The moment the ground began to shake, Virgil and Hannah's group were forced to their knees by an absurd amount of power that came from a point a hundred kilometers away from the area they were training in.. but this pressure did not last long, and disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
This pressure was not imposed by physical means, like the effect that gravity would have on a person.. but by a psychological one, just like the feeling that a person would feel when encountering a being they had no chance defeating, or escaping from.
Right after the pressure stopped, Virgil weakly stood back up on his feet. Then, with trembling legs, he ran in the direction where the pressure came from.
"Where are you going?!" asked Josh in worry, after noticing the fearless figure of Virgil run straight towards the source of power, which to them, felt nothing but deadly.
The six of them looked at each other for a few moments. Then, right after standing back up, they followed Virgil in the direction he had gone to.
After a year and a half of cultivation, Josh, James, George, Hannah, Felix and Alex, were able to grow more powerful than Virgil was the day they had encountered him. They now were all immortal cultivators at the late second and early third stages, while virgil was at the mid fourth stage.
This speed of cultivation was not only caused by the perfect crystals that Daniel had given to them, but also by the time sphere which Daniel had placed underneath Virgil's house.. A time sphere which allowed their bodies to absorb energy and be refined much faster, while not touching their lifespan.
If Jerigh had received this sort of treatment from the very moment he had been saved by Daniel, he would have become a high immortal a long time ago.
The third factor which had increased the speed of their cultivation, was being part of Daniel's group.
In the last year and a half, the group of six had learned Virgil's sign language, and were able to discuss with him about Daniel's origin. He had recounted to them what kind of person Daniel was, and how he conducted his life. That he would not shy away from helping others, and help them obtain the power necessary to take care of themselves.
When Virgil told all of the stories regarding demons, dragons, aliens and universal government, the group began to see him not as a god anymore, but as a mythical figure that would appear only in bedtime stories.
It was only after hearing Virgil's stories, and remembering what had happened in their planet.. that they understand the reason of Daniel's actions. He was not following them around because he was lost and did not know what to do.. he was giving them a hand, while also looking for the being that had caused their planets to become like that.
Realizing the truth was a heavy blow for Felix, who after hearing this story, had shut himself for weeks.. While at the same time, Alex had lost the ability to sleep due to the memories of when he had shot a friendly dragon straight to the face.
In time, the truth had changed the idea they had of Daniel, and they began to idolize him.
The proximity of their training ground to the place where Daniel was cultivating, was enough for them to receive the boost in talent and power that any other member of his group would receive, but since they advanced in their cultivation often, they were unable to notice the clear changes.
Since all of them were in a shocked state, and could barely walk, Hannah's group was unable to keep up with Virgil's speed.. So they were only able to catch up a few seconds later.
They ran for close to twenty kilometers in a matter of minutes, until they were forced stop. In front of them, Virgil was standing on the edge of a crater with a diameter of a hundred and sixty kilometer.
The sudden appearance of a crater was odd already, but it was only after the group approached it, that they understand why Virgil was staring at it.. The crater was perfectly round, almost as if an entire sphere of space had been turned into nothingness. However, despite how long the seven of them stared at this perfectly round crater, they found no trace of what had caused this it to form.
—–
When Daniel left the pocket dimension, he was surprised by what appeared in front of him.
Where he expected there to be a large cave, was instead a bedroom decorated with feminine items.
He was standing right next to a large bed, above which, a muscular demon with straight horns was ripping the clothes off of a young demoness with leather wings, and curved thin horns.
The young demoness was not fighting back, but from the expression of her face, and how she kept her body rigid, it was clear that whatever was going to happen, was beyond her control and desires.
Since the young demoness did not appear to be in distress, and had likely been married to a demon she did not like, he decided not to meddle with this matter.. Unfortunately, the moment he appeared, the larger demon noticed him.
"A-A HUMAN!?" he shouted in shock before standing up, and summoning a massive spiked club from within one of his rings. "GUARDS!!"
Daniel could feel the power that the demon possessed, and if he was the himself of one and a half years earlier, he would have had no chance of surviving.. But to the current Daniel, this demon was the lowest of threats.
Instead of bothering with explaining why he was there, Daniel looked at the karma of the two demons, and after noticing the dark red number on the male demon's head, he welcomed the incoming club with a thrust of his hand.. which pierced through the weapon and went straight into the demon's chest.
When the hand came out of the other side of the demon's chest, it was completely clean. The blood of the demon, instead of staining Daniel's body, slid above it as if his entire being was waterproof, and dripped on the floor of the room.
The young demoness shrieked in horror after witnessed the scene, but just like the male demon's call for his guards, no sound reached outside of the room. She kept screaming and screaming, to a point where Daniel lost his patience, and stopped the sound that came from her vocal cords before it could ever come out of her mouth.
Unable to emit any sound, the young demoness sprung up on her feet in an attempt to jump out of her window, but an indestructible spatial barrier prevented her from reaching any of the exits.
"DON'T KILL ME! PLEASE!!" she shouted before curling up in a ball in the corner of her room, and covering her body with her black wings.
Daniel looked at the red number above the girl's head. It was composed of only three digits, and it was clear that it was formed from spoiled behaviour as a rich young demoness, than from truly evil actions.. Reason why he chose not to harm her. What he needed from her, was something that belonged to him.. So he approached her with a slow pace.
Every step caused her to tremble more and more visibly, and scream a few more words to keep him from moving closer "STAY AWAY!! NOO!!" she screamed as she felt Daniel's hand approach her curled up body.
For demon's standards, she was an extremely beautiful demoness, and that was the reason why the demon Daniel had just killed, along with his group, had assaulted the manor of the girl's family. In exchange of not killing her entire family, the demoness had offered herself as his wife. However, the very moment the marriage between the two was going to be consummated, Daniel had appeared right next to their bed.
She had lived with the notion that she would have to give herself to a brute in exchange for the lives of her family for days now.. so whenever someone would look at her, she would always assume that they were aiming at her body.. And she would be right most of the times. However, this time, she could not possibly be further away from the truth.
Daniel simply grabbed her arm, and after forcing her fist open, he removed the ring he had just came out of from her finger, and put it. He then sat on her bed.
"Where am I?" he asked to the young demoness, which was looking at him from an opening in between her wings. His tone was calm and showed no evil intentions whatsoever.
The demoness did not respond.
"As you might have noticed, I am not a demon. I am not supposed to be here, and I know nothing of Hell. Tell me where I am, and I will leave." Added Daniel in an even calmer tone. He wanted her to understand that he meant no harm.
The girl remained quiet for a few moments, then, from behind her leather wings, she said "You shouldn't have killed him.. When his father will learn what you have done to him, he will hunt you down and tear you apart." she said before taking a small pause. Then, after a faint sob, she added "And then he will kill us."
"Who is he?"
*Sniff* "The leader of the Oni Tribe.." she responded with a tone so low, that it was almost impossible to hear.
As soon as Daniel heard the word 'Leader', a faint smile appeared on his face. He then took an essence gem out of his spatial ring, and after showing it to the young demoness, he asked "Does you think he has any of these gems?"
The reason Daniel had come out of his cultivation three months in advance, was because he was completely out of essence gems. They system had told him that he could have reached the hundredth phase of high immortality.. But the more Daniel cultivated, the more he realized that the three thousand gems he had, were not enough.
He had used all of the gems he possessed, and yet he was still far being able to the hundredth phase of high immortality.
After a bit of consideration, he had come to the conclusion that he should have come out of the pocket dimension, and search for cultivation resources while also scouting for information, and looking for allies.
That, was his only true option.
What he did not expect, was that a chance to do exactly that would fall upon him the very moment he came out of cultivation.
The girl moved her wings aside, and after noticing the small lightning gem in his hand, she nodded at him.
"How did this ring come in your possession?" Asked Daniel after putting the gem into him mouth, and swallowing it.
The girl was surprised by the fact that Daniel would begin to cultivate right in front of her, but while she was expecting Daniel to close his eyes and focus on allowing the power to temper his body, nothing of that sort happened.
The power of the gem was not enough to distract Daniel, which could consume them and cultivate while having a casual conversation, just as if he was eating candies.
While killing the oni that she had married was not a proof of power to her, the action of consuming essence gems as if they were nothing, was something that not many could do. To do something like that, was similar to having a conversation while being stranded in a sea tormented by raging waves.
"One of the miners of my family found it in a cave about a year ago.. I knew there was a pocket dimension inside, but I was never able to breach it. I have kept it because I like the design." responded the young demoness, now more comfortable with Daniel's presence.
"Alright." said Daniel before laying down on the girl's bed. He then added "I am extremely ignorant about Hell.. Families, demonic races, factions.. start talking."
