Chapter 271: Sofia Mateo

"What healing magic training?" Diya said with a scoff. "You aren’t done with your duties just yet, boss."

Uhtred immediately looked around at Dennis, Minh Quan, and Zara, his eyes questioning.

"She’s right," Zara said with a shrug. "You still have to check on the victims of the Ancient Variants’ attacks. They’ve been informed that you’re coming at noon."

Uhtred let out a light sigh, his expression turning solemn. There was no way he could deny or grumble at that. This was something he needed to do, but some part of him had tried to put it off for a while. He knew he would get riled up when he saw the victims face-to-face and saw their situations, and right now, he really couldn’t afford to lose his composure.

The Capitol of the Elite’s sources still hadn’t found any details about the new Ancient Variant General, nor the locations of any of the so-called "Prime Sapiens."

Uhtred didn’t want to get riled up without having anywhere to vent his anger, hence his instinct to delay. But in the end, it seemed he had no choice but to visit the victims right now.

He nodded in response to Zara and motioned his hand toward the door. "So, who’s gonna lead the way?"

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Sofia’s POV

Sofia had always been a very tough, emotionally secure girl. As the daughter of Black Sun Mateo, it was something that she had gained long before the Integration ever happened.

Her father was someone who had always dabbled in slightly illegal activities, even back on pre-Integration Earth. She never got to know the exact specifics of what he did — her father never allowed such information to reach her ears — but she knew with certainty that the world her father was involved in was a dangerous one.

Family members had died left and right throughout her life. People whom she called had uncles, aunts, and even cousins. Her father, Mateo, wasn’t one to let those who thought they could be smart with him off the hook without dire consequences.

The result was the loss of literally everyone she could call family besides her father. They had all been killed one way or another. Ever since then, she had learned to steel her heart and not get attached to people all too much.

However, now that the world had changed, she found that she had become a bit different. Perhaps it was because of the possibilities that cosmic essence allowed — the fact that humans were no longer the weak, fragile things they were before. The fact that she didn’t need to steel her heart so strongly in case someone she had grown to care about died, whether to causes they deserved, or as innocent victims of brutal survival.

Humans now had power. The people she cared about wouldn’t die so easily any longer. Maybe that was why she had found herself growing to care again.

Right now, her new close friend, Sophie Albert, was hurting... and Sofia had never felt so helpless in her life. Ever since Sophie Albert was recovered from the ruins of her family’s small territory and nursed back to full health, she hadn’t spoken to anyone once.

All she had done was retreat into herself and lose herself fully in vicious training. Day in, day out. It was all she did.

Today, though, Sofia was hopeful that there was going to be a change. They had all received a notice that Lord Uhtred was going to be visiting the direct and indirect victims of the Ancient Variant attacks.

About six people had gathered in one of the smaller halls of the Capitol of The Elite Academy. Sofia stood overlooking the six from a balcony that surrounded the hall above. She wasn’t actually supposed to be here. In fact, how exactly she was here was entirely thanks to her class: Shadow Walker. A stealth-type, Rare-Grade Esoteric-Elemental class.

Sofia didn’t know what exactly about "Shadow" qualified as a part-Elemental class, but hey, that was how the System described it, and she didn’t pretend to know more than the System.

In any case, it was her ability to hide in shadows that allowed her to enter this private hall without being noticed at all. There had been ascenders manning the doors — ascenders that Sofia was actually familiar with. A man and a woman who looked to be in their thirties.

Their situation was especially unique because they were a married couple. The two of them had been soldiers in their previous life on pre-Integration Earth, and after the Integration, they had gotten classes that complemented each other perfectly.

The man was a fire elemental, and his wife was an ice elemental, but at the same time, the man also had a lower affinity for the ice element, just as his wife had an affinity for the fire element. The two were both dual elementals, though they clearly had primary elements that they were more proficient in.

Sofia had come across them in the Trial of Ages back in Australia, so she wasn’t surprised when she saw them again taking the test to join Uhtred’s Capitol of The Elite force.

By all standards, the couple was actually powerful. At least, among normal ascenders of the world, when not talking about the high rankers on the leaderboards, the two were still very dangerous. Yet, Sofia had been able to sneak past them without either of them being any the wiser.

It simply went to show just how powerful her own Shadow Walker class was.

Suddenly, Sofia was snapped out of her thoughts in her hiding spot above the hall as she heard a commotion begin to sound from outside.

He’s here... Sofia realized immediately. Lord Uhtred has arrived...

If she focused with a bit more effort, Sofia could almost hear his voice from her position. He was outside the small hall, attending to those victims who had been indirectly affected by the Ancient Variant attacks.

Those were the people who had either heard the news of their families being attacked, or had a distant relative, a friend, or an acquaintance who had been a victim in the attacks. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Their situation wasn’t as severe as those inside the hall, hence the need for the separation. Uhtred could attend to them broadly and generally, and that was exactly what he seemed to be doing outside the hall.

Sofia immediately readied herself. She reined in her presence as much as possible, retreating deeper into the shadows. She was attempting to listen in on a meeting that Uhtred, the number one ranker on the planet, was going to be present in, so she couldn’t afford to be found out...

...Or rather, she knew she would definitely be found out, but a part of her wanted to see just how long it would take before she was.

After several minutes, Uhtred’s voice began to draw closer. He had made his rounds through the ascenders outside, and was now moving close to the doors of the hall.

Sofia steadied her breathing and averted her gaze from the door, looking off to the side. She had heard that powerful ascenders could feel when they were being observed.

Even without the sharp prickle of sensing an Inspect skill being used on them, just a simple look by someone far lower in Level could draw a natural response from their high perception attribute.

Now, how true that was remained a mystery. Sofia would have tested it out herself using her father, Black Sun Mateo, but he was an extremely busy man, and she had also been very busy ever since she entered the Capitol of The Elite.

Still, she wasn’t willing to risk it being true, especially against Uhtred, so she chose to err on the side of caution and avert her gaze.

Suddenly, Uhtred’s voice drew extremely close, loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear clearly, and then with a firm push, the door opened.