"In the end," Asher muttered with faint pride, "the territory I built eventually became almost one-third the size of Ivy’s own base."

Not only did he successfully establish it, but he had also started managing and ruling it personally.

From time to time, he would return home and proudly share updates with his parents and family.

However... everything eventually fell apart.

"A rebellion broke out," he muttered coldly.

Ivy quietly looked at him.

Asher clenched his fists tightly before continuing,

"And the one who organized it... was my own best friend. Garrett."

Bitterness filled his voice heavily.

Apparently, Garrett had secretly grown jealous of him for a very long time.

According to Garrett, Asher was nothing without the support of heroes and powerful awakeners standing behind him.

He believed that if Asher were truly forced to handle things alone, he would fail miserably.

Hearing such accusations had enraged Asher completely.

As a result, a violent conflict broke out between both sides.

Although Asher ultimately won the fight, the outcome still left him miserable.

A large number of humans ended up injured during the battle.

Fortunately, Alana arrived in time and managed to save many of them before the situation became even worse.

However, the people standing on Garrett’s side were not as fortunate.

Many of them died.

Remembering that scene still gave Asher a terrible headache.

Before establishing the settlement, everyone had repeatedly emphasized one important rule.

Humans were not supposed to kill each other anymore.

Yet despite all those promises, the ending still turned bloody.

Asher looked utterly exhausted as he sighed heavily.

"I truly don’t understand people sometimes," he muttered bitterly. "Why can’t they simply enjoy the peace we finally managed to build?"

Then Asher suddenly looked toward Ivy pitifully again.

"That’s why I came here," he complained dramatically. "I needed emotional comfort after getting betrayed."

Hearing his shameless words, Ivy instantly laughed.

Meanwhile, Silas’s expression darkened immediately.

Looking at Asher coldly, he replied mercilessly,

"You should feel embarrassed instead. Your sister-in-law already warned you beforehand, yet you still got fooled by that bastard."

Then his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"And now you’re shamelessly coming here asking for comfort without even bringing anything in return?"

The moment those words landed, Asher immediately became defensive.

"Who said I came empty-handed?" he protested loudly.

With that, he hurriedly reached into his pocket before taking out a strange crystal.

The moment Ivy saw it, her expression shifted slightly.

The crystal looked extremely unusual.

It did not resemble ordinary zombie crystals, mutated beast cores, or plant-type crystals at all.

Instead, the surface emitted a faint silver glow.

Asher carefully placed it on the table.

"While scouting different regions," Asher explained seriously, "I discovered a cave filled with these crystals."

At first, he thought they were ordinary energy crystals similar to zombie cores.

However, after personally touching one and trying to absorb its energy, he discovered something shocking.

"Any superhuman can absorb energy from these crystals," Asher stated firmly.

The moment Ivy heard that, her eyes flashed sharply.

"What did you just say?" she asked immediately.

Asher quickly repeated everything in detail.

According to the ongoing research, these crystals possessed an energy quality far higher than normal zombie-level crystals.

Because of that, directly absorbing large amounts of energy from them could create dangerous bottlenecks during breakthroughs.

"That’s why they can only be consumed in moderation," Asher continued seriously. "Otherwise, the body might fail to handle the pressure."

Not only that, but the crystals also seemed to produce unknown effects on the human body itself.

Whether those effects were beneficial or harmful remained uncertain for now.

Hearing that, Ivy slowly picked up the crystal while countless thoughts surged through her mind.

If these crystals could truly replace zombie crystals, then even after the superior beings descended upon Earth, humanity would still possess the ability to cultivate and grow stronger.

At the very least, humans would finally have a fighting chance against them.

As she thought about that possibility, Ivy immediately looked toward Asher. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Continue searching for more caves like this," she instructed seriously.

Asher nodded quickly.

"I’ve already sent several teams to continue scouting nearby regions," he replied. "If we can get more researchers involved, the results should come faster."

Then his eyes suddenly brightened.

"Honestly," Asher added excitedly, "if these crystals could somehow be artificially grown, that would be even better."

The moment those words left his mouth, Ivy’s eyes flashed sharply.

At first, she instinctively shook her head.

"That would be difficult," she murmured thoughtfully. "These crystals contain enormous amounts of energy. Someone would need to continuously supply that energy, and the quality itself would have to remain extremely pure."

However, midway through speaking, Ivy suddenly paused.

A strange thought surfaced inside her mind instantly.

At the same moment, Silas also seemed to realize something.

Both of them slowly looked at each other.

Their eyes widened slightly.

The next second, identical grins appeared on both their faces simultaneously.

Seeing their suspicious expressions, Asher immediately pointed at them dramatically.

"You two are absolutely terrifying masterminds," he declared.

Then, before either of them could react, Asher suddenly scooped up nearly all the pancakes from the table and ran away toward the door.

"I’m taking these as emotional compensation!" he shouted shamelessly while escaping.

The moment he disappeared, Ivy’s relaxed expression instantly vanished.

She abruptly stood up. "I need to warn him."

Silas immediately grabbed her wrist gently before asking,

"Warn him about what?"

Ivy’s eyes darkened slightly.

In her previous life, the person who truly betrayed Asher in the end had never been Garrett.

It had been someone else entirely.

Taking a slow breath, Ivy finally spoke quietly.

"In my previous life... Matthew was the one who had betrayed him."

The moment Ivy spoke those words, Silas slowly frowned while looking at her carefully.

"Back then, there was a search mission involving Damien sightings near one of the abandoned regions," he murmured softly. "Matthew Davies was part of Asherer’s team during that mission."

"And?" she asked quietly.

Ivy slowly tightened her fingers around the strange crystal she was still holding.