Void Evolution System
chapter-1809

According to Karlen's short explanation, the tournament would take place a month later. Damien's appearance was extremely convenient. If it weren't for his timely arrival, the Earth Temple would have been in a predicament that would take until the very last week before the event to solve.

Since Damien was now in the temple and declared the representative, the most glaring issue was solved. The highest authorities of the temple could return to their more important planning.

Karlen left Damien with a message saying that the Temple Master would be calling him soon. Not knowing how soon "soon" was, Damien was forced to stay inside the temple for a period of time.

He originally wanted to spend this time trying to understand the situation of this island in more detail.

Unfortunately, banishing ignorance didn't help him. He could not absolutely understand the happenings of this island. At first, he assumed it was because his power wasn't enough, but that was not the case.

Rather, this island had a suppressant mechanism on the ability.

More than likely, it was to ensure fair competition. If people could banish ignorance and learn their enemies' weak points beforehand, they would never truly struggle in a fight. All battles would turn into a matter of whose weakness could be attacked faster.

Learning the enemy's movements and tendencies was an incredibly important part of Nonexistence combat. The island must have been equipped with such a mechanism so that it was never made otherwise.

Still, it was just inconvenient for Damien. He would have to get creative in searching for clues on his own. His original plan was to have Darius show him around the city and use it as an excuse to do some investigating, but that obviously fell apart.

Since he was confined for this period of time by his obligation to meet the master of this temple, he figured he would at least be productive by showing off and consolidating his position in the eyes of the other members.

That was how Damien's week-long combat circuit cum training lesson began. At first, it was just the expected scenario.

All of the people in line to take Rosalyn's place when she was taken out of the equation came to challenge him for his spot.

He didn't really care about their demands, but he said that he was going to be friendly and learn to socialize again, so he accepted anyway.

How did it go again?

Right, Damien fought five of them and was quickly disappointed by their skill level.

To be fair, they were new gold badge holders. Karlen didn't just take Damien over his existing options for no reason.

He quite literally didn't have existing options.

Other than Rosalyn, all of the other gold badge holders were either vital to other parts of the plan or too weak to play the main character in their charade.

Karlen was already resorting to looking for outside powers who could help him, such as some mercenaries and wanderers who got special permission from the temples to participate in the island's trial.

Damien falling from the sky was his lucky charm. The rewards he promised were generous, but they weren't anywhere near the amount that had to be forked over to hire outsiders for a publicized event like this.

Damien felt a little bit of pity for the man. And, seeing these kids acting so pompous with just a little bit of power rubbed him the wrong way.

He didn't care if they wanted to be arrogant, but they at least needed the skills to back themselves up, right?

So, as they were on the same side for now, Damien chose to help them gain those skills instead of putting them down.

Despite having spent less time in this realm than them, Damien had an even more pronounced connection with Nonexistence.

They were born with constitutions that allowed them to exist in a realm of nothingness, which gave them a huge advantage over others.

However, Damien had been bathed in the concept itself. He died and became one with it before returning to the world, and when he arrived in the Land of Nothingness, he became the first person to fulfill the concept's wish.

As if that wasn't enough, his Void Physique could never be forgotten.

The Void was a force above both Existence and Nonexistence, so how could it be suppressed in a realm where nothing existed?

It regulated Damien's power, purified it, and turned every ten steps he took into a hundred.

Damien had already taken thousands of steps on his own, so what did that equate to with the Void Physique's support?

It wasn't just luck that allowed Damien to do the things he did. It was practice, dedication, and inborn talent that made him equal to a gold badge holder from the moment he stepped on the third island.

He only meant to give him some tips, but his "tips" were filled with information they'd never even begun to consider.

That was the problem with being too engrossed in a single realm. Eventually, that realm's thought process would override everything else. From the challengers who had been on this island for a long time to those who were new, from commoners to the leaders of the temples, everyone had been in the Land of Nothingness for far too long.

They forgot how to consider opinions outside of this realm's norm. They forgot how to act like the Supreme Beings they once were.

Damien had barely been in this realm for some years now. It wasn't nearly enough to be called a long period of time. At his core, he was not an inhabitant of the Land of Nothingness like these people.

He was able to innovate and adapt, so his take on Nonexistence differed heavily from the norm that was followed by everyone else.

When those five geniuses heard his advice, they wanted to ignore it as the ramblings of an old man, but how were they supposed to do that? He defeated them with what was said in those exact ramblings!

Putting away their shame and accepting that he was better than them, the group of five challenged him again while keeping his advice.

The improvement they saw in the short term was not amazing, but they could feel how valuable the small changes they made would be as they continued training. News spread fast.

Those five geniuses never left him alone, so the rest of the temple did the same. Suddenly, Damien became a teacher who had a revolving door of students approaching him for extra lessons.

He didn't really want to be in such a tiring position, but he was forced to accept the consequences of his actions.

For the next week, he taught and taught and taught. He was practically sleeping in the temple's training center since he knew he would have to return there in the morning anyway.

It was exhausting, but Damien knew since a long time ago that he was actually someone who loved teaching. He became famous in the Earth Temple with just a week's effort, and not a single person was left doubting his capabilities.

Still, just when Damien thought he'd finally have the chance to take a step outside the temple, he found himself faced with another matter.

His meeting with the Temple Master, of course, but also something much, much more annoying.