Lanmar, surprisingly, seemed to be enjoying the Headmaster’s interrogation.

He felt a sense of smug superiority, relishing the opportunity to show off his knowledge in front of a human who seemed so profoundly ignorant of the pocket trial and the new world.

Goven, however, possessed no such inferiority complex. He remained silent and collected, even slightly bored, leaving the grandstanding to Lanmar while he waited patiently at the periphery for John’s return.

"My lord, are you pleased with what we have accomplished thus far?" Goven asked the moment John stepped back into Instant Dungeon. He hurried toward John with a posture of absolute deference.

The look in Goven’s eyes, his subservient attitude, and the reverent way he spoke to John, none of it escaped the Headmaster’s keen senses. To the old man, this was the final, undeniable piece of evidence. The unbelievable story he had just been told was, in fact, the terrifying reality.

"You did well," John said, his voice honest and appreciative. "However, as you know, our need for new weapons is growing. Next time I return, I expect to see functional prototypes of the various weapons we discussed."

Despite the efficiency of the mining operations, the actual production of advanced weaponry was lagging. No matter how many Mana gemstones they acquired, without using them in making and powering up the new weapons John wanted, they would be worthless rocks to John.

Goven’s face twisted slightly, a flicker of stress crossing his features; he knew that meeting John’s rapid timeline was a Herculean task.

"I will do my absolute best, My Lord," Goven promised, bowing his head.

John nodded, closing the matter with Goven. He trusted the Kroger implicitly to handle the task. He then turned his gaze back to the Headmaster, whose face had aged a decade in the last hour.

"So... What do you think now?" John asked.

"Honestly?" The Headmaster sighed, his eyes wandering between the two alien species John summoned from the portal and the carefree Ricky before finally settling on John.

"I never imagined something this hellish was unfolding under my watch. I’ll admit, John... I thought you were fabricating most of what you told me before. I thought it was the wild imagination of young students. But this..."

He gestured vaguely at the mobile fortresses, Lanmar, and Goven. "I can’t deny it anymore. The world is much darker than I used to know and believe."

"We were forced to go down this path," Ricky said, stepping forward from the periphery of the wreckage. With every passing minute, the pallor of exhaustion was lifting from his face, replaced by a refreshing vitality. The many wounds were already healed, and only the deepest one on his chest was still showing some signs of its former brutality.

"But make no mistake, we intend to see it through until the very end. There is no turning back now."

The Headmaster looked at Ricky, then back at the devastation surrounding them. His jaw set firmly, and a terrifyingly sharp resolve flickered in his eyes, transforming the weary old man into a formidable warrior of the old times.

"Count on me then," the old man declared, his voice vibrating with a sudden, lethal energy. "I realise now what truly happened back at the department. That damn bastard! He played us all like fiddles. I swear on my life and my title, I won’t stop until I find that cyborg and tear him apart with my own hands." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

John felt a heavy weight lift from his chest, letting out a long sigh of relief. Having the Headmaster fully committed to their cause changed the entire landscape of the war. With the old man’s resources and authority shielding them from within the academy, Mark wouldn’t find it so easy to toy with John and his friends again.

Recognising that their presence was no longer required for this meeting, John gestured to Lanmar and Goven. He sent them back through the portal into his zone, but not before issuing a flurry of extra instructions.

He had pressing questions about the Demon fleet; those persistent, flying ships continued to hover like vultures around the borders of his zone, waiting with patience for the protection period to expire.

John inwardly sighed when he heard the news. He thought that by the long silence from his side, the Demons would give up or get bored and leave. He wanted to send his people to scout the area around, look for resources with the help of the Demon they had on their side.

Yet it seemed he underestimated how deep the Demons held their grudges against him.

Once the portal shimmered and closed, John turned his attention back to his surroundings. He decided it was time for the Headmaster to depart; the old man was already itching to return to the academy to begin his hunt for the traitors.

The presence of such hidden threats under his nose was quite new, surprising, and infuriating at the same time. The old man mostly took everything as an insult to his authority, pledged inwardly to purge the entire department, then the academy of those pests.

After the Headmaster headed back toward the city, only John and Ricky remained in the eerie silence of the dungeon.

"Now that we are finally alone," John said, walking toward his friend, his eyes narrowing as he activated his Frame Recognition ability. "Tell me the truth. How do you really feel?"

In John’s specialised vision, Ricky was a masterpiece of complexity. He looked significantly better than he did hours ago. The most striking proof was the colour of Ricky’s special codes; they hadn’t just increased in number, they had undergone a fundamental evolution.

The flickering white codes had deepened into a rich, pulsating blue. Yet, John couldn’t help but notice that even this evolution was still a far cry from the red clusters he had seen in Zockair.

Ricky got stronger without doubt, but not as strong as John expected. The latter felt little disappointment, as he thought Ricky would at least get closer to Zockair’s level of power by absorbing the same number of souls that bastard had, per Ricky’s words.