Nothing much happened during the dinner other than some questions which were something Ryan was obliged to answer. It was a relaxing time for him after a long period of getting his ass kicked by a crazy woman.
After dinner John called Ryan in his office to talk about the current situations of Earth as they know it. He entered the room after knocking a few times. John, just like Ryan, really liked his privacy so he didn't dare enter without informing.
He went inside and saw a room which looked more like a bar room. John saw Ryan and poured both of them a glass of whisky.
"Assuming that you don't know much about the world now, I will explain from the start." He said before handing him his glass of whisky.
"I don't know much like you said because I was not on Earth to begin with." He didn't find any need to lie to his father. Hiding things had no purpose now when mana was not a secret anymore.
"Hmm... interesting. Were you perhaps hiding like a rat somewhere?" John said with a smirk. To many this might sound like an insult but Ryam knew that his father did not have any intention like that.
"Precisely." Ryan replied in a calm tone.
"Anyways, that's not important now. Let me explain to you what happened when you left." John said before he turned on a screen in which the world map was shown.
At first Ryan didn't notice it but after he looked closely he saw that four new landforms were marked in the map.
"So new lands were formed and after seeing the positions of these lands I assume that they were meant to be reached by every major country on this planet and the weaker ones were to be suppressed." Ryan came to this conclusion because the islands appeared on every Ocean.
"That's right. All of this started after the day you left." John said with an almost expressionless face.
"The first island appeared in the Pacific Ocean. It was the start of a cold war which was a foolish move at that time but like I always say, politicians are dogs who like to eat their own rotten shit." John laughed out loud while he remembered the way he killed the president.
"After the appearance of the new landform many countries started making their moves but this was their biggest mistake. They all jumped at the island without prior investigation which led to a great loss of special forces of many powerful countries."
"The current president was the one who revealed this information to the world leaders as bait which other leaders willingly took." John took a sip from his drink.
"They all died? why?" Ryan knew that the cataclysm was not at bay yet, then why would they die?
"The first island also known as 'The Origin' turned out to be a blood hungry land. To step on Origin humans needed to have some basic requirements but anyone who was ignorant and stepped on it without care would be killed and absorbed by the island to grow its resources. Truly a beast." John didn't feel anything towards such fools who did everything the government ordered them without asking questions.
"What happened next?" Ryan gulped down the whole glass at once while pondering about his next move.
"A week later the president came to meet me. He requested that I take my team to Origin and told me everything about it. I wanted to refuse but it seemed like a nice deal and to top it off a girl suddenly appeared before me and told me about the benefits of entering that island."
"I still refused but then she gave me something which actually saved our lives in that monstrous place." He said before he took out an amethyst pendant which had lightning mana trapped inside it.
"A lightning pendant huh?" Ryan said with a slight smile because he figured out this girl's identity.
"Oh you have seen one before." John seemed to like that his son was not completely oblivious to the ornament.
"Actually I can make them." Ryan said with a bored expression on his face.
"Oh so make one for me. I'll give it to your mother." John knew he was not lying because he can easily figure out when someone is trying to hide stuff or outright lying to him.
"Ok." He said and a golden gemstone appeared on his hand as he quickly drew a magic circle and the gem started floating near it. Massive amount of mana was released from him and it soon took the form of a silver dragon and roared which caused the contents of the room to shake for a few minutes.
"This is a special technique I developed while training. The trick lies in the amount of mana used to power the magic circle." He said and the silver dragon started getting sucked inside the pendant. The pendant started spinning until the aura receded. The pendant shone with a golden light as a faint figure of a dragon could be seen.
"Here." Ryan tossed the pendant which was infused with his mana which was very potent and can last for a long time while also recharging itself after the mana stored inside it was used up.
John grabbed the pendant which was now imprinted by an insignia of a roaring dragon.
"So this looks a little different, care to explain what this can do?" John was really curious about this beautiful piece of art.
"This pendant is powered by pure mana which can regenerate on its own. It was not limited to one element and can conjure all the base elements with just the imagination of the wearer. It can heal too." Ryan gave a thumbs up to his father while he took out three more gems to do the same with them. Two were blue and the other one was black.
He gave his father a pair of earrings and a ring which had their own unique properties and uses.
"I didn't bring any gifts with me but you gave me a nice idea." Ryan was really bad at choosing gifts and always felt troubled when he tried to choose one.
John smiled and returned the magic jewellery to Ryan while keeping the black ring for himself.
"You should give these to them." John patted his shoulder.
"So continuing with the matter on hand when we entered that place we were attacked by beasts which resembled wild animals but were bigger and stronger than the animals we knew. We were attacked constantly but the moment we killed our first monster we felt something awakening inside us. I was the first one to awaken on Earth followed by my team." He said with a sigh.
"We left the island after a week of hunting and returned with blissful mana running through our veins. We were happy that we were stronger than ever and after our return many countries sent their own teams to wander the mysterious island."
"This kept going on until one day a projection of a woman appeared in the sky. She called herself Gaia the Earth goddess. That day she announced the upcoming danger and also something called ``Arena of inheritance." John poured one more glass of whiskey and started drinking.
"The thing is, for the first time in my life I felt that I was in someone's control. Every word she said sounded like an order which humans can't deny." John started laughing after he finished.
"So what happened next?" Ryan already knew about the whole command thing and he also knew that Gaia cannot control any human or rather she wouldn't.
"Next day, we returned to that island but this time it was not that packed with soldiers. Not every country was returning to the Pacific because they found something similar near them."
"So we went further inside the island and found a temple like architecture but we couldn't enter it. There was a barrier which blocked us from entering. Later we found that only a special being can enter the Origin Temple and it was certainly not us.
"We scouted the whole island after that. All of us gained more power and were easily able to kill monsters. This was the start of a new era, where we had powers capable of destroying multiple buildings at once."
"But a nightmare came crashing the next day. Numerous portals appeared out of nowhere. We had powers but we couldn't be everywhere at once. Our family only survived because I had already returned by your mom's and sister's side."
"But all hope was not lost because like a blessing many humans awakened and protected the humans near them. Still they can't be everywhere and protecting a whole city on your own is no joke."
"Almost every city was destroyed, currently we only have Vegas, Washington, California and Los Angeles." He said with a sigh.
"Some countries fared even worse and were completely destroyed. Currently we only have 15 countries left. It was that devastating." He shook his head in dejection.
"But you might be wondering why so many countries were destroyed if they had awakened people too. It was because those awakened people couldn't save their homeland for various other reasons. They migrated here but they eventually died too."
"What was the reason for their death?" Ryan kept the empty glass on the table.
"Curse, they were cursed." John said while remembering what happened to the awakened people who failed to save their lands.
"What kind of curse?" Ryan was curious what kind of curse was deployed on humans.
"Curse of old age." John said while he took a gulp of whiskey.
"Interesting. so they had their vitality taken." Ryan somewhat expected this because it was the most reasonable thing to do if someone was affected by corrosion.
"Do you guys have any idea about the corrosion of life in the fallen lands?" Ryan glanced at his father who surprisingly had really strong alcohol tolerance.
"Yes, I was about to tell you this, so after the day of cataclysm we humans wanted to look outside the city walls but when we did, we were so scared that we didn't dare go there without proper protection. Every plant, every life form was annihilated." He could still remember the day he went outside.
"So, those who went outside without proper protection were struck by a wave of corrosion and then Gaia decided to set them free of their painful life. Interesting." Ryan smirked and said in an amused tone.
"Ryan, you have matured. Did you become a father?" John asked with a cheeky smile.
"Old man, do you really want grandchildren this soon?" Ryan left with a sigh.
"Haah, kids grow too fast." John sat on a chair to check some documents he needed to sign.
Ryan on the other hand asked Emma and Rebecca to come meet him in the hall room.
"Ryan do you have something to say?" Rebecca asked with confusion.
"I have something for both of you." He said with a bright smile.
"You brought gifts for us! How strange." Rebecca exclaimed.
"Actually I didn't but dad gave me an idea. so I just made them on my own." He took out two black boxes from his storage ring and handed them to his mother and sister.
"Ryan this-" Both Emma and his sister said in unison.
"No, they are not expensive if you wear it but if you try to sell them you can probably buy a few expensive things." He said with a sigh.
"No way! We are not doing that." Emma said before giving Ryan a warm hug.
"Expensive things are of no use if they are not useful!" Becca gave a thumbs up.
"Now, they can be stolen, so infuse them with your mana." He instructed them and they successfully completed the process.
"First wear them, after that I'll explain their uses to you." He leaned back on the couch.