Is this really a Game?!

Both Reign and Laura stared at Shadow who continued talking with their eyes wide open.

'This little … the system … it had to be the system guiding all three of us.'

'Did it actually see into the past, did it realize that we would swear an oath and was helping us by giving Shadow the mission?'

'Hey, Aethion, if we mention the monolith and vortex now, would it mean we have broken the oath?'

"Yes, but luckily for you, there is an easy way to go around that, heh, those bastards probably never thought that it wasn't enough for only two of you to swear an oath." Aethion suddenly chuckled before speaking, prompting Reign to show a dangerous smile on his face, one that creeped out Shadow and the others.

"Hello kids, it's been a while." Aethion's voice suddenly echoed in the heads of Shadow and the others, causing them all to stare at Reign with confusion.

"Let me tell you an interesting story, well, it isn't really a story, but what Laura and Reign had gone through during their challenge." Aethion's voice echoed again, to which Laura responded by widening her eyes as she realized what was going on.

She swore an oath, as did Reign, but Aethion swore no oath. They had sworn to not do anything that would negatively impact the souls, but the thing was that they swore that they would personally not do it, they never said they would stop others from doing so.

Since Aethion already knew of everything that had occurred before they had sworn the oath, him telling the others of what happened was not considered as Reign and Laura breaking the oath as they were doing nothing right now.

'To think there was such a loophole, are all oaths really this easy to go around?' Laura thought before shaking her head inwardly.

'This is probably only because the souls also wanted to leave a loophole for themselves, they were all powerful individuals in the past, some were Transcendents, some were perhaps even Saints, they probably never thought that two Tier V humans would know such things.'

As Shadow and the others listened to Aethion's story, the realization that something else was also going on slowly crept up on them. There should be no reason why Reign and Laura were not speaking and were instead letting Aethion do it, and yet, that was exactly what was happening.

Reign had gotten red a couple of times as Aethion didn't forget to tell them how he had slept with Liara multiple times during the challenge, which made Shadow and the others all smirk at him who looked away.

Upon mentioning the planet, how it was charred and was very hot with two suns present in the sky, as well as the fact that the demons were looking for a powerful artifact and that there was a vortex in Liara's soul that acted more as a prison, Shadow's eyes were opened wide.

After finishing the story, Aethion did nothing but chuckle as Shadow was jumping around in excitement.

"Hahahahahahahaha, what decades, what centuries, I'm going to finish this mission so quickly that Hades will have to give me a big reward, hahahahahahahaha!"

Shadow was jumping all around as Reign and the others glanced at each other before sighing.

"Well, it's going to take a while, we can't really travel to other planets right now, even if we know their names and where they are, that's impossible for us." Reign said as he leaned back on the sofa.

"Correct, only later will you gain such capabilities, as long as the system deems Earth as sufficient for people to continue leveling up, there is no need for it to allow interstellar traveling to appear."

"From my experience, only if you manage to create a large territory and rule over a lot of land and be a powerful individual in the Power Realm, probably Tier VIII or IX, will you be able to gain access to interstellar traveling."

Aethion's words made Shadow stop with his celebration as the latter sat down on the sofa gloomily.

"That will take months, maybe even years, that's so long."

"People need an average of 10 years to reach that realm and you guys have a chance to reach it in a short 2 or 3 years, you should be more than happy that you are that lucky, after all, once a person reaches Tier VII and steps inside the Power Realm, the benefits will no longer just be strength, one's longevity will also increase."

"So stop sulking, you have more than enough time to finish the mission, you should be happy you already know where the item that a High God like Hades has been searching for god knows how long is," Aethion said as he scolded Shadow a bit.

Shadow sighed and nodded, realizing that he needed to be patient and take advantage of the opportunity presented to him. It was a unique mission, and he was determined to see it through, no matter how long it took.

As the team continued to discuss their individual challenges and future plans, they couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. They had all grown significantly in power and experience, and their bonds had only strengthened compared to the beginning of the game. They were now even more formidable as a team, ready to face any challenges that awaited them.

Reign and Laura also shared their experiences from the planet they had visited, explaining the complex situation with the souls and the ongoing battle against the demonic forces. They emphasized the need for Earth to prepare for possible demonic incursions and the importance of communication and cooperation with the other territories they had allied themselves with.

Their friends listened intently, absorbing the information and understanding the gravity of the situation. While Earth remained mostly untouched by demons, it was essential to be vigilant and ready for any potential threats.

"We should work on strengthening our defenses, just in case," Tank suggested, and the others nodded in agreement. They discussed plans for training, fortifying their base, and expanding their network of alliances to ensure that their territories were safe.

One never knew when they would need to fight against powerful foes after all. With the barriers between the areas of Earth gone, there was no longer any divide, one could come across any level and tier of monsters anywhere.

Compared to before, it was now much more dangerous and chaotic, and nobody could be certain that they would be safe during a hunt.

They had gotten a short briefing from Greenie, and they learned that the casualty rate for the territory had risen compared to before, even back when they had just created the first large safe zone in Doncaster, when it was the most dangerous, the casualty rate wasn't this high.

It was of course because a team would go to an area they were familiar with, only to meet with monsters they had never seen there before, some which were as strong as the ones they had hunted before, some even more powerful.

That led to many more people getting injured or dying. Even though Doncaster was now a powerful territory with plenty of Tier IV combatants, healers were still not that commonly seen. Even with healers, in order for one's limb to be restored, the limb needs to be placed to where it was severed no later than 5 – 10 minutes after it was gone, otherwise even a healer won't be able to reconnect the limb well.

Healing organs was still not something easy, the strongest healers needed to focus fully on healing inner injuries like that one, and the right one, the best way to get that healed was to visit the elven area of the territory as their healing center was without a doubt the best one.

If one made it there with their arm, for example, no later than 30 minutes after it was severed, there was a big chance of it being connected again and functioning well.

The territory now had access to better healing potions, as well as many more, but the potions were healing potions, they could speed up the recovery of the body and help with the healing rate of organs, but if an organ was severely damaged, there was still little that a potion could do, the same went for lost limbs.

It was actually bad to use healing potions if one lost a limb as the potion would try to close the wound completely in order to 'heal' it, which could lead to the person never being able to reconnect his limb.

If the lost limb was severely damaged or mangled, it was also very difficult, almost impossible, for it to be reconnected to the body.

The current best healer in the territory amongst the players was Laura, and even she wasn't certain if she could heal and reconnect such limbs, and that was when one was talking about Tier IV and lower, for Tier V individuals like Reign and the rest, a lot more energy was needed to heal them, making it more difficult.