Alex stood still amidst the bustling cksmith association, his mind still racing with questions and concerns. His heart pounded as he scanned the crowd with his eyes, hoping that he might catch a glimpse of the old man''s figure. But there was nothing – no trace of him, like Alex had expected.


    He was certain that what he had just experienced wasn''t some sort of borate illusion either. It was definitely real.


    ''He faked the aura of an A tier.''


    This Alex was sure of. There was no way that man was anywhere near Alex''s level of strength, he had to be something far beyond. In fact, even more terrifying was the fact that he even had to be far beyond Bronte''s strength. Brontes had been fooled too, after all.


    He was going through just as much confusion and shock while in the taming space, wondering where all of those people had suddenly appeared from.


    Strangely enough, when Alex consulted Brontes about the old man, only confusion was sent over through their connection.


    Brontes didn''t even know Alex was speaking to someone at all. He thought that Alex had entered the cksmith association, and proceeded to stand there alone in the empty hall for a few minutes, before this weird situation of people suddenly appearing all around them happened.


    At first, Brontes didn''t question it as his innocent mind just led him to believe that Alex''s unusual actions must just be something humans did…


    Alex couldn''t fault the innocent young beast for thinking that.


    The conversations of the cksmiths around him buzzed like white noise in Alex''s ears, with all sorts of exchanges of knowledge and techniques taking ce in this haven of forging. None of them seemed to have acknowledged what had just happened. To them, it was as if Alex had been standing among them, lost in thought.


    ''Was it a hallucination?''


    He still reeled from the bizarre encounter. But the words of the old man lingered in his mind, echoing with unknown significance.


    ''There are those who would rather his story remain forgotten…''


    ''Who?''


    This was question number one in Alex''s mind now… or number two, closely behind the location of Mikhail''s forge. Though Alex was certain that the answer to the former was much, much more significant than thetter.


    Regardless, the old man''s warning was clear. Someone, or something, had gone to great lengths to make sure that Mikhail''s fate was erased from history. And now, Alex felt certain that simply seeking his name was enough to draw attention.


    ''I have to be careful.''


    The only trouble was, what was he supposed to be careful of?


    With a deep breath, he decided to move. Standing still like this would only make him look suspicious. He wove through the crowd, heading toward the exit of the cksmith association.


    He originally came here in the hopes that he might obtain some information to the whereabouts of Mikhail''s forge.


    But now, he knew there was a fat chance that he would get any such information from this ce.


    In fact, he doubted whether such information even existed at all anymore…


    If someone had gone to great lengths to make sure that Mikhail wasrgely forgotten from history, he had no doubts that his workce would be quite far up that list too.


    Who knew what kinds of secrets a ce as ethereal as the forge of someone who could create reality breaking weapons hid?


    The more Alex discovered on his self-created quest to find Mikhail''s forge, the more he felt like he was out of his depth…


    His thoughts were tangled in a web of uncertainty as he stepped out of the cksmith association. The city around him was lively as ever, with cksmiths, merchants, and awakened all making their way about. Yet, despite the normalcy of it all, Alex felt an unease deep within his bones.


    Was this all just a facade?


    If even someone as legendary as Mikhail could just be silenced and essentially erased from history, then wasn''t all of this just insignificant?


    What as he, a mere B tier Variant ss, supposed to do about it?


    Yet again, Alex felt a feeling of powerlessness, of weakness. Just like the times where he could do nothing but watch those far stronger than him ughter people like it was nothing, he felt his hope draining by the second.


    ''No! You can''t let this information break your mental this easily, Alex!''


    Alex managed to stop himself from spiralling before it got too extreme.


    Sure, he was weak in the grand scheme of things at the moment, but what about in the future?


    His talent, Soulforge, was something never before seen in the Federation, and he suspected that it held much greater significance than he might have previously thought.


    Perhaps… perhaps his talent gave him a clue into just what he was facing in regards to whoever it was that did such a thing to Mikhail and his history.


    Didn''t Brontes have talents ranked at ''Mythos''? That was clearly above S+ rank. And he himself, wasn''t soulforge ranked as ''Soul+''? Alex suspected that might be even higher than Mythos rank. If so, what were the implications of this?


    The ranks of talents usually corresponded to Soul Core ranks. Did this mean that out there somewhere, there could possibly exist people beyond S+ rank, or even beyond the rank beyond that?


    In fact, Alex had already experienced direct evidence of this fact himself.


    Phoenix was one such example, and now he was certain that the old man from the cksmith association was another such example.


    If they could achieve such heaven defying levels of power, why couldn''t he?


    He had already proven to have higher talent and potential than anyone else in the Federation''s history, so what was stopping him from putting that talent to full use?


    Whatever the case, Alex made his way out of Eternal Forge city and into the wilderness of the Primordial Expanse.


    His horizons were broadened that day.