Chapter 353: Meeting Maya

"What happened, Cousin? Why are you staring at the windows?" Head Instructor Ryan asked with an innocent face.

"!!!" Ultias froze and glanced at him. He scanned the entire room with his energy but found no one.

’Was it my imagination?’ Ultias was confused. The only way to get an answer was by looking at his information.

Name: Ultias Pethes

Avatar: Zephyrus

Grade: A

Affinity: Wind

Element: Disintegration Wind (0%)

To his surprise, the information on his bracelet had truly been changed. All the Rank 7 humans in the world had done their best to fight Rank 7 beasts. Ultias, as one of the older Rank 7 humans, had defeated two Rank 7 beasts. It was hard to kill them.

In fact, his progress should be much higher than that of most Rank 7 humans in the world. The rest probably only had 10 to 20%. Most were still 0% because they couldn’t find any Rank 7 beasts that matched their element. At the same time, killing one took a lot of effort and sacrifice.

In addition, his affinity grade signified the ability to not only absorb the energy from that material but also the talent to control their energy.

The fact that he was actually getting downgraded changed everything. Not only did he get weakened, but he might struggle even more to get it up.

Ultias’s face turned pale.

Who actually attacked him? That person claimed to be Auric’s father, but this kind of power was something that he had never seen before.

There were a few things that he could deduce from the previous encounter.

That mysterious man was definitely a Rank 7 human. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to possess this much power. More importantly, the mysterious man possessed a unique element.

There weren’t supposed to be any Rank 6 unique element users. Yet, there was actually someone who had surpassed everyone’s imagination.

Seeing how the mysterious man could alter the amount of energy in his bracelet meant that the man could also control the energy in his own body.

In other words, this was a method that only he could use. In a way, if he wanted to become a unique element evolution master, he could do it.

All he needed to do was alter the amount of energy to 100% and undergo a perfect evolution. This must be the way he could reach Rank 7 as well.

However, this ability must have a huge restriction. If not, he would have been known as the only unique-element evolution master in the world.

The conditions weren’t exactly his problem. After all, their importance paled in comparison to the disturbing fact that a Rank 7 human existed.

All of them knew that unique-element users could suppress other elements of the same rank because of their unrestrained power. The same applied to this mysterious man.

He didn’t know what to say. If he revealed this information, it might change the entire situation. No, he might die at this point.

The shocking fact of having a Rank 7 unique-element user as a father would make Auric famous. It might create some trouble for him, but after living in Dermania and creating an environment where connections were the most important weapons, he knew precisely that this connection would make Auric feel safer.

After all, everyone would be offering things to recruit Auric, who was already good enough to have the potential to become a Rank 7 human, but also to get his father. His father was living proof that a Rank 7 unique element user could exist, so Auric, who also had a unique element, could become one as well.

In fact, others might want to ask for his help.

’No, wait. Auric Elfe could easily become a Rank 2 human even though he possesses a unique element. Did his father help him?’

The moment he realized it, he felt a chill down his spine. His father wanted Auric to be his successor.

The best way for him to proceed was simply to do nothing. If no one knew about Auric’s father, Auric would still be in danger.

His father might have been watching over him, but with Auric’s personality, he might create too much trouble that his father couldn’t deal with by himself. As a result, Auric would die because of one of the problems.

"Cousin?" Head Instructor Ryan frowned, confused as to why his cousin suddenly fell silent.

Ultias simply said, "I don’t care. Don’t talk to me for a few years. I’m going back."

"Cousin? Cousin?!"

Head Instructor Ryan was dumbfounded, but Ultias couldn’t care less about him anymore. It didn’t matter if he helped or not. His priority was to survive.

For the first time in a few decades, he remembered fear.

...

The next day.

"How is Auric?" Maya asked.

Katarina nodded calmly. "He’s fine. It doesn’t affect me much. He spent the rest of his night learning from his mistakes. It looks like he wants me to teach him about geopolitics."

"Isn’t Ellia better for that?"

"Exactly." Katarina agreed. "I will try to teach him as much as I can, but I will still suggest that he learn from Ellia after that."

"That’s good enough. Still, it’s a shame for that girl from Dermania."

"Indeed. Gloria is quite talented. She has been missing, no? I’ve heard that no one has found her. You’re not hiding her?"

"Nope. You?"

"She didn’t visit me or Auric. I’m still investigating the matter and seeing if I can find her."

"I see. You’re planning to recruit her, right?"

"Yeah. Auric—" Before Katarina finished her words, a woman suddenly came to them.

"Excuse me." The woman looked unfamiliar to both of them. She handed a piece of paper to Maya. "Someone asked me to give this to you."

Maya frowned. She checked the energy in it. Since there was nothing that could be seen, Maya used her energy to coat her fingers, making sure there were no radioactive poisons that could penetrate her defense. Only then did she take the paper.

Her expression changed from calm to shock the moment she read the content.

"What’s wrong?" Katarina asked. Maya had requested her to come since she wanted an update on Auric’s condition, so she wondered if something was happening.

Maya hurriedly closed the piece of paper so no one could read it. Then, she looked at this mysterious woman and said, "I see."

Katarina tilted her head in confusion, wondering if Maya was going to tell her about it.

"I will handle that matter." Maya stood up. "By the way, Katarina, go to Auric. Check whether his phone is taped or not."

"Do you mind explaining what’s going on?"

"I will explain after that. I will call him, so remain by his side."

"Well... I understand." Katarina sighed. She wasn’t her student, Auric was. So she could understand if she was treated badly by Maya.

Unbeknownst to her, the situation was so sensitive that even Maya didn’t know how to react at the moment. It was better to clear everything up first so no one would know about it. In order to do that, Katarina needed to return to Auric’s side.

Once Katarina left, Maya waved her hand, gesturing for the woman to sit in front of her.

As soon as the mysterious woman sat down, Maya turned solemn. "So, you have met Miss Natalia, Gloria Schaff?"

Yes, the mysterious woman was Gloria, whose face had changed. "Yes, Ma’am."

"What’s the situation?"

"I can’t explain it to you. I can’t explain it to anyone, not without Auric’s permission. I belong to Auric now."

"In exchange for your life?"

"In exchange for my future."

"I see." Maya looked up, contemplating. She opened her camera and took Gloria’s picture.

After that, she called a certain number.

"My dear little Maya is calling her big sister? Did the sun rise from the west today?"

"Please don’t joke about it."

"Okay, okay. What do you need, my little sister?"

Maya sighed before asking, "Can you make a new ID for a person, Sister?"

"I don’t think I can, but I know someone who can."

"Can you ask that person to do it for me?"

"Sure. This is my little sister’s request, so it will be done quickly. What’s going on?"

"I will explain when I can. For now, don’t tell anyone about it yet."

"Fine then."

"Thank you... Big Sister..."

"*$#Y(@#$&(—Thud!*

Maya just closed her eyes and hung up the call before it reached a point too embarrassing for her to continue talking.

Gloria was quite dumbfounded, but she didn’t say anything.

"Anyway, I’ve understood your circumstances." Maya took out her credit card. "I’m sure that your account has been frozen. So, use this credit card for now. The password is six zeros. For the time being, try to stay somewhere here. The people are looking for you, but it will be quite suspicious if you leave here. They are tracking any airplanes and trains leaving this place. Just get a room somewhere and stay there for a while and act as if you are a normal citizen here."

"Understood." Gloria nodded.

"Have you made your decision about that? To be honest, I can’t really trust you right now."

"If you listen to my explanation, you will understand that I am now completely loyal to him. Besides, my country has betrayed me, so I don’t have any more obligation to my country."

"Explanation, huh?" Maya crossed her arms. "Can’t say I like you very much, but since Miss Natalia has chosen you, then I guess it’s fine."

Maya waved her hand, gesturing for Gloria to follow her. "We’re going to have a brief video call with Auric. You can tell your circumstances."

"Understood."