Death… And Me

The twins knew that Etherian couldn't talk about it openly. However, the fact he knew about something like that, and it still existed to be used, meant that the Sacred Land also kept an eye closed. The Sacred Land, or probably its elders, most likely had their hands in some sort of profit from the smugglers. Perhaps even Etherian himself was one of them.

Etherian continued after the twins made their decision. 'Unlike the Sacred Land's official openings with other countries, the cultivator smugglers transfer people to other continents every five years. In the Sacred Land's case, we do that once every ten. Just like here, the smugglers on the other side also have connections to prevent the controlling power of those continents from intervening.'

'However, the most I can do is show you where you can find them. Also, it won't be cheap.'

Rean and Roan already expected that. 'That's fine. As long as it can be bought, we're pretty sure we can raise the necessary money.'

Etherian nodded in response. 'Good. Because although I'm telling you this, I won't give you a single Divine Stone for the trip.' Etherian then warned the twins, 'One more thing. Not many continents use this method. It happens mostly in small continental powers like ours. So before you head out in another continent, looking for smugglers, be aware that you might be delivering yourselves on a silver plate to the powers of those places.'

Roan immediately asked back, 'To know which continents we can use this method, we first need to know in which direction the demon beasts' territory is located. Do you know which side we should go?'

Unfortunately, even Etherian shook his head as he told them, 'I did travel through a few of the continents around Huring. However, I've never thought about heading to the demon beasts' territories. In fact, I've never been to a continent that's controlled by only humanoid races, either. Let alone Spiritual Race ones. Most of the continents around us are jointly controlled by the three powers, with different ratios inside. I doubt anyone in Huring knows of it either due to the distance separating us from such places.'

Etherian had an idea, though. 'However, I do know where you can find this information. There's a continent called Jhiod located northwest of here. However, it's really far away. Even if you travel day and night with a flying demon beast at your level, you would still need at least 100 or so years to arrive. With that being said, you better be prepared to pay for both the smugglers and the teleport formations. That way, you should be able to reduce your travel time from 150 to 20 years.'

Etherian then commented about Jhiod, 'Jhiod has a connection with a humanoid-controlled cluster... or so the rumors I heard say during the time I traveled there. However, I don't know which cluster it is. If that's true, they should be able to provide you with information about the demon beasts' territory. At the very least, they should be able to tell you where that humanoid-controlled power is located. There's no doubt that the power controlling that cluster knows the information you need.'

Rean and Roan became confused. 'Cluster? What's a cluster?'

Only then did Etherian remember that the twins were new to the Realm of Gods. 'Oh, right! You don't have that information. A cluster is a set of at least twenty continents controlled by a single power. That's why it's called a cluster. I don't know who gave this name, but that's how it is. However, I might also be wrong since I've never been to such a place. That's how isolated the Huring Continent is when we think about the Realm of Gods as a whole.'

Rean and Roan nodded in response. Of course, they were still pretending to be having a conversation while drinking some tea with Etherian. 

Rean thought it to be quite convenient, though. 'Northwest, right? That's good since we need to pass by Lanqueas Continent on the west. We can make that our first stop. It's not exactly northwest, but it's something.'

Rean's words immediately reminded Roan of another thing. 'Right. Etherian, you said you knew where I could find Dark Element materials for my breakthrough to the Elemental Transformation Realm.'

Etherian confirmed. 'Indeed. However, Dark Element materials are very hard to come by, even for our Sacred Land. Fortunately, there's one place in our Huring Continent where you can get it. In a certain way, you're lucky and unlucky at the same time. No one has a Dark Element Affinity, as far as I know. That being said, there aren't many people who can find a use for those things. That's why you can still find it since no one wants Dark Element materials. Even the evil path powers like the Blood Path Sect don't have much use for it. Sure, they use Dark Element, but that's a byproduct of the Yin Energy that they control. It's far different from you, who can use Dark Element straight away.'

'Anyway, there's a rock called Life's Nemesis. You probably can imagine why it has such a name, right?'

Roan nodded, saying, 'If this rock really is a Dark Element item, then anywhere it's placed will cause the life around it to whiter and die. Suppose it's thrown in the middle of a forest. I wouldn't be surprised if this rock cleared everything a few hundred meters around it after a few days. That's definitely a suitable name. In fact, I believe most Dark Element items in the Realm of Gods wouldn't have a good name either.'

'That's true,' Etherian agreed with him. 'Leaving its name aside, it's a proper Dark Element material. Since this is your affinity, it won't have any issue for you. It's just that the place where you can find it is a little troublesome.'

'Where is it?' Roan asked.

'It's inside the Demising Catacombs Danger Zone.. Or, to be more precise, in its core region.'