"As per the regulations, three treasures will be designated to their fated owner."

After the treasury spirit's voice rang out, the blinding golden light that enveloped Damien seemed to penetrate his system, attempting to read him.

However, the defense of the Void Physique, now that Damien had gained more control over it, was near passive. The golden light was immediately dissolved and circulated through Damien's system, becoming one with his mana.

"Internal scanning error. Guest's strength cannot be measured."

The treasury spirit's voice rang out again in the same robotic tone. Following its first failure, it opted for a different approach and instead coated the outside of Damien's body with its light.

Damien felt a strange ethereal tingling with no real origin as the light pricked at his skin. This time, it didn't enter his body but instead hovered around him for several instants before slightly fading.

"External scanning error. Guest's fate cannot be measured."

Once again, an error. Even within the robotic voice, a twinge of annoyance could be sensed.

It was rare to be unable to read fate, but for strong experts, hiding their fate and strength was a small matter.

However, the current guest was merely at the peak of 4th class, not even in his first revolution yet!

It was difficult to say what level of power Damien was truly at now, but it shouldn't have ever been something that this artifact spirit that could even read Demigods couldn't see.

Nevertheless, the artifact spirit could read neither his fate nor his strength, so how was it supposed to designate him treasures?

Damien sighed and slightly lowered his physical defenses to at least let the artifact spirit understand his status.

His body condition would never be readable because of the Void Physique's existence, but this much could be willingly shown.

The golden light paled slightly when Damien's defenses went down, as if the artifact spirit was offended by his actions, but it still cooperated and scanned him once more.

"Guest's strength has been partially assessed. Initiating final scan."

Damien's eyes widened as the light around him went through a severe change.

The golden color shifted into utter blackness. Damien was suddenly submerged in a realm of the artifact spirit's creation.

'It's not an illusion. The All-Seeing Eyes can't see through it.'

The All-Seeing Eyes were nearing the point of piercing reality. Just what kind of realm was he currently—

"..!"

A familiar fluctuation filled the air.

This was the scent of the Abyss that Damien became familiar with in Eien.

historical

This deep blackness that seemed to have no life at all, yet imperceptibly contained an extremely complex and chaotic mixture of laws, this space filled with shattered stars and endless debris as far as the eye could see..

Was this the Abyss..?

"Final scan complete. Assigning Guest's treasures."

Damien's eyes snapped open.

He found himself once again surrounded by beautiful golden light.

His eyes were solemn.

'Was that a product of this treasury, or did something unexpected just happen?'

He didn't know why he suddenly saw a flash of the Abyss at this juncture, but he wasn't going to ignore it like it meant nothing.

'Is this perhaps..universal flow?'

Something was leading him to the Abyss. Evidently, it would be a destination he'd inevitably visit in the future.

Merely..

'With the Grand Assembly and the severity of the coming days, when will I have time to visit the Abyss?'

He couldn't just leave the universe behind without a plan or safety measures.

As he ruminated over the issue, the golden light began to solidify. In front of Damien's body, three small orbs like gachas materialized.

"Guest's treasures have been distributed. Access to the Golden Dragon Treasury has expired. Guest will be transported to the outside world."

The robotic voice rang out for a final time as Damien collected the three orbs. A fluctuation of spatial displacement covered him once more, sending him back to the treasury entrance.

Bang!

With the sound of two towering doors slamming closed, the familiar scenery outside the treasury became clear to Damien's eyes again.

"That's it..?" He muttered.

He expected a more intensive process, but it made sense that such an advanced treasury that could even analyze fate wouldn't need too long to distribute treasures.

'They're a lot smaller than I expected.' Damien thought to himself.

The orbs in his possession were no bigger than golf balls, making him wonder what kind of treasures he'd been designated, but he didn't immediately open them.

Instead, he first returned to his residence, which had been reassigned to an empty room in Astoria's courtyard, and closed himself off from the outside world.

Only after entering his personal space in the Sanctuary did he take the treasures out again.

'Hoo..just what could you have given me after saying something like that?'

As he stared at the three orbs, he tried to forget the final words of the treasury, but it was harder than expected.

'Whatever, let's just see what I got.'

For some reason, a strange sense of excitement filled his body. It wasn't excitement to receive a powerful treasure, but more like the excitement of a child who just received a mystery present.

Gacha was a drug more addicting than any drug back on earth, and Damien was no stranger to its effects.

Even now, he could feel the pain of spending bags of cash before even realizing that he'd blown through it.

It was a hobby he wasn't able to experience the pleasure of after the World Awakening, and experiencing it here, in this situation, was an extremely novel feeling.

Nevertheless, Damien capitalized on this excitement and directly crushed all three orbs, revealing the treasures within.

"This..!"

Damien exclaimed, standing up in shock.

On the table before him sat three seeds. They weren't physical objects, but rather ethereal personifications in the form of seeds.

Two of them were incredibly familiar in form. He'd seen and received one of these in the past.

'These are Realm Seeds!' Damien realized excitedly.

Realm Seeds could be used to create entire continents with specific environments that were always perfect for training.

The Storm Heavens Realm that bloomed in Theavel was perfect for body refining, and these two Realm Seeds were sure to have their own specialties as well.

As for the last seed, it was a beautiful iridescent blue color that was extremely familiar to Damien.

When he picked the seed up, he felt an immediate connection to it.

'This seed..resembles a World Core?'

His irises swirled with the activation of All-Seeing Eyes.

The more Damien peered into the seed, the more similarities he saw between it and a World Core.

'There's no way this is..'

He would have to find out personally.

But if this seed truly was what he thought it was..

The Golden Dragon Treasury's last words rang out in his head once again.

"Guest, please focus on what is important. The future is reliant on your growth."

His expression became dignified.

'The future is reliant on me, eh..?'

Looking at the three seeds, countless thoughts swam through Damien's head.

In the end, he came to one conclusion..

'I don't like that at all.'

..he absolutely abhorred the fact that such a thing was even proposed.