Aureus examined the armor while churning through various thoughts in his mind.

Claudius may be a brown-nose, but I never took him for an incompetent.

Did he somehow got taken out on a ride by those coalition moguls?

Looking at the gun again, Aureus stepped to the side and raised his arm. An armored glove materialized and covered his right hand.

A white glow enveloped the glove.

A white spherical shaped pane appeared in the air from the direction of Aureus’s hand while facing Edward.

“Edward, please.”

Edward raised his gun and targeted the white pane.

This time the bullet was trapped in the pane. Aureus walked over and dismissed the white pane. The bullet fell into his palm. He examined the bullet for a moment before turning to Tarin and Johan and declaring that two shots from the gun would have broken his Aether spell.

“Edward, is that dagger of yours used as a prop for stage play?” Tarin was now looking at the gun in a strange manner.

Edward assured with a calm air that the gun itself was not enough. Stating that in melee range, the knife trumps the gun.

Aureus’s eyes were still on the ruined armor as he offered the position of a retainer to Edward. “Moving within Everdawn would be easier with that status.”

Edward thanked Aureus and began to bow before the latter stopped him with a raised palm.

“A reminder, whatever we discussed in this chamber and especially matters like you being from this Earth. Please keep it to yourself for the time being.”

Edward stepped up to the desk to place his gun, Aureus attached Johan to be Edward’s liaison to the Three Realms.

“All right, dismissed. Tarin, stay behind.”

—

“Highness, it appears we have landed in a unique situation,” Tarin ventured as the audience chamber doors closed.

“Unique does not even cover half of this situation,” said Aureus as his eyes crinkled.

“If high command were to know of this situation, it is certain they would order his execution or at least imprisonment. No outworlders have proven to be a benign existence for the three realms after all.” Tarin continued as his brows creased.

“My bloodline ability reacted to him in a strong and positive manner when we found him at the gate.” Aureus’s manner turned grave as he revealed.

“This changes things, I see why your highness would be interested in this outworlder.”

“I am not so arrogant to think the Astrea clan’s bloodline ability is infallible throughout history. I need to consider the possibility that my ability may be wrong or manipulated somehow.”

“Is your highness concerned about the Amin Prophecy?”

“Yes, if the readings are right, the time of the ‘Third Human Emperor’ is nearing and that time will be a harbinger of chaos. I do not wish to potentially harbour an agent of that chaos.”

“The readings could be wrong.”

Aureus snorted “Do you know of any other human powers that have an Emperor? Much less a Third Emperor.”

“What is your highness’s inclination?”

“Just because something has always been a certain way in the past, does not mean it will remain so in the future. I wish to sound things our further.”

“Indeed , who knows what the vagaries of fate may bring? If I had to put my faith in anything though, I would put it in the Astrea’s bloodline ability. As far as I‘ve seen, it has yet to lead the House Astrea astray, Tarin’s eyes misted over as he mused. “Without it, the Astrea Empire may not even be in existence.”

“While we have other means to explore, I believe we should do so rather than determining the fate of a man in an arbitrary manner.”

“I must profess, I do not agree with the concept of killing innocents in the name of prevention.”

“For a tough old salt, you have soft opinions, old man.” Aureus was smiling at Tarin as he jested.

“Well, I do not have an Empire to run, nor the burden of a ruling family’s surname,” replied Tarin without missing a beat. “It is natural that I could stand on such a relatively carefree viewpoint.”

“Nevertheless, Marc and I have put plenty of men into the ground. If you asked me whether I would do it all over again. I would not hesitate to do so once more in the name of duty.”

“I will not act as if Marc or I deserve to be on a pedestal though. We did our best where we could for the civilians but I will not say we are saints. There were plenty of instances, we could not protect the civilians in front of us.” Tarin looked sombre as he reminisced about the past.

Aureus tilted his head slightly and looked at Tarin for a few moments before stating his intentions of wanting to observe Edward for the time being.

Tarin bowed before making his way out of the chamber.

—

As the weekend transitioned to a weekday, Johan scribbled on several parchments while a boy in messenger garbs waited out in the hallway with a pouch.

A hearty voice called out his name just as he was affixing his seal to the bottom of the various parchments.

“Ho, Williams. Give me a moment. I’ll dispatch these orders and we can switch to a better location.”

Edward gestured that he would wait.

—

As they conversed over drinks at the officer’s mess, Johan opened, “What is on your mind, Williams?”

“The spatial gates,” Edward replied.

Johan nodded and started narrating,

“The most important gates in the Three Realms. There are a total of 12 gates. 6 lies in core realm. The remaining 6 are divided equally between the inner and outer realm.”

“Three of the gates lead from the core realm to the inner realm while the remaining three lead to the outer realm. Hence, it is not an exaggeration to say that the core realm is the most important realm in the three realms.”

“What is the difference between the inner and outer realm?” Edward frowned in puzzlement as he asked.

“The main difference is that the Inner realm is far less dangerous than the Outer realm hence allowing colonization to proceed rapidly there. A great deal of people have migrated to the inner realm from the core realm prior to the great separation.”

“I guess it was the feeling that the inner realm was much closer to the core realm compared to the outer that people started naming it the inner realm.”

Edward’s face cleared as he listened to the narration,

“From what I gather, Cores and Artifacts-by extension, Spheres- are very important in the three realms?”

“Of course! For the myriad races, Aether cores and artifacts are the basis of which strength is built upon, thus by proxy the bedrock that a power is based on.”

“It seems all beings in this realm is born with an Aether Core, Monster Cores for the demon beasts and Spirit Cores for the spirit beasts,” continued Edward.

Johan nodded.

Edward asked where if it is true that when Spheres are retracted into the body, they reside in the Aether core.

“The MagiTech institute have determined that it is so.”

Edward rubbed his chin as he launched into an analysis regarding spheres and their usage. Johan‘s brows lifted as Edward finished his analysis.

“Yes, the main allure of the spheres is the combination between the main and three sub sockets. It can be said that an infinite variety of ability usage exists when one adds the user-and all his qualities- into the mix.”

“In practice, most users do not stray from the formula of two monster cores and one Divine Barrier Gem setup.”

“Yes, paired with teleportation seals and stasis orbs, every power in the Three Realms has managed to preserve the core of their fighting force.”

”There are more Assault class sphere users, true. That does not detract from the fact that Mage class sphere users can be just as dangerous. I would argue that it boils down to the users and by extension the teams they might form. But there are just as many who would swear that it is the sphere that makes the user rather than the other way.”

”That said, I consider gloves the most valued amongst the different spheres.”

“One glove is equivalent to three aether abilities. That would mean three additional options in combat, including the ability for healing. How could that not be valuable?” A flush crept up the side of Johan‘s neck as he continued to respond to Edward’s points.

—