''Today is finally the day.''
Damien stood up from meditative posture and stretched his body. An entire week passed since he started staying in this strange Dead Star realm, and hispanion had finally arrived.
''I''ll have to assess them myself before we leave.''
Damien cracked his knuckles and prepared for a fight as he headed back to Prisci''s courtyard.
He knew for certain that finding apanion that could match his age and aplishments was impossible, so he was curious about the type of person Prisci recruited.
''Is it some old monster? I hope they have an amicable personality.''
The walk to Prisci''s courtyard was practically ingrained in Damien''s mind at this point, so he was able to reach it without a hitch. When he entered…
"Fuck this."
…he was disappointed by theck ofpanion in the room.
"What''s this about?" He questioned with a frown.
"Hahaha, calm down. No need to be so hostile. Yourpanion is here, they just went to pay respects to the other High Commanders before you arrived. Why don''t you stay here and wait for them?"
Prisci motioned towards a chair across from her at the table she sat at. On the table was a go board which seemed to be actively in y, though Prisci didn''t have anypany.
"It was a game that never got to finish. How about scrapping it and ying a match against me?" Prisci asked.
Damien shrugged and walked over. He yed a little bit of Go on Earth, but not enough to be considered good.
Go was a game that emphasized push and pull. To take initiative and hand it over intentionally, Damien was never intelligent enough to make these calls.
But it wasn''t like the aggressive approach never worked.
He sat down with Prisci and started the game, cing his first piece.
"Have you yed much Go before?" Prisci asked.
"Not much, but I understand the principle."
"Mm, then I guess I''ll go easy on you."
Damien and Prisci took turns making moves, blocking each other while also trying to gain the advantage.
However, as Damien already stated, he was never good at games like this one.
He focused too much on his own side, and before he even realized it, Prisci had created aplex web that left him with no choice but defeat.
"I don''t know why I decided to y when I suck, but I''ll ept the loss." He said with a sigh.
"Oh? epting it so easily is fine in this situation, but can you do so forever?" Prisci responded mysteriously.
"And by that you mean…"
"I''m sure you already know. Even if you pretend to be brutish, I can see the intelligence behind your eyes."
"You must be hallucinating."
"Maybe so."
Prisci shrugged and moved the pieces off the board, starting a new game.
"Go is very interesting to y as a High Commander on the battlefield. In a situation where all routes are cut off, what options are left? More than any of the strategies I''ve learned from this game, this is the question that''s bothered me."
Prisci ced her piece with a wry smile. "In Go, the situation changes based on the yer. Some will admit defeat the moment they sense their loss, refusing to continue the game. Some will try to find a way to win even knowing their impending loss, but still give up in the end. Some will beg for a rematch without fail, acting like starved dogs. The smallest number of people choose to fight until the end even while knowing their fate."
Her eyes raised and met Damien''s. "It''s good to know that you are this type of person, however, this type of person is always the first to die. Without considering other options, they fight until they can no longer fight."
Her expression turned solemn. "You are a spatial expert. Your skill in fleeing is unparalleled under the Demigod level. Even if it means you must abandon yourpanions…"
"You must survive. For the sake of the universe''s continued existence, you must survive at all costs."
Damien silently returned her moves, refusing toment on her words.
His actions…would depend on the situation.
He couldn''t promise anything.
Nor could he shoulder the weight of the universe.
''I''ll move how I wish to move. If anyone inhibits that…''
Before Damien could think further, a knock resounded from the courtyard door.
"It looks like yourpanion has finally arrived," Prisci said.
With her invitation, the person beyond the door stepped into the courtyard.
Their form was revealed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>
''This…''
The woman was around 5 feet 6 inches in height. Her hair was medium-length and so dark it almost looked ck, but the way it glinted with deep blue in the sunlight made it evident that it barely wasn''t. She had green eyes that reminded Damien of the endless abundance of life, and her overall stature was soposed that she almost blended in with nature.
"Greetings, Senior. I havee as ordered."
The woman bowered to Prisci as she spoke, refusing to move from the doorway.
"Mm,e sit. This is Damien, the man you''ll be apanying for the foreseeable future."
The woman walked over to the table and bowed towards Damien.
"Ximen Wuhen greets Young Master Damien."
"Mm, well met," Damien muttered off-handedly.
''Her level is…''
"Boy, don''t focus too much on Wuhen''s level. If you do, you''re sure to regret it." Prisci interrupted him before he coulde to any conclusions.
"If you want to talk about raw power, Wuhen definitely can''t match you, but in terms ofbat effectiveness…"
"Show him."
Ximen Wuhen nodded and faced Damien. "Please excuse my rudeness."
She formed a set of seals with her hand, and immediately, thews of Heaven and Earth shifted.
''Oho…'' Damien whistled inwardly, impressed.
Surrounding him currently was a powerful array that Damien didn''t know the identity of. From what he could tell, it both restrained the enemy and sapped their mana to slowly weaken and kill them.
"This array isn''t bad. It can be deployed instantly, and it has enough power to affect anyone underte-stage 4th ss. If it''s arge-scale battle, this ability couldpletely reverse the situation." Damienmented.
"However, is this it?"
Ximen Wuhen was near the peak of mid-stage 4th ss, so her having this level of ability wasn''t surprising. Of course, she definitely proved that she would be useful.
Only, Damien didn''t need someone who could only show their use in specific situations.
He was a bit disappointed in what she''d shown so far.
"I apologize, Young Master. I will not hold back any longer." Ximen Wuhen said without a change of expression.
Her hand seals changed, and thews of Heaven and Earth changed along with them.
The nature of the arraypletely reversed.
Damien felt an unknown strength filling his body. His mana became denser, and he even felt an improvement in hisprehension ability.
His entire being had been elevated as if he''d jumped 20 or 30 levels in an instant.
Prisci smiled at his bewilderment.
"Along with being an extremely aplished formation master who can support you in battle, she is also one of the rarest types of supporters in existence, a being with the ability to buff others."
Damien''s eyes sharpened. Even the greatest supporters couldn''t strengthen other people''s abilities to an extent that actually mattered. It was simply impossible to maneuver mana in a way that empowered someone else without consciously controlling it, but at that point, the technique would be no different than puppeteering.
Buff-type supporters were rare to the point where they weren''t even highly sought after because rarely anyone knew of their existence.
Now that one was standing before Damien…
''I can''t be mad at all.'' He thought while hiding his satisfaction.
Damien didn''t need help inbat. He didn''t need a defensive type either since his body was the greatest possible defense. All-in-all, Damien was a one-man army that couldn''t be interfered with.
But if the other party wasn''t interfering, but was rather enhancing his abilities…
Indeed, Prisci wasn''t lying when she said she found a supporter that perfectly suited Damien.
With said supporter in tow, Damien could finally set off for Eien.
It was time to start a new journey, a new adventure that''d spread his name far and wide.
Damien had been on the cusp of adventure so many times that he thought this feeling would''ve numbed by now.
But he couldn''t even pay attention to Prisci''s words.
The anticipation was killing him.
The itch in his body to utterly destroy and conquer all things…
He couldn''t wait to fulfill it.