Aiden was now faced with a dilemma. He needed to figure out if he wanted to leave right away with Emma or go back inside the Emberbane manor to think about it a little.

Aiden knew that going back to the Manor was a ballsy move considering that he had attacked the maid that had been supervising all his actions. He knew there would likely be some consequences that would result in him being restricted. There were good chances that Aiden wouldn’t be able to go where he wanted most of the time.

“You want to follow me, you’re sure about that, right?”

Emma looked at him in the eyes wondering what was happening. Wasn’t he the one who wanted this in the first place? There was a reason she had come here alone at night to meet him.

“Yes, I want to.”

“Hmm…”

There were a lot of things Aiden needed to think about as he sat down on the rooftop. Everything was moving so fast in his mind, as he kept thinking about so many different things.

‘System, that portal… where is it going to lead me?’

That was the one thing that made Aiden the most worried. What if that portal would guide him to the Nightshades directly? There were chances of that happening, and Aiden didn’t want that. There was a reason why he didn’t want to go to that meeting, after all.

However, Aiden didn’t get any answer. It seemed that the system didn’t seem too keen on accepting whatever question Aiden had about those things.

‘Ah. Fuck it, even if I go back there’s no way, I’ll be able to leave again. They will probably put me under a lot more security until the meeting. Melinda seemed extremely serious about it.’

‘It’s going to make me stronger, right?’

Aiden just wanted to confirm that one last time. He didn’t want to use this and get in the middle of the desert or something similar.

*Beep!*

[It will make you stronger, a lot stronger.]

Aiden dismissed his doubts as he knew that he wouldn’t be able to figure out anything if it kept going as it currently was.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

Aiden had made his choice, he took out the [Random Portal] in his hands and threw it onto the ground without the slightest hesitation.

“Emma, let’s go.”

Emma got closer to him, as she put one of her hands on his shoulders slowly entering the portal.

A huge blue portal appeared, it started pulling in the snow that was nearby, and there was a small voice that came from the other side of the portal.

“What the fuck is happening?”

The voice was deep and grave. It clearly belonged to a man, and he didn’t seem too pleased with whatever was happening.

Aiden knew that he couldn’t let this portal out for too long as he walked through it.

‘Let’s hope that nothing too bad happens…’

Aiden and Emma walked through it and the portal behind them closed immediately. However, there was a small problem, they couldn’t see anything at the moment. Everything was dark around them, as if they were in the bottom of a cave struggling to come out of it. The only thing visible was the snow that the portal had absorbed which was covering a little bit of the ground.

“Hello? Is someone here?”

Aiden didn’t sound too sure. He sounded worried.

“Why are you here? Who sent you? Was it Sylas, Melinda, Thorin…?”

The man casually pronounced the names of all the founding families without the slightest amount of stress. It was truly something interesting to experience.

“Hello? Answer me?”

‘Why can’t I see? Shouldn’t my eyes be able to see through the darkness now?’

Aiden remembered the training that he had gone through, but for some reason, one of his skills wasn’t working properly at the moment.

“No, no one sent us here. Actually, someone did but I have no idea who it really is?”

The grave voice spoke up once again, seemingly interested in what Aiden had just said.

“Explain.”

“I got here because of a reward from the system.”

‘The system?’ The man thought.

Aiden couldn’t see his face at the moment. But it was clear that there was a little bit of surprise on his face.

‘Why would they send him here? Now or all times…’

“A reward? What trial number did you reach?”

Aiden didn’t know why the man was suddenly asking such a question, but he answered nonetheless.

“Fourth, it’s a reward from the fourth one.”

The man didn’t say anything for a few moments. Probably thinking about some stuff while Aiden was panicking because he couldn’t hear anything anymore.

A mumble was then heard, “The fourth one… only that many.”

Even more questions appeared in both Aiden’s and Emma’s minds. They couldn’t help but wonder about what was happening at the moment. There were so many things to consider, but Aiden could sort of feel that they would be getting an answer soon enough.

“So, the system sent you? Is that right?”

“Yes, exactly. I’m sorry if we came here uninvited, but we ran into a little bit of a problem.”

The voice didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Only tapping his foot on the ground.

“Young man, can I ask you a question?” The voice muttered.

Aiden was intrigued. “Sure, go right ahead.”

“Do you possess Qi? Can you use it?”

‘Where the fuck did that come from?’

Aiden had no idea why the man had just asked him that when there were clearly no indications that Aiden had access to such an energy. Still, Aiden didn’t mutter the slightest thing just yet.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Wondering about something.”

It was a vague answer and Aiden wasn’t convinced about telling the man the truth. There was something amiss here.

“Before I answer, can’t you tell me where I am?” Aiden asked.

“My home.”

The answers were so sharp and vague that Aiden was almost mistaking himself.

“And where is that exactly?”

“The middle of nowhere. Now answer my question, can you use Qi?”

Your journey continues on empire

“I can, now answer my question, where the fuck am I?”

The two of them were asking questions one after another without the slightest break. Emma who was hearing the two of them couldn’t help but shake her head in response.

“He can use it… There’s no way, right?”

Those were mumbles, but Aiden was so close to the man that he had heard them.

“Can YOU FUCKING TELL ME WHAT’S HAPPENING?”

Aiden was getting pissed off, his questions were getting ignored over and over again, and there was nothing he could do about it. As Aiden shouted as loudly as he could, a strong light finally appeared, showing everything that was around.

Aiden’s guess from earlier had been right, they were in a small cave in the middle of nowhere. Aiden swiftly looked around himself, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was just a small little cave that served as a home.

‘But why the fuck did the system send me here? Is there even a point in doing all of this?’

Aiden didn’t understand why he needed to be in the middle of a cave in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t understand how such a thing would make him stronger.

In his mind, he had just lost a lot of time being sent here.

Aiden looked at the man whose voice was belonging and he looked exactly like what he had imagined earlier.

The man was tall and bulky. He had a huge beard with a few weapons behind his back. If anyone were to look at him, they would have no problem saying that he looked like a caveman.

“Hello, I’m Jake, but you probably know me better as the Mercenary.”

Jake extended his hand forward, announcing that he wanted to shake Aiden’s hand.

However, there was not the slightest movement coming from Aiden. He just looked at the man in front of him without moving. Memories started flowing in his mind. He remembered months ago when Maelis had talked to him about the Mercenary, someone who was roaming the world. A man so powerful that he wasn’t bound by any of the families.

‘How did I end up here?’

“T-The Mercenary?”

This time it was Emma who spoke up. She seemed even more shocked to know about the identity of the man in front of him.

“What about you? What’s your name, young man?” Jake asked, still with his hand out.

“Right. Sorry, the name is Aiden… Aiden Nightshade.”

“Hmm, interesting, you come from Sylas’s family. Are you a direct member or did he recruit you?”

Aiden looked at him dead in the eyes. “None of those options, I was kicked out of the family.”

For some reason, it felt very good to be able to say such a thing out loud. It was like a weight had been removed from his shoulders.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep