"Hehe~ You are as sharp as always, you are right. Even I was scared shitless when I saw this for the first time. This door...contained thousands and thousands of formations!"

Dresh spoke with an excited light shining in her eyes.

"Thousands and thousands!? Woman! The formations here are way above a million!

Emperal couldn’t help but curse inwardly, "She will definitely be the end of me someday."

Dresh slowly walked ahead, her eyes glued to the door.

"Yes, behind this is the Inheritance I have been waiting for...more than a dozen centuries, Emperal! I now...I finally have the key to it!"

The more she spoke, the wider her smile got. Emperal stayed silent and let her speak.

"These formations are nothing! I am even willing to solve a billion formations!"

But this time, Emperal couldn’t hold himself back.

"But Dresh, didn’t you say that...a dual blood is required? What is this then?"

The confusion on his face thickened. Dresh chuckled lightly when she heard his words.

"The last time this realm opened...it took me and a...friend of mine a year to solve and open each and every formation. And that was us...not taking a single second of a break."

Emperal’s eyes narrowed when he heard those words, "A year straight? I would have gone crazy by now!"

Just thinking about sitting here and solving each and every formation felt more than a pain in his ass.

It wasn’t the stuff for weak-willed people, only an extraordinary will like Dresh’s could pull that off.

"Wait...you said you don’t know anything about the formation?" He suddenly asked.

"...Yeah?"

"Then it was your friend who opened it."

"Obviously."

"I see, so are you hoping for me to be the one to open it?"

Emperal forced those words out of his throat; he couldn’t believe this bitch.

"Hehe, I know what you are thinking, don’t worry. The last time I had recorded every single thing, so this time we both will be the ones doing it."

Dresh spoke with a happy smile on her face. Emperal sighed and shook his head.

"Well, the reward better be worth the effort."

Saying that, he stepped forward and moved beside her. Standing in front of the door.

It seemed like a normal door to the naked eye, but to superior Verth practitioners? It was a clusterfuck.

Just like the infinite stars in the universe clustered together, this one...didn’t seem far from it.

Dresh waved her hand, and a small, glowing orb materialized above her palm. It was swirling with something unknown.

"What is this?"

Emperal asked, only to see Dresh smile.

"Just pass your Verth into this orb, and you will be able to access the recording."

She spoke, making Emperal raise his brows. He couldn’t help but appreciate it.

"Such a convenient little thing." Saying that, he raised his hand and touched the smooth surface of the orb lightly.

In an instant, it began glowing. Emperal felt a light headache in his head, but his eyes...they were shining brighter than ever.

"This...Dresh, this is a treasure trove the nations could go to war for! This knowledge...who the hell is your friend!?"

Emperal blurted, the sheer knowledge of the formation was somewhat directly transferred into his head.

"What an insane luck you have, brat. Cherish this. You’ll definitely need this in the future."

The Infernal spoke, Emperal swore he heard a new emotion behind those words.

Jealous!

"Hehe~ I know, I know, this thing was also built by her. Alongside being a formation master, she is also an excellent Artifact Refiner!

Dresh seemed happy, just by the way she was boasting made Emperal realise how close this ’friend’ of Dresh was to her.

"So? Where is she? Why didn’t she come to this realm then?"

He asked curiously, after all, such a figure...she would definitely be well known. The moment Dresh heard Emperal’s words, a long sigh left her pretty lips.

"I would...rather not talk about it." She spoke with an apologetic expression. Hearing this, Emperal waved his hand.

"It’s alright, I was just curious. Now, let’s get to work."

He spoke, earning a nod from Dresh.

...

The first month was the most difficult for both of them. It wasn’t because of the complex formations, after all, they were starting with the basic and easy ones.

It wasn’t the problem of difficulty...but the volume.

The sheer number of arrays was slowly becoming a burden on Emperal’s mental health, despite him having a stronger will.

Both of them worked together, maximizing efficiency and saving a lot of time. There weren’t even breaks; the knowledge orb’s recording gave him the proper sequence, close to answers. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

So, he still had to read it or...glance through it. It was immensely taxing on his mind.

By the middle of the second month, his reading speed...it had doubled! The knowledge and exposure to the variant formations had built a fluency that the Spring Formation and Ashenfelid combined hadn’t produced.

Finally, after two full months, both of them had solved and opened up to four-hundred thousand formations! A monumental achievement given their circumstances.

Emperal’s face was slightly haggard, his hand trembling. But, he still held on.

Dresh looked at him silently, but didn’t speak. Her hands and mind were already busy.

Though she wasn’t affected much, her brain had long forgotten the concept of exhaustion. Actually, she could just wave her hand, and thousands of formations would be solved instantly. And of course, she had tried the same—the last time.

And she almost went into depression because of it. The moment she had even completed a dozen formations...everything froze and...reset!

Yes, after solving close to two hundred thousand arrays...she and her friend almost broke into a cold war.

Just like that, another month went by. This time, Emperal finally took a break. He...couldn’t handle it any longer.

All the while, he was using his Soul Energy for the endless supply. But...it had suddenly become more taxing to the mind the more he used the Soul Energy.

So, he had, of course, switched to using Verth. And oh—the amount of Verth he had was close to a fart of Dresh.

No, Dresh’s fart certainly had more Verth than his core!

...

Two more months later. A bead of sweat dripped down Dresh’s pretty face as she and Emperal continuously waved their hands.

The final layer. The master formation and the last layer protect the door’s core mechanism.

He read the last layer, and she solved the complexity.

He placed his hand on top of hers, and she placed it on the door.

The door...creaked open.