10 more years passed in a blink of an eye, and humanity was no longer the sa.
A lot has happened during this ti, but to summarize it in one word, it would be 'developnt'. This has been the race's main focus ever since regaining control over the continent.
The population greatly increased during these years because of the dismissal of the family size ban. But even with this, there is still plenty of land and space to fill.
To most people, these past 10 years were probably the longest peace they've ever known. Their world beca bigger; they no longer had to be afraid of any invasions and could just focus on developing themselves. It's because of this peace that humanity's innate talents blossod even further.
The Hell Dives are still a thing, but they're no longer as daunting as they used to be. The challenges are still comprehensive and sowhat random, but they now follow a certain criteria that makes them more flexible and forgiving for unfortunate people.
Unlike in the past, there's little to no 'consequences' for failing Hell Dives anymore. Humans no longer have to worry about becoming a tool for demons—a spatial passage for them to invade this world. That's a thing of the past now.
At most, repeated failures in the Hell Dives would alert the authorities and force them to enroll in a combat class for assistance. Constant failure is no longer a life-threatening matter, but it's still a requirent.
Even with humanity's current developnts, they still can't get rid of the Hell Dives. Not even Cedric could do this, so how can they? This forced 'oath' is effective until the other race is thoroughly defeated, so even if they want to remove it, they can't.
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Besides, the battle was still far from over. The Hell Dives is a fairly common way to hone their combat skills; it's also a way for them to earn Essence Souls to either strengthen themselves or to use as currency.
In these modern tis, their Hell Dive records also serve as a testimony to their skills, aptitude, and discipline. The army, for example, has a requirent for potential cadets to have at least 50 consecutive Hell Dive clear streaks before accepting soone.
The reason for this is because becoming a mber of the federal army was one of the very few ways to get access to cultivation techniques, which not only extends one's longevity but also makes them way stronger than ordinary superhumans.
Another way is to join newly established organizations like sects, schools, etc. Of course, they have their own requirents for these matters too.
This was the way the Hell Dives still remained a necessity for humanity's everyday lives.
Of course, humanity's developnt during this past decade had so inevitable hiccups here and there. It is an expected thing which they could only solve as it arrives.
There's the issue of population count as well as regional developnt. The problem of fierce beasts becoming stronger and reproducing a little too fast was one of those too, and last but certainly not least, conflicts of interests.
Without the threat of demons unifying everybody into a single body to resist the invasion, the raging emotions and latent differences between opinions unfold, causing tensions and frictions amongst factions that eventually cause division.
This becos even more obvious with the establishnt of the cardinal regions and people climbing the federal ladder.
It seems that this was human nature taking its toll. This isn't sothing Cedric could or was willing to solve. He can save them from demons, but not from themselves.
Fortunately, the overall trend was still positive. The rising tensions, conflicts, and power grab didn't have too much effect on the grand sche of things. The pillars of humanity are always watching anyway, and they are ready to intercept or nip the problem in the bud once it appears, so Cedric doesn't have to worry too much.
As humanity enters its mass developnt period, it's inevitable that loads of resources will be needed. It's also inevitable that the amount of resources needed for steady developnt will beco mind-boggling at so point.
Once again, humans had to thank Cedric for his foresight because his arrangents gave them access to more resources to support this growth period. The changes he made on the continent and the addition of secret realms allowed humans to prosper even more.
During the past decade, Acala has also recovered greatly. Through her fusion with the Spiritual Dragon Veins and Cedric's care, she's recovered to 75% of her health.
On the surface, she still looks unwell. Her actual body, Pri Earth itself, still looked mostly corrupted; the Lost Continent is still crawling with demons and steeped in demonic corruption. The seas, oceas, and rives outside of the Azure Terra, as well as the underwater creatures, are also suffering from the taint of corruption.
But that's just on the surface. Azure Terra, albeit hidden, has been freed from corruption for more than a decade now. Furthermore, with the little care that Cedric left on the Spiritual Dragon Veins, demonic corruption that had penetrated deep into Pri Earth turned into Acala's nourishnt instead.
She has been absorbing corruption since her fusion with the new set of veins, and with Cedric's arrangents, not only was this process safe, it has also improved her rate of recovery, allowing her to remain conscious and healthy.
The situation on the surface of the world was nothing more than a facade she used to continue fooling the demons, limiting their aggression, and buying more ti for humans to develop.
Aside from this, with Cedric's permission, Acala has also started giving hints about the larger world out there.
See, even before the reclamation of Azure Terra, so of the experts of humanity were already aware of the galaxies parked right above their world. This has been made obvious by the way there's a seemingly endless horde of demons rearing to destroy their world, coming out of nowhere.
With how many tis they've experienced invasions, how could they possibly not realize this?
But it's also this idea that limited their vision, and nobody could bla them for this because the demons brought them an existential dread.
However, with Cedric's presence, humanity's survival was guaranteed. Of course, he wouldn't take the initiative all the ti, but at the very least, they could charge ahead fearlessly.
Cedric didn't want to stop humanity's fate here, though. This war for survival was nothing more than a conflict of interest to him. What he really wants is to bring his people into the alliance and open their eyes to what real prosperity looks like.
But this can't happen overnight. He can't just unceremoniously drop this on them because they'd probably react way worse than he did when it happened to him.
His idea was to slowly give them hints through Acala. Nothing too drastic; just a little hint here and there. He won't go out of his way to explain it for now since that's inadvisable, so for now, this was enough.
As for how long it will take for them to piece this information together on their own, that's completely up to them. Cedric has already laid the foundations; the rest is up to them.
Right now, Cedric's more concerned about his next move.
He's thinking about returning to the Tower of Prodigies to take the second stage of his trials.
Cedric has done everything he can to help his people for now. In reality, he could've gone there as soon as he was done laying down the foundations for the new stage of developnt for humanity which was ten years ago.
The reason he didn't was because he wanted to see if his people would actually succeed in doing so. He wanted to witness the initial sprouting of humanity's new era and be there just in case sothing went wrong.
Truthfully, this was a waste of ti. Why? Because of the ti difference within the tower. He could've taken the second stage of the trials, cleared it, and then returned, and only an hour will pass here. He didn't need to postpone it for an entire decade at all.
But you see, he already experienced the trials once, and they left a profound scar on him. He knew that each ti he leaves for the trial, he returns as a changed man. His attitude, mannerisms, and appearance might stay the sa, but his ntality will certainly beco different.
This was evident in how he essentially turned into a stranger to other people he used to know, such as the other mbers of Team Elric, the High Marshals, his subordinates, etc. He only shows his real self in front of his lovers.
He's afraid that, as he spends more ti in the trials, he'll eventually turn truly indifferent about his people and this world; that he will turn into a person who only cares about himself and the people close to him.
Even at the height of his power, he's not immune to this kind of change. In fact, the stronger he gets, the more difficult it is for him to resist it.
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