Void Evolution System

Most of the land in Arulion's central area was flat. The places near civilization tended to have only a few mountains, rivers, and other natural formations.

However, when one moved further from society, one would find that there was more variety in the world's ecosystems than expected.

August's team passed through many a forest, jungle, and even tundra on their way to the mountain ranges of the south.

The group used their dragon forms to travel. It was the first tOphelia or Lucas saw what August was hiding. They couldn't help but be impressed with his majesty.

They were part of the crowd that didn't understand anything about what August's identity signified. They saw the Holy Dragons convene about him, but they still didn't seem to get what the big deal was.

After all, August was standing here safe and sound. It was impossible for him to escape on his own, so the Holy Dragons must have let him go.

Lucas and Ophelia weren't privy to the details of August's life. They were his friends, but they were not life-and-death comrades. He didn't know how much he could trust them, so he only told them about the plans he had for the future rather than the events of the past.

Nevertheless, without knowing what questions to ask, the two naturally shut their mouths and focused on the current objective.

The lands were mostly clear. When they first left Fort Halleya, they cacross many forsaken dragons and were forced to fight, but their combined strength was enough to easily defeat all of them.

As they moved further and further from society as a whole, the number of forsaken dragons they saw diminished heavily.

Those people, until recently, only had thoughts of slaughtering others. They would not be in areas without settlements.

Well, it wasn't that there were none.

The dragon kingdom had existed for a very long time. Over the course of its history, many clans had built their homes in its most distant regions as they desired a life outside of the kingdom's authority.

The journey was an educational one in that sense. Even if the encounters were brief, August and his friends were able to meet the ancient tribes in the forests similar to Valerie's people and even the ice and snow dragons who lived deep in the unexplored tundra.

Still, all of their stops were only made with the intention of checking their compasses to see if they were still moving in the right direction.

Eventually, they arrived exactly where August and Melania predicted they would.

What stood in front of them was a vast array of mountains that spanned a huge distance. They bordered the expansive seas and didn't contain any signs of life, as if this area was deemed the only place in the hidden realm unsuitable for life.

Aside from the fact that there wasn't anything but water past this point, the main clue leading everyone to believe that the treasure was here was the movement of their compasses.

The "needles," which were holographic rather than physical, were spinning chaotically. Now, perhaps on a real compass that would lead them to believe they were in a region with strange magnetism, but their devices did not use magnets to function, so that was no longer a possibility.

The effect was likely being mirrored to indicate that their compasses would not give them more clues. Since they'd arrived here, they needed to do the rest of the searching on their own.

At first glance, it looked like they were the first to arrive. Without any obvious life auras in the vicinity, it wasn't wrong for them to make such an assumption.

Still, they could never be certain until they checked for themselves.

While everyone else split up to search the mountain range for any signs of tampering or residual aura, August took to the seas.

As an Azure Dragon, he had something of an absolute dominion over these territories. If he managed to reach Qinglong's level, then he would be invincible on the water.

At the moment, he wasn't quite there yet, but he had more than enough familiarity with the environment.

August's body shifted the moment he entered the sea into a draconic form more suitable for underwater travel. He connected to the water itself and used it as his eyes and ears, looking far and wide for anything interesting.

There weren't any civilizations here. Perhaps because temperatures were too cold for other living beings to survive, dragons refused to move here. No matter how great they were, they would still be affected by food scarcity, after all.

The sea floor was just rocky without any coral formations or beauties. As August approached it, he realized that even the earth disallowed life. The soil itself was already extremely hard, not to mention the rocks below.

August tried to break through the seafloor out of curiosity only to learn that it was impossible for him.

Which, frankly, was a shame.

The vacuum presented by the lack of anything in the vicinity allowed August to perform a more concentrated search without obstructions, through which he sensed a strange aura deep within the ground.

He approached the location above that place and focused his senses into a line to see what lay below.

His awareness bounced off of the seafloor many times before he managed to penetrate it.

And when he did…

'That has to be it.'

All he saw was a shining mass of white light hidden in a cavern. He didn't know how to reach that cavern, and he couldn't find out through this method.

'My senses are being pulled in by the light. I can either pull out completely or let it consme.'

Pulling out just enough to find the path to that place was made impossible. It was an inconvenience, but it wasn't necessarily the worst-case scenario.

'There has to be an entrance on the surface if it's like this. And, that entrance will be somewhere close to the shore.'

August immediately grabbed his communicator and conveyed his findings to the team.

Receiving confirmation from the other side that they'd received it, he started making his way back to the shore so he could help with the search.

It wasn't easy for him to give them details about where the cavern was, but he could visualize its location which gave him an advantage in the search.

Surfacing and flying up a nearby cliff to make it back into the mountain range, August landed on flat land again.

Only, he was not alone.

"August Void…"

The woman who found herself face to face with him commented in surprise. August turned to her with the sexpression.

"Iridia Ignis?"

He didn't sense her presence at all. More importantly, if she was here, then the other Holy Clan geniuses had to be somewhere in the vicinity as well.

'That isn't good news.'

It meant that they were outnumbered by enemies.

August lowered his stance. His eyes narrowed as he observed Iridia's posture.

They were clearly competitors and enemies.

So, why was she remaining so relaxed?

August was already prepared for a fight. If this was a move to catch him off guard, then it would not work.

However…

"Put your fists down. I'm not fighting you."

…Iridia's response was even more surprising than her presence.

It seemed she was here not for battle, but for conversation.

To August, though, it was strange.

He couldn't think of anything she could possibly want to talk to him about at a tlike this.

But, he also didn't want to fight.

Slowly but surely, he brought himself out of his fighting stance and looked at her in confusion, asking her the question in his mind.

"Why?"