Chapter 109: The Meeting of the Extended Families

Julian enjoyed his time in Dimelia. Just as expected, Dimelia truly deserved its reputation as a region boasting the finest food of this era.

Maybe it was a bit exaggerated, but Julian was enjoying himself, so why not?

Regardless, Julian was still curious about many things he’d discussed with Lurker.

Like the matter of Breaches, and how a Breach connected this world to others.

Based on Lurker’s explanation, humans could indeed enter a Breach, it was just that those who went in never came back and were presumed dead.

The reason was unknown, perhaps something blocked their path, or something related to the nature of Breaches themselves.

’Besides, if it’s a Breach, wouldn’t that mean Aliens would be passing through it too?’

But that thought felt somewhat baseless, considering the great families had already considered the exact same thing. They had their own preventive measures in place.

So it was very likely that Breach no longer had any Aliens brave enough to cross through it, meaning the speculation about a "bridge" connecting through the Breach might already be broken.

But wasn’t there another possible reason?

’What if they succeeded in crossing over but simply couldn’t come back?’

Because if that planet really was another world, maybe those prisoners simply couldn’t survive and were killed by the native inhabitants of that planet.

Would things turn out differently if this experiment were tried with a different Breach connecting to a different world?

That was worth considering, but it didn’t seem like something Julian needed to think about right now. So Julian pushed all those thoughts aside and simply enjoyed the rest of that calm, relaxing day.

The next day, someone specifically assigned came to pick Julian up to head to the elite region.

Since the elite region was the most crucial part, the foundation where the people most important to humanity’s continued survival resided, various top-tier facilities were located there as well.

Instead of riding in a car, Julian was guided onto a special train that passed through a dark tunnel, carrying him somewhere unknown.

The train was empty, no one else was using it besides Julian, which constantly reminded him just how different this world operated compared to his old one.

In short, Julian’s first impression of the elite region was that it seemed luxurious and tightly guarded, like a heavily protected military zone.

That came with the fact that Julian had to go through a special procedure checking whether anything was wrong with him, among other things.

Then, his next reaction was one of pure astonishment, as though Julian had entered a world entirely different from Central and the Slums.

That was because the elite region turned out to be even better than Julian had imagined. He could see countless housing estates and specially constructed high-rise buildings.

The paved roads were very wide, lined with neatly maintained flowers and green grass.

The people in this region were remarkably few, giving it an unusually quiet atmosphere. Julian could barely spot a single pedestrian except a few children playing around the streets without any worry about traffic.

And the most astonishing thing was a building standing at the center, one that would be more accurately called a tower.

Julian observed all of it while riding in a slow-moving car.

The elite region was, oddly enough, not as large or expansive as Central or the Slums, but it was undeniable that the amenities in the elite region were far more advanced and complete.

"The gathering between the great families will be held at the great tower over there, Lord Julian."

The driver escorting Julian spoke calmly, making Julian realize that building was indeed called a tower rather than a round structure.

Besides that, ’So the gathering will be held there?’

Julian couldn’t help but feel nervous, his stomach starting to ache. His lips curved slightly and twitched as he stared at that large tower.

This reminded Julian of the time he’d attended the elite academy evaluation as Kina’s guardian.

Each of the great families Julian had seen there might appear once again, including the Mivelo family, who had already clashed with Julian.

Julian let out a small sigh. The car finally parked right near the tower. Julian quickly got out along with the driver, who would also guide him inside.

"This tower is the main residence for the Rank-A Hunters. It used to be occupied by all of them, but due to their busy schedules, this tower is now used to gather the great families who protect humanity whenever the Rank-A Hunters aren’t around."

Julian gave a small nod. The driver had spoken and explained many things to Julian, enough that Julian felt he wouldn’t need to worry if he didn’t know something later.

Upon arriving at the tower’s entrance, Julian didn’t go through many special procedures. The guard simply glanced at his identity briefly, then allowed him in.

Julian quickly found himself in an extremely spacious yet completely empty hall, with no staff or guards wandering around.

It was entirely an empty, luxurious hall with nothing particularly special about it.

Julian asked nothing, simply following the driver who’d escorted him earlier, guiding him up via elevator until arriving at a specific room on a very high floor.

"Lord Julian just needs to open the door and go straight in. There’s already an empty seat prepared across from the Zoldia family’s representative."

"Oh, thank you."

With that, the driver gave a respectful greeting, then quickly stepped back and left, leaving Julian alone, frozen in place with an awkward smile and cold sweat.

’...I just walk right in? No need to knock?’

Julian started feeling increasingly uneasy until his head began spinning. And after realizing his condition was dire, Julian, without much thought, activated Fearless.

Right, why should he hold back all that fear when he could just make himself not afraid?

’How ridiculous.’

Once again, Julian found himself strange, what exactly was there to be afraid of anyway?

He felt like investigating the reason behind that fear. But since he couldn’t keep the others waiting too long, Julian touched the door handle and pushed it open.

The sound of a bell rang out, as though signaling that someone was about to enter.

That was exactly why knocking wasn’t necessary.

Fortunately, Julian had decided to follow what the driver told him. So he didn’t make a mistake or embarrass himself.

His lips twitched slightly, and the door finally opened, revealing an enclosed room with a fairly heavy atmosphere.

No, it wasn’t quiet.

They seemed to have been talking amongst themselves beforehand, but the next instant, they all stopped the moment Julian opened the door and revealed himself.