*****Unlike the attendees in the first section, the people in this section didn’t even pretend to look dissatisfied at all.If anything, they kept sneaking glances… first toward the impossibly composed guests in the first section, then toward the towering vertical banner propped proudly on the path beside the crimson carpet.In bold, elegant strokes, it declared: “Upper Second-Rank Families.”This was no ordinary seating zone. These weren’t just any second-rank families… these were the Upper Second Rank, the immediate rung beneath the elite First Rank and direct subordinates to their towering authority.Even without reading the banner, a person with the observational skills of a houseplant could tell who mattered more. The first section radiated power like heat from a forge; the second section, by comparison, might as well have been a politely dressed waiting room.The difference was in every detail. The Upper Second-Rank guests sat like living statues… spines straight, eyes co

*****Sarah took her phone from her clutch, its surface glinting under the light. Without hesitation, she switched to the camera, zoomed in on the VIP section, and cautiously angled it so no one would notice. Then she quietly recorded a short video, capturing the elite in all their splendor.'Although I can’t go near them,' she thought smugly. 'But I can show off. Everyone will see I was in the same room as upper second-rank families.''Her lips twitched upward as another thought bloomed... one more personal. 'Let’s see if Father would still have the nerve to tell me I was wrong to dump that lifeless ex-convict.'Her father had never forgiven her for leaving Xavier. In fact, he had all but disowned her, still calling her a traitor and claiming the only way he would ever forgive her was if she went back to the man who had always sacrificed for her and had even gone to prison for her.But to Sarah, it was laughable.Her mother, brother, and everyone else had backed her choice with

*****Sarah stole a glance at her man, Victor, who was sitting beside her.Right now, he was staring at Lucius with the same dazzled reverence as every other man in the third section of the hall, his eyes practically shouting, “Take me as your disciple.”And just like that, the guilt she had been feeling evaporated, replaced with a surge of revulsion so strong she had to stop herself from physically recoiling.Her gaze flicked back to Lucius... tall, imposing, and arrogantly handsome, the sort of beauty that made you feel almost undeserving to behold.His stance radiated dominance, the effortless assurance of a man certain the world would yield at his command.By contrast, Victor suddenly looked like a soggy, wrinkled page in the book of her life… a page she wished she could rip out and burn.'Argh!' she suddenly groaned internally. 'Why hadn’t I met him instead of this useless idiot?’ The thought cracked across her mind with brutal clarity.Her eyes narrowed at Victor, disgus

*****The people in the last two seating sections, of course, believed Lucius’s words, practically glowing with in response.Their eyes brightened even more, their posture leaning forward as though they were basking in reflected glory.Some even looked envious, that quiet, aching kind of envy that made them wonder if they would ever know this intoxicating.The people in the first section, however…They blinked once, then twice, and then, very slowly, their mouths fell open in disbelief.'Nonsense!' they all screamed silently in the privacy of their own skulls.“Utterly ridiculous!”Leveling up did change a fighter’s body, yes... but not to the absurd degree Lucius was making it sound.Strength gained from advancement usually took some time to fully master, but the “adjustment period” he was describing? That was like saying you needed three months to get used to a slightly heavier pair of boots.In truth, most fighters could adapt in less than a day, and even then, no one was

*****In the following second, the speaker’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as if someone had just whispered a death sentence into his ear.His hand shot up to cover his mouth so quickly you’d think he was trying to physically shove the words back in before they got him killed.The effect of his words was instant. Like a chain reaction, the eyes of everyone else in the hall widened… save for a handful of clueless souls lounging in the third section. Most of them began to ask themselves the same thing: ‘How did I miss that name before?’Throats began to bob in uneasy swallows, no one daring to follow the thought out loud. Instead, they all turned… almost in unison to look at Augustus.And Augustus… was staring back at them right now, his expression undergoing a transformation worthy of theatre.Moments ago, his face had twisted into something dark and vicious, like a man personally insulted in the deepest recesses of his ancestry. His posture had screamed: ‘How dare the Sky Family?!’