Galaxy's First Ruler

Unlike the distant thundering clouds in the Manor's direction, everything was silent and hot around Aldrich.

Moonlight had reclaimed this part of the planet and stars shined brilliantly. The only thorns in this angelic scenery were the glossy craters, occasional flashes of fire, and Aldrich's unanswered question.

Aldrich tapped the rocky surface he was sitting on with the staff in his hands. There was impatience on his face to get an answer. Aldrich stared at the distant flashes and calculated for how long Boudicca could hold on before using her Duke Rank and finishing things off.

Suddenly, a sound came from his left. It was almost like the sound of someone walking in empty hallways, making their footsteps echo eerily.

Tap!

With this first tap, space unfolded like a sheet of paper. But it didn't break. It was as if someone had folded the space and made a chamber out of it.

Tap-Tap!!

With another two steps, more and more space unfolded, and Aldrich realized the things of miles away seemed closer to him.

Tap!!!

This tapping sound came for the last time when the tall Marquess in his white uniform walked out of these foldings and unfoldings of space. Marquess Nicholas was a lean man. Clean shaved, and military haircut made him almost seem ordinary. But the majestic feeling coming out of him as a burst of Mana didn't lack at all compared to Harold.

His voice was sharp, but because of his military career, it had gained some coarseness to it.

"I have been ashamed of my shortcomings many times. But I have never been so ashamed and shocked at the same time. I should have realized you're not an ordinary Dreamer... Sigh! How in the world Harold couldn't find you when you were just under him the entire time? How did you find me? And why… Why can't I sense your presence?"

What Aldrich had found out about Nicholas told him only a few things.

Nicholas was a clean man. No excessive drinking, no smoking, and no barging into brothels after every victory or loss. After getting into the United Galactic Front, Marquess Nicholas lost the opportunity to become the Head of the House. But there was one thing similar to both Aldrich and Nicholas.

Nicholas, too, had just popped up in the House Lost Steps over 400 years ago. It had been a talk of the Sector when the Head of House Lost Steps declared a Count Ranked son all of a sudden. But Nicholas showed such mastery over their gene-based Skill that none questioned his legitimacy.

In the coming years, Nicholas attended two Galactic Wars as a member of House Lost Steps and earned a name for himself. But when everyone thought the Head would change the position of heir, Nicholas joined UGF and gave up on his claim.

Aldrich stood up and gave out a smile as he heard Nicholas' praise and his question. For a moment, his eyes seemed to lose focus as he gazed at the Stats of his Record.

[…

Record of Aldrich

…

Perception: 0 (-330)

…

…]

Aldrich had learned this profound trick through Sha's memories.

Once he brought his Divine Sense within him and made his Stat zero, none would be able to find him unless they looked directly at him. So when he found that Marquess Nicholas had already noticed him, Aldrich too became curious how he managed to do that.

"I will answer one of your questions, Marquess, if you let me know how you noticed me when even Marquess Harold couldn't do it?"

The scene could have easily turned bloody if Marquess Nicholas had come here to take Aldrich's life. But Aldrich couldn't feel any malice coming out of Nicholas yet. It would still take some time for the fight between Boudicca and Maya to conclude. And Aldrich had to know how a mere Marquess made one of the Devil's strongest tricks a joke.

Both Aldrich and Nicholas stared at each other. Nicholas' eyes were sharp, and there was a hidden ruthlessness in them. But soon a gentle expression came to his face as if he remembered something from very long ago.

"Sigh! You know, I think we have much in common, Aldrich. Few know about my origin, but I think if I should tell someone, then you are the perfect candidate."

Aldrich squinted his eyes as Harold scanned his FIR and took out a cylindrical item. He couldn't see any stat over it, but even then it didn't take him much time to find out what exactly it was.

This simple cylindrical item was a Thermal Monocular. Ordinary human hunters used it to scout prey in the jungle, based on their body heat.

"UGF helped me classify many things about my past. But I can't let go of it. Many things even baffle the high Ranked Dreamers there. For example, a simple item from my home planet, a Barren Earth. I also have a Skill identical to it, and even after using it, I couldn't find you. But when I used this item, there you were just sitting on the rock."

"…"

Aldrich stared at the item and then gazed at Nicholas' Record. He had already found out about this Heat Vision Skill. But as these Skills were based on Dreamer's Perception, he hadn't thought that Marquess Nicholas could use them to find him.

Pfft!

Hahahahaha!

Aldrich was laughing, but it wasn't a laugh, filled with mockery. It didn't have any other meaning to it. It was just a plain old and simple laugh. 

Not for one second he thought that Marquess was telling the truth. By now Aldrich already had a guess how Nicholas managed to best a thing even Aldrich himself thought to be unparalleled. There was only one thing in this world that could do so. The only issue was that he had never thought there were more of those things out there.

Even Nicholas had a smile on his face, unaware of Aldrich's thoughts. Without stopping Aldrich from laughing, he spoke out.

"Dreamers rely too much on Skills. Now that I have answered your question, tell me how you noticed my presence? Harold is two levels higher than me, and even he can't notice my gene-based Skill."

Even though Aldrich was laughing, he didn't forget the use of the word "gene" by Nicholas. He calmed himself and took a deep breath. His eyes almost looked beyond Nicholas and went to the ground behind him. There, the moonlight had created a blurry shadow.

The weird thing was that this shadow seemed to ripple as Aldrich looked at it.

The corner of Aldrich's mouth lifted, and he answered.

"Marquess, I didn't notice you. I never lost you, to begin with."