As the shadowy figure approached Varian, a small globule of light squirmed in the air sneaking behind the uninvited guest.
He raised his arm and condensed a spinning hourglass. It's an attack no one in the alliance had seen. But if the Jai scholars were to witness it, they'd exclaim in shock and beg for a chance to study.
This was one of the legendary chrono arts that vanished with the Heaven Tribe.
<Stealing Time>
A mystic art that stole the time of the opponent, rendering them unable to move for that period.
It's an advanced art compared to the simple <Stopping> or <Slowing> the time of an enemy that's often used by the time awakeners of Jai.
<Stealing Time> was lost but the remnants of it inspired many techniques in the empire.
Once hit by this art, Varian would be a fish on the chopping board, at the mercy of the intruder.
'You're so dead.' The being whispered in its own mind and shot the attack.
Varian's body, already slowed due to the time formation, vibrated just so lightly. At the same instant, the globule of light burst into purple brilliance.
The power of Chaos affected the time art, causing it to hit him a moment later than otherwise.
And during that brief window, Varian's body dissolved into air as if he was vaporized.
"Where did h—"
The cloaked figure, now illuminated by the bright light, revealed himself to be a young man with strange features.
He had a third eye between his brows, a rune over each eye and symbols of infinity over arms.
Even though he kept his aura hidden, he was a newbie of divine ranks.
As he's about to take the next step, a hand patted his shoulder from behind and a cold voice whispered. "Shh. I'll take it from here."
Before the man could even try send a message, his soul was hit by a deep shock. Varian tried to read his memories but encountered a defense mechanism.
This was the strongest security measure against memory reading and enslavement he had come across. He could break through but it'd alert the other side.
With soul power alone, it's impossible to glean into anything.
(Let's fight! Enslave him!)
Varian smiled and his eyes glowed with a mix of green, white and black.
The power of chaos drilled into the mechanism, shaking up the mechanism while the power of order followed, keeping it from being destroyed.
In those gaps, the power of soul launched a shockwave at the fragile spirit and crushed it almost to the point of death.
As long as the soul dissipated, the mechanism would still send an emergency message.
So, Varian refrained from destroying the soul completely and tried to glean into its memories. Under such restrictions, there was little he could gain.
Other than a few pieces of information, he wasn't able to learn much. However, that little was enough to send his mind racing.
"What the fuck?"
Varian used the power of life, death and chaos to keep the man alive while turning him into a thing closest to death. The power of chaos hid him from all senses and kept him hidden.
His human body and spirit twisted lightly before they moprhed into the figure of the intruder—into the appearance of a Heaven tribesman.
All his other paths were carefully hiden by Logos and his time path was lowered to a newbie rank 1.
Then, Varian took a step forward and time rippled under his feet. The world shifted as time flowed and he stopped in front of a grand settlement, bustling with life.
The grand city was shining, its marvelous buildings built out of crystals and diamonds infused with tremendous aura.
Men, women and children moved in the streets, visiting stalls, relaxing in the parks and fighting in the arenas.
All of them had the same third eye and infinity arm marks. But the runes on their eyes were different. And not just different, they were unique.
"Nodon, what's up with the Shelios village?" A man wrapped his arm around the neck and asked with a smile.
In the guise of Nodon, Varian shook his head. "A wild beast got out of hand and triggered the mechanisms."
"Told you so~" The man chuckled, dragging him along as he approached a shop selling trinklets. "Let's continue our gamble. I found the efficient rune last time, this time, I'm betting for space complexity."
Varian raised a brow.
Qoteus, the best friend of Nodon, was a gambler who gambled just for the sake of it. He's a low rank 1 and was significantly stronger than Nodon. Though his reckless gambles in battles meant he's now working as a low paid employee of the city lord.
'And he's still gambling in his break time.'
The effect of the trinklets was hidden until they were opened. All customers would usually check them out and buy what they needed.
But this guy…
"I want to take a stroll." Varian said, pushing away the arm around him.
"Hey, hey!"
Ignoring the man who kept insisting for one more gamble, Varian took in the sights with a shocked heart.
He didn't dare to stretch his perception and scan the entire city. If found, such a rude action could cost him dearly.
But even a casual stroll through the populated streets allowed him to witness tens of thousands of people already.
'More than a million Heaven tribesmen are alive?' Swallowing his saliva, Varian continued. 'They are supposed to be extinct billions of years ago!'
And why would the Jai keep them alive? In a secret realm near the capital no less?
'Or maybe they weren't extinct. They were pushed into eternal slavery?' Varian looked around, eyes narrowing.
Despite running a full scan on Nodon, he couldn't find a trace of enslavement on him. If he ignored the mysterious runes on his eyes, there was no way this guy was a slave.
'What about the runes? Are they the source of enslavement?' Varian smiled at a child running by before frowning. 'Or are they really enslaved?'
"Grinning like a fool at the child. Nodon, your love of children is growing absurd." Qoteus snorted. "Going to reverse your age and relive your childhood again?"
Varian paused. Nodon did have that idea in mind.
"Not anytime soon." He quickened his pace, continuing the covert scan of everyone's powers.
Most of them were high celestial rankers. There were dozens and dozens of divine rankers, all of them rank 1. This single city might have enough divine rankers to rival the entire alliance.
'Since they didn't go extinct, there will be complete information on their Origin research. But how do I get it?'
Violence was the last resort. A tribe that lived through billions of years, even if it's probably ensalved, would be a terrible enemy to confront.
"Baah, how about I show you around the city lord palace?"
Varian, who had been keeping up a light chat with the frustrated Qoteus, turned to him at the suggestion.
The city council ruled the tribe and they usually didn't allow outsiders in. Though Nodon himself didn't care much about the administration procedures, even he knew that the city council was conducting a lot of advanced research.
"Wouldn't it be a problem if an outsider visits?" Varian asked, putting up a normal reaction.
"Nah. Employees can bring one person for visit once a month. I have yet to use it. But Nodon, you have to promise to properly gamble next time." Qoteus said with a serious gaze. "More than losing in a gamble, I hate my opponent dropping from it."
Varian shrugged.
The two headed to the palace. Varian noticed more than a bunch of peak rank 1s here, patrolling as security.
The structure was built out of pure white stone, different from the diamond buildings so far. And it was large enough to be a town in itself.
Watching Varian's expression as they climbed the stairs, passed the pillars and stepped into the corridor, Qoteus chuckled. "Told you it's fun. Those Ativ can only dream of such civilized buildings."
'Wait, what?' Varian looked at his expression, trying to guage if Qoteus was lying.
Ativ tribe referred to the ancestors of the Undead.
"You think I'm bragging?" Qoteus raised a brow.
Varian did not shake his head.
"Look, no matter how fancy their graveyards are, they are still graveyards. All they can think of is building more exquisite tombs. Uncivilized bugs." Qoteus sneered, pride evident on his face.
"V-Vita tribe." Varian probed, without going into any details.
"Vita is a little better, they're building some fancy hamlets and calling them cities but even our ruined hamlets look better. Even though we all started at the same place, our wisdom put us beyond the imagination of those dumb barbarians."
As they walked by, Qoteus started introducing the various blocks, rooms and history of each painting, mural and carving like he had nothing else to do.
"And this is the place where the biological research on wild beasts was commence—ohh! Elder Aion! May the Wisdom be yours!" Qoteus' carefree nature vanished as he hurriedly lowered his head and greeted.
An old man in gorgeous robes passed by, without even nodding. Varian too gave him a greeting and was ignored as well.
'A mid rank 2 even stronger than Hades. What the fuck?'
And this guy was an Elder. There's still a City Lord above him. Perhaps a high rank 2?
'I don't want to encounter hi—'
Without warning, Qoteus slammed Varian's third eye, a sharp blade glowing with potent poison in his hand.
It's an unexpected situation with both fighting and not fighting likely leading to bad outcomes.
Varian decided to fight and escape than be imprisoned and likely executed.
But as he's about to unleash his powers, the corridor lit up brightly and restrained Varian.
The old man from earlier held his neck and his power was suppressed. "A rat. Who sent you? Neveah or Vita?"