Years passed by as Pef kept jumping the ship towards the distant Demon Galaxy.

His jumps became longer and easier, as his ability to feel and manipulate the Void increased. Even his inner world developed, a new island forming just a kilometer away from the original one.

'What does the new island mean, my glove? Am I getting closer to the next rank?' Pef asked hopefully.

His Wisdom score dropped a point in revenge. 'Indeed, Soldier. You're closer by a point in a billion.' the glove answered sarcastically.

Pef mused at the sad revelation. 'Oh. The area of the new island, compared to the surface of my inner world. One square kilometer of land, compared to a billion of ocean.'

The Wisdom point returned, even though the glove remained silent.

Pef sighed and continued the journey. Cultivation was hard. Nothing new.

He envied his newest friend, Arden. Sure, the boy was an orphan and had lived under a theocratic regime for most of his childhood, but now he had it easy. His planet was as safe as anything could be, under the patronage of a friendly Tier 1. His cultivation would be a bit too long, but without perils.

'Why did you reject Arden? He has the gold aura. And he's a good man.' Pef asked inward.

The glove remained silent, for a long time. Years passed as the ship journeyed on.

Another island appeared on the ocean. Aria took it over, cultivating her special bamboo forest in silence and ignoring everyone else. She was close to her own Ascension.

Then one day, while passing through a mostly dead galaxy, Pef felt something. He stopped the ship, focusing his coresense. A blip appeared on the holo array, and a fast moving one.

'A ship!' he exclaimed inward.

Then a huge form, covered in a resplendent blue and violet aura parked next to the Pef's eel ship.

Nearly 5 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide, the object resembled a wide sword. A riding on top of it, a large violet-skinned humanoid shape, perhaps 4 meters tall, with 6 arms.

A strong mindpulse flashed over Pef's ship, scanning the interior. 'Human, what are you doing here?' a hateful voice asked him directly into his mind.

'I'm heading towards the Demon galaxy, on business. Nice sword, by the way.' Pef thought inward, while raising his feeble mind defenses.

'It is a third grade demonic treasure. Now, do you have anything of value to pay for trespassing?' the alien asked in a more mercantile tone.

Pef mused inward for a second.

'You will attack me anyway, right?'

'Not so stupid, after all. Now die!' the demon yelled in his mind, while the blue treasure erupted with some kind of violet energy, slicing through the Monarch ranked eel like butter.

'What is this violet energy?' Pef asked his glove, as his gloved right-hand rose and blocked the attack. To his surprise, the hit actually hurt and took half his strength to stop.

The glove was undamaged, of course. 'Abyssalforce, Tier 1. Something like sword ki, for demons. This one is just a scout. More are coming.' the adjutant explained in a flat tone.

Pef's eyes flashed, searing the demon with his helical white and silver soul spike. To his surprise, the demon was barely fazed.

'Oh, you look like a feisty one. Perhaps you do carry an artifact of some value...' the demon growled in his mindscape. A sharp pain hit Pef in the temple. His mental defenses were crumbling.

With a short Blink he arrived behind the demon and stabbed his knife into his head. An amused laughter sounded in Pef's mind.

Then the glove interfered, superimposing the combat grid. A blue icon pulsed somewhere inside the demon's stomach. Pef blinked away, watching the demon regenerate his split head with a grin.

Then the demon's grin transformed into a scowl, then a desperate face, as the knife sliced downwards, bisecting the core. A burst of violet flame followed then two bits of blue crystal remained, floating in the void.

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Pef expanded his divine senses and began devouring the left over scraps of demon soul while collecting the core and the large treasure left behind.

On a whim, he brought them inside his inner world, just to give his wives something to do.

Then he collected his damaged spaceship and stored it inside the glove.

'So, a Tier 1 demon is quite strong...' he concluded after analyzing the spent ki. Almost a quarter of his reserves, plus a dull pain in his temples.

'You lack proper Legion gear and training still. With proper mind shields and the Legion armor, you wouldn't have taken any damage. Small fry, for a proper Soldier.' the glove said with a displeased grumble.

But then, it was rarely pleased.

However, Lin was pleased with the treasure, already devising ways to exploit it, as always.

Lia was more interested in the damaged demon core, while Qin and Yuan wanted to review to fighting abilities of the demon.

Aria was still meditating in silence, while Xie was trying to suppress a panic attack.

Pef's avatar materialized next to her, as Xie was staring at the huge sword with wide eyes. The weapon had fallen tip first into the sand, and was now a tall blue skyscraper, decorating the second island. Made quite a sight.

"What is it Xie? I beat that demon." he asked softly.

"Look higher, see the kilometer long handle? Now imagine how big those hands must be. And that filthy energy... That's what killed Xia, the first time." she whispered in a frightened voice.

Pef grimaced as he considered this. "Hmmm. Nasty. But I assumed that much. She was a Tier 3 goddess, after all. It would take something powerful to kill her."

She rested her head on Pef's shoulder. "Back then, she had horns. I remember that much. Violet eyes and horns."

"But not six hands?"

"No. Perhaps a thin tail. Two hands. And a golden armor, almost half as tall as this sword."

"A combat walker of sorts. She was fighting something big, to need such a huge armor." he mused while gazing at the immense sword. He thought it was a spaceship, not a melee weapon.

Xie shook slightly, another tear forming under her eye. "There were thousands of armors like hers, and they all died, Pef. She was powerful, but not enough."

"It's okay. A bit concerning, if the devils have Tier 3's soldiers as their standard forces, but that's for later. For now, we have our mission. Don't lose heart." he whispered, although worry was faintly seeping into his voice.

Outside, Pef resumed his journey, this time without a ship.

To his surprise, the next jump was a hundred times longer.

'What is this? How can I jump so far?' Pef asked the glove, while he began picking speed. Blink. And again. Almost no ki consumption.

The journey would take much less now. He consumed less qi and jumped farther. Everything was perfect.

'You reached one in a million parts, to the next rank. Let's hope we find more demons to kill.' the glove purred in a pleased tone. Perfect.

 Soon, he left the dead galaxy behind, and sped towards his destination. 

With every year, the jumps grew longer, hastening the journey even more.

Ten years later, he reached the Demon galaxy's edge. And inside his inner world, Aria was Ascending. 

The first of his family to reach divinity. Only Tier 1, but she should maintain a physical body, unlike Gaia.

Another Soldier will be helpful, especially if all the demons were hostile.

Pef stopped, as there was a faint violet barrier surrounding the galaxy in front of him. His senses began expanding, analyzing the formation for weak points.

A headache began forming in his left temple. 

He blinked back, avoiding a flash of energy. 

Two demons manifested some distance away, both wielding 10 meter long polearms glowing with blue energy. One of them had only five hands and was much smaller, about 3 meters.

'Simply attacking, no reason needed?' he sent towards the taller demon.

 'Trespassers must die. Why do you even ask?' came the reply, a bit confused at the human not being dead.

Pef smiled as he thought of a plan. 'But I am outside the barrier. Thus, not trespassing. Correct?'

The two demons stared at each other, then back at Pef.

'Entry costs a core'

'For each of us' the smaller demon sent with a hint of greed.

Pef drew a hand behind his body and came back with half of a demoncore.

'Like this?'

The smaller demon's eyes lit up with greed. 'You found a Demon Lord's body? And one not looted for his core?'

A heavy hand slapped the verbose demon over his head. 'Give me both those halves and you can enter.' 

Pef scratched his cheek, deep in thought. 'Okay, I'll give you your half, if you tell me how to enter.' Pef told the small one, precious core extended like a treat.

The crippled demon licked his lips and jumped foward, his third hand grabbing the half-core. 'Just pulse the day password, Belitor998...'

The demon didn't get to finish his words, as his own core got sliced in half, and he evaporated into violet flames.

Pef collected the loot slowly, two new cores and a nice polearm. Then he turned towards the taller demon.

'A full core, just for you. But no fake password this time' he sent, offering the new core.

'How did you know?'

'Deal or fight?' Pef asked instead.

'I don't need a lesser core. Half of Demon Lord's core and is a deal. Or else I suffer hellflame.' the smarter demon replied, holding two fingers down in a respectul pose. A flicker of violet energy covered his body for a moment.

Pef flicked the half core into his hand, and approached with a smile.

After a quick check for quality, man and demon passed together through to barrier.

'Even lesser cores have value. I need some information. Deal?' Pef asked as the demon watched him warrily.

'You were the one to kill that Lord, right?' the demon wondered as he began absorbing the blue gas from the core.

Pef waited, just watching the process with his coresense. It looked easy, and a bit too familiar.

With a pulse of blue light, the demon grew taller, and stronger. Tier 1, just from half a core.

'I'm looking for an old artifact, looks like a short club, black and heavy.' he sent as the demon marveled at his new strength.

'Tingel Arm, Soultraders Guild. That way.' The new Lord answered after a moment of thought.

Pef flicked the useless lesser cores into his hands. 'Well then. If I do find it there, you'll get another Lord core from me. If not...'

'Slaves wear a collar.' the demon said cryptically, then vanished.