Helen gnashed her teeth as she watched Seth’s bloodied body being dragged away.

No matter how faint the relationship between her and Seth was, it still didn’t change the fact that they shared blood.

Seeing her younger brother humiliated like this infuriated her to levels she never thought possible.

And then there was her father’s unconscious body, floating and coated with Avan’s energy.

If that elder hadn’t acted now, she would have been fatherless.

Hatred burned in the depths of her gaze, and she was just about to take a step forward...

When suddenly someone grabbed her by the shoulder. She glanced back — it was her twin, Henry.

She could see his bloodshot eyes and the smoldering fury within, but he still exercised restraint.

He stared at her and shook his head gently. His meaning was clear: now wasn’t the time to act.

All their eldest siblings were away. Acting now would be nothing short of stupid. If their father could end up like that without the elders so much as moving a finger, dealing with them would be even easier.

The two twins could only swallow their pride and smother their anger for now.

And so they stood silently, watching the rest of the council meeting continue to unfold, as though Seth’s matter was barely important.

...

Seth was dragged down the corridors into an elevator, where he was transported to the underground floor.

People hardly went there. Seth had even once heard his siblings joke that this was where the Duskreavers detained their enemies.

He was dragged into the dark corridor of the underground floor.

The doors of the rooms here were made of high reinforced steel. The entire place was eerily silent.

He was finally brought before a room. One of the guards fiddled with a bunch of keys and unlocked the door.

Seth was pushed into the room, the metal door slamming shut behind him.

He staggered for a bit, each step causing blinding pain that stung from his very bones.

He quickly released his Will and stopped restraining his title, World Saint.

The world around him quickly reacted as boundless vitality surged into his body.

In the presence of the mysterious elders, Seth hadn’t dared let his title take effect. Their interest in him was already enough — adding more to the mix might have just led to his death.

He had to make them believe everything was still in their control. Only then could they be complacent.

Within minutes, Seth’s vitality surged. Cracks in his bones sealed, his arteries mended themselves, and his flesh stitched itself together.

Seth got to his feet, his pupils flickering with cold lights.

He frowned. What had just happened didn’t make any sense to him.

From the top of his head, Seth could think of several ways the elders could have handled the situation — forcing him to hand over his treasures without building this much animosity.

Instead, they had acted like cliché villains.

If Seth were none the wiser, he might have just chalked it up and concluded that they were simply that stupid.

But were they really?

These were figures that supposedly once headed the Duskreaver family in their prime. They had lived for what he would estimate to be centuries.

So how could such figures be stupid?

Seth refused to believe things were that simple. The way they acted, it was as though they couldn’t even be bothered to feign kindness with him.

’Could it be because I’m not a pure-blood Duskreaver? But why?’ Seth felt this was most likely the closest to the answer.

But he was still missing important context...

’Whatever! First I need to find a way out of here.’ Seth finally began to observe his surroundings.

Seth didn’t know that these elders were restrained and confined to the walls of this grand mansion, unable to take a step out for some reason.

If he had, he would have been even more convinced of his conclusion to escape first.

Seth raised a brow. Surprisingly enough, the room was quite grand, except for the lack of windows due to the fact that this was underground.

But the intricate ventilation system ensured he wouldn’t die of lack of oxygen or heat — not that he was as vulnerable to these elements as when he was a normal human.

Seth strode toward the king-sized bed and sat, staring at the flashing screen in his retinas.

[Time left till next Flash Sale for ???: 18m:31s]

[Flash Point Balance: 781,455]

His eyes flashed. Talk about timing. Now, if he could get something that could help his current situation, it would be perfect.

Seth solemnly muttered silent prayers to the RNG gods.

After that, he summoned his only most valuable treasure left.

Seth stared at the glowing emerald crystal levitating before him, and he couldn’t help but feel relief.

Even if those elders had only taken this item and left everything else, it would have been a much more disastrous loss than losing the rest.

He didn’t have time to waste. He asked the question that burned brightest in his heart.

"How do I ascend the Shackled Rank?"

The Oracle Crystal stirred. A familiar unemotional robotic voice resounded in his mind.

[Ascending the Shackled Rank can be done by evolving to a higher form of life.]

[If host wants to evolve into a higher form of life, you have to stimulate your body with any resource that contains a special element called X cells!]

Seth’s eyes lit up. "So how can I find such resources?"

[Resources that hold the X cell can be man-made, like elixirs, or naturally formed by nature, like Evolution Crystals.]

’No wonder... those bastards took my Evolution Crystal. They wanted to cut out my path of advancement!’ Seth was hit with the realization of their sinister intent.

He felt the loss even more now. His one-way ticket to a higher rank had been taken just like that!

"Don’t worry. I’ll make you all spit out all you stole — with a thousand times more interest!" Cold flames burned behind Seth’s gaze as he silently vowed to himself.