Varian sighed inwardly and thanked his stars for entering the Tower, even though it nearly killed him.
If not for the tower, he'd have never gotten the legitimate excuse for this big problem.
"Theze."
With a wave of his hands, the corpses of large, black, smooth-skinned creatures floated in the air.
"The blackhole beasts?" Ashley bit her lip. "No wonder. It all makes sense now."
The aura coming off from that corpse wasn't weak.
They were all peak rank 6s and didn't think of it as a threat. But this man killed them.
Come to think of it…
"You're a rank 4? Rank 5?" Ashley raised an eyebrow. Even though she was only 4', she now exuded a dominating presence like a lion.
At her words, Finar and the laidback Edison also stared at Varian.
His aura, which was covered until now, was revealed bare in front of their eyes. It was the peak of a rank 4.
'What the hell? This guy is a rank 4? While the average rank of the inhabitants is so low? No way. No fucking way! Something is off! Very, very off.'
For a moment, it seemed like flames of curiosity blazed in Ashley's eyes.
'Did he kill Princess Azalea?'
Even if she suspected him to have decieved her and then killed her, it didn't make much sense.
Princess Azalea was a low rank 6 and had a lot of treasures. Yet, she was killed so quickly that she was able to send only a distress call.
Whatever tricks he could've deployed, he simply wasn't capable of that feat.
'One by one. Every One.'
Ashley told herself and started the questionnaire.
"How are you so strong? Your rank is out of place compared to anyone else. The next strongest in your region are peak rank 2," Ashley asked, scrolling through the files.
"Fruit! I eating, no, I ate fruit from ruins." Varian said with an awkward expression.
Clearly, he was uncomfortable mentioning that topic.
"When you were young? Before you became the human emperor and defeated these…abyssals?"
Varian nodded like a good boy in the primary.
The three envoys looked at each other and stood up at the same time.
"To the Ruins."
Twelve hours and many inspections later, Ashley left the ruins with a frustrated sigh.
'Some old civilization existed before these bastards and went extinct. As if this is something groundbreaking!'
Races go extinct every day. Devas' extinction and even the presence of ruins were normal.
"Next!"
— — — —
Varian sighed in relief as the envoys exited the ruins. Oob appeared quietly beside him and rested on his shoulder, its wings rubbing against his cheeks.
Caressing it gently, he said. "Good work."
"You erased the primal aura from the ruins, master. I didn't do much." Oob rejected any credit.
Varian shrugged.
He used his sliver powers and morphed the natural aura of the ruins so that they would just appear 'ancient' to anyone. The legendary aura, as he liked to call it, wouldn't be felt anymore.
Still, Oob managed to find a tree with specific characteristics and provided evidence for his 'extraordinary growth'.
Varian glanced at the large blue-trunked tree and chuckled.
This was one of those trees that bore fruit to help out with your path progression. The longer it was allowed to grow, the better.
The envoys believed that the tree—the last of its kind—was bearing the same fruit since the extinction of devas before it was found by Varian.
Then, his explosive growth made a lot of sense.
The three also personally inspected his body and concluded that the last bits of the fruit had dried up. They looked at him with a mix of pity and contempt.
'You're gonna stay at this rank 4 your whole life, Emperor of Humans.' Finar mocked him before he left for some sightseeing.
"That annoying bastard, how I wish I could just slap him away." Varian sighed.
If he had to execute his grand plan properly, he had to endure these little annoyances. It couldn't be helped.
— — — —
"Hortus? What a terrible name." The envoys moved in quick steps, looking around in a mix of curiosity and contempt.
Thanks to Varian using his full authority as the World's Master, Hortus appeared very ordinary.
Unlike a Synthetic World in which you could bind to yourself, carry armies, and even save your life, this one appeared like just another exclusive space.
Dungeons were common throughout the Alliance. So were secret realms.
After they inspected Hortus, the envoys didn't find anything extraordinary.
But one question remained.
The students who went to Hortus' academy claimed that the time flow was different. If that one thing was true, then they might imprison him right away and take control of Hortus.
'They'll try to do all that and I'll have to kill them.' Varian pursed his lips and followed the envoys to the academy grounds in Hortus.
Since they were all using stealth treasures, no one noticed.
"The aura here is many times higher than elsewhere. Still way lower than any good duchy, but it's better than any province." Ashley commented.
Finar nodded in agreement, though with a begrudging gaze. Now that he ceded ground, Ashley was taking full advantage.
"But it doesn't make sense for time dilation. Even your official reports claim that time dilation is real." Ashley turned to Varian with a cold gaze.
Varian knew this was an important topic. If he couldn't convince them, then everything would fall apart.
So, he did what he should.
"T-That…" A mix of awkwardness, embarrassment, and guilt surfaced on his face as he walked them to a basement room under the academy building.
Inside it was a huge formation with psychedelic herbs and drugs in the middle.
"Y-You…were messing with their brains?" Ashley looked at him in surprise.
Varian averted her sharp gaze with a guilty look and nodded weakly.
"You clever fucker!"
Ashley knew there was a strict training regime here. Everyone spent almost every waking hour training.
She initially thought it was ridiculous. But now it all made sense.
Since they're in training, they were quietly affected by this formation and their sense of time would be messed up.
Hortus didn't really have a day and night anyway.
So, as long as he kept his subordinates to control the 'clocks' here, everyone would be fooled. And everyone was fooled until now!
Heck, even they were almost fooled! Their biggest query for Hortus was its time dilation!
If that one thing was true, then forget Azalea's death, forget Baldur's plan, this discovery would give their leaders more than enough merit.
"You politicians are the most disgusting liars," Ashley growled.
Finar, who hated her, nodded in agreement.
"Eh, ehehe." Varian scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed expression and handed them a few drugs. "Feels good! Otherworld! Heaven!"
"Excuse me!" Ashley waved her hand and the drugs fell out of Varian's hand and rolled on the floor. "We aren't here for this stupid shit! After a time test, we're leaving this circus!"
The large, complex machine Edison quietly installed gave results after a ten-minute scan.
[Time Flow: Normal]
Even though they expected it already, the envoys were still frustrated. Shooting Varian's vicious glares, they left Hortus.
'Almost done. The next two are the biggest. The battle scenes against abyssals where I showed multiple powers…and abyssals themselves.'
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