Even though they had been fighting every day for ten days, the demi-humans still partied until morning. Luke was having the worst headache ever because of the noise throughout the night. Still, once the last guys fell asleep since they were drunk and dead tired, Luke returned to his fortress and prepared to leave.

"I have a lot of coins now, enough to buy something one rank above spatial magic. I also need to practice beastly summoning," Luke thought while he was heading to the red crystal. "The number of things I have to do has increased, but those problems are easy to solve with the mana clone."

Luke didn’t have to check the shop for long; he found a good skill, even though its effects at level one were pretty pathetic, and the cost was 64 million gold coins.

Magic Resistance: decreases the power of magic attacks by one point per level.

It was another skill that Luke would have to patiently train himself in his dimension, but it was something necessary to do. It would be great if he could get on his hands something like physical resistance, but he didn’t find that skill in that rank. It would have taken priority over Magic Resistance because until now, Luke had a hard time in close combat fights. Still, Aivern was a mage, so perhaps...

In any case, maybe Luke should level up that skill while he makes a second mana clone. It feels like the boost he receives when using those two would destroy his body if he uses all that mana in the same way as before. Truth to be told, his body still was aching all over. Still, that kind of preparation was necessary in case he finds Aivern sooner than expected.

While he was thinking about that, Luke headed to the next world. He will have to use some time analyzing the situation there, so he might as well think about that while he does his work in that world. However, something surprising happened as soon as he arrived. The place his fortress appeared was right below a massive snowstorm, and the winds were so strong that even despite his powers, Luke felt his body being pushed a bit. However, he felt that something else was off, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

"Maybe it is my imagination," Luke thought.

However, in the next moment, a flying fortress suddenly appeared in front of Luke, and he felt that he had seen that one fortress before. Still, he didn’t drop his guard since that wasn’t a coincidence. After a while, he felt a presence moving there and approaching. His magic senses had improved so much that even Luke found it weird. Was it because he got and used a lot of mana and used it at once in the previous fight?

Nevertheless, those thoughts disappeared from Luke’s mind when he saw the owner of the flying fortress there. It was Cresta, one of the persons that he allied to when he was still freeing Rina’s world. She was an overlord, so it wasn’t unexpected to bump into her sooner or later. Still, it was a lot sooner than Luke expected.

"Hello, Luke. It has been a while," Cresta said.

"I guess so..." Luke said while frowning. "Do you have some business with me?"

"Yes, I detected unusual activity in this part of the universe, and I came to check it... I confirmed that someone was acting like a very complicated overlord," Cresta said. "I didn’t expect that it would be you and that you would be alone. What happened to the others?"

"Why do you care now? Didn’t you keep your distance from us before because you didn’t care?" Luke asked.

"True, it is easier to be objective in this line of work when you keep the number of your allies to a minimum," Cresta said. "Still, I did some investigation, and I found your activities, so I want to understand that."

"I ask again, why do you care what I do or don’t?" Luke asked. "It isn’t like I am causing problems for your group. In fact, I am getting rid of those that might become a threat."

"Yes, you are... but you are also on the path of becoming a threat," Cresta said. "You are no longer there. Why didn’t you free the followers that you got? You know that you could have done that, right? Even your fellow humans are afraid of meeting you since you killed their leader out of nowhere." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"I had a score to settle with that guy... Still, wow. To think that you would form your opinion of this matter after just hearing one side, you aren’t very bright, are you?" Luke asked. "They indeed ran away from me, but I didn’t pursue or give them orders. They still could be useful to me, so I didn’t free them."

"That kind of thinking is dangerous, Luke," Cresta said.

"Really? That is something common on Earth. Everyone is thinking about who can be useful to them. You don’t want to get closer to someone you consider inferior, right? That is the most common way of thinking about how others can be useful to you," Luke said. "Also... who are you to decide what is right and what is wrong? What is a dangerous way of thinking, and isn’t it?"

"I have seen many times people like you turning to the other side, do the hunger for power. That is why I can tell that you are walking on the wrong path," Cresta said.

"There’s an exception to every rule, right?" Luke asked. "Perhaps you have never heard such a saying, but, oh well. I don’t have time to talk to you about what is right and what is wrong regarding the things that I am doing. I don’t have the leisure. I also have places to go and things to do, so if you want to stop me out of fear, then you should come and try already. I have the policy of not attacking those who fought by my side even just once. However, I also have decided that I won’t spare those that point their weapons at me."

"I won’t attack until I hear from you your reasons and goals and what has happened to your friends," Cresta said. "Are you going to say that to me, or are you going to prove to me that I am right and you will taunt me with your words? You want power. Are you going to find a way to fight and defeat me and get more powerful, or are you going to be reasonable?"

Luke stopped to think for a moment. Perhaps deep down, he truly wanted to pick a fight with Cresta. Her friends were probably nearby, so Luke would have the chance to kill five overlords at once and obtain perhaps the same amount of experience he got on the previous day.

Luke sighed to calm down. He wanted to get rid of all assholes in the cosmos, but it wouldn’t be worth the waste if he became one of them in the end. Luke really disliked talking about his problems, but he decided to explain the situation to Cresta. At the very least, that would be an effort that he would have put to prove that she was wrong and that he won’t become part of the problem.

"I see..., so this Aivern claims to have the experience of his other versions of the multiverse," Cresta said after she heard the whole story. "I find it hard to believe, but since he managed to put to sleep hundreds of people without effort and a few others of your level, then his power is the real deal. Even though he shouldn’t be able to control it, he probably hacked the red crystal of your former fortress and hid them away... Only someone with a lot of knowledge about the system would be able to do that."

Luke had reached the same conclusion, but that didn’t matter anymore. He just had to look for the asshole and give him one hell of an ass beating. While Luke didn’t want Cresta and her friends to help in that fight, maybe she could show him where some overlords have their bases. That would clean the cosmos and give him the power that he needed.

"We have some allies here and there, so we can help you find this guy and free your friends," Cresta said. "They won’t like to work with someone who forced people to become his followers, though."

"I didn’t ask for help, and I don’t want to work with people that want to force their morals on others," Luke said.."I won’t free my followers because the coins that they will obtain for me will be the payment for all the help I gave them."

"What happened to helping others without waiting for rewards?" Cresta asked.

"You can run your charity institution without hearing a single word from me. I won’t open the same business just because you want that," Luke said.

"You were a lot easier to deal with back then... Still, we can’t stay away from this matter now that we know that the universe is bound to be destroyed somehow," Cresta said. "Regardless, I can at least give a list of the words that you shouldn’t attack because my allies are on them. Or at least people that we have amicable relationships with. I suppose it is better to give your enemies the chance to surrender instead of killing them by becoming your followers. Still, you should do that in moderation."

"Mind your own business," Luke said.

"... I suppose it will be better if we don’t inform you if we find that kind of enemy on our own. Your attitude smells trouble for our teamwork," Cresta said after a long sigh. "Regardless, we will see you around if you don’t get yourself killed before that happens."

Cresta returned to her fortress, and then that disappeared. That conversation sure made Luke feel some headache... It was a pity that he didn’t get the chance to defeat five opponents of that level, but it couldn’t be helped. Luke had to keep his discernment to a certain point. Regardless, to think that they would notice his actions and even investigate things on so many planets, they sure were a careful bunch.

"I suppose I won’t find anything in this world," Luke said after he went upward with his fortress and confirmed that somehow, the snowstorm covered the whole planet.

It would have been a nice place to make his summons train... if there were monsters at the appropriate level there. Luke assumed that even if the low-level monsters that he summons when the skills are at a low level could level by themselves if they had the chance. Their current level would be at least the level of the skill, but if things keep improving...

"Come to think of it, Cresta probably knew where I would come next, so she watched my battle with the red giant?" Luke thought. "Her friends were definitely nearby during the conversation, and they still think that they could defeat me if I get that much power? That doesn’t make sense... I suppose they didn’t watch me, even though they knew the enemy of that world. I suppose they have a hidden card..."