The air in the room shifted after Sidal’s declaration.

His voice still echoed faintly in the gilded chamber, but the weight of his words had already settled—heavy, binding, inevitable.

Ezra’s expression did not change much, but there was a slight upward curl to his lips.

Sidal rose slowly, the motion deliberate.

"Well then" Ezra said, his voice thoughtful, "We should begin"

"Of course," Sidal replies. "Has the proposal been structured and set into motion?"

A sudden stillness fell over Ezra. His fingers paused.

His mouth parted—but no words came. A flicker of silence.

"No" Ezra admits.

Sidal blinked, momentarily dismayed. "No?"

Before the situation could turn even more awkward, Ezra leaned forward with a calm and measured tone.

"Understand that I arrived here the moment I realized the potential of this idea because I intend to have you oversee this operation"

Sidal’s nods gracefully.

"However" Ezra continues, "there is something I need from you to begin. A list."

"A list?" Sidal questions, intrigued.

Ezra gave a sharp nod. "Yes. One that outlines rare and luxurious items preferably specific to Crux Nebula in terms of production with high demand. The list will serve as the foundation of our new trade system"

From quick calculations, he could already paint the scene of exorbitants amounts of money falling into his bank accounts.

Of course, as a veteran trader, the reptilian keeps his turbulent

emotions in check.

"So this list will be used to build the product flow?" Sidal asked carefully.

"Precisely so, but more than that" Ezra replied. "It will dictate our partners and competitors as well as the price ceiling for our goods. We ought to know our possible competitors early on to guard against their attacks. I will leave this task of preparations to you"

"You won’t be disappointed" Sidal affirms.

Making a nod, Ezra then raised his hand, activating <Gatemark>, thus opening a portal to which a figure stepped out.

Like this, Frederick’s robust figure appeared.

The air around him distorted slightly as if he’d just been peeled out of the fabric of space.

"You called?" Frederick asked, bowing slightly.

"Yes" Ezra responds, looking at Sidal. "From now on, you will make your reports to him"

He then turns to Frederick. "Once I’m done, you two can take your time sorting the details. But in essence, while Sidal remains in charge of directing the purchases, you are the overseer. I am putting you in charge of managing whatever problems that arise in the process"

In essence, Sidal is still an outsider at the moment, so it is only wise to have someone else act as a balancing factor to prevent him from having any funny thoughts.

And who better than Frederick? One of his most loyal colleagues and more crucially, the former head of Black Sky, responsible for all sorts of issues each and every working day.

With him holding the reins, Ezra need not be worried about daily operations.

Sidal glanced at Frederick. The man exuded a quiet, intense confidence. Not flashy, not overbearing, but deeply competent. His eyes met Sidal’s, and in that moment, Sidal made his estimations.

Frederick was not a man who made idle reports. He was a strategist, one who broke inefficiency with cold precision.

"If needed, I can also consider placing the others under your command to assist you" Ezra continued. "Once the system is structured and functional, you and Sidal will jointly oversee the network. I will only observe, intervene if necessary, and provide strategic redirection"

Sidal resisted the urge to exhale loudly. Such restrictions were far more lenient than he had been expecting.

"Understood" Frederick said, bowing his head.

"This is just the beginning," he said, stopping before them. "As I continue to grow, so will you. Serve me faithfully so that when the time comes, we can all reap the rewards"

Sidal nodded. "I shall begin gathering the list immediately. But it will take some time"

"Take what time you need" Ezra said, and then added, "but not too much. Momentum is its own power"

At that, Ezra turned away. "Good. I will be leaving to complete preparations on my end"

With that, he vanishes back to the Sovereign universe, leaving the two to discuss and finalize matters.

-------

Upon arriving in the sovereign universe, Ezra forms a pensive expression, pondering different solutions to the matter of sourcing a supplier for their needed goods back at Crux Nebula.

After all, there is little guarantee that all the items penned down on the list Sidal submits would be easily accessible within the territory of the scarlet dragon clan or even in close proximity in fact.

Therefore, this matter could prove to be a slight issue.

To this point, Ezra is certain his position as an inner disciple ought to provide certain advantages and open some doors.

’But what kind of advantages?’ Ezra wonders. To which it dawns on him that he hadn’t taken much of his time to study the details regarding his new status in-depth, only a peripheral check.

Also, he wonders if perhaps there were any incentives for achieving first place on the assessment ranking list.

With matters directing him right back to Crux Nebula, it seemed rushing over here hadn’t been the most ideal course of action.

As he would open a gatemark to head back, Ezra stops dead in his tracks as something occurs to him, pulling his gaze to the sleek and innocent looking top class communicator on his left wrist.

From his understanding, the communicator is disconnected, or perhaps forcefully disabled upon entry into the sovereign universe, which, from Ezra’s view, meant no tracking method could reach it here, thus forming a blind spot.

But just a minute prior, it worked fine. With his constant hopping from supercluster to supercluster, wouldn’t it be too easy to expose his abilities with just a casual look at the range of his communicator.

While ignorant as to how, certain methods to track through movement through the communicator must exist, and this alarms Ezra.

’I need your help’ without further ado, he calls on his favorite advisor. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Zydrax.

This former vampire had been busy this whole time disassembling the madman factory Ezra had uprooted from the Madlands in an attempt to reconfigure it for their own purposes.

Moreover, he had claimed to be making large strides in terms of deciphering the machine completely these past few months.

[Hmm...] Explaining his worries, Zydrax takes a few seconds pondering.

In any case, this matter isn’t too significant. If even Zydrax is unable to do much about it, then Ezra would accept it as such.

After all, the number of species capable of spatial manipulation of some kind are innumerable.

A nascent held an ability to shuttle between superclusters, so what? In the grand vastness of the universe, many beings had even more surprising powers, it is only that Ezra would rather have details of his abilities kept under wraps.

[It will be a little tricky, but I can make a few changes]

To his surprise, Zydrax is able to provide a solution, something he owed to the knowledge he’d gained from having worked on the madman factory all this time.

’Please go ahead’

Taking a lengthy number of minutes, Ezra is soon free to leave, with Zydrax’s assurance that his concerns have been put to rest-at least for the time being.

But as he would do so, Zydrax draws his attention.

[There is a matter that I would like you to assist me with]

’Speak’

[My understanding of the factory has improved in leaps and bounds, but it is still short of allowing me to fully grasp its structure] he continues. [But I could get the body of one of those nascent level madmen and perhaps a second factor to work with, then I’m certain I would grasp all of it in no more than four, no, three months]

’I see’ Ezra replies after a short pause, ’My coming back to the Zeta galaxy seems to have worked in your favour’

[Precisely]

Thinking over it for a bit, Ezra readily agrees. ’Alright. This much can be easily achieved, the problem would how easily I can subdue the nascent level madman without completely ruining it’

[From what I understand, you don’t have to worry about that. The madmen will naturally lose all functioning upon arriving here or anywhere outside that secret realm]

Ezra’s lip part into a smile. ’Then consider this matter resolved’

Changing his next destination, Ezra utilizes <Gatemark> to gain entry into the Desolate Madlands.

Once again, he experiences the feeling of having his body squeezed and folded as he travels through an unknown layer of space to arrive at his destination.

Thankfully, unlike last time when he had travelled from a different supercluster just a few days ago, the discomfort wasn’t nearly as bad and easily recovered from it as well.

Arriving once again at the barren scenery, Ezra takes in his surroundings.

Activating <universal concealment>, he maintains it at the lowest possible level, using it only to keep his physical body invisible.

Taking to his feet, Ezra makes for a sprint, running right across the starting landscape to arrive at the main, seemingly endlessly sprawling mountain range in minutes.

A notable difference from before would be the lack of activity pertaining to the rattling madmen at the entrance of the mountain range.

While they were definitely still numbers of madmen rattling away, it was far less than it was only a few days ago.

Taking note, Ezra enters the mountain range. He had no intention to needlessly waste his time in this place.

With him getting closer to the area with the nascent madmen, Ezra cuts his sprinting short in a bid to recover his energy as he would need to put <universal concealment> to higher use, which would rapidly eat away at his energy.

Upon completing this, Ezra opens a <Gatemark>, one he placed at a place very close to the factories where he had spotted the nascent madmen.

Heightening his concealment to the highest level, Ezra steps through it, appearing somewhere much deeper in the mountain range.

Before even needing to look around, Ezra is greeted by the loud and echoing sounds of grating metal.

With the short time of a few days, the dormant factories have all been reactivated and put to work.

To all this, Ezra wasn’t too surprised. Automatons had little bodily needs, making their efficiency that much terrifying.

Moreover, the last time he was here, he heard them say restoration progress had reached 78%.

At the same time, he knew the nascent madmen were the ones leading all matters.

Once dealt with, the factories could be easily dismantled or destroyed at his leisurely pace.

Their sudden appearance last time had caught him off guard, but when one knows the enemy and knows their weakness, what is there to fear?

’Now then, where are they?’ he wonders, rising to the top of one of numerous mountains and stretching his gaze across the horizon.

Nothing.

It seemed they were all busy attending to something, most probably those factories.

Regardless of confidence, willingly fighting on someone else’s home ground cannot be written off as a wise choice of action, so with such considerations, Ezra makes a bold move and thoroughly deactivates <universal concealment>, letting his presence wash over the surroundings.

No matter what, he didn’t believe the nascent madmen would stay cooped up with the sudden appearance of such a threat.

His hypothesis proves true as the nascent madmen exit their dwelling one after another, each from one of the three mountains with a factory beneath it.

Just a few days ago, he had contemplated leaving them to achieve their aim so he could come back to reap the rewards at the right time.

Now, he had come back to put an end, although for a different reason, in a bid to possibly put an end to their resurgence.

Fate is a funny thing.

On a side note, the surroundings have become even more desolate than before, with all the strewn parts of madmen he had seen just days before nowhere to be seen.

Their entrance is anything but silent, with their mechanical voices echoing as they approach.

> "Scanning...scanning complete..."

> "An intruder, identified to be member of the human race, with some essence of a dragon’s bloodline"

> "Possibly skilled in concealment or possessing an item in that regard"

> "Blatant actions prove one of three possibilities, spearheading an attack to serve as a distraction for allies also in concealment, perhaps planning to trap us with a certain item once in close proximity or...simply displaying underwhelming intelligence"

> "Calculating a suitable response to all three possibilities"

> "Number three, proceed to engage the intruder"

> "Understood"

With that, one of the three tears away from the rest and slices through the air with the rockets from his feet, shooting right towards Ezra.

> "Initiating target neutralization"

Instantly, both of his hands disassemble and combine to form a cannon.

Lighting up with a deep green, instinctively feeling danger, Ezra takes precautions to dodge as a searing green beam blankets the surrounding like an explosion of light and tears through the several mountains at once seconds later, bypassing his former position.

In its wake, the closest mountains had basically been vaporized into monoliths, and at least ten more had a large chunk cut away from them as well, looking disfigured.

To all this, Ezra, who sees all this, simply nods.

How else could it qualify as an entity capable of matching a nascent if it couldn’t do this much?