"What was that?"

Long Chen immediately began questioning Damien after they felt the earlier gaze disappear. Naturally, he was careful enough to do so through mental transmission.

"Hmm, it looks like my guess had at least a little bit of merit. To think there'd be people waiting for us here." Damien muttered to himself.

Looking at the confused Long Chen, he began roughly explaining the situation.

"So essentially, there might be people within Asgard working against us?" Long Chen asked with furrowed brows.

"Whether or not it's that, we can't say without evidence. All I know is that there's something going on behind the scenes of this operation. Even if our enemies don't have completely accurate information, they at least have clues of our identities."

The two continued speaking about the problem, but they couldn't come to any solid conclusions. They simply had too little information.

Instead, they reviewed information on Niflheim and their current surroundings.

"Currently, we're in the Outer Wilds, a wasteland that surrounds the Hub City of Evalion. This Outer Wilds is a place wrought with Nox corruption, so life can't persist within. However, some rare flora and minerals thrive in these conditions.

"Not to mention, signs of the previous war still persist in the Outer Wilds. This is a land wrought with the treasures and legacies of the fallen, so many scavengers venture them to try their luck."

Long Chen nodded. "My information is the same. The Mysterious Fire Fruit our aliases were searching for is especially important in our current research."

"Mm." Damien acknowledged. "It's a little insane. This guy was researching duplication of matter, specifically treasures. If he succeeded, elixirs and the likes could be mass-produced with little to no material cost."

"While I don't quite understand what it all means, I at least know it's groundbreaking research." Long Chen finished off.

Their alternate identities were oddly well-built. It was almost as if..

Damien shook his head.

Regardless of whether Damien Grey truly lived or not, it didn't change the fact that Damien was now in his place. His fate was an inconsequential matter compared to the safety of Sector 3, Damien's home.

"Evalion is a hub city, one of 16 hubs present within the Outer Wilds that span the entirety of the rest of the world. Asgard's territory is around the size of 3 of these hubs at most." Damien moved on to the next topic.

After all, Evalion was going to be their home for the foreseeable future. Not to mention, it held immense strategic importance.

Evotech, the leading conglomerate in the fields of research and science, it was a place where dreams were made reality, where the impossible was turned possible.

But in reality, it was precisely the Nox's most important asset in Niflheim. The research done by Evotech was most likely the main reason a Demigod was sent to oversee the world.

Sector 3 was already down on its luck. Without something so important, the Nox would have no need to send a crucial part of their battle prowess, a Demigod.

Although there was no way for Damien to know how those outside the sector viewed it, he at least had an inkling that there had to be something important within Evotech.

Otherwise, why would the Nox bother with it at all?

"But before we can pry into that, we have to find the Mysterious Fire Fruit."

Damien and Long Chen spent far longer in the Outer Wilds than they originally expected. The Mysterious Fire Fruit held the word "mysterious" in its name for a reason.

In the end, they found it 60 feet underground submerged by a pool of bubbling lava.

It was only after this small task was finished did the two finally relax.

"Should we return?" Long Chen asked tentatively. Even though they'd thoroughly rehearsed their new roles, it didn't stop his nerves.

He was never a man built to do these kinds of covert jobs.

Damien cracked his neck and resounded with a smile. "Yeah, let's go have some fun."

He, unlike Long Chen, had no reservations. Judging from the previous Damien Grey's memories that Eve kept feeding him, Evalion was actually quite the place.

A circular emblem appeared in Damien's hand when he willed for it. The same happened with Long Chen.

The two poured their mana into the devices without hesitation, aiming for a certain marking within the device's systems.

And when their mana mingled with that marking..

Their bodies disappeared from the Outer Wilds without leaving a trace.

***historical

Considering how there were only 16 Hub Cities in total, each one held a frightening population of people.

Evalion, among them, was the most crowded, being the home of Evotech and many other prominent businesses. Its population was well into the hundreds of millions, its size being just as massive to house all these people.

But despite how crowded the massive number made it seem, Evalion was fairly orderly.

The streets and alleys of the city formed an interconnected web that made it so one could reach anywhere in the city from anywhere else if one wished to.

Interactive holographic technology allowed for the denizens of this world to carry personal devices that far exceeded the technological capabilities of mana, allowing them to maneuver these complicated routes with ease.

And when mana was added into the equation, the simplicity of living became truly wondrous.

In one vein, one could say that Niflheim was an Elysium for people. But on the other hand, it could be considered a fancy cage.

People leaned towards both opinions, and there were some people who thought completely differently, but regardless of their thoughts, they lived day to day within the impenetrable barriers of Evalion.

Within a certain research center, located underground near the center of the city, two individuals materialized on a platform designated specifically for their arrival.

'This is interesting. It's more similar to my Warp skill than a teleportation formation, but the method they used to create it is completely different.'

While Damien admired their mastery of teleportation, an attendant arrived in the area and walked up to him.

"Greetings, Professor Damien! Please pardon me while I take care of the usual procedures."

A cylindrical device appeared in her hand, and after she pressed a button on its side, it projected a strange light that scanned Damien and Long Chen from head to toe.

The duo stood silent and let the device probe them. They'd been ready for this since the beginning.

But even then, they couldn't calm their nervous hearts.

Their disguises might've seemed weak, but Jiang Hualing's reputation would definitely suggest otherwise. Still, the duo hadn't been acquainted with her long enough to hold such blind trust in her abilities.

It was a thorough scan. Fingerprints, irises, even genetic matching, it was more than thorough, it was extreme.

To the level where Damien didn't know whether a technique from the Cloud Plane could counter it.

But he was underestimating the denizens of the Cloud Plane too much. Although their aesthetic made it feel as if they were living in the past, their skills certainly matched up to the current era.

They hadn't spent all those years idling.

Damien marveled inwardly as the scan came to a close. He didn't know how mana was used to fool the device, but it was truly a show of insane technical skill.

"Great! The data matches perfectly as always! Thank you for your time, Professor!"

With the attendant's words, Damien and Long Chen were immediately cleared of any suspicion on them for a considerable time period.

"Mm." Damien gave a sound of acknowledgement and walked through the doors of the reception room, entering the main building.

'Good.' He thought, inwardly smiling. 'The first step has been taken care of. Now, all that's left is to run wild.'