Voom!
When Damien felt his feet once again touch the flat ground, he wasn’t excited nor was he wary. He was simply overwhelmed by the sensory input he was receiving.
Through every pore in his skin, every nerve in his body, and even the veins of his mana circuit, Damien felt an influx of energy that he couldn’t place his finger on.
His entire body was shining with blinding blue light as he was involuntarily lifted off the ground. And slowly, he felt what was truly happening.
Starlight.
This was the change he had missed within the secret realm due to its lack of stars. He only felt the burn of the sun and the freezing of the moon, but even those were faint since the celestial bodies weren’t complete.
Now that he was back in the real world, he felt a connection with every single star and celestial body in his general vicinity. He now understood why the class was called celestial instead of Star Master or something.
Even the planet he was currently in wasn’t spared from this connection.
As Damien was basking in the overflow of sensations he felt, a connection even stronger than the rest started forming. The tidal wave of energy this connection was attempting to give him almost pushed away that of all the other stars combined.
After all, it was the celestial body he had the strongest ties to. It was Earth. After 3 and a half years away from home, he’d finally received an unshakeable understanding of its position.
Although on the cosmic scale, earth could be considered close to Apeiron, it wasn’t anywhere near that in reality. Damien realized how little mana he had when compared to the distance, berating himself for even entertaining the thought of teleporting home.
But now, that wasn’t a foolish thought anymore. Damien felt that if he used his connection to earth, the mana cost to return there would be severely cut. Without any further thought, Damien took out his Stat Boost Potion and consumed it.
He moved its essence towards his intelligence stat. The intelligence stat wasn’t simply there to increase reaction time and control over the body, nor was it simply a measure of increased computing power.
While these were auxiliary functions of the stat, it also affected how much mana one could hold in their body.
Damien was slightly different since he had many other facets that increase his mana capacity, but this was still applicable to him. Even if the boost from the potion was small, it was still something useful for him.
The starlight surrounding Damien slowly faded, making him conscious of his surroundings. Only then did he notice the countless stares headed in his direction.
Rose and Zara were both next to him with their eyes wide and mouths slightly agape, but they had traveled with him long enough to know he was fine. He had told them about the contents of his class change when he became a celestial.
The other reactions were much more exaggerated. There were 38 people around them, with 9 seemingly either being stuck in the secret realm or dying. Most of them had either terror or a downcast look on their faces. After all, they were extremely arrogant about their gains before they returned to the real world, but the first thing they saw was others around them with the aura of a 3rd class. And it wasn’t just Damien. Rose next to him had this aura and two others did as well. Naturally, it was Ethan and the dark horse.
Ignoring everyone else, these two headed in Damien’s direction. “Hahaha, it seems like you’re still slightly ahead of me, friend,” Ethan said as he initiated a strong bear hug with Damien.
Damien wasn’t really a shy person, especially with friends, so he returned in kind. Except, he put a little extra strength into his hold. Feeling this, Ethan did the same, and before they could get into a full-on competition, Rose slapped Damien on his back.
“Wow, you two are so close! Ever considered getting even closer?”
Looking at each other, Damien and Ethan shuddered. They knew what she meant, but they wished they didn’t. Quickly pushing each other away, they ended their greeting with a handshake.
The dark horse also greeted them, and it was only now that they learned his name. He was Matthew Eriel. However, due to his cold and distant demeanor, they weren’t able to find out where he came from. The reason they associated was simply due to them all being similar levels of talent and rivals.
They then started sharing the stories of what they found in the secret realm. Damien and Rose went first, speaking about Godspark mountain and the Legacy Tombs they found. They did, however, choose to leave out some details, especially of the ancient temple, which they described as a second legacy tomb.
Ethan’s eyes sparkled. “You guys made it almost all the way up Godspark Mountain? Nice!”
Then he began recounting his own experience. Ethan remained in the lava-filled environment for a good 3 months before he decided to leave. During that time, he simply trained and mastered his fire control. He hadn’t put much focus on it before, but after fighting Damien, he changed his approach.
After that, he decided to leave, but this was where his story got interesting. On his way, he was confronted by a group of massive men, who he later learned to be the barbarian race they were told to avoid.
Being a muscle head, though, Ethan didn’t care about this and simply saw them as opponents to face. He sparred with some of their members, beating them in a purely physical contest before they invited him to their village.
From there, he spent 3 months living as their “brother”. He would hunt with them, celebrate with them, and even got a few of their signature tattoos in tribute to them, which he then showed off to Damien with a proud look on his face.
They took him to a Legacy Tomb which they had enshrined as a place for people to take their “Ritet of Passage” as they called it, and allowed him to clear it. He used the rewards he gained along with the hunting he did to swiftly reach 3rd class.
Ethan’s story was relatively calm, even with him becoming friends with a random warring race that held completely different customs from those outside.
Next was Matthew, but he didn’t say much. He simply told them how he landed in a dark eerie forest filled with undead creatures. He then told them he had found a Legacy Tomb and cleared it, obtaining an inheritance.
The other three nodded. They could feel a slightly ghastly aura radiating from Matthew that he didn’t possess before they entered, and they now had an explanation for it.
As they spoke, they remained in the same place, but all the other geniuses had already begun making their way back to their respective homes.
The leaders of the various nations had already returned, and they were the only ones present in the vast plain. And now, the four would have to go separate ways.
“Don’t worry, bro. I’ll be coming to the Beast domain at some point soon, so we’ll meet again then. Let’s properly brawl it out at that time.” Damien said as he gave Ethan a fist bump.
Ethan didn’t really know the concept of fist-bumping but went with it anyway. “Alright. You don’t have to rush, though. It’d be embarrassing if you rushed over just to get your ass handed to you.”
After a bit more banter, they parted ways. Matthew had also left to wherever he had come from. The only ones left in the plain were Damien Rose and Zara.
“So, ready to go meet your father-in-law?” Rose suddenly said.
Damien’s face went whiter than a sheet of paper as he robotically turned his head to face her. “I’m sorry I don’t think I heard you right. Can you repeat what you just said?”
Rose smiled mischievously. “Your father-in-law of course. What? Did you think you could just have a casual relationship with the princess of the Adelaire Empire?”
“Ha…Haha…” Damien forced out a laugh. And then, he ran. “If you can’t catch me I don’t have to get married! Hahaha!”
Rose’s face burned red in annoyance. ‘If you don’t want to marry me so much why don’t you just say it?’ She then sprinted after him.
Only Zara was left, confused at what just happened. But, with the thought that the two were playing around, Zara also got excited and ran after them. “Wait for me!”
Damien was in the front, still running at full speed, but unlike his outward appearance, his mind was calm. Truthfully, he already knew that agreeing to be with Rose was essentially guaranteeing they would get married.
He had been in this world long enough to understand that dating culture wasn’t as open-minded as earth, and most people would only have one partner in their entire lives unless, of course, they had a harem.
At first, he hesitated at the thought of getting married. He was young and had his whole life ahead of him. But as time passed, his hesitation lessened. This was especially true after the legacy tomb trial when Damien started considering a harem.
He realized that even if she was his wife, it was only a vow to stay together till the ends of time. There were no legal documents, taxes, or prenuptial agreements like earth. They would still only be dating currently, but he had to at least become her fiancée, simply to show his sincerity.
Damien stopped running at full speed, allowing Rose to catch up. Then, before she could even speak, he beat her to it.
“So, aren’t you going to tell me about my future father-in-law? Or are you going to make your hubby go into this meeting blind?”
Rose blushed, but still smiled widely. Even if he was being sarcastic in the latter parts of his sentence, she could tell that he had accepted the rest.
So, Rose gave him a not-so-brief overview of her father’s personality as the trio made their way to Aurora.