"I'll be going now," Gerald said before kissing his wife. "Take care of the kids, and don't miss me too much."
"Be careful," Alessia kissed him back. "Come back to us safely."
"I will. I promise."
"Mmm."
After saying goodbye to his wife, Gerald also hugged and kissed his children one by one.
When he was about to kiss Thirteen, the five-year-old used Remi as a shield, making Gerald chuckle.
He then picked up his youngest daughter and kissed her cheeks twice. Remi did the same, making Gerald miss her already.
"Don't worry, Pops," Thirteen said. "I'll protect the family while you are away."
Gerald shook his head helplessly before ruffling his son's hair, who gave him an annoyed look.
"I leave everyone to you, Zion," Gerald stated. "Take care of them while I'm gone."
"Of course. Make sure to bring home as many Jinn and Majin Cores as you can. Also, don't forget to bring home some monster parts. I'll put them to good use."
"Okay." Gerald nodded before placing his beloved daughter down. "I'm off, everyone."
Gerald entered the small gateway that he had commissioned to be installed inside their home so that he and Alessia could come and go as they pleased.
The installation was very expensive, but the couple still decided to go through with it.
If Gerald wanted to go to Solterra, he would have to use the gateway in the center of the city, which belonged to the Central Government.
He would need to pay a fee to use the Teleportation Gate, and all resources he brought back home with him from Solterra would have to be inspected by them as well.
Everyone who used the Gate as a means of transport was required to pay 20% of their spoils, which was something Gerald and Alessia wanted to avoid.
Only those working for the Central Government were exempt from this rule, which was also their way of recruiting Wanderers into their ranks.
The Five Monarch Clans and the Ten Prestigious Families had similar arrangements.
All of them had secured their own Gateways, allowing them to travel to Solterra and vice versa. Of course, their affiliates and subordinates were exempt from the fees as well.
Gerald's mother had pleaded with her husband to allow Gerald to have a small gateway that allowed a handful of people to enter.
Her reasoning was simple. Although he was disowned, Gerald still had Leventis as his surname.
They would become the laughingstock of the world if someone sharing their last name was asked to pay the entrance and exit fees to use the Gateways that belonged to the Central Government and other families.
In the end, the Patriarch of the Leventis Clan reluctantly agreed, but he made sure to make Gerald and Alessia shoulder the expenses of building the gateway, not giving them any discounts at all.
Of course, there were other ways of going to Solterra without the need to enter these Gateways.
But doing so was a gamble.
As Wanderers, they had the ability to move between worlds and appear in Solterra and Pangea. But the locations where they would appear were completely random.
If Gerald were to appear in some other place in Solterra that he wasn't familiar with, he would have to survive on his own until he could find a Gateway that would bring him back home.
Likewise, if he returned to Pangea without using a gateway, there was a chance that he would unluckily spawn in the lands that had already been conquered by the Jinns.
If that happened, he was as good as f*cked.
In short, the Gateways were a means to travel and to arrive at a fixed location safely.
Truth be told, the first Generation Gateways that appeared on Pangea were the ones that the people used in the past.
However, as people became stronger, their greed became stronger as well.
The Central Government seized these gateways and monopolized the access to them.
It could also be said that all the Gateways owned by the Central Government, the Monarch Clans, and the Ten Prestigious Families were the First Generation Gateways that appeared in the world, including the Gateway that was located in the center of the city where Thirteen and his family lived.
It was Capitalism at its finest!
In short, in order to avoid harassment and gain easy access to these Gateways, one would need to join the Central Government or become the subordinate of either the Five Monarch Clans or the Ten Prestigious Families.
If someone didn't want to join, that was fine too. But they needed to pay the price for using their Gateways.
The Leventis Family watched as Gerald turned into particles of light after entering the Gateway.
A minute after his father had gone to Solterra, Thirteen returned to his room to plan his next course of action.
'According to Pops, he will be away for a month or two,' Thirteen thought. 'For the time being, I should decide what kind of Martial Techniques I will be using.'
Unlike the custom Martial Techniques that Thirteen had given his family, he planned to use several Divine Grade Techniques for himself.
Due to the restrictions placed on him, he wouldn't be able to unleash their full powers.
The reason? It was because he could only reach the Rookie Rank.
Those who managed to survive their First Wandering would unlock the potential within their bodies, allowing them to use skills that they could gain from Solterra.
This first Stage was called the Rookie Rank.
And, this was the only Rank that Thirteen could attain, regardless of how many Beast Cores he consumed to reach the next Rank.
The Rank Ban ensured that he would not get past the Rookie Rank unless he was able to find a way to destroy its effect completely.
Thirteen had no solution for this problem in the short term, so in order to compensate for his shortcomings, he decided to become a Jack of All Trades.
He planned to master all the weapons in the world and use all the Divine Grade Techniques in his arsenal.