Arriving back at his quarters, Ulric set the girls down. Before taking a step back. Multiple emotions welled up across their faces, but before they could mutter anything, Ulric spoke. His head lifting slightly to stare at Amber and the rest.

"I have something to tell you."

He murmured. The unbothered look on his face slowly washed away, replaced with a faint smile as he divulged all the information the old man had imparted to him.

Finishing, he took a step back, giving them a moment to process everything. The smile on his face widened as he saw the looks of surprise and shock plastered across their faces.

"Dragons... demons... academies..." Amber stuttered. Her eyes fluttering rapidly in thought... it was just too much.

Lyra’s eyes widened in shock. Same as Ulric and almost everyone else in Tempest. They had grown up thinking beasts were the major threat against humanity. But this... it just subverted that and so many things she once believed in.

And if Ulric’s words were all true... then that would mean Tempest was just a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things.

At the side, Tara inhaled sharply, equally as shocked as the rest. Before she could mutter anything, she paused. She had seen how Ulric’s face had lit up with excitement as he explained everything. The glint of adventure sparkling across his eyes.

She hadn’t stayed with him very long... but long enough to know where this was leading. Gulping softly, she clenched her fingers tightly. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Before asking the terrifying question looming at the back of her mind.

"Does this mean you are going to leave?"

As she posed her question, silence fell across the room as their eyes widened, processing the implication.

They had been too drawn into their thoughts to think that far ahead, or probably didn’t want to. Knowing what his answer would be before he even opened his mouth.

Unlike most nobles, given the amount of power and influence Ulric currently wielded, they would have already been content with everything.

But Ulric was different. Mostly driven by his desire for conquest and battle. And now that he had achieved all that here, there was probably nothing left for him. He was just... uncontainable.

Despite knowing all of this, they couldn’t help but feel as if shards of glass had pierced into their hearts as Ulric’s voice echoed.

"In time, yes." Ulric muttered, sighing quietly as he turned to stare at Tara.

At this point... he didn’t seem to have much of a choice. With the old man’s words echoing at the back of his mind, he knew it wouldn’t be long before the royal family found out about his presence and tried to kill him.

And even if they didn’t, he didn’t want to live out the rest of his life hiding in the shadows. He wanted absolute power... power so vast that his life wouldn’t lie on the whims of other people.

Power like that could only be accumulated quickly with an abundance of knowledge and resources. Such as the academies offered. The higher the better.

As all these thoughts raced at the back of his mind, he nodded slightly.

But before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, Lyra rushed toward him a few moments after his words echoed out.

Tears welling in her eyes as she clutched his waist tightly. Almost afraid, as if his figure would vanish as she muttered,

"But you promised you weren’t going to leave us behind!" She exhaled. Thoughts of a future without him making her chest constrict violently.

Was this because she was still weak? If so, she could work twice as hard and clear more dungeons. To make sure she wouldn’t be a burden to him. Anything to stay by his side.

It was the reason after all she walked the path to strength.

Before she could spiral, Ulric smiled faintly. Staring at the rest of their downcast expressions—not much different from Lyra’s.

Reaching out to cup her face, he muttered, his words trailing across the room.

"I never said I was going to leave any of you behind."

As he spoke, the tears on her face froze as her head lifted to stare into his crimson gaze.

"Huh? Y-you didn’t?"

Shaking his head slightly, he rubbed the tears from her eyes. The smile on his face widening as he turned to stare at Aelira and the rest.

"If you want, you can come with me..."

Before the words could fully slip from his lips, Amber rushed forward, her gaze lifting in exhilaration.

"Really?!"

Nodding slightly, Ulric drew her closer to him. As the expressions of Aelira and Tara visibly eased.

Aelira snorted beneath her breath. Hmph! It wouldn’t be easy to get rid of her.

Even before, she had always dreamed of exploring the world beyond Tempest. But she was never strong enough to do it on her own and lacked... purpose.

But with Ulric’s words, everything suddenly fell into place. A path set out in achieving a dream she had since she was little. As the thought formed, she turned to look at the dark-robed youth. A glint of gratitude forming across her eyes.

Beside her, Tara’s eyes fluttered rapidly in thought before she muttered, hope resurfacing in her eyes.

"Can I come too?"

All her life had been confined to this city. Until she met him, it felt empty. He brought color to it, a warmth that settled deep in her heart. She wasn’t ready to lose that. Not yet. She didn’t think she ever would be.

"Of course." Ulric muttered, walking over to pat her head gently.

And as their fear of loss was eased, their downcast expressions were soon flushed with excitement and uncontainable joy as they broke into an endless chatter.

Tearing himself away, he walked toward the edge of the room. Looking outside the window, he let out a slow breath.

There was a whole new world out there. And as he gazed, he couldn’t help but feel as if it was calling to him.

Soon. He smiled. It wouldn’t be long now. He mused, clenching his fists tightly as the mechanics of advancing to the next rank played at the back of his mind.

To break through to D-rank, two things were essential. Peak E-rank experience points and a D-rank talent at minimum.

He had both of them and exceeded that threshold by a lot. If he wanted, he could have advanced long ago.

But he wanted more. So much more. When advancing, one’s melded talent would bloom into an art.

The stronger the talent, the stronger the art formed. That was where the divide between strong and weak D-rank experts emanated from.

Given his SSS-rank talent—Shadow Monarch—he could only imagine the art it would bloom into. No doubt it would be terrifyingly monstrous.

But Ulric had other thoughts. Why stop at one SSS-rank talent when he could have multiple?!

Possibly one of each element. When he advanced, would that mean he would have multiple arts or something else entirely?

Just the thought alone fueled his excitement as he pulled up his Seed of Chaos description.

[Seed of Chaos: By draining your seed into any female subject, you gain the opportunity to extract any skills, talents, or bloodlines of your choice and brand them onto the host, with a rebate of 2 to 10,000x.]

Turning to stare at the girls still chattering excitedly, the smile on his face widened as his figure vanished. Appearing before Aelira.

The perfect test subject. Given her talent was B-rank. Not the strongest or weakest. It would help him get a better feel at how it worked. Making her perfect for its first test run.