Chapter 302: Chapter 302: Awakener Lord and His Guardians, Exploring The Advanced District

Meanwhile, inside a grand palace located at the center of the [Awakener District], the [Awakener Lord] remained seated on his massive throne-like chair, his posture relaxed as though nothing in the world could possibly threaten him.

The enormous hall around him was silent except for the faint crackling of magical flames burning across the pillars, their blue light illuminating the dark chamber while countless ancient symbols glowed across the walls.

On his lap rested a giant wolf-like creature with crimson fur, its eyes glowing faintly as it lazily wagged its tail while the lord scratched behind its ears.

Despite the adorable appearance of the beast, the aura surrounding it was terrifying enough that an ordinary player would collapse just from standing near it.

Several floating panels hovered before the awakener lord, each one connected to another guardian stationed across the district.

Mathilde’s face appeared inside one of them while the others listened carefully.

"The human is strong," Mathilde explained calmly while resting her giant shield against her shoulder, "Not strong enough to challenge any of us yet, but his [Combat Power] far exceeds what any player at his level should normally possess."

One of the guardians immediately frowned after hearing that.

"By how much exactly?" a man asked from another panel, his tone carrying obvious skepticism. "He honestly looked weak to me."

Mathilde’s expression did not change at all.

"The aura surrounding him was abnormal," she answered. "If I had to estimate, then his [Combat Power] should currently be around four million."

The moment those words left her mouth, the atmosphere inside the panels shifted instantly.

Even the awakener lord’s lazy expression disappeared for a moment.

"Four million?" another guardian repeated in disbelief.

The awakener lord slowly stopped petting the crimson wolf while an excited grin spread across his face. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Are you certain?" he asked immediately. "The average level seventy-five player leaving their assessment barely reaches 700,000 combat power, and only the most talented among them manage to surpass one million, yet you are telling me this human possesses over four times that amount?"

"I am certain," Mathilde nodded once more without hesitation. "Though as I said before, he still is not a threat to any of us."

"Not yet," a woman wearing luxurious mage-like robes smiled faintly. "But with that growth speed, if he keeps leveling at this pace, he’ll eventually reach our level."

Even among NPCs, who were generally stronger than players of the same level due to their naturally superior bodies and abilities, Leon’s growth speed was absurd.

Most players needed months or even years to gradually build their strength.

Leon, however, seemed to shatter limits every single time he advanced.

"Only the strongest individuals born in eternal-level worlds should be capable of something like this," the awakener lord muttered thoughtfully. "Or perhaps... the gods and celestials."

"It is literally his ID," another guardian wearing heavy silver armor sighed while rubbing his forehead. "I’m honestly surprised it took you this long to make the connection."

"Celestials are extremely rare," Mathilde responded calmly. "As rare as the gods, so it is understandable."

Even after all this time, the word alone still carried enormous meaning.

Every guardian inside the panels understood exactly what a celestial represented.

They were existences capable of breaking limits others considered impossible. Monsters among monsters.

Beings that walked paths ordinary races could never follow no matter how talented they were.

And though none of them had personally met a celestial before, stories about them had circulated throughout the higher domains for millenias.

"Still," the awakener lord shrugged while continuing to pet the crimson wolf again, "he is not the most ridiculous celestial I’ve heard about."

"Oh?" Mathilde glanced toward him.

"Wasn’t Celestial #1 said to possess ten million combat power immediately after finishing his assessment?" the awakener lord laughed. "Compared to that, four million suddenly feels much less shocking."

"And Celestial #12 supposedly killed a level 100 monster immediately after coming back," the armor-wearing guardian added with a grin. "If those stories were true, then this human still has a long way to go."

Of course, none of them actually knew whether those rumors were accurate, in fact, many believed that they were not revealing the truth of their achievements.

Celestials were abnormal existences even among the strongest races.

To the guardians, Leon appearing with four million combat power was extremely impressive, but if anything, it merely confirmed their suspicions.

"Celestial..." the awakener lord sighed softly while the crimson wolf curled itself against him. "Well, at the very least, this should become entertaining."

...

Meanwhile, completely unaware of the full conversation taking place inside the [Awakener District], Leon and Emilia spent the remainder of their day exploring the [Advanced District] together.

As expected, the place resembled the [Newbie District] in many ways, though the difference in quality was obvious from the very first glance.

The streets were far cleaner and wider, the buildings far taller, and the amount of mana flowing through the environment itself felt denser.

Even the players walking around radiated much stronger auras than the beginners Leon had previously encountered.

"It definitely feels different," Emilia admitted while looking around with curiosity. "Everything here looks more expensive."

"That’s because the average player here is much stronger," Leon nodded. "The newbie district was basically just a starting point."

Soon enough, the duo arrived in front of another massive [Awakener Association] building.

This one dwarfed the previous association they had visited.

The entrance alone resembled a palace gate, and countless players entered and exited the building while carrying weapons, armor, monster corpses, or magical materials.

Inside were the same familiar sections: [Quests], [Market] and [Realm].

Everything was larger and much busier than before.

"The average rank here seems to be B-Rank," Emilia observed while looking at the panels above the quest counters.

"And A-Rank quests are already considered extremely difficult," Leon scratched his chin. "As for S-Rank... it’s probably viewed the same way B-Rank was in the newbie district."

Most players in the advanced district likely spent enormous amounts of time trying to improve their rank little by little.

Leon, however, honestly did not care much about any of it right now.

Because no matter what he did, he still needed to face the [Awakener Lord] tomorrow.