With the help of the Leventis Family, the construction of Thirteen's new home was completed in less than a month.
The only reason why it took longer than it should've been was because of Thirteen's blueprint.
He had requested the Builders to use specific materials on some parts of the home, which he would use to help him channel Rune Magic later on.
Instead of drawing the symbols on the house himself, Thirteen commissioned Painters and other artists to paint, sculpt, and build these symbols, making it look as if they were works of art.
The house had three floors and five underground floors.
The special metals that were used on the underground levels were very hard and tough, which could easily tank the full-powered blow of Rank 6 Jinns and Majins.
Thirteen could have used sturdier materials, but they would have been too expensive, despite the fact that they had millions in their savings account.
Since he would empower these fortifications with Rune Magic anyway, he decided to save his family a bit of money, which they could use to buy Monster Parts for his father's crafting experiments.
The seven-year-old had also asked the Leventis Engineers to construct the Teleportation Gate on the first floor of the Underground Base.
The second floor was the training area.
The third floor was Thirteen's Laboratory, where he planned to do his experiments.
The Fourth floor was meant to become the storage area for monster parts, cores, and other miscellaneous items.
The last and final floor was meant to be the place where the finished products would be stored, as well as the evacuation area if another Monster Outbreak were to happen again.
The Smithy was built outside the house since it required a lot of space, in addition to needing a room to store items in.
All in all, Thirteen was quite satisfied with how the house was built. Not only was it bigger and more comfortable to live in, but it also had added layers of protection that wouldn't lose to the Main Residence of the Leventis Family.
Thirteen spent nearly a month and countless resources in order to fortify their home with Rune Magic.
He didn't care how much it cost him to make a safe place for him and his family to live in.
He vowed that he wouldn't allow his carelessness to endanger his family again.
'Even a dozen Assassins with the Rank of Champions would die if they tried to force themselves inside my home,' Thirteen mused. 'As for a way to attack my enemies… I guess I'll settle for the Rhongomyniad Guided System.'
He might not be able to rise above anyone in Solterra, but the same couldn't be said for Pangea.
While he was caught up in those thoughts, his phone began to ring, which made him frown.
The caller was none other than his Uncle, Michael Leventis.
His general impression of his grandfather's right-hand man was lukewarm.
Michael neither liked nor hated their family. Thirteen was fine with that. The only problem he had with the man was his annoying way of always fixing the glasses on his face whenever he was stating something of importance.
In the end, the seven-year-old just thought that this was the default setting for villains who wore glasses, so he stopped paying attention to this habit of his Uncle's.
"Yes?" Thirteen asked as soon as he accepted the call.
"I just called to inform you that the Remington Family is going to hold a party two weeks from now," Michael stated. "They plan to invite all the members of the young generation from the Prestigious Families in Aldebaran who would soon have their First Wandering. I'm not sure what will be discussed in this gathering, but it is highly possible that your family will get an invitation."
"Should we go or not?" Thirteen asked bluntly. "What did my Gramps have to say about this?"
Michael didn't seem to mind the rude way his nephew addressed his father.
"The members of the Leventis Family will also participate in this event," Michael replied. "However, if possible, we wish for Mikhail to not attend the party even if he were to receive an invitation. I think this is the Remington Family's attempt at gathering information about what transpired in your home when the Heavenly Phenomenon appeared."
Thirteen nodded his head in understanding.
Truth be told, he was the one who triggered the Heavenly Phenomenon. It happened after he inscribed the Divine Martial Technique, Heaven's Blade, into the Empyrean Great Sword.
He did this on purpose so that Arthur and the other higher-ups of the Leventis Family would go to investigate what was happening.
His plan worked, and with this, he managed to leech off the Leventis Family in exchange for the four Mythical Weapons, which were now in the possession of his grandpa and grandma.
"Understood," Thirteen replied. "I will tell my father and brother about this."
"Good. That is all I have to say."
"Okay."
Michael ended the call while Thirteen went to look for Gerald and Mikhail to inform them about the party that the Remington Family was going to host.
"… I think Michael's call was a bit late," Gerald said with an awkward look on his face. "My old friends from the Remington Family asked me to come with Mikhail. I wasn't able to say no."
Thirteen blinked once then twice before asking his father a question.
"Old friends?" Thirteen asked. "You were friends with people from the Remington Family, Pops?"
Gerald nodded. "It's a bit complicated. The Lady whom my father wished for me to marry is now the wife of one of the Heirs of the Remington Family. The two of them are good friends of your mother and me, so I wasn't able to refuse their invitation."
"… Is this why Gramps is angry with the Remington Family?" Thirteen asked.
"Yeah," Gerald nodded. "He thought that the Remington Family used a strong-arm approach to break my engagement with my close friend Vivian, and forced her to marry my best friend, Elijah, instead.
"After I was disowned by the Leventis Family, the two of them reached out to help me, but I declined their offers because I didn't want to further strain the relationship between the Remington and the Leventis families.
"Since we're all close friends, we still keep in touch with each other despite not seeing each other. This time, I have no excuse since Mikhail is bound to be Spirited Away on the Night of the Solstice.
"I'm hoping that the Remingtons will look after him in Solterra, so I decided to accept their invitation to the party."
Thirteen scratched the back of his head before dialing his Uncle's number.
Three rings later, Michael picked up and Thirteen informed him of the current situation.
"… Understood," Michael replied. "I'll inform Father about Gerald's decision."
A second later, the line was cut.
Gerald looked at his son in surprise because he didn't know until now that Thirteen and Michael had exchanged contact numbers.
"Pops, since you and brother are going, I want to come as well," Thirteen stated. "Can I?"
Gerald pondered for a bit before nodding his head.
"As long as you behave and don't cause trouble, why not?" Gerald replied.
"Pops, have more faith in me," Thirteen patted his chest with confidence as if he was someone who wouldn't cause trouble for their family. "Relax, I'll behave and just observe my surroundings."
For some reason, Gerald had a nagging feeling that bringing Thirteen to the party wasn't a good idea.
However, he thought that he was just overthinking things and reluctantly agreed to his request.
Little did Thirteen, Gerald, and Mikhail know that even though they didn't want to look for trouble in the party, there were people who didn't care about their opinions, and planned to make things difficult for them.
