreement too.

"Thank you, everyone." Gareth thanked them sincerely.