The third island. From here, things became more complicated.
When Damien used the same strategy to gain information about the third island as a whole, he found that Kura had indeed given him the basics of survival.
In essence, it was exactly as she said. He could follow a path and challenge anyone he saw until he reached the platinum badge level. After receiving his platinum badge, he could choose between any of the six Area Lords to fight for a chance to move to the next island.
The Area Lord position never consistently remained in a single person's hands. Hell, even the Area Lords themselves didn't abuse their power or obsess over it.
As Damien expected, the people on this island had begun to cope with their reintroduced emotions. They returned to their rationality, though they still made rash actions on occasion.
Nevertheless, Area Lords only took that position for the sake of their own training. As they fought and fought and fought, they reached a level of familiarity with Nonexistence that was absolutely crucial before moving on to the fourth island.
This was the separation point between those who had a chance of escaping and those who didn't. There was nothing more vital on this island than preparation and future planning.
'The problem is that they aren't allowed to lose intentionally.'
If a practitioner decided to take hold of that position, they couldn't just give it up when they felt bored or tired.
According to the rules of this island, they had to try their best to defeat the challengers that came to them. Only when they were defeated naturally could they relinquish their position and move on.
'I don't think I should take it, since I don't think I would be able to naturally lose to anyone.'
After a moment of random arrogance, Damien frowned.
'The politics are what make this island particularly difficult.'
Similarly to the second island, there was a status quo in society. Unsimilar to its predecessor, however, was the ability of practitioners on the third island to raise their status.
This was just like the societies in the outside world in many ways. As long as one had the sufficient power and ability, anything was possible.
Still, Kura probably wasn't a wanderer if she believed that it was easy to find opponents to fight against.
There were three main organizations on this island that every practitioner was forced to choose between.
The Fire Temple, the Water Temple, and the Earth Temple.
They weren't based on what element one used since elements were inconsequential here. It was more about the kind of people one wanted to be surrounded by.
The Fire Temple was filled with people who liked to fight head-on and run wild. They had brasher personalities and fiery tempers, though that didn't mean they were bad people.
They were just the most extroverted and open of the three temples. This faction was made to attract people who regained their fiery hearts along with the rest of their emotions.
The Water Temple had a much calmer atmosphere. The people there liked to ponder over decisions before making them and fight in an orderly manner. They planned their steps and walked a careful path to ensure that they didn't make any mistakes.
In a sense, they were the antithesis of the people from the Fire Temple. Their demeanors were silent and calm like flowing water in a stream.
Oddly enough, though, it wasn't rare for members of the Fire and Water Temples to attract each other with their perfectly opposing personalities.
Finally, the Earth Temple was somewhere in the middle. Its people were like monks. They focused on training more than anything else and rarely spoke. They were worldly people without worldly desires who treated all others with the respect they deserved.
Of course, they were not pacifists by any means. The people of the Earth Temple could be as hot-headed as Fire Temple members if they wanted to, and they could plan like Water Temple members if they wanted to.
The reason they chose the Earth Temple despite these traits was because it adhered more to their principles.
It was a place to go if one valued being grounded over all else. It was a different kind of calm than water and a different kind of brashness than fire.
The three temples actually weren't enemies in any sense. Their people competed with each other, but there were never any hard feelings between them, barring personal feuds between individuals.
The three temples only existed out of necessity.
On this island, halfway through the five, "history" was starting to once again become a concept.
People were able to influence time to a degree that was impossible on the former islands, which meant that "change" could be enacted freely.
The Ancient Era where practitioners who gained control over Existence were plenty; the records of the wars that broke out in that era existed on this island.
The history of blood that formed the atmosphere of this environment was troubling. If people ran around wantonly and challenged anyone they came across, the entire island would fall into chaos.
A chaotic state like that was a net negative to the island's environment. Only a few people could come out of it victorious, and in a place , it was better to make it so that as many as possible could succeed and move on.
They were not enemies. They were competitors. Friendly competition was not competition where people dragged others down to win.
It required an atmosphere of relative cooperation and respect. People had to recognize others as rivals and contribute to their growth the same way others contributed to theirs.
That was simply impossible without governing entities keeping the peace.
Wanderers didn't have an easy time only because people wouldn't accept challenges from people who didn't wear the emblem of one of the three temples. That was the order created in this society.
This information led to another question.
Why did Damien think it was going to be troublesome?
It wasn't as if he would face heavy opposition. He would have to choose an influence, but he wasn't going to be heavily controlled or regulated. He didn't plan to cause chaos, so he didn't have anything to worry about.
The reason for Damien's struggle was a bit more on the comedic side this time.
'Shit. I'm going to have to interact with people.'
Was there ever a story about how antisocial Gods were?
If so, Damien certainly hadn't read it.
He was fine with family. The people he already knew still had the same value in his heart and mind as they did before he became so powerful.
Making new connections, though…
It was something Damien dreaded a little bit.
'I mean, come on. There isn't much left for me to do in the Heavenly World, and there aren't many new people for me to meet. Everyone I do end up meeting is either an enemy or someone I have to treat as lower than me because that's how they consider themselves.'
The only people who felt comfortable interacting with him casually were the people he had known for a long time.
Whenever he went back to Void Palace, he'd find Long Chen, Su Ren, and Yong An to have drinks and catch up. They were fine with trashing him and joking with him despite him being the strongest person in the cosmos.
After all, they were with him when he was just a kid or a talented genius. They didn't have fear because they knew him on a deeper level.
People who didn't had no interest in doing so.
They only felt discomfort when they had to treat Damien casually. If he acted casually, they showed fear because they didn't understand what kind of person he was.
Damien didn't care to put enough time into people to show them otherwise. Not anymore, at least.
As such, he'd become exactly what he feared.
'An antisocial God who forgot how to properly interact with people as equals.'
He sighed to himself.
'...I guess even I have to learn some emotional stuff from this realm.'
He really didn't have a choice.
Damien Void had to go on a quest to learn how to talk to strangers.
Quite the unexpected development, was it not?