After a few minutes of looking around the bustling streets of the stronghold and taking in the sights of this advanced city, Leon decided he had seen enough and immediately opened his [World Map] to look for Emilia, Celeste and Violet, his companions who had arrived before him.

The three of them were still in the stronghold after all, their icons clearly visible on the map, so he knew exactly where to find them.

’Who cares, we just wanna use that place as housing and a base of operations,’ Leon thought to himself, dismissing any concerns about the stronghold’s internal politics.

Leon’s plan was to use the [Requiem] stronghold to rest and spend the rest of his time exploring the domain for items, monster essences and other valuable resources he could use to grow stronger.

It was literally placed right in the middle of the most dangerous parts of [Higher Domain #1] after all, making it the perfect launching point for expeditions into the surrounding areas.

’The Tower of Souls, the Divine Key, I also need to look for a blacksmith for the cores and someone who can help me understand the key’s purpose,’ Leon was noting everything he needed to do as he was following the world map toward the girls’ location.

Eventually, after navigating through several streets and past numerous shops, he arrived in front of a giant hotel, with a massive glowing sign that read [Requiem Hotel] in elegant letters.

’Looks expensive,’ Leon thought, eyeing the grand entrance and the well-dressed people coming and going.

Of course though, for someone like Leon, he didn’t even worry about things like money, he had more than enough to cover anything he might need.

[Eternal Coins: 137,636,895]

’Heh, I’d be able to live however I want with such an amount... or buy a few incredibly powerful items if I found them,’ he mused, feeling secure in his wealth.

He entered the hotel, which had a massive reception area with marble floors and chandeliers, and he quickly sent a message to the girls to let them know he had arrived.

[Celestial: I’m down the hotel you’re in.]

[Saintess: Yay~ It took you a while to get here!]

[RainbowDragon: He can’t outspeed a dragon after all, you should feel lucky!]

[Saintess: Why are we talking to each other here, we’re in the same room.]

[UndyingPhoenix: Me and Pyra are coming down~]

Leon smiled as he saw the messages pop up on his interface, the familiar banter warming his heart, and he waited for a few minutes, before eventually the three girls appeared in the lobby.

There were all kind of races in the hotel’s lobby, from elves to beastfolk to lizard-people, so it wasn’t surprising to anyone to see an elf, phoenix and dragon together in a group.

Of course, there might be some malicious people seeking Celeste due to the fact her kind dropped rare items when killed, but the stronghold’s security seemed robust.

But there seemed to be security placed almost everywhere, each of them holding immense strength and watching the crowd with keen eyes, making the hotel feel safe.

It was like a mini-society, with its own laws and enforcers who kept the peace.

"We booked a pretty large chamber for a week," Violet spoke, "It was expensive, but it should be fine for all of us."

"How much was it?" Leon asked, curious about the cost.

"25,000 Eternal Coins per night," Emilia mumbled, "We had enough because you gave some money to us before, but if its too expensive we can move to somewhere cheaper..."

"Are you joking?" Leon grinned, seeing them worried about money problems, "That’s literally nothing compared to what I have!"

He even sent each of them 1,000,000 Eternal Coins just in case they were placed in such a situation in the future and needed funds.

"W-Wow," Celeste’s face beamed with joy, "This is insane, we could stay here for months!"

Of course, they had no idea this didn’t even put a dent on Leon’s reserve of coins, but he didn’t say much for now, letting them enjoy the moment.

The four entered what seemed to be an actual elevator and climbed high in the hotel, entering the room on one of the upper floors.

As the girls said, it was a fairly big room, with a few rooms to rest, a kitchen and even a lounge area with comfortable furniture.

You could see the outside from a massive window in the lounge, displaying the sheer size of the [Requiem] stronghold stretching out below them.

"So many people..." Leon mumbled, looking at the endless stream of citizens below, "If Eternal Ascension wasn’t all about death and the gods, I wonder if this is what it would look like everywhere."

In the end, if every race decided to give up the violence and constant conflict, would they be able to co-exist peacefully like this on a larger scale?

That was something Leon couldn’t answer, because in Eternal Ascension, the only thing that truly mattered was strength and the ability to survive.

If he wasn’t strong, he would have have been stuck in the [Forsaken City] forever, killed by the imperial guards, or destroyed by the vessel of war.

So many moments where Leon’s sheer determination and strength were what saved him from certain death, each victory building upon the last.

If he wanted to achieve this ultimate future, a world without the gods’ influence, he’d need the strength to defeat them, though that seemed too far now.

"Alright," he cheered up as he looked at the girls, "Who wants to eat, we’ll have to focus on getting stronger starting tomorrow."

"Wait!" Violet said, "You didn’t say what happened in the Imperial Kingdom after we left!"

"Oh," Leon said, realizing he had forgotten to tell them.

Leon spent the next ten minutes explaining everything that happened, including the fight with the vessel of war, the aftermath, and what Iris planned to do to rebuild her kingdom.

"Wow, you really defeated that thing?!" Violet gasped, "It was much stronger than the Forsaken King we fought..."

"Heh, of course Leon won," Celeste grinned, "He’s the strongest!"

The group went outside the requiem hotel and found a luxury restaurant nearby, where they ordered a large meal to celebrate their reunion.

They then passed the time, enjoying each other’s company, Leon saying this day was going to be a break after everything that had happened.

Until night fell, and as soon as this happened, there was a sudden announcement across the entire stronghold, echoing through the streets.

[Day 4,593 has ended.]

[Current Progress: 93/100 Stronghold Crystals.]

As soon as they heard the second panel, almost everyone in the district they were in, no, across the entire stronghold, suddenly cheered loudly.

"Fuck yeah!" someone shouted.

"They’re doing it!"

"Lord Cavin is gonna be the first to do it!"

The reason for that was simple: Tiara told Leon they had 92 out of the 100 crystals they needed, and now they announced that they had 93, showing steady progress.

’Only 7 more then,’ Leon thought grimly, the bad feeling he had in his chest not fading one bit, ’Oh well, I won’t be here when they attempt it.’

All Leon needed to do was not be present when they supposedly went through that Level 6 Monster Tide that would come with the level up.

By then he’d probably be in the [Eternal Battlefield] or the [Eternal Domain], so he was good... right?

...

A/N

Extremely sorry for only uploading one Chapter a day the past two days guys, I’ve been busy!