This part of the world he was currently on was a desert, the desert he saw from the stairs. Now he stood on it alone as far as the eye could see and now that he was directly on the ground he could feel it, this world had little life force.

  "This much is only enough to delay extinction. To think it consumed this much of the world's life force, that thing really might just be rocks living because of an abundance in life force."

  He stated looking up but clouds was all he could see.

  "Tell me how much stronger do you think it actually is compared to how it was against me?".

  "To be honest it's hard to say but like I said what you faced isn't it at full power".

  Hiro was thinking of ways to slay it, everyone one of its bodies became nothing more than earth when destroyed, seemingly causing no true harm to it. Even if he could destroy all its bodies it would be meaningless, after a while it would make more.

  (This is what makes facing inorganic enemies a hassle, even slimes weakest in the category can restore themselves as long as a drop remains when there's moisture in the environment. Complete incineration that's how you deal with these but the dragon, this might not be possible against it, it may be dependent on the earth after all)

  "With sacrifice I think I'd make short work of it but the goal is to increase my overall level of power, if anything I should use sacrifice as a point of reference for the power I wish to achieve. No as the bare minimum of power I could potentially achieve".

  Hiro didn't know the conditions of how its body worked but it had to have a weakness he believed. And if there was anyone who knew this weakness it had to be the people of this world.

  (If I'm correct and it did ruin this world, they should've fought with it at least once. That being the case they are bound to know a thing or two about it.)

  With that in mind he decided to find a settlement where he would be able to get more information and practice his sword and see if he could improve while he continued his search.

  Hiro was a swordsman who was above even sword experts who could detect others within ten feet even with their eyes closed. As a result of his senses being many times this, able to detect others beyond the horizon. Thanks to this he could already feel several settlements from where he was and began walking towards the closest one. Along the way B1 clarified a few things about invaders to Hiro while they had the time.

  "Invader is a misleading term, they do come from outside your world but the best term to describe them would be cultivators. Not the martial type, more like the farmer type. There are two basic kinds of cultivators, self cultivators and product cultivators. More often than not self cultivators are weaker than product cultivators."

  He paused looking intently at Hiro.

  "Your world was under the influence of a product cultivator, the demon lord was their product while all the heroes who fought and sealed the demon lord were pieces put in place to cause an increase in the demon lord's power and break free from the circle of being defeated and sealed. Not all invaders are pose a threat to the world, there are some who mean no harm to it and could be ignored. But most product cultivators find a world nurture certain individuals maybe even an entire civilization, creating situations where their products is forced to get stronger. There are two things that could be cultivated, predators and predator hunters. The demon lord was the former and if you were to be cultivated you would be the latter."

  Hearing all this Hiro's was in denial, not accepting he was nothing more than a piece put in place to make others strong even if it was now in the past. But he could not refute it, how could he explain the moments before his death.

  "After the products gets strong enough the cultivator takes them in as soldiers or subordinate. In all honesty it doesn't matter what's cultivated the world would be in turmoil. So there's no such thing as good cultivators but they aren't all bad."

  "So that old man is the cultivator of my world. It's hard to accept but I did think it strange every time the past Heroes would defeat the demon lord without fail but he wasn't killed but sealed. The same demon lord would escape from the seal get defeated by the next generation's hero, sealed again and peace returning to the world until he breaks free from the seal. The circle continued and no one would think of a way to kill him for good. And when I did, that happened".

  Hiro looked at Spiriton the holy sword used to seal the demon lord, then returned it to its subspace. As good as it was he know saw it as a tool that kept heroes weak and stuck in the demon lord sealing circle.

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  "Incase you haven't caught on I'm an invader too, to be precise I'm a guest that can be ignored. I have not a product to cultivate nor am I cultivating myself. As for you, from now on you'll be acting like a self cultivator. And in case there's a misunderstanding that former fragment wasn't an invader".

  "So I still have a long way before I can face that old man. And what was the manager thinking if he sends me to places like this how do I begin to search for clues for the All Mother, it's like he doesn't care about finding her."

  "To that I can only say don't rush, you're not a detective. You might miss something even when it's plain as day"

  Hiro suppressed a look of confusion and slowly asked.

  "Detective what's that? Never heard of it"

  B1 gave a brief summary as they neared the settlement. Time passed and by the time Hiro arrived it was already night. The settlement was a desert village with collapsed buildings and mostly vacant. It was already past day so he wasn't sure if all of his observations were accurate. Every building he passed was damaged to say the least and the residents where mostly lying outside on the ground. Each one he passed by was skinny and it was obvious they had so little strength they could barely move, not even turning their heads to look at him or even react. It was night but he could see they wore light brown robes maybe white just dyed by the environment.

  (It's worse than I expected)

  He thought walking past everyone and heading to what he believed to be the center of the village and borrowed Epsilon's power to cast a blessing which spread over the entire village. Epsilon as a holy sword could cast blessing similar to a saintess though not on the same level and unlike saints its blessings did not depend on a person's faith.

  As the blessing spread and began its healing the villagers were covered in a white near blue light. The villagers watched themselves in astonishment while their skin regained color and their muscles returned to normal. Those that were near him and witnessed his actions for themselves became active, rushing to his side.

  ""A master, a master has come to save us ...""

  Some expressed thanks and others requested he do more and amidst the chaos the village chief an old man spoke up quieting everyone.

  "Everyone behave yourselves how can you act in such an unruly manner."

  He said making his way to Hiro in the middle.

  "Wandering master please don't mind the villagers it has been a long time since we had the assistance of master. I am the village chief and if I'm not mistaken you are heading to the palace for the gathering of masters. If you would please allow this old man to accompany you there".

  (I'm guessing the distant place I'm sensing the most number of presences is the palace. He has no malicious intent, I can tell that much but there seems to be more to his offer than goodwill).

  He observed.

  "I don't mind but why go through the trouble?"

  Before he explained himself the village chief dispersed the crowd, with the authority he commanded they did not question him, believing he was best fit to negotiate with Hiro. Their faith in him great with how much he had done for the village over the years and was well respected for it. While everyone continued to disperse he asked Hiro to follow him to his residence, explaining his intentions along the way.

  "Forgive this old man, I thought you were aware. Anyone who recommends or introduces a master to the palace is rewarded with rune tablets that can sustain a village for over a month".

  Hiro had no way to know this so to lessen his ignorance of this world he decided to ask the old man a lot of things crediting his lack of knowledge to amnesia. His questions were mostly about common knowledge drawing no suspicion from the old village chief coupled with his belief of Hiro being a wandering master.

  "Old man what happened for the world to get this bad?"

  "As a master I would expect you to know more but with the amnesia I suppose it's understandable you don't know even that. It all happened decades ago, even before I was born. One day rocks of fire fell from the sky and with them was the great disaster dragon. It ravaged the world beyond recognition causing conflict between it and the masters at the time. That's all I know, to know more you'll have to ask your fellow masters"

  The two soon arrived at their destination, inside was what looked like chariots with no wheels or parts that connected to whatever pulls them.

  "Our village gliders, they are old but still work as any other. With them we'll manage to reach the palace just before sunrise".

  The old village chief said moving towards one of them.

  Hiro had seen a lot of unfamiliar things so far and would continue to do so nothing took him by surprise anymore, not this glider or the villagers who all wore more or less light clothes in this sandy environment with no sun. The old man got on one glider and traced his his fingers along the runes on its handles, activating them allowing it to levitate. Hiro climbed on another and did the same and the two drove out.

  "So you haven't forgotten everything. It's shame, I was ready to teach, you a master how to operate a glider"

  The village chief said with a chuckle. Hiro thought whether to dispel the misunderstanding, in the end he chose not to.

  The glider was fast, faster than any horse could ever be but with his running speed he was still faster. But leaving the old man behind wasn't an option not when he agreed to go along to assist them. On the way they would take short breaks for the village chief to rest and each time he would ask questions on what he thought he should know.

  "Old man is it my imagination or the closer we get to the palace the more desertified the land is"

  "That is the case, I don't know why it's done here but I know the reason it is so. The masters from the palace and others that lend a hand are gathering all the dead land around the palace".

  It was something unthinkable to Hiro, how could they make their land more of dead zone than it already was, making matters worse they lived at the center.