Randolf's face was solemn as he thought about the report. This was truly unexpected, even for him, as not even in his wildest imagination had such a thing ever crossed his mind. Defeating an entity like the avatar of the devil god was one thing, but killing the millions of troops surrounding an entire world at the same time was something else entirely.

Facing a single entity was much more "manageable", since the battle would be fought face to face, even though the opponent was already absurd in strength as it was still an avatar of a god.

However, to sweep away the entire army surrounding a world as large as the Ancient Blue Gate World required not only tremendous strength but also an ability that could cover the entire world, an ability no mortal should possess.

Once again, the story that came from Aldrian left him unable to decide how to regard him. His greatest weakness against Aldrian at this moment was the lack of information about the full extent of Aldrian's abilities and capabilities. To overcome this, he needed to use every opportunity, such as the great war, to observe him.

However, every time Aldrian revealed his strength, it grew even more absurd. What was worse, Randolf did not know if what he had seen so far was the full extent of Aldrian's power. With so little information, all of his plans carried the risk of becoming useless.

For the devils' invasion, according to his plan, besides expecting the devils to exhaust the forces in the Ancient Blue Gate World, he also wanted to see what Aldrian could do.

Yes, Aldrian possessed tremendous strength and could fight a god's avatar, but Randolf wanted to know more. If he could get rid of Aldrian during the war, that would be the best scenario, but if not, that was still acceptable.

At the very least, he would gain new information about what Aldrian was capable of. The more Aldrian acted, the more weaknesses he would reveal, since information itself was strength for Randolf.

However, if the information only revealed an extremely powerful Aldrian with incomprehensible abilities, then it was the same as having no information at all. He could not create a proper plan against someone like that, and it truly frustrated him.

For the first time in a long time, Randolf could not find any effective plan to contain the problem. To spread his god's influence, he needed to get rid of him, yet Aldrian remained too mysterious and too powerful.

'Is he actually an apostle, just like Zhang Haoran and me?' he thought seriously.

'Even if he is an apostle of some god who also came in secret, his ability is too exaggerated. But that might be the reason he has such strength. Although I don't know what his god gave him to make him this powerful, the fact that his mysterious abilities and strength cannot be explained could point to his power being a god's reward.'

This was the final possibility that came to his mind. At first, he had set it aside, because the appearance of another apostle in the same area as Zhang Haoran should have drawn the devil god's attention. That should have caused conflict between those gods who appeared to be in alliance. However, he knew that in truth they each had their own agenda, just as his own god did.

His god had sent him here carefully, without the devil god's knowledge, and his mission was simple, to spread his god's influence in secret.

Because the first heaven had already been decided as the devil god's territory, any other god was expected to act in accordance with that agreement. However, what was spoken openly between gods was not always the same as what happened behind the scenes. His own god, for example, still played tricks by sending him here to spread influence in secret.

He did not know if other gods were doing the same, but the fact remained that he had been able to come here without the devil god's knowledge, and he had even managed to operate for so long. Although he had to act carefully and in secret, the result was that he had successfully spread his god's influence within his family and a few others.

If Aldrian was truly an apostle of some god, openly fighting the devils and even defeating Zhang Haoran, did that not mean his god ignored the so-called alliance of gods?

Did it not mean that Aldrian's god was hostile to the devil god, openly mocking him by placing his apostle in the very place where Zhang Haoran resided? By fighting devil cultivators openly and killing them without hesitation?

However, if that was the case, why had he not received any signs from his god that anything had happened in the higher heavens? He had also received no sign that another apostle had appeared, and with the commotion caused by Aldrian, his god would surely know of it.

'This won't do. I will not resolve this problem if I only move behind the scenes and depend on outside forces. If that man is truly an apostle, then he will have many unknown abilities that could render all of my plans useless. I need to confirm it myself. I must confront him, and if his god is truly hostile to the devil god, then perhaps I could even use him.'

'The first thing I need to do is to know him directly before I can plan for the future,' he thought before opening his lips.

"I will personally visit the Barisan Continent and meet with Aldrian the Great."

Hearing that, his butler widened his eyes.

"Young master, are you sure?" he asked in astonishment. It had been a very long time since his young master had chosen to act personally. Usually, he only used his brain and moved behind the scenes to control the situation. But it seemed the problem called Aldrian the Great was too great for him to handle from the shadows alone.

"Yes, I cannot depend on outside forces in this matter. Aldrian the Great is too mysterious and powerful to confront only from behind the scenes," Randolf answered, which made his butler worry.

"But young master, he is too dangerous for you to confront personally. I do not doubt that you have many mysterious abilities granted by our god, but from the way I see the situation, he is too powerful and too unpredictable. You could fall into danger if you make a single wrong move."

Randolf showed a smirk.

"Well, that is why I will come to him with peaceful intentions. I will approach him as if I seek a good relationship. I will build trust between us, because that way I can learn everything about him, including his weaknesses. At this moment, he has no opinion of our family, since he has never seen anyone from us. He will not be suspicious of anything, and I simply have to act normally," he said.

His butler still wore a worried expression, but if that was already his young master's decision, then there was nothing he could do. He could not even offer his best opinion in this matter, as it was already beyond his understanding.

"I will meet with him the day after tomorrow. The timing is good, as he will likely receive many more guests because of his tale. There will be no problem," Randolf said as he walked out of his room.

The butler could only sigh and hope that no problems would arise in their plan or in the future.

----------------------------------

At the Barisan Continent, there was not much change except for the increasing number of visitors from outside. The stories of Aldrian's feat the previous night still dominated the talk of the populace, and for the citizens of the Aster Empire, there was no prouder moment than seeing their emperor showcase his power to the world.

Their emperor's name would spread even wider, and this also gave them, his subjects, benefits as citizens of the Aster Empire. Many outsiders would become more eager to build business and establish good relations with the empire's people, which would boost not only their economy but also their connections.

Although no one from the continent had yet traveled beyond the empire, in the future, once they did, their identity as citizens of the Aster Empire alone would already carry more weight everywhere compared to the past.

The event last night was different from when their emperor fought the immortal. Last night, many people from across the world, and even from other stars, had witnessed and felt the effect of Aldrian's technique.

As the people across the continent continued their daily activities, the main figure of every conversation sat inside one of the rooms in his palace dungeon. The room was dim, lit only by four special candles placed at each corner, giving off an eerie atmosphere, something normal for a dungeon.

Aldrian sat on a wooden chair, one hand resting on the table in front of him as he tapped it.

Tuk, tuk, tuk.

Across the table, Xarz sat with a tired expression, while beside him, Rulleus looked on in tension, fear clearly in his eyes.

Aldrian said nothing, continuing to tap his index finger against the table.

Tuk, tuk, tuk.

After a few moments of silence, Aldrian finally opened his lips.

"Say something that interests me."