Path to Transcendence

Stella was oddly sad about the fact that neither of them wanted the tea and biscuits that she loved so much. However, that only lasted for a few moments because the moment he offered the rest of his to her, she brightened up considerably.

After that, the three of them left and went on their way to House Easten's estate.

When they finally arrived at the gates, Julius realized that he hadn't contacted any of them yet like he was supposed to.

Instead, he was going to be showing up with two Tier 5s in tow. When he got to the gate, he saw one of the guards that he had gotten to know while he stayed there.

"Julius is that you?" Larry asked as he approached, squinting his eyes to make sure he was seeing things right.

"Hey, Larry! Yeah, it's me. Kind of a long story but do you know if Richard or Rebecca are around?"

"I know Richard is gone for something, but Rebecca should still be around," Larry said while already preparing to let him through the gates, but before he could, the guard finally spotted the two people with him.

"Are they with you?" He asked questioningly, looking surprised that Julius had strangers with him considering that during his entire time at the estate, he hadn't brought back a single guest of his own.

"Yeah, I would like to bring them to talk with Rebecca."

Larry gave the two of them a closer look. The two Tier 5s had shrouded their auras with such skill that even Julius was fooled. If he hadn't already known how strong the both of them were, he would never think they were Tier 5s.

It made him wonder just how many people he had walked past down the street who were much stronger than he thought.

Still, it was important to note that his aura senses had improved with his new epic skill. Even before this, his aura senses were better than most. At least that was what he liked to believe. But the fact that they were skillful enough to display their aura, which felt like a bunch of normal Tier 4s, was something he wanted to learn.

They also chose a believable level of power. If they pretended to be a bunch of Tier 2s or 3s, he doubted anyone would believe that. But choosing to be Tier 4s was the perfect balance. Just powerful enough to be respected but not strong enough to be overly feared or stand out.

Larry himself was a Tier 3 and a pretty good one at that. However, he didn't seem to be able to see through their aura shrouds.

"What are their names?" Larry asked.

Julius looked at both of them and waved at them, directing them to give their names to Larry. He didn't want to say their names himself because maybe they wanted to be a little anonymous.

"My name is Marcus and this is Stella," Marcus said, surprising Julius with his truthfulness.

It would seem that the man had no fears about sharing his real name.

A weird face appeared on the guard's face. "Just one second. I am going to check in with my captain real quick," he said to Julius.

The three of them patiently waited as Larry went off to find Justice, one of the captains of House Easten. Well, Julius thought it would be Justice, considering that Justice was usually the captain of the team Larry was a part of.

He was glad to see that he was right when Justice swiftly approached the three of them, the usually stony-faced and calm man showed a hint of nervousness as he beckoned them to follow him through the gates and the enchantments.

The three walked with the guard captain through the estate.

"It is good to see you two again soon, Lord Marcus and Lady Stella. I have notified the Marquis about your presence and he is waiting for you at the same place as last time," the man said very politely, as if the two of them were a moment's away from biting his head off.

Julius didn't understand the man's panicked behavior. As far as he could tell, the two of them were very nice people. Sure, his perception was a bit warped because of their earlier aid, but even his conversations with the two of them showed that they weren't bad people. Except for some eccentric things he noticed, they were pretty normal. Marcus was even kind enough to allow him to examine his own constructs without issue.

Justice then finally turned to Julius. His face visibly relaxed as he saw him, a stark contrast to how he looked when he was talking to the other two.

"It's good to see you back and safe, young Julius. I hope everything went well."

Julius smiled at the man, apparently Justice knew some things about what Julius was up to. Not that surprising though, the man was a highly trusted retainer of House Easten. He and his entire family worked in some capacity for the House.

"Some surprises certainly, but nothing too out of expectations." If fighting against multiple Tier 4s and Tier 5 was within expectations, that is. He didn't dare say that to the man though.

He did notice that both Marcus and Stella gave him matching disbelieving looks. As if they were baffled that he had the gall to say something like that after they found him in the position they did.

Thankfully, Justice didn't notice these looks. "That's wonderful to hear. Should I let Lady Grace know about your arrival as well?"

"She's here too?"

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"Yes, she got back a couple of days ago."

"Then that would be great. I forgot to let her know that I had come back already. It was all a bit sudden," he said to Justice while rubbing his head, already predicting the scolding he might be getting in the near future.

The man grimaced. "I don't envy you son, but I will let her know for you."

"Thanks, Justice."

"Don't thank me yet," the man said warningly.

"What's the worst she can do to me?" He asked in a joking manner.

The silence he received in return was worrying.

***

Marquis Easten was sitting at his desk when they entered.

"I see you found the boy," the Marquis said to Marcus and Stella, not sounding the least bit surprised.

"We did, it would appear our fates aligned," Marcus stated with a firm nod.

"Well, I am glad that you did."

"No thanks to you," Stella grumbled.

The Marquis gave an awkward smile to her. "Apologies, but I couldn't just be selling out our guests to anybody who comes looking. How would your House react if I came in demanding to take one of your guests?"

Stella begrudgingly conceded the point with a nod.

"But as Marcus pointed out, it seems that your fates aligned and that you guys seem to be getting along if you are here together. Although I am curious about how you guys came across each other and how you are sitting in front of me at the moment," Marquis Easten said before looking at Julius.

"It is good to see that you are safe and sound. I hope the mission went along as planned."

Julius nodded at him and gave a thumbs up.

"Everything went to plan and with their help we managed to capture a few of their higher-ranked members to interrogate."

"Oh yeah, everything definitely went to plan," Stella sarcastically said under her breath but everyone in the room had enhanced hearing so they heard every word.

The Marquis gave a worried look toward Julius. "What does she mean? Did something happen?"

"Nothing really happened. Everything we expected came to pass," he brushed off the man's concern.

"No it didn't," Marcus said bluntly.

"Yeah, because it's normal to expect a boy to fight against a Tier 5," Stella blurted out, staring at the Marquis with judgemental eyes.

"Tier 5? What Tier 5?" The noble man asked in shock.

"The one that we found playing around with your 'guest'."

"There wasn't supposed to be a Tier 5. According to our sources, the strongest member has been a Tier 4, with only sometimes there being multiple of them."

Julius decided to interject before Stella could say more that might offend the Marquis.

"I think they were waiting far away and only came when they noticed the other Tier 4s were taken care of. I am not sure if this is a normal thing though."

Marquis Easten placed his chin in his palms as he went into deep thought.

"Did he say anything to you that stood out?"

"He seemed very keen on taking me alive for some reason. I don't know if that was to question me or to find out what kind of abilities I have. But the other Tier 4 gave me some really nice information."

"Like what?" The man asked, leaning forward with interest.

"He mentioned something about Bishops. I assume it is some kind of ranking within the organization, but he said that he wasn't that well-informed. He did say that only Tier 5s can be Bishops though."

"Yes, we have heard the term Bishops tossed around in our investigation of them, but we did not know that they were specifically Tier 5s. That is good to know."

Julius brightened as he remembered something else. " Also, apparently, House Greyson is working in some capacity with the Conclave. The Tier 4 didn't have much information on them, but he did seem quite certain of their involvement, at least his reaction did. He also gave me a list of names of all of the affiliated people he knew about in Blumand," Julius mentioned.

"You got a list of names?" Marquis Easten asked in astonishment.

"How the hell did you convince one of their members to tell you?" Stella asked, just as surprised.

"Well, I don't think he was in the best condition at the time. He also seemed pretty scared of dying, but more than that I believe he was certain that I wouldn't be leaving alive and was stalling for time. Perhaps, he thought that the Tier 5 would have taken care of me before I could tell anyone," he hypothesized.

"Do you remember the names he said to you?" Marcus asked calmly, but there was a clear interest in it.

He smiled widely. "Even better, I was smart and wrote down all of the names instead," he said proudly while fishing through his storage ring trying to find the piece of paper he wrote on.

Marcus gave an approving nod. "Indeed, that was a good idea."

When he finally found out, he removed it from his ring and handed it toward Marcus without any hesitation. However, before the man could grab it from his hands, a firm but gentle pressure exuded from the Marquis sitting across from them.

"If you don't mind, I would rather you not. This is originally a matter of House Easten and you really shouldn't be listening to this in the first place. It is only because of the situation at hand that I am allowing it. The fact remains that you two belong to two different Houses and this is my House's business," the Marquis said politely but he also didn't leave any room for arguing. Experience tales with My Virtual Library Empire

Frowning a little, Julius looked at the Marquis and back toward Marcus.

"Do you really want to see that list? Is it important to you as well?" He asked.

"Not as important as it is to House Easten considering it pertains to Blumand, but yes, House Violet would undoubtedly benefit from seeing if any of their contacts are on that list," Marcus said, not hiding his intrigue.

He then turned to the Marquis. "Could you please allow Marcus to look at it after you are done?"

Julius watched the Marquis remain impassive but he had a feeling that the man didn't like the request he was making.

"I understand they are from two separate Houses, but you can trust him. For one, they saved my life so without them that piece of paper would have been lost anyway. Secondly, I am friends with members of their House."

The Marquis shook his head. "I can't allow that. Even if you are friendly with members of their House, it doesn't mean they can speak for the Houses themselves. Even if they promised to keep the information confidential, they wouldn't have the power to uphold that promise."

He was about to respond, but Stella actually beat him to it.

"Actually, I was sent directly by Darius Zenith himself to find the boy, and he has given me permission to act with his authority, such as making promises," she said casually.

Marquis Easten was visibly startled. "Why would the next Duke of House Zenith send you to find Julius?"

"Well, the friends Julius was talking about aren't just any members of our House. They are Derek Zenith and Lily Violet herself."

When he heard this, the Marquis froze and looked over at Julius who was looking downward at the table, pointedly ignoring his gaze.

"Okay, it might be better to explain everything from the beginning," the man said carefully.