"What? Father? How can you do this?" Both Ellia’s parents were protesting to her grandfather.

"Christian. Helen. I’ve made my decision. Or are you telling me what to do?" Her grandfather asked, glaring at them. His gaze was much sharper and colder this time.

Both of them suddenly froze. He rarely looked like this, but when he did, it would be better to shut their mouths.

Their bodies began shaking. They had just heard about the decision and wanted Ellia to return, but he chose not to do it.

"If you are so capable, do it yourself without damaging the group then. You can’t even do anything because that’s how incapable you are!" He glared at them.

"I don’t really care how capable they are, but I hope you don’t mind if I make a sudden visit, Xavier." An aged voice soon echoed from the opposite side of the room.

Christian and Xavier were startled and turned around, seeing a familiar old man.

On the other hand, Ellia’s grandfather, Xavier, only chuckled. "I wonder what I have done to owe you a visit, Mathias."

Xavier glanced to the side, smiling at Mathias. Yes, the one who came this time was Mathias Relesha, Maya’s grandfather.

Mathias was wearing a long black coat and holding a black cane to support him. He nodded slightly while holding his black, round hat.

Suddenly, a group of people entered the room. All of them were wearing suits. Their strength couldn’t be underestimated.

"Sir!"

"Enemy?"

"Secure him!"

The bodyguards were trying to neutralize Mathias, but Mathias simply hit the ground with the bottom of his cane, and the next thing they realized, a blackout occurred for a second.

It might be just an electrical surge or something that disrupted the electricity. It wasn’t exactly uncommon.

But the moment the light went back up again, the next thing they realized, the same number of men had appeared. All of them had been placing their blades on the bodyguards’ necks.

All of them were wearing black uniforms, similar to the ones that the adjudicators used, but slightly different to make them look special as the ones coming from the Relesha family.

The bodyguards froze. They didn’t expect that it would only take a second for all these people to appear and kill them if they wanted to.

"You..." Christian and Helen panicked.

Mathias smiled at them. "Why don’t you two shut your mouths while the adults are talking?"

Both of them were trembling and immediately shut their mouths.

Xavier glanced around before saying, "To think that you are even bringing the hunting dogs here, Mathias. I don’t think there’s any reason for your visit this time, though. Are you just trying to provoke me?"

Xavier emanated such powerful pressure that it felt like the entire mansion was shaking

The people Mathias brought could feel the extreme pressure that made it hard for them to breathe.

Mathias casually grabbed the couch and moved it closer to Xavier so that they could talk face-to-face.

"While I was trying to fix a certain mess, I happened to monitor the situation. I never thought that you were suddenly searching for information about the person that had piqued my interest..." Mathias smiled casually, not affected by the pressure.

"..." Xavier paused for a few seconds before the pressure vanished into thin air. "I see. So, you’re the one moving the adjudicators this time..."

"Indeed."

Once the missing piece had been revealed, Xavier finally got a clear picture. "I know how much you love your granddaughter, but I never thought you were willing to go to such lengths to protect even her student. Are you worried that she will have her heart broken?"

"I guess what your granddaughter said about you is correct, Xavier. You’ve grown rusty. Maybe you should stop sitting around your mansion and start going out to get some fresh air?" Mathias smiled.

Xavier didn’t expect that he was told the same thing twice. It looked like there was indeed something going on with Maya’s student.

"So, you are here to warn me? I don’t really like people threatening me, you know that, Mathias."

"Unfortunately, that’s the case this time, Xavier."

"You’re willing to go to such lengths? Are you really willing to risk an all-out war between our two families?"

"I am telling you that even if I have to massacre your entire family, nothing will happen to me." Mathias’ voice became extremely cold. This was a threat... a threat beyond a simple warning.

Both the Relesha family and the Astler family were among the strongest influences in the country. And Mathias was actually willing to risk it all for the sake of a single student.

It was Mathias’s way of saying that something was going on with this student.

"..." Xavier closed his eyes for a moment. "So, what do you want to say?"

"I just want to say that let the youngsters solve their own problems. We can support them, but this is a problem they created. If they end up using our protection all the time, they won’t be able to grow. Isn’t that what has been plaguing you this whole time?"

Xavier’s eyebrows twitched. He was striking where it hurt. Christian and Helen were exactly the examples of what Mathias was saying.

"I just don’t want us, the old ones, to intervene. Whatever the outcome, don’t put your hands there. If they end up dead because of it, then so be it. However, if the old ones like us join the party, people will mistake it as picking a fight with kids."

"Heh?" Xavier grinned. "I guess I’m a little rusty. How about having a drink, my friend?"

Mathias shook his head. "As much as I want to do that, unfortunately, I have no time today."

He stood up and walked away before stopping right in front of the door. The sound of his footsteps felt so loud that it made their hearts feel as though they were going to stop every time they heard them.

Mathias tapped the ground with his cane again, and the light turned dark for another second. Once the light was up, all the people he had brought had vanished as though they were never there in the first place.

Mathias turned around and grabbed his hat before putting it on his chest as he bowed like a gentleman. "I’m sorry for taking up your time, my friend. Let’s meet again another day."

Mathias then walked away without anyone being able to do anything.

Xavier closed his eyes. The message was very clear. There was something he didn’t know about Auric. He might be hiding something even greater.

His granddaughter managed to find it. She had always had good judgment.

It looked like his granddaughter would be able to surpass him soon.

’My greatest joy might not be from them...’ Xavier glanced at Christian and Helen. ’...it is my granddaughter. I may have really grown rusty. I guess I will have a little workout.’

Xavier just leaned on his couch, closed his eyes, and waved his fingers, gesturing for everyone to leave the room.

...

While everything was happening, the person that caused all this mess was actually playing around in Maya’s mansion.

He was sitting on a couch with both arms up, closely observing the energy he had released.

Maya, who had just returned from her office, walked into the house and saw Auric playing around. Normally, Auric would have either gone back or greeted her.

This time, he looked so preoccupied. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Maya crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "What are you doing?"

"Welcome back, Teacher." Auric finally noticed her after she said something. However, his eyes were still locked on the lump of energy he had released.

Maya couldn’t see it, but Auric was releasing two different energies.

"I am trying to make a storage."

"Don’t you already have the space storage?" Maya tilted her head. "It shouldn’t be that hard for you to do it."

"No..." Auric released two gray energies. The first one had a slight pinkish aura, while the other one had a slight greenish aura. The first one represented the space element, while the second one reflected the time element.

"So...?" Maya furrowed her eyebrows as a portal formed. This was the same space storage Auric usually used, and she found nothing unusual.

Auric smiled and stood up before extending his hand. "Teacher. Can I borrow your watch?"

"My watch?" Maya didn’t think much about it. She simply took it off and tossed it to him. "Sure. Catch!"

Auric carefully caught it and checked the time.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I’m going to do this..." Auric confirmed the time first. "Right now, it’s eight fifteen and forty-two seconds..."

After that, he tossed the watch into the storage.

Auric raised both of his index fingers, waving them as though he was counting time.

After ten seconds, he said, "Ten seconds have passed. Let’s check it, shall we?"

Auric took out the watch and checked the time again, seeing the needle just move to the next second.

"It looks like the experiment works." Auric smiled.

"What experiment?" Maya was bewildered.

Auric tossed back her watch to demonstrate the result. When she checked the time, she noticed the ten-second difference. "That is not space storage anymore?"

"Yes. It has now become a space-time storage or just a storage for short. I have fused the space energy and the time energy before using the space storage. Any objects I put inside will have their time stopped."

Maya raised her eyebrows. She certainly didn’t expect this one. "Elemental fusion? You haven’t told me about that."

Auric tilted his head in confusion before realizing that he had learned it from Lindwurm before the departure and he really didn’t have time to actually tell her. "Ah! Oops."

Maya took a deep breath as if she were trying to calm down. Auric not telling everything happened all the time.

"In any case, this storage is now complete. No food will rot, and no heat will dissipate... I guess I can store piping hot food and enjoy it during camping." Auric smirked.

Maya looked at Auric for a few seconds before walking to him. "Okay. I was supporting you before, but now I’m jealous."

"Jealous? W-What?" Auric was startled.

"How can I not be jealous? If you want something cold, you can have it. You can even bring ice cream around. It can even help with combat. Just pull the pins on a few grenades and toss them inside. You just have to open the storage to release it and they will go boom without you wasting time pulling the pin anymore. Do you know how good it is? It can mean a lot of things. Just don’t tell anyone about this."

"Why?"

"You even ask why? Just imagine putting a nuclear bomb that has been activated in there. If you really want to commit suicide, you can bring along many people." Maya shook her head helplessly.

"..." Auric wanted to deny it as if he had never intended to commit suicide, but it was definitely possible to bring a nuclear bomb if he really had one.

"See?" Maya shrugged. "So, since you have learned elemental fusion, I suppose you are going to create new techniques that can utilize elemental fusion. I guess you already know how to create a new technique from scratch, considering you are the one who creates the gathering techniques?"

"I—" Before Auric could answer, Lindwurm actually said, "No, you don’t. All this time, you’ve only been altering or adjusting an existing technique. Creating it from scratch requires a different process."

Auric was a bit surprised by Lindwurm’s response. At the same time, he realized that he had been altering techniques, not creating a new one.

Even his ’Edict’ was an alteration from Mr. Popo’s ’Golden Finger.’ And Lindwurm was the one handling most of the process.

So, he realized that because he was so good at learning a new technique, he actually never learned how to create one from scratch.

Auric scratched the back of his head and said, "Actually, I don’t. Can you teach me?"