The next morning.
When Grey and his friends came out, the lady was surprised when she noticed Grey had already broken through to the Fifth stage of the Origin Plane.
'Could it be he was the one who released that aura yesterday?' She asked herself.
The timing of Grey's breakthrough and the release of that aura was just too coincidental. She knew during the previous day, Grey was still only at the Fourth stage.
'No, it shouldn't, the aura I sensed wasn't something a Fifth stage Origin Plane Elementalist should have.' She contemplated.
The aura she felt was stronger than even what a Sixth stage Origin Plane Elementalist has, so she couldn't link Grey's breakthrough with the aura.
"You broke through yesterday." She said.
"Yeah, I was already close to breaking through before I left the trial land." Grey replied.
"That's good, the empire needs more people like you." The lady nodded repeatedly while studying Grey.
"Thank you for yesterday." Grey bowed slightly.
"It's nothing. Oh! How's your pet?" The lady asked when she saw Void on Grey's hand.
Void currently had his eyes closed. He woke up the previous night while Grey and his friends were speaking, but since they couldn't show the others he was already fine, he had to pretend he was asleep.
"He's better now, but it'll take a while before he wakes up." Grey smiled softly.
"What element does your cat have?" The lady asked curiously.
"Wind." Grey said offhandedly.
"Hmm, it's quite fast for a Wind Elementalist." The lady continued looking at Void.
'Looks like the Overlord Plane experts saw him when he helped me, but luckily, they have no knowledge of the space element. No wonder she wanted to take Void, she planned on studying him.' thought Grey.
Grey smiled without responding any further, he had already told her Void was a Wind Elementalist, there's no reason for him to keep answering her questions.
Seeing no more response from Grey, the lady sensibly stopped asking about Void.
"Are you all going back to your Academy, or are you willing to join the empire's forces?" She asked.
Once a citizen of the empire breaks through to the Origin Plane, they can freely join the empire's forces. They would all be given positions according to their stages, as well as their potentials. The lady felt with Grey's talent, his position wouldn't be meager.
"We haven't decided yet." Alice answered.
Of all of them, only Grey and Reynolds didn't really have a prominent background. Given Reynolds background, the chances of him joining the army is very high since it would increase his family's background. Grey on the other hand, didn't seem like someone who cared about the empire or joining any forces. Just like Klaus and Alice, he didn't want to get involved in anything.
"Hmm, okay. They'll drop you off at the Capital." said the lady.
"You don't need to worry much about us, just drop us off at the borders of the empire." Klaus waved, rejecting the lady's idea of taking them to the capital.
The group planned to travel around the empire while going back to the Academy. Grey told them about wanting to go back to Red City to check if his mother was there, or if there was any news of her.
"No, it's not safe letting you four wander around the empire, especially after what happened yesterday." The lady immediately rejected their suggestion.
Leaving the four alone would probably mean their deaths. She felt the Azure empire hadn't given up on their attempt to kill Grey. So they would most likely send people after them.
"Fine, take us to Red City." Klaus said after getting a nod from Grey.
The lady looked at them before helplessly nodding. She knew she couldn't change their minds, so she could only agree to get them to Red City, after all, it was deep in the empire. Although it was a small city, it was relatively safe.
"These will be the guards accompanying you all, they are all in the Eighth stage of the Origin Plane." The lady introduced them to five young men.
The young men all looked to be in their late twenties. According to the lady, after they left the Academy, they joined the empire's forces. The reason they were already in the Eighth stage was because of the items provided by the empire for their growth.
Grey and the others naturally knew she was only saying this to try to lure them into joining the empire's forces. Other than smiling, they didn't show any signs of even giving it a thought, except for Reynolds.
'Maybe they're from great backgrounds.' She thought.
"I forgot to ask, what are your names?" The lady asked.
She wanted to tell the emperor about them, although her rank wasn't high, she could inform her superiors about them.
Klaus, Alice, and Reynolds told her their names, she easily recognized Klaus and Alice's family, but she didn't know a thing about Reynolds' family.
"What about you?" She looked at Grey.
"Grey." Grey said.
"Just Grey?" The lady couldn't help but ask.
Grey looked at her for a while, his last name was something he rarely said, even his mother rarely used it. He recalled it was Dawson, but since his father was gone for such a long time now, he didn't like talking about it since it always reminded him of his father.
"Dawson, Grey Dawson." He said gently.
'Hmm, I don't know about any Dawson Family from Red City.' She scanned her memories for a Dawson Family from Red City, but she didn't know of any.
She thought hard about it, but just like Reynolds' family, she knew nothing of it.
'Maybe they are a small family, this should increase the chances of him deciding to join the empire's forces.' She thought internally.
Of all Grey's friends, Grey was the one she wanted the most, Reynolds was the second, then Alice, before Klaus. She placed Klaus on the end of the list because she didn't see him make any move other than cheering animatedly on the sidelines, so she didn't know just how strong he was.
"Okay. They'll take you to Red City, just make sure to head to your Academy soon, the empire might summon all four of you." She said.
There's a chance the empire would summon them once they get the news of what happened here. Grey's talent and ruthlessness would make him a terrifying figure if placed on a battlefield.
Reynolds' Elemental Warrior was strong, Alice could not be removed from the picture as well. But Klaus, there was nothing she could say about him.
The group soon left the camp, heading for Red City. The journey would take the group at least a day and a half, which was on the premise that they traveled without rest. But since the beasts couldn't fly continuously for such a long time, they would naturally have to rest while on the journey.
Two days later.
The sun was just about to set when two huge birds landed on a forest.
These were the birds that carried Grey and his friends from the border of the magical beast forest. The journey was surprisingly safe. The young men guarding the group didn't believe it would be this peaceful, according to what the lady told them, they thought they will be attacked while taking Grey and his friends here, but not even a magical beast attacked them.
"Thank you, we'll be going now." Grey said as he leads the group out of the forest.
This was the same forest he first saw Brown, he still couldn't help but look at the area where Chris left Brown feeling a little nostalgic.
Ten minutes later.
"Is this the city you came from?" Klaus asked while looking at the city gates.
This was the smallest city gate he had ever seen.
Alice and Reynolds looked at the city walls curiously as well. Although Reynolds wasn't from a big family, the city he came from was bigger than Red City, even the mayor was in the Origin Plane.
"Yeah, I spent fifteen years of my life here." Grey nodded with a soft smile.
He couldn't say he was overly attached to this city, after all, his memories here weren't that fun. Other than his mother, he didn't really have any other friends here.
"Come on, let's go check it out. I'll show you where I stayed." He walked through the city gates, heading into the city.
The guards at the gates were all in the Fusion Plane. Unlike the gates of big cities like Lunar City, and the rest, Red City wasn't bustling. The activity was minimal since merchants rarely came here.
The group walked in, Klaus and Reynolds were particularly looking around curiously. Alice would occasionally take a glance around, but would then focus on their journey.
Grey soon got to the building he used to stay. He looked at it, and it was just like the way he left it, only, he still felt there was something missing, his mother.
He stood on the roadside looking at it, "This is where I grew up."
The others had already guessed it seeing that he stood here looking at the building for some time.
"It's nice." Alice smiled softly.
Klaus and Reynolds looked at the building for some time.
"So, what did you usually do for fun here?" Klaus asked.
