After the vacation, everyone's mind should feel refreshed—except Kai.

Kai still needed to finish a few paperwork in his hand and learned some information about what kind of conference he would attend after this.

On the other hand, the girls didn't bother him this whole time, and he knew the reason. He didn't stop them or say anything about their actions because he respected their will. Nonetheless, they wanted to get stronger to help him, so how could he say no?

Two days passed in a blink of eyes. Kai woke up after noticing a car park in front of his house. The suit and the documents had been prepared, so he only needed to wash himself for a bit and came out.

To his surprise, the person he met this time was a middle-aged man with long blue hair. He felt that he had seen this person somewhere, but he couldn't remember it.

"Nice to meet you, Sir Kai Carter. I am Julio Chambers. I am currently serving as the vice-minister of defense. I have heard everything about you from my daughter. Even some people from our department are your fans you know." The middle-aged man smiled.

"Chambers?" A certain figure appeared inside his head after hearing a familiar name. It was Michelle's former friend, serving as the current secretary of the Student Council. "Ah! Are you Miss Lexi Chambers's father? I have heard about her from Michelle."

"Yes. I am her father, though she is too shy to admit it." He smiled gently. "Anyway, I will be your partner during the negotiation."

"I understand. I am not that good at a job like this, so please guide me." Kai nodded and stretched his hand.

"Of course." Julio shook his hand. "Please come in first. We can talk about some important things inside."

Kai nodded and followed Julio to the car. They started talking about some important parts that might appear during the meeting.

Despite how he looked, Julio didn't talk anything about his daughter. He was very professional, leading Kai from one point to another without changing or mentioning a single clue about other topics.

Not long after, they arrived at the venue where they were supposed to meet.

The venue was not far from the school and military base since everything could happen in a conversation like this. In fact, the venue was built because of the past incident where an ambassador of another base got assassinated.

Even though the goal was clear, which was to take another step in clearing the magical beasts, some people still felt threatened by something like that. Kai perfectly understood it because he had experienced it himself in United Asia.

They entered the venue and waited inside a small room where the negotiation would convene.

It was a spacious room without many things inside it. A red carpet covered the floor, and the wall had a beautiful but simple wallpaper. One side of the room was completely filled with windows, letting the people inside see the scenery outside the room.

Kai closed his eyes as soon as he entered the room, checking everything inside. After that, he began observing his surroundings and let out a breath of relief because he didn't find a single suspicious thing or person. At least for now.

Julio didn't say anything about it because he knew Kai's ability.

A few minutes later, a staff member pushed open the door, stretching his hand and asking the two people in front of her to come in.

Kai already knew the second person since she had bothered him during the vacation. It was none other than Sofia. Meanwhile, he looked at the middle-aged man beside her with curiosity.

According to Julio, this man was Julia's father, Peter. He said he would handle Peter, so he didn't need to worry about this person.

Julio smiled and walked toward Peter. "Nice to meet you, Mister Peter."

"I am looking forward to our negotiation today." Peter nodded and shook his hand.

Julio then went toward Sofia and gently said, "I am honored to see the rumored Sofia Campbell. Listening to your name is like thunder reverberating on one's ear."

"Fufu, I can't handle such praise, Mister Julio."

Julio then shifted to the side and introduced Kai. "He is our Kai Carter. I was surprised to hear Miss Sofia want to meet him in the process."

He didn't forget to add 'Our' in Kai's introduction as if telling them, 'You can't snatch him from us.'

"I should be the one to say that I was surprised. I never thought that the US Base would make an exception for a student to get an army rank. It made me curious to see the person in question." Sofia ignored the hidden meaning and looked at Kai. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you." Since he had decided to delete the footage about her in Miami, he also followed along, acting as if he met her for the first time.

Nonetheless, everyone in the room knew that Sofia had already met him in Miami. Peter knew about it from his country while Julio looked at the report of the invasion.

Julio noticed this as well and decided to move on to the topic. "Anyway, I believe we should continue our negotiation since it will be a long one."

"Agreed." Peter nodded.

All of them sat on the couch and started discussing the topic.

"We will bring a few specialists and one hundred exoskeletons. The specialists will be there to customize the exoskeletons for your elites. In exchange, we will have fifteen people from our base to have Zodiac Blood injected into their bodies.

"If they fail, we will have them die and handle their cremation before bringing their ashes back to our base. Every person from our base already knows about this, and they are prepared to put their lives on the line." Peter concluded the meeting after a few hours.

"Yes. The details are inside our contract." Julio confirmed everything. He was a bit sensitive about the condition of the new Zodiac subjects because he didn't want to allow Peter to bring back their corpses. The EU Base might even use those as a way to recreate the Zodiac blood. "However, you need to take a note that this will last for a few months, considering we will train your elites, inject the blood, and have them accustomed to it."

"I understand. I will leave everything to the US Base's hand."

After confirming everything in the contract, Julio's expression then turned grim. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Peter. "Now that we have finished this matter, how about we discuss the matter that happened a few days ago? I heard that Miss Sofia snuck in and somehow ended up inside a battle."

Peter and Sofia furrowed their eyebrows as they had predicted this would come.

"Rather than talking about that, how about we discuss the achievement of our Sofia Campbell? After all, she contributed so much in that battle, allowing the battle to take place according to your Kai Carter's plan.

"First of all, he created an ice wall to trap the enemies. Secondly, he also helped Lion and Eagle Groups to rescue Evan Young from the enemy's hand. Last but not least, she helped the battle against the SSS rank magical beast and his Water Elemental, giving you precious time. She even helped in the last strike where Kai Carter killed the Protector." Peter didn't want to lose this argument and opened Sofia's achievement in the last battle.

"The plan can be easily changed. Instead of a bell-shaped wall, we can simply use a V-shaped wall even without her help. Nothing much will change. On the other hand, I don't think we needed her help in the second matter because Ria Ross had made her appearance at that time.

"And this also included the third matter. If we call Ria Ross, we wouldn't need her. It was only because she snuck inside Miami that she stumbled upon the battle. Even without her, our victory was nothing but assured." Julio snorted, turning the situation around.

Peter also knew this information from Sofia. However, Sofia also added another useful information about this, and Peter knew it was the time to release it. "How about we ask Kai Carter himself? I heard that your teammates actually forgot to inform you that Ria Ross entered the battle.

"If that was the case, her help was nothing but desirable. I would say this to you. She always acted with her instinct, and it would always be right. In the second matter, it was only due to her instinct that the two groups could locate the enemy's camp. In other words, I could only say you refused to accept that her action actually gave you a helping hand." Peter narrowed his eyes.

Julio and Peter began arguing after that. The intensity was not less than the previous argument, where they were discussing the contract.

"We won't be able to come to a conclusion with this kind of conversation…" Peter panted after talking for so long. He decided to conclude the meeting. "I have a suggestion about this matter. No matter what we say, we admit that Sofia Campbell was indeed at fault. That's why we will let her become a transfer student in your magic school for a whole year. This is a good idea considering the school will have a new semester in two months."

"Indeed." Julio also thought it was a good idea. During her stay, they could do many things to entice Sofia to stay in this base.

"Still, you can't deny that her presence helped the battle. Hence, Kai Carter must come to our base as an exchange student. Unlike our Sofia Campbell, we will just have him for three months. In addition, we will also provide him with a customized exoskeleton for himself."

Julio's expression turned serious when Kai's name was mentioned.