Damian’s office fell into silence for a few moments.
The golden light of the sunset entered the room through the tall windows and fell across the bookshelves, the old maps, and his huge wooden desk.
The air inside the room was calm, but the thoughts of both of them were not.
Damian kept looking at his nephew, the same boy who had left this family two years ago with a hopeless face and an uncertain future.
And now... he was almost nothing like that boy anymore.
Could it be that the Patriarch had already noticed all of this? Had he realized how powerful this boy had become? What kind of talents had he gained?
Was that why he wanted him to come back? But if that was true, didn’t it mean Lian had been under his father’s watch the whole time? Was that really the truth?
Or was there a much more cruel and darker reason hidden behind it?
After a few seconds of silence, Lian only shrugged.
"Who knows?" He looked away from Damian and turned toward the window.
Outside, the distant towers of the family were shining under the sunset.
"I haven’t even seen him enough to understand his decisions." His voice was calm, not angry, not sad, just indifferent, then he added.
"But I don’t plan to stay here for long, when the ceremony is over, I’ll leave."
Damian let out a sigh, this time not as one of the family elders, not as a man who had survived hundreds of deadly missions, but simply as an uncle.
It seemed all of his efforts to convince this boy had been useless.
"I understand why you’re unhappy with the family, but do you really not want to give them a second chance?"
"No." Lian answered almost immediately, there was no pause, no hesitation, he did not even think for a moment, just one firm answer.
Damian said nothing for a few seconds, as if he was surprised by how fast the answer came, but before he could think the discussion was over, Lian spoke again.
"But I won’t throw away the Vorhelm family name, and maybe one day I’ll come back to lead the family, I just don’t plan to do it now, for now the Ruined Realm is more important." He shifted slightly in his chair and looked toward the horizon.
"The new generation of Awakened will spend most of their lives there, everything is there, resources, inheritances, power, opportunities." A faint smile appeared on his face.
"You all have access to the Heavenly Realm, but we don’t, we have to fight for every step, for every level, for every stat, for every opportunity, that’s why my priorities in life are different for now."
The room became quiet again, but this time the silence was different, Damian looked calm on the outside, but inside he was not calm.
What surprised him was not Lian’s confidence, confidence was something almost every genius of the family had.
But Lian’s way of looking at things... was different, he was not even talking about competing with others, it was as if he had already assumed that he was the winner.
It was as if the question was not.
"Can I do it?"
It was only.
"Do I want to do it?"
That kind of thinking... was dangerous, very dangerous, it was the way of thinking of someone who could never be controlled, the way of thinking of someone who saw himself above the world.
This was exactly the way the Patriarch of the Vorhelm family thought, this was the way all those standing at the top of the world thought.
And this boy, who had not reached that level yet, already had that way of thinking.
"So what is your goal for coming here now?"
"The Heavenly Treasury, and making all of you stop causing trouble for me." The answer came immediately.
That was the whole reason he had come here, and he would do whatever was needed to achieve both of those goals.
Damian looked at him for a few moments, then suddenly showed a mysterious smile.
"What do you think about making a bet?"
"That depends on the reward." Lian answered with a smile.
An idea appeared in Damian’s mind, maybe he could make use of a little of this kid’s pride.
"What place do you think you’ll get in the duels?"
"First." Lian did not think for even one second.
Damian laughed, not because he was mocking him, but because he could not believe it.
"So you’re sure you’ll get first?"
"Yeah, only first."
"Then we have a bet, if you get any place other than first... you have to come back to the family, forget the past, and become an official member of the family again."
Damian continued.
"But if you get first..." His eyes became slightly narrower.
"The family will guarantee your complete freedom, no one will pressure you to come back anymore, no one will bother you again, and... you’ll have one absolute request from me."
For the first time, Lian really thought about it, not because of the first part, but because of the second.
Damian Vorhelm was an Awakened above level eighty who had completed four evolutions, one of the strongest humans in the country.
If you ignored the members of the Vorhelm family... maybe fewer than fifty people in the whole country could match his strength.
Among the hundreds of millions of people living in the country, fewer than fifty people in the entire nation, and even in the world’s population, there were not many Awakened above level eighty who had also completed four evolutions.
Having someone like that owe you a favor... was truly valuable, much more valuable than most people could imagine.
Of course, he could already see through his uncle’s plan, he could see that his uncle thought he was using his pride, but he was not proud at all, he was simply realistic.
A few seconds later, Lian held out his hand.
"Deal."
Damian shook his hand.
"Good, then I’ll be waiting to see what you can do."
But inside, he had a different thought, either this kid was crazy... or he was hiding something that no one had seen or knew about, otherwise he doubted this boy could even reach higher than the top five.
It was not that he was underestimating Lian, it was simply because the person considered the main candidate for first place was an elite level forty-one Awakened.
It was true that his level would be limited to twenty, and even his stats would return to what they had been when he was level twenty.
But he could still keep the experience and the skills he had gained through two evolutions.
And that was an absolute advantage.
A few minutes later, after saying goodbye, Lian left the Eastern Palace, the sky had almost turned orange, the sun was sinking behind the distant mountains.
The golden light of the sunset fell over the buildings of the Vorhelm family and made everything look even more magnificent than before.
The whole territory was busy with preparations, servants were moving equipment, guards were changing shifts, and newly arrived guests were entering different mansions.
Luxury cars kept arriving one after another, and everywhere, the sounds of conversations and people moving around could be heard.
With both hands inside his pockets, Lian walked back toward his own mansion.
But suddenly his steps stopped, because a few meters away he saw someone slowly walking around, as if she was simply taking a walk.
At first he thought he was mistaken, but when he looked again, he became sure.
silver hair, a familiar face, silver eyes, and a girl who should not have been here, a girl he had never expected to see inside the Vorhelm territory.
Seris.
She was slowly walking along one of the stone paths, looking around with curiosity.
At that moment, Ceris raised her head.
Her silver eyes met Lian’s directly.
Both of them stood still for a moment, and time itself seemed to stop.