CHAPTER 42 THE DIAMOND SISTERS

As the group rests and prepares for the next attack, the reputation of Cleo and his mute friend Leon spreads around the stronghold.

They might not be supernatural gene warriors, but their strength is just below them.

There are multiple famous people in Iron Stronghold, additionally, the other warriors and elites from other strongholds that had been destroyed also gathered here.

Some of them went to other strongholds, but the majority of them went here as this was considered the next target of the genetic creatures.

In a certain location, a group of females wearing similar silver and white armor are talking to the army, or more accurately, the prideful female soldier that Cleo had met earlier.

Their group seems to be discussing something important.

One of the females was talking to a soldier when she heard something surprising.

She raised her eyebrow and asked. "What do you mean, a mute warrior?"

"Yes, he is quite strong, he is friends with Cleo Oriend, the younger brother of the great prodigy of the Oriend Family, Margaret. That mute warrior fights like he has no regard for his life, you should have seen them fight against a mutant Advanced Army Ant," excitedly states the soldier.

The girl nods her head and ignores the excited soldier.

She knows that most of them want to be close to her because of her looks and the reputation of her sister.

"Big sister, I think I found the liars from before, you know, the naked guy and the mute person." She excitedly shares this news with her sister.

"Oh? Then, how did you manage to find their whereabouts?"

The girl actually does not care about the liars her younger sister is vehement on finding, she is trying to find suitable allies for the upcoming battle.

"I heard from the soldier that the two are actually members of the Oriend Family, or at least one of them, shockingly, I think the pervert naked guy was called the younger brother of the prodigy of the Oriend Family!" She says with some dramatic hand actions.

"Prodigy of the Oriend Family? You mean Margaret? How can that be!? That person that we had met was so weak that you can easily kill him with just one hand!"

The girl wearing the more sophisticated armor shakes her head, thinking that her sister was tricked.

"I am not lying! This news is quite popular in this stronghold! If you do not believe me, I will start crying! Come on! Let us go meet them, those liars told us that we would trade soul blessings, and yet they did not go to our stronghold!" Her eyes become watery.

The girl wearing the sophisticated armor chuckles.

"It is your fault for collecting those trash Soul Blessings, but considering that he was the one that proposed the trade, he is definitely one of the culprits, why don't we go find out if he truly is the person that tricked you?"

"Yay! You are the best big sister!" She gives her sister a big hug as the two of them start walking in the direction of the Oriend Family.

The proud female soldier frowns; she knows that the one leading these girls with the silver and white armor is actually the one wearing the more sophisticated armor, the one she is talking with is just the vice captain.

"Ahem, may I ask where you want to go, Miss Chrystal?" Leaving her vice captain to deal with the rest, she chases after the female wearing the more sophisticated armor.

"Oh, Miss Ersha, have you finished discussing with my vice captain about our station?" She asks, not caring if this person has much higher authority than her in this stronghold.

"It is mostly complete, I left my vice captain to deal with the rest. I think it is better for the two of us to know each other much better." She smiles, not caring if the person in front of her does not want to socialize.

Both are proud daughters of heaven, prodigies of this generation.

They might be working with each other to ensure the safety of people outside of this realm, but this does not mean that they have stopped competing with each other.

"I think that is great, big sister. With Miss Ersha's help, we can definitely corner that liar, I do not know if I can capture him." She clenches her fist tightly, very angry that she was tricked.

"Oh, but I thought that he was not that strong." From her recollection, the person that they had met in the past was so weak that her little sister was capable of defeating the two of them with just one hand.

"That was before, from what I had heard from the soldier, he seemed to have defeated a mutant Advanced Grade Army Ant." She is actually a bit afraid after hearing this bombshell of news.

"Defeated a mutant Advanced Grade Army Ant? You mean Cleo and his friend, do the two of you know each other?" She asks, knowing that there is no information regarding Cleo going to another stronghold.

"Hmph! He is just a pervert liar who runs around naked and lies to little girls! I will never forgive him for tricking me!" She bawled her hand into a fist and started punching the air.

"He tricked you? Naked? Going around without clothes?" This piece of information is just too shocking for Ersha.

Chrystal chuckles.

"There are multiple pieces of missing information in your words, if others heard you, they would definitely misunderstand what you meant."

She turns to Ersha and explains. "He did not take advantage of my little sister in a sexual manner, that foolish person actually experienced a body cleansing and tried to get rid of the impurities on his body, but Pearl spotted him, and since he was bathing in a lake, he does not have any clothes on, hence the nickname the pervert person that runs around naked.

"As for the tricking part, he proposed a trade with my little sister, where she can trade pet-type Soul Blessings with other types of Soul Blessings in the same grade." She smiles wryly.

Ersha starts coughing, trying to hide the fact that she had thought Pearl was assaulted by a pervert.

After hearing Chrystal's explanation, she realises that the pervert was actually not at fault, she had experienced the cleansing too, and she knows the sensation of the impurities oozing out of your body.

If there was a body of water nearby and she did not suspect anyone was nearby, she would have taken a bath too.

Chrystal, on the other hand, palms her face and shakes her head.

The way her little sister describes the event will definitely cause people to misunderstand her, she does not want her reputation to be sullied by her own foolishness.

"Halt! Please state your visit!" The guards of the Oriend Family stop the three of them from entering, they, of course, recognise Ersha, but they are tasked with stopping anyone from entering without any good cause.

The tension in the stronghold is high, and there is a chance that some of their opponents would use this opportunity to backstab them.

It is frowned upon, and the military would definitely enact judgement in order to keep everyone united, but being cautious will not hurt them.

"Hey! Are you one of the liar's people!? You are stopping me because he ordered you to, am I right! That pervert! He is a baddie!" Pearl becomes angry seeing that the guards are not budging from their position.

If not for Ersha's presence, the guards would have detained her already, unfortunately for them, Ersha is someone that they cannot offend, even the Oriend family is courteous towards her.

Chrystal shakes her head once again.

Keeping her little sister in check is giving her a constant headache, even Ersha cannot help but be taken aback by the scene.

"I apologise for my friend's demeanour, she is someone from another stronghold, a member of the Diamond Family. These two want to meet with your young master, Cleo Oriend, and his friend, it seems that they know each other." Ersha is forced to talk to the guards, seeing that Pearl is relentless in following her plans.

Hearing this, Chrystal flashes a grateful and apologetic look towards her, she cannot believe how immature her little sister is acting in front of people of distinguished power.

She knows that getting fooled has angered her, but she cannot believe that she would react this much just after hearing some stories and rumours regarding Cleo.

The two guards look at each other, and one of them speaks. "I apologise, but we need to confirm this. Please wait."

He hurriedly left, not wanting to deal with this mess.

Now that he has a reason to leave, he fully capitalised on it.

His partner glared at him before quickly reverting to his stoic expression.

"I do not know if the person she is looking for is truly young master Cleo, if I had known that the Oriend Family is guarding themselves so strictly, I would have stopped her from coming here." Chrystal sighs.

Meanwhile, inside the base, Cleo was digesting the information regarding his breakthrough.

He believes that he must once again temper his mind in order to be in sync with his current body, the leap of his physical strength is just too much for him.

He is unable to fully control his strength, which caused him to be uncomfortable.

Unlike before, his body can now endure his burst of strength, he can surpass the limit of his supposed power by controlling his body to an abnormal degree.

[If you wish, I can assist you in obtaining full control of your body.]

The system suggests it to him.

He shakes his head.

'I know you mean good, but if I do that, then I am unable to awaken and learn new fighting skills. It is okay, I want to learn this path the hard way.'

"Stop! Speak your reason for your presence." Because he is in a state of meditation, he cannot be disturbed, and the guards assigned to him by Flare have been doing a good job preventing anyone from waking him up.

They are still feeling some shame and guilt from failing to protect their supposed target.

The guard captain also feels the same way, but the guards do not think so, they had seen him participate in the killing of the mutant Advanced Grade Army Ant.

"I am here to inform young master Cleo that there are two ladies from the Diamond Family looking for him, they say that they know him." The entrance guard shouted.

Cleo hears him, he is in meditation, but he does not fully cut himself off from the outside, as he knows that this is an incredibly foolish thing to do in a location such as this.

He stops his meditation and stands up.

He is confused, he does not know anyone that is from the Diamond Family.

He is puzzled because, according to the data Eclipshea showed him, the Diamond Family is of similar status as their family.

The Oriend Family is much stronger because they are a family of warriors, and they are known to be quite accepting of warriors from other origins.

As long as the warriors do not betray them and spend years working under them, they will be graciously accepted by the family.

They are also known for their method of raising young orphans to become subordinates of their direct descendants, they also have multiple branch families that are considered both dependent and independent from them.

The Diamond Family, on the other hand, is an old power that has existed since before the portals started appearing.

They are considered a rich power because of the ore mines containing different types of gems.

Unfortunately, there are multiple instances in their history where they were robbed or raided by genetic warriors.

Because of how rich they are, they started to focus on raising capable warriors of their own, especially members of their own family, after multiple betrayals from guest elders.

They had the advantage from the start, but they made multiple bad mistakes at the start, not focusing on the growing popularity of the Realm of the Thousand Worlds and their assets declining in value.