As it turned out, Aishia was truly the last surviving member of the Valkyrie race, an original member of Asgard.
She was born shortly before the Great War began, and she didn’t have nearly enough time to grow her strength before the flames of war encapsulated the universe. As the youngest, she was hidden and protected by the entire race, ensuring her survival over the corpses of her brethren.
Aishia never left this unnamed world since then. She grew her strength by battling against the Nox on the surface and became a true powerhouse who could hold a say in the most important matters.
The decision to have her play his wife was actually her own. In truth, she was a close friend of Bai Xieren, who filled her in on Damien’s role.
It wasn’t just curiosity that drove her to his side, it was her duty and her hatred. She was here because this was the job she’d been wanting to do for a very long time, but with Asgard’s conservative movements, it was always impossible.
And Damien didn’t mind her presence. Although her elemental affinities weren’t specialized in stealth, her power alone was enough to make her useful.
The spirit element would be a great help as well. Damien had slight familiarity with this field due to Xue’er’s matter, so he was sure he could put this woman to good use.
His thoughts concluded as he stepped through a portal that appeared before him. Leaving behind Aishia and his “child” that he didn’t even meet yet, he arrived at the main lab used for Treasure Duplication research.
Evotech’s headquarters actually didn’t have many spaces where large groups worked together. Every location where something like that was necessary was situated off-sight in one of the other 16 Hub Cities.
As for Evotech headquarters, only researchers working on extremely important and confidential projects were granted personal laboratories. The rest of the labs were used mainly for production and storage, while occasionally large groups of researchers would cooperate on especially large breakthroughs.
Regardless, the lab belonging to Damien Grey was his personal property. There were only three people who had ever stepped foot in this lab. The first was him, the second was Long Aotian, and the third…
Stepping out of the same portal as him was the very same Aishia Grey that was playing his wife. In reality, she was a researcher who worked side by side with her husband. The couple was fairly well known for their incredible synergy while working.
As the two stepped into the lab, Long Chen did the same through his own portal. When he looked over and saw Damien, he put on a smile full of flattery and walked over.
“Sir, you came in early today! I wasn’t even able to tidy up the lab yet!” He said jokingly as he passed over a cup of coffee.
Damien accepted it gratefully. “Mm, you know how it is. The wife was hit with some inspiration last night, so she wanted to come in early.”
Long Chen flashed an oily grin. “Hehe, I understand sir, I totally understand. I’m sure you were given plenty of ‘inspiration’ as well.”
Damien rolled his eyes and smacked the back of Long Chen’s head. “Aotian, we need to get you married soon. Alright, enough of that for now. Let’s head inside.”
Damien finished his coffee and put it to the side, walking through the heavy mechanical doors that stood between him and the lab.
Naturally, the portal didn’t teleport directly inside the lab. The sanitation issues from such a move were too plentiful. Instead, it sent them to a reception area connected to the lab where they could prepare themselves before entering.
With the lab door opening, Damien’s trio walked through individually, being scanned and wiped clean of any impurity before they could enter.
And once they completed the procedure, the small yet grand scene of the lab greeted them.
“I don’t understand why we came here. Is the Treasure Duplication research that important?” Long Chen asked through sound transmission.
Damien shook his head. “It isn’t that. We just arrived, and although we’ve cleared most of the suspicions on us, we still have to be careful. For at least the next week, we’ll go business as usual and completely immerse ourselves in these roles.”
Long Chen nodded hesitantly. In the end, he also realized that he was sent here to support Damien. Even without his role, just the fact that Damien took him along meant he already knew this fact.
And if so, Long Chen would simply follow. He always heard of this bastard’s exploits, but never got to experience his greatness himself.
This curiosity was the only thing allowing Long Chen to ignore the sinking feeling he got whenever he thought about following Damien’s orders.
***
A week quickly passed. Just as Damien said, the trio acted in their roles without the slightest deviation. From the lab to the house and back and forth, Damien’s routine was steady.
During this time, he was also able to meet his “daughter,” Reva. She was a small girl around 8 or 9 years old with a cheerful personality.
Aishia refused to tell him her origins so Damien could only remain curious, but the girl’s status window was truly bizarre.
[Status]
[Reva]
???
Female – Age 10
Level – 152 – [???]
Title(s): [???, Child of the Abyss, ???]
Affinities: ???
It was strange. It had to be known, Damien’s eyes didn’t create a new status window from the information it discovered. It gained the ability to see through someone and peer into the personal status window that only they could see.
In essence, Reva’s status window was naturally like that, filled with question marks even to her own eyes.
Damien was aware of the possibility, since he still had a few question marks in his status window even after unlocking his Time Affinity, but the sheer number of them was preposterous.
Obviously this child’s background wasn’t simple. And if her titles said anything…
Damien realized he’d have to talk to this child about it at some point, but now wasn’t even close to the right time.
After all, now that a week passed, those of the Sun and Moon Squadrons had already arrived on the planet.
And of course, Bai Xieren, with her monstrous perception, already knew Damien left the starship. As if punishing him for moving without informing her, she sent an assassination mission over the second they touched ground.
Damien clicked his tongue as he looked at the information being projected into his head by Eve. Apparently, the AI Cores also had this kind of ability.
It was no wonder they were aiming to create an information network. With this kind of connection, traces of an assembly line would never be found.
Regardless, Damien continued to look over the information he was given.
His target was a woman named Audrey Price. She was a researcher in charge of Chimera experiments.
These chimeras were similar creatures to the abominations Damien met in the Trial World. As expected, those under the Nox were always the same kind.
Abominations were a great part of the Nox’s strength. Along with Devil Worshippers, they were the meat shields sent out to wear down the Sectors’ forces so that the true Nox didn’t have to do any work.
In fact, Damien even suspected that the Nox were quite low in numbers, otherwise, they wouldn’t need to rely on such strategies. But that was beside the point.
Aubrey Price worked in the North Wing, her main laboratory being Lab 1622. His job was a clean and simple assassination. Naturally, he had to leave no evidence.
Damien clicked his tongue once again. As he got ready to swipe away the information, Eve left him with yet another surprise.
‘There’s more?!’