The meeting...

*Outside the solar system, inside the healing pod.*

Even if it was the virtual space, Aiden couldn't help but open his mouth to grasp as much air as possible. However, it was not enough to calm him down.

"Is that even possible? It was a mana crystal mine! How can it lead to another planet?" The memory that ESS had shown him made no sense to him.

After coming out of the crystal mine, ESS had notified him about the activity log of what happened inside the mine, but he didn't get the chance to review it. Now that Aiden was recuperating inside the healing pod after straining his body with the overuse of ice mana, he got the chance.

"The land of Ifrinn, Ordog, the black-eyed man... Kaiser!" He couldn't stop him from blaming himself, but when his memory of the endless prison resurfaced in his mind he couldn't help shudder in fear.

"Why it isn't possible?" asked the bluebird, Mraz. "To me, the path you are taking now to go to another plane makes no sense. To think that one could reach another plane without the mana portal is an absurd idea."

Aiden looked at the Mraz, not understanding what he was talking about. "Why doesn't it make sense? You are taking a ship from one place to another. It is the entrance through the mine that makes little sense."

Mraz shook his head, "It's not just the mine. It can happen anywhere with a sufficient amount of mana."

Looking at Aiden, who didn't understand a single word he was saying, Mraz sighed. "All the planes in this world are governed by different manas. Ice mana ruled my plane, whereas the Void flame reigned supreme in the land of Ifrinn. Most of the upper planes are ruled by a single type of mana."

"Wait, a minute." Aiden said, "You are talking about a planet, not a plane, right?"

Mraz shook his head as he continued, "It doesn't matter what you call it. Whether a plane or a planet, it is the land where mana and life flourished. The land that has its own will."

'The planets with life? Does he mean the exo-planets?' Aiden wasn't sure about it, but what attracted his attention is the phrase 'Land with a will'. However, before he could ask, Mraz continued.

"And it all depends on the will of the land." Mraz said, "Only when the will of two planes coincide with each other a path is formed."

"Will of a plane? What is that?" Although Mraz had already explained the use of 'the will of the land', Aiden still understood what he meant by it.

"Will of the plane is the will of the plane. What else could it be?" Mraz acted as if he couldn't understand his question at all. But after thinking for a moment he added, "Think about it as a maker of the plane. The rule we are bound to follow."

"So it is the god of the land?"

"No." Mraz shook his head. "It's the will of the plane that controls the plane. And as long as the will of the plane let you, you can enter the plane. That is why you could enter the plane, but that bear guy couldn't."

And it was another surprise for Aiden. 'Could it be because of the seed?' Aiden frowned. He was about to say something, but the transparent screen in front of him lit up.

[General Lucas is waiting in the meeting room.]

"At last," Aiden mumbled. Till now he had rejected all the calls and meeting requests from the project team. He had no intention to talk to so one whom he didn't know. And he was sure that the general would contact eventually, and so he did.

"Okay." As he said, a door appeared in front of him. After he put his authorization id, he entered the room.

"How are you?" As soon as he entered the room, the giant man sitting behind the table cried out in a loud voice. But soon he asked with concern, "You are not hurt or anything, are you?"

"Why? Did you expect me to?"

Aiden's remark shocked Lucas for a moment but he soon said, "Why would I want my soldier to be injured?"

"I don't know. Maybe it is because of the order of the federation." Aiden ignored the dumbfounded reaction of the person opposite of him and took the seat, "Or maybe for the same reason, why they don't want me to talk to my family."

Gen. Lucas frowned at the hostile reaction from Aiden, but the last sentence caught him off-guard. "You can't contact your family? Why?"

"I am hoping to get the answer from you."

"Maybe it is because of some cosmic storm. It might have hindered the connection."

"Yet, I am talking to you with no problem. Neither the project team nor you had any problem."

Lucas thought for a moment. He does not understand why such a problem has occurred. At the emergency meeting, there was some hindrance in the connection, but that didn't last long. Even at the press conference on the very next day, they contacted Lyla, live.

But now that another day has passed, there shouldn't be much problem. However, Aiden still couldn't contact them. 'Could it be someone behind it?' Lucas couldn't ignore that possibility.

"So, what do you want to say?"

At Aiden's question, Gen. Lucas looked at Aiden. It wasn't the teenager he knew. Although it was a virtual space, he could still feel the surrounding air was different. The happy-go-lucky child couldn't be seen.

"Why did you kill Alex?" Lucas wasn't sure, but that was the only reason he could think of.

Yet the boy smiled at him, as he had expected those words. "The federation wanted me to kill him."

"Nonsense." His face darkened as he continued, "There is no way the federation would want to kill one of their operatives."

"How can you be so sure about it?" Aiden asked with a smile on his face.

"Killing an operative on the mission will compromise the mission."

"Are you sure? I thought the operatives below the officer grades are expendables."

"What is your point?" Lucas's fist that slammed on the table in front of him, but it didn't leave any trace on the virtual table. It was clear from his face that he wasn't happy with Aiden's attitude, but...

As Aiden flicked his finger, a list appeared in front of Lucas. "What is this?" With a glum expression on his face, Lucas asked.

"This is the report of the medicines and serums that were applied on me for the last two months before I landed on Earth." Looking at dumb-founded Lucas, Aiden said with a smile, "I think you have you have some trusted mana physician who can tell you what the result would be if they apply those things on a human body."

Before Lucas could say anything else, the list in front of him changed again. And Aiden said, "These are the messages sent to me by Alex."

Looking at the messages, all the words Lucas intended to say, got stuck in his throat. But Aiden didn't stop there and sent him another audio file.

"I don't think any idiot would say that I have found a mimicry artist on earth to make this file." As Aiden continued to talk, Lucas couldn't stop himself from listening. A female voice continued to speak in his ear.

"Huh? You've got to be kidding me. I, the daughter of the desert base 3 director, will never go out with a slumdog. He was just a guinea pig for my dad. I've just been taking care of him…"

The audio file continued for a long time as it changed from one fragmented dialogue to another.

"Yes, his mana stone was close to maturity. Father taught me a way of extracting mana from the secondary mana vessel and condensing it in the heart…"

"Elijah!" As the audio file ended, Gen. Lucas mumbled. Even if Aiden didn't say the name, he had no problem identifying the owner of the voice. However, he was confused. He asked, "But why did you kill Alex?"

Aiden sighed but didn't answer. With a flick of his finger, another list appeared in front of Lucas. The list had surprised Lucas, but it was within his expectation.

'You know that you have done something wrong and want me to protect you?' Looking at the boy in front of him Lucas has no problem understanding his intention. 'He gave me the proof first and then give me the reason to fight for him.'

"So, it was you who have completed all the missions!" there was a smile on his face as he said, "you have matured."

That wasn't the words Aiden had expected. But Lucas didn't care about his expression and continued. "To think, you could complete a couple of missions that have never been completed before..." Lucas sighed at the end of his unfinished sentence and stood up.

Even if Lucas didn't say it loud, he knew how hard it will be to solo complete these missions. Yet the boy in front of him did it.

"I understand." Lucas said with a smile on his face, "There will be a meeting in the evening. Let's talk after that." After Lucas said those words, his body distorted and vanished from the meeting room.

"Let's see what they want..." Aiden, too, left the room with a sigh.