****
It was finally the time for everyone to leave for the Shadow Garden. After a long time, the Stein Family appeared to be full of life.
An Ancient Ship was already ready and waiting for everyone outside. Moreover, almost everyone had already gathered outside the Stein Clan, including the family head and his daughter.
The ship was beautifully crafted, with intricate designs carved into every corner. The sails were a deep purple, and the flag atop the mast bore the emblem of the Stein Family. As they boarded the ship, excited chatter filled the air.
Only Gabriel was yet to come out for now. Fortunately, it wasn't long before he did.
Gabriel didn't use a mask to change his face anymore. Instead, he used a property mask that covered his complete face, since he had heard that there were some traps in the Shadow Garden that made all disguises unusable.
Other than the mask, Gabriel was donning all black. His pitch black robe fluttered in the wind behind him, as he stepped out of the clan building.
The robe didn't belong to him. It contained the symbol of the Stein Family. The robe was a treasure of the Stein Family from the first generation. Once upon a time, this same robe was used by the Founder of the Stein Clan. By giving this robe to Gabriel, the Stein Clan was showing a lot of faith in them.
"Even though I don't know what he looks like, or why he hides his face, I have a feeling that he's quite good looking." The Stein Family Head stood at the edge of the ship, next to his daughter as he spoke.
"He's also talented in magic, certainly even more than I was," he further continued while his daughter looked up at him, wondering why he was suddenly talking like that.
However, she soon understood when her father further spoke, "If you two somehow fell in love, I really wouldn't mind making him a son in law."
"Father!" Ulesis was stunned. She grabbed her hand tightly, not believing that her father actually said that. Even though she didn't have such feelings towards Gabriel yet, but hearing her father talk about such, made her slightly embarrassed.
"What? I'm just saying that I wouldn't mind." The middle aged man laughed.
Ulesis cast a furious glance at her father, before she stopped looking at him.
On the other hand, Gabriel glanced up at the ship in the sky. Stairs made using ropes were tossed down to help Gabriel come up. However, Gabriel didn't pay attention to that.
He simply gathered some of his elemental energy, making his body as light as father before raising his right foot.
He stomped his foot on the ground, jumping high in the sky. As he rose higher towards the ship, he felt the rush of wind on his face and the sheer exhilaration.
He soon landed on the ship, right next to Ulesis. "Is everyone here already?"
"They are. We can leave now." The Family Head smiled, before raising his hand, gesturing that they were ready to leave.
The ship turned around and started leaving.
While the Majestic Ship left the Stein Family territory, no one noticed that the Ancient Golems that had always remained unmoving were actually looking up now, glancing in the direction of the ship.
****
Even though the Shadow Garden was the most important place for the Stein Family, it wasn't in their territory. If anything, it was in a neutral territory that wasn't under anyone's control.
The Shadow Garden was in an area called the Beast Region. That was the place which was the home of many frightening beasts. It was said that there were also some Ancient Beasts in the Beast Region that were as strong as the four Generals.
All because of that, no one tried to conquer the Beast Forest. Humans could enter the beast forest to explore the Shadow Garden since the Overlord Beasts didn't care about it. However, if one was to try and conquer the Beast Region, then the result was quite different.
In fact, there were many major families in the Northern World with ancient roots. They sent all of their strongest members to conquer the Beast Region. However, none of them returned alive. All those clans just disappeared in one day.
That's why, the Stein Family and the other families were very careful to not do anything extra when they were in the Beast Region.
After half a day, the Stein Family Head brought Gabriel to the deck, showing him a vast area ahead that was surrounded in a dark beastly aura.
"From here on, the Beast Region starts, the only independent region that isn't under the control of the King of the Upper Realm..." The middle aged man spoke.
"Was he not strong enough to conquer this place?" Gabriel asked.
"Who knows?" The Stein Family Head shook his head lightly. He could still gather the information about the Four Generals to some extent, but gathering information about the King was almost impossible.
No one knew much about his past, other than the fact that he suddenly rose, taking over the entire upper realm within a short few years.
There were some rumors that he had received some great legacy that helped him become stronger. However, there were also rumors that he wasn't from this world at all, and came from somewhere else.
Since no one knew about the King, the rumors kept appearing one after another. Some even said that the King was the reincarnation of some ancient being. The rumors only became more and more absurd with time.
Despite all the rumors, one thing was for sure, the King was a force to be reckoned with. His army was fiercely loyal to him, and his power seemed to be immeasurable.
He ruled his Upper Realm with an iron fist, and no one dared to challenge him. And that was when he didn't even appear in the four worlds anymore. That was the level of fear that he had on the others, who had seen his past.
