Zachariel walked in the streets of the Imperium Capital City.

There were barely any people during this time of the day. A few horse carriages would go over now and then, but that was all.

The cold breeze blew over Zachariel’s face. His resolute eyes calmly stared at the horizon.

`Amelia, I wonder where you are and how are you now?`

Amidst his thoughts, a cloaked figure stepped in front of him and blocked his way.

It was a short figure, barely as tall as his shoulders.

“Iria, you’ve come.”, Zachariel said.

The figure let out a gasp.

“So you knew all along!”

She charged at him and pushed him towards a post.

“Zachariel Strom! What did you do to me? What were those dreams all about? How did I suddenly end up being your servant?!”

“Did this happen during that time you touched and infused something inside me? You think I’m your testing subject?”, Iria angrily blurted.

Her eyes were now emitting a shade of green as well, similar to Zachariel.

She had the right to be angry since she almost died because of that.

“Let’s not talk about that here.”, Zachariel replied.

“Why?!”, she strengthened the force in her arms.

He grabbed her arms and held her hand, walking in a straight path as if they were couples who were dating.

His words suppressed Iria. She could only obey Zachariel’s words.

They continued to walk that way until they arrived at their dormitory rooms.

…

Imperium Palace.

Wille knelt below the throne.

“Your Imperial Majesty, what should we do about the special forces?”

“Kill that son of a bitch. Don’t let him testify against me.”, Emperor Marcus ordered.

Wille nodded.

“Your Imperial Majesty, it looks like the boy has sowed discord between us and the eldens. It’s best if we stay low for now…”, he advised.

Emperor Marcus agreed.

“That damn sly Strom. He used my plan against me! Whatever, let him be for now. What about Kane? How are his studies?”

“Although it is satisfactory in terms of human perspective, your Imperial Majesty, I doubt he would be able to go against Princess Thessalia 10 days from now.”

“Still not enough? Is he not talented?!”, Emperor Marcus raised his voice.

“It’s not talent, Your Imperial Majesty. It’s resources.”, Wille corrected.

Emperor Marcus narrowed his eyes.

“You want me to ask help from my father?”

Wille nodded.

Elder Malcolm Cromwell.

As a Higher Elder from the tower, it was certain he had plentiful of quality magic spells and books that could help Kane progress faster than before.

Emperor Marcus gripped the armrest and released it. He stood up after a while.

“Get me a connection to the Tower. I want to talk to my father.”

Wille nodded and moved to the right corner of the throne room.

There were carved lines embedded in that part of the wall which he injected his mana essence into.

It glowed and the light followed through the trail of lines towards the center of the throne room.

After a while, a holograph of an old human with a neckbeard and bald head showed up.

“Wille Cross, what do you want this time?”

Judging from his voice, the old man was annoyed.

“Father.”

“Hm, Marcus. It looks like the Great Human Imperium is doing ‘great’ under your rule.”

Emperor Marcus’s eyebrows twitched.

His father, Malcolm, was mocking him for being an incompetent ruler.

“No need to say it, I know what you two are after.”, Malcolm waved his hand, “I’ll lend you a set of books directly from the Supreme Academy. As for mana cores, 5 grade A mana cores should suffice.”

There were 5 grades of mana cores used in Pandragea. A grade-A mana core was the second-best mana core coming directly from King-level demon beasts.

Also, a mana essence cultivator could assimilate 85% of the mana core into their cultivation.

For Malcolm to gift Kane such a quality mana core, Kane’s fight against Thessalia must be that important to him.

With this quantity and quality, Kane would be able to step into the first levels of cultivation.

“But I’ll have to warn you, you two. If Kane fails, you will have to answer to me. Someone will deliver the materials to you a few hours from now.”

The connection was then cut off.

Wille sighed. Talking to Malcolm on the holographic already pressured him.

“Stupid father.”, Marcus snorted and went back to his throne.

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“I will take my leave now, your Imperial Majesty. With this set of materials, Kane would have a-.”

Emperor Marcus cut him off.

“I don’t need you to remind me. Now go and don’t waste my time.”

…

21st Day of Okton.

Great Ancillary School.

Scarlet leaned against a wall. She was daydreaming about things she would do to Zachariel’s weapon today.

“Scarlet.”, Zachariel had arrived.

“Ah, there you are! Finally, I’ve been waiting here for a long time!”, she skipped towards Zachariel and noticed a small child beside him.

“Zachariel, who’s that? Is she your child?”, Scarlet asked.

Iria was angered by this but Zachariel raised his hand.

“Here, my weapon.”

Scarlet let out a weird sound that confused the two.

She held the polearm carefully, scrutinizing the design, the texture, feeling the intricacy with her flawless white skin.

“Ah, what a wonderful weapon.”, she moaned.

“Do you want to follow me or not?”, Scarlet asked. She wanted to show off her skills to the two of them.

Jean was the only one who was with her all the time.

“No, we still have other things to do.”, Zachariel rejected.

Scarlet didn’t mind and left in a hurry.

Iria was weirded out by Scarlet’s personality. The two went to the Public Training Area.

…

Iria and Zachariel were alone in the training room. The girl had a hostile look towards Zachariel.

“So, care to explain things to me now?”

“I decided myself in appointing you as my servant because you are worthy, Iria.”

Zachariel decided to lie on Iria. He knew that whatever reason he give wouldn’t be satisfactory to her.

However, the approach he chose would persuade Iria and sway her on thinking that Zachariel was a ‘proactive’ type of leader.

Otherwise, if he explained to her that it was all an accident, he would be mocked and Iria would distrust him for being a sorry-ass.

“Bullshit, I waited for a day for this kind of explanation?!”, Iria retorted.

“It’s true Iria. I chose you because of your temperament, talent, and skills.”

Iria snorted, “Then why didn’t you choose those Prospect friends of yours, huh? Why me of all people?!”’

Zachariel shook his head.

“You don’t understand. And I won’t care to explain things for now.”

“What’s important is for you to know that you are now under me, and I have the responsibility to look over you.”

Iria doubted his words.

“What do you mean by look out for me? I can take care of myself.”, Iria argued.

“I’m not talking about your daily needs, Iria. It’s about the Templars, the eldens, and the voids.”

Iria's eyes widened in shock at the mention of the two other races and one of the dark underground factions.

Zachariel told her all about everything there was to know.

He knew that the Templars would surely realize his ability and they would be able to sense Iria’s unique aura.

He didn’t know if Iria could be a ‘pseudo-key’ to unlocking the restrictions. However, he didn’t want Iria to be captured by the Templars at any cost either.

It was better to be safe than sorry.

“Are you telling me that my life is in danger now because of this? Zachariel, do you realize how big of a mistake this is?”, Iria started to cry.

She didn’t want to be caught up in a huge cesspit of problems. Moreover, her family’s life was in danger as well.

Zachariel sighed.

“Say something to me!”, Iria shouted.

She felt that Zachariel was still hiding things from her. The latter didn’t say anything.

Because of this, Iria took out her polearm and attacked Zachariel.

“I can’t believe how careless you are, Zachariel! You wanted me to be your servant? Dream on!”

The two clashed; with Zachariel fighting Iria bare-handed.

Her strength was amplified because of the improvement of her talents, though she didn’t know how far did she improve.

If their classmates saw them now, they would be shocked to see Iria being able to keep up with Zachariel.

“Hyah!”

Iria quickly slashed at Zachariel then followed up with another set of slashing attacks.

`Oh, she’s become faster now. Moreover, the force behind her attacks aren’t easy for me to deal with.`, Zachariel remarked.

“You bastard, stop dodging!”

Iria increased the pace of her attacks, forcing Zachariel to make his move.

He gathered qi essence and blocked her slash single-handedly. He then pulled Iria towards him and lightly tapped her forehead.

“You have long ways to go, servant.”

The word servant infuriated Iria, sneakily targeting his balls with her knee.

Unfortunately, Zachariel noticed it and dodged it on time.

The two continued clashing, even when someone knocked on the door.

…

Zachariel’s classmates, alongside Victoria and Helena, outside the training room, waited for them to open the door.

“Damn, what’s taking them so long to open the door?”, Luiz scratched his head in confusion.

The door could only be opened by the key holder, and that person was Iria.

“Maybe something happened inside?”, Victoria asked. She joined their group because she was worried about what happened to Zachariel yesterday.

Victoria was taken in by Helena yesterday when she passed out. Victoria was then healed by the Summer Household’s healers.

Helena only followed because she was worried for Victoria. She didn’t know why Victoria was obsessed with Zachariel even though that bad guy broke her heart at some point.

Luiz raised his eyebrows in doubt.

“Something happened? I doubt so. With Zachariel over there, nothing should…”

All of them then realized that Zachariel was a boy and Iria was a girl.

“Do-do-don’t tell me they’re-?!”

“At the public training area? How savage are they?!”

Luka shook his head about how dirty-minded these people were.

It was at that moment that they heard shouts coming from the inside.

“How dare you defile me, you monster? If you want to do it to someone else, pick Lia instead! Isn’t she a close friend of yours?!”

Lia blushed, “Wh-what is Iria talking about?”

Luiz pointed at the door, nervously shaking.

“So… so they’re really?!”

They didn’t notice the dark expression on Victoria’s face.

“Because of you, my life is ruined! I hope that you would truly take responsibility for me, bastard!”

Victoria snapped, gathering a large amount of fire mana essence, and blasted the door.

Bang!

Although it didn’t open, the two people inside finally snapped out of it.

Iria opened the door. She was greeted by a fierce glare from Victoria.

“Hmph!”, Victoria snorted.

Iria wondered what was this girl’s problem; snorting and glaring at her as if she had done something unlikable to her.

Victoria ignored her and strutted towards Zachariel. Her cold demeanor was replaced by a happy expression after seeing Zachariel.

Zachariel noticed her and asked.

“Victoria, what are you doing here?”

“Nothing, I just want to see if you’re okay after what happened yesterday.”, she replied.

“Victoria…”

Hearing her name, Victoria looked up at him, blushing.

“Thank you for yesterday.”, Zachariel said.

Victoria felt happy inside.

“Hey, who’s that girl?”, Iria asked.

“Oh, she’s Victoria, and this girl is Helena.”, Luiz introduced.

“They’re both Zachariel’s friends. Victoria joined our group earlier wanting to see how he was today which baffled me.”, Luiz replied.

He didn’t quite understand what Victoria wanted to do but they let her do as she wished.

After all, the news of what happened yesterday has yet to spread everywhere.

Helena didn’t like it when Luiz said that she was Zachariel’s friend. However, she let it go for the moment.

“Is that so?”

“Hey, Iria. It seems like you’re okay now. When did you get out of the Imperium Ward anyway? You didn’t even tell us.”, Luka asked.

“Oh, I was discharged yesterday. I didn’t feel telling you guys as I wanted to surprise you all, hehehe.”

Iria walked to the platform.

“Alright, time for some training. I haven’t been able to stretch my muscles for a while.”

“Iria, you should rest for now.”, Luka advised.

Iria shook her head, “Luka, I told you I’m okay now. Come, let’s start, all of you.”

The rest looked at each other and shrugged. They followed Iria and started their training.

Zachariel and Victoria chatted on the sides while Helena distanced herself, eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Your classmates are hardworking. Aren’t they tired or something?”, Victoria asked.

Zachariel let out a smirk.

“What about you, Victoria? Shouldn’t you be training with the seniors for the upcoming skirmish event?”

“Uh, well, I’ve already trained with them for a while. It’s a bit boring for me sometimes. I could learn spells or cultivate quickly than the others. I-“

“Don’t overestimate yourself, Victoria. Overconfidence will be your end.”, Zachariel interjected.

“Then what about you too, Zachariel? Shouldn’t you be training now?”

Zachariel sighed.

“That’s the problem, Victoria. I can’t find someone strong enough to spar with me.”

Even though there were arena battles in the public training area, Zachariel wouldn’t use all of his powers for several reasons.

One was that the emperor was watching, and so was the possibility of the Templars as well.

Moreover, fighting a demon beast is different from fighting a human or an elden. Zachariel’s spells are extremely lethal and he won’t be able to fully gauge his strength on arena battles with the rules implemented.

The Dark Forest was his best chance of testing his strength but sadly, things went wrong.

He didn’t want to spar against platinum-level fighters or higher. There was a huge difference in power level if he fought against them.

As for his fight against Daniel, the guy was holding himself against Zachariel that’s why he was able to win.

“Hmph! You seem pretty overconfident yourself! Aren’t you an ironic person, Zachariel?”, Helena mocked him.

“Helena, don’t do this right now!”, Victoria pleaded.

Helena waved her hands in rejection.

“Zachariel, just because you defeated that elden doesn’t mean you’re that strong. How about it, want to have a taste of a Summer’s magic power?”, Helena challenged while conjuring a blue flame on her right hand.

`Interesting, senior Joey has this before. Is this the Summer Household’s special magic?`, Zachariel mused.

“Let me have a taste then, Helena.”