After Stay Up Late was gone, Han Sen went back to Gran City by his lonesome. He walked for half a day, and then he saw many ships soaring through the atmosphere. He also heard many explosions.
"Planet Kate really is in a mess. I hope Qiao, Lan Se, and Mister Tiger are okay," Han Sen thought to himself.
Han Sen quickened his pace until he reached a smaller city. He wanted to find a public transport service to take him back quickly. But unfortunately, that city was also in chaos. There had been a fight at the train station, resulting in its destruction. And aside from that, there were no other means of public transport active.
So, Han Sen sought to leave town. He was stopped by a group of creatures before he could, though.
"Friend, let us walk together!" The leader smiled at Han Sen.
"Why would I follow you lot?" Han Sen looked at them and noticed that looked almost like the centaurs of ancient myth. Their upper bodies were human, but their lower bodies were those of bulls instead of horses.
"Do not misunderstand our intent. We are not hostile, and we merely wish to establish friendships. If you would like, you can visit our place for a while. We don't want to hurt you while we attack Planet Kate." The leading centaur laughed.
"Thanks. But I can take care of myself, so don't worry about me." Han Sen walked around them with the obvious intent of leaving.
They may have said that they wanted to keep him safe, but who knew how their intent might turn later on? Han Sen did not think Kong Fei's name would make him invulnerable. The centaurs had to be after the feather, he wagered.
"Please come with us, and do not make things difficult." The leading centaur waved a command, and a dozen centaurs swooped forward to halt Han Sen's departure.
Two centaurs were directly in front of Han Sen. They tried to grab him.
"So we're playing hardball, huh?" Han Sen thought
So, Han Sen moved his legs like the wind and evaded them both. He shot away through the residential district, leaving billows of dust behind him.
"Don't let him escape!" The leading centaur shouted, as the rest of the centaurs gave chase.
Han Sen was not afraid of a stampede, and he was able to use his Dongxuan Movements to effectively bob and weave through the streets. The centaurs kept on chasing for quite a while, but they eventually lost sight of him.
Han Sen emerged from a ruined building. He put on his Dongxuan Armor. The armor made his presence seem much different than it did in his simple Spell armor.
He was planning to escape the city from its other end. But before he could, he saw an old airship docking there. Many Kate and others were queuing there.
"Brother, are you a Noble of the Kate?" When Han Sen walked past the ship, a Kate approached and asked him politely. "Kind of. What is it?" Han Sen said.
"You know the Feathers are no longer protecting the planet, right? It has led to Planet Kate descending into chaos. We are being invaded. We are from Seven Mirrors, and we are looking to recruit members. We are in dire search of brothers like you. If you join us, you will receive great treatment. You will not have to suffer in the midst of war," the Kate said, as if his offer was something sublime.
After a while, Han Sen understood what was going on.
Seven Mirrors was a higher race, like the Feathers. There weren't many of them, though, and they already had a planet to manage. So, they were happy to welcome outsiders to join them.
After the Feathers fell, Seven Mirror sent members to begin recruiting from the planet owned by Holy Heaven.
Hearing of the conditions and the treatment he would receive, and the way they seemed to do things, Han Sen was tempted to join. The reason Han Sen was tempted, though, was because after recruiting here, they'd venture to another city to try their luck. Gran City would be on their list of destinations.
Han Sen thought having a free ride wouldn't be too bad. It'd be better than walking there, at least "I'll have a look and check it out. I won't guarantee I'll join, though," Han Sen said to the recruiter.
"Sure. You should take a look first, but I assure you: you won't regret this!" The Kate sounded very passionate about all this. He led Han Sen onboard the airship, going on to say, "But there is a test you must undergo. It's a rule of ours. And don't worry about it too much, as the results don't mean much."
The Kate brought Han Sen to the ship. He didn't have to take the test with the other Kate, and he was taken to a special lobby for it.
In the lobby, there were a few other Kates, and others of a different race he had no chance of identifying. They looked like Barons.
"Lao Zhuoma, not bad. You found a Baron in this dump!" A Kate Baron lifted his lips.
A few other Barons turned to look at Han Sen. They couldn't discern much about him, due to him being clad in armor.
The Kate that brought Han Sen there, Lao Zhuoma, laughed and responded, "Good people can find themselves blessed by God anywhere."
Everyone looked at him in disdain when he said that, but no one actually said anything else.
Lao Zhuoma brought Han Sen to an empty room. There was a geno tree on the table.
Lao Zhuoma pointed at it, and said, "It's just a progress test. It doesn't matter what the results are, you'll still earn the treatment we promised. If your results are excellent, we will offer you even more, though. We wouldn't want to bury the geniuses."
Han Sen did not say anything, and he simply pricked his finger and allowed a drop of blood to fall onto the three. He did not know how much power he had.
Ordinary Barons were around a hundred.
When Han Sen's blood dropped onto the tree, it started to grow. The white-bone flowers started to bloom.
When Lao Zhuoma saw the bone flowers, his eyes almost dropped out of their sockets.
"How can there be so many!" Lao Zhuoma was frozen for a while. He was counting them like mad.
Han Sen looked over there too, quickly totalling the flowers. There were 434 flowers on the tree. It was a scary number, since normal Barons had only around one hundred. It was more than quadruple.
Viscount Nobles could only reach a thousand, and some of them only had around seven hundred.
Han Sen's fitness was half that of a Viscount
Lao Zhuoma could not believe what he was seeing, and he kept on trying to count. He was standing beside a monster. It was astonishing to think a Baron could have such high fitness.
"We have found a treasure!" Lao Zhuoma, thinking this, started to tremble and shake.