"Good! Senior White Dragon, we shall take you up on this opportunity."
Hearing the positive response, the White Dragon King smiled. In fact, he didn't expect anything less. This wasn't the kind of thing that just anyone could reject.
"Haha, I'm glad it's so. Now, there are many more details that I refrained from telling you yet, but before we get into those, I want the two of you to swear the Heavenly Oath."
"Senior, how does a Heavenly Oath work?" Damien questioned. He had obviously seen the concept before considering his cultivation novel obsession, but this wasn't the same as that.
In those words, the ruling entity known as the Heavens was basically an impartial authority, punishing cultivators for going against heaven's will through tribulations and bearing witness to their oaths.
Heavenly Oaths, for this reason, were sacred and unchallengeable. The only way to get around it was to leave loopholes in the path that was sworn.
But in real life, there wasn't such a ruling authority. The system was definitely something similar, but intrinsically, their purposes were different. The system also impartially watched all creation, but it did so from more of a bystander perspective than an authority.
It simply recorded all events that took place and catalogued what needed to be catalogued. It'd grant titles for immense achievements, but even that was of the same perspective.
Besides that, the system was much more interactive. The status sheet that all beings that trained under it gained was an example, as were the aforementioned titles. Such concepts as Heavenly Oaths didn't seem to make sense in context.
But the White Dragon King wasn't privy to Damien's doubts. He simply took the matter in stride and continued explaining. "Heavenly Oaths are incredibly simple. You just have to swear an oath to the Records, and if you renege, let it reclaim your strength!"
"Reclaim our strength?"
"That's right. Although it is possible to make oaths where death is the punishment, that is not my goal. Our strength, while it is indeed our own, comes from mana. And the Heavens somewhat embody mana. Even I am not of an appropriate level to accurately ascertain how it does so, but I've seen it happen before. The Heavens can indeed take the mana from our bodies and leave us crippled, never able to gain strength again."
Damien almost couldn't contain his shock. There was such a measure? If it was possible, didn't it mean that the system could turn anyone into a cripple as long as it deemed fit?
"Haha, boy, I can see what you're thinking. But you don't have to worry so much. The Heavens don't have true sentience, they don't have such things as thought and emotion. Unless there is a matter such as a Heavenly Oath that compels it to act, it won't do so."
Damien sighed in relief. So it was like that. The word "system" was really apt to describe it. It was something akin to a machine with limited artificial intelligence.
With that concern out of the way, Damien decided to swear his oath without hesitation. They were already this far in, there was no point in dilly-dallying.
"I, Damien Void, swear upon the Records to deliver Senior Bai's spatial ring to his son without touching the contents within. I will also do my utmost to obtain a green fruit and sap from the Primordial Undying Tree for the same purpose. If I renege on this oath, may the Records reclaim my strength!"
For the first time in many years, a system window popped up in front of Damien's eyes.
[You have sworn a Deliverance Oath. The conditions have been set. If the contents of the oath are violated, the Records will reclaim all mana within your body.]
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[You are the first person from the beginner world [Earth] to discover the Deliverance Oath. Your Legend has been advanced.]
A feeling of binding wrapped around the core of his being. It was an awkward constricting feeling, but it soon vanished. But this feeling was enough for Damien to know that the severity of the oath was real.
The familiar system windows made Damien feel a sense of nostalgia. When was the last time he even checked his status? With everything going on, he usually didn't bother with it.
Not only that, but his way to strength had been different recently. Rather than gaining new things or trying to further progress, he was consolidating the array of moves he already had as well as trying to bring out the full potential of his body.
Like this, his status never saw any major changes. Perhaps his physical stats were much different than they were back then, but his skills most likely hadn't changed much.
And on a more personal note, he felt it was more fun this way. It would be exciting to see the vastly different status he'd have after not checking it for so long.
'I'll check it again after this coming event. Especially if I can get my hands on a purple fruit and consume it, I wonder what my stats would look like at that time…'
While Damien was in his thoughts, Ruyue also swore her oath, and seeing that the necessary processes were over, the White Dragon King finally began speaking about the contents of the coming event.
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"Obviously for such a massive event, there needs to be limits on the number of participants. Otherwise, it'd be utter chaos. Last time the Primordial Undying Tree showed itself to the world, this chaos had almost ensued, so we Beast Kings came together with the people who inhabit the World Tree to create a standard.
"20 people from each mountain, and 20 people from the tree dwellers. In total, 1,020 people will be participating. Each and every one of them will be a genius in their own right. However, the fact that all participating parties are geniuses doesn't discount the risk.
"Of those 1,020 people who participated 10,000 years ago, only 300 made it out alive. And even then, many were killed afterwards in disputes over the rewards."
"Hisss…" Damien and Ruyue sucked in a cold breath at the statistics.
Only around 30% were able to survive. That was an insanely low rate. Only now were they realizing how dangerous this excursion would truly be.
"The Primordial Undying Tree is many millennia old, perhaps even older than this entire mountain range. Its sentience isn't something that can be underestimated. Every time it opens, it creates a small realm filled with trials and tribulations to properly judge the people who get its fruit.
"As a tree species, it isn't necessarily greedy to keep its own fruit, but it is highly aware of its status. There's no way any ordinary person would be allowed near it. These trials are the main reason why people die within the so-called Primordial Undying Realm, while the other reason is their fellow competitors.
"Within that realm, you can be said to have the Primordial Undying Tree's absolute protection. Though it won't interfere with conflict that happens within the realm, there will be no outside influence allowed.
"Therefore, even if you die, I cannot help you at all, and it's the same for the rest of the competitors. Even artifacts and such from Beast Kings will not function within that realm. There's no way to use background to scare people off, only true strength can speak."