Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1771  Breaking Through

From his previous, quiet conversations with B, Raze had already learned quite a bit about the mysterious, unforgiving structure of the Divine Realm. It was essentially an entirely separate world, a higher dimension that was fundamentally split from the mortal lands of Pagna. Curiously, it was an existence that only ascended Pagna martial warriors ever actually experienced; mages and Altereds had absolutely no place there.

Within the ancient borders of the Divine Realm, they operated on entirely different, ruthless systems of power. For one, the recognized stages of a martial warrior went all the way up to twelve. So, when a mortal person finally broke their limits, reached the coveted Divine Stage in Pagna, and was supposedly 'selected' to ascend to the world above, they weren't treated like triumphant gods. They would immediately find themselves dumped right at the very bottom of an incredibly dangerous food chain. And in a realm populated entirely by immortals, being at the absolute bottom was a relatively terrible fate.

Although those who inhabited the Divine Realm originally came from the various martial clans, ancient families, and warring factions that existed across the lands of Pagna, those old, mortal allegiances were pretty much thrown completely out of the window the moment they ascended.

They had forged their own elite groups, heavenly sects, and powerful organizations that strictly controlled how everything was run. From the grim details B had shared, there were hardly any lone-wolf individuals that successfully existed with their own independent power up there. The sheer, crushing pressure of the environment meant that freshly ascended people ended up frantically joining established groups rather quickly, simply to survive the harsh transition.

For those stubborn or proud enough who tried to actively fight against the ruling clans as a solo individual, the bloody result was exactly what had happened to B, and what had tragically happened to Belil. They were hunted, broken, and discarded.

However, there was another, far more important reason to swallow your pride and join a clan: territory. The ruling factions strictly controlled the specific access points across the realm. They guarded the gateways that allowed one to use dimensional portals to head to other worlds, and more importantly, they fiercely guarded the only known ways to descend back down to the mortal world of Pagna.

An ascended warrior simply couldn't freely decide to pack up and head back down to Pagna whenever they felt homesick. In a dark way, getting severely beaten, crippled, and forcefully banished down through a rift was technically one way to return. But Raze logically figured that most people who rebelled just ended up dead rather than staying alive long enough to fall like Belil had done. And even Belil had openly admitted that the absolute only reason he had managed to stay alive in his ruined state was because he had luckily run into Bofan in the lower realms to save him.

It was a vastly more brutal, unforgiving world than Pagna ever was. This was primarily because a warrior almost always entered the higher realm entirely on their own. It wasn't as if ten loyal friends or clan members would all magically transcend at the exact same time so they could form a protective group together and watch each other's backs. You arrived alone, weak, and surrounded by ancient predators.

"Even if Safa managed to successfully swallow her pride and join up with one of the established factions above, she wouldn't be free," B explained, her voice carrying a heavy tone of experience as she leaned against the wall of the estate. "They would absolutely make her perform a grueling number of tasks, run endless errands, or fight their territorial battles for years before they ever gave her official permission to use a portal to head back down here. So, realistically, it's no wonder she isn't down here with us yet."

"Man, you just had to go and open your mouth to make me worry for her even more, didn't you?" Liam sighed, running a stressed hand through his hair. He paced across the room. "I mean, Safa isn't exactly going to know much about this twisted political structure up there. She's kind, but she's incredibly stubborn when it comes to her morals. What happens if she flat-out refuses to bow her head and join them?"

"And what type of menial missions will they actually make an ascended warrior do?" Dame asked, crossing his arms in deep thought. "I mean, the whole ultimate point of transcending mortal limits and ascending to the Divine Realm is that you are now officially an immortal being. A biological lifespan is no longer a ticking clock that has any real meaning to them."

"Exactly," B nodded, a cynical smirk crossing her lips. "Since they can't die of old age, those arrogant fools start to think of themselves as lower and higher gods. To stave off the endless boredom of eternity, they desperately try to give their eternal lives meaning by relentlessly chasing after this damned, artificial hierarchy. The constant, bloody fighting and political scheming between the divine groups up there is almost as bad as the petty clan wars were down here. It's a tragic shame, really. People in Pagna dedicate their blood, sweat, and tears chasing the dream of ascending to the Divine Realm their entire lives... and that miserable rat race is the actual reality waiting for them."

B pushed herself off the wall, her eyes scanning the room.

"The grand issue is the perception. The few Divine warriors that do occasionally get permission to come back down to the mortal realm aren't exactly going to tell their descendants how pathetic the situation truly is," B continued. "Down here, they might be deeply cherished, worshipped figures among their home clan. They might be one of the only legendary ancestors that managed to reach the Divine Realm in centuries. But the harsh truth is, when they go back up there... they are absolute nobodies fetching water for older gods.

"As for the tasks they force the newcomers to do, it varies. It might be as simple and tedious as scouting for recruitment, or managing low-level forgery and alchemy. There are also rare, powerful items that can still be found hidden within other dimensional portals. Finding those artifacts can easily end up swaying the balance of power in one heavenly territory or another, so they use the new ascendants as expendable dungeon divers."

The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence as the grim reality of Safa's situation settled over them.

"That means there is only one logical answer to this," Raze finally said, his voice cold and filled with an unshakeable resolve. His dark eyes narrowed as he looked at his friends. "I will simply have to reach the Divine Stage myself. I will break through, enter the Divine Realm, and find a way to help Safa. It's the absolute only thing I can do after everything she has selflessly done for me. I have to go up there and check that she is actually alright."

Although the others desperately wanted to volunteer and go with Raze—especially Liam, who felt a deep protective duty to help—they all silently knew that this ambitious plan was just not biologically or martially possible for any of them. Raze, with his unique dual-core of magic and Qi, was currently the absolute only person in their entire alliance capable of gathering enough raw power to even get close enough to reach the elusive Divine Stage.

With that monumental decision firmly made, Raze dedicated his entire existence to doing everything he possibly could to try and force a breakthrough to the next stage. He retreated from the celebrations and started to intensely cultivate his core every single day, pushing his body to the absolute brink.

If there was word of a high-tier dimensional portal opening anywhere near the territory, he would immediately travel there and head inside alone. He spent weeks ruthlessly fighting the toughest mutated beasts and single-handedly beating the towering dimension bosses. Utilizing his dark, forbidden extraction technique, he continuously absorbed their pure Qi, funneling the raw energy directly into his own expanding core.

He even went out of his way to actively solve lingering territorial disputes and gang issues across the lands of Pagna. In situations where he didn't really need to personally intervene as a lord, he used the conflicts as stepping stones for his training. He sought out the strongest rogue martial artists causing trouble, and upon decisively dealing with them, he utilized his extraction technique to drain their cultivated strength as well.

But despite undertaking this grueling, relentless grind—despite absorbing mountains of energy from both beasts and men until his core felt like it was going to burst—he still never felt the coveted breakthrough. The barrier to the Divine Stage remained firmly, impossibly shut. Frustrated, physically exhausted, and running out of ideas, he had finally given up his roaming and headed back to the quiet town of Flendon.

While walking slowly back through the familiar, lantern-lit streets toward his estate, Raze was lost deep in his own dark thoughts.

'I honestly thought I was just subconsciously holding myself back before,' Raze pondered, looking down at his scarred hands. 'I assumed that because I was entirely focused on killing the Grand Magus, I was accidentally stopping myself from naturally reaching the Divine Stage. But after absorbing all of that raw power over the last few weeks without a single, tiny shift in my stage... now it really makes me wonder. Just how impossibly far away from that realm was I to begin with?'

"If breaking through was really that straightforward and easy, absolutely everyone with a decent work ethic would reach the Divine Stage," B suddenly said, interrupting his spiraling thoughts.

She dropped silently from the tiled rooftop above, landing gracefully right next to Raze in the empty street. She fell into step beside him, her expression serious.

"I know you haven't technically been a traditional Pagna warrior for very long, but don't you remember the fundamental lessons of cultivation? There are always certain, rigid bottlenecks in a warrior's path. And this specific transition... this is notoriously one of the toughest, most unbreakable bottlenecks of them all."

B folded her arms, looking ahead at the quiet town.

"It's absolutely not just about blindly accumulating more physical strength or hoarding stolen Qi. It is about fundamentally coming to a profound realization within oneself. Some of the ancient texts say it's simply about achieving a state of having absolutely no more worldly regrets. The philosophy is that if you were to suddenly leave the mortal world of Pagna right now—if you were to drop dead where you stand—you would feel completely at peace, knowing you had achieved everything you ever set out to do."

She stopped walking and turned to look Raze directly in the eyes.

"Maybe back then, when Safa was finally the one capable enough to save you... to have successfully protected the person she cared about most... she finally felt complete. She no longer carried any lingering regrets in her heart, and that purity allowed her core to transcend," B asked softly, her gaze piercing through his defenses. "So tell me, Dark Magus... what is the heavy regret that is still anchoring your soul down?"

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