He didn’t know what he expected when this “Lord” showed up. But it definitely wasn’t this.

It was a lot more polite and civil than what he expected from someone who apparently governed or ruled the wastelands. He didn’t really know how politics or the pecking order here worked, but he assumed this Lord was pretty high up there.

Fortunately for Julius, the Lord didn’t seem concerned about him at all. A few glances here and there, but for the most part, he acted as if Julius wasn’t there.

Both Cassandra and this Lord spent a good amount of time investigating the gorge. Julius did his best to help, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t get them to see it the way he did. They also seemed pretty set against him entering the gorge again. Both for different reasons.

Cassandra, because she didn’t want him to disappear again. And the Lord didn’t want him to because it didn’t want anything to enter this weird space. He wanted to investigate it some more, and preventing Julius from entering it again was simply a request he made to both of them.

A request that Cassandra didn’t seem against accepting. She seemed relieved that it had been resolved so easily. Julius, on the other hand, was dying of curiosity and wanted to find out why he was the only one who was able to see the gorge as it was.

Something was obviously there, but what could be preventing two very powerful individuals from damaging or breaking through whatever was blocking it? Cassandra’s hypothesis about it being related to the Words of the World was becoming more likely.

Cassandra clearly wanted to investigate more, but they were out of time. And both she and the Lord had already tested the phenomenon quite intensively. He couldn’t imagine that anyone was left in the area. The shockwaves and surges of mana should be enough to scare off any creature, weak or strong.

When they got ready to leave, the Lord had a few words for Cassandra.

“Just make sure to remember your promises. Neither of us wants to have a repeat of past situations, but you humans have been becoming more and more daring over the years.”

Cassandra shook her head. “I’m sorry, the Burning Sun Sect can’t always stop people from entering the wastelands on their own. It’s too large to control completely.”

The Lord scoffed. “We don’t really care about your excuses or reasoning. You, humans, have been overstepping a lot, and the other Lords are getting tired of it. Several of them have been harassed by sects other than your own.”

“I will see what we can do,” she replied calmly.

“See that you do. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when monsters of the wastelands start attacking nearby settlements or groups en masse.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No, but that’s what the other Lords are prepared to do.” There wasn’t a single ounce of malice or deceit in his tone.

“Understood.” Then she abruptly grabbed Julius by the neck. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll come back over when I have more time.”

“Feel free not to.”

Cassandra scoffed but didn’t retort; instead, she whisked them back to the base camp. But as they were leaving, Julius couldn’t help but notice the Lord’s eyes on him. It was discreet, but he basically had eyes on the back of his head, and so it was quite obvious.

But he ignored it for now, instead he wrapped himself in his new blanket, and started to snack on some food while Cassandra dragged him away. He needed to recover and wasn’t about to complain about it.

***

Cassandra dropped him off like a kid at school, leaving him with Elder Huan. She instructed the older man to watch him and to make sure that no other elders or people came to question him. Then she went off to explain the situation to Grand Elder Rhynus and the rest of the sect.

He was getting the feeling that it was going to become much more difficult to investigate now that the residents of the wasteland knew of the weird gorge. They were far from the sect, and if it hadn’t already been clear, the Burning Sun Sect didn’t have as much control over the wastelands as they pretended. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

On the bright side, he’d finally gotten the name of the Lord he’d met out there. His name had been Tharvok, and he was one of the Lords that the sect regularly negotiated with if there was an issue like this one.

That wasn’t all. In less than a day, almost everyone who’d come on this expedition was packed onto an airship and sent back. The injured had already been escorted beforehand, so it was really just the rest of them left.

He spent most of his time stuck inside his room. Now that things were settling down, he felt the full weight of his fatigue. His soul wasn’t shattered or anything, so that was a silver lining. In fact, he’d probably come out better than he deserved; without Jasper’s intervention, he might have been in some truly dire straits.

He didn’t know how much of what the man told him was true, though. Much like the previous interaction, he was left with a sense that Jasper wasn’t telling him everything. It was likely that the man knew more about who had interfered with his trial than he let on. And that worried Julius.

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He’d already had some issues with the Conclave, and he didn’t want to go making more enemies. Hell, he didn’t know for certain that this wasn’t someone from the Conclave trying to make his life difficult. It wasn’t very likely, but everything was possible.

Still, coming back from the dead as he did, clearly had its price. The unnatural tiredness and fatigue his body was going through were unlike anything he’d experienced. It was like someone was constantly sucking his vitality through a straw, and it was only due to his fancy new healing skill and Drasil’s continued efforts that he wasn’t in a coma for the entire day.

Even then, he’d never slept more than he ever had during these days. It wasn’t actually that bad either. The problem was the dreams. Because he rarely slept anymore, dreams had become almost nonexistent. But for the past few days, he’d been having the same dream about him stuck in those tunnels for years without finding a way out.

Or sometimes that corrupted ant made an appearance. He wouldn’t say they were nightmares. He never woke up in a cold sweat or anything, but he found himself feeling very uneasy after each of these dreams.

Many people tried to come and visit him. Because of his efforts as well as the work of Drasil, he’d become quite popular amongst the disciples. Thankfully, Elder Huan and Gui were there to hold them back. Julius gave each of them a package of cookies as thanks.

When they finally arrived back at the sect, Julius unwrapped himself from his blanket. The new item had been a godsend. It was such an amazing item that he almost forgave the person who interfered with his trial.

He did notice a few things about his other items, though. For one, his Umbral Loom Necklace had been destroyed. He didn’t know when it happened, but the necklace was shattered. But the Lightweave Necklace he got from Reinera, or rather her uncle, was in pristine shape.

The other notable thing was what happened with his crown. The plain piece of metal must have eaten something because it had undergone a change of its own. He could feel its presence become heavier, and its ruinous energy had increased by a significant amount. Outwardly, it changed slightly. The gray metal turned a little bit darker and a little less rugged.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be acting out or trying something silly. When he’d first gotten the crown, he’d been expecting something a little more unruly and dangerous. Especially after the vision he had of its previous owner.

But to his relief, the crown and he seemed to have things worked out. Julius didn’t know the exact reason, but he suspected the crown had been getting its more destructive tendencies sated by Julius’s constant fighting and near-death, or actual death experiences.

If anything, he could almost feel the crown scolding him, as if telling him to take it easy. He didn’t know if he should be proud or embarrassed that an item that was literally the embodiment of ruin was telling him to chill out.

When they were exiting the airship, there were many people to the side, and they weren’t just there to watch. He saw everyone who was getting off being scanned by some equipment. Not really suspecting much, he went through with the process.

He even got scanned willingly. The only thing he prevented was when the scan started to search more closely than he felt comfortable. And he immediately blocked it out. Which didn’t make the people using the equipment very happy.

An older man wearing a sect uniform approached him. “Can you please step to the side? We have a few questions we need to ask you beforehand.”

“Umm, what’s going on?” he asked, confusedly.

“We need you to allow us to fully scan you before you go any further,” the man stated.

“Yeah, I'm sorry, but that’s not going to happen. I already let you scan me, but any further is just an invasion of my privacy.”

“This is not a request, Mr. Julius,” the man said sternly, a few more people suddenly appearing beside the man. They were looking at Julius coldly.

He glanced around at the relatively empty area he’d found himself in. “Does this mean this is intentional? Does everyone have to go through the same scrutiny that I have to?”

“Mr. Julius, give us your hand and lower whatever protections you have activated. We will not ask you a second time.” This time, he could feel them channeling mana into their bodies.

“Are you serious?” Julius asked in disbelief. After what he’d just gone through and what he did for their sect, this was how they wanted to play it? Annoyance bubbled to the surface.

“We have orders from a grand elder themself. You will open yourself up for a deep scan, or else we will be forced to use other means.”

Julius quietly stared at the group of people who had him surrounded before he let loose a loud laugh. Of course, they would try it now that Cassandra wasn’t around. She had stayed back to wrap things up.

He stood up straighter and stared at the man directly in the eyes. “Try it.”

If they thought they were intimidating him, then they were idiots. Not a single one of them was higher than Tier 4, and not a single one of them had an aura that would indicate they were strong for their level.

His body ached, and he wasn’t in the mood for these games. And so the moment the group around him started to close in and force their authorities on him, he let his carefully controlled aura off the leash. It might have been a little weakened due to his fatigue, but it was more vicious than normal.

He didn't need to move his body a single inch to stop them. He activated [Field of the Shattered Will] and let his aura run wild within it. The kinetic energy all around them came to a stop while he clamped down on their wills. He wasn’t brutal with them, but he was quite firm.

Their eyes widened when they felt this, and he could see them begin to panic as the overwhelming force of his kinetic energy enveloped them in small cocoons.

He shattered any attempt to disrupt or block his technique. He then used his aura to rip apart their skills, holding them up. Their authorities tried to clash with him. But they were hopelessly outmatched. Compared to the recent fights with Tier 5s, the difference was stark. They barely mustered a proper defense.

He stood there calmly as they were planted in place, completely unable to move. They couldn’t move their mouths, they couldn’t even twitch their eyes without him allowing it.

Their auras pulsed with fear as they stared wide-eyed at him.

Only once they seemed to get the message, did he release the technique. They immediately sagged to the floor as they grabbed their chests. Sweat dripping down their faces and not daring to even look over at him, finding the ground suddenly very interesting.

When he was satisfied, he nodded and walked away. He already had an idea of the reason behind this little show, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t officially a part of this sect and he wasn’t about to listen to their orders when it didn’t suit his interest.

Cassandra had already made that clear to them, but perhaps he needed to do that himself.