"Is this the place you ntioned, the portal to the next plane?"
Daniel stood still, gazing at the distant silhouette of the gigantic squid that lingered in the depths of the sea. His voice carried both curiosity and a touch of expectation.
Milla, standing at his side, let out a helpless sigh. She nodded slightly, shrugged her shoulders, and replied,
"Yes. Normally speaking, there should be a portal here. At least, that’s what happened last ti. But it seems that today, luck is not really on our side."
She scratched the back of her head, looking both awkward and resigned.
"I didn’t expect that even here, of all places, there wouldn’t be a portal. Last ti I passed by, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon one. Who could have guessed that today we’d run into nothing but dead ends?"
A faint, wry smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she added,
"It seems this ti, we are not quite as fortunate as we thought."
Over the next hour, Milla took Daniel on a long and winding journey. She led him across several regions, each of them locations where she had previously discovered portals. These were areas she was confident in, places she had marked down in her mory with precision.
But to their growing frustration, the Goddess of Luck seed to be dozing today, unwilling to extend her favor to her most devoted follower. Not a single portal appeared in any of the places they checked.
Even Daniel, who normally carried himself with calm detachnt, was genuinely surprised. Considering both his and Milla’s extraordinarily high luck values, such a situation shouldn’t have been possible. By all reasonable calculations, even improbable events should have turned into near certainties for the two of them.
And yet, no matter how hard they searched, no matter how many likely spots they visited, not a single portal manifested before their eyes.
Daniel fell silent for a mont, then gave Milla a slightly teasing glance. He asked in a voice tinged with dry humor:
"So even the Goddess of Luck’s own devotee can encounter misfortune?"
Milla could only respond with a helpless smile.
"Her Excellency, the Goddess of Luck, once said that luck and misfortune are not things that can be defined imdiately or in absolute terms. What appears to be fortune in the present might not actually be fortunate at all. What feels like misfortune right now could, in fact, turn out to be a hidden blessing later on."
She tilted her head slightly, her eyes soft as she continued,
"Daniel, surely you of all people understand this principle, don’t you?"
Daniel nodded without hesitation. Indeed, this was a truth he knew all too well. It was essentially the old proverb—when the old man lost his horse, who could know whether it was truly a misfortune or not? Fortune and disaster were two sides of the sa coin, often indistinguishable until long after the mont had passed.
"Well then," he said with a small laugh, "since that’s the case, why don’t we continue wandering for a while longer? Who knows what else we might stumble upon?"
Milla gave him a light smile in return.
"Daniel, you’ve already gained quite a lot on this trip, haven’t you? Her Excellency once said, ’Don’t force what is out of reach. Let things flow naturally, and what is ant for you will co to you in ti.’"
At those words, Daniel instinctively glanced into his spatial backpack. Indeed, Milla wasn’t wrong. Since leaving Lava Island, the two of them had traveled through a surprising number of places in just a single hour.
They had seen an island of ice floating over rivers of molten lava, a floating continent where gravity worked in complete reversal, and even the legendary Land of Clouds high in the sky.
Though their journey had been brief, it had carried them across nurous realms and landscapes. And in the process, Daniel had acquired a wealth of materials he had never before encountered in the Origin Land.
Even more astonishingly, his skills panel had been enriched with two brand-new God Rank Skills.
The first skill was [Fla Domain], an ability that allowed him to create a vast field of raging fire, dealing consistent fire-elental damage to enemies trapped within. The destructive power of this domain was comparable to that of his [Divine Thunder Shield], though the elent was different. One crackled with lightning, while the other roared with flas.
Having both at his disposal ant that Daniel now had more options when dealing with enemies. Against foes resistant to lightning but weak to fire, he could switch tactics instantly. Against others, the reverse held true.
The second skill was [Absolute Freezing], a skill belonging to the ice elent. It not only inflicted damage but also carried a powerful control effect.
With this ability, Daniel could freeze enemies up to his own level entirely solid, locking them in place for a significant period of ti. Even when facing creatures one tier higher than himself, the skill imposed an almost absurd slowing effect—reducing their speed by 99.99%.
Though neither of these skills occupied the top spots among God Rank abilities, Daniel was still satisfied. What truly pleased him was not the imdiate strength of the skills themselves, but the confirmation of his earlier hypothesis:
The materials needed to synthesize God Rank Skills were scattered throughout the entire world.
They weren’t confined solely to the Origin Land. Many existed across distant continents and hidden realms, waiting to be discovered.
This revelation alone made the entire expedition worthwhile. Even if the task of locating a new planar portal remained incomplete, he had gained valuable resources and two new ultimate-level skills. For Daniel, that was more than enough to call the trip rewarding.
anwhile, Milla’s gaze returned once again to the imnse squid lingering in the distance. Her voice grew thoughtful as she said,
"If even here we cannot find a portal to another plane, then all we can do now is leave it to chance. To be honest, these were all the known portal sites I’ve ever discovered. I’ve shown you everything I know."
She paused briefly, then added,
"In truth, planar portals are never easy to co across. Of course, if you ever wish to travel to the Exile Plane, I can help you make the trip at any ti."
At this, Daniel shook his head firmly. His answer was imdiate, with no hesitation at all.
"No. Let’s just keep wandering. I want to see more of the other continents outside. What do you think?"
His current mission required him to explore different planes and various continents. While the first half of that objective had not yet been achieved, the second part was already complete. Still, Daniel’s curiosity urged him onward. He wanted to step foot on even more lands, collect more materials, and broaden his knowledge of the outside world.
There was nothing pressing for him to attend to at the mont, so why not?
Milla did not argue. As the Goddess of Luck’s chosen devotee, she carried within her a naturally serene and carefree attitude. She believed firmly that there was no need to seek complicated reasons for doing things. Life was to be lived as it ca, and all should flow according to fate.
So she nodded cheerfully.
"I have no objections. In that case, allow to serve as your guide. Over the years I’ve visited quite a number of places myself. It would be my pleasure to take you along to see them. Think of it as two friends traveling together."
With that, Milla raised her hand. A shimring portal of light blood open before them once again.
Far away, within the formidable walls of Winterhold Castle, events were unfolding in an entirely different direction.
Gold-rank pets were becoming increasingly common. Practically every top-tier awakener of the human race had now been granted their very own golden companion.
At that mont, the Human Emperor stood with a strange expression on his face. Beside him lood his own new pet—an intimidating beast known as the Shadow Bear.
In just a single hour, the Human Emperor had raised the creature to level 100.
Yet despite his own level having already reached 250, he found himself powerless before the creature’s strength. Each ti they sparred, the Shadow Bear dominated him utterly.
"Seriously? Gold-rank pets are this outrageous?" he muttered in disbelief. "It’s only level 100, and I already can’t defeat it?"
The reality, however, was even harsher than he realized.
Once upon a ti, the Human Emperor had stood as the strongest being of his race, carrying with him an unshakable pride. That pride had already begun to waver after Daniel’s teoric rise, but at the ti, he had still managed to console himself.
Daniel was simply the fated one, the destined champion ant to face the millennial Apocalypse. There was no sha in being surpassed by such a figure.
But now... even his pet could defeat him without effort.
The blow to his confidence was unbearable. The gap between himself and those around him had grown into a chasm, and no amount of rationalization could nd the wound to his pride.
Once he had been the unrivaled sovereign among countless races. Now, when he asured his own combat power, he doubted he could even rank among the top one hundred million.
The truth was bitter: Daniel had summoned a great number of pets recently, and nearly every one of them—once past level 100—was beyond his ability to overco.
That knowledge gnawed at his heart, filling him with a deep, suffocating frustration.
Once more, the Human Emperor felt the crushing weight of his own decline. The fall from supremacy was hard enough—but to be overshadowed not only by Daniel but by creatures Daniel commanded so casually?
The humiliation was unbearable.
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