As soon as the three cultivators heard the message, they stood still without knowing what to do.

What they heard was a message from Heaven, and as members of Sacro, they must do their best to carry it out.

"I think we have to talk with the higher-ups," Nathan said as he stood up from his desk.

Soon after, a meeting was arranged to discuss how to approach their new goal. They didn't know when the archway would open, so it would be best to prepare the army as soon as possible so they would be able to react when the time arrived.

The first thing they did was to call the top fighters of Sacro to return to Castelo before sending messages to the three tribes to ask for help.

Only the Sacro's members had heard Heaven's message, but thanks to Sacro's influence, it didn't take any effort to convince the three tribes about what happened, and when they knew about the quest, they sent large amounts of resources and materials so Sacro's army could become even stronger than before.

In a few weeks, the collective effort of Axel's world created the strongest force ever seen by it. With three groups of ten cultivators above the sixth stage and led by an eighth-stage cultivator each, the army was ready to cross the archway whenever the tunnel opened.

While they waited for the time to come, they continued polishing their skills and increasing their cultivation to be in the best condition possible.

Nathan, being one of the strongest cultivators inside Sacro, also continued training, and with the help of all the resources they were receiving, he felt that he was nearing the breakthrough for which he had been aiming for years.

Being an important figure within a large faction had many advantages, one of which was having a large personal area where one could do whatever one wanted. At that moment, Nathan and his two companions were in his personal tower discussing the current situation.

"I'm there. I just need a little push," Nathan complained to his friends.

"Man, you are about to reach the ninth stage. Do you know how many people have reached it? And I don't mean people that have reached it and are alive right now. I mean in the whole history. The ninth stage is the realm of legends. You can't expect it to be easy to reach." Travis said.

"That's right. You are still young, barely reaching your forties. Even if you stay with us in the eighth stage for a few more years, nothing bad is going to happen." Marianne tried to reassure Nathan.

"Yeah, you said that, but anytime soon, we are going to cross the sacred archway. Every person that has returned from that place has seen wonders and nightmares that words cannot explain. We can't know what we are going to face, so we need to be as strong as possible." Nathan said seriously. "That's why I can't give up. Imagine what would have happened if the legendary Uno hadn't cultivated all day since he was three years old. When his time to fight the seven-tailed devil fox arrived, he wouldn't have attained enlightenment and would have died without passing us his heavenly knowledge."

"I mean, yes, you may be right. But maybe comparing yourself with a legendary figure like Uno may be a little bit excessive." Travis said while laughing.

"I'm not comparing myself with Uno. I'm just saying that if we can extract something from his tale is that we always have to cultivate to be as strong as possible." Nathan said.

"Whatever, man. Good luck with your cultivation. I need to continue working on my next invention." Travis said before leaving the room.

"Me too. I have to supervise a few projects, so see you later." Marianne said before leaving the room.

Finding himself alone, Nathan decided to continue cultivating.

He knew that he wasn't far from his breakthrough. In this kind of situation, people usually focus on just one body part at a time and realize a breakthrough at a time, but Nathan had cultivated everything at the same time years ago, so he decided to continue like that.

Before starting his cultivation session, he ate food prepared with the meat of magical beasts and magical plants of the highest quality until his stomach was full, and then he grabbed a handful of energy coins.

He sat in the center of his room and focused on absorbing all the energy in his surroundings, in the energy coins, and in his stomach.

He stayed in that position for hours until suddenly a sharp pain appeared on his whole body, followed by his dantian and sea of consciousness condensing and losing most of their size.

At that moment, Nathan managed to break through to the ninth stage.