The year passed by in a breeze. Damien hardly recognized the time. He was so focused on his one improvement that he barely even understood the kind of stir he'd caused.
Naturally, he knew that people were coming to his sky island. He also knew that they were interested in him, as they would approach him whenever he wasn't training to talk about Nonexistence.
However, to him, they were just visitors. Their conversations were short, and though he welcomed others to stay in the sky with him, he didn't interact with them needlessly.
He was focused more on training than them, and they knew that as well.
The people of the island were respectful. They maintained boundaries when necessary because they knew how important it was to not lose a single moment. After all, every single one of them was a top expert. Most of them had near-perfect control over Nonexistence, which was the root of their problems.
They learned how to deal with polluted essence. Their perfection was muddled by that impurity. To completely abolish themselves and start over from scratch with a completely new type of Nonexistence was a daunting task that nobody wanted to undertake.
Instead, they tried to find enlightenment within their perfection and improve from where they stood.
It wasn't an unworthy strategy, but it was definitely inefficient.
As Damien spoke to them, he learned that a lack of knowledge and a lack of familiarity with Nonexistence in its pure form was their main issue. It didn't cost him much to help, so he shared his perspective as someone with high purity freely.
That was what set him apart from the rest. The people nearing the end of their journeys were adamant about keeping their secrets to themselves. The rise of other Supremes who could leave this realm and return home meant the rise of competition in the real world. Why would they help their future enemies?
Damien's opinion differed just as much as everything else. He believed that these people had potential and that they would be worthy subordinates if they were allowed to help.
Plus, by helping them, he was helping himself. He learned from their practice and they learned from him. In this symbiotic environment, people were finding themselves growing at a rate they couldn't have imagined previously.
But what interested Damien most was "information."
There were two people who came to see him more often than others. The first was a man named Doc and the second was a woman who called herself Syx. The two of them were weaker than Damien by a large margin, but they were also willing to put their pride down and ask questions.
The most common method to learn was by watching silently from the sidelines. These two ignored all conventions and approached him like students to their teacher.
Their eagerness to learn gave him an eagerness to teach, but the reason he thought of them now was more the stories they'd tell him. They spent many years on this island and knew about its history.
"They say that there's a Fragment of True Nothingness hidden here. It's in the form of a crown somewhere, and if someone claims it, they'll immediately surpass all requirements of the trial. It's apparently the other half of a crown that exists in reality, but it hasn't been found yet. Personally, I think it has to be a hoax."
They were words he heard from Syx. Words of a treasure hidden in the Land of Nothingness. To others, it felt like a fairytale made by people who couldn't find a way off the island, but Damien thought otherwise.
The other half of that crown…
'...isn't it my Emperor's Crown?'
The Emperor's Crown was a manifestation of Existence in physical form and the mark of its emperor. Damien didn't originally think there was a reason for Nonexistence to have one too, but it made a lot of sense.
Their origins, their abilities, their personalities; everything about the two possessed an air of duality. It was only natural for the crown to have a sibling as well.
'But it's good for me if they're treating it as something useless.'
As the owner of the Emperor's Crown, Damien knew that it was nothing of the sort.
The Emperor's Crown was the reason his control over Existence peaked. Because of that crown, the Mist had a place to reside and help him control the laws of the world, and the six concepts of Existence could be brought together without him needing to do anything.
It was like the bow that was tied around a Christmas gift, the final piece of the puzzle that made everything function properly.
Damien was enticed by those rumors.
'I never thought it would be a problem, but now that I know about something , I can't let it go.'
He didn't know when it happened, but Damien became a perfectionist at some point. At every step, he made sure to keep duality in mind. He acted to maintain harmony, because the coexistence of all laws and concepts in his body was the most important aspect of his strength.
If he returned without that crown, what would happen?
Damien didn't even want to slightly risk losing everything because he chose to be lazy at a time .
'Then, to find the crown that nobody has ever seen...'
Naturally, this mystery was going to be harder to solve than that of Death's Hold or the third island's schemes.
From the beginning, both of those were known to an extent by the public. They only missed a few details or were hindered before finding the whole truth. Damien merely had to follow their tracks until he reached the place they couldn't.
On this island, after billions upon billions of years, nobody had found even a single trace of the crown. Its existence was spread through rumors, and even the one who started those rumors had no idea where it actually was.
It was more like he was coerced into making the crown known to the world by the realm itself.
So, Damien had to tread a path that nobody had ever tread before. 'Immediately, that eliminates the entire fifth island.'
Whether above or underground, the people had surely searched every inch before deciding that the crown wasn't real.
'Once again, I'm left with only two options.'
The sky or the sea. One of those two unfriendly places that attempted to kill anyone who disturbed them had to be investigated.
No, both of them had to be investigated. At this point, Damien couldn't leave it alone. He would use this quest to thoroughly understand everything about this mysterious realm.
'Let's start with the sea.'
It was an easy decision to make. Because everyone knew what the sea was capable of. Everyone knew the consequences of stepping foot in those waters.
The sky usually wasn't seen as a hostile place. Damien built this learning zone in the sky, so its connotation was actually the opposite.
However, his instincts screamed otherwise.
They told him directly, giving him no chance to argue: 'If I push the bounds of the sky, then I will experience true hell.'