Mystical Journey

Five days later.

The Post-Jump Reception Hall

Garen automatically went to greet the arrivals at the entrance to the jumping airship, wearing a small smile on his face.

Surrounded by several guards, Eva hurriedly walked down the airship bridge.

"Senior Sister, you're finally back."

"What have you been doing these past few days?" asked Eva calmly, looking at Garen.

"I was in seclusion. I just happened to come with some new ideas, so I wanted to perform some experiments to see whether they could work," replied Garen with a smile.

Smack!

The hall instantly fell completely silent. The guards, as well as the other higher-ups from the Scarlet Snow Sect who were here as the welcoming party, all turned their eyes to the two of them. Their gazes ranged from dazed, shocked, and confused, to secretly entertained.

Garen stood in the center of it all, his face turned to a side, as he looked at Senior Sister Eve in front of him. His left cheek was slightly swollen from that slap, red and slightly puffy.

"You have disappointed me." Eva's eyes glistened with tears, and she shook her head in agony.

Garen touched his face, the intense pain still burning and prickling his skin.

"What you're saying, Senior Sister, is that I should have disregarded the law, and provided help out of personal and selfish interest?" Garen actually started smiling again.

Eva had no words for him.

She fell silent for a moment, and then she suddenly pushed him away hard, leaving with her guards.

"From now on, you are no longer my Junior Brother. I, Eva Regar, am not worthy of that title." Her final words came from a distance.

Garen just felt the pain in his cheek grew more and more intense, and he was beginning to feel slightly dizzy. Ever since Carthage grievously injured his brain, there was still a lingering wisp of energy from the energy field left in there, it was not completely removed. And now, Eva's slap had landed hard, although she did not use Willpower, the pure strength of a peak-level Resonance Level fighter was already extremely considerable. Faced with that slap, if it had been a lower-level Energy Machinist, their heads would have been immediately smashed open like a watermelon.

He touched his left cheek, and sighed inwardly.

He did not want to betray his principles, and he had always been clear about who treated him well and who did not, but he also could not reveal what his true plans were. In the tremendous changes that were going to occur, the only way for him to reap the most benefits was to actively stand on Carthage's side.

Especially considering the large division that was going to arrive at the Three Great Cities soon. That terrifying man…

That was the main key to their plans, if Garen could get a share of the pie... That was his best chance to not only avoid the trouble, but also to obtain the most benefits and growth opportunities! In preparation for the future.

"There's just... not enough time..." mumbled Garen, as he turned around and left the reception hall.

At first, he had come here prepared to explain some things and hint at others to his Senior Sister Eva, but now, seeing how rash her personality was…

*********************

After Rainy was successfully rescued, it seemed that the three punks who had infiltrated the place had also been automatically released by the people in the sect.

The dust had all settled, and under the Second Elder faction's unspoken approval, the book was quietly closed on this matter. Nobody knew how much the Second Elder had to sacrifice to suppress this matter.

But anyone could tell that he was in an extremely good mood right now.

Time passed slowly.

Everyone seemed to have purposely put this incident out of their minds. Nobody mentioned it again.

The Scarlet Snow Sect headquarters returned to its previous state of calm and peace. Those who were training returned to their training, those who were traveling returned to their travels, and those who liked to go to the Void Battlefields just decided to stay indoors and not come out anymore.

Garen's actions throughout this incident had also earned him the acknowledgment of the First Elder and the Third Elder, but more importantly, he earned the acknowledgment of First Senior Brother Carthage. He had successfully gotten a lot closer to him.

Although many other Senior and Junior Brothers were unhappy with this, the First Senior Brother's authority made them hold their tongues. Nobody dared to dissent.

At first Garen had planned to continue training, and only emerge again at the Major Sect Battle three years later. But Carthage gave him a task, forcing him to pause his training progress and prepare instead for departure.

****************

Black Wolf Lair

A young man with short white hair strode into the Black Wolf Lair's vast estate, and had just barely set foot in it.

Arooo...

Soft wolf howls gathered from all directions. Several Black Wolves, as large and strong as buffaloes, walked out of the darkness slowly, their green eyes shining like lanterns.

There were more than ten Black Wolves altogether, directly surrounding the white-haired man.

The man's expression was cold and distant, but he could not stop his pupils from dilating slightly. It was not that he was scared, he was just shocked at the terrifying force surrounding these Black Wolves.

"I am the Fourteenth, White Night. In accordance with Great Senior Brother's orders, I am here to invite Senior Brother Black Wolf to join me in departing from here and to provide assistance together."

There was no sound from the dark estate.

It seemed that his voice had not reached the innermost parts. The huge wolves began to pace around him, and one of the Black Wolves even began to drool, the saliva falling thickly onto the ground. A foul smell also began to spread through the air.

"I am the Fourteenth, White Night! Here on Great Senior Brother's orders!"

"I heard you." A voice interrupted his repetition. "Come in."

Only then did White Night heave a sigh of relief.

He had heard of this Senior Brother Black Wolf back when he was a Two-Hearted Disciple, and now it seemed that the rumors were true, this Senior Brother really was stronger than average.

"Also, there are a few of my Junior Brothers and followers here."

"Come in together." Garen's voice came from the dark depths.

Only then did White Night nod, and the giant wolves around him retreated quickly, and more than ten figures finally began to follow him soundlessly.

"Boss, this place really is something! It's even so much better than your White Night Garden!" said a large man, grinning.

"Watch your manners," reminded White Night in a low voice.

"Got it, got it." The burly man chuckled.

The group walked inside quickly, going through a rather dilapidated garden, fake mountains, a small garden, and some empty, somewhat disused houses. Soon, they reached the inner garden in the deepest part of the mansion.

The circular inner garden was completely dark, with only four eerie green flames burning creepily, emitting a dim light.

A tall and powerful figure was sitting cross-legged in the flat space between the four lanterns. It looked as though there were some mysterious and unique runes carved onto the ground, and they were discomforting to look it. In fact, even the air felt slightly oppressive.

White Night took a deep breath, and lifted his hand. He signaled for his subordinates to stop, and walked forward on his own.

"Senior Brother Black Wolf, Great Senior Brother asked me to invite you to join us on our trip to the Four Ring Star Alliance's Planet Gideon," he said, loud and clear.

"I know." Garen opened his eyes, and looked at White Night somewhat strangely. "There are about a dozen of you heading off to your ancestral grounds on a treasure hunt, but was this your own suggestion, or was it Great Senior Brother's idea?"

White Night lowered his head, avoiding Garen's gaze.

"It was my suggestion. It was also Great Senior Brother's idea."

Garen was silent for a moment, and then he spoke again.

"The Four Ring Star Alliance is already beyond we Energy Machinists' area of jurisdiction, you understand that, right?"

"I do," White Night nodded.

"Even if you do have the Gideon body type, went to the Ancestral Hall, and reached your current level, Level Five, in one go, it would still be a bit difficult for you to leave an area not governed by the Energy Machinists just like that," said Garen calmly. He had already noticed that there was something not quite right with this White Night. It had nothing to do with his person, but it was something about his body. Similar to Garen, there was a faint, imperceptible feeling of cause and effect on him.

This feeling was very strange, and very mysterious.

"That's why Great Senior Brother asked me to find you, and request aid from you," said White Night, his head lowered.

"Planet Gideon… That's a dead star..." sighed Garen. "Go, and take one of my Black Wolves with you. If necessary, he will take action."

He waved his hand, and a Giant Wolf with a slightly strange body shape slowly walked out from behind him, there was something odd about this Black Wolf. Unlike other Giant Wolves, it had two very obviously bulging muscles on either side of its body. They looked like half-formed wings, and very strange.

White Night glanced at the Black Wolf, and instantly felt the hairs rise on his body. The Energy Machine Imprint in the back of his brain instantly activated its alarm automatically despite itself, and turned madly. This was a terrifying reaction he only had when he was in serious danger.

White Night was slightly spooked, this Giant Wolf clearly already possessed the power to threaten his life, and this was just one of Senior Brother Black Wolf's Giant Wolves!

After the Energy Machinists on Planet Naga reached the Resonance Level, their strongest aspect was no longer the Energy Machinery, but themselves. And now, this supposedly weaker Energy Machine was already itself capable of posing such a great threat to White Night, even though he was already Level Five…

"Go... When necessary, I will follow behind you secretly," said Garen softly, closing his eyes.

White Night lowered his head, and retreated respectfully, watching that Giant Wolf instantly disappear into the darkness without a sound. A chill ran down his spine. If he had such an enemy hiding in the darkness, and he could not sense even a whiff of their presence, then such an enemy would be terrifying beyond measure...

The group retreated up to several hundred meters, walking backward, before they dared to turn around and walk away quickly.

The subordinates behind White Night held their breaths until they exited the mansion, and only then did they heave a sigh of relief. They looked at each other, all of them covered in cold sweat.

"Rumor has it that ever since Senior Brother Black Wolf went into seclusion, his territory had been getting more and more deserted and desolate, without a trace of life. Even automated intelligence systems would be affected, and would mysteriously malfunction. Seeing how dead this estate is, I think the rumors are true."

White Night took a deep breath, and said softly.

"Fourteenth Night royal highness, what do we do now? Should we return to Planet Gideon straight away?" his trusted aide, Yuri, asked quietly beside him. This was a red-haired woman with a ponytail who had followed him ever since he left his family, she was the same age as him, and had been a girl with potential that he had saved on one of his travels.

"Since Senior Brother Black Wolf said he would follow us, it must be so. Let us leave straight away," White Night, or as he was known now, the man named White Fourteenth Night, said softly. "After leaving home for so many years... it's about time I went back..."

He released a long breath, as though he could see the disastrous scene from back then, of his family being destroyed.

*****************

Garen sat quietly in the darkness.

He calmly recalled that white-haired man, or maybe he should not call him a man. He was just a child fresh out of adolescence.

White Night, also known as White Fourteenth Night, was the Fourteenth Three-Hearted Royal Highness, an extremist who would do anything in his pursuit of power. He came from the Gideon family in the Four Ring Star Alliance, and after the Gideon family was mysteriously annihilated, he managed to escape out of sheer luck, becoming the only remaining survivor.

"He's using the reputation of the Scarlet Snow Sect to return there now, but rather than looking for treasure, I bet his real motive is still to see if any of his relatives have survived."

A thought flashed past Garen's mind.

"Most importantly, that White Night is still an irreplaceable part of the bigger picture.. On this trip to Planet Gideon, I'll encounter Clint and the others, that's the main thing. The Gideon body type... and they're both rare, once-in-a-century prodigies even among those with the Gideon body type. We truly are on the brink of chaos, to think that mysterious boy just now was also such a prodigy, to think that two such people appeared at once."

When he thought of that, he sighed softly.

"With two prodigies appearing at the same time, does this really mean that our Scarlet Snow Sect is going to enter the spotlight?" He did not attempt to hide those words, and instead murmured them aloud.

"With such prodigies under my lead, I'd rather there were more of them, don't you think? Junior Brother."

A calm voice came from the darkness behind Garen.