The sun continues to rise, and I proudly let my aura gently seep through my growing lands.

Business as usual goes on all throughout the Dark Continent, and a surprising weight of relief is lifted off my shoulders.

The Crimson City is growing faster than ever before, forming many new links of loyalty every few minutes during this morning rush hour, and the new connection to the 8 Great Regions will only make this growth skyrocket further.

The Abyss is retracting at a slow and steady rate, while simultaneously, my doubles are creating new dungeons to make new areas of dead land viable for new settlements to be built, making expansion more natural and appetizing for citizens.

My last remaining double is scouting out the island of Palmyra, watching a new shift of hunters coming out of their identical housing in a structured military fashion while the hunters on duty hand in their night's worth of loot.

The patterns and procedures are all being noted down, and after another cycle, my double will begin to look at the Finger Islands.

–

I share this moment of accomplishment with my teammates only for a matter of minutes before I break the silence.

"Well, good riddance. I'll need to extract some information from him in the future, but this is a fitting fate for him now."

My attention turns to the direction of the prison far out in the desert that was created to store and interrogate members of the association after the attack on the Crimson Dome , so I speak up again.

"I know just where to keep him until then."

I pull the block of ice imbued with soul energy and divine threads closer to me, then reach into my storage to pull out an item box and toss it to Maria on my right.

"That's for your next core progression. The yellow core. There should be enough inside there for all of you to make it to the next stage. Compressing them into true cores will be a far different issue..."

I turn the conversation back to business and explain exactly what's happened since I left them in an emergency state, and the shockwaves, surges, and Abyss are explained as best I can.

I let them in on the details of Mr. Freeman being a member of a society that rules this world, and that others like him, even stronger, are coming to battle for whatever is making itself known inside the Abyss.

Many questions are asked back, but I still don't have much information at all to share. I'm in the dark almost as much as all of them.

I fill them in on the expansion plans I've worked out with Rodrigo and Bri, then bring up the fact that I've made an alliance with the nation to our south; however, I leave out the small detail about Raven being close by right now.

We just had quite the moment, tying up the loose end by defeating the Director that screwed us all over. I feel it's best to introduce her on better terms; once the tinge of betrayal isn't fresh in our minds, and once everyone here is a bit stronger as well.

While my teammates are, in fact, the strongest hunters in all of the Dark Continent and 8 Great Regions, mere red and orange cores aren't going to be able to stack up against the overwhelming might of a True Core.

It's hard to even conceptualize to them right now that if I let down my protective barriers, they wouldn't be able to survive my aura alone...

I think to myself about possible tactics to expedite the process of awakening a True Core, like the time I used Green Divine fruits to speed up the process by thousands of times.

It usually takes decades, or even over a century to grow to the state I managed in a few weeks. Replicating the process with different tools won't be easy...

While the circulation of divine threads inside the bunker does expedite the process by 3-4x, it is nowhere near enough efficiency to bring them near my level of power within the mere days we have left until the other members of the order said they would arrive on the Dark Continent.

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My head spins thinking of ideas, while Abby and Maria come up with a creative way to continue training while they wait for Lydia and Fisher to awaken their orange cores.

I nod once I'm done thinking and their planning comes to a close.

"Good. Get ready for another war... I don't know when or how strong you'll have to become, but that never held us back before. Train hard and plan for the worst."

I share my body double skill with Fisher and Lydia while giving my Absorption skill to Abby and Maria.

Fisher and Lydia will have to use constant Restoration potions made from Abby's skill, and the healing process will be a bit slower than if she was in the room with them; however, the small lag in progress will be beneficial.

During this time, they'll be able to farm levels in the labyrinth with their doubles, and Abby and Maria don't have to halt their progression either. They will be farming both levels and Mana Control on the highest floors until they're all ready to begin the Yellow Core awakening process.

Flashes of white light leave me floating above the desert alone with the Director trapped in a block of ice before me.

I turn and bring him back to the prison far from the city.

–

Once I touch down in front of the facility and greet the Crimson Army guards I left on duty before, I give them new instructions.

"We will be releasing the current prisoners, and adding a single one that you will continue to watch. There's been a change in ownership of the nation they came from."

Before, the only reason I was keeping them all here was because they followed orders from Mr. Freeman to attack the Crimson City.

While I resent them for it, and they should be thinking for themselves, some of them were incapable of that fact; under the elusive mind control of that man's ranked up buff.

"Line them up all outside the prison once I leave. They will receive new temporary contracts tasked to 15 to 45 days of labor to help us expand our borders. They will be paid out a standard rate once their contracts are complete and seen as free men if they wish to go separate ways. That is, as long as they don't act up during this probation time. I'll have a man sent here soon to pick them up."

One of my doubles creating dungeons in the Sector 2 deadzone is seeing all of this play out in real-time and knows that I'm talking to it specifically, so it comes flying this way while the guards separate and let me walk inside the prison while carrying a massive compacted ball of floating ice containing a single prisoner.

As I walk through the rows of cells, I use telekinesis and mana manipulation to take off their restraints and open the cell doors that hold them. I let the small pieces of black originator stone fall into my item storage.

Then, use a [Heavy Hand] to increase the gravity in the room while I speak up.

"You're all going to be free soon. I have a single job to be done, then you may all go back to the Apex Region in peace."

Many of the prisoners wince under the pressure, but as I lift it, many become interested in my words as they've been starved of stimulation for a few dayst.

"I know this attack you all took part in was not the result of a direct choice from all of you. Some didn't have the correct information, and others were under the influence of subtle mind control. I'd like to give you all a second chance, and I'm only doing so because luckily no one was killed during your stunt. The Dark Continent and 8 Great Regions have made a trade alliance, so you will work together with citizens here and show that we can get along... The process will take a few weeks, maybe a month, and in the end of it, you can all go back to your comfy suites in the Apex Region Headquarters for all I care. Understood?"

I increase the gravity one more time, then let the pressure go as I make it to the end of the hall with the Vice Region's director floating before me.

"You either agree, or you stay in here with him."

At this, everyone in the prison leaves their cells and walks out to be pushed into a long line at the entrance of the prison, waiting for my double to arrive and get them started on the half-Dark Continent, half-8 Great Regions team of workers that will take down the wall that separates our nations.

I plan to have many news outlets get a hold of this sight to get the word of the merging of nations out in a more natural way than just the Association workers leaking it to their friends and family.

The doors to the prison shut, and all that's left is the Director frozen solid, staring straight ahead in constant pain, shock, and dread.

I let out a sigh while using my soul energy, mana manipulation, and small amounts of divine threads to seep into the floors and walls of this prison to reinforce its strength; then let the Director down with a thud.

"Enjoy your stay, it's going to be quite a while..."

I stare forward at him for a few more seconds, then turn around and crush all of the lights on the way out with telekinesis to make the prison go dark, and the only glow comes from the back wall where the frozen man rests in eternal solitude.

While I open the door to leave, three new wells of gravity tickle my senses far away. One seems strong enough to be a yellow core, while the others are a similar strength to Abby and Maria.

It's coming from Valor City, but this is close enough for me to use my enemy detection.

Once I take a step out the prison's front door and send a pulse to get a scan; for some reason, these three beings don't have any normal stats or levels and don't appear on my system interface at all.

The only energy sources within them I sense are Divine Energy and Qi.