"Haa, that took way longer than expected. But, the task is finally complete, and it's not like I didn't gain anything."

Damien clenched his fists with a smile. An astonishing amount of mana was running through his veins and pumping in his Mana Heart.

'My mana capacity only reached 50000 through years of hard work, yet, I've increased it to 80000 in a few days. Well, I guess that's the benefit of devouring 8,000 years of those Nox bastards' effort.'

Damien grinned as he thought about it. He might not have the strength to face them directly, but ruining their plans always put a pep in his step.

'Phew, anyway, now that I'm done with this, it's time for you to fulfill your end of the bargain, right?' Damien asked with a face that looked like a hungry loan shark's.

[Your expression is worrisome.]

'What's wrong with my expression? Also, didn't you say you have no personality?'

[Since Damien Void has completed his end of the contract, we shall do the same. Prepare for binding.]

Damien glared at the World Core in suspicion but shook it off in the end. 'No way, right? Yeah, there's no way of fooling myself into thinking I didn't hear anything. But I also feel like if I heard anything, something very unfortunate would happen to me. Right, see no evil, hear no evil.'

[A wise decision.]

'Hm?'

[Please extend a contractual mana thread.]

Damien glared at the World Core once more, but still did as it said. Just like when he was binding earth, a thread of mana shot from his finger and rushed toward the World Core.

But unlike when he bound Earth, Damien was now far more familiar with his abilities as a Celestial. This Contractual Mana Thread was actually one of the base abilities he gained when he became a Celestial, which was why he was able to instinctually use it last time he came across a World Core.

This time, however, was wholly intentional.

The mana thread shot at a rapid speed toward the World Core but was forced to stop in the middle. A mana thread from the World Core had impacted it and wrapped around it.historical

The two threads of mana mingled and swam around each other as if they were alive, until finally, they merged into one.

Damien's senses were immediately blown out. He could only see bright white light, and his ears were ringing heavily.

Hissss!

He sucked in a deep breath and circulated his mana through his circuits. The Mana Heart revved into action as well, quelling and compartmentalizing the massive amount of mana that had just entered his body.

'This feeling..is far greater than when I bound Earth.'

Whether in terms of size, population, power level, or age, the Cloud Plane trumped Earth in all of them. It was only natural that he was granted far more when he bound it.

'It isn't just mana capacity. My proficiency in Dimensional Magic has also rapidly improved. With this much understanding of the concept, I should be able to put into practice a few more of the theoretical moves I've thought up.'

As he was adjusting his body back to perfect condition, Damien suddenly had a thought.

'Right, now that the Nox mana has been removed, you can sense them again, right?'

[Affirmative. Without interference, we have regained the ability to locate foreign invaders.]

Damien grinned. 'Good. Do that right now and tell me how many there are.'

The World Core went silent. At the same time, an invisible pulse of mana spread from its body. It was truly the World's mana. If Damien hadn't just become the Star Master of this world, he most definitely wouldn't have been able to sense it.

As he marveled at the World Core's capabilities, the mana pulse returned to the World Core's body. The scan had been completed.

[Current number of foreign invaders in the world has been tallied. 50,003 natural Nox species have been detected. 10,352,794 converted inhabitants detected.]

Damien frowned. 50,003 was a truly odd number. But as someone who had experienced the Forgotten War, he understood that number easily.

'50,000 of those are mindless lackeys up to 3rd class. The number of peak 3rd class among them is unknown, since even at that point the Nox don't gain intelligence. As for the remaining 3..'

They were definitely 4th class Nox who were overseeing operations in this world. If they weren't present, perhaps those inferior Nox would've already rampaged and massacred millions of people.

'More than that, 50,000 isn't actually that big of a number in comparison to what they used to send. And if it's only three 4th class Nox, it makes sense why they weren't able to subdue the World Core yet. Still, it really is true that they use cannon fodder to conserve their forces.'

Over ten million people living in this world had become slaves to the Nox due to their greed. In a world where tens of billions of people lived, ten million wasn't necessarily a large number.

But still, that was ten million people.

If the Nox could corrupt this many people from every inhabitable world in the universe, wouldn't they have enough forces to wipe out their enemies without even mobilizing their own troops?

It made him shudder to think about it. But at the same time, his eyes turned cold.

'Ten million people. If I give this information to the experts, I'll be indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions. Is it worth it?'

But it was nothing more than an intrusive thought. It was absolutely worth it to rid the Cloud Plane of traitors. If that wasn't done, they would be heavily affected during the coming war.

'I need to return to Apeiron and Earth to do the same. I can't allow any traitors to attack us from the back when we're fighting a war against a species like the Nox.'

'World Core, please give me the locations where you've located the traitors. If it's possible, provide the names of the clans and sects they're affiliated with. I need this information to be compiled in one place.'

[Affirmative. Information can be sent through the Contractual Link. If the Master desires, we can deposit the information into his spiritual world directly.]

Damien nodded. 'Good, do just that. Hmm, being a Star Master sure is convenient. It's a shame that my current spiritual world isn't strong enough to scour the entirety of the Cloud Plane using my status. Perhaps I can do it, but not for more than a single second..'

"Argh!"

His thoughts were cut off by a sudden sharp pain in his skull. He clutched his head and fell to his knees, gritting his teeth as hard as he could to endure the pain.

It was only several minutes later when the pain finally stopped. 'Damn World Core, you could at least give me some warning before starting the transfer!'

[The transfer has started. The transfer has been completed.]

'Tch!' Damien scoffed. 'Actually, calling you World Core will get confusing when I bind more of your kind. Hmm, since this is the Cloud Plane, I'll name you Yun. In the same way, I'll name Earth, Gaia. Things will be much simpler this way.'

[Accepting alias, "Yun."]

Since the World Core was emotionless, it didn't really care what it was called. Damien truly was naming it out of convenience, since Yun was far shorter to say than World Core.

After the naming situation was taken care of, Damien dove straight into his spiritual world and began perusing the information he had just received from the World Core.

"This.." he muttered in concern. He flipped through the figurative pages of names he had just received. "This is far worse than I thought."