Academy Master Da Vinci clasped his hands behind his back and stared at Tony in silence.

Finally, he lost patience as Tony continued to pick all random treasures.

"Are you satisfied?" Da Vinci asked in a grim tone. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Tony was quiet for a moment. "I need some herbs to save the White family girl."

Tony reached into his storage ring and wrote a long list of herbs on a piece of paper. He held it out. "These specific ones."

Da Vinci took it. Unfolded it. Read through the list once, then read it again more slowly. His eyebrows moved upward incrementally with each name.

He paused after reading just a few herbs names. "Tony, half of these herbs haven’t been seen in commercial circulation for decades. A few of them..." He looked up. "Are you certain?!"

"Yes. To save her, I need them right away." Tony replied with a decisive look.

"This will take time to source. My influence reaches far, but even I can’t produce extinct-grade herbs from nothing overnight." Da Vinci said with a helpless look.

"I know." Tony nodded slightly. "I already moved my family... In case, if they can’t get any, I’ll leave that to you."

Da Vinci looked at him for a long moment. "Okay... I will handle it. Until then, use the treasury’s aura gathering yantra. The spiritual density in that room should accelerate the life energy significantly."

Then Da Vinci folded the paper carefully and placed it inside his robe. "Also the girl.. how much time does she have?"

"Enough. If you move quickly." Tony said with a long stare.

Da Vinci nodded once and left.

Tony sat in a lotus position and closed his eyes.

***

The Clark family war room had never been used for a long time.

Wars, in the traditional sense, were explosions. The movement of armies was visible enough to send messages before a single blow was struck. Power displayed openly, because display was half the purpose.

What the Clark family was organizing was the opposite of all that.

Kent Clark, the Clark family ancestor— Supreme Warrior, living legend, a man whose name alone made nations tremble in fear, is currently sat at the head of the long table. He is enjoying a meal after 33 days of closed cultivation.

Rion Clark sat two seats down, hands folded on the table. "The Lee family... My son Tony wants them finished. They have a powerful Over Lord. If..."

"Do you want me to go?" the old ancestor Kent asked with one look.

"Yes, ancestor." Rion said with a humble bow.

Kent lifted his head from the food plate. "Then I will make my move on time." He looked at the two commanders standing at the table’s opposite end.

"No banners. No announcements. No visible mobilization. We move forces through the northern passage in civilian configuration, small units, staggered timing." His eyes were steady. "By the time the Octopus organization realizes what’s happening, the task will already be finished."

The commanders nodded without speaking.

"Questions?" Kent asked.

Nobody had any.

Because when the Clark family ancestor said move, the only correct response was to move.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of the family compound, Malkin... the Clark family’s chief operations manager, was having the most expensive afternoon of her professional career.

The herb list Tony had sent through was open on the table in front of her, annotated now with prices, source contacts, acquisition timelines, and the increasingly alarming total cost.

Her pen stopped moving at one point.

She stared at the number.

Then she sent the acquisition order anyway, because Patriarch Rion had been extremely clear that morning.

Tony’s orders execute without ceiling. Whatever he needs. However much it costs.

Malkin had served the Clark family for 13 years. She had processed large transactions before— land acquisitions, political arrangements, resource investments that could fund small nations for a year.

But billions had changed hands in a single afternoon, and the list wasn’t finished yet.

She rubbed her temple.

"If this is In the past, Patriarch Rion would have reviewed every purchase related to Tony. Would have asked questions. Would have stopped the money flow.

But that was before the arena fight. But Tony changed his stature with the Arena fights.

After that, Rion Clark had returned from the projection screen with a different expression. Quieter. More certain.

His son needed full, unconditional, unlimited support." she thought.

Malkin sent the next acquisition order without hesitation.

The billions kept moving.

***

The Healing Tower corridor was very quiet in the afternoon.

Most of the traffic through this section happened in the mornings— patient intake, treatment scheduling, the general movement of healers and apprentices going about structured daily routines.

By midday, the hallway outside the private treatment rooms settled into stillness.

Lassi had been standing in it since morning.

She shifted her weight slightly. Then shifted it back. Her hands, folded in front of her, were not entirely steady, and she was very aware of that, so she pressed them together more firmly and made them stop.

The small bottle was tucked inside her inner robe.

Lassi had chosen the Healing Tower because Tony would come back here. He had unfinished work with White family girl.

"He had to return...!" She checked the corridor again.

Empty... She had been checking it every few minutes since morning. The same result each time— apprentices passing occasionally, a doctor or two, nobody she was looking for.

By late evening, a small doubt formed.

By midday, the doubt had become something bigger.

’What if he already left?’

The thought arrived and refused to leave. Tony had declared his departure from the academy publicly, in front of thousands of people. He wasn’t the type to make announcements and then delay. He was the type to say a thing and then do it, immediately, without looking back.

What if he walked out this morning and he’s already gone?

Her hands tightened around each other.

But then— her instinct pushed back. Quiet but firm.

’No... The White family girl. The treatment he had not finished. Tony Clark didn’t leave unfinished things.’ She had studied him long enough to be sure of that much.

’He would come here.’ Lassi exhaled slowly. Straightened her posture. Smoothed the front of her robe with one careful hand.

The bottle pressed warm against her ribs.

She settled back into stillness and waited... The corridor remained quiet.

Afternoon light moved slowly across the floor through the high-windows, shifting the shadows by degrees.

Lassi didn’t move... Her body was still. Her eyes were fixed on the far end of the corridor where the main entrance opened wide. But there is no-sign of Tony-Clark.

And her hands despite everything were shaking again.