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"Now the presentation is really going to happen. It's a bureaucratic ceremony, but if Miss Alexandra called you here, it means that she already considers you important" Aether said, as he followed along with the two to the elevator.

Below the building's parking lot, there was an underground performance center. The place resembled a classical theater, spacious with several chairs and elegant decorations. Long red curtains ran down all the walls, while a gigantic crystal chandelier illuminated the area.

<'Since they built all this under the.... it's best to keep quiet.

'I'm wondering the same'

There was room for easily three hundred people. And emerging from portals that were located at the ends of the fire doors, more clan members arrived at the presentation. Alice, Aether and Ryan sat together, and a few minutes later Alexandra sat next to Ryan.

'She really is under the effect of a curse' he concluded, as he looked at the strange flow of mana and energy that surrounded his wife's mother.

After a few more minutes of chatting, the lights went down and two men in their forties came on stage. 

"Who's that?" Ryan questioned, close to Alice's ear.

The girl walked up to him and placing one of her hands in front of her mouth she said "Salazar Stellaron Lightstone, the other is Ajax Stellaron Lightstone, they are the current heads of the clan. They are my grandfathers uncles, though I do not carry the Stellaron name"

Ryan nodded, and sighed, the only thing he could think of was how he had gotten into trouble.

'Now besides the political issues of the Silvermoons, I need to worry about the political issues of the Lightstones...'

Salazar was the first to speak, giving a lecture on what was happening in the different camps of the clan.

"During the last quarter, the Lightstone house has managed to raise more money in the skill and talisman sales sector. Part of this comes from the spectacular work that Doctor Margot is doing in the research session. Projections and expectations suggest that the influence on the talisman market is expected to increase by five percent in the next half year." 

The man had a strong, deep voice that reverberated through the audience. His body was muscular, and in some ways he looked a bit like John Wrynn. There were two healing tattoos on the back of his hands, which meant he had combat experience. 

'It's been a while since I've seen someone with that...' he thought.

<Magic circle tattoos?>

'Yeah... That was relatively common twenty years ago, but then they developed better methods for casting spells and using talismans'

<Hmm... So that means he was a traveler>

The lecture continued without anything too relevant, yet Ryan was startled by the Lightstones' display of power. There was a great influence in different areas of the traveler world, both in the industry and within the portals. 

A few minutes later, Ajax took his place as a speaker. The man was a little taller, with long white hair that fell down to his neck. His white beard was large and his eyes were cold and dead. The seriousness in his voice was as intense as the aura of mana he emitted, from afar, Ryan could already confirm that he possessed at least a triple S level of strength.

Just like Alexandra and Alice, he possessed the strange energy around him. 

'So even he is under the effect of something like that...?' Ryan thought, confused as he analyzed. 

For a few moments, Ryan stood in silence assessing the situation. Concentrating on his mind palace, he assessed the two possibilities that could be happening. The first, would be that there is someone wielding greater power than Ajax. The second would be that Ajax is aware of the curse that is affecting his body and that of others and he has chosen this.

'So maybe Alexandra has chosen this fate for herself and her daughter, just like Ajax?'

Even while concentrating, the man's lecture caught Ryan's attention. He opened both eyes with surprise and attention when he heard the name John Wrynn.

"The Guild's Regional Officer is increasing his influence in Lacaster territory. The guild's investment allocation was focused on Khalazhan and Neodrazzil, but now with a larger investment fund from John Wrynn, the Lightstone clan's research area is receiving investments in the area of magic batteries."

'So the Lightstone are directly supporting the guilds portals project...'

With this information in hand, the pieces started to fit together a little better. And finally Ryan was getting a greater understanding of what was going on in the three major cities of the continent, taking a deep breath, he remained paying attention to the lecture, while pondering whether or not to trust Aether.

The lecture continued giving feedbacks of the clan's achievements, and then, it ended for the night. A medal presentation took place, honoring the most notable members of the clan. Like Alexandra and even Aether, after the event was concluded, Alice seemed to still be a bit depressed about everything that happened.

Sitting on the balcony of the top floor, Ryan and Alice were again watching the stars. Not by Ryan's decision, but by the blonde girl's will.

"This place, looking at the sky makes me a little more relieved" she said.

"Relieved? Why?" he questioned.

"It's easy to think that you're the center of trouble, or that you're being wronged by the world. But in the end, even the strongest adventurer or the greatest dragon in existence is nothing more than an ant compared to the immensity of the sea of stars", Ryan kept watching intently at the way that porcelain doll was observing the sky, she was depressed, but at the same time she seemed to be enchanted by the view of Lacaster.

Alice then continued, "Sometimes I wonder if it is possible to travel to the second world, it would make my problems even smaller."

Ryan walked over to her and draped his blazer over the girl's shoulders, who even though she was focused on the starry sky, was still cold. "Maybe it's possible" he said, "We still don't know if there is only a second world" he concluded.

The two slowly moved closer, and with a warm kiss on that cold night, they ignored everything around them. 

"Do you have a minute? Ryan" 

Aether was watching the two from afar, and with a bit of embarrassment, Alice answered in his place. "I'm going out so you two can talk" she said, both cheeks red from being watched.

<Imagine how she would react if she found out we were listening to everything that happened in the bathroom>

- Are you thinking of telling her that? -

<But it would be funny!

- It would be cruel -

'Be quiet, please'

The succubus and the angel nodded, then stepped away from Ryan.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Aether Lightstone" 

The blond walked over to the glass wall of that penthouse. Looking down, cars and motorcycles passed by on a busy avenue. Turning to Ryan, Aether's eyes were glowing with an extremely intense green color. 

'I have a lot to tell you' he said, in a mental transmission.

Within seconds, Ryan was engulfed in a storm of memories. Within seconds he felt a strange pressure on his body, as if he had just fallen into a deep sea. Every minute, flashes of situations and moments lived by Aether played like a movie through his head. 

Until finally all this stopped, Ryan was in a completely dark area. Aether was in front of him, walking. The world was recoating its colors, and the two were in a guild base of operations.

"The materials should arrive in a few minutes sir" said the blond man, who was on his phone.

"Understood" he concluded.

Looking at one of the doors, Aether saw John Wrynn come out next to two secretaries. The place resembled the area where Rin had explored, however, everything seemed to still be disassembled and out of place. There was no magic field in those memories, but one could still feel the vast density of energy flowing through the place.

It was as if the air was heavy, not from smoke, but from the sheer amount of magical energy being used to build the place. Robots and people welded the cables, while cars carried giant pipes.

"The rest of the cables are already being shipped by the Lightstone's production arm, I am grateful to have this opportunity to work with you, John" Aether said.

"The amount of portals should increase significantly, they are now opening at least twenty reds per hour. So we need to finish this project fast, the superiors are already bothering me about it"

'Superiors? But he wasn't the highest authority in the region'

Everything went dark again, and now Ryan was thrown into a closed room. Aether stood in front of him, eyes aghast, frightened by what he was observing. The sensation was like a click for Ryan, who at the same instant turned around. The cube was there, standing between two iron pillars that kept it loaded.