Grey spent some hours with Conor before getting to the Dawson Family. There's nothing else they could get from the people outside the Family. They've learnt everything there was to learn outside.
When they got to the Family manor, his father still wasn't around. He had to wait for his return once again.
It took a few hours until Lucas finally arrived. When he saw Grey, his expression changed. He knew that Grey had gotten to the Pseudo-sovereign stage with a single glance. He didn't expect it, but he was able to sense it almost instantaneously.
"When did you get to this stage?" Lucas raised a brow, slightly confused Grey was stuck in the Pseudo-sovereign stage. He didn't expect someone of Grey's caliber to fail to break through.
To most people, the Pseudo-sovereign stage was a sign of failure of one's attempt to get to the Sovereign Plane. Seeing Grey in that stage didn't look good.
Grey told him of his experience with the man, and how he fought for his life.
"I see." Lucas nodded, he looked at Grey and said with a thoughtful expression, "You broke through in the process?"
"Yes, during the fight." Grey replied.
Lucas thought about it for a while and asked, "Did you see the apparition that appeared a while ago?"
"Personally, no. But someone told me about it on my way back. At the time, I was still battling with that man. I wasn't given the luxury to look around. And the sky was covered due to the man's breakthrough." Grey explained.
"Do you have any idea if it's connected to you?" Lucas questioned.
Originally, he didn't have such thoughts, but the second he found out Grey was in the midst of breaking through at that time, he started to grow suspicious. It was too much of a coincidence for such a thing to appear when Grey was in the middle of breaking through to the Sovereign Plane. Adding the fact that Grey failed and how the apparition almost completely faded off at one point showed that there's a great chance they might be connected.
Grey paused to think, seeing the seriousness in his Father's eyes, he took it seriously too, "I'm not sure of the specific details or if I'm connected to it. But I can confirm it indeed happened during the battle and during my breakthrough. I don't know what it means."
Lucas looked at Grey with a thoughtful expression and said, "No one should know about this, except your mom, of course."
Grey nodded.
After getting that out of the way, Lucas looked at his son, "Why did you leave your Faction?"
Grey rarely leaves his Faction unless there was something he wanted to do. Either he wants his father's help with something, or he's going out for another journey.
"I'm on the verge of breaking through, and over the last few years, there has always been a commotion whenever I break through a major Plane." Grey explained, he looked at his father before adding, "Something like what happened today, for instance."
Lucas took a glance at Grey and he suddenly understood why Grey came to him. If he causes such a commotion in the Pyrmond Faction while breaking through, there's a chance they will try to investigate why something like this only happened when he was breaking through.
"Good thing you came to me." He applauded Grey's smartness. Grey knew what was best for him, and breaking through in his father's presence will put him in lesser danger.
"Alright, I'll make preparations for your breakthrough. Will you need anything?" He asked Grey.
Grey thought about it and told his father of how the essence he absorbed wasn't enough and was only able to break through to the Pseudo-sovereign stage with the help of the essence the man was using to break through.
Lucas wore a dumbfounded expression on his face, "That's possible?"
"I've stopped someone from breaking through by destroying the essence gathered, so I thought of absorbing another person's own, and to my surprise, it worked." Grey explained.
"You mean…" Lucas was finding it difficult to believe, but he knew Grey wouldn't lie to him. And from how the apparition faded at the time, he knew Grey was not lying, but it was still a shocking thing to accept.
How could someone actually achieve something like that?
"Are you sure about this?" Lucas couldn't help but ask once again.
Grey nodded.
"Impressive." Lucas was genuinely impressed with Grey's ability. As if having the ability to learn all elements wasn't enough, now he could even stop people from breaking through. Not just that, but he could absorb the essence for himself.
Grey was a cheat to the rest of the world. Having such abilities shouldn't be possible, but he not only has one, but he has so many.
Lucas has seen him use Dragon scales and knows he's also able to use that. It was another shocking discovery at the time, but that isn't as astounding as what he's hearing right now.
Even someone of Lucas' status was a little envious of what Grey's able to do. This was not something he could do even in a hundred years.
"That orb truly is special. You, my boy, deserved it." He commented as he looked into space.
Grey sighed, "Yes, but now it needs too much essence. I should've gotten to the Sovereign Plane by now if not for it."
"Sacrifices my boy, sacrifices." Lucas didn't think this was a challenge. Compared to the things Grey's able to do thanks to the orb, these obstacles weren't anything serious. As long as Grey could still break through in the end, all this didn't matter.
One thing he knew for sure with the appearance of the apparition is that it is certain, Grey will get to the God Plane as long as he didn't die. For someone to have such a high probability of getting to the God Plane in their world meant more than a little set back.
