Dimensional Descent

Orinik and the others kept their heads lowered the entire time, not wanting to get involved in these matters. They didn't have a mother like Alienor to rely on, so staying low was the best option they had for now. What Orinik didn't expect, though, was that he would be stopped.

"Hold." Ossenna's voice sounded not long after Alienor vanished. "The rest of you can go. You, stay."

Orinik's lowered gaze flashed for a moment as though he was calculating something. He could hear the shuffling feet around him as though the other Ranked disciples vanished one after another, leaving him behind. Though Ganor hesitated for a moment, he ultimately did as he was told and vanished as well.

"Ossenna?"

One of the male Sector Ranked disciples who had followed after her looked toward her with a questioning gaze. There wasn't exactly anything wrong with what Ossenna was doing, but it was definitely a gray zone, especially since he could guess the kind of questions she would ask.

For the sake of maintaining their façade of equality and fairness, the Void Palace took several measures, not the least of which were the rules surrounding the Selection process. Usually, Alienor wouldn't' even be allowed to be an Overseer as she would be biased toward her Sector, but even that potential trouble was mitigated by the True Selection set to take place in three hours.

That said, in order to prevent the spread of rumors, fellow Overseers weren't meant to question the methods of their colleagues either. If no one was asking questions, then there wouldn't be scandals to be found.

This was to say that Ossenna's act in stopping Orinik was most definitely toeing a vague line that she may very well have already crossed. However, she didn't mind her fellow Sector Ranked disciple in the slightest as she asked her question.

"I don't want to question Lady Alienor's methods, I'm only very curious. They were several months late and they even handed out an Amethyst Token, how could I not be intrigued? This year, there was only one other Amethyst Token given."

Orinik's gaze flickered once more, but his head remained downward as he knew these words weren't directed at him but were rather a method of Ossenna using semantics to absolve herself of responsibility.

What was more shocking, though, was that there was only one other Amethyst Token given out. While it was true that they were exceptionally rare and only a handful would be given out every Selection Round, this was still a matter of relativity.

Though Orinik had said in his speech that there were many years not a single Amethyst Token would be handed out, he had only exaggerated for impact. This was a usual approach the envoys took because the criteria for handing out an Amethyst Token were so vague that there would often be geniuses who thought they were greatly deserving who would cause a commotion over them.

It would be fine if it was just the genius alone who acted, but if their family got involved as well, it could lead to a messy situation. So, it was best if they all believed it was far out of their reach, only when they came to the Void Palace would they understand the truth.

Of course, this wasn't to say that the Amethyst Token was some ubiquitous thing. There were tens of thousands of Sectors in the Human Domain and only a handful of Amethyst Tokens would be given out. But, if what Ossenna said was true, that meant that this year there would only be one who was truly deserving of it…

That was unheard of!

Obviously, Orinik didn't count Leonel among this number. In his view and any objective person's view, it was a matter of clear nepotism. If not for this, he would have never laid a finger on such a reward.

This only meant one of two things… Either this generation was so devoid of talent that hardly anyone was worth it or… This generation was so talented that no single person could seem to claim a Sector for themselves. And Orinik had a sneaking suspicion that it was the latter.

It seemed that Leonel would have to suffer for his mother's 'kindness'.

A small smile curled his lips as he kept his head lowered.

Orinik would be lying if he said he didn't get a small bit of satisfaction from this. His life in the Void Palace was very hard and he had to scratch and claw for everything. And soon, Leonel would realize that there were some things that couldn't just be handed to you on a silver platter no matter who your mommy or daddy was.

"Explain the events of the Selection to us."

Hearing these words finally aimed toward him, Orinik didn't hesitate to explain everything he knew. He didn't embellish anything as there was simply no need to. The truth spoke for itself.

The amused expression in Ossenna's eyes only grew with every passing moment. She had thought that there would be some things to nitpick at here and there, but she had never thought that Alienor would actually be so brazenly biased. She almost couldn't refrain from laughing out loud.

In addition, judging by the recounting, that man's son was definitely far weaker than he was at that age. It seemed that she had overestimated him because of how easily had adapted to the Anarchic Force. But, guessing by the rest of the story, Ossenna wouldn't' even be surprised if Alienor had delayed things for so long to use some artificial method to prepare Leonel for this environment.

Though Ossenna was incorrect about this, she still felt like this was the most logical guess, or why else would Alienor put such a brazen target on her son's back.

'To need several months to adapt to this level of Anarchic Force…' Ossenna shook her head. '… It seems that your otherwise pure genes have been tainted by the trash that is your mother. That man had so many women to choose from, and yet she chose a pathetic Galaxy Ranked disciple to ruin his lineage with.

'How strong would our children have been?! We could have built an Empire! But you actually chose that nameless bitch from a Sixth Dimensional family.'

Ossenna's irises turned a darker shade before she calmed, her expression still the picture of stillness.

She would enjoy this very much.