It seemed like the patriarch lost his interest in Jason, which almost caused him to shout out in joy if he was not surveilled by a few powerhouses around him.

As such, he had to put on a charade with him looking to the ground.

He hated to behave like this, to the core, but he had to endure it for now until he would become strong enough to defend himself!

Old Drake was discussing things with the patriarch, calling Jason a prodigy, while the patriarch retorted with him barely being at the 4th Adept rank, which was not even remotely considered as prodigious for a 14 years old youth, even if he was from Astrix.

In comparison, he even named Seron, who was crippled, until six months ago. 

Smiling inwardly, Jason couldn't help but voice out in his mind 'I also started with my journey six months ago and I'm stronger than Seron...What crap is he talking about, without having gathered any information?'

However, instead of being sad about his negligence, Jason was extremely happy.

Seron and Max stood suddenly next to him, as they inquired about his well-being, while Seron also asked about the Fler's.

Telling them that everything was fine, Seron sighed in relief, while Max just stood silently next to the two of them, not saying anything at all.

He was visibly uncomfortable, and Jason noticed him eyeing the patriarch once in a while.

Seron also noticed it, as he said 

"Are you still uncomfortable around your father? Well, to be honest, that's nothing surprising."

After the two overcame the arrival of the foreign race envoys, Seron and Max became much closer as both of them were happy to have survived a calamity.

Over the last three days, they talked about all kinds of things, and Max cleared some misunderstandings about their childhood and that he was told by his family to treat him badly, in order to humiliate the Gier family.

Without knowing what exactly anything like that meant, when they were young, Max just followed the given order, without thinking about what he did.

Seron felt still uncomfortable about his childhood, but he was not someone who liked to hold grudges and after surviving the last week, he was just glad to have someone to talk to.

While one topic was the foreign races, the main subject was Jason, both were curious what exactly his eyes were and how strong he was, with his two affinities, he already showcased.

Seron was not much more knowledgeable than Max about Jason, so the two of them just concluded a few facts.

As Seron remembering that Jason had not only Artemis, an unknown beast with a fire affinity as his soulbond, but also a small scorpion, he couldn't help but question Jason's soul world, whether it was its size or how many soul energy units he had.

To the two youths, Jason was a mystery, but Seron liked him a lot, while Max didn't seem to hate him, because he treated him like a common human, without having a bias or something due to his status.

It felt good to be treated like a normal youth, even if he behaved arrogantly, Jason retorted, instead of backing down, which was the common reaction he received.

They continued to talk for some time, until the patriarch turned back to them, coldly demanding

"Show me your soul-awakening star rating!"

Jason didn't know what Old Drake said to the Drake family patriarch, but he seemed to be slightly angered with his impatience shown all over his face.

Not minding what exactly was going on, he opened his quantum bracelet and searched for the official certificate he got sent from the Beast Pagoda.

[Soul awakening: ★★ out of ★★★★★]

It was clearly written, that his soul-awakening was below average from the basic factors that were assessed, also called Soul world size and the soul energy units upon his soul-awakening.

Looking at his soul-awakening rating, the patriarch frowned, as he turned around, almost growling.

"Old man!! Even though you lived longer than I did, with a high contribution to our family, who the hell do you want to fool, by telling me that this useless trash is a prodigy?! 

Even if his battle awareness, comprehension ability, and even mana aptitude were superior, with a two-star soul-awakening rating, he will only be able to fight against foreign races at a lower rank, due to their high innate physique and larger mana core size?!"

Old Drake was equally astonished because he heard about Jason's soul-awakening for the first time, and his attempt to lure Jason over to their own family, shattered immediately, as he frowned deeply.

'Why did Shane and Dalia accept Jason as their disciple, with such a soul-awakening?!?' 

Frowning, when he was called useless trash, Jason would have loved to jump up and beat the Drake family patriarch into a pulp, but that was obviously not possible.

Furthermore, he wanted to continue to live, which caused him to grit his teeth and endure everything as of now.

However, while everyone else was displeased and disappointed with Jason's soul-awakening rating, Till, who already knew about it, was almost unable to suppress his smile, while Seron and Max looked at Jason in astonishment.

Looking at them he couldn't help but smile apologetic, because he roughly knew what caused them to look at him like this.

"My current soulbonds, are almost my limit"

It was a lie, but because Seron already saw him with Scorpio and Artemis, while there was still an unknown fire beast, Jason had no other choice.

In the end, Seron was naive and innocent, while Max was a stranger to him, who only knew about his two mid-evolved affinities.

Having two soulbonds at the age of 14 was already unique and rarely seen but three? That's a whole different league.

Jason thought that both Seron and Max might think with his lie, that his soulbonds had vast potential, leading him in contracting them, but after saying that he almost met his limits, his soul world's potential would be used up, once all of them reached their own racial and potential limits.

Normally one would be rather careful with deciding their soulbonds, which caused both Seron and Max to "misunderstand" Jason's prior behavior as negligent thanks to a large soul world.

Hearing his lie, they felt suspicious, but the soul-awakening ranking wouldn't be wrong, because it was even acknowledged by the Beast Pagoda, which was a serious organization that was acknowledged by all powerhouses.

Jason could also demand a re-assessing, but there was no need for him to do so because it wouldn't benefit him in any way.

Rather than that, it would most likely cause devastating damage to him, if the Drake family patriarch were to find out about his soul world's capabilities.

Old Drake's expression soured, after figuring out his soul-awakening star rating and Jason felt weird about the old man who seemed to be desperately trying to force him over to their side, as Jael Drake turned towards the two still standing sovereigns announcing.

"This is such a waste of time...we'll depart now!"

Turning to Max, he casually said

"Either stay or come with us."

Sighing, Max pondered for a moment, when he asked Seron

"You're only here for your second soulbond, right? Message me after you contracted it. I'll fight you then!" 

Smiling lightly, he followed his father and the two sovereigns behind, after saying goodbye to Old Drake.

Till meanwhile, was completely ignored, and he wondered what happened, that the Drake family patriarch didn't even bother to ask Jason about what happened within the four-star rift.

'Suspicious!'

It was definitely weird, but even more so was Old Drake's desperate behavior, trying to lure Jason over to their side, even if it meant to force him into a soul contract, once he attracted the patriarch's attention.

Jason was even more displeased about Old Drake's behavior and he completely ignored his whole existence, as he turned to Till, asking 

"I'm probably done here? Why did they even bother to ask me to come over, if I'm only going to be insulted, without asking anything about the four-star rift?!"

Sighing deeply, Till just said

"I think you're done...and to be honest, I have no idea what happened right now. If that helps you in any way..."

Jason didn't even bother asking Till if he could bring him back, as he walked towards the elevator, after briefly saying goodbye to Seron.

Calling a shuttle, his mind was filled with a deep sensation of betrayal and anger towards Old Drake, who would have most likely sold him out, immediately after Shane and Dalia fled.

The only positive aspect was, that Shane forced a soul contract on Old Drake, preventing him from telling the patriarch anything about Shane at all, which included Dalia and him being their disciple.

Sighing deeply, a sudden thought shocked him greatly

'Can I even trust Old Drake with sending me somewhere else as an exchange student... What if he tells other families about Shane and Dalia's whereabouts, even if he were to die..?!