Most of the councilors were still not around, and Candice had already mentioned to him that her parents won’t be coming to watch since they were busy. There were still two members of the Hayes family, but they didn’t even recognize her. It was one of the servants who remembered her and immediately made the arrangements to send her home.

Ethan returned to his booth with bloody hands and a vacant expression before taking Beet to leave. Many people were still watching him with curious looks and excited whispers. He called his boat and flew away with it, not to the mansion, but to a secluded place, far away from the nonsensical people and their irrational behaviors.

Just as he was leaving the coliseum, another fancy ship was entering with Travis on its deck. Ethan slowed down as he passed by and eyed Travis with a dull look like he was watching a dead man before withdrawing his gaze and speeding up.

He left the city and flew into the Emerald Forest until the only sound was coming from the forest itself. The sudden serene moment allowed him to stop looking and start seeing.

Not far away, there was a young deer, drinking water from a clear pond that was sparkling under the afternoon sun due to the slightly windy weather. It suddenly stopped to raise its head before skipping through the long grass and disappearing from sight.

He found it amazing that a short trip brought him to a completely different place, but there was no smile on his face as he descended from the sky. Jumping down from the boat, he went for the pond directly and started cleaning his bloody hands. His scrubs became harsher and harsher until both of his hands turned into fists and he punched the shore with all his might before letting out a loud cry. With labored breaths, he first dropped himself to sit, then lay back on the ground, watching the blue sky.

‘’I should have told her to stop. The top 10 was impossible and there wasn’t much difference if her place was any higher. If I said, you got what you want, there is no need to risk your life anymore, she would have listened to me!’’

Beet came next to him, looking worried and panicked.

‘’Should have… Would have… All fucking bullshit. She’s gone,’’ he murmured, gazing blankly at the sky.

Candice wasn’t someone important in Ethan’s life. Their whole history consisted of a few hours of chatting. Yet, there was something about her, something simple, something pure. She left such an impact on him that without even knowing her properly, he was already feeling sad for not being able to answer her affection. But he still thought it was the best for her, and didn’t dwell on it much. Only after losing her like this, he understood the reason why it affected him too much; Because she didn’t deserve it.

She didn’t even deserve Ethan’s apathy, let alone getting her heart ripped off because of some nonsense rules and a foolish society.

That was the thing pissing him off. The injustice.

He noticed that someone entered his domain and was coming toward him. Sitting straight, he looked up above the trees and was surprised to see his friend. ‘’What are you doing here?’’

‘’We were worried about you,’’ Pete said, coming down on a flying carpet. ‘’Most of us were watching the tournament among the crowd, we all saw what happened. Are you okay?’’

‘’No,’’ he replied in low spirit, pulling some grass from the ground. ‘’You shouldn’t have come here, high-tier people might notice that we’re friends.’’

‘’All the better. Maybe we finally have some fame and get some VIP businesses. Those big families are way too generous,’’ Pete joked as he sat next to Ethan, closer to the pond. ‘’Michelle said you’ve met with that girl a few days ago. She was surprised to find out you were close.’’

‘’We weren’t. We were just friends, but…’’ He turned his head to Pete sharply. ‘’There is something fundamentally wrong with these people, man. A kind and naive girl who only wished to help her father joined a competition by risking her life. A psycho, for whatever reason, brutally killed her. Yes. I saw that wound, it was no accident. That fucker knew he had one chance to kill someone and chose Candice for some fucked up reason. And then, everybody cheers like it was the best entertainment they had in their whole lives. Hell, maybe that bastard just wanted to get some applause.’’

Pete listened with a frown and gave a sigh before gazing at the pond. ‘’There is certainly something wrong. But you shouldn’t call these people.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’I’m an anthropologist, remember? So, I can assure you there is nothing different between these people and the people of Earth, except the society they live in. There were even more brutal eras in earth’s history that absolutely lacked empathy, but we never associate ourselves with those people and call it different times. The truth is, people are the same people. We are all capable of extreme good and extreme bad. It’s just that… I think the cultivators have lived in an extremely bad way for too long, and they don’t even realize what’s wrong anymore.’’

Ethan had to agree that it made sense as he remembered his talk with Justin. ‘’That doesn’t make them innocent.’’

‘’It doesn’t.’’

This time it was Ethan who sighed. He stood up to collect small stones from the shore and started throwing them into the pond. ‘’What are we going to do? You know we’re going to live in this society, and I heard that the higher realms are even worse.’’

‘’Honestly? I've been thinking about your city project more and more lately. An isolated city where people could go anywhere on the continent but it’s impossible for others to come without our notice. That kind of group might shape that city into a paradise with the right guidance.’’

‘’That’s definitely a starting point,’’ Ethan commented. ‘’But they would be living their lives with blindfolds, oblivious to the corrupt universe outside.’’

‘’Isn’t that the best we could get?’’

He threw the flat stone parallel to the water, making it skip to the end of the pond. ‘’What if there was a death penalty for high-tier people killing manaless people? What if not even their thousand-year-old family could protect them from it?’’

Pete smiled wryly. ‘’We would need tier-10 people who could live in the lower realm without ascending.’’

‘’Or a rune golem army, maybe?’’

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

‘’You really have high confidence in him. Even Abraham himself says that a ridiculous amount of resources and time would be needed even for a small army.’’

‘’Nah, that’s just one thing I could think of. We still don’t know what these lands hide. The pocket world I went to train in, the Primordial Realm is said to be more than a million years old. I think, somewhere in these lands, there must be secrets that would shake the whole Elisium.’’

‘’Uh, it’s a long shot, but you’re probably correct.’’

‘’I’m not saying we should rely on those distant possibilities,’’ Ethan said, shaking his head. ‘’I’m saying there must be countless ways to leash those unreasonable people and show them a more civilized way to live.’’ He threw the last stone directly at the tree behind the pond, shattering its trunk, and added with cold eyes. ‘’And that there is a hell waiting if they insist to keep bullying the weak.’’

Pete seemed troubled. ‘’I don’t know, Ethan. Even if everything goes perfectly, at that point, it’d be us who are bullying the weak.’’

Ethan turned to walk in front of him and sat with a vexed expression. ‘’That’s also what makes me hesitate. But you didn’t see how self-righteous these people are. I tried to talk with one of them just this morning. It was like talking into the air, he didn’t even consider the content of my speech. I don’t know what the fuck else could be done.’’

‘’I understand, but this is not like you, Ethan. Why should it be you who fix this broken society?’’

‘’Because there is no one else!’’ he shouted, and took a deep breath after a moment, forcefully calming himself down. He took out his last bottle of wine along with two cups and passed one to Pete. ‘’Let me tell you a story. One you should keep it to yourself for now, and believe me you’re gonna need this.’’

Pete was taken aback but still took the cup slowly and looked at Ethan, confused.

In a lovely corner of the Emerald Forest, Ethan gravely told everything he heard from Katherine to Pete who listened with a horrified look. He also included his assumption of the nine heavens, the rulers of the higher realms, and the countless lower realms with their clueless people. Other than his mother’s possible involvement, he shared everything without holding back.

Pete was staring at the ground as he pondered. ‘’That’s… Who told you all this?’’

‘’Kathrine. Her family was a part of the Resistance. I think she is a good woman but doesn’t know what to do after the turn of events. As I said before, you can trust her, but try to not get involved with her too much. I felt that she is kind of unpredictable and dangerous, but it wouldn’t be too surprising if that was the case; she was suppressing herself here for so long,’’ he informed before shaking his head. ‘’I can’t imagine keeping a promise for more than a century at the expense of my freedom.’’

‘’So, Earth was a lower realm? With all kinds of races and mana? That’s crazy,’’ Pete said in disbelief. ‘’But it also explains many things. I-I don’t really know what to say. Should we tell others?’’

Ethan sipped from his drink before shrugging. ‘’It’s up to you, but I think it’s pointless for now. They should know before their ascension, though. If they ascend, an even uglier world will be waiting for them.’’

Pete narrowed his eyes. ‘’Ethan, did someone you know went missing at that war?’’

He gave a mirthless chuckle. ‘’What gave away?’’

‘’So, it’s true,’’ Pete said, becoming serious. ‘’It’s because you’re still overreacting. You’re blaming yourself even though you’re also a victim.’’

‘’Maybe… But I still want a tooth for a tooth,’’ he said with a deep voice. ‘’Not just from the so-called masters of Earth. I want everyone in this game to understand what a big mistake it was. That they can’t do whatever the fuck they want and get away with it!’’

Pete nodded solemnly. ‘’As you should. As we should. Just… don’t work yourself up too much. This will be a long game and don’t forget you’re not the only Earthling here. This is a cause for all of us. No. This is a cause for all the Caged Worlds.’’

Ethan nodded back as his eyes softened.

They kept drinking for another hour and talked about future plans, the importance of gathering together with all the others who were on the ship with them, and getting alliances after their ascension. There was still a long time for this to happen, but Ethan felt himself relaxing just by talking aloud and by knowing there were others he can trust.

Once the sun started going down, they took the ship and returned to the mansion where Ethan just chatted with others on casual topics and gave his goodbyes. He hoped to see them on Mirasatra, but that was not a sure thing. They could’ve settled in Wish Well earlier, or even chose to stay in Niamaris for good. Even though he started to like this group quite a bit, he had his own plans and he was determined to stick with them.

When he woke up the next morning, he left Beet in the hotel and went for a quick shopping session. With his abundant wealth and his skill [Blink], he passed through the shops like a storm, and his storage ring started to fill rapidly with all kinds of miscellaneous items and a variety of food.

In just a few hours he had everything he needed and still left with 40 mana stones. Returning to the hotel, he made his check out in the lobby, and teleported into his room, finding Beet idly watching outside from the window.

A smile started to shape on his face. ‘’Bored already? No worries; We’re going on an adventure!’’

And so the duo started their journey on their flying ship. More accurately, in their flying ship. Ethan was half lying on his couch, checking out the map he got from Katherine while leisurely eating grapes. A giant screen in front of him was showing a wide scenery with a bright green forest below and a clear blue sky above. Beet still wasn’t used to the strange artifact as he was watching the screen breathlessly.

In order to reach this inheritance site, they had to change their direction a bit and head toward the east of Mirasatra first. In total, their journey would be almost twice as long compared to a beeline toward Mirasatra, but with the silver ship, it was only a minor inconvenience.

He also planned some hunting before their arrival so that he could advance to tier-4, but there wasn’t much distance till the end of Emerald forest. Once they left the forest, there was nothing on the dead plains but some spare low-tier monsters.

The dead plains were a result of the war that he learned from Oliver’s party. More than 500 years ago, the vampires gave their final battle in the Mirasatra Kingdom which was originally a kingdom of dwarfs. Before the war spread through the kingdom, both the vampires and the dwarfs left the continent, but the wars they fought around the kingdom destroyed the environment, and even the atmospheric mana became scarce.

Ethan learned that after half a millennia passed, the place was barely starting to heal recently and return to how it was before. Just imagining a war that could cause all this was enough to give him shivers. I wonder if ships like that Oldrin’s had also participated. How many tier-9s would have to go wild to destroy the land altogether?

Noticing that his mana was going low, he folded the map and stored it in his ring before calling for Beet. ‘’We need some fuel, bud!’’

Beet turned to look at him, intrigued.

‘’No, not food,’’ he said before grinning, ‘’But since you’re up for it. Sure, why not?’’

He picked a place and made a dive with the ship before slowing it down and settling on the ground steadily. They left the ship quickly and Ethan started picking up tree branches. ‘’I’ll start the fire, you go for a little exploration and see if there is a good hunt. There shouldn’t be any tier-5s around here but be careful nonetheless.’’

Beet gave a nod and flew away.

Ethan carefully arranged the campsite and sat to meditate until Beet’s return. As he filled his reserves slowly, he was pondering about the skill [Blood Rush]. He tried many different things with it, but just like mentioned in its description, he wasn’t able to use it unless his life was in serious danger. What’s worse, the serious part depended on his own perception. If he thought that he could handle the situation, the skill wasn't activated at all. Maybe I could alter it at rank 2, but could I even advance this skill? What kind of talent do I have for the blood, anyway? At best it's a little worse than shadow. Even then, I bet it’d take ages. Oh right! How did I forget that for so long!?

‘Ani, what was your progression after yesterday’s tournament? How close are you to creating simulations now?’

‘We achieved another 8% yesterday. Now it's very close to halfway.’

Ethan opened his eyes and gave a big smile. ‘’Let's hope there are tournaments in Mirasatra.’’