Darian opened his eyes and saw Rhea staring at him seriously.
"I think I got really close to the second ring... did I go too fast?"
"You did." She nodded. "Well... it's happened a few times before. But every time, it was with a Supreme Spiritual Guardian at the Ancestral level."
She sighed and nodded to herself. "The greater the danger, the greater the rewards. You must've gotten a chance, right? Maybe you managed to kill a bunch of Risen at once."
She finished by looking straight into his eyes, clearly waiting for an explanation.
Darian was speechless. Supreme Spiritual Guardian? He'd heard the legends from Niara, about people who had an Ancestral-level awakening — she was probably talking about that. But obviously, that hadn't happened to him.
"And the others? What happened to the nest?" he asked.
She nodded. "Everyone made it back. No one knows much, but the nest was definitely destroyed. Everyone got more Merit Power than usual — since they all helped in the victory."
'The Risen Lord and the nest...'
Darian thought it over, starting to understand. That Risen Lord ended up destroying the nest and saving all the Summoners.
But… everyone made it back? Then he really had managed to create that opening in the abyssal heart and… that voice kept its promise.
He had helped destroy the nest — and probably helped lead to the Risen Lord's death. Those contributions earned him a lot… imagine if he'd done it directly.
Darian sighed and started thinking of an excuse. Thankfully, Niara was known for being strong, so maybe he could—
'Wait! Why did Rhea say it was a bunch? Couldn't it have been one strong guy I found already injured, and I just stole the kill?'
There was something he didn't know. Something had made Rhea assume he'd taken down many instead of just one stronger enemy.
*Knock, knock*
At the sound, the door to the room opened. The white-haired man who had been the instructor for the new recruits walked in.
"Here it is."
He handed a golden card to Rhea. Then, he gave Darian a sharp look for a few seconds. He could definitely sense the breakthrough.
"I got confirmation. They're already waiting for him." the man said, then turned and left calmly.
Rhea gestured for Darian to come closer. "Use a bit of your power to place your mark here. I know you're unstable right now, and using your ring must be tough. But you have to push through it… putting this off will only make it worse."
Darian was confused but nodded. Honestly, he didn't feel any difficulty — he just let the red energy come out gently. Rhea guided his hand to touch the card, which absorbed a bit of the energy.
"Done. Now it can only be used by you. And it's yours — all your Merit Points are recorded here." She handed him the card.
Seeing the confused look on his face, she explained:
"Whenever you contribute to another universe as a Spiritual Guardian — either in the Divine Protection Universe or in missions elsewhere — the Celestial Altar gains a bit of power. That power allows the New Arcadia Empire to bring stuff from other universes and benefit all of humanity. That's why everyone who contributes gets properly recorded and receives Merit Points in return."
"You can trade those Merit Points for whatever you want. Including a lot of money to use on Earth. But there are things the New Arcadia Empire brings from out there that could save your life in a mission."
"You'll already be getting a good amount of money every month, based on your power level. So it doesn't make that much sense to spend a lot of your points on cash. Later you can take a look at what you wanna buy. After all, you got an amount even I don't have access to."
She finished, and Darian got it, excited. He was rich!
Then he swallowed hard. How the hell was he gonna explain this to her, if everyone knew just how much he'd contributed this time?
"Er... yeah, I got lucky… my blessing turned out to be really useful in that situation..." he muttered slowly, trying to come up with something.
"What's your class?" Rhea asked seriously.
"Support..."
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Yeah! You wanna know how I got so much?" he said, and she stayed quiet, curious. "I found out that place had an endless sea of Abyssal Crystals."
She nodded, understanding. Darian went on:
"First, let's start from the beginning. My blessing is healing type. But I did something different: I didn't use a ready-made one from the library."
He saw her eyes go wide when he said 'healing type'.
But once he mentioned the second part, she narrowed her gaze.
"Hold on, I'm not trying to make one completely from scratch. But I used the base of the three existing Healing Blessings to build my foundation. I felt it was possible…"
"That's even crazier, stupid as hell! Your Summoner didn't stop you?!" she interrupted, clearly pissed.
Darian stayed quiet.
"I told you not to get greedy and chase after stuff that's way too big! Others have tried something similar, and in the end, even those who got a bunch of rings only ever used the basics of the blessings they stacked. They never managed to go beyond that. Combining concepts and ideas made by different people? What the hell were you thinking?! In the end, doing something that dumb only leads to a brutal death — your power's never gonna grow properly."
Darian still said nothing... she sounded like an angry mom scolding him for being reckless. But deep down, he let out a sigh of relief. So it was possible, and now he could use his power in different ways without drawing too much attention.
"Well... it's already done, and I believe in my choice." Darian said, but looked away from her as she kept staring seriously.
He broke into a cold sweat, remembering his sister and his mom. Dealing with a woman who cared about him but was pissed off? That was tough and scary.
"Idiot... do you know how rare it is to have a Healing Blessing? If you'd picked just one and focused on evolving it, you'd be one of the most sought-after and important supports in the empire. Now... you'll barely ever go past the basics in any of those blessings." She spoke seriously, making it clear how worried she was about his future and safety.
Darian didn't know what to say. She barely knew him, yet she cared so much about a stranger. With a sigh, he continued:
"Anyway, going back... me and my partner, luckily, had bought some earth crystals. Then we found a bunch of veins full of abyssal crystals inside the nest. That's when I got an idea..."
He explained that the basic power of the Blessing of Purifying Light could help the life energy inside those crystals stay intact and eliminate some of the corruption. It was something anyone who read the blessing could confirm as one of its uses.
So he burned all the energy he had and made a huge trap in a spot on the third offensive line of the nest. Turned out it was great that everyone fighting there died before the final events.
"My partner and I told them our idea. In the end, everyone worked together and lured all the powerful Risen from the second and third lines to that spot, like a giant wave. The abyssal crystals, full of life, were buried, and then suddenly hit them. That power, which repelled theirs, invaded their bodies, so the Risen got paralyzed for a moment. After that, it was easy to kill them, with everyone attacking together."
Darian almost smiled as he spoke:
"I even asked the commander for permission, the one on the first line. His name was Ceug. He got mad at first, thought it was a waste of time, but after we tested it, he was really surprised by the results. So he picked a few strong people he trusted to help me out. Unfortunately, the Risen on the first line weren't dumb enough to fall for it."
"I did all that in the beginning, then went back to my place. The ones from the second and third rows went to help out with the more advanced part of the battle. I guess that means I helped our victory come faster, and I also got a bit for the strong Risen I helped kill with the trap."
Rhea listened, doubtful. She'd never heard of a method like that before. But there also weren't many records of a healer with the Blessing of Purifying Light. Maybe it was possible in specific situations like in the Abyssal Nest.
She let out a breath, accepting it, and Darian felt relieved.
After a few seconds, she got up.
"Let's go, we can't take too long." She said lightly and looked him in the eyes, "I told you before, didn't I? Now that you've accepted, you're barely gonna have any free time or peace. We're heading to the most important and secret place in the empire... from now on, things are gonna be hard and painful for you."