Just as Maria had said, Tion and his group hadn't been far from the capital and less than an hour later they had arrived at the capital and then separated.
While Leah, Emily and Maria went to give a mission report, Tion returned home, a home which covered several acres of land and was referred to as the Imperial Palace.
"I should have had Leah fly me to my quarters" Tion thought with a bit of regret as he had to nod to the greetings that were directed at him as he walked through the several brightly and lavishly decorated corridors in the Palace.
"Good afternoon your highness"
"How was your day your highness."
"Welcome back Your Highness"
Doing his best to respond to the greetings, Tion couldn't help but reflect on his life and remember how a year ago he was just a simple farm boy with the dream to become a scholar and now he was a Prince with the desire to become the most powerful being in existence.
"Most powerful" Tion muttered as he thought of his newest and seemingly impossible dream.
"Within one month I've moved from wanting to be an acknowledged member of the Royal family to wanting to be the most powerful."
A smile climbed Tion's face as he thought about how much he had grown and then he looked up with a brighter smile when he realised that he had arrived at the entrance to his quarters.
"Welcome back Your Highness," a blond-haired beauty dressed in a maid outfit said as Tion came before two golden double doors.
"Hello Ciara" Tion said closing the space between him and the woman and to her expectant gaze slightly bending down and pecking her lips.
Tion sensed a hint of discontentment from the woman due to how short their kiss had been but he only gave her a smile.
"I'm kind of in a hurry at the moment."
Like he had spoken some magic words the look of sadness in the woman's eyes disappeared and she hastily moved and pushed open the door behind them.
Seeing her rapid change in behaviour due to wanting to satisfy his need, Tion wanted to give the woman another kiss, but then his mind reminded him of his priorities and he waved her once more as he quickly walked through the door and past her.
"Your aunt has been worried about you, she wanted you to come to her immediately after you came back." Caira quickly said as Tion moved away.
"Tell her I'll see her later," Tion said his pace increasing and soon he was taking a bend and out of Ciara's sight.
Looking at Tion longingly Ciara muttered under her breath
"Okay."
Despite it just being his quarters, Tion could swear that the place was bigger than the mansion of some governors.
He quickly walked for about three minutes passing several corridors and diamond-decorated walls before entering into a room.
Inside this room, Tion paid no attention to its expensive decorations and numerous books.
Instead, Tion passed the several shelves that occupied the room and moved to the end, arriving before a set of downward stairs that led to his destination.
Without missing a beat, Tion rapidly descended the stairs and stood before a red door.
The door had several drawings on it, these drawings being ruins that reinforced its structure and provided it with security.
Standing before this door, rather than trying to access it, Tion instead turned to his left and without delay placed his right hand on the bare wall and channelled out his mana.
A faint black-blue light came from Tion's hand as it pressed on the wall and then seconds later the hand began sinking into the wall.
Not at all worried by what was happening, Tion began moving forward and like just like his hand, his body sunk into the wall until it was completely absorbed and he vanished.
....
There was about two seconds of darkness for Tion, and when next light flooded his eyes, he found himself in an over two kilometres white room with a ceiling so high Tion sometimes doubted he was still in the vicinity of his quarters.
To the side of the room, there were tables, chairs, a shelf with books, several liquids, and a weapon racket.
Every item was arranged neatly and looked very valuable, but Tion paid no attack to this, instead the moment he entered the room, his body trembled and then something black came out of him and landed a few steps away.
The object was a pitch-black gourd, its body giving off no shine and seeming like it wanted to absorb all the light around it
"Hey what gives, shouldn't you have absorbed it by now," Tion said as he rubbed his belly and then his chest, where his heartbeat had spiked for a second.
"What do u mean you're still absorbing the lightening guy's avatar spirit,"
"Oh so you can't absorb two spirits at once"
"Hmm in that case can't you stack it, you know like keep it aside for later."
"You will lose control of the lightening spirit if you try that?"
"A little bit longer and I would have exploded" Tion said his eyes going wide.
"Damn, I'm dealing with stuff which I have no idea about, I could do with some help," Tion thought with a sigh.
When it came to people Tion could think about asking for help there was his aunt, Ciara and then his mother but when it came to people that could help him with this particular problem of his, only his mother came to mind.
Tion thought of his mother, the woman who had out of nowhere come into his life and turned it around, and he could only let out a sigh and stare at the gourd before him, this gourd being his grade 1 avatar spirit.