Chapter 299: Preparations For The Third Floor

The female Prime Sapien leaned forward, her expression suddenly turning serious.

"Now, since that’s out of the way, let’s move on to the next step. You’re going to..."

She began to give new orders, assured that Uhtred’s actions were no cause for alarm.

The same was happening across several other territories scattered around the world. The human defectors gave reports of the conference to their Prime Sapien superiors, and basically all of them came to the conclusion that Uhtred hadn’t learned anything vital.

Instead of what they had feared, they concluded that his purpose in holding the conference was an entirely different thing — to establish his dominance...

...Or so they thought.

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Capitol of the Elite. Right after the conference...

The moment the conference was over and every party present was attended to, Uhtred finally descended from the high place where he stood.

It had been built such that from that balcony, no matter where anyone stood in the open hall below, he would have a perfect view of every single one of them.

Throughout the conference, he stood there, and his Gnostic Eye fully activated, running at full throttle.

He peered at the status details of every single person present, creating a comprehensive, internal database of the classes and affinities of every ascender present. Particularly, he focused on their species title, scanning for those with the (Transmutated) tag added by the System.

Of course, this was only in intermittent bursts. He had to pace himself, since his Gnostic Eye had an active limit of twenty minutes at a time.

He made sure not to even come close to that limit, though, resting his eyes for at least ten minutes before activating his Gnostic Eye again. And even then, by the end of the conference, his left eye was already hurting badly to the point where it took everything in him not to flinch.

After the conference, he called for Dennis — and Dennis only. Neither Zara, Diya, Minh Quan, nor anyone else knew what he discussed with Dennis in that closed meeting room. All they saw was Dennis leaving the room with purpose, going ahead to carry out an order.

The next day, Uhtred continued as normal. He didn’t offer any explanation for why he had asked for that building to be built, or why he had stood there the whole time, seemingly doing nothing, or why he offered no statement to stop the rumors about him spreading around the world — that he was beginning to think himself a king, based on his actions at the conference.

Instead, he arrived at the meeting room the next morning, a bright smile on his face as he saw White Raven, Zara, and Diya already waiting.

"Alright then. It’s our last day before we head back to the Tower. How are you guys feeling?" he asked as he sat in his seat.

The three ladies gave different casual responses, none really enthusiastic to return to the Tower anyway.

"Yeah, I share the sentiment," Uhtred said with a sigh. "But it is what it is. The price of power, I guess."

He cleared his throat and was about to begin talking about serious matters when Diya suddenly spoke.

"What? That’s it?" she asked, looking at Uhtred.

Uhtred raised a brow in question, clearly needing her to elaborate.

"The Ancient Variants. The Prime Sapiens," Diya looked between Uhtred, White Raven, and Zara in question. "We’re just gonna leave things like this?"

"Then stay," Uhtred said, remembering Diya’s response to his previous attempt to urge her to stay. She had told him she thought about what he said. But in the end, her response had been delivered with certainty...

She wasn’t staying back. She was returning to the Tower.

"Come on, Uhtred," Diya replied with a scoff. "You know that’s not what I’m asking. Returning to the Tower isn’t the issue here. I’m asking what measures we have in place to monitor the situation..."

"And I said, I have it handled. Don’t worry about it," Uhtred said, waving a hand.

"And you can’t tell us anything at all?" Diya pressed, clearly unsatisfied. "I mean, your actions over the last two days have been unusual. Then there’s the—"

"Diya," Uhtred deadpanned, his expression flat and devoid of its previous warmth. "I said I have it handled. You either trust that, or you don’t. It’s up to you. But I will not be entertaining any more questions... especially not in front of a guest."

He glanced toward White Raven, who simply watched with her usual quiet air, making his message clear.

Diya stared at Uhtred in silence for another second, then without a word, nodded and leaned back in her seat.

"Ah, also," Uhtred added suddenly. "Could you give us the room for a moment, Diya? We need to discuss some... matters."

Diya paused, said nothing for a beat, then stood up and left the meeting room without a fuss.

"Well, that isn’t a good way to start our last day here," Zara muttered from the side as Diya closed the door behind her. "You could’ve handled that much better, Uhtred. Are you still hung up on her not quitting the Tower climb?"

"This isn’t about that, Zara," Uhtred said, waving his hand dismissively... but Zara wasn’t buying it.

"Yes it is," she snorted. "Uhtred, Diya’s path is her own. You might think you’re protecting her by trying to make her quit, but what if she comes out of this experience much stronger? What if she listens to you, quits, and misses out on something that would’ve made her grow exponentially?"

Uhtred sighed, about to retort, but ultimately chose to stay silent.

"I hope you’re right," he said, shaking his head. "I actually do. Let’s hope she gains something from the next floor... because if she doesn’t... her odds against that Heavenly Demon consciousness inside her body..."

Uhtred left the rest unsaid, though both Zara and White Raven understood the grim fate awaiting Diya should she fail.

Now that the Heavenly Demon’s name had been spoken aloud, it was as if a switch had been flipped, reminding all three of them of what awaited their return to the Tower.

They set aside the matter of Diya, focusing instead on their own strategy for the Third Floor.

"So," Uhtred said. "I think the first thing we need to establish is..."