After Rhea's words, Darian remembered Niara—and how he'd thought the same thing when he felt her fight with such joy. Only then did he realize that, in a way, he was just like her. But he couldn't care less.
After a few light laughs at the bar, Darian spoke seriously:
"I'll be honest."
Everyone turned their attention to him.
"Sorry if I caused any problems. I'll try not to go overboard until the mission's done, and then I'll distance myself from the clan. But I won't rest until Raon dies in the worst way possible…"
Seeing how open Rhea and the others were, Darian chose to speak directly. So he started telling them what had happened to his mother three years ago.
He was sure Raon was responsible. There was no proof, but no one would doubt he could find the truth. Besides, it wouldn't be hard to find out Raon had lived in the same town as Darian three years ago.
Everyone went quiet.
"I see… if that's how it is, you don't need to leave the clan over it." Damon was the first to speak. "You're not the only one among the High Humans who hates him, believe me."
Rhea let out a heavy sigh. "Killing another High Human is forbidden. If you do it directly, you'll be condemning yourself—and dragging your teammates down with you. You get that, right?"
Darian nodded.
Rhea scoffed, then added, locking eyes with him:
"Good. That said, if you find a chance to take him out cleanly, without it being traced back to you… when his father starts raging and demanding to know who's responsible, a lot of High Humans will start trading favors within the Empire to sweep it under the rug."
"They'll do it out of gratitude to whoever got the job done. Raon's actions didn't just screw over ordinary people—everyone's looking for a chance to get back at him. If you pull it off in a flashy way, one that leaves everyone satisfied, even better."
Darian was speechless—and seriously surprised.
Then he looked at Rhea and saw a slight smile on her face.
"What? You think there are any saints among the High Humans? Everyone in our clan relies only on their own strength—and on the team's. We've been through a lot together."
Darian nodded slightly, feeling genuinely satisfied. These people didn't run from problems. They just handled them smartly, minimizing the damage when they could. After all, they were a clan—and they looked out for each other.
"Alright, enough with the heavy talk! Let's celebrate the win!" Harper shouted.
Zeal got excited too, and the two of them rushed off to grab drinks at the bar.
They used the moment to get to know each other better. Everyone was supposed to share a little about themselves. And after hearing what happened to Darian's mom, Veyle felt she had to speak up without holding back.
She was currently 18 and had awakened at 13—the same age as Darian's twin siblings. Three years later, she earned her second ring, which gave her the rare status of genius in the Empire. Thanks to Rhea, she'd been recruited into the Azure Haven Clan for her first training mission. That was when Raon discovered her blessing and started harassing her.
Veyle was a distant descendant of a High Human, and currently the only one in her family to awaken, which put her in serious danger. That's why she chose to join the clan, where she felt safer. It had been two years since then, making her the youngest in the group.
"Hmm… you weren't introduced to the public?" Darian asked, a bit confused. He always thought new High Humans were made known.
She nodded slightly. "No. Because of my ancestor who was a High Human—and because I stood out a little…"
"She hit level four in the Seven Elemental Star Physique! She's insanely talented," Harper chimed in quickly, already a bit drunk.
Darian stared at Veyle, surprised. She really beat 25 beasts in the Array all by herself? This girl was hiding some serious power.
"Well…" Veyle looked a little shy, "The Empire chose not to reveal me so when I take part in the Newcomers' Tournament, no one will know much about me."
Darian nodded. That event happened once or twice a decade. The last one had been four years ago, so at the next one, Veyle would still count as a newcomer. Darian would also be competing and introduced then… now he realized Lucy and Lucius probably would be too.
Harper went next. She was the oldest at 32. Daughter of an Imperial soldier, she'd been trained harshly from a young age in hopes of awakening. In the end, she was the only one in her family—who had all sacrificed their childhoods to train—to succeed.
In the past, she was cold and methodical, incapable of feeling empathy for others. But thanks to Rhea, she came to see how much damage that upbringing had done.
So she decided to take control of her life, cut all ties with her family, and joined the clan. Of course, that had been over seven years ago. These days, she'd changed a lot… maybe even a little too much.
Matteo's story was actually pretty similar to Darian's. He grew up in a city way down south, close to the border with another empire — the kind of place where the underworld was just part of everyday life for normal people, always causing trouble.
He'd been an orphan since he was a kid, but was lucky enough to be raised by some loving relatives. When he got older, during a time when his family was starving, he awakened.
The last one in the group was Leander, and he didn't have much to say about himself — maybe because there wasn't much to say. He awakened five years ago and took four full years just to form his second ring.
Unlike the others, he was actually born into the Azure Haven Clan — his parents had founded it in the past. When he mentioned his father, Darian caught a flicker of pain in his eyes.
Rhea's husband had been the previous leader of the clan. Now, her eldest son had taken over that position, but no one liked to talk about him. It was clear something bad had gone down. Life was harsh on everyone — even Rhea, someone admired by all, hadn't been spared from suffering.
After that, the mood got way more relaxed. Everyone was drinking and laughing, and someone brought up Darian's blessing.
"You ever test your ring's potential?" Veyle asked. She and Darian were the only ones not drinking. She was a little shy, but definitely the most curious of the bunch.
Darian remembered reading about that in the library when he first arrived in this universe. There was a test that could measure a ring's density and energy amount. Each ring had different values, but usually there was a balance — more density meant less energy, and vice versa.
But at the time, he didn't really see the point and just ignored it. He was absorbing a lot of new info back then and chose to focus on what felt more important.
"I didn't do it. Had too much on my plate and couldn't waste time..." Darian said, sounding a bit awkward.
"Oh! Then let's do it now! We've got a high-grade crystal right here! It's perfect for checking all that stuff. We use it to train properly, it'll help you out a lot." Harper blurted, clearly already pretty drunk.
Rhea smiled. She was drinking too, but still had some self-control. "Do you want to give it a try?"
Darian nodded — better to know than not, right? Seeing that, Harper ran off to grab the crystal from another building.
When she came back, everyone crowded around Darian. The crystal was a fist-sized piece of jade. They handed it to him and explained that all he had to do was let his natural energy flow into it.
Darian hesitated for a moment... was this really a good idea? Technically, he had three rings and his whole setup was far from normal. But no one had been able to sense the other two in his hands so far. A simple artifact like this probably wouldn't be able to pick them up either.
...
The jade crystal pulsed.
Suddenly, the entire room was flooded with a blinding light, like someone had turned on a sun right in the middle of them.
The light lasted about ten seconds before slowly fading away.
Darian was still indifferent... until he saw everyone's faces.
'Shit...'
Eyes wide, Rhea grabbed the crystal from his hand and closed her eyes, focusing. After two seconds, she muttered:
"Ring density... max..."
"Ring energy amount... max..."
"Spiritual root... level... Ancestral level..."
"Physique... how is this possible?! Elemental resistance and affinity... max level..."
The whole room went silent.
Everyone was stunned. But Darian was definitely the most surprised. He had no idea about those first three stats.
It was clear now that he'd probably had an ancestral awakening before, he just didn't know how or why the empire hadn't detected it. Because of that, he'd had a complete spiritual root from the beginning. So when he created another one in Niara, it didn't even make a difference.
As for his elemental resistance and affinity — well, no surprise there. He completed the Array and achieved the full Elemental Seven-Star Physique at max level.