Sett, who had been sent out of the memory of Ivis’s and his master’s journey into the Tamer’s Guild only moments ago, was standing around in the void of Ivis’s mind looking dazed.

He had entered the memory expecting an emotional journey, which there was a bit of, but had instead gotten more information about the greater ascendant society than he had in the past few days. It was enlightening, to say the least.

Before this, he had been entirely unaware that there existed entire cities hidden beneath the surface of human society that catered entirely to ascendants. In truth, there could have existed an entire society, filled to the brim with ascendants and mighty beasts, beneath the orphanage he once lived in and he would have been none the wiser.

It was a frightening prospect, but also one that made his outlook on his future so much brighter. There were so many places to discover and far more paths to take. He could hardly wait.

Then, there was the Tamer’s Guild. The mere thought of the organisation brought vertigo to Sett. He had thought that the dragon knights and the crusader order were among the cream of the crop, but he had been sorely mistaken. The might that was behind the Tamer’s Guild was immense and completely incomprehensible.

Thankfully, they were more useful than frightening. Sett had gained great insight into the inner workings of society through the guild. Their bureaucratic nature, though still shrouded in many layers of mystery, was intuitive and understandable. At least, it showed that there was some sort of governing body that overlooked the beasts that could become as powerful as the ascendants that tamed them.

Though he had learned much information today, it was not of much use at the moment.

Looking at the many orbs that remained before him with a rueful smile, Sett began to comb through them.

For what felt like countless hours Sett relived the life of the white fox, Ivis. Truthfully, it was incredibly hard to get a sense of time in this place. In the time that he had been here, he had become certain that it had either been a few minutes in the outside world or countless hours. Which of the two it was, Sett truly could not say.

Sadly, most of the memories that Sett observed had become even more corrupted and disorganised than the former. Although the remaining memories of Ivis did not grant him great knowledge of society, it did allow him to understand the fox and master pair.

Adriel, Sett would come to find out, was a young scion of a great ascendant family.

In one of the earlier memories of Ivis, Sett had observed as the pair arrived before a magnificent realm. Sett had thought that the Seventh Eden was massive, but it was easily dwarfed by this one. It was as if the Seventh Eden was the earth before the sun. The realm that Adriel’s family possessed could easily fit hundreds if not thousands of the Seventh Eden inside it.

Adriel’s family was deemed as an organisation often called a lineage or a clan. Their ranks were entirely made out of family members, with the central position of power being held by the most powerful and influential family member. A so-called family patriarch or matriarch.

Sett had gaped at this. He had never had a family, yet he observed a family that spanned several thousand members.

The number of family members, however, was not always a good thing. It allowed them to keep their powerful bloodline within the family, sure, but it also sowed much discourse. The ideal image of a family barely existed beyond their next of kin. Beyond that, it was a free for all. A competition for power.

The sub-factions within the family were often called branch families. Oftentimes these branches were the reason for the infighting. Although they were technically related, it did not matter much in the fight for control over the family.

In the memories, Adriel had been the grandson of the current family patriarch and a contender for the position of heir to the seat of the patriarch. This was also the reason that Elder Garret had held such high respect for him and treated him admirably.

In Sett’s eyes, Adriel held the future within the palm of his hand. He had the chance of grasping the position of the family patriarch, he had great talent as an ascendant, and he was being showered with resources by the family branch. He did not doubt for a second that the next memories he would see would display him soaring through the skies.

Yet, Sett was dead wrong. Let alone soaring through the skies, Adriel was shot down before he could even set off the ground.

During a day where Adriel and Ivis were outside to train in some unforgiving landscape, two of the branch families betrayed the family to outsiders. With the aid of their outsider allies, they mercilessly struck down the family patriarch without giving him any chance to fight back and slaughtered every member of the now former patriarch’s branch family, children, and adults alike. Adriel was the only one of his true family that was left alive and only because of a mere stroke of luck.

Hearing the news that his family was no more and that the new family patriarch had pledged their loyalty to the outsiders that helped dispose of his grandfather, Adriel felt true despair. In a mere moment, his entire world shattered to nothing.

Ivis, who was at his side, could do little to ease his suffering. His saviour and master’s pain were his pain as well. Although the two of them had grown greatly since the time that Adriel had rescued Ivis, they were still nowhere near the level of the family patriarch.

They could only go into hiding in the wilderness, not even daring to go to their former friends, such as Elder Garret of the Tamer’s guild, in fear that they would betray them.

For five years, both Adriel and Ivis trained like mad, and their abilities grew greatly. The two of them soon reached the cusp of the fourth tier. A momentous achievement for ascendants as young as them and an event that would have been celebrated greatly in the family years past. If he had succeeded in doing this while he was in the lineage, he would surely have secured his position as heir.

Sadly, the two of them did not feel the need to celebrate. They were readily aware that they were nowhere near strong enough to face the elders and family patriarch, not to mention their stronger allies that supported them from the shadows.

Their anger from five years past still burned strong and the shadows of their enemies loomed over them causing them no little amount of stress. Thus, they decided on a gamble to gain their vengeance and regain control over their lives.

Ascendant abilities were often accumulated through many years. Each Ascendant would carefully absorb the essence of the world and integrate it into their bodies according to the method they used. Failure to do this could end with catastrophic consequences.

There was, however, another way to improve and rapidly at that. External forces could easily increase their tier should they be ready for the cost that it required.

In the end, the fox and former scion decided that they were willing to pay the price, whatever it may be, to gain the power to end their oppressors. Even if they had to sell their souls to the devil, as was often the case in these scenarios, they would be willing to do so.

Their target laid within a well-known realm. It was a realm that was often favoured by treasure hunters because of its chaotic elements. Those that dared to fight the monsters that appeared in the place would have a chance to be greatly rewarded in obtaining the artefacts that had been created by the accumulating energies in the realm. That said, the artefacts were few and far between. For most people, it was hardly worth the effort.

However, there was one artefact within the realm that was a guaranteed payday. It was just that the dangers that laid in obtaining it were too harsh, leaving everyone discouraged. Adriel and Ivis’s key to a higher level was that one artefact.

Their decision was not arbitrary. On the contrary, it was well thought out. The artefact was of the dream element, which Ivis shared. Should they succeed in the trial put forth by the spirit of the artefact, they would be able to incorporate it into Ivis, gaining great strength.

They had almost succeeded but almost was not enough. Their enemies had caught on to their plan and arrived just at the right moment to disrupt their actions. The artefact spirit, disrupted by the arrival of many enemies, immediately lashed out towards Adriel and Ivis leaving many wounds and scars on both their physical and spiritual bodies.

In the end, they barely managed to escape from the clutches of their old lineage. They had left with great wounds that would require much time and resources to mend and gained nothing in return. What was worse, the lineage had become incensed at their actions and hunted them down mercilessly.

Tragically, they could only abandon their hopes of vengeance and depart earth. Joining in the journey to Gliese Prime, which only the decrepit or hopeless would do, they ultimately escaped their former family.

For many years, they thrived in the midst of the crusader order, even becoming the grandmaster at one point and enduring the political strife that it entailed. Alas, the hatred in their hearts and the wounds on their soul soon caught up with them.

In the end, they settled down on a small island in the Seventh Eden. For many years, the hatred and anger continued to fester in their heart and mind worsening the condition of their already weakened spiritual body. With such conditions, never mind how talented they might have been in their younger years, it was impossible for them to break through to the next level.

With their veining health and ascendant abilities, they could only slowly abandon the idea of returning to earth and regaining their rightful position.

Ivis was both frightened and confused at the actions of the interloper. It had been roughly one hour since the enemy, which had feigned great weakness, had suddenly overcome it with an attack to its weakened soul. Since then, the situation had only turned even stranger.

He had thought that the interloper would have killed him or at least knocked him out, but he did neither of those things. Instead, he merely observed his dearest memories of times past as if he was watching an amusing movie.

Ivis had naturally been appalled at the interloper’s actions. There were few ascendants capable of using the dream attribute, but there was an unspoken agreement between all of them. Once you get in the mind of an opponent, you only stay there for as long as you need to. The mind was feeble and should you accidentally ruin something in there, there was no going back.

This agreement was not only for the victim’s safety but also for that of the attackers. After all, the memories of another person were vivid and hard to discern from reality. Should they stay for too long, they would be trapped in their victim’s mind forever, something that neither party wished for.

Ivis simply could not gauge what the other party’s intentions were. Why did he choose to stay in his mind for such a long time? Was he trying to gain blackmail of him and his master? Was he trying to find their weakness? Frankly, he could not say. The other’s actions were simply too bizarre.

It could not even complain to the other party. The moment the interloper had taken control, it had been left completely paralysed. It could only think of the many horrendous scenarios as the other party rummaged through the many memories.

‘Ivis…’

Suddenly, a voice was transferred directly into Ivis consciousness. It was a voice that it recognized as the interlopers.

‘I am no enemy.’ The interloper spoke the same words as he had said from the time Ivis confronted him. ‘I can fix your spiritual body. I can allow you to take your vengeance…’

Hearing those words, Ivis was well and truly startled.