During the few hours since the battle against Emma ended, Axel's world suffered important changes that would change it forever.

During this time frame, most of the Esvert and Yuoko villagers abandoned their previous lands to cross the ocean in the hope of finding a new home, as their previous territory was becoming more and more hostile as time passed.

After the incident that occurred in the battle of worlds, the Warrior Queen Raziel began to aggressively expand the Guburg's territory as revenge towards those that, according to her, had betrayed her father while making the world fall into chaos.

Not only were they a group of strong fighting experts, but they also learned how to fight the corruption that plagued those lands from the beginning, so they used their advantages to strike fast and soon managed to control more than sixty percent of the territory.

And if that was not enough, a new faction appeared on the scene. Even though they were considered a faction, these people were much more like independent groups that learned how to use the corrupted energy to get stronger in a much faster way than usual by using human sacrifices and other kinds of rituals to boost their cultivation. These groups were known as "evil cults," and even though they were not very numerous, they still managed to become a pain in the ass for the three tribes, as they usually worked in the shadows and were difficult to eradicate.

Because of the fear of them reaching the new continent, both the Esvert and the Yuoko decided to create teams of cultivators specially trained to deal with this kind of group.

One of the people that were part of that team was Zack. Zack was a man in his mid-twenties with short dark hair and a pair of black eyes. Since his childhood, he had been different from most of the other people around him. This was mainly because his grandmother was a Guburg cultivator and his grandfather had been an Esvert scholar, while his mother had come from a Yuoko family, so in the end, he had blood from each of the villages.

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Because of this, even though he hadn't received any kind of secret technique from any of his relatives, over his childhood he managed to absorb various characteristics from each of his relatives, managing to obtain most of the beneficial traits that each tribe had and knowing how to behave with each one of them.

At that moment, Zack was cultivating with his eyes closed in the middle of his room while sitting on the floor. The energy around him flowed at a good pace towards his dantian, before quickly distributing itself toward each part of his body, focusing on his mind in particular.

Suddenly, a pained expression appeared on his face for a few seconds, but soon Zack's sea of consciousness began to condense, and a sigh of relief left his mouth as he opened his eyes.

"Finally, my mind has reached stage five." Zack thought as a smile appeared on his face.

Zack, as the leader of one of the anti-cultist groups, had managed to reach a good level of his cultivation, and with this last breakthrough, he managed to get both his dantian, body, and mind to stage five.

Each stage of cultivation required a lot of time and work, and each breakthrough meant a great boost to a person's battle capacity. Right now, with his current strength, Zack would be able to become a top member of any organization that he wanted to join. Above him, there were very few experts and some legends, such as Edwin Cloakwolf, or any other great figure inside the different villages, but as these kinds of individuals usually stayed out of the frontlines, it meant that Zack was strong enough to be sure that he would never be completely suppressed by any enemy that he could find on the battlefield.

For the next few seconds after his breakthrough, Zack stayed still, using his mind to sense his surroundings and try to control the energy around him so he could adapt to his new capacities. When he felt that he was ready, he grabbed his long sword, which had the word "justice" inscribed on its blade, and left his room.

He soon arrived at a canteen, where a group of six people was sitting around a table full of food and drink. Before he even had the chance to do anything, a voice called for him from that table.

"Hey, boss. We have news about our quest. We think that you will be happy when you hear it. " One of the men that were sitting at the table began to shout at Zack.

"What is it? Have you found any members of the cult?" Zack asked as he arrived at the table.

"Better yet, we have found where their main base currently is." One of his men said while smiling.