«The Ruler seeks your allegiance….»

«Accept/Reject»

Lear looked at Max with wider eyes before clicking accept in curiosity.

« Lear Barnes has sworn allegiance to the user...»

«Adding…...»

«The first Follower has been made!»

«Activating….the support system….»

Max looked at all the information being processed before a screen popped out in front of him.

«Follower»

★Lear Barnes: (5% active increase in stats)

Chat interface: On

Location: On

Category: Nil (Locked) (Skill level Low)

Equipped: Nil (Locked) (Skill level Low)

…..

Lear on the other hand felt a cool energy enter his body. He felt calm and the next instant a message appeared in front of him.

«You have sworn allegiance to the ruler...»

«Granting «Rulers Blessing»…..»

«You have received a 1% permanent increase in your stats….»

«Ruler's presence has granted you a 5% temporary increase in stats..»

Lear looked at the things as if he had seen a ghost. The next instant, he felt the mana flow in his body increase and he felt a step closer to the next level.

«Chat interface on…..you can use it to communicate to the ruler….»

Lear's interest was piqued and he tried it. He imagined it in his head and speaked a few random words trying to communicate. On the other hand, a screen appeared in front of Max and he had indeed received the message.

«Lear: Max is a b*tch!»

He looked at Lear and just replied in confirmation.

Lear who was standing with his eyes closed, felt a cool sensation and a few words appeared in his mind.

«Yeah….F*ck off!»

The duo stared at each other before Lear finally broke the silence.

"It works…."

"I told you….You believe me now…" Max asked.

Lear nodded.

"But why is it calling you ruler?" He asked.

"Because I am...You are my servant..." Max replied.

"What!"

"I don't know if I can take it back. Besides, you sure about it? The boost in strength that it provides will be vanished too and it is only at lower level. You will get even more boost when I gain more strength....". Max asked with a smirk.

Lead frowned but didn't replied. It was indeed a good offer. Besides, it was clear that they were in the same boat now.

Max saw that he didn't seem to be willing to dwell on the topic any longer and hence continued with the main topic.

"I will need your help. We can't let the Barnes family fall…" He said with a hint of seriousness.

"I know….I won't let those b*stards lay a hand on my family…." Lear too replied.

All this while, Anna sat there looking at them talking and discussing. She felt her head hurt. It was too much for her.

"Ah…" A slight squeak escaped her mouth as she grabbed her head.

Max and Lear both noticed Anna at this moment. They could understand that it might be a bit hard to accept the situation.

Even Max himself felt like running away when he first knew of the situation. But he had to eventually accept it.

"Anna you love your family, right? And the. there is Will too...." Lear suddenly spoke.

" Yes…." Anna replied as she raised her head to look at Lear.

"Then it's simple…..if you don't wanna lose them...you will have to work hard...become competent…" Lear said in a domineering voice.

Max nodded. Lear was good at encouraging people.

"Anna….you don't need to worry about anything now. You need to first obtain the strength. I want you to get your revenge with your own hands. Don't fall behind by too much. I want you to Kill Travis Scarlet with your own two hands. Pay him for all he has done to you." Max spoke as he looked at Anna with a serious face.

Anna felt a chill from Max's words.

Kill?

She had never ever thought about doing something like that. But Lear's words kept ringing in her head.

Max observed Anna's expression and could clearly see the heaitation on her face. It seemed he had to think about some way to get that hesitation out. It wasn't time to be hesitating.

He had thought about a few ways of helping her. His first step was to get Anna to activate the System. He had understood the early levels of the Ancient Manual and he even knew how to train using the Ancient Manual.

"Knock!"

"Knock!"

Someone knocked at the door and Max stood up to have a look.

"Creak!"

He opened the door and found Venus standing outside.

"My lady has called for everyone's presence…." She spoke lightly.

Max nodded and looked at Anna and Lear before gesturing them to come.

The group went toward the Elevator and found Derek waiting there. Max and Derek's eyes crossed and both of them clicked their tongues in dissatisfaction.

Venus didn't pay them any attention and entered the elevator. The group followed her behind.

….

Within a minute, they had reached their destination. Venus took the lead and the rest followed them.

The room at the end of the hallway was clearly the one. Max could feel a couple of strong presence in the room and one of them was a familiar one.

A smile emerged out on Max's face. It has been a while since he last saw him.

Almost a year actually and even more if he counted his time in the Trial of God.

Venus opened the door and entered the room. Derek entered after her and then Max followed behind with Anna and Lear.

The moment Max entered his eyes immediately fell on the person who was standing there anxiously. He had short stature and a strong build.

When the person saw Max, a bright smile appeared on his face.

"You damn brat! Where had you been?! Not a phone...not even a single message! Do you even know how worried everyone was?!!" The man walked towards Max and raised his hand.

'Sh*t! I am dead…' Max thought. It had been a while since he heard Mr. Stark scolding. He wanted to give an explanation. But he felt that this situation wasn't too bad as well. At least there was someone to scold him. Someone who cared for him.

When Max thought that the raised hand of Mr. Stark would fall on him like a hammer, it fell on his shoulder and Mr. Stark gave Max a tight hug as he whispered.

"Don't do this again….you almost gave me a heart attack…"

Nothing could come out of Max's mouth. In the end, he could only utter a 'hmnn…'.

Several thoughts had emerged in Max's mind. But he forcefully pushed them away. He needed to be clear-headed for what was about to come. He needed to talk it out with his master. Was his Master from the Ancient Families? Besides, what was his Master's connection with this lady from Dark Society?

"You really have turned so soft, Stark. I really can't believe it's you…." Ethena who had been sitting on the couch said with a smile.

Stark turned around looked at the lady who was smiling at him and said, " Talk to me when you have a student too…"