Sorath listened to the argument with closed eyes. He actually wasn't interested in attending the gathering, let alone being a speaker.
This gathering was supposed to fail anyway.
Sorath was here because of Julian. He wanted to confirm something about him.
Thus, the more he argued with him, the more Sorath suspected something was different with Julian.
"It seems like you haven't heard the news that you can leave and enter the tower as you like when you reach a certain stage of awakening. If I'm not wrong, it's called the Bloomed stage."
The candidates gasped at that claim, filling the gathering with murmur and whispers.
Sorath, obviously, knew about the information that the Seven Houses and the Grandmasters kept secret from the public for a good reason.
They didn't want the Ascenders to rush things and ended up dying. If that were to happen, they would lose essential combat power to climb the tower.
So, Sorath only smiled and said, "Is that so?"
Resting his hand under his chin, he furrowed his eyebrow.
"You're telling me that a Gra-- Bloomed Awakened is your informant? You? Who stepped inside the tower just recently?"
Julian's ears twitched, realizing that he had created a misunderstanding.
"That's not what I mean," he cleared his throat. "The truth is that Bloomed Awakened is my uncle."
'Bullshit.' was what Sorath wanted to say. But he held the urge to do so, knowing he was in an alternate timeline.
However, as far as Sorath knew, there was no record of an Awakened leaving the tower this early. Except for the assassin he hired, that was.
Of course, that didn't mean there wasn't any just because he didn't know. But!
Reflecting on the Author's life, who had access to the Seven Houses record stored in the Shedever House, Sorath had memorized every Grandmaster's name registered by the tower in the form of a record book held by the Seven Houses.
"I see. So, if I may ask, what's your uncle's name?"
Of course, Sorath knew that Julian was an orphan based on the novel. But he felt the need to ask that...
Julian didn't cower nor back off. He instead answered the question confidently.
"It's Ned. Ned Carl."
After the revelation, the gathering participants began to murmur. But the words left from their mouths were...
"Who?"
"Who the fuck?"
"Do you know him?"
"No idea."
Meanwhile, the group to the right of Sorath were all staring at the spokesperson in front of them.
Sorath wanted to laugh right at the moment, but he had to keep his appearance. So, he only sighed and glanced at the outskirts boy, the spokesperson who received a lot of stares from his group.
'I guess I don't need to do anything this time.'
Finally losing his composure, the outskirts boy spat in front of Julian.
"You punk. Since when I'm your uncle?!"
"Huh?" Julian was as confused as the majority of the crowd.
The outskirts boy, Ned, abruptly stopped when he was about to grab Julian.
"No, wait."
Then he rubbed his chin, thinking for a while before wrapping his hand around Julian's shoulder.
"That's right, you punk! I'm your uncle! So, why don't we settle this by letting us rest for a week?"
Bewildered and speechless, Julian pushed Ned from him.
"What is wrong with you?"
Amused, Ned raised his eyebrow.
"Well, you said that your uncle is Ned Carl. I'm Ned Carl," he said, pointing at himself narcissistly. "I don't know how I'm an uncle suddenly, but if that means I can get some rest, so be it!"
Sorath, witnessing the absurdity of the situation, shook his head in amusement.
'I see...'
Whether it was in the past or in the novel, Ned Carl had always been the person Sorath wanted to kill but could not. But it was not because he held a grudge against him or anything. It was simply because he was annoying.
If Sorath didn't do anything significant in this gathering and let it fail like in the past and the novel as well. Ned would, with a small luck, awaken with only an Intermediate-rank yet annoying Trace.
In both histories, Ned and Sorath was a member of the Syndicate. And to add salt to the wound, they were often in the same group in every mission due to their skills complementing each other.
'So that's how it is.'
Sorath stared at Ned.
'I remember reading the scene where Ned used his Trace to get close to Julian so he could get me killed in the remake novel.'
As Sorath recalled the contents of the novel, a big question and doubt struck him like a thunderclap.
'Wait a minute. How did Julian know about Ned? That's not mentioned in the novel. And it should be impossible for him to know about Ned while our starting line is before the Awakening Phase. Unless...'
Unless it was Julian's third regression.
The more Sorath thought about this, the more questions appeared instead of answers.
'But if that's true, then why is he always doing what I expected him to do? It's like I can read his mind.'
At that moment, Sorath was desperate. Thus, he called out Julian's name and said,
"Architect..." Sorath emphasized the word and paused long to glance at Julian.
Julian flinched. His bright expression and confident demeanor shifted to dark and uncomfortable.
Noticing him making that face, Sorath continued before Julian could say anything.
"Are you into architecture? I'm planning to open a shop after the trial ends and happen to need an architect to design the building so it can catch potential customer's attention."
After hearing the full remark, Julian relaxed a little bit, knowing that it wasn't related to something only he knew.
"Uhh, no. Sorry."
Sorath sighed. "I see... Then-"
Before Sorath could say something, a roar erupted from his left side.
"Why are you even bringing an unimportant topic to the discussion?!"
It was Michelle Pandora.
"Atri!" She looked at Atri intensely while pointing at Sorath. "You better shut up that dumb fiance of yours, or I'll beat the shit out of him!"
Atri just smiled when Michelle yelled at her. However, her expression turned cold and indifferent after Michelle threw curses at Sorath.
"Michelle!" Michael, her twin brother, shouted. "That's enough!"
It was the first time she received that treatment from her twin, who usually pampered her and treated her as a princess. So, the moment Michael snapped at her, Michelle flinched and immediately backed off like a puppy.
The atmosphere after that was awkward. The other candidates could only murmur, not knowing what to say about the sudden drama from the Seven Houses' members.
Tapping his microphone, Sorath broke the silence and said softly, trying to smooth the situation.
"Let's continue the discussion, shall we?"
He might have said something that sounded calm and professional on the outside. However, the truth was he wanted to dismiss the gathering and head for the fifth trial.
'This is to keep up appearance,' he reassured himself. 'I have gained what I want here anyway. So let's see this gathering to the end.'