As he walked back through the open ports of Remi he felt excited to be back home. It had been twelve years since he had left at eighteen to start his training and by now had become a full-fledged soldier of the Roman republic. how long it had been he thought to himself as he remembered walking around this town playing with his father and younger brother when he was just a little kid.

But the city had changed just like he had, it had become more crowded and the people more fearful. He knew better than anyone how bad the borders had become and how most people had fled here as they were afraid for the next war to start. He didn't blame them, because deep down he knew for sure, a new war was coming. He had heard of this new Germanian king who had united most of the southern tribes under his flag something that had never happened before.

But that problem was for the elders to solve, first, he needed to know why his uncle had asked him to return here. He had gotten accustomed to the front and knew that it was the best place for him to increase his strength. He had reached a bottleneck at the ninth level of the Origin realm and his master had told him that he needed battle experience to breakthrough to the profound realm.

“Are you master Vel?” A city guard asked him as he was walking towards his uncle's estate. He had seen guards look around the city all day, it seemed like he was the one they were looking for. It seemed like the magistrate was looking for him.

He tried to explain that he wanted to visit his uncle first but they would not budge. It seemed like the magistrate had ordered them to bring Vel to him the moment he set foot in the city.

He made some small talk with the guards and got into a conversation about mostly what he already knew. The city was flooded with refugees who had either lost their houses because of the raids or who were scared that war was breaking out and didn't want to take any chances. There was one piece of new information he got and that was that his grandfather was coming back to Remi in the next couple of months with ten extra legions so that they could protect the border if war broke out. But he wasn't really scared, they already had around fifteen legions in Belgicia and even his master was here, there was no way for those barbarians to invade this far into the mainland.

They soon reached the magistrate's estate and Vel entered the main hall to meet his father. The guard announced him and he walked inside seeing his father sitting on the main chair with a cup of wine in his hands. His appearance surprised him, he has lost the spark of energy he had when Vel had left. They had not been on the best of terms but he was still his father and the magistrate so he made sure to greet him properly and give him the respect he deserved.

“Why are you here?” Paulus asked getting straight to the point.

“I'm here for some personal business,” Vel answered a little taken back by how cold his father was towards him. He had hoped he had called him to make peace but that didn't seem to be the case.

“Yes your precious uncle,” Paulus said coldly already knowing he had summoned him. “But that's what you do, isn't it? conspiring against your own family,” he continued as he took a couple more sips from his wine cup that for some reason didn't seem to run out.

“Uncle is not the enemy if you only le-.”

“Enough!” Paulus interrupted him as he smashed the cup of wine on the ground in anger. He thought about how he hadn't even shown up to his own brother's funeral, but he didn't seem to have a problem running back here when his precious uncle needed him.

“Guards escort this man out of the city, as per the senators wished he is not allowed to be here until he reaches the twenty-fifth level of the tower of Romulus,” Paulus said as he pointed for the guards to remove him.

Vel looked at his father disappointed, he didn't want to fight his father but he wasn't going to back down either. He had done that in his past life and knew that it didn't work, he could only be true to himself and hope that the man would someday understand.

So be it he thought as he took out his identification badge from his storage ring and held it up for everyone to see that it was made of iron. This meant that he had cleared at least the thirty floors of the tower which was insane for a thirty-year-old to do. Everyone in the room looked at that badge like he was holding a piece of the moon.

The guards stepped back and Vel without waiting slowly turned around and walked towards the exit as he said, “I wish that one day we can get past this foolish fight.”

Vel didn't turn around and kept walking as he heard Paulus respond, “I wish that it was you who I buried back then instead of your brother.”

Vel stopped and made a fist as he felt the anger grow more and more inside of him. You just wait, he thought, He was sure that bastard wasn't dead. He had tried to tell them, but nobody would believe him, so he gave up, he was not going to make a fool out of himself by attending a fake funeral. He took a deep breath and continued walking until he had left the hall and closed the door behind him.

He quickly left the estate and went looking for his uncle, the only man who had been on his side the whole time. It was only because of him he had decided to return today. He went to his estate which was only a little bit smaller than his grandfather's and greeted him wholeheartedly.

“It's good to see you again my boy. I heard you have become a fine warrior, ” Gallio said as he hugged him with great care and invited him inside. He brought him to the dining room and had prepared a feast for him.

They spend the next hour talking about how both of them were doing and the situation with the border. Vel enjoyed the food that was made from the best magical monster meat and was grateful for his uncle's hospitality.

“Why did you ask for me to return home uncle?” Vel asked after they had made some Smalltalk and eaten their food. He didn't want to stay here one second longer than he needed to.

“The truth is that I need your help my boy. We have a situation and I need someone to investigate it, someone I trust,” Gallio said as he poured both of them a glass of the finest wine.

“I'm sure you have agents who are more experienced than I'm uncle,” Vel answered curiously. He was just a simple soldier and had no experience investigating these kinds of things, at least not that his uncle knew about it.

Come with me his uncle said as he got up and took Vel to the most secure parts of his estate. He looked around a couple of times before he took out a small rune scroll and opened a barrier he had set and escorted Vel inside.

Once inside Vel saw a man sitting there in the corner of the room shaking and clearly in pain. “Who is this, Is he sick?” He asked his uncle knowing he could neither see nor hear them as there was still one more barrier between them.

“It's the son of Tullus Annius Primanus,” Gallio said not taking his eyes of the poor bastard.

“What!” Vel asked in shock. As a noble himself he off course knew Tullus Annius Primanus, he was one of the richest and influential nobles in Belgica as he was the great-grandson of a Roman senator.

His uncle shook his head and explained to him what had happened in Belgica after he had left. He explained how four years ago a new drug was invented and that nobody knew who was responsible for it. Rich nobles like this poor man had been drawn to it and the truth was that he was one of the lucky ones, most of the early users had died already as their bodies could not handle the drugs for more than a couple of years.

“That's impossible, the dantian will immediately remove any form of drugs, ” Vel said as it was general knowledge.

“What realm do you think he is in?, ” Gallio asked Vel as he slowly removed the barrier.

Vel used his spirit force to scan the poor man's body and was shocked by how weak he was. The man was weak and had never broken through the spirit realm, which was odd. The man was middle-aged and should have at least been in the origin realm by now with his background, even without any talent.

“This man your looking at is a profound realm cultivator, ” Gallio said as he shook his head in disappointment.

“Profound realm!” Vel said as his eyes almost popping out of his head. As someone who had worked for more than twenty years cultivating he knew better than anyone else how strong and incredible the people in the profound realm were. It could be said that there were only a dozen of them in the continent of Belgica.

His uncle then went on to explain to him how the drugs would sever the connection between the cultivator and his dantian temporarily, and the more the person used it the more permanent it became. And he didn't need to explain to Vel what would happen when the connection was severed permanently.

“Do you now understand why I can't ask just anybody to look into this?”

Vel nodded his head in agreement and thought about the situation with great concern. He didn't know what the Senate would do if they found out his family had just stood there and let this happen. At best they would be dismissed, at worse, executed. A lot of people would think it would be far-fetched for them to execute a senator and his family but he didn't think so, this was just too big. This could cripple the republic in only a couple of centuries, especially with that Germanian king waiting for any chance to attack and kill every single one of them.

Vel shook his head knowing this had to be that bastard's work. but he didn't want to have anything to do with it. He was not the same man he was on earth, he had promised himself to dedicate his whole life to cultivating and didn't want to get involved with that demon. But did he have a choice? Was he going to let his family get hanged for this?

“So what can I do?” He asked his uncle having made up his mind. He would try his best to help, he owned his family that at least. But he would only go so far, unlike last time he wanted to put himself first this time.

“Go to Aduatuci and ask for my man Caelus, he is someone I trust and he will help you try to find out who is behind this, ” Gallio said as he put the barrier back up. ”Don't forget nephew, our priority is to find the recipe. Only by doing that will our family be secured for generations, if not, even I don't know what they will do to us then.”