Still, it wasn’t a major issue and he believed his Combat Art would recover soon.

This time, Noah wasn’t in a hurry to leave the instance. Instead, he looked at Rose and the other and asked,

"Are you sure you want to enter the Advancement Instance with me?"

"I have to remind you that the Calamity Disaster will descend in nine days. We don’t know how long it will take to clear the instance, it might even take longer than that."

Since the Advancement Instance had become extremely difficult, Noah wasn’t confident he could protect everyone. That’s why he always asked for their opinions beforehand.

Whether to enter with him was their choice.

Unlike before, Blue Star was now under the looming threat of the Calamity Disaster. It they stayed inside the instance for too long, the disaster might arrive before they could come out.

The time required to clear the Advancement Instance kept increasing. Before entering, no one knew what might happen, and Noah wasn’t completely sure he could escape in time.

Blue Star had only ten Fourth-Order Awakeners, and they were the main force against Fourth-Order Calamity Disasters.

Rose and the others were all members of the Supernatural Management Bureau, carrying the responsibility of protecting both the country and its people, so they had to take this into account.

After hearing Noah’s words, Rose and the others exchanged glances. Then Ethan stepped forward with a smile.

"Boss, don’t worry, we’ve already thought it through. If we haven’t completed the main quest before the Calamity Disaster descends, I’ll voluntarily exit the instance. I’ll handle the disaster, so you can focus on clearing the instance without worry."

Noah’s expression turned serious.

"Do you understand what voluntarily exiting means?"

It was true that one could leave the Advancement Instance, but doing so meant failure, and they would have to wait ten days before entering again.

More importantly, without Noah leading the team, Ethan would have no chance of clearing the instance at its extreme difficulty.

Although Noah couldn’t guarantee that no one would die inside, there was still a strong chance of clearing it. But choosing to exit voluntarily meant giving up that chance entirely.

"It’s fine. I can lead the team to challenge a high-difficulty instance later, the rewards are still pretty good," Ethan said casually.

At that moment, Rose spoke up,

"If it really comes to that and we manage to clear the instance, we’ll set aside a portion of the rewards to compensate Ethan."

It was clear they had already considered this possibility and made arrangements.

Hearing this, Noah nodded and said nothing more.

Ethan was indeed the best choice.

Among the nine of them, Ethan and Rose were the most versatile. No matter who stepped out, either of them could handle a Fourth-Order Calamity Disaster with ease.

It was just that Ethan was stronger.

Although he had only recently joined the team, the rewards from Third- and Fourth-Order instances far exceeded those from earlier ones. Combined with his SSS-level talent, this allowed Ethan to quickly catch up and become the second strongest member of the team.

Of course, Noah could have delayed entering the instance. It wouldn’t have been too late to go after the Calamity Disaster ended.

But Noah had no intention of doing that.

For him, the sooner he could ascend in rank, the better.

More importantly, his vision was no longer limited to Blue Star. To raise Blue Star Civilization to a Second-Level Civilization within four months and secure a better ranking on the Civilization Pillar, he had many things to accomplish.

Take this Calamity Disaster, for example. Noah had no plans to intervene.

Blue Star already had enough strength to handle it. That was also why he insisted on bringing Rose and the others onto instances.

"I’ll give you half a day to rest and prepare," Noah said.

After leaving the instance, Noah contacted Roland to ask about the situation of the Calamity Disaster.

"All Disaster Instances have been identified, a total of forty-two. Among them, two are Third-Order Disaster Instances. One is located in our country’s Central South Province, and the other is on the tropical continent," Roland replied.

Starfall Country had a total of four Disaster Instances, significantly fewer than during the previous Ghost-Level Calamity.

However, one of the Third-Order Disaster Instances still appeared within Starfall Country. Clearly, due to its large population and strong overall power, it had become a primary target of the Calamity Disaster.

Noah’s figure flickered and transformed into a streak of lightning as he sped toward Central South Province.

Located deep within Starfall Country, the province was not far for him. At his speed, he did not even need to go all out to arrive almost instantly.

Soon, Noah appeared above Central South Province and immediately saw a vast region of spatial distortion stretching for dozens of miles.

The nearby Third-Order Disaster Instance had already been cleared by Rose and the others.

At this moment, Central South Province looked completely different from what Noah remembered.

This distorted region hadn’t appeared within a city, but out in the wilderness, which was undoubtedly fortunate.

Surrounding it were vast stretches of barren wasteland, extending across the east, west, and north for hundreds of thousands of square kilometers.

Only after crossing these wastelands could one reach areas of green mountains and clear waters, along with distant villages, towns, and cities. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

These wastelands were all World Shards where Disaster Instances had once been located.

After clearing the instances, Rose and the others had relocated them here.

The purpose was clear: to create a battlefield and confine the war against the Calamity Disasters within these barren lands.

Unlike Demonized Monsters, Calamity Disasters did not rely on dense demonic energy within these World Shards.

Wherever they went, they devoured everything edible, which was why these World Shards had turned into wastelands.

When there was no conflict, the Calamity Disasters would enter a state of hibernation, maintaining only the minimum needed to survive.

The wastelands were filled with pits, each one serving as a hibernation ground for the Calamity Disasters.

Three sides were covered in wasteland. As for the open southern side, it had been deliberately left empty on Noah’s instructions.

He hadn’t spent his time in the Civilization Convergence Zone’s trading market for nothing. He had exchanged several perfect-grade items for a number of rare-grade World Shards and world origins, one of which was even of perfect grade.

[Resource-Rich World Shard]

[Quality: Perfect]

[Type: Item]

Sealed within it was a World Shard spanning 500,000 square kilometers, filled with extremely rich mineral resources.

Unpolluted, vast in size, and abundant in minerals, this was the true value of a perfect-grade item.

Even so, Noah would have preferred a World Shard containing spiritual veins, even if its area were much smaller.

Unfortunately, such shards were exceedingly rare. With limited time in the Civilization Convergence Zone, he hadn’t encountered one and could only settle for the next best option.