Dropping the glass cup onto the table, Edward let his shoulders loosen and allowed his body to relax, if only slightly. Sara had finally come down the stairs, and she had already met the Fourth Royal Prince.

The couple-to-be had been led toward the podium, and the exchange of gifts had begun in the careful, practiced manner of noble ceremonies. After that, the engagement would properly commence, and Sara would be announced, without any room for doubt, as the Fourth Royal Prince’s fiancée.

But none of that truly bothered Edward. Just like in his recent regressions, this engagement would mean nothing in the end, because it would not survive the storm that was coming. Once he took the Marquis title from his father, titles like fiancée and prince would become little more than decoration, words people used to pretend the world was still orderly.

His plan to become the Marquis before the month ended was still moving forward, step by step, exactly as he intended. That was why, even with the ceremony happening right in front of him, he chose to look deeper into something that actually mattered. He decided to take a proper look into the Flame Phoenix Lord’s Sea of Consciousness.

Edward already knew, from his previous lives, that his father and the Flame Phoenix Lord had formed a pact, some kind of alliance where attacking one meant attacking the other. It was the kind made between powerful men who believed the future belonged to them. During Edward’s takeover of the Marquis title, the Flame Phoenix Lord would come to his father’s aid, just as the pact demanded, only to be met by his demise.

Edward had already scanned the Flame Phoenix Lord’s Sea of Consciousness, and the man was just as powerful as Edward remembered. Powerful in a way that wasn’t simply about cultivation rank, but about presence, depth, and the weight of experience. In the Kingdom of Luminaris, he stood among the pinnacle of power, a figure whose name carried fear and respect in equal measure. Some would even say the Flame Phoenix Lord was second only to the High Priest of the Church of Light.

But that strength meant nothing to Edward, not in the grand sense. Of course, right now, Edward couldn’t stand a chance against the Flame Phoenix Lord. Not yet. The gap was real, and Edward understood it clearly, the way a man understands the distance between a knife and a fortress. Still, gaps could be crossed. Time could be weaponized. The future could be shaped. After he completes his thirty days of cultivation training before his attempt to take the Marquis title, Edward should have already reached the High Mage stage. And with his ability to use up to the seventh star of sword and martial arts, thanks to his newly tempered body, facing the Flame Phoenix Lord would not be as much of a struggle.

To recall what Edward had been able to see when he peeked into the Flame Phoenix Lord’s Sea of Consciousness, the first thing he confirmed was the man’s cultivation stage: initial Archmage. That alone explained the density Edward felt throughout the Flame Phoenix Lord’s Sea of Consciousness.

To gauge, An Archmage’s strength is said to alter the conditions of the battlefield by existing within it. Their mana was no longer a mere pool. It became an ecosystem, a pressure that bent weaker mages into submission before a single move could be made.

The second thing Edward noted was the stability of that cultivation. It had been tempered and sharpened over years, layered carefully like folded steel. That kind of cultivation left fewer openings, fewer mistakes born from impatience. It meant the Flame Phoenix Lord was not just strong, but practiced, the sort of opponent who punished even small lapses and never wasted an advantage once he gained it.

And finally, Edward confirmed the nature of his mana domain. It was the manifestation of the flame concept itself. An idea made real, a domain that imposed heat, burn, and consumption as law within its reach. In that domain, fire is absolute, and the air itself could become kindling if the wielder willed it. The stronger the will, the more absolute the concept became. It was a terrifying power, the kind that turned battlefields into ash and left survivors with nothing but scorched memories.

The ability to wield a mana domain was something reserved only for those at the Archmage stage and above. At that level, when Archmages fought, it became a battle between their domains, and whichever concept was superior would emerge victorious.

Edward, over his countless lifetimes, had comprehended a vast number of domains, with the fire domain being one of the many he mastered. He had refined the fire concept to its peak, surpassing even the Flame Phoenix Lord.

The truth was this: at an average cultivation rate, it would take someone 170 years to reach the Archmage stage, and someone deemed a genius would take 80 years of cultivation to reach it. Yet at forty-five years of age, the Flame Phoenix Lord had already reached the Archmage stage.

Yes, he was talented indeed, but there was more to it. After inscribing 10,000 mana circles into one’s mana core, and finally anchoring them to reach the Archmage stage, one must comprehend a domain, and that was where most spent the bulk of their time. However, by watching someone and learning a domain from them, you could also obtain a domain, but a weaker one. That was the method the Flame Phoenix Lord used. The fire domain technique was one of the domain techniques the royal family possessed, so they simply passed it down to their offspring and called it a day.

Edward lifted his glass again and took another slow sip of water as a servant passed by with a silver tray. Placing the glass on the tray, its soft clink perfectly blended into the background noise of the ballroom.

Then someone spoke loudly, cutting through the noise.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said. "the engagement celebration will now proceed with the first dance. Couples are invited to the floor."

Edward put his glass down carefully. He stood up, closed his eyes for a second, and took a breath.

’Here she comes,’ he thought.

Then a soft voice spoke next to him.

"May I have this dance with you?"