By definition, Distorted Zones were technically Unique Zones to begin with. Unique Zones were Zones where outside influence changed the initial difficulty. Distorted Zones were Zones warped by outside influences as well, it was just that their difficulty didn't tend to change much at all…

However, there wee exceptions to this rule, and that was reserved for Zones formed as the fall of an Empire neared or its formation was nigh.

At these two opposing points in an Empire's history, its impact on the timeline was the greatest, making any attempted distortion very difficult. The result would be a Unique Zones whose difficult was far and above away what it should have been. Not only would the distortion fail, but the likelihood of death would skyrocket.

Even still, many would clamber at the chance to enter such a Zone, some even more so than Mythological Zones. After all, a Mythological Zone was a random spin of the wheel, there was no telling if you would get a magic system that was powerful or weak. However, a Unique Zone that had been distorted was almost a guaranteed jackpot as long as the Empire was powerful.

By now, Rychard's reaction to it all was more than just a little bit justified. The Silver Empire more than fit the bill for what was worth it. However, he soon calmed himself.

For one, the timeline that Aina and the others had entered had been the Empire's infancy, not near their downfall. Samson had long since said that they would be meeting a young General Fye, that alone spoke for itself.

Though it was possible for the Silver Empire to have grown off the back of some ultra treasure that this Zone would unveil the existence of, the likelihood was small. Most Empires didn't rise like that so Rychard wouldn't put his hopes into such a thing. Many of an Empire's trump cards came later as they accumulated wealth over thousands of years.

The second reason Rychard calmed himself was because of the rules of the Viola family.

He could probably ignore them usually, but Samson had been tasked to do a duty that he was meant to have done. Obviously, this meant that all those who participated were high profile and exactly the people the rules were created for.

Simply put, he couldn't just snatch their gains because he felt like it.

It would be one thing if Samson was the one to accumulate all the wealth of information, but from what he could tell from this recounting, the one to having likely benefited the most was a woman by the name of Aina Brazinger.

Rychard's eyes narrowed.

Samson had left behind a glowing assessment of this woman and he trusted Samson's judgment. She also seemed to be the daughter of Vassal Miel Brazinger, which was good because Miel hadn't chosen a side yet. He seemed to have wanted to stay neutral.

If Rychard could get Aina to his side, wouldn't it be like also having Miel as well? Even if Miel didn't see it this way, what would the other Heirs think?

'This could work. But, geniuses like this are often haughty and she seems to have the right to be. Samson describes her as cold and detached, approaching such a woman would border on impossible.'

Rychard wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could charm his way through such a situation. Even though he was quite confident in himself in this regard, to have such a woman warm up would take years. In fact, in his experience, unless you got to her quite young, it would be almost impossible.

At the same time, though, depending on the kind of cold and detached she was, things could also be easier.

If she was the prideful type, then Rychard could forget it. But, if she was simply the cold and unfeeling type, she would be easy to convince with logic and reasoning. The latter type of woman wouldn't hesitate to even marry him so long as his pitch was convincing enough to her.

'One step at a time,' Rychard thought as he read the information to himself all over again. 'This 'Yuri' seems like the best bet. She is far more social and open than Aina is.

'Also, this Aina seems obsessed with training as well. For now, I don't need my training resources, giving them to her in exchange for her joining my side might be something she finds easy to accept as well…'

Rychard thought of many plans, all of them he felt were viable. So, he put several into motion.

Once he was finished sending out orders, his gaze flashed with a cold light.

**

Leonel looked around, baffled. There really was no one else around. But, looking at the roads, it seemed that… six people were supposed to meet together? Was this supposed to be another battle like before? Or was everything going to be related to puzzles now?

Leonel was actually quite eager for the Sixth Dimension layer. He had been analysing the Fifth Dimensional Layer for a few weeks now and the more he delved into it, the more fascinating it became. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Practicing the Fifth Dimensional layer, unlike the previous two, was like an act of silent meditation. It all happened in the mind and one's concentration and comprehension of the technique decided how fast it went and how pure the Force you absorbed was.

It was just that Leonel had never expected it to grow so complicated. But, the more and more he observed it, the more he got the feeling that the Fifth Dimensional layer reminded him of something oh so familiar, something so familiar that he practically worked with them everyday.

Force Arts!