The Glorious Evolution

”Seal... I also assumed as much later on.” Levi frowned, ”The letter didn’t make much sense to me... it gave me the feeling that the Priest didn’t truly care about the Ashora Bloodline being saved as he wrote, but more about retrieving the Sun Amulet from the Dawn Phoenix.”

Dominic and Feng Ling nodded in agreement, reaching the same conclusion... they could tell the Sun Amulet wasn’t like anything they had expected. In fact, they instantly connected the dots and realized that the Radian wanted the Sun Amulet for the sake of Emperor Azhukar.

But why? As the question echoed in their minds, the first two things that came to their attention were: the dimensional wallet, or seeking to rescue Azhukar from imprisonment.

’What do you think?’ Feng Ling asked telepathically.

’I have my money on the dimensional wallet.’ Dominic said, ’Ashora Empire isn’t in the dimensional sector of our supervising Radian... this means, he wouldn’t have much contact with him to care about saving him. He is after his treasures, and the Saviors didn’t give us such details to keep us in the dark about them so we wouldn’t get greedy.’

Feng Ling nodded in agreement... he knew that the Radians couldn’t care less about anyone outside their social status... in their eyes, even Azhukar was nothing more than a strong follower.

But a follower was always a follower.

’This is quite bothersome.’ Dominic knitted his eyebrows, ’Giving him the broken Sun Amulet would help us with nothing... he doesn’t care about the death toll or the effort, only the result. But, if we don’t hand it to him, he might assume we found the secret and somehow managed to keep the dimensional wallet.’

Dominic understood that dealing with Radians required three things: respect, reliability, and truth.

He wouldn’t dare lie to them as he knew that the supervising Radian would have the tools to fish out the broken Sun Amulet... if he found it on them, it would only get worse for their planet as a whole.

’In other words... we must hand the broken Sun Amulet to the Saviors and explain the situation in full detail.’ Feng Ling said solemnly, ’We can’t have his wrath backfire on us.’

’Yes... but, since he desires the dimensional wallet, this means that he seeks a certain treasure or a couple at most.’ Dominic held his chin thoughtfully, ’A Radian will never greed for a whole wallet as they have Azhukar’s treasures just lying around in the Upper Realms... Azhukar might have stored what the Radian wanted in the treasury and not his wallet.’

’Doubtful... if even a Radian sought after such treasure, its value must be so high, Azhukar would be a fool to leave it in the treasury and not on him.’ Feng Ling shook his head.

’I know... It’s a shot in the dark, but we have to.’ Dominic uttered sternly, ’If the Bishop were to ever hear about the broken Sun Amulet, he will know that we are out of cards, and we have no backing... trust me, he will get aggressive, and your continent won’t handle it.’

’...How bothersome, indeed.’ Feng Ling rubbed his eyelids.

Meanwhile, Levi could tell they were speaking telepathically. He couldn’t hear their words, but their expressions said enough... his lie had been accepted, and they were already discussing possible ways to deal with their dilemma.

’As much as it pains me... I can’t have them know about the Cannon, or Azhukar’s wallet.’ Levi thought inwardly.

Levi knew the smartest choice to make was to please the supervising Radian with what he wanted... such a decision was going to affect the entire planet in a good way, and bring them closer to their eternal freedom from the nightcrawlers.

He wasn’t keeping the cannon on him because it was a powerful S+ Artifact... he understood that it was nothing more than a hot potato. If a Radian wanted it badly, he was going to do whatever it took to find it again. This meant Levi and the others might be put in the Radian’s crosshair.

To make matters worse? Levi couldn’t use the cannon currently, even if he wanted to... as mentioned before, the artifacts must be registered under one’s name before utilization if one wanted to operate them.

The same went for artifacts based on dark energy, which the nightcrawlers and other Shadow Dimension natives used. The artifacts were the same... the only difference was the decided-on fuel choice.

It was like the Solar Aegis Sanctuary was the government controlling gasoline and prohibiting anyone from using it in their vehicles unless they had their names registered on that specific vehicle.

After all, a process must be happening for an artifact that had no relation to solar or dark energy, for it to accept operation under them... only those two organizations had this kind of power in everyone’s knowledge.

’The same applies to other artifacts in the wallet... all of them are registered under Azhukar’s name, which makes them nothing more than collectible junk unless...’ Levi removed the next thought from his mind.

He knew that he could sell those treasures in the network anonymously... after all, with Azhukar’s death, the registered artifacts would have the chance to replace his name with another.

However, Levi knew that the moment Azhukar’s registered artifacts started having their names changed, they would leave a trail for the Radian to follow.

He might not reach Levi through the trail since the Boundless Expanse’s privacy laws were strict on everyone... ancient races included... but the fact that his treasures appeared in the market implied two things:

Either Levi lied to everyone and somehow possessed the wallet, or Azhukar had died and someone else found his wallet. The last thing Levi needed was to be in a Radian’s crosshair, considering his bloodline situation.

In simpler terms... Levi couldn’t touch those artifacts until he was strong enough to handle the consequences of dealing with a Radian.

After a few more questions to finalize the report, Dominic and Feng Ling left Levi to rest in peace.

If Dominic and Feng Ling had suspected that Levi might be lying without breaking the contract, they would have scrutinized his story, questioning every detail.

But, Nocturnal Contracts’ authority was simply unquestionable... unless one had more than a single seed.

As for Jasmine’s loot from the treasury? They decided to inquire about it the next morning after everyone recovered a bit from such a horrid exploration attempt.

In their eyes, anything that could have gone bad went.

If only they knew the truth.

If only they knew that if it wasn’t for Jasmine and Levi, no one would have returned.

If only they knew that Levi had single-handedly defeated Azhukar... a name that struck terror in the hearts of many... their reaction would have been so much different.

But these secrets... they must be taken to the grave.

With them gone, Levi turned to Jasmine, and he found that she was also looking at him.

-Is everyone safe?- Jasmine asked... her memory blank.

-Our team, yes... but the other two lost a couple of members.- Levi signed back, -I don’t know how they will handle it once they find out...-

Levi knew that it was a horrible thing to do... to erase their memories of what happened to their friends, as it would leave them without closure. But, it had to be done.

If it were the old Levi, he would have started questioning the morality of such a decision... but now? Whether it was moral or not, he only cared about the big picture.

And he simply couldn’t leave Jasmine’s and his secrets in their hands... one of them already allowed his greed to screw everyone up and almost get them killed.

He had no plans for a repeat.