On the top floor of the grand office building, a tall man with pitch-black hair and silver eyes sat at his desk, staring at a pile of paperwork that never seemed to end.

The man was none other than the ’Supreme Sage’, Damian Empyrea. However, his intimidating, legendary image was nowhere to be found as he groaned at the never-ending administrative work.

"F*ck. Why didn’t that bastard take his son home already? Is he busy training or something?" Damian grumbled.

He looked down through the floor with his highly alert senses. He could clearly see that his daughter had gone to meet that bastard’s son in the guest room, and they were currently laughing together. He gripped his pen a little too hard. It snapped in half, spilling dark ink all over the desk, unable to withstand the sheer force of the man’s jealousy.

He glared at the empty space continuously.

"Tch! What a pain... Sigh..."

He slumped his chin onto his fist and used a brief spark of magic to evaporate the spilled ink.

With his eyes still fixed on the floorboards, he easily tracked their movements. He was focusing his senses entirely on detecting his daughter to ensure she wouldn’t try to run away again.

He already knew she was incredibly stubborn. She took after her mother; she rarely listened to his demands and would definitely try to find a method to sneak away.

He felt a little guilty about peeking in on Serene’s life. He knew it wasn’t right. She had the freedom to choose whatever path she wanted to walk in life, and he had no right to deny or stop her. But as a father, he was still terribly worried about her.

He clenched his fist. Forcing himself to stop peeking, he looked away and straightened his back as he suddenly felt an familiar presence approaching his office.

"Come in."

The heavy doors opened, and the head butler entered the room. His steps were measured and perfectly professional, displaying proper etiquette.

"Mhmm, so you finally came, Haron. Did you find what I asked you to look into?"

Haron bowed slightly.

"Yes, Master. I tried to find information about the ’boy’ you asked me about. I have already forwarded inquiries to every single information guild across the continent."

"I also gave the sample of his mana to our most powerful mages and researchers to track his bloodline and origins... and the results have come back."

Damian straightened his back fully. The petty jealousy and rage from earlier completely vanished from his face, replaced by the sharp, calculating gaze of a leader. He desperately wanted to find out more about that mysterious silver-haired boy.

The last time he saw Alen, Damian had felt a deep, lingering curiosity. Something about the boy felt entirely unique.

The senses of a higher being who had reached the 6-Star level were tremendous. They were capable of seeing minor fluctuations in the fragments of destiny and fate itself. If Damian felt something unique about that boy, then it was something worth investigating.

He didn’t just want to find out out of mere curiosity. Just as everyone sought power and authority in this world, Damian was no different. If he saw raw talent in someone, he would actively try to recruit them, even if he had to practically buy their whole life to do it.

That was exactly why he had a powerful, loyal military force under his direct command. Even though internal wars between the countries on the Human Continent didn’t happen commonly anymore, the chances of conflict were never zero. He always needed to be prepared. By backing himself with immense military power and recruiting prodigies to fight alongside him, he didn’t need to worry about the safety of his family.

Recruiting Alen was something he fully intended to do if the boy turned out to be from a well-known or powerful bloodline. Damian was absolutely sure the boy wasn’t normal; that was partly why he had jokingly offered his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Before leaving the hospital, Damian had secretly stolen a microscopic trace of the mana unconsciously leaking from Alen’s body. He had taken it so precisely and in such a small amount that Alen hadn’t even been able to sense it. Since Damian’s mana control was perfectly overpowered, stealing it was no big deal for him. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The butler looked up at him and spoke carefully.

"Master... the reports from the various information guilds all say the exact same thing. They could not find a single trace of information related to the boy."

Damian’s expression shifted to utter shock. This was the very first time he had ever heard of an information guild failing to find a background—let alone every guild failing at once.

The information guilds spanned the globe. They held records on almost everything, from the darkest political secrets to the locations of newly discovered artifacts. They could easily find the buried body of a dead man if they truly wanted to. They had the sources, the artifacts, and the expert mages trained specifically for tracking.

For all of them to fail to find a single scrap of background on a teenage boy was highly unusual.

"Are you sure they couldn’t find anything? Not even a minor detail about his past?" Damian asked, his voice hardening.

The butler shook his head.

"No, my lord. We couldn’t find anything about his past, his family, or anything attached to his identity prior to a few months ago."

"The only record we found was that he recently participated in a minor tournament in Vale City, where he managed to reach the finals."

Damian frowned, thinking deeply about a boy whose history was completely invisible to the world.

He looked back at the butler.

"What about the mana test? Did you find anything about his bloodline?"

The butler swallowed hard, feeling a spike of fear as he sensed his master’s growing agitation. He shook his head again.

"No, Master. We couldn’t find anything unique about his bloodline either. According to the test, his bloodline is completely normal. There isn’t a single unique genetic trait within him. He must be a commoner who lived in some secret alleyway known to no one..."

The test had been conducted using Alen’s stolen mana to find unique genetic patterns. In Asterion, it was possible to practically check a person’s DNA using just their mana. Because mana was an extension of the physical body, it bonded deeply with the user. Any mana released from the body carried a trace of the user’s genetic signature.

By tracking that signature, researchers could trace a person’s lineage. However, identifying a powerful bloodline wasn’t simple; it required the use of powerful Legendary artifacts. Because Damian was a business tycoon with a knack for collecting artifacts, he had dozens of such Legendary tracking tools in his arsenal.

Usually, these artifacts would react wildly if they detected a powerful, ancient, or noble bloodline. But this time, the artifact hadn’t reacted at all. That could only mean Alen’s bloodline was not powerful. He was just a normal person—or at least, that was what the test implied.

Damian looked thoughtful for a long moment. He met Haron’s gaze, his expression dead serious.

"Is it possible that he is part of ’that’ organization?"

Haron hesitated before answering.

"I cannot say for sure... but there is certainly a high possibility that he belongs to them."

Damian’s gaze turned ice-cold.

"If there is even the slightest chance that he belongs to ’that’ organization, then follow his every movement. No matter where he is in the world, gather intelligence on him."

He leaned back in his plush chair, his silver eyes flashing dangerously.

"...Because if our suspicion is correct, we might have to kill that boy."

The butler bowed deeply.

"I will continue to investigate him and keep track of his every movement, my lord."

Haron pulled back, turned smoothly on his heel, and left the room.

*Thud.*

As the heavy office doors closed, Damian looked blankly up at the ceiling.

"Who is he, exactly?" he muttered to himself.

After a moment of silence, he shook his head and turned his attention back to the massive pile of paperwork waiting on his desk. He let out a long sigh.

"Whatever. The work isn’t going to finish itself. Let’s get this done early. I want to go make dinner for my daughter and wife."

Damian tapped his chin, his cold, murderous aura vanishing instantly as he fell deep into thought.

"Mhmm... What should I make tonight? Pasta? Linaya, my beautiful wife’s favorite... Or should I make pancakes? My Sera’s favorite! Ughh! It is so incredibly difficult to choose whose favorite meal I should cook..."

"Well... Whatever! Let’s just make both! Hehe... I’ll feed them myself!"

As the terrifying, overpowered Supreme Sage fully transitioned back into a dreamy family man eager to cook dinner, a certain silver-haired boy was currently falling through an endless void in an unknown location, completely unaware if he would ever return alive or if he would simply be remembered as one of the forgotten.