Chapter 298: Defectors

Golden Eagle Vance had to admit it, Uhtred really did have a fair bit of pull to make all these independent ascenders converge here.

Yet, that was why Golden Eagle Vance was very bothered. Uhtred had brought all these powerhouses here, but he hadn’t stepped up to personally greet a single one of them. Only Zara, Diya, and the rest of his crew and subordinates attended to the powerhouses present.

Meanwhile, Uhtred...

Golden Eagle Vance’s eyes moved up from the open-air conference hall where he stood. He looked up to a particular building, staring at Uhtred’s figure looking down from above.

That building was actually the one Golden Eagle Vance had been briefed about. The Capitol of the Elite had rushed to build that structure before the conference... all for what? For Uhtred to stand there and look down at them like some sort of king looking down at his subjects?

"What exactly are you playing at, boy," Golden Eagle Vance muttered again, his eyes narrowing.

All Uhtred had done was stand there the whole time, watching from the balcony of that building.

And for the rest of the conference, to Golden Eagle Vance’s surprise, that was all he continued to do. Zara and the Queen of Death, Diya, handled the proceedings of the conference, answering questions and giving the briefing of their findings.

Of course, those findings were actually useful. Even Golden Eagle Vance himself found them interesting — talks of a thing called Transmutation.

It aligned with what they had also found in Stormcaller’s body.

Still, though, despite the informative conference, Golden Eagle Vance found that he was still irked by Uhtred simply standing above them and watching...

Not once did he move from that spot.

His action didn’t go unnoticed by other powerhouses. On several occasions during the conference, some ascenders even directed their questions at Uhtred.

Still, he didn’t answer.

In his place, both Zara and Diya took over, stabilizing the situation.

Regardless of how feisty and quick-tempered some of the ascenders here were, Zara and Diya alone were enough to keep them in check. They were the number 2 and number 6 ranked ascenders on the planet, after all.

That, coupled with the fact that Uhtred’s allies — the true global hegemons, like Jolene Okafor, Golden Finger Chen, the Castiglione family, Hassan Al-Malik and his entourage, and even a neutral party like the Inagawa-kai — had tacitly ignored Uhtred’s presence and proceeded as normal the whole time, meant that even someone like Golden Eagle Vance could only choose to remain silent and watch.

The conference came to an easy end, with Zara and Diya handling the after-talks. They even handled those who had been clamoring to meet with Uhtred to discuss certain matters.

Golden Eagle Vance, along with every single powerhouse who attended, left the conference with a new level of information, but at the same time, with a gnawing, stifling feeling.

To them, Uhtred had made a statement with his action. But what exactly did he mean by standing over everyone like that? Did he mean to assert his dominance over every powerhouse? Or what exactly was his meaning.

.

.

Several hours later. Somewhere within Zone 1, the territory of one of the ascenders who attended the conference...

"—and they also know about the downside to the Transmutations. How exactly that Queen of Death was able to learn all of this is very surprising to me," a figure said, finishing their narration of what transpired at the conference. "I guess her title isn’t for nothing..."

"Hmph," another figure snorted, this one’s voice feminine, but more haughty and assured. As the light of the room caught her face, it became clear that she was a Prime Sapien.

"Anything is enough to impress someone like you, anyway. I don’t care about basic things that are easy to find out," the female Prime Sapien leaned forward, her gaze questioning. "Uhtred. I need information about the one called Uhtred. What did he do at the conference? Were you able to assess him? Do you think he knows anything more?"

The first figure snorted in response. He reached for a glass of wine in front of him and downed it in one go, wiping his lips afterward.

"I think you don’t have anything to worry about at all," he said. "That fucker... he just used this conference to show off his power. He brought every top ascender, only to stand above us all like he’s our Lord or something..."

The figure’s voice was full of spite, but at the same time, clear envy.

"Funny thing is, no one stepped up to act out of line at all! That kind of power... that kind of influence... It’s only a matter of time before even I will reach such heights!"

A mocking glint passed through the female Prime Sapien’s eyes briefly in response, but it quickly disappeared as if it were never there. She leaned back in her seat, pondering what the man before her had just described.

Was that truly Uhtred’s motive for the conference? To assert his dominance?

Of course, there was still the information about Transmutations and Prime Sapiens that was revealed at the conference, but that was of no consequence to the Ancient Variants at all.

The female Prime Sapien’s main focus was on Uhtred’s motive. She tried to analyze it like a modern human would, suppressing the Ancient Variant instincts from her own Transmutations and bringing her modern human traits forward.

In Ancient Variant society, Uhtred’s move was very straightforward. Strength was currency and hierarchy, and all he had done was show that clearly.

But just as it had been reiterated to Prime Sapiens like her, modern humans usually thought of things differently than they did.

They could scheme more adeptly. Plan out how their opponents might react to something and use that to prepare their next steps.

Perhaps this was one of those moments?

The female Prime Sapien pondered for nearly a minute, her eyes closed in thought. Looking at her in that moment, one would actually mistake her for a modern human... until finally, her eyes snapped open and her dangerous, wild aura returned.

"You’re probably right," she said, cracking a slow smile as she brought her suppressed Ancient Variant traits forward again. "It would seem that even among you humans, the ones who dominate are the ones closest to our nature... The ones who understand the simple rule of strength."