Arden's eyes gleamed, and she found herself in his soul space. Her expression quickly changed as she found herself on a grand staircase, staring at a magnificent white castle.

She couldn't just see the castle, but her summon's ability allowed her to gauge tier and potential. As she tried to do that, her heart pounded so hard that it hurt.

That beat drove her out of Godfrey's soul space. Arden gasped, staggering backward, her voice stuck in her throat as she blinked several times while staring at Godfrey.

"What's in you?"

Her question alarmed the Elders and Arian, while Godfrey calmly lifted his head to John.

'This should provide enough interest.'

"What did you see? Was it a castle?" Inara asked, and her irises shook when Arden nodded.

"What tier?"

"It's… it's Origin. It's Origin." Arden repeated with a mix of terror and awe as she stared at this teenager.

Shock swept through the room like a bomb. None of the Elders could keep their cool. Orion rose to his feet.

"Origin?!"

"Origin tier potential. If the Fanatics hear this, you might be their next obsession. If the authorities knew this, you would have been made their secret weapon to wipe the rest of us out," Inara said while looking at John, who shut his eyes.

A light smile graced his lips. "I guess we are fortunate. A summoner with hybrid-type summons from a supposed non-living summon, possessing Origin tier potential… you are full of surprises. What is your name?" John asked, his voice reverberating as usual.

"Godfrey Daniels," Godfrey replied.

John rose to his feet. "It is a pleasure to meet the very first Origin Tier Summoner. But it is still just a potential for now. The woman in custody will be taken care of; the oath will take a while, but it can be broken."

Godfrey smiled at John's statement. John walked down the staircase and stood before Godfrey.

"You are from henceforth a member of the Vagabond Cohort. I will be honest with you, Godfrey: keeping you is a risk. The authorities will do all they can to lay hands on your mother, same for the Fanatics. With her here, they'll find us sooner or later. We're just waiting for the inevitable."

John's words made Godfrey's eyes widen.

"You're a fugitive and now a member of the Cohort. We won't hand you over. If there was such a plan, you would not have been brought here. What I'm saying is, you have the potential to stop being threatened, so grow. Grow fast while you can."

***

Outside, watching Godfrey descend the staircase to the pick-up truck, Arian brushed his gray hair aside and crossed his arms over his bulging chest.

"Origin Tier? Are you serious, Arden? You made them all soften to the boy, but when I told you to lie, I didn't mean you should overdo it." Arian glared at Arden, who placed her hands on her waist.

She raised an eyebrow at Arian's remark. "I actually lowered it. That boy is a threat to the mana tree. The mana tree strengthens worlds and makes them invade each other for evolution, but there's a limiter to each race. However, Godfrey doesn't have a limit. If he did, it isn't the Origin Tier."

"You're serious." Arian became solemn.

Just then, both he and Arden noticed a speeding off-road jeep which swerved to a halt right before the pick-up truck.

A man wearing a gray hood with gloves and a face mask came out, waving at Arian.

"Captain! There's a spawn tide at the north gate!"

Arian came down, entered the truck while Arden entered the other front seat. "We're going somewhere."

Godfrey raised an eyebrow as they began to follow the jeep. Before a forty-feet-tall wall far away from Paradise, lots of vehicles were parked, and people wearing gray and black, some jackets, some hoodies with big red crimson X's, moved about with their summons.

Some on spider backs, some riding wolves, some had used Echo to morph their legs into digitigrade legs, allowing them to move and sprint faster.

On the wall stood a young Asian, pale-skinned man with crimson hair, trimmed and styled to make sure his forehead wasn't covered. He wore a black long jacket with the crimson X symbol at the back.

He had black eyebrows and a claw scar across his left eye. It was faint and did not reduce his looks, but made him look like a man with a past.

"It's the captain. He's truly back!"

Almost a hundred Regular Class Vagabonds celebrated when they saw Arian's iconic pick-up truck darting down the yellow sand track in-between low grass fields.

Dax looked at the pick-up truck from the corner of his eyes. At that moment, a mighty roar came from the other side. He turned and saw the Red God.

The Red God was a fox-like beast, fourteen feet tall and thirty-five feet from nose to tail tip. The tall grass was nothing before its size, but moving through the grass were several hundred other orange foxes.

They were about seven to eight feet in height, their eyes glowing with ravenous light. The tall grasses parted ways as this huge army of foxes gathered at the distance.

Dax's eyes gleamed. He could see the aura of high tiers and elite tiers in that army, all being led by a Queen Tier mini boss.

Just as he was about to unleash his summon, Arian's voice fell into his ears. "That's Dax. Elite Class. He's manning this gate today."

Dax tilted his head, his eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight of the new face.

"Captain, Arden," Dax greeted with a cool tone. "Who's he?"

"Godfrey. Our new Elite Class. Isn't he just a pretty face?" Arden chuckled, obviously doing it to tease Dax. It was obvious who was the pretty face between Dax and Godfrey.

Dax's genes gave him the advantage; he looked like a South Korean star who had grown tired of his face, so he wore a leather mask with such a strong strap that it made one wonder if the mask could be removed.

"If we allow the Red Gate to reach the gate, a battle will definitely cause damage to the wall. We need to attack now," Dax said, like he didn't even hear Arden's tease.

"I want Godfrey to handle it," Arian suddenly said, causing Dax to squint.

"Very well then. He'll move with Regulars—!"

"No. No Regulars, just a summoner and his summons. Can you handle it?" Arian turned to Godfrey.

Godfrey looked at the great army of foxes and the red fox with an exaggerated snout and fangs its lips couldn't cover, and his eyes gleamed.

'That Elder was right. I have potential, but that's just it. It doesn't translate to immediate strength. No one's taking my mother — not the authorities nor any fanatic freak! Lament, you have my command to not hold back.'

A portal appeared at the bottom of the wall, and a lone knight on a mount walked out. The horse reared, lifting its forelimbs off the ground as it neighed loudly.

"Finally," Lament's voice tore through the air as black smoke billowed wildly out of him, manifesting into Night Cavaliers.

In a blink of an eye, two hundred gallant Cavaliers were lined up before the wall.

"Make the prince proud," Lament declared.

"Two hundred Lord Tiers?" Dax exclaimed, his thick voice laden with disbelief, while Arden's lower lip fell.

....

A/N: Do you guys want a character image? I seriously don't have.

I don't think it would be able to depict these characters.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.