Armipotent

"Let's leave." Zander ignored Olympus and walked away from the tower.

"What about them…." Upendo tried to call his leader, but he got a stern glare from his superior. He shut his mouth and followed Zander.

"Where…." Alkis was about to call Zander out, but Natasa was faster to take action. She elbowed him. "Shut up!"

As the Uprising Guild left the entrance to the tower. Natasa broke up. "Can you not speak? Every time you speak, you bring trouble to us! You keep mindlessly provoking others without thinking of the consequences at all!"

"They mocked us! They insulted us! How can you let them do that without doing anything? We have to defend our honor regardless of who they are!" Alkis did not back down. His face turned red, not willing to admit his mistake.

"That pride of yours will get us all killed. Are you aware of that? Does your pride more important than your life?" Natasa had enough of Alkis's antics. "Not just you try to act up against the Uprising Guild, but also the Tang Empire."

She saw the same man in a different attire than the earlier group of six. She overheard the Uprising Guild whisper. They were murmuring about the Tang Empire and the Emperor when the group appeared. That was enough clue for her to know that the man was from the Tang Empire, not just a normal member, but the emperor himself. The man she met yesterday in the plaza was the emperor of the Tang Empire, and Aldis almost clashed with the emperor.

"Don't you remember the man with the suit just now? He was the same man we met yesterday, and he was the emperor of the Tang Empire. If you don't stop doing stupid things, you will put us in danger!"

As soon as she brought up the Tang Empire, the others were immediately alarmed as they turned toward Alkis.

The white-armored man spoke up. "We do need to speak before we start our run in the dimensional tower." While he said that to everyone, Alkis was aware that the words were directed toward him.

"I agree with Natasa in this matter, Alkis. Our pride is nothing compared to our lives, and we need help from the other factions to clear the tower because we don't have a portal. Food is not an issue since we can hunt the beasts outside, but we need their help with our equipment. We can't just antagonize any factions here, especially not the Tang Empire, or else we will get isolated by the other factions too."

The white-armored was the leader of Olympus, Vaso Galliades. His words had more weight on Alkis than Natasa. Vaso's concern was not groundless as he had met with First Order Guild's leader, Herman Bonivido. The only guild that was willing to give them more information about the dimensional tower.

At the end of their conversation, Herman warned him not to get on the Tang Empire's bad side. The First Order Guild's leader told him that no one dared to oppose the Tang Empire, including the ten big factions. Once Olympus had an odd with the Tang Empire, the other ten factions would not dare to help them. From Herman's reminder, it was clear that the Tang Empire had established itself as the strongest faction here. His faction was done for if they offended the empire.

"I…" Alkis still tried to defend himself, but Vaso shook his head. "I understand your feelings, but please understand our circumstances, Alkis. We are not strong enough to stand side by side with the top eleven factions. We don't have a portal like theirs that can connect to our main base. We have limited force, while the eleven factions can transfer their force anytime through the portal. Regardless of how strong we are, we can't beat them, especially when the other factions have more numbers than us."

Vaso then turned toward the other three vice-leaders. "We will put a hold on our expedition into the tower."

Olympus' members nodded understandingly as they turned around, leaving Vaso and Alkis.

"I understand your feelings. I am also frustrated when the other factions look down on us, but the only way to change that is to get stronger. We have to get stronger if we want other people to respect us, and that's our main purpose in coming here. Be patient; it's just a matter of time until we catch up with the top eleven factions." Vaso said in a small voice to Alkis. "I have confidence in our potential, in your potential. I just need you to be patient until then, Alkis."

*** ***

The group of six arrived at the starter city. Tang Shaoyang spoke up not to help Olympus, but he genuinely wanted to cooperate with the other guilds once they reached the eleven floor. Once everyone arrived here, it was not about factions anymore, but between worlds. He hoped for the other factions' cooperation instead of conquering the earth for himself. It was not that easy to unite the earth under one faction, after all. So he tried to stop the conflict between factions; though the others did not have a good impression of the empire, he still wanted their cooperation.

Tang Shaoyang led the group out of the small dome, and he continued to the main road to the meeting place. But soon, he realized the others did not follow him. He turned around; Zhang Mengyao, Lu An, Marshal Alton, Moonsong, Aleesa, and Virion were looking around, looking at the empty region with weird stares. It was the same look when he discovered the empty region.

"We don't have time to go sightseeing, but you guys can continue the sightseeing after the meeting." Tang Shaoyang cracked a joke. There was nothing to see in this empty region, after all.

"No, it's just weird to see an empty area that looks abandoned but well-maintained." Zhang Mengyao muttered in a low voice while the others agreed with her, nodding in agreement. It was the same reaction when Tang Shaoyang arrived for the first time.

The group departed from their region toward the Administrative Building where the meeting was, the only neutral area in the starter city. The administrative building was guarded heavily by heavy-armored guards under three different flags.

"It seems we are lacking compared to them." Tang Shaoyang whispered in a low voice upon noticing the hundreds of guards.

The guards exuded a strong aura around them, and all of them were cautious of each other despite knowing the fight was not allowed inside the city. However, the attention shifted to the approaching group of six.

As Tang Shaoyang approached the stairs, three guards in dark-gold armor blocked the path. "Halt! State your name and origin!"