"Here, these are the Replenishing Spiritual Pills in case you need any. Take them." Darius took out a jade bottle and placed it in her hand. He had plenty of those, and with his panel, he had limited use for them, so he decided to give some away here and there. Since Annie and Shen’s living conditions weren’t particularly poor, it was still very hard for them to secure pills given their limited spirit stone income.

"Did... Did you buy these for me?" Annie immediately asked, filled with pleasant surprise and no longer bothered about acting quarrelsome.

"Did you forget that I started selling pills in my pavilion?" Darius clicked his tongue.

Annie could not help but become suspicious. Was it truly easy to become an alchemist? Was this young man truly an old man disguised as a youth for ulterior motives? A sudden wave of unease washed over her as she took a step back. Was he a pervert?

Darius saw her subtle change in body language and couldn’t help but shake his head. He didn’t know her exact thoughts but could more or less guess what the little girl was thinking.

"Silly girl, just use them and stop letting your mind drift into places it shouldn’t. I’m leaving." Darius chuckled, finding the situation quite comical.

Silly little girl?

Annie almost transformed into a vicious hag and pounced on him. This man had to be blind. How could a beautiful woman like her be a silly little girl? Couldn’t he see her enchanting figure and curves?

Annie blushed under her veil. ’What are you thinking, girl? That’s immoral.’ She stopped herself from thinking further and directed her anger at Darius.

"And you are a silly boy who is still wet behind the ears!" she countered.

"Bye, silly little girl." Darius waved at her and strode out, with John following behind, not quite sure whether to laugh or cry.

Darius was about to go back into his pavilion once more, pretty confident that the problems wouldn’t wait in front of his store the entire day, but his eyes suddenly darted toward John and he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

’What’s wrong with him?’

A bit behind him, he noticed that John had frozen, his entire body trembling as he looked at a watch he had taken out from somewhere Darius couldn’t even tell. But what stood out the most was the fact that his eyes showed clear terror, as though he was facing one of his greatest enemies and death was right around the corner.

’Please don’t tell me this is another main character event coming up.’ After taking a look at John’s information, he knew that his guardian was nothing short of a protagonist who had yet to unlock his potential. These thoughts made Darius shudder uncontrollably.

"John, did something happen?" Darius broke the silence, asking curiously. Normally, John would not act this way unless it was an urgent matter. And given his various thoughts, he felt that such a possibility was indeed likely.

"Pavilion Owner, something big has happened! Quick, check this out! Right now, the news channels are showing it. Almost every TV channel is showing it!" John said with ragged breaths, his tone greatly excited contrary to his body language, or maybe his entire reaction was one of excitement. Darius wasn’t familiar enough with John, so that could indeed be the case.

Darius took a few steps closer and brought his head next to John’s as he looked at the contents on the watch. Then John quickly switched channels, discovering that every TV channel had been interrupted by the same news report.

"Today at 5 a.m., the top 1,000 largest global corporations all announced their decision to invest in the Sanctuary. They wish to further improve the development of the dimensional realm. At the same time, each of these corporations will be establishing its own Sanctuary Guild.

"As for the latest report on the Sanctuary, according to official statistics, all vendors selling access to the Sanctuary were flooded with cultivators within the short three hours following the announcement. This is all due to the corporations across the globe investing in the dimensional world that everyone more or less ignored previously.

"As a result, the population of the Sanctuary suddenly increased by over 800 million people within that short span of time. At the same time, the total population rose to 1.8 billion people, breaking the world record for the number of people fighting demons on the frontline at once."

...

Various news reports constantly played on the watch, which displayed several television channels. The broadcasts were promoting the idea of making the Sanctuary a true second world for mankind, encouraging everyone to head there and establish their foothold while ensuring that Earth remained safe, with powerful experts stationed at key locations to prevent demons from attacking the cities.

Also, to further advance data collection by the Empires, further complete the Sanctuary, and perfect its rules and regulations, the price of the basic ticket that took one into a rural city was reduced from 100 silver coins to 10 silver coins. As for the more advanced tickets that transported people to the main cities, those remained unchanged.

"That was fast." Darius revealed a faint smile after listening to these reports. However, he was not shocked by them. He had, after all, just been thinking about these things. Given his experience with novels and video games, such a situation was inevitable.

Although... the report arrived slightly earlier than he had expected.

In Darius’s previous life, reports like these would surface in every novel related to other realms, and even in many video games he played. Due to these large corporations investing themselves in such worlds and dimensional realms, they began receiving an extensive amount of attention.

If Darius wasn’t mistaken, the entire cultivation world would similarly burn like a raging inferno, and the previously retired cultivation experts would all join the Sanctuary for a chance to receive a hidden inheritance, a rare resource, or even secure their own foothold.

Moreover, this was all due to the large forces shifting their focus. Otherwise, such people wouldn’t dare take the risk and head to the Sanctuary even if they were given ten lives; only madmen ventured there to grow stronger. As a result, Darius believed that things would get much better for both his pavilion and his own situation. The Sanctuary’s population would instantly explode, and the competition within the dimensional realm would similarly grow fiercer.