"After all, you will become a part of us."
The moment the man said that everyone froze in their wooden seats.
It was true that his tone was gentle and polite, but for some reason, those words felt wrong in a certain way... or inhuman.
Especially Leona, who frowned slightly.
Unlike her, Elliot maintained his smile as he replied,
"Sorry, but we won’t be staying here long. We need to return to our home."
The man smiled kindly, but even that smile seemed devoid of life.
"Why do you need to return home when you can live peacefully here for hundreds of years?"
His deep voice echoed in their ears, while both Kyle and Izel couldn’t understand what was being said, so they refrained from joining the conversation and simply followed the others the entire time, only to now find themselves sitting here among these people.
And worse than that, the conversations were becoming stranger as time passed, so now, seeing the forced expressions on Leona and Elliot, and that smile on Ellen’s face, they understood that something was wrong with the recent exchanges.
But unfortunately, they could only wait for one of them to explain what was going on...
"We’re sorry, but we have many things waiting for us there." Ellen intervened.
But it seemed the man didn’t like their refusal, so he wanted to say more, but at that moment, Arthania finished her conversation and noticed what was happening.
"Adam, stop bothering them."
Her beautiful voice rang out as she addressed the dark-skinned man.
Obeying Arthania’s words, Adam stepped back, placing an apologetic smile toward Elliot and Ellen behind the table.
"Sorry if my insistence bothered you. I was just excited to see other humans."
With those words, he and the woman beside him turned to leave.
"We’ll be there if you need anything."
The woman said, pointing toward a wooden table at the side.
Ellen could only nod, while Arthania smiled apologetically.
"Sorry if they bothered you. I think they’re just a bit too excited...
"Anyway, it’s unfortunate that Caius stayed with that old man. Maybe I should send someone to bring him."
The moment Arthania said those words, Leona stood up from her seat.
"I’ll go."
"There’s no need to do that, Leona. I can simply send someone to bring him."
Leona shook her head.
"No, I want to do it... and he won’t come if you send a random person."
"Really?"
Leona nodded, and Arthania sighed.
"Alright, but don’t take too long."
She gave one last glance to Ellen beside her, then ignored all the gazes that fell upon her and walked around the table toward the exit at the end of the hall.
The distance wasn’t very long, just a few dozen meters.
But for some reason, it felt much longer than that, especially with dozens of eyes pressing down on her.
Step after step, until Leona reached the door. Without hesitation, she pushed the heavy door and stepped outside.
With a heavy creak, the door closed behind her, and Leona released a long breath she didn’t even realize she had been holding.
"Ahh..."
The cold breeze of that long night hit her face, causing her dark blue hair to scatter to the side, covering part of her face.
She looked at the empty streets, which had become like this after the bell rang again, announcing sleep time for this strange city.
At the same time, Leona raised her hand and clutched the fabric over her heart.
Her heart, which was beating faster and stronger than ever, making her breaths heavy and unstable.
She stepped forward, walking through the empty streets of the city.
’We need to leave this place quickly.’
That thought gnawed at her restless mind, making her unable to think rationally.
Her steps quickened through the empty streets, unaware of her surroundings.
As time passed, she got closer to Arthania’s house until it became visible in the distance.
’I’ll tell Caius, and once that banquet ends, we’ll leave.’
With that in mind, Leona headed toward Arthania’s isolated house under the black sky.
She arrived and pushed the door open before entering.
She looked around but didn’t find him anywhere in sight.
’Maybe he’s still with that old man?’
With that thought, she reached the stairs and began climbing toward the rooms where they had slept before.
Soon, she reached the corridor and found the door of one of the rooms open.
Without hesitation, she approached, her eyes scanning the dark room.
And as she expected, Caius was there, sitting on the bed, a glowing essence stone in his hand pushing away the darkness around him.
But the stone wasn’t the only source of light.
Caius himself was.
Around his body, a luminous aura of pure essence had formed.
Slowly, Caius opened his eyes, revealing the black void behind them... or at least, that was how it had been.
Because in that moment, Leona saw a light shining within that black void... a pure and beautiful light like a star about to be born.
In that moment, before Leona’s eyes,
Caius reached Rank Three.
In the next instant, his perception, which had covered more than three hundred meters... expanded.
It expanded and multiplied several times, covering a vast area until it reached the city, sensing every soul within those houses and every flow of essence.
His perception didn’t just expand—it became several times more detailed and sensitive.
And with the new power flowing through his body, soul, and even his mind, something began to happen inside his head.
Something that had previously failed before he met Arthania.
The Mind Anchor were awakening, performing their function.
Drenched in unbearable pain, Caius raised his hand and placed it over his face.
Slowly, new things began to appear in his perception... things that had been in front of him the entire time, yet he had overlooked them.
And there were many of them.
Thousands of ethereal threads descending from the sky above this city.
Amid all of that, a single word escaped his lips.
"Fuck."