Seeing what the unit had shown, Dry grew thoughtful.
— Where can I find the AHIA tree? — Dry asked Feng, who was busy answering questions from other boys.
— In the Royal Garden... weren't you there just a moment ago?! — Feng replied to Dry, without much interest in the matter.
After that, Feng dismissed the boys and told them they would have another class the next day.
It was a very short class, lasting only three hours.
— Dry, are you coming to play with us? — Jade asked, noticing Dry still lost in thought.
— I'm not interested in playing with a bunch of brats — Dry said grumpily, as he got up and left the courtyard, walking toward the garden.
— Why do you always try to call Dry to play? You know he always refuses! — Black said to his sister.
No one remained in the courtyard besides the two twins.
— My foolish little brother, you don't understand... — Jade said, her face expressionless.
Her gaze showed arrogance, and a faint smile different from usual.
— I've never understood why you put on that act. It's disgusting — Black said, stepping away from his sister as if avoiding a disease.
Jade's face no longer had the smile it did before — only arrogance and disdain for anything beneath her.
— Come on, Mother said we should be at the castle after class — Jade said with the same cultured and servile air as always.
---
While the new AHIA generation finished their class at the castle, in another part of Canan...
"It's been a day since the Hotel Loan meeting, and the AHIA prince has given no word.
I don't know if that's good or bad."
Jay was lost in thought. Since the afternoon at Hotel Loan, the small enthusiasm he had felt for Canan had completely vanished.
If the situation allowed, he would have returned to Orion long ago.
— Hey, Jay! How are things going for you? — suddenly, a voice sounded. Jay stumbled and turned to see who it was.
— Master, I'm so glad you came! I want to return to Orion, even if I remain at level 5 for my entire life — Jay said, crying on his knees before Taisu, the supreme guardian of Orion, one of the planet's most ancient beings.
— Jay, you're intelligent... but thinking you can deceive your master is pure foolishness.
You created a technique that violates the law of talent just to reach your current level of evolution, and now you want to give up on the next levels? — Taisu said with a smile, looking at Jay with interest.
Jay was his favorite disciple, despite his rather low talent.
His intelligence and comprehension shattered any cosmic scale Taisu had ever seen.
— Master, are you certain the AHIA can help me reach level 6? — Jay asked, now calmer, still afraid, but more controlled.
— Absolutely certain... or am I wrong? — Taisu said, as he turned his eyes to his left.
Hearing this, Jay looked in the same direction, but all he saw was the sofa, the counter... nothing worth attention.
But he knew his master would never ask that question by chance.
So he pressed close to him as quickly as possible and waited.
— Taisu... the Supreme Guardian. I was wondering who would dare to enter our territory without proper courtesy — a hoarse voice spoke.
When Jay heard the voice, his body trembled. His knees nearly gave way.
Not because the voice carried any magic, but because he imagined that, if his master weren't there, he would be finished.
Where before there was nothing, now stood an old man with eyes as white as snow and hair as black as night.
It was a contradiction: the appearance of an elder, but without wrinkles or sagging skin.
The old man wore a black suit with a blue coat, bearing the AHIA emblem on the left side of his chest.
— AHIA Lano... — Taisu said, his face solemn.
This was an AHIA he would never forget, even though he had seen him only once in his life, during the Battle of the Gods a hundred thousand years ago.
He had only asked because it seemed strange for a level 7 to enter foreign territory without being checked.
Not that it made much sense... but even in his wildest dreams he had never imagined the AHIA clan would send Lano, the Godslayer.
— You've grown much... evolutionary level 7, how enviable! — Lano said, looking at Taisu with a faint smile and melancholy in his voice.
— It is an honor that the Godslayer knows my name — Taisu replied, already preparing to escape with Jay should things turn ill.
Hearing this, Lano smiled and said:
— You are the great pillars of the planet... how could this old man dare not know who you are?
Suddenly, Taisu and Jay felt as if the world had blinked.
When it returned to normal, they were no longer in Jay's house, but in a desert, with no buildings in sight.
Taisu clenched his fists and said:
— Your Excellency, my entry into Cabon was not intended to offend the sovereignty of the AHIA.
Seeing this, Jay panicked.
He had never seen his master so serious — and it even seemed as though he was trembling before the old man.
Lano looked at Taisu with a burning fire in his eyes, an insatiable will to fight that, under the clan's strict rules, had to be restrained.
He was not alone. Every member of the AHIA clan was arrogant by nature, restrained only by their rules and precepts.
After all, who, possessing the power to dominate the world — even if only within a limited radius — would not be arrogant?
— Do not worry. If the clan felt offended by your presence in Cabon, Orion would have changed its capital long ago.
I only wish to see what this humble old man, at evolutionary level 3.8, can do against someone of your level — Lano said to Taisu.
At that moment, Taisu's eyes narrowed.
He flung Jay aside and conjured an energy blade the length and width of his arm, slashing forward.
In that same instant, Lano appeared before him, watching the blade slowly approach.
"What a disappointment... it seems nothing has changed," Lano thought, watching Taisu move with absurd slowness.
For Lano, it was a great letdown.
Even though he had faced many level 7s together and found them all too weak, he still had expectations for Taisu, who was a Pinnacle at that level — just one step away from the legendary level 8.
But the moment he moved and altered the laws within a radius of one million kilometers, he realized he had expected too much from someone who was not an AHIA.
The blade struck the ground.
A massive fissure that looked like an abyss opened instantly. Sand and stone, pulverized by the impact, clouded vision.
But Taisu knew Lano had not been hit.
Though level 7 granted total control over the laws — hence its title, "the supremacy level" — the moment AHIA Lano appeared in that room, Taisu felt as though the laws of heaven and earth had been cut off from him.
Thus, instead of using the laws in his attack, he had chosen to wield pure energy.
Jay, flung far away, watched the battle. He hadn't understood a thing.
One moment he was near his master, the next he was in the air. Then the earth split open, his master held an energy blade, his left arm bearing a pulsing serpent tattoo... he launched the attack and then retreated at incredible speed.
The old man vanished from where he stood, and dust swallowed everything around them.
In moments, the desert looked more like the end of the world.
But what terrified Jay most was that, from beginning to end, he had not seen the old man do a single thing.
— Hoo... — a sigh came from Lano, a mix of boredom and disappointment.
The moment the sigh echoed, everything within a million kilometers stopped.
As if time itself no longer dared to move.
Taisu wanted to act, to do something, not just stand there like an animal waiting for slaughter.
But no matter how much he tried to mobilize the laws or the energy in his body, nothing moved.
It was as though a great mountain pinned everything down under monstrous pressure.
Jay didn't even realize he too was frozen in time.
— That is enough. The young prince has chosen your disciple as one of his allies, so I fear he cannot leave Canan until the prince says otherwise, Supreme Guardian — Lano said to Taisu.
After that, he restored the broken ground, and the desert that had held an abyss returned to normal.
Taisu felt his connection to the world's laws return.
Then, the world blinked again, and they were back in Jay's room.
— Have a pleasant stay. Cabon welcomes you with open arms, with joy and courtesy — Lano said, before vanishing like a ghost slowly being erased.
First his head disappeared, then his body, until nothing remained.
— Master... what is going on with that clan? — Jay asked, trembling and cursing Steve's entire family line.