Another month has flown by...

While the Fuller Family forces were absorbing the resources, weapons, and magical creatures Vicente sent as best they could, his group had completed another mission.

In the six months since he had absorbed his new pentagrams, much had happened for Vicente's group!

After the months of secluded cultivation, when Qiang, Acidbelly, and Tenglin had advanced, Vicente's group had begun their journey to rescue and help as many people as they could in the north.

They had no way of recruiting humans to their side. Unless one was a powerful Archmage, it wouldn't be interesting for such a being or for the group to have them on their side. However, since Vicente was at the absolute peak of the 5th stage, his powers were close to their peak, and his forging was at a much higher level, he could help people with armor.

Looking for challenges, books, or ancient forging techniques that might be in the cities ruined by the disaster, Vicente and his allies set out with these goals, saving 12 human groups in the past few months.

He armed the 12 groups and sent them south, wishing them luck on their journey despite the dangers. On all 12 occasions, the group faced powerful monsters and vampires, and gave some of the rescued people vampire blood, along with organs and other things they got.

At the point they were at, everyone in the group would only get better if they got blood or organs at the high-level of 5th stage or 6th stage vampires. But they had encountered no one like that during their months-long journey.

They had won all of their battles, giving most of the spoils of war to the human survivors they encountered.

Today, the group had freed the 13th group of survivors, 23 people; 8 Acolytes, 11 Mages, and the rest mortals without magical powers.

After Vicente had used his skill in the group, providing them not only with powerful armor but also with firearms, cultivation resources, maps, and information, he watched them leave in fear.

As much as they had seen Vicente's power in dealing with the monsters that had held them as slaves, and as much as they had seen the armor in action, these men and women couldn't help but be afraid of traveling alone.

But even though they were afraid, they accepted Vicente's orders and made their way south, where, with luck, they would arrive in about eight months.

After the group left, Vicente and his companions, Lonan, Acidbelly, Tenglin, Qiang, and the four Intermediate Archmage level monsters, spent some time in the ruins they were in.

They didn't need to rest to recover from the battle. Since their principal opponent was "only" an 6th stage inferior vampire, today's challenge had been "easy" for the group.

However, since this was the former capital of the Vinia Empire, the group couldn't help but spend some time exploring the local ruins.

'This place was once home to one of the continent's greatest civilizations; there must be something of value here.' Vicente thought as he explored a section of the ruins, his companions far away from him and from each other, each exploring for themselves, looking for things of value.

Since Vicente was at a cultivation bottleneck, he was looking for information on the 6th stage, especially material on spells and techniques for blacksmiths or magicians with his elemental affinities.

Given the number of elements he had an affinity for, the chances of finding something valuable in this ruin were high!

The capital of the Vinia Empire had existed for over 200,000 years, according to the legends.

It had been built when magicians had not yet ruled the continent; before the elves had helped the humans by creating the awakening method used today. Back then, human cities were much smaller, harder to find, and more likely to hide in the depths of the continent, especially in weak areas.

However, amid the dangers of the rich northern region, the capital of the Vinia Empire had been built by a group of magicians who were renowned at the timeindividuals who had accidentally awakened their powers and cultivated to a high level.

Since then, the city had been like a holy place for humanity, sought after by people from all over the continent, and a home of opportunity.

When the elves passed on their awakening method to humans, the capital of the Vinia Empire became even more impressive, as it was the continent's first home for human Archmages.

After such a long history, the wealth of knowledge accumulated and left behind was vast.

Vicente soon found several useful scrolls, things he collected to use in his next small retreat of a few weeks.

His plan was to gather as much information as he could now, to absorb it before Demien Bloodthorne's awakening, which he estimated to be between 12 and 20 months from now.

Besides rescuing humans and dealing with enemies in their path, Vicente and his group had interrogated many creatures over the past few months, coming to various conclusions about the current circumstances of the vampire coalition.

They knew about the elders of the vampire coalition, who were in seclusion and had recently emerged from their caves. They also knew of these beings' plans to observe and track them, and that in only six months, many new High-level Paragon vampires would leave their homes to hunt them down.

In addition, of course, they had information about the probable date for the end of Demien's cultivation, as well as the fact that before they awoke, vampire Archmages would certainly hunt them down, if they were still alive at that time.

Vicente wanted to go into seclusion to attempt his advance to the 6th stage before those 6th stage beings left their caves!

So, in just one night, Vicente and his companions would gather everything of value that was left behind in the ruins of the ancient capital of the Vinia Empire, before reuniting to continue their journey.

This time, their destination was the City of Angels, the former home of the Congregation of Revelations!

Just like the empire's capital, the former headquarters of the continent's largest organization should have many valuables left behind by those who fled for their lives.

The nine individuals headed southeast, flying at low altitude toward their new destination.