Lara Stidum... the leader of the Alpha team...
Seth blinked in surprise, staring at her for a few seconds, but thinking it through he could deduce a reason for this unexpected visit.
A faint smile formed on his lips. "Good morning, ladies," he greeted lightly.
Trisha turned her dull grey eyes towards Seth, but they held no focus. She smiled. "Morning, Seth... I hope you don’t mind the early, unprompted visit?"
Seth just shook his head and chuckled. Remembering that she was blind, he spoke up, "Not at all... come in..." he offered, stepping back to make room.
Trisha maintained her smile but didn’t take a step forward yet. "Um, Seth, I hope you don’t mind, I also brought a friend along... she hoped to meet you guys," she explained.
"We don’t mind, Trisha. You’re one of us. You ladies can come in," Seth offered again, gesturing for them to enter.
And this time both didn’t hesitate. Smiling awkwardly, Lara nodded at Seth and walked past him, following behind Trisha.
Jamming the door shut, Seth was just wondering whether he should go call the rest when he caught sight of Uriel descending from the stairs and a yawning Brandon behind.
The two were visibly surprised by Lara’s presence. Everyone already identified Lara as at least a pseudo team member; the only thing holding that status back was her rank.
Seth walked over as the four exchanged greetings. Sitting in a single sofa chair, he trained his gaze on Lara and asked,
"To what do we owe this visit?" he asked as he leaned forward, clasping his hands.
Lara’s lips parted as she prepared to speak, but Trisha’s soft, gentle voice interrupted. "Actually, we are both here for the same reason... in fact, the president encouraged this visit."
"Oh?" Seth remarked, his eyes flashing, quickly understanding what was happening... it seemed the government was finally ready to welcome awakened beings into their ranks.
Lara nodded. "Yes, we are here to talk about the Origin Realm," she explained, tucking a hair strand behind her ears, her bright eyes trained on Seth.
To her, addressing Seth felt more natural. It wasn’t that she felt superior to his friends, it was just that she instinctively gave more respect to him based on the fact that he was a descendant of one of the Big Three, just like her...
Seth smiled as she confirmed his assumptions. "So I take it you guys are ready to ascend?" he asked.
Lara nodded, then shook her head. "We are... but it’s not only us."
Seth nodded. "I figured..." Thinking for a bit, he glanced up at both Uriel and Brandon.
Meeting his gaze, both just shrugged, signalling for him to proceed as he liked. One wandered into the kitchen to get the guests some drinks, while the other just sat on a nearby sofa listening in...
Seth turned his gaze back to Lara, meeting a gaze full of expectation and hidden excitement.
But he didn’t proceed with relaying the information, as they hoped... his brows furrowed. The more he thought about it, the more it didn’t seem right.
The president knew about the Origin Realm, so he definitely had to have an idea of how to ascend. Plus, even the elders of the Duskreavers knew the use of evolution stones — there was no way the government didn’t.
They could have tried helping an evolver ascend to the Awakened Rank, and he would have been able to access the Origin Realm.
It didn’t make sense that the president would wait for their help. It wasn’t logical, no matter how he thought of it.
Shifting his gaze to Trisha, he asked, "What did the president tell you?"
The blind seer blinked, then replied, "Lara and her team went to ask the president for a means of ascending the Shackled Rank. He called for me and told me to lead her to you, while also stating that it was about time I ascended as well."
Lara nodded, backing up Trisha’s words...
"I see..." Seth muttered. There was only one reason he could think of for why the president would send these guys their way for help in regards to accessing the Origin Realm.
The man must have somehow understood the mechanics of the Origin Realm and knew that after ascension, landing in the Origin Realm was random.
The humans would be scattered, and that would most definitely slow their progress by a large margin.
And somehow he knew that Seth had a means to bypass this inconvenience...
’That must be it...’ he thought and sighed heavily before asking, "How many evolvers are ready for ascension?"
Lara’s eyes went brighter, her excitement palpable. The president had told them a little bit about the mystical space called the Origin Realm, and that was enough to fill her with yearning.
A place that held infinite resources, opportunities, and myriad alien races? It was a dream!
Sitting up, she was quick to reply, "According to the current military draft records, about forty-two evolvers have maxed out their stats. Adding my team and Trisha, we should be about a total of fifty."
Seth did the mental math, because if he was right and this wasn’t just about ascending, it meant he would have to expend a certain amount of will for each ascension.
That would have been a problem, but considering that these were Shackled Rank beings he was talking about, paired with his abnormally dense will... ’I should be able to handle that much...’
But it would definitely be taxing for sure... feeling a headache incoming, he massaged his temples with his fingers.
Then he asked... "How many evolution stones do you guys have?"
Lara was surprised by this question, because she was indeed familiar with this grey crystal. She and her team had earned a lot from clearing various corruption zones, but they didn’t know its use since the system refused to give a description.
Blinking uncertainly, she replied, "A lot... I don’t know the exact count though."
Seth sighed. Whatever, he’d find out once he got there... He turned to Uriel. "Are you coming?"
Uriel quickly shook his head. He had come to the same conclusion as Seth, and if it came to it, he wasn’t confident in his will manipulation — well, at least not enough to handle such a complicated process.
His will already had properties of lightning. Exposing weak Shackled Rank beings to it would end up killing them.
Seth turned to Brandon, who also hurriedly shook his head. Just like Uriel, his will carried a dreadfully high temperature, and he wasn’t adept enough in manipulating it.
Seth rolled his eyes helplessly. It seemed he had to abandon the idea of sharing the workload.
Getting to his feet, he excused himself. "Let me go put on something more appropriate, then we can leave."
Lara and Trisha nodded — the former beaming excitedly at the realization that she would finally step into this new mysterious realm, while the latter remained mildly calm.
{A/N:} Okay guys, don’t forget to gift and vote — these are the fuel for my imagination and motivation. Plus, they support my work by providing visibility to the algorithm for future features and exposure. 🙏🙏