Inside a meeting room at Retribution's headquarters, a group of six Players in the early stages of the Nascent Soul Realm were discussing their next moves with the black-cloaked Tenebris. Despite their Cultivation, their combat power was more equivalent to someone near the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, having upgraded many Talents using Potential Points.
Tenebris was incredibly impressed with this specific group of Players, who each had talents close to William's when he was discovered early on. With talented members like this, he had no need to actively seek out a flight-risk youth like William, he could use these people right here!
Just like the old higher-ups that William captured, these Players wore differently-colors cloaks that matched the Regions they were in control of, though there were still two slots remaining to be filled.
Tenebris had held off on naming the next white and brown-cloaked members until some suitable members reached the Soul Formation Realm at least, wanting at least a few members that would better represent the organization without being underestimated.
"Master Black, the Superior Darkness World Core has been discovered in the Velos Continent by one of my sources. I wonder if you might be interested?" the new red-cloaked Region Leader asked.
Instead of mentioning the System, many Players would mention a source network instead, to avoid attracting unwanted attention from the NPCs. In reality, this person merely found a thread on the Community Forums and wanted to claim the credit as his own for reputation with Tenebris.
Tenebris nodded in satisfaction. "That's good, but the difficulty will be quite high if it's outside the Azures Continent. What have your sources said about the condition of the Superior Core?"
"Not much. There are rumors of a peak Tribulation Transcendence Beast guarding the area. A mutated snake with red scales that seems to possess both the Darkness and Illusion Elements." the red-cloaked Player shook his head.
"If it's a Superior Core, there will probably be more than one Beast at the Peak. From what I've gathered on the Superior Death Core, each Superior Core should have five Peak Magical Beasts nearby, and that is the least of our worries.
In addition to the Magical Beasts, the Superior Core cannot be absorbed until all of the same-Element Greater World Cores have been, which will spawn Beast Tides the moment three are absorbed."
The blue-cloaked Player jumped into the conversation, "If there are so many Peak Beasts and the protections are so great, do we even have the ability to absorb the Superior World Core right now? Maybe we should focus on absorbing only Greater World Cores for the time being."
"I've received a set of disturbing news that will become a mission for the four of you to complete together." Tenebris began as he performed a few finger movements, changing the style of the holographic map to one that depicted the World as a whole and separated it into distinct colors.
He pointed to a few tiny red dots that were scattered across the globe with no clear pattern, "These are the recorded Minor, Lesser, and standard Demon sightings in the last one hundred years."
He waved his hand in a circular clockwise motion to change the map again. This time, the number of red dots had become small masses that were centrally located in the Southern Plains and Far East Mistlands Regions of the Azures Continent.
Conversely, the other portions of the World had much fewer dots than before, some completely devoid of Demon sightings.
"This is the number of recorded Minor, Lesser, and standard Demon sightings in the last month. As you can see, it's at least triple what we would see in a typical Century. Odder, most of them are on the Azures Continent, and they are less violent than before."
"What does this mean to us? We don't care about a few Demons, do we?" the red-cloaked Region Leader asked.
"Of course we care!" Tenebris slammed the table and shouted, but he didn't elaborate. He took a deep breath to calm down, then returned to his previous tone.
"Capturing even one of these things alive can greatly advance the strength of my Legions. With the power of my Heavenly Mark, I can even contract the Minor and Lesser Demons." he explained.
Demons were known for having infinite stamina and unbelievable natural regeneration. If he could acquire one or two more, or better yet, a hundred of these as his own...
The old Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right wouldn't have a chance, and even William shouldn't be able to stand against him! He could use the Demons to guard him while absorbing the Superior Darkness Core, speeding up his future plans by decades, or even centuries!
[1] A typical Roman Legion is comprised of between four to six thousand infantry and three to nine hundred cavalry. In this sense, consider the legion to be roughly five thousand Magical Beasts strong.