There was something sacred about Duna's aura that made everyone stay silent and only watch her from a distance.
Some dark faes even had the urge to prostrate in worship.
Duna was an evil spirit, but her current presence radiated with inviolable holiness that commanded authority and reverence.
Aria was surprised when she felt that from Duna.
'Just what level has Duna reached for her such sacred aura to suffuse her entire being?' Aria silently wondered.
It was as if Duna had become a higher-level being—No, she did become a higher-level being.
Leon felt like that was the case.
Otherwise, Duna wouldn't have reacted so strongly to him gifting her the Demon King-level crystalized soul core.
While everyone was awed by Duna's celestial-like presence, Leon hopped down from the rock wall and strolled over to her side.
"It seems like your secluded cultivation went well," Leon commented with a smile as he approached her in a familiar manner.
Duna slowly shifted her gaze to him before she calmly nodded without a word.
"Did you… reach the Demon King level?"
"Great Demon Lord," Duna corrected.
After hearing her answer, Leon's eyes widened with surprise.
She didn't become a Demon King, but becoming a Great Demon Lord within three weeks didn't make it any less shocking.
He should have expected it, but he still found it hard to accept.
'No wonder she looked down on me for gifting her the crystalized soul core…' Leon thought wryly.
Duna had skipped multiple large realms and achieved a level in her soul cultivation that left him far behind.
Nevertheless, her cold and distant responses made Leon furrow his brows with a puzzled look.
It wasn't just her strength that changed, but also her usual behavior; she had become more indifferent.
The usual Duna would have mocked him but still spare the effort to educate his ignorance.
After pondering for a short moment, Leon raised the white flag in surrender; he did not know what to do to close the widened gap in their relationship.
He could only hope to melt the ice with their usual interaction.
"We've both been in secluded cultivation for three weeks. A lot of changes must have taken place outside the realmship," Leon mentioned before seeking her opinion, "Shall we return to the Infertile Plains to take a look?"
After a short moment, Duna nodded in agreement.
"Great. I'll settle some matters first; then we can leave together," Leon said.
After Duna nodded again, Leon had Nyfarella round up her Dark Fae Clan before he headed over to Shadowtail's side.
"I'll be leaving the realmship shortly. Will your clan follow me to explore the outside world or stay in this sub-realm?" Leon asked.
Shadowtail only glanced at the pile of sea monsters for a short moment before giving his firm answer, "The Dark Wyrm Clan will follow you, my Lord!"
"The Dark Wyrm Clan, huh? Can you still be called when the other clan members all evolve into earth dragons like you?" Leon smiled with amusement.
It was a simple question, but Shadowtail immediately froze before he seriously contemplated the matter.
"My Lord is right," Shadowtail agreed with Leon's point.
"A clan of earth dragons shouldn't be called the Dark Wyrm Clan anymore. The Dark Wyrm Clan represents our past, but I believe we need a name befitting our future."
"How about Black Dragon Clan?" Leon casually suggested.
He was terrible with names and randomly came up with a casual one. Still, Shadowtail, once again, contemplated his suggestion seriously.
"Black Dragon Clan… Black because of our alignment, and the word 'dragon' covers all subspecies of dragons…" Shadowtail muttered before saying, "It's a simple name, but it's a good name, my Lord; it can be used immediately."
"I concur," Nightingale interjected.
The Dark Wyrm Clan—No, the Black Dragon Clan quickly became fond of the new name and didn't hesitate to abandon their one.
"Seems like you don't have much attachment to your old clan name," Leon commented.
"There's no use staying attached to something that won't have anything to do with our future, my Lord," Shadowtail replied.
"Well, they're just names in the end, but it's good if you think like that," Leon nodded with approval.
"A real man won't boast about his past achievements, so a real dragon shouldn't place importance on the past; your place is in the future."
"Yes, my Lord," Shadowtail nodded.
"Alright, round up everyone that wishes to follow me outside and gather outside the rock walls. We'll depart together in half an hour."
"Yes, my Lord."
Shadowtail answered—only to be hesitant in the next moment as he glanced at the piles of sea monsters they had accumulated and prepped.
"It's a pity that we can't bring all these sea monster flesh with us," Shadowtail mentioned.
However, Leon casually waved his hand and sucked everything into his Worldspace before saying, "Now we can."
"Is that a spatial artifact, my Lord?" Shadowtail asked with surprise.
"Yeah," Leon nodded.
Shadowtail and the other dark wyrms felt envious that they could not use spatial artifacts like their Lord.
It wasn't just spatial artifacts but all other types of artifacts as well; there weren't any artifacts that they could use or wear due to their immense sizes.
At the same time, the amount of materials required to create custom-made artifacts for them would be many folds greater to match their size.
"If you're interested, I can create some for your clan to use, though I can't guarantee the quality will be high," Leon offered.
He had multiple tier-5 and tier-6 interspatial rings, but none of them could be worn by Shadowtail and his clan members.
"It'll be great if you can, my Lord," Shadowtail expressed his interest before wondering with curiosity, "But you also know about runes and forging, my Lord?"
"Yeah," Leon uttered.
Shortly after returning to the rock wall, Leon gifted a few tier-5 and tier-6 interspatial rings to Nyfarella and her clan members.
Then, he instructed the dark faes to head over to the river and join the Black Dragon Clan to collect as many sea monster bodies before their departure time.
Afterward, Leon shifted his attention to Aria.