After the meeting ended, Julius opened his eyes and the familiar rosewood desk and blue ceiling came into view.
As he was about to curse, his keen senses detected a person outside his study.
'Why is he here?'
"Come in." He said disinterestedly and even disturbed. Irene's eyes when she vanished…now that he recalled it, they were bursting with confidence. How?
The creaking sound of the door snapped him out of his thoughts and Julius raised a brow at the young man.
"Are you close?" Julius asked, suppressing his shock with a stoic face.
"Yes." Charles nodded and tried to control the fluctuating aura emanating from him.
It was the peak of level 6, as in the final peak. He was on the verge of advancing to level 7.
The youngest level 7 record was held by Julius. He reached it at the age of 25 years and 5 months.
'But it's not his talent. It's what Roxanna fed him.' Julius commented and opened his mouth.
"Hm. And why are you here?"
"I am entering Earth's Ruins," Charles said flatly.
Julius titled his head in confusion and tapped the desk. "You know it's dangerous, right?"
"I do." Charles nodded with the same straight face.
"There will be multiple forces competing each year. Big two, small two, and the Order and Guard—well, they don't exist anymore, haha. So, the Order. I honestly think it's unsafe for you." He said in a calm tone, without any trace of concern.
"Thanks for your concern," Charles said, irony buried in his soft tone. "But I decided I must."
Julius looked at his son's eyes disinterestedly and finally nodded.
With a wave of his hand, the door opened and Charles landed outside the palace.
Looking at the floating palace high in the sky, Charles clenched his fists and his face contorted in disgust.
With a snort, he left for the fabled ruins of devas.
*** *** ***
Xanders were the uncrowned rulers of Earth. Their influence reached every single one of 10,000 cities.
Out of them all, Idenis stood out as it was the coastal city closest to the guardian islands, the residential location of the main Xander family.
This city also held a historical connection to Xanders. After the Blink, the Xander family traveled thousands of miles before finally settling here.
Then in the coming generations, they flourished and rose to be the hegemon they currently were.
And now such a nostalgic city was bustling as it welcomed its new district—the Utopia.
The district was finished one week prior and hundreds of officials and thousands of certified members from various professions entered it to work.
After intense labor, the new but bleak district now shone with a resplendent grandeur impossible to conceal.
The district had a large white wall enclosing it everywhere except its three gates.
And the gates…were the three statues that seemed to touch the clouds.
Alex Xander, Ceaser Xander, and Julius Xander—the three Sovereigns of the Xander family were perfectly sculpted and they stood in the three corners of the city majestically.
Of course, Julius' statue was at the center and was also the tallest.
After one entered the gate under the statue, they'd be bombarded with a pristine sight.
Shiny blue roads that had an automatic space shift ability—step on the road, select your destination and you'll be transported there almost instantly.
There were large buildings everywhere, with each building having a ground and floating section.
These buildings were all selling one thing or another—potions, treasures, contacts, intelligence, etc.
The ground section of the building was for the average customer and the floating section was for the elites.
Of course, anyone who could step foot in the Utopia district was not an average person—but the standards were redefined here.
Then looking past the buildings, one could see a gigantic lotus-shaped stadium at the center of the district.
It was the largest stadium in the world and also the costliest. Not only was it built of reinforced alloy walls that were said to withstand even level 6 attacks, it also had a space-restriction formation—it'd prevent any space awakener from teleporting in the specified area.
While the alloy walls were common, it was the space-restriction formation that really sparked discussions.
Some claimed that it was due to a kidnapping case that occurred in Valos city. But others remained confident that it was due to Enigma.
Whatever might be the case, it only served to increase the popularity of the place and the grand event.
Even influential people used their connection to get into the district and check it out.
But even they had areas they couldn't approach.
For instance, in the vicinity of the stadium were dozens of floating and normal buildings—they were the living quarters of the participants.
'Participants' was merely a grand-sounding name for the beta testers—they would be the people who'd take the omega potion and then they'd be monitored continuously tracking their progress and finally, they'd fight with normal awakeners who never took the potion.
In a room of one such quarter, Varian lay on the bed lazily as he yawned for the tenth time.
Getting in here was incredibly hard, but by squeezing all her contacts, Irene managed to do so and did it in secrecy.
According to her, she also had the help of Sovereign Ares or with her ongoing political crisis, she'd have had a hard time accomplishing this task.
'Thankfully, she didn't spill out anything or the Xanders would've started preparing.' Varian smiled.
Cling.
At the slightest sound, he grabbed his comm and accepted the call.
Enigma and Blue Flash appeared in a rather luxurious interior.
"Any issues?" Varian asked, checking out Irene Nia's space shuttle by spinning the hologram.
The women were now in Sovereign Irene's spaceship. It was faster than any other space shuttle but slower than a ghost ship.
So, as long as they kept running, they were safe from the patrol groups and it was precisely the plan.
This was also the reason Varian requested Irene for her help. If there was no Irene, then Enigma could only be in ghost ship.
That meant if he tried to enter Utopia or even Earth, he'd be chased down by the army.
Then the only solution would be to actually leave ghost ship and enter the Expo without it. But without the ghost ship, his participation in the expo was not only useless, but also dangerous.
If they had any problems, it was better to solve them now before he gets 'busy'.
"No problems," Enigma answered and looked at him still spinning the hologram. With a helpless voice, she said. "Varian."
"Yes?" He stopped the spinning and glanced up at her.
Enigma gritted her teeth and seemed to struggle, but she finally said. "This is too dangerous. Even if Boo could teleport you out, a Sovereign could kill you before it happens."
Varian smiled lightly and waved his hands. "Don't worry, I've got this covered."
"They can tell apart from a real level 4 and a level 6 who's suppressing himself to be level 4. So, good luck." Blue Flash said with a complicated expression.
"Haha, I think you already know what I'll do." Varian chuckled.