Outside the patient room, Ben located a place to sit.

He’s shaking his head while communicating with a man that appears to be in his 40.

Max is the individual checking if Ben requires anything. When Max turns around, he notices Yuri leaving Eloise’s room.

“Max, they require more people to administer immediate care for the unconscious. Additionally, the doctor said you should finish the arrangement of the new room. He’ll be transferring Eloise as soon as he can.”

“Don’t neglect the body,” Ben remarks from the side.

“Oh, Also assign the autopsy team to retrieve a body by Eloise’s bed, inform them it’s relevant to the ongoing investigation.”

“Alright.” He responds.

The place is bustling. People walk around lively. Having received the orders, Max begins to contact people using some device. He also begins directing people around more actively, attempting to make the crowd more efficient.

“So, a room to take a rest?” Yuri asks, his emotions already back under control.

“An isolation room, please,” Ben replies.

In his hand, a cup with an energy drink is swirling and evaporating gently.

Acknowledging the request, Yuri takes a similar device, a smartphone-like gadget, and call someone.

“Hey, can you take a key to the main isolation room and meet me there? […] Sure.”

Ceasing the call, Yuri notices Ben is already standing up, ready to go.

“Follow me,” Yuri says, leaving the room.

People around clear a path, but they can’t hide their probing eyes.

Fortunately for Ben, they all have their duty, so they have no opportunity to query about anything else.

—

Outside in the waiting room, the crowd seems to have received the good news already, as a few have a big smile splattered on their faces.

“Hey, Yuri! How was it?!” Matt shouts, halting the duo.

“Old man, it seems you aren’t useless!” He continues.

Ben can’t bother to answer, too tired.

“Go help Ginn. He may need help. Are you that free to wait around doing nothing?” Yuri interjects.

Even while grumpy, Matt still goes away. He had no fun since Ben looks almost unconscious.

Yuri looks around. He was glad that no one else was coming to bother them.

Ben begins to walk towards the stairs, leaving Yuri’s side. However, a few meters away, he begins to stagger so much that he almost fell.

When Ben shows signs of falling, Yuri runs towards him and arrives right on time to offer help. Putting the elder’s hand above his shoulder, Yuri hugs his back while avoiding the backpack. He firmly supports the tired man.

Looking at Ben’s eyes, He notices signs of unconsciousness. Yet, Ben’s right hand is stubbornly holding inside his pant’s right pocket.

Even in such a situation, Ben still turns his head around and whispers.

“I’ll be counting on you.”

Ben stays alert despite his tiredness.

—

Yuri helped Ben down to the basement.

Arriving at the seclusion room, an adolescent boy is waiting for them with a big squarish jewel in his hand.

“Sir Yuri, here is the key.” He delivers the key while bowing.

“Th…” Ben moves unexpectedly, surprising Yuri mid-sentence.

The old man goes straight for the key. After seizing it, he then enters the room without glancing back. His movements, while normal paced, were too rigid and unnatural.

“Is he alright?” The teenager asks.

“Considering what he did, I am not surprised,” Yuri says while moving towards the wall and sitting down. “You can go, I will be watching over here.”

Inside, Ben arrives at a panel. His eyes focus on it, and, after identifying the structure, he inserts the key on an indentation.

The room atmosphere changes, and the door slams.

[thud] The room becomes quiet.

Ben examines the arrays with his awareness, and only after verifying that the room is fully isolated, he lets go of all the tension.

[clack] He falls to the floor, even hitting the panel.

There, he lies on his side. Backpack still is on but not even that far away from a more comfortable low bed.

Despite everything, he falls asleep deeply.

Only after falling and passing out, his hand leaves his pocket and a golden statue rolls. On the floor, the statue glows and trembles slightly, before finally dimming back to its normal state.

—

“Don’t you realize the consequences of your deeds?!” a 30 years old blond man yells.

Confronting him is Ginn Aravyz with a sword in his hand and a group of people at his side, a few of them injured.

“I sure do, but I don’t think you do. You’ll need to account for your boldness. You are in my residence and dare to attack my guest? Did you forget your mission?”

“HAHA! A brat wants to educate me! Know your position, baby boy. Why did we even have to come to such a forsaken country? It is all because of your negligible strength! If it wasn’t for Miss rebellious phase, would you even ever receive such treatment? With such choices, you are making an enemy that you can’t afford!”

“YES!” Ginn yells. The room trembles, as everyone is ready to attack.

Noticing the pressure from the building’s arrays, the elder calms down and lifts his hand. His presence expands, as he is ready to fight.

“Enough! We are all from the Volcano Sect. How can infighting happen because of an outsider? Elder Derick shall receive punishment for putting Miss Eloise in danger when he is back to the sect.”

Someone interrupts them, acting as an intermediary is another elder from Volcano Sect. She is Lyrian, a white-haired middle-aged woman, a specialist in body refinement.

‘Why is she here? Does she has a connection with the two brothers?’ Ginn thinks.

He then turns around, a new participant arrived.

Patrick is Derick’s twin brother. Ginn planned to deal with both. As they had been looking down on him since the first day they arrived. Unfortunately, Lyrian surprised him.

“Patrick, bring your brother to his quarters and wait for the new orders from Volcano Sect. It is time to commemorate Eloise’s health progress, so do not fight!”

Lyrian’s influence is more distinguished than the twins. By using her seniority and position as the leader of this party, she has successfully minimized the confrontation.

As the two men left, not daring to disobey the orders, Lyrian smiles towards Ginn.

“This should solve this little dilemma. Right? Today is a day for commemoration.”

By the time she finished speaking, Ginn has already sheathed his sword back.

“For now.” He says as he signals for people to leave.

In the room, Lyrian now alone thinks: ‘The brothers might surprisingly lose such fight. Ginn’s power may be negligible elsewhere, but this is his home. Their level is too low to compensate for such home-ground advantage.’

She returns to her tea time with a newfound smile.

—

“Where is he?” Ginn asks while using the smartphone-like device.

“Isolated, in the main room,” Yuri responds.

“Good, even they can do nothing if he is in there. Ask someone to watch over, so you can come to the meeting. I don’t think Leo will be getting out anytime soon.”

Turning off the communicator, Ginn starts giving orders.

“Manu, take care of the injured. Yukk, call everyone in for an emergency meeting!”

At this time Matt arrives, a bit too late for the party.

—

The twins went back to their quarters. Lyrian also went back to her strategic room.

However, the fourth Volcano’s elder at this house decided instead to visit her niece.

The 70 years old looking woman has the most seniority in the whole group. But she did not come here leading others or following orders.

She has already distanced herself from Volcano activities and has been enjoying her retirement for decades. Nevertheless, Joyce was the first to move when the news that her niece got poisoned arrived at the Volcano headquarters.

Joyce came to not only give herself peace of mind but also give her brother, the current Sect Master, and the rest of her family some peace of mind. Because the last thing she wanted to see is her family falling apart due to them all following the little girl to such a distant place.

At first, she imagined it would be similar to her retirement days, some holidays. Yet, as she received more details, her expression grew more serious. Those days, she found herself thinking about how naive she was when she heard the bad news the first time. Her past self would have never guessed the brutality of this poison and whom it might involve.

While she grew more desperate, she also found it harder to persuade her family to wait at home. Despite them all knowing that many of them moving may be the objective of the enemy, it is still hard to stay cold-blooded towards the younger generation.

Luckily, she came here herself rather than sending only her disciples. Her presence here might be the only thing holding the Sect Master head in its place.

Furthermore, the little husband the girl found in the middle of nowhere has been surprising her more and more. The last few months have broken the prejudice of considering the young man only a prank from her niece. Not only her, but others back at home were also surprised by his actions. Capable and visionary people aren’t born in trees and are the hardest to cultivate.

Looking at her niece in the bed, Joyce forcefully holds her tears. Fortunately, despite looking even weaker, the girl has a presence again, as she is free from the heavy chains.

She senses the poison residue in the bed. But if she didn’t know the details, she wouldn’t guess it was poison at all.

She sees Ginn’s and Volcano’s people working together efficiently. Cleaning the room, stabilizing Eloise’s condition, and preparing the transference are a few of the things the crowd is doing.

“So, you want help moving her?” Joyce asks.

“Yes. As you can see, cleaning this place will not be easy, and the array system is also compromised. We have been preparing for this, and a new room is ready for the move. The difficult part is not worsening the patient’s condition, and that would take hours for us. However, with your excellency help, we may be able to fast-forward the transference, thus initiating the post-poison-removal long term treatment immediately.” The doctor that watched Ben’s treatment elaborates.

“Since the transference point is in the same building, I can help with it immediately, as I can stabilize Eloise’s condition for enough time and without risks. Anyway, how would you summarize the treatment you saw?”

“A miracle,” he answers undoubtedly.

“Later, we’ll talk about the details. I will also be reporting back and recommending you to a new position for when we go back. It is about time since we all know you are the best doctor we have at Volcano. For now, I will put my niece’s recovery in your hands. And as her aunt, I thank you, as this journey has become way longer than anticipated.”

“Master… I owe the sect way more, and being able to experience such mind-blowing treatment has put me in your excellency debt.”

She also wanted to watch the treatment, but she understands the space that must exist between masters. As a senior elder, her position may be grand within her bubble, but she knows that the world is big. While most would be surprised when finding a master of such caliber in this region, she found it most logical. People like him that want to hide well will be in places where people like her are not. In the end, their choices are more related to danger aversion than to how special a place is.

While she spent time thinking about everything, she knows better than not being grateful. She also understood the Aravyz boy by now and had confidence that he would by no means lose contact with such enigma. For her, at least, the potential to save someone else special to her is more important than knowing what little trick this particular hidden master achieved to gain such lifespan.

‘Everything has its price. If not, he wouldn’t be hiding in such a place. He would be ruling us all, directly or not.’ she concludes.

The move was swift. With the involvement of such a high-level character, the staff avoided the predicted long and arduous preparations.

Eloise’s deep treatment initiated quickly. In a few hours, she was out of immediate danger. However, waking up may take weeks or months, depending on the intensity and depth of the further treatment. The good news is that she will not be dying in their hands, so most signed in relief.

—

While Eloise’s treatment is in the hands of capable people, Ginn leads an important meeting.