A week had passed since Alexander got swallowed by a veil tear and things had never been the same since.

The academy, with the help of the Orbital Guards, had performed several deep space scans and had yet to pick up Alex''s signal.

"I''m afraid the boy is nowhere near the empire''s territory. Even with the help we solicited from the other regions and sectors, all the scans came back negative.

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"I think—"

The operator wanted to say, but the principal stopped him with a raised hand.

"Keep searching and don''t stop until you find something, even if it would take a year."

She received clear instructions to find the golden boy, dead or alive, and she intended to do just that.

"Yes, ma''am."

When the academy students learnt of the reason behind the emergence of the veil tear and the subsequence disappearance of Alex, they were shaken to the core.

"To think this planet nearly got destroyed because of the reckless actions of one student."

"T-that''s not true..."

"What do you mean it''s not true? The veil tear appeared only because he did something foolish. What if the veil tear did not swallow just him and took all the planet along?

"We would have all been dead!"

Some students blamed Alex while others sympathized with him. The majority did not even know how the veil tear appeared.

All they knew was that Alex did something and a veil tear emerged.

Then, there was the take of the general populace of the empire.

Finally, her uncle returned from his mission, and while he had heard what had happened, he couldn''t abandon everything and return.

"Uncle, please you need to find Alex. He''s somewhere out there, I know it! Only you can find him, please... uncle!"

Julia pleaded with her uncle with tears running down her once beautiful and charming face. After many days of crying and no self-care, Julia became something akin to a zombie.

Nothing mattered to her anymore. She did not return to the academy and only stayed at home. She couldn''t calm down and only stopped when Zol promised to do as she wished.

Naturally, to help the girl recover, Zol made her make a series of promises after she heard what he said.

"I''ll do everything in my power to find Alexander. However, what would he say if he were to return and find you in this state?

"What''s more, if you wish to find him, you must have the strength to do so yourself."

Realizing the truth in his words, Julia nodded and promised to do as she was told.

Of course, even though Lord Zol made that promise and had every intention of keeping it, he knew in his heart that the chances of the boy being alive were little to none.

Even if the void and its related things were taken out, there were still void creatures and other creatures out there in the universe.

Regardless of what he thought, Julia took his words as truth and returned to school.

Of course, things did not return to how they were.

"Ross, I plan on getting strong enough to go find Alex by myself. I can already tell everyone is already giving up, but I''m not."

She spoke with determined eyes, staring directly into Ross''s eyes.

"Took you long enough," Ross revealed a shallow smile with folded arms. He was wondering when Julia was going to come to her senses and start getting stronger.

"Alexander is our friend, and only we would wholeheartedly dedicate ourselves to finding him. There is no time for moping around, Julia. And I''m glad you''re finally on board."

The two friends nodded as they made a silent promise to grow as strong as they possibly could, setting themselves on a path that set them apart from the rest.