Chapter 43 – Solar System?

“King Ian, the secret realm had opened.”

At this time, Ian’s chin was boredly resting on his knuckles. Elder Alaric entered the hall.

Ian’s eyes lit up. “It’s finally opened? Great!” He stood up from his throne, excitedly.

It had been two months since he turned into the King of the Blood Realm. He had been bored out of his mind, and his strength barely grew. After all, unlike other vampires, he had already reached the ceiling power level of the Curtained Imperium. In analogy, if the Grand Elder was level 10, Ian was level 12.

Unless he madly slaughtered and devoured the top powerhouses of the Curtained Imperium to obtain biomass. It would be hard for him to have another breakthrough at his current state.

Fortunately, not everything was bad news. He learned that there might be several beasts inside the God of War Secret Realm on par with or even stronger than the Grand Elder.

Usually, true vampires, higher vampires, and a few selected Elders would venture into the Secret Realm. At the outer ring, the beasts were still manageable for true vampires. On the other hand, the inner ring, even higher vampires had to tread carefully while the Elder could still roam freely. However, at the core ring, few Elders had walked out alive to tell the tale. Out of five, maybe only one would normally come out.

For this reason, every dark race forms a temporary truce inside. For instance, even if a party of werewolves and vampires encounter each other inside the Secret Realm, they wouldn’t bother with each other’s business. Well, unless there was irresistible temptation enough for them to disregard the unspoken rule and bear the consequences.

“Who would be with me this time?” Ian yawned with his golden eyes fixed on Alaric.

Alaric couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. He couldn’t help but be reminded of the laser eye’s terror. Those golden lasers that, with one sweep, managed to bring all the seated elders down to their knees.

“Well, the Grand Elder told us that he wants to come out of seclusion and join the team. As for the others… They’re mostly composed of four higher vampires and one seated Elder.” Alaric said. “Usually, it was allowed to send five elders and twelve higher vampires or true vampires. But now, since Grand Elder has decided to come. We could only do this…”

“Why does the Grand Elder want to join? Isn’t his seclusion more important than anything else? Ian appeared to be confused for a while.

“He wants to assure your safety. After all, you’re the hope of the vampire race to rise.”

“Assure my safety? Are you fucking joking with me? If I really encounter something I couldn’t defeat. Do you think the Grand Elder would be able to do anything?

Ian’s questioning made Alaric speechless. After all, what he said made sense. Since the Grand Elder was weaker than Ian. Why does he even dare to act like a bodyguard? Does Ian even need to have a bodyguard?

“Well, but it’s still safe to have at least someone who was near your strength close you, right? What if you got encircled with those terrifying beasts from the Core Ring?” Alaric could only answer reluctantly.

Ian waved his hand with a sigh. “Fine… But I won’t care about the other members’ business. They might just get in the way. Their goal should be the Outer and Inner Ring. Only the Grand Elder had the strength to follow me in the Core Ring… Understood?”

“Naturally.” Alaric nodded with a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat on his forehead. ‘Fortunately, he’s not a tyrant.’

“Lead the way.” Ian smiled faintly, unaware of Alaric’s thoughts.

“Let’s go…” Alaric went beside Ian.

As they walked in the hall, every servant along the way greeted Ian respectfully. Some bowed their heads at him. Ian took his time to acknowledge their presence one by one. Power hasn’t climbed to his head. Inwardly, he was quite uncomfortable being treated in such a way. He had gone to the lengths to convince the vampire council to announce that he doesn’t want others kneeling before him. If not for that, normally, everyone he encountered, except for the twelve seated elders, would have had to kneel before his presence.

Such a hassle, Ian didn’t have such a weird superiority complex to feed his ego. External validations and praises aren’t something that he values. Contrarily, they’re just distractions on his path to power. He prefers to stay grounded and respect those who respect him, or those truly deserving to be respected.

Ian might be utilitarian. But he still carried over the manners that he had cultivated on Earth. Those manners might not be suited to this dark world. But to Ian? He had the strength to act however he wanted, and he chose to just be himself. Strength allows one to have freedom. To act unrestrained. Not bound by others’ personal wishes.

Situation is bigger than someone’s personal wishes? Yeah, but strength foremost dictates the situation.

‘Wait, what am I even yapping about?’

Ian thought as he greeted a servant who bowed to him with a smile. Every servant in the hall had at least the strength of a true vampire, and they’re merely servants.

How about the guards? Their strength had reached higher vampires at average.

Just like that, they reached a place unfamiliar to Ian. “Is it my first time here? What is this place?” he looked around him.

The ceiling and the background displayed a cosmos. He could even see planets fixed in an orbit and rotating at a snail’s pace. “Is this the solar system? But where’s the Earth? Where’s the sun?”

Darkness, stars, and cosmic dust were merely projections that Ian tried to touch, but his fingers merely passed through them. He could only stare in amazement around him. “Beautiful…” his voice trailed.

“Beautiful, right?” Alaric pointed at the planets. “This isn’t the solar system of the Human World. Do you see that dark planet surrounded by blue dust? That’s our Curtained Imperium. A thousand times bigger than the so-called Sun of the Human World!”

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