Siana

A blonde man grumpily alighted from a red sports car in front of a castle like mansion. He walked past all the servants that had lined up in the entrance to greet him, not even bothering to return their greetings. As he stood at the entrance of the mansion another servant approached him and respectfully walked him inside.

The mansion was decorated in baroque style making it look like a palace of a royalty. The ceilings were filled with war paintings where the red of the blood and the gold of the armours was predominant. The central hall, which could be considered as the living room, was not much different in its style from the rest of the halls, except for the added effects of mosaic windows.

In the middle of this extravagance sat a man with white hair and a straight posture. If one didn"t look at his face, his trained body alone would be enough to create an impression that he was only in his 40s, when in actuality, he was in his 70s.

Seeing that his grandson had arrived, the old Vallauris nodded his head in satisfaction. He would have preferred to meet Luke a day earlier, but his grandson was as stubborn as him: refusing to abide until extreme measures were taken. Not only did Luke remind him of his own youth, but he was also much more ambitious and capable than his son and Luke"s father: the current emperor. This is why the old Vallauris had called him here to give him a helping hand in the selection.

Disregarding any ceremonies Luke directly went and sat on the leather sofa in front of his grandfather. Taking the gla.s.s of wine that was prepared beforehand especially for him, he calmly took a few sips and then looked apprehensively at his granddad with his eyebrows slightly raised.

Seeing the impatience and the inquisitiveness in the young man in front of him, Bill Vallauris sighed helplessly and got straight to business.

"You realise that the vote of the Vallauris might as well be the decisive one, right?"

Luke scoffed at his question. Of course he did, why else would he bother to accept the trial that was meant to be so disadvantageous for him. Currently both him and Cain had secured three votes each and though the Herondales preferred the Dragon, being the neutral party they had to provide equal opportunity to test their true prowess.

Thus, without any unnecessary words he nodded his head, waiting for the old man to continue. After all, he wouldn"t have called him only to tell him something so obvious.

Excluding the judges from the Greydale and Vallauris families plus the current emperor, the other four judges had to share the details of their trials, if any, with the other judges on the day of handing them to the two candidates. Therefore, the old Vallauris already knew about the first task given by the Herondales. Deciding to probe the capabilities of his grandson on his own, the old man inquired,

"So how do you plan to deal with the first task? The Dragon from the Greydales obviously has the advantage over you."

Knowing full well about this fact, Luke"s expression still turned solemn hearing it coming from his grandfather. In this world, there were few people he respected, but his grandfather was the one he respected and admired the most. Even though he was stubborn towards the man"s requests from time to time, he still would eventually always follow his advice and orders. He was someone Luke looked up to, so he was also the last person he ever wanted to disappoint.

With these thoughts in mind he decisively started stating the details of his plans, as he knew that if there were any loopholes or areas of improvement his grandfather would be the best person to point those out to him.

"I have divided my intelligence gathering team into two: one is currently a.n.a.lysing the activities of "Black Lily" from three years ago while the other is attempting to rope in the number two hacker as he is the only person that can rival Cain in this aspect."

Though his voice was steady, deep down he was feeling quite bitter, as Cain had a natural advantage in information gathering aspect because of his skills as a hacker. Though there were many hackers in the world, Cain differed because of his ingenuity of creating new ways of obstructing the others. His speed was always faster than the others, making it harder for others to find information after him. Moreover, even though Luke had a strong team of hacker, Cain had his own. This was why hough he had previously lashed at his subordinate, he still approved of his team"s decision to try and get the one with codename Q on their side. If they were able to succeed, Cain would no longer pose such a big threat to them in the future.

Listening to his a.n.a.lysis, the old man nodded in approval. Even if Luke had appointed all of his team to carry on with the task, Cain"s own team could simply obstruct them, leaving Cain free to collect the benefits. Luke"s plan was smart, as getting his hands on Number two was his best chance of beating Cain in this game. Nevertheless ...

"How confident are you at getting the one codenamed Q?"

Luke slightly tensed at his question. He mights seem like a playboy to others, but when he did things, he did them in absolute perfection. However, he was really not cut for technology, so he especially hated the fact that he had to completely rely on his subordinates for this matter.

"My subordinates were able to establish a contact and apparently even had a small face off with him, however, the latter sent them a strong bug which they have broken through only earlier today." After thinking for a moment he continued, "The bug was on a different level than the ones created by the Dragon previously."

The old Vallauris was able to easily grasp the meaning behind his last sentence: he meant to say that this person was most probably even better than Cain. Little did they know that the bug was so difficult to destroy as it was created by their disdained number one and their desired number two together.

However, whatever it was, this was a big gamble and it seemed that Luke did not have much confidence in or control over it.

"What if that guy still refuses to join you?"

At this moment Luke finally showed traces of a devilish smile on his face. Even if he was not very capable in computer sciences, he still had means and ideas of his own.

"From the observations from these past few days, it seems that this guy is away at certain periods of time. Though he has strong defences that are hard to break, I don"t believe that my people are unable to overcome his defences with their numbers. When they do so, getting his IP address should not be too difficult. As soon as I get his location, I can then personally take action." At the though of finally gaining the control back in his hands, his smile turned much more dangerous with his next statement, "Then we"ll see whether he has the guts to refuse joining me or not."

"Hmm, I wouldn"t expect less from the grandson I personally groomed," Bill Vallauris smiled proudly. "However, your grandpa has long had his sights on this guy. He emerged only a few years ago and his growth, though exponential, didn"t escape my radars in the beginning. Two years ago my intelligence team was able to locate him in Ribekia. Even though the chances are slim of him to still be staying in the same location, you might as well start your search from there."