When the planetary ship finally arrived, Alfred bid Alice and Erin farewell. It didn't take long for the ship to reach Alice's family manor at all. With the planetary ship traveling at full speed, it took less than ten minutes for them to be almost there. They passed by most of the city during this time.
Since Erin was new to the planet, Alice explained that they were in Harton City. It was the capital city of Planet Charh. As a mega-city, the size was equivalent to a small continent. The portal he had come from was to the west district of the city. The auction house was closer to the central district.
They were now heading to the east district of the city. This is because most noble families on the planet lived in the capital's east district.
Erin noticed that, upon entering the edges of this special district, a lot of the tall and crowded buildings were quickly replaced by vast greenery. There were many manors and estates scattered throughout this greenery. The roads connecting them were especially wide. There were very few planetary ships traveling in this area. Most of which were security ships filled with guards.
The planetary ship that Erin and Alice were riding began to approach the largest estate in the entire area. For comparison, its lot was at least twenty times wider than the neighboring estates. The building at the center of it was a thirty story mansion. It's exterior had platinum-gold pillars and an entryway with marble stairs.
The planetary ship soon landed on a flat road right before the entrance to this mansion.
As Erin and Alice left the ship, Steve warmly welcomed the both of them into the mansion and brought them to an elegant tea room. This is where Alice's family received guests. Many maids had already prepped the mansion's waiting room with countless refreshments.
"Young Miss, a few minutes ago, I received good news from your father. It seems the situation had suddenly become a lot better. Thus, he will be returning to the mansion soon. Your mother is also on her way back." Steve said as he maintained a gentleman's bow. He secretly glanced at Erin and frowned a little on the inside. Erin and Alice were currently seated on the same couch.
Erin never had the opportunity to clean himself up since he arrived in this new timeline. His clothes looked very worn and dirty because of that. Steve also could sense that Erin's level was very low. He simply could not understand how this young man got Alice's good graces.
"Oh, wonderful." Alice wasn't aware of the hidden meaning in Steve's words.
Erin nodded respectfully at Steve. Ever since the incident at the restaurant, his senses were a lot sharper now too. He could sense something off even though Steve sounded polite.
On the other side of this, Pearson was currently on a fast planetary ship back to his home. He had exhausted too much of his dimensional beast's power earlier when they teleported back to the planet.
Unlike Alfred, who had the backing of a wealthy merchant clan and could feed his beast with energy-refreshing tonics easily, Pearson had to be more frugal with his wealth. Although he also had tonics, due to the netherstorm disaster earlier, he couldn't simply use them carelessly. Especially since this was a personal matter.
Otherwise, he would have directly had his beast open a dimensional portal straight to his home.
On a different side, Alice's mother was escorted by many guards on another planetary ship. Just a short while ago, she had returned to the planet through dimensional gate room A-18. The same room that Erin and his group arrived from originally.
A-18 was currently the safest gateroom in Harton City. Pearson had actually assigned an excessive amount of guards there when Ron entered the planet earlier. These guards were still there throughout the entire netherstorm incident. Thus, the chaos was very minimal. This is why, when she requested to re-enter the planet earlier, she was directly sent to this peaceful gateroom.
While both parents were rushing back home, Erin was casually sipping on some tea. The tiny dragon hatchling was still hiding in his clothes. It was sound asleep.
After some small talk, Alice wanted to ask Erin about what led him into awakening as a Dragon Tamer. Before she got the chance, the doors to the waiting room opened and her mother gracefully walked in.
"Oh! Mother~!" Alice smiled and went up to hug her mother. She understood that the netherstorm event earlier had frightened her family. Alice wasn't as concerned because, by the time she learned about the potential disaster, it was already gone.
"Greetings. Miss-" Erin just realized that he didn't even know Alice's last name. He cut himself as he stood up.
"Charlotte Blakewood." Alice's mother gently introduced herself. She wanted to quickly glide through the formalities and focus on more important matters. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. May I know who I am addressing?"
"Most certainly, Miss Blakewood. My name is Erin Dawn." Erin gave a prompt gentleman's bow as he introduced himself. The orb on the side of his waist dangled a little bit.
Although Charlotte was rather stunned by Erin's low level and dirty attire, she could sense a very compelling aura from the young man in front of her. Furthermore, when she heard the last name Dawn, her eyebrows raised with interest. When she noticed the orb on Erin's waist, her interest turned into admiration!
"Well aren't you a charming young lad." Charlotte's tone completely changed. She suddenly became very friendly and sat on the couch directly across from Erin. "May I know how old you are?"
"Oh, I am currently 18 years of age." Erin thought that Charlotte was just being polite and making small talk.
'Directly entering the Imperial Academy after secondary education?' Charlotte's eyes flashed. She knew that the academy's standards have been increasing exponentially for the last couple of decades. It was to the point where their small admissions quota wouldn't even reach full capacity anymore! They were being extraordinarily picky with their new talents for reasons unknown.
Since Erin was 18 and had that orb, it meant this young man was an extremely talented person with immense potential. The academy would spare no efforts in their nurturing.
'Hmm.. his face is not bad either.' She completely overlooked all the dust on his face. If anything, it made her think that Erin took his training seriously. 'Perhaps he just finished a mission recently and hadn't freshened up yet?'
"With all due respect, it looks like you've been through a lot recently. Would you like to freshen up a little bit? I can have Steve guide you to the bath hall and changing rooms." Charlotte sounded sincere. "Besides, it'll be some time before my husband arrives. He's a little bit of a clean-freak. So I don't want him to get the wrong impression of you."
In actuality, Charlotte knew how troublesome her husband was. She very much liked this young man and didn't want her husband to find fault in him so easily.
"Oh, my apologies. I've been so busy with the details of my adventures recently that I haven't gotten the chance to clean up." Erin made up an excuse. He couldn't say that he came here from the far gone past.
"I'll gladly take you up on that." Erin could sense the sub-context in Charlotte's words. It was better for him to leave a better impression on Pearson if he wanted things to go smoothly too.
Charlotte motioned butler Steve to come in and guide Erin. She then started talking with Alice after Erin left the room.
It didn't take long for Erin to reach the bath hall and finally refresh himself after all this time. The little dragon hatchling didn't even bother waking up throughout the bath. It simply let the water splash all over it without budging.
When he finished and reached the changing room, Erin actually looked through his newly acquired treasures. There were quite a few special clothes and armors. All of them could transform to fit the wearer.
Because the occasion was a meeting, he picked a navy-blue officer's uniform. Unlike ordinary suits, this one was made of magically-woven fibers. The name was rather unique though.
'Immortal Disciplinarian Uniform'
Even with the knowledge he gained from the netherstorm drops, Erin couldn't figure out why the suit was named like this. Even the description of the suit was rather straightforward.
'High protection from physical, magical, and spiritual attacks up to the ninth tier. Innate suppression. Profession enhancing.'
Simple as it sounded, the fact that it could guard against attacks from the ninth tier made it irresistible to Erin!
For reference, Darwin broke the fourth human barrier. Upon breaking the ninth barrier, he would enter the first tier! Every tier after would have a dramatically higher level requirement! For beasts, although their barrier breakthroughs were different from humans, the tier breakthroughs were similar! Thus, a tier one human and a tier one beast would be on even ground. Of course, this did not factor in profession, skills, rank and other things that could shift this balance easily.
To humans, the tiers reach a cap of nine before breaking into prestige. Anyone with the power of prestige was considered a powerful figure in the universe.
High tier people were already quite rare. Thus, prestige was something that the common person assumed only legendary figures could reach. Many people didn't even know of the rankings within and above prestige.
As for the last two parts, Erin had no clue on the second and could only guess the third.
'Profession enhancing?'
To Erin's knowledge, profession and level weren't directly linked together. One could have an incredible profession and a weak level or a weak profession and a high level. The two simply complemented each other. Thus, it was like a multiplier. The better the both of them are, the greater the actual power. Enhancing either one was a boost that he couldn't resist.
Erin quickly put on the uniform and prepped his hair. The tiny dragon hatchling woke up temporarily just to adjust its spot inside the uniform before falling back asleep.
After checking himself in front of a mirror, Erin was very satisfied by his fresh appearance.
"Since that Pearson fellow is a clean-freak, hopefully I'm able to leave a better impression like this." Erin thought to himself.
Steve was patiently waiting outside the doors to the changing room and bath hall. When Erin exited, Steve promptly guided him back to the tea room. He was a lot more satisfied by Erin's new appearance.
As Erin entered the tea room, Alice and her mother paused their conversation. Alice glanced at the freshened up Erin and was somewhat amazed. His demeanor felt completely different now!
Charlotte saw this interaction and smiled. Erin appeared far more handsome now that his face was washed. His short dark brown hair and amber eyes complemented his chiseled chin. Along with the gallant uniform he was wearing, Erin now looked like a young military officer attending an honorary ceremony.
"Nice look!" Charlotte was very pleased. She scanned Erin's outfit and could easily tell it was a treasure. "Your timing is good. My husband is landing shortly."
Erin gave his thanks as he sat down on the same couch as Alice.
After a bit more small talk, the doors to the tea room opened once more and a robust middle-aged man walked in.
He had short blonde hair and dark blue eyes. The uniform he was wearing looked like a mix of leather armor and reinforced fabric. It was of a high grade judging by the runes lighting up on it. Part of it was covered by a cybertronic cloak that had the symbol of the Guardian Guild engraved on the front. The cloak only covered the upper part of his body.
"My greetings." Pearson nodded out of formality. He saw Alice sitting down next to this unknown man and internally frowned. He sat down next to his wife. He was directly across from Erin.
"I'll get straight to the point then." Pearson was still busy. He forcefully handed down his duties temporarily just to be here. "Your reason for visiting is?"
Charlotte sighed. She knew her husband wasn't going to go through the pleasantries and small talk. It might have been different if Alice brought home a female friend.
"Ah, I would like to get a military-grade ship and certificate." Erin politely said. "The Clover Auction House is willing to compensate you with two military-grade ship quotas." He added quickly before Pearson misunderstood.
Pearson furrowed his eyebrows. 'Was this young man from the Clover Clan?' He could tell that the lad was rich from the way he dressed.
The Clover members were very proud of their clan. If he was really from there, he would have a very obvious clover symbol placed somewhere on his outfit. Pearson didn't see any symbol.
"I see." Pearson closed his eyes for a moment in thought. When he opened his eyes again, his aura turned very serious.
"Before we get into that, I wish to know how you became acquainted with my daughter?" Pearson's eyes were sharp.
"Oh, she met us on your personal planetary ship. The one that was also escorting Ron and Darwin's children. We became friends for the first time just earlier today." Erin could understand that Pearson was possibly misunderstanding him for trying to court his daughter.
He wasn't going to lose his chance for a military-grade starship because of a petty misunderstanding.
"Alice was also there when I made a transaction with the Clover Clan. She can vouch for the offer's authenticity."
'Ron? Darwin's children?' Pearson paused. He knew Ron would never associate himself with shady figures. Pearson relaxed a little even though he was still a bit annoyed on the inside.
He saw his daughter nodding when Erin mentioned the Clover Clan. Pearson didn't care much about the offer's authenticity anymore since he had absolute trust in his daughter.
"Are you from the Redstone clan then?" Pearson was blunt with his questions.
"Ah, no. I am simply friends with Ron and Darwin's family." Erin said. "I'll introduce myself formally." He lifted up his orb and activated it. It naturally detached from his waist and floated in front of him.
[Erin Dawn] [Age: 18]
[Level: 420] [Family: Household of Dawn]
[Profession: Student] [Status: ????]
[Officiator: Intergalactic Imperial Academy]
[Additional Notes: ????]
'Eh?' Erin was stunned. When did he break the first barrier? Was it due to the incident at the restaurant earlier too?
Alice saw the sudden level increase and was very surprised as well. She had no idea that this was caused by a combination of Erin's awakening and a few drops of netherstorm liquid.
'Ancient Family? Imperial Academy?' Pearson had a realization since Ron was also someone from the Imperial Academy. He was too busy staring at Erin and didn't even notice the orb until it was activated.
"I understand. My name is Pearson Blakewood." Pearson didn't respond with his own crest on purpose. He didn't want this young man to get too friendly with him.
Charlotte glanced at Erin's family status and brightly smiled. It basically confirmed that Erin's surname was from the Ancient Family that she was thinking about previously. She frowned at her husband's lackluster response though.
"Then, presuming I accept your trade, what will you do with the starship?" Contrary to his actions earlier, Pearson started speaking more politely.
This wasn't because of Erin's background. It was mostly due to the fact that Erin stated he was a friend of Darwin and Ron. Pearson cared a lot more about that than his great background.
Besides, he wouldn't just sign off on a military grade starship certificate so simply. He needed to know what intentions Erin had with it.
The certificate basically meant that Pearson vouched for Erin. Thus, if Erin were to use it with ill intentions, it would negatively affect Pearson in the end.
"Oh, I wish to travel space and expand my horizons. There is a territory without dimensional gates that I have to visit. It was a task assigned to me." Erin made up an excuse. Technically, the tiny dragon hatchling assigned this. However, Erin made it sound like it was the academy that sent him out.
"Unfortunately, my previous starship was too weak and got destroyed by pirates. Hence why I wish to obtain a stronger starship." Erin mixed in truths at the end to consolidate his story.
"I see." Pearson could tell that Erin was being a little secretive at the start.
Since it was probably related to a mission from the Imperial Academy, this was understandable to him. The most important part was that his previous starship being destroyed by pirates was completely true.
"Then, after you receive your starship, when will you head out?" Pearson was curious.
"As soon as I receive the ship, I plan on going immediately. I've been delayed for too long." Erin wanted to make Pearson think the task was urgent.
Pearson's face looked absolutely delighted by Erin's first sentence.
"I understand! I accept the offer. I'll have my butler request the quotas from the Clover clan as we walk. Come with me. I'll prepare the military certificate and starship right now." Pearson stood up and insisted on helping Erin up too. "We shouldn't delay you any further."
Pearson sounded like an elder that was worried for his junior. The change in tone was so different that both Charlotte and Alice were dumbfounded.