Gacha Sovereign

"Oh! Rose! It's been a while." Alex opened his arms, catching Rose. Although he was a bit surprised that Rose showed this much happiness in one go, she is nonetheless his cute disciple. He still treated her like a little girl even after these few years.

"To think that your strength has increased even further from the last time I visited you." Alex stroked her hair gently.

"Hehe…" Rose felt pleased when Alex praised her. It was hard-earned praise since Alex didn't praise her so often unless she got a big achievement.

"How are you?"

"I am fine. Elder Sister Anna and Anya have helped me this whole time, and the others also have taught me from time to time. I feel like I can do more if I try." Rose grinned.

Alex shook his head with a smile. With his Spirit Eyes, how could he didn't know that her Spiritual Energy was exhausted? She must have trained hard in this period. "Well, I want to discuss something with you. Maybe after you recover your energy."

"Don't worry. I can recover my energy even when I am talking." Rose pumped her fist.

Alex looked at her expression for a few seconds before agreeing to her request. "Sure. Let's go inside first and make ourselves comfortable."

Rose nodded and led Alex inside while humming.

When they arrived, everyone took a seat. It was at this time that Rose finally noticed an unfamiliar person beside Alex.

Noticing this gaze, Alex introduced her. "She is Firia, my wife."

"Ah!" Rose immediately stood up, walked to her, and bowed her head. "I am Rose Skewes. Master picked me up on the Willow Continent."

"Fufu… Pick her up eh?" Firia glanced at him, planning to tease him, but Rose misunderstood her intention as her face became pale.

"This… Master is—!"

Firia chuckled as she stopped her. "I know. Since you are Alex's disciple, here is a gift for you. The ingredients came from him though."

Rose furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the unfamiliar pill that had the same color as her hair. "This is…"

Unlike Evelyn, Rose had been cultivating this whole time, so her knowledge was limited. This was also the reason why Alex sent her for a mission. She would know what knowledge she was lacking and learned according to it. Unfortunately, it didn't cover rank 8 pills.

"This is a Revolving Heart Pill. It can stimulate your heart and increase your talent," Firia explained in a simple way.

"Ah!" Rose blinked a few times, not believing what she heard.

"Alex has been pouring many resources for you, but you must feel something is clogging inside your body, right? Even though your foundation is rock solid, your talent is hindering you from increasing your cultivation even further. If you are overly relying on resources like this, I am afraid there will be a time where your cultivation halts."

"I…" Rose couldn't say anything. Everything Firia said was true, and she had already known it as she currently faced such a situation. She had been enduring all of this until now because of Alex, but she knew that she might reach a bottleneck at one point. That was why she was so happy to know that she could help Alex before reaching that bottleneck. And suddenly, one thing that could overturn her fate appeared before her; moreover, it came from Alex's wife.

"Take it. You should be able to refine it within a month."

Rose took the pill with her shaking hands. No words of gratitude could express her feelings right now. She was just a daughter of commoners that almost became a sex toy, but everything changed after Alex appeared. Her words were filled with light and love once again, not only from her master but also from the people around him.

When she was about to kneel to express her gratitude, Alex and Firia already appeared beside her, stopping her from bending her knees. They smiled. "No need to do such a thing. I am your master. It is my duty to take care of you. Besides, you have endured so much because of my problem. This is something you deserve."

"That's right. You should think about yourself more. If not, I shall teach you basic common sense. Don't forget. You are the first official disciple of Alexander Sirius." Firia smiled. She intentionally said official disciple because it wouldn't include Evelyn and Putri. This showed Rose's true status. As for whether Rose would become too prideful or not rely on their teaching.

"Rose… Is glad that she met Master back then." Rose couldn't help but shed tears from all this warmth.

"You little girl." Alex sighed with a smile, patting her head until she calmed down.

In the end, Alex brought Rose to her room alone, so they could talk privately.

"Master…" Rose thought for a moment before taking out a cup and a tea she specifically brewed for Alex. She had prepared for something like this. "I am sorry for being too emotional earlier."

"It's fine. I still remember how you endured all my hellish training and didn't express your thoughts freely… Looking at you now, I am really proud of you." Alex smiled.

"No, no. Rose could only reach this step because there were enough resources and didn't need to do anything like Master." Rose shook her head.

"Well… I want you to go somewhere for me." Alex scratched his cheek, not knowing whether it was a good idea to send Rose alone.

"Do you mean Freedom Sect?"

"How do you know?" Alex was amazed before realizing that the spirits must have told her about it.

"Elder Sisters told me a few months ago. I have been preparing myself for this." Rose nodded while pumping her fist.

"That's right. I want you to go to Freedom Sect to get a Space Element. After that, you are going to train until you beat the Potential Tower. This is my upper limit since the continent will change completely at that time." Alex nodded with a gentle smile.

"I am ready, Master. I will complete this in a way that I won't disappoint Master."

"Good. Now you should absorb the pill first."

"Master… Can we talk more after this?" Rose looked at him with a serious expression. "It's been a while since I last talked with Master, so…"

"Sure." Alex smiled. "You should be able to finish this within a month. We can talk for one or two days before we go to the Freedom Sect. Is that fine with you?"

"Un!" Rose nodded repeatedly.

"Then I will leave you here first since I still have something to do."

"Yes, Master. Please be careful." Rose cupped her hands while smiling from ear to ear.

Alex waved his hand and left the room before going to Anya and the others. "I am going to the Drunken Pavilion now before Evelyn returns from her journey."

"Sure." Anya nodded. "Come back soon."

Alex nodded and summoned Sherry, Stina, and Kyle. "The three of you can stay in the base."

"Do you need Leoz to accompany you?"

"I don't think so. I will just convince him with my words and be done with it." Alex shrugged. "I will summon all of you if the situation is not in my favor."

"Alright then."

Alex then snapped his finger, teleporting to their headquarters where Manness lived. Although it was easy for him to meet Manness if he went to the Drunken Pavilion, he didn't want to create a commotion. Hence, he summoned Ngina, who lost his job recently since Rose started staying in their base.

"Master."

"I want you to inform that Old Manness that I have come. I want to meet him, so he needs to search for a way that I won't gather any attention." Alex asked.

Ngina nodded and disappeared.

Alex chose this particular timing to show that he didn't enter the Ancient Ruin. There was supposed to be no suspicion about his Space Element, so he should be clear with this meeting.

He stared at the city from the outside, waiting for Ngina to return. There was nothing to see in the city anyway.

…

Meanwhile, Ngina sneaked inside the city, passing through house after house until he arrived in front of a grand building. This building couldn't be considered a restaurant because it had the size of a football stadium on Earth.

Ngina entered the place without hesitation, camouflaging as a lizard that ran on the wall while observing the current situation inside. It turned out that the people who were eating and drinking in the Pavilion were in a lotus pose. They were cultivating because the wine and the meal helped them in their cultivation.

It was at this time Ngina realized that these people were the students from Drunken Pavilion, whereas the real restaurant must be elsewhere. Unfortunately, he ignored these people and headed deeper inside the building.

Although it wasn't as big as the Blackwade Clan mansion, it still had half the size. Ngina found many people with stronger cultivation bases inside.

He kept going until he sensed a powerful Spiritual Energy coming from inside a certain pavilion inside. There was no doubt this was Manness's home.

Without further ado, Ngina sneaked inside the room and released his Spiritual Energy while saying. "I am bringing the word of my master, Alexander Sirius."

"!!!" Manness sensed and heard him as he rose with his wine gourd in his hand. "Who are you? To think there is someone who dares to intrude this place! Still, Alexander Sirius huh…"

Manness was angry at first because his drinking time was interrupted, but Alex's name calmed his heart down.

Seeing this reaction, Ngina finally returned to his original body, revealing his lizard skin. "Pleasure to meet you. I am Ngina. I am here to tell you that my Master is waiting for you. Although it's easy to enter this place, Master doesn't want to gather attention here."

"What does he want?"

Ngina thought for a moment. "I think it's fine to say this. My master wants to talk about the cooperation between Spirit Nest and Drunken Pavilion."

"Hmm…?" Manness thought for a moment, noticing that the situation seemed to be decided. He had been following the news about Spirit Nest, so he could somehow know that the Blackwade Clan had agreed to this. If he wanted to reap the benefit from this war, he needed to enter one of the sides.

His only problem was whether to adhere to what he promised to Maxwell or not. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, looking at the pros and cons. In the end, Manness sighed and answered, "Good. Where is he?"

"Outside the city."

"There is a forest north here, I will go there in five minutes. Tell him we can talk there."

Ngina nodded with a solemn expression and disappeared.

'Old friend huh…' Manness let out a long sigh. 'That old friend has left me for a few thousand years, and he wants me to take care of his disciple after that long? Anyway, I should meet him first.'

…

With Manness's instruction, Alex already arrived at the entrance of the forest with Ngina. He found someone flying toward him and cupped his hand politely. "Elder Manness."

He ignored the greeting and walked inside the forest. "It's better to talk inside this forest, lest someone spot us."

Alex nodded and followed him inside the forest.

After walking for a few minutes, Manness suddenly sat down on the ground, summoning his table and his wine.

Alex then greeted himself once again, albeit got stopped by Manness.

"Just cut to the chase." Manness narrowed his eyes. "You and I don't have time for pleasantries, so tell me what you need and why I should help you? Don't say it's because I have the token. I already know that, and despite that, I am still asking this. You should be able to understand what I mean, right?"

Alex furrowed his eyebrows. It seemed this old man wanted to reap benefit from him. He took a deep breath and decided to use magical words from his master with a serious expression. "Elder Manness. Have you changed your wet pants?"