The two of them nodded at each other and hopped through the portal back to the Dragon Realm.

Rael still had the key to that dungeon, but he would shelve it for the moment, since it was a fairly decent location to grind levels, especially if he could convince Rei to hand him the control or whatever.

Reviving the monsters, killing them for experience, and then doing it over and over again.

Although it would be costly, Rael felt like it was worth it.

Nonetheless, when the two of them arrived back in the Dragon Realm, they took a few deep breaths, taking in the fresh air that was vastly different from Olympus.

Then, Rael turned to Nyx and tilted his head slightly.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to leave Rei with Artemis?”

“Of course. If they fight, then I’ll know. Rei has always been an airhead despite being the smartest being in the universe. It’s an odd combo, I know, but I hope after everything that happened today, she doesn’t do anything too rash,” Nyx replied.

Rael nodded.

“And Artemis is there to keep her in check, basically?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

Hmm…

Well, it was an odd friendship. That much was certain.

Though Rael didn’t really have many friends on this kind of level just yet.

Anyhow, Rael went ahead and scanned the Dragon Realm, spotting Astaroth and Victoria in the throne room, still doing some chores.

Since a bunch of time had already passed, Rael didn’t hesitate to nudge Nyx and fly over there.

When they arrived, they were met with a surprisingly glamorous throne room.

There were dozens of valuables, random pillars, and even some weapons scattered around, giving way to the two thrones that were evenly separated.

It really did look like a throne room, and for that, Rael gave Astaroth his respect.

Still…

“Hey there, you two love birds. How’s it going?” Rael called out with a wave.

Astaroth, who was engraving something into the wall, suddenly flinched, then turned around.

“Ugh… you’re back at the worst time possible.”

“I feel like the worst time possible would be when you two are in bed, but I’ll bite. What’s wrong?” Rael asked.

Astaroth rolled his eyes.

“Somehow, some way, the Dragon Gods had heard that Victoria had gotten herself a husband. That husband being yours truly, of course.”

“And that’s bad, how exactly?” Rael replied, puzzled.

“I was just getting to it…”

“You see, the Dragon Gods do some weird shit where they fight each other and basically see who’s the strongest. If we want to be respected, then I need to beat their ass. But how am I going to beat their ass when I can’t even beat you? Honestly… This is absurd.”

It seemed like the issue was simple then.

Astaroth couldn’t perform as he should, because he was still weakened after having broken the Spirit Oath.

“So if you go out there as you are now, you’ll embarrass yourself and your wife, huh,” Rael pointed out.

“You heartless bastard… Of course that’s what I mean!” Astaroth shouted. “Can you trap me in a time bubble or something for a few years so I can regain my strength? That, or can you boost my body somehow?”

“Right! You have so many Laws, so I’m sure you can think of something!” Astaroth added.

Hearing that, Rael turned to Nyx, who simply shrugged.

It really did seem like the solution was simple.

All he really needed to do was trap Astaroth in time for a bit and let his body recover.

Simple enough.

So that was exactly what Rael decided to do.

He nodded at Nyx, and before Astaroth could react, Rael snapped his fingers, enveloping the whole throne room, excluding Victoria, who was on the other side, not paying any attention to them.

And so now, with time frozen, Rael decided to just take a seat on one of the thrones and relax for a bit.

Though…

“What do you think you’re doing on my throne?” Astaroth asked menacingly.

Rael raised a brow.

“Do you really give a shit about which chair I sit on?”

“That’s a throne, not a chair, smartass,” Astaroth replied with a scoff. “Also, mind speeding up the time a little bit? I can’t bear to spend the next couple of years with you yapping nonsense on my own throne.”

Rael let out a sigh and did just that.

With time accelerated and Astaroth moving all around, Rael decided to just get some sleep.

So he turned to the Sloth skill and set the timer for a single year before finally closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Rael opened his eyes and was immediately hit with the grogginess he really despised.

And also, a few pop-ups.

<Ding!>

<Sloth has stored your stats!>

<Once enough stats have been reached, you may withdraw them to earn a stat point!>

Huh.

Rael kind of forgot about that.

But he didn’t forget about one thing in particular.

<Greed Fragments: 65>

1 Fragment: 1% Chance to convert a dropped or crafted item into the [Gold] sub-rarity.

5 Fragments: +5% to all resource gains.

10 Fragments: Invest currency into into skills/levels to grow them passively.

25 Fragments: Your presence converts surrounding environments into high-yield zones over time.

50 Fragments: You gain 1% of your total currency per day held. Limit: No more than 5,000,000,000 Premium Coins daily, no matter your income.

100 Fragments: ???

<Expand [+Infinity]>

The bonus for 50 Fragments gave him a decent chunk of money per day, and after a year, it added up to a really nice sum of money.

•—Balance: 33,505,000,000 Premium Coins—•

Hehe.

Even so, as Rael glanced ahead at Astaroth, he didn’t feel like much had changed.

Except when he looked closer, he realized that Astaroth’s mana control had improved significantly, and even his presence had changed slightly.

And once the two of them locked eyes, Astaroth nodded at him with a smirk.

“I think I’m ready.”

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