Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 1472  Elder Joe of Violet Star Palace!

The door to the star shuttle slid open with a smooth mechanical hiss, and three figures descended onto the surface of Cyrus, landing just a short distance away from the trial site.

The first to emerge was a young man whose face carried an expression of unmistakable arrogance, as though the very act of setting foot on this planet was beneath him.

Behind him walked a middle-aged man radiating a dignified and composed aura that seemed to settle over the surroundings like the weight of authority made visible.

Last came an old man with a full head of white hair, his aged features carrying the quiet depth of someone who had lived through more than most could imagine.

The seven family heads had barely taken a moment to register the trio before recognition flashed across their faces, their eyes locking onto the middle-aged man with a mixture of surprise and wariness that neither of them could fully conceal.

”Itʼs you, Elder Joe of the Violet Star Palace.” Mathew Grimes was the first to speak, his voice measured but carrying an unmistakable edge beneath its surface calm. ”What have you come to our sacred planet Cyrus for?”

The other family heads stood in silent agreement behind the question, their gazes fixed and expectant, waiting for an explanation that would justify such an unannounced visit to a world they held in reverence.

Joeʼs response was not an answer but a smile, broad and leisurely, as he let his gaze drift from one family head to the next with the unhurried ease of a man who had no reason to feel anything but comfortable. ”I see that you all are doing well,” he said, his tone carrying a warmth that was more performance than sincerity, the kind of pleasantry offered by someone who knows they hold the upper hand in any room they walk into.

His confidence was not unfounded. Within the structure of the Violet Star Palace, Joe occupied the rank of an ordinary elder, a position that commanded no exceptional prestige among the many powerful figures who filled the halls of that great organization.

However, the moment he stepped beyond the borders of the Violet Star Palaceʼs domain and into the presence of forces like the Black Dragon Clan, that same ordinary rank transformed into something far more imposing.

The Black Dragon Clan was recognized throughout the Divine Realm as one of the weakest among the third-rate forces, a designation that placed them in a different world entirely from the institution Joe served.

In the hierarchy of power that governed the Divine Realm, the gap between the two was wide enough that an ordinary elder of the Violet Star Palace stood on ground equivalent to the very leaders of forces at the Black Dragon Clanʼs level.

This was the reality that had settled into Joeʼs bearing, shaping the quiet pride with which he carried himself as he stood before the seven family heads and offered them his easy, unbothered smile.

The distinction between the two forces was not a matter of opinion but of measurable, undeniable fact. The Violet Star Palace stood among the strongest of the third-rate forces across the entire Divine Realm, a status earned through dominion over an entire star system that they ruled without division or compromise, answerable to no neighboring faction and sharing their sovereignty with no one.

The Black Dragon Clan, by contrast, could claim no such independence. They occupied the Verdant Sky Star Realm alongside the Dark Phoenix Clan and the Heavenly Kirin Clan, three forces pressed together within a shared expanse of space, none of them powerful enough to hold the whole of it alone.

Beyond those three, the four divine clans also maintained their presence within the Verdant Sky Star Realm, further diluting the Black Dragon Clanʼs standing within the territory they called home.

The criteria by which the Divine Realm measured the strength of its third-rate forces was a standard that left no room for ambiguity or interpretation. To be counted among the strongest within that tier, a force had to exercise complete and unchallenged control over an entire star realm on their own, without sharing that dominion with rivals or neighbors.

This was the lowest threshold that the powerful recognized as worthy of that distinction, and it was a threshold the Black Dragon Clan had never crossed. The Violet Star Palace had long since surpassed it.

It was precisely this gap in standing that made the situation so difficult for the seven family heads to parse. An ordinary elder of the Violet Star Palace already outranked them by virtue of the institution he belonged to, and yet here he was, standing on Cyrus without warning or prior notice, appearing at the site of their trial with a young man and an old one at his side.

None of them could find a satisfying reason why a figure from one of the most powerful third-rate forces in the entire Divine Realm would trouble himself to travel to their trial planet, and the absence of that reason made the air between the two parties feel heavier with every passing moment.

Mathew Grimes maintained his composure as he responded, ”Your arrival is unexpected, Elder Joe. Our grand trial is currently underway. Surely your visit is not without reason.”

Joeʼs gaze drifted past the assembled family heads and settled on the Combat Legion Tower, his eyes narrowing as he studied it with the particular attention of someone encountering a familiar thing in an unfamiliar place.

He stood there for a moment in quiet contemplation, taking in the structure with an expression that mingled recognition with something harder to name, and then he spoke.

”So this is the Combat Legion Tower that your ancestor won from ours of the Violet Star Palace.”

The ancient stone, the faint pulsation of disciplined aura, the silent authority it radiated, all of it mirrored the tower that stood within the core grounds of the Violet Star Palace. Though separated by realms and time, the connection between the three towers was undeniable.

He had seen one since his youth, trained disciples within it, and watched countless talents rise and fall under its trials.

For a brief moment, his expression carried something that resembled contemplation.

Then it shifted.