Following Damien’s example, the rest of the geniuses followed suit, jumping into the abyss.
The fall made Damien remember the beginning of his journey in the dungeon, except this time he wasn’t in heart-wrenching pain as he fell. Surrounded by the gnawing darkness, Damien ended up reminiscing.
After a short minute, he saw light coming from below him, outlining the exit to the tunnel. Within this light were expertly concealed spatial fluctuations. At the speed he was falling, it didn’t take long for him to reach.
Falling out of the tunnel, Damien was greeted with bright blue skies everywhere he looked. The wind caused his clothes to flap wildly as he continued his descent. Looking down, he could only see a layer of clouds.
At this point, Damien had already learned how to fly through the use of his vector control, but he decided to fall through the cloud layer before making any decisions. He didn’t know how high he was or where he was, so he wanted a better overview.
And when he finally broke through the cloud layer, the scenes presented to him truly left him in awe.
Below him was a vast mountain range bigger than any he had seen before, stretching to the ends of his vision with some mountains that even touched the clouds. This was an impressive feat since the ground was so far away that Damien couldn’t even see it from his current elevation. Instead, what he saw was a second cloud layer that was present around halfway up the tallest mountain he saw.
Besides the mountains, multiple floating rocks took the shape of an asteroid belt, with some rocks large enough to build cities on them. It reminded him of that one scene from a certain movie about tall blue people. If he had to imagine the immortal mountains he saw mentioned in cultivation novels on earth, this would probably be the scenery in his head.
As he continued to freefall, Damien released his awareness and mana sense to get a feel for the dangers on the mountains he was close to. This gave him another dose of shock. He could only cover a minuscule portion of the mountain closest to him, but even in that portion, he saw countless 3rd class beasts roaming freely.
‘It would be best if I continue descending. I can return to this area once I’ve raised my strength.’
Making this decision, he accelerated his descent and quickly broke through the second cloud layer. Another majestic sight greeted his eyes.
Vast plains filled with roaming beasts with various shapes, looking prehistoric, and large bodies of water strewn around the area. If he had to name the environment, he’d call it a marshland, but it was too pristine and beautiful to be named as such.
At this time, he could finally see the bottom of the mountains. With his current direction, he was headed straight into a deep gorge between two mountains, so he decided to stop and figure out his location before continuing.
It was an easy task, he simply used his vector control to manipulate the air molecules to keep him afloat. Any normal person would be crushed by the pressure of such an abrupt stop, but he didn’t have that worry. Vector control was truly a very conventional power to have.
Taking out his jade slip, Damien viewed the map that had been recorded within it.
Although it wasn’t detailed, as there were many areas of the secret realm that had yet to be explored, it had enough major landmarks to gain a general idea of his location. Damien didn’t doubt that these immortal mountains were one of such landmarks. And it truly was easy.
Looking at the mountain next to him, which seemed to be the tallest of them all, Damien pondered. ‘This is the Godspark mountain, which means this area is the Heaven-Reaching Mountain Range.’
Though most of the mountain range was unexplored, there were many stories about it. Especially this Godspark Mountain. It was rumored that the peak of this mountain was the resting place of a fallen god.
‘A fallen god, huh.’ Damien thought as he gazed upon the mountain that faded into the cloud layer.
He felt an indescribable urge to climb to the peak and witness even a trace of a being at such a level, but he suppressed this. There was no way such an impressive peak didn’t contain a 4th class beast.
‘Maybe once I reach 3rd class…’
Shaking off his thoughts, Damien started descending. He knew there were countless different areas and ecosystems in the secret realm, but it would take many years to explore them all, not to mention just this one expansive mountain range.
With the rumors about Godspark mountain, even if there wasn’t a fallen god at its peak, there were sure to be many Legacy Tombs lining its slope.
He was also only 25 levels away from 3rd class. With the number of 2nd and 3rd class beasts on this mountain and in its vicinity, he’d be able to gather the exp he needed relatively quickly.
‘I haven’t evolved in a while either…’ Damien wasn’t a masochist in any way shape or form, but he had subconsciously equated intense pain to the feeling of gaining power. The traits he received after all that pain made him crave to feel it once again.
However, he wanted to start small. Instead of landing on the mountain itself, Damien descended into the gorge below it to start his grind.
Just like his dungeon days, he was going to power level in the darkness of the gorge.
Meanwhile, Katherine was going through her own thoughts and decisions. Damien wasn’t the only person who was dropped at the Godspark mountain.
When Katherine exited the abyss, she also found herself in the air, but unlike Damien, she stabilized immediately. Her location was just above the first cloud layer.
Once she descended past this layer, she saw the marshlands as well as the valley between the two adjacent mountains. With this, she also pulled out her jade slip to identify her location.
Reaching the ground, Katherine glanced around warily. She had sensed many strong auras in the vicinity and wasn’t prone to moving carelessly.
‘According to father, the Godspark mountain is one of the best places to gain fortuitous encounters. He also arrived here when he entered the secret realm when he was younger, and he outlined the locations of a few Legacy Tombs in the area for me.’
As the daughter of an emperor, Katherine had some natural advantages when it came to information. Although she wanted to share this information with Damien, her father strictly disallowed it. It was clear that he wanted Katherine to gain the most benefits during this trip.
Suddenly, Katherine’s ruby eyes began to change. They became a bright shade of gold as her pupils became countless glittering sparks, making her eyes look anime-like.
Within Katherine’s vision, many strings of different colors emerged from the air, connecting to unknown places and people. Within these strings was a single one that was dyed with the color red. Tracing the location of this string, Katherine smiled. ‘It looks like he’s close by.’
However, she didn’t immediately run to his location. Although she wanted to explore with him, they needed to gain strength first.
‘I’ll find him after I reach 3rd class. Let’s see how he bullies me then.’ She thought with a mischievous grin. Without wasting another second, Katherine dashed into the dense forest that made up this region of the vast mountain in search of prey.
Unlike these two, who shared enough fate to be transported close to each other, the rest of the geniuses were spread out across the vast realm.
If taken sheerly by its size rather than population density or advancements, the Eternal Secret Realm could be considered slightly larger than the Apeiron Continent.
One could genuinely spend the entire 6 months they had within the realm traveling from one end to the other, not even completing this journey before they were teleported out.
In a large region filled with molten lava and erupting volcanos stood a lone wolf demihuman. He was surrounded by a forest of trees filled with crimson leaves that looked as if they were made of flames as he fought a massive lion-like beast with his bare hands.
In another region of eerie forests stood a half-elf. He calmly watched the environment as the darkness around him thickened. The trees, grass, and even the creatures living in this ecosystem were corroded and skeletal, but it didn’t seem to bother the half-elf. Rather, he seemed to be most comfortable in such an environment.
It was theorized that the individual who created the secret realm had designed the gate in such a way that it accounted for the fate of those entering it, but this was always written off as heresy. After all, nobody wanted to believe that fate could dictate their actions.
However, fate itself was an esoteric concept that none could fully fathom, leading to many believers in its machinations. Whether it was the work of fate or by sheer luck, these four geniuses had been transported to optimal locations for their training.
It was unknown if this phenomenon was the same for the other 46 geniuses who entered along with them, but it wasn’t important.
Although they were all in separate locations, their present goals aligned. With their strength, they could explore many locations in the secret realm uninhibited, but this wasn’t enough.
Their aspirations might differ from each other, but each of these true geniuses held grand ambitions. They craved the pressure, they craved the danger, and they craved to be the first to explore some of the many danger zones present in the realm.
For this goal, they spared no effort. Each and every one of them raced towards 3rd class.
At the top of the tallest peak in the entire realm, an aged figure watched all of this occur. Although it was clear that he existed, his figure was ethereal, almost as if he didn’t possess a body of his own. Sighing lightly for the umpteenth time, the aged figure thought to himself.
‘Let’s see if this batch of younglings have what it takes.’