"Master, you flatter me. I'm only walking my own path."

Shiels nodded, then looked again at the Gate of Oblivion.

Beyond the resolve in his eyes there was now an added calm and confidence.

"It seems these old bones can still stand guard for the home a while longer."

He smiled, a rare lightness in his tone.

"Sir Leo, here's some intelligence about that other world — take it as an early briefing so you can prepare…"

Shiels handed Leo a beast-hide scroll.

"Thank you! Take care, Master. Come visit Dalton Town when you have time!"

"Hahaha — when I'm bored someday, I'll be sure to stop by…"

Leo gave the old man one long look, then his figure faded away.

Dalton Town.

A new day has dawned.

Even Leo felt a little astonished at the scene before him.

The city seemed filled with new life and had expanded several times over.

The streets were crowded not only with Dalton natives but with visitors and merchants from across the cosmos.

A warrior from the Dark Druid Kingdom gaped at a display of staves forged from divine iron in an alchemy shop window.

Several elves from the Forest Alliance were openly praising the star-blooms cultivated in Tina's flower shop.

"Hey — look over there!"

"That's the fabled 'Fountain of the Sky'! I heard a single sip makes you ten years younger!"

A trader from a remote agricultural planet pointed excitedly at the energy-spring fountain in the city center. His companions laughed.

"My energy analysis says 'ten years younger' is poetic license," someone drawled, "but it definitely improves vitality and longevity."

"By the Star Spirits, the purity of this energy is beyond imagination!" another whispered.

The food district was even busier. Aresian roasted meats and ales, dwarf-brewed thunder-mead, elven floral nectars, even energy beads favored by the Etherials — every flavor was available.

A goblin-run "Inter-Universe Flavors" restaurant had a queue out the door, its sign boasting: Taste Wonders from Across Universes! Dalton citizens wore confident, contented smiles.

They basked in the admiring glances of countless civilizations.

After all, the catchphrase circulating among other worlds was: "Dalton's greatness needs no words."

The locals found it cheesy — but flattering nonetheless.

The prosperity of Dalton Town had ripples across Aresia.

Visitors from different star systems brought enormous wealth and opportunity.

Amid this bustle, the real power center — the Supreme Council — convened a meeting to decide the future course. Leo sat at the head.

All core members of Dalton flanked him.

"Everyone," Leo's voice cut the silence. "In one hundred years, I intend to lead all of Dalton to the Sakend universe."

Faces tightened. Though expected, hearing the decision aloud still stirred strong emotion.

A light curtain unfolded at Leo's gesture, displaying the Sakend briefing Shiels had given.

Data scrolled across the screen.

The first thing to strike them was the crushing depiction of power tiers in that universe.

"My god!" Reize leaped up like he'd seen a monstrous sight and pointed at a line on the screen, his voice gone strange. "What kind of universe is this?! It says someone like me — an Astral Envoy — there we'd only be… 'presentable'?!"

"What does 'presentable' mean?" someone asked.

"Like barely good enough to stand on the ring and hand someone a towel? Or like a chair in a tavern — existing but unremarkable?" Reize's exaggerated tone eased the room's tension and earned chuckles. Elarielle covered her mouth and laughed softly.

"Reize, maybe it means you can stop rushing forward for once and use a telescope from the backline?" she teased. Laughter rippled through the hall.

But then a more alarming line captured everyone's attention. The screen clearly showed that humans in the Sakend universe occupy the very bottom of that world's food chain.

"According to current intel," Leo's voice sobered, "humans in Sakend are regarded by almost all higher races as inferior — slaves, even blood-food and experimental subjects."

"A powerful organization has established harsh laws to systemically suppress humans: forbidding their study of advanced secrets, restricting their development. Any sign of rebellion is met with bloody repression."

"What?!" The council erupted.

Elizabeth slammed a hand on her sword's hilt, anger burning in her eyes. Aragis's aura chilled to knife-edge. Even Elarielle's face, usually composed, grew rare and severe.

"Lilith!" Elarielle's green eyes flashed with panic. "Lilith is in that world!"

"She's alone there—well, not completely; Fiona is with her — but in a place full of malice…" Tina cried urgently. "President, we must go at once! Lilith is brilliant, but facing a whole world's hostility is too dangerous!"

"Right!" Reize roared. His earlier antics vanished, replaced by pure killing intent. "If any organization dares lay a finger on Lilith, I'll march in and flatten them!"

"Calm down." Leo's voice, low but firm, immediately quelled the outrage.

He looked to Elarielle and Tina.

"I share your concern. But we cannot act rashly. Fiona is an ancient dragon from Sakend — with her and Lilith's own strength, their immediate safety is reasonably secure." He paused.

"I've divined ahead: Lilith will encounter some opportunities out there. In adversity there can be fortune."

He continued, grave: "We are going to Sakend not merely to retrieve Lilith, but to rescue countless kin suffering under oppression."

"But with our current strength, storming into a world where humans are enslaved and surrounded by foes would be foolish, not brave."

Leo rose. "Therefore, I decide we will spend the next hundred years preparing a full expedition."

He lifted his hand and his words hammered into everyone's hearts.

"We will marshal Dalton and our allied peoples to raise our overall power to levels capable of meeting Sakend's enemies. We will not send an expeditionary party — we will forge a civilization-level army that can change the balance of that world."

Anger and fear transmuted into fierce resolve.

Elizabeth saluted solemnly.

"I volunteer as vanguard."

Aragis nodded in grim agreement, weapon intent blazing in his eyes.

Reize pounded his chest. "The Guard will be President's sharpest blade!"

Elarielle, Magnar, Walter, Lupotin — all the core members stood, determined.

A bright light flickered in Leo's eyes.

A hundred years is long for mortals, but for Dalton on the verge of voyaging to the Starsea, it is but the snap of a finger.

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