Alters

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" a furious voice rang out, bellowing across the far reaches of the island. This island was none other than Jayde's island. Finally, it seemed his nine guests had exited the dungeon. They came back different, their auras palpable, indicating mind-blowing changes.

Something else to note was that the dungeon didn't disappear; it was still present in the great hall, though it had only dimmed a little. When they returned from the dungeon, the subordinate on watch quickly went to inform Elior.

Elior quickly abandoned everything he was doing to welcome back the esteemed guests. Immediately, they asked for Jayde, to which Elior responded that he went on a trip. Unsatisfied by his answer, some of them started making trouble, particularly the bulky one named Nicholas. He went about spouting nonsense, saying things like Jayde was afraid to confront them and ran away because he knew he wasn't their match. He even went as far as to call Jayde a coward, stating that he would dominate this place before Jayde's return.

Honestly, the gall of the muscle-headed idiot, to think that he dared insult his master. Elior, who hardly ever got angry, lost his temper at that moment, leading to him putting the fool in his place.

This led to the current scene where Nicholas was imprisoned in the basement of the mansion. There was a reason Jayde chose Elior to be his right-hand man, recruiting him long before the sequence began. Elior was among a special elite of humans called Alters.

If one thought that Savants were heaven-chosen, then they clearly hadn't met an Alter. These select few humans were bestowed a unique talent by the sequence, even before Jayde's regression. They weren't allowed to participate in the rankings of humanity. Why? You might wonder. Well, the answer was simple.

If these cheat-like beings were allowed to participate, well, let's see. Back then, there was a total of seventy-four Alters in all of humanity. If they participated, Jayde would be ranked seventy-six. Yes, that's how broken they are. Their talents were not restricted to class; no, they were beyond that. The only things they needed to increase were their physical and their mental stats.

They were so rare that even Jayde, back then, had only come across six. It had to be known that even with the chaos of the sequence, humanity still amounted to seven billion in population, and of this mass humanity could only produce seventy-four of these beings. Well, they were seventy-five until Jayde killed one. Anyway, this went a long way to show how rare they were.

These individuals had a particular ability which the sequence dubbed "word-mancing." They were given the unique ability to speak words into reality. To further explain, these bunch took the saying "there is power in the tongue" a little too seriously.

Though for each ability, it may vary, like Elior, who had the ability to set rules in a territory he had marked. There was even a lady Jayde had once met in his previous life who could change the rules of reality, but only in her surroundings. Jayde's memory of the encounter with her was very unpleasant. Though it was when he was weak, it didn't change the fact that she was a terrifying foe. Even at his peak, he wouldn't want to clash with such an individual, though he would still argue that he could best her at his peak.

While others had to go through different challenges like wielding swords, manipulating elements, and the like, these bunch just had to speak. Yes, their ability was based on their words.

Anyway, now you can understand what would happen when someone angers Elior in his marked territory. Nicholas was a big example of that as Elior said to him, "Down you go," and voila, he vanished into the basement of the mansion, which had also been enchanted by Elior's words, making it indestructible. In fact, the whole building itself had been enchanted. This was why Jayde left the island in Elior's care. After all, he was undefeatable within the confines of the mansion.

The rest, seeing Nicholas's example, grew wary. Mark, to be precise, had gone through a series of evolutions, awakening as a Savant. He too was feeling cocky, but the glare his sister had been giving him this whole time was enough to shut him up. Unlike the others, he and his sister ended up in the same temple, undergoing the trials together. So he was clear on the fact that she was stronger than him.

But as he saw what happened to Nicholas, his eyes quivered, and his back was matted with sweat. Hearing Nicholas screaming, he shivered and thought, *'That could have been me.'*

Unlike poor Nicholas and Mark, the rest were pretty smart. A man that could create the gate that caused such changes and growth for them, how couldn't he be powerful? Though they were a little surprised by Elior's display, they understood that unlike them, who were shoved into this new era unprepared, Jayde and his faction were armed with full knowledge. So what happened was only natural.

Even Valesco himself knew this. Though he didn't make a scene, his mind churned as he was already calculating possible routes of escape. He didn't like being shackled. Even way back before the sequence, he was an established entrepreneur. So it could be seen that he didn't like the idea of being beneath someone.

Some of them had similar thoughts as they followed behind Elior silently, as he walked them to the rooms they would be staying in until Jayde was back. They tried asking when Jayde would be back, but Elior glossed over their questions, avoiding them.

Elior walked them through the vast corridor of the mansion. If one had to use a word to describe Jayde's mansion, then the word would be colossal. The mansion was a humongous work of art, spreading and covering a vast region of the island. Surrounding the mansion was a formation of mountains, forming a fence that kept the mansion from sight. Only the very top of the mansion was barely visible as it peeked through the mountain. It could only be accessed through a gigantic gate at the foot of one of these mountains. It was truly a majestic sight.

Unfortunately for those who sought to escape, it was impossible. Even if they could get past Elior and the other subordinates of Jayde, they wouldn't be able to scale the great mountain fence nor bypass the giant gate.

Finally, Elior showed each of them to their rooms, stationing a worker at each door to attend to them and, of course, keep an eye on them.

As Elior walked back to his office, he couldn't help but think, *'When will you be back, my lord? I've been having a bad premonition lately. Something is coming, and it's bad!'*