A few weeks later...

Vicente and his group had, in the last few days, bought land in the Millfall area where the territory of influence of the already consolidated local powers was not in.

A few days after they received the house where Vicente intended to bring Nina soon, they received the contracts for the land in question and soon after hired a family of local builders to develop their project.

Now the site was under construction. Still, given the advantages of the world of magic over Earth, complex constructions could be done in a very short time.

In the case in question, Vice wanted a relatively simple property on the surface but with several secret levels and the possibility to be expanded.

Still, they had been given a deadline of less than 20 days for this property to be ready, but some days had passed since then. So, when the Vice group was preparing for their Awakening, everyone was already organizing to go and live in that place for the next few days.

...

At dawn, Vice's group awoke early, and soon they were leaving the Fuller family estate in Millfall.

While Nina was not coming to this town with Eve, by now, the group was living there since Vicente had received the keys and documents of the property weeks ago.

But that would not be the case for long. Once the site of Vicente's mafia family was ready, most of his men would live and operate from that place.

Vicente wanted to avoid trouble from his actions reaching his sister, so he would naturally create a front for his actions.

But for the time being, they had not yet done anything in this city, just begun to prepare the basics without involving anyone outside his group.

So as he left his house this morning, Vicente had no worries about local powers keeping an eye on his movements.

He left his property in the group's carriage alongside Rory and the men who had accompanied them on this trip.

Rory had already stabilized his strength and begun cultivating the mana in his body.

Until Awakening, one could only depend on one's own growth related to body maturation to increase mana density in their bodies.

But after that decisive moment, in possession of a Magic Gem, magicians could cultivate the mana in nature and merge it with that in their body and soul.

No technique was needed for this. Everything could be done using the Magic Gem.

Depending on one's talents and magical form, mana cultivation could be affected by location or resources.

For example, a magician with a water elemental affinity would find it easier to improve their level by cultivating in an area where the water element was denser, such as a river or the sea. But they would have more difficulty doing so in a place where this element was scarcer, such as a desert or volcanic region.

Resources affected these magicians in the same way. Something close to the water element would cause benefits, and something close to the flame element would cause harm to the magician under analysis.

In short, there were many variables involving one's magical growth, but Rory had been cultivating with ease for the moment.

He hadn't changed his level since his Awakening, but he was improving faster than the men in their group, so he wouldn't need much cultivation time to reach the Acolyte stage.

But even though he had been doing well recently, he was focused on Vice's Awakening!

"Vice, I believe I'm even more anxious than you are, man," Rory said on the way to the Awakening Temple. "After today, we will finally be able to begin our plans and take action to pursue revenge!"

Vicente's revenge against his mother's killers or Lauren's rescue was far from happening. But the beginning of it was precisely his Awakening and the beginning of his group operations.

Now that they had already talked to Aaron over the last few days about the local leadership and found out who were the people they had to be most careful of and who were the dirtiest in this town, they would soon begin their operations.

The thing missing was Vicente to Awakening and the rest of the Fuller family to move to Millfall.

But both of these things could be done in the next few days, and soon, their plans would leave the minds of those involved to take shape in the real world!

Vicente already had a target he would be approaching soon, so as he listened to Rory, he smiled. "Once we have a result in our actions, we will look for the blacksmith indicated by Aaron to get better weapons. At that time, we will quickly change our situation."

The average power of the dominant powers in Millfall was the 2nd magic stage. There were only a few Mages locally.

Thinking about this, Vice believed that if he had weapons for Acolytes, his group could grow somewhat easily in this town.

Rory agreed. "With coins, even those of low talent in our group will be able to go further."

There were limits that low-talented people could not cross. But to reach one of them, one would have to use many resources and naturally reach a relevant level on this continent.

The major difference between someone talented and someone of low talent was not the level of mana one could reach but rather the efficiency in growing through natural cultivation and resources.

Someone of high talent, like Rory, concerning those guards in their group, could use an item 'x' and achieve much greater greatness than them if they used the same resource. But using 'x,' even if they took longer to absorb it and achieved a less significant improvement than Rory's, those men would still improve.

Obviously, the resource couldn't be too potent to the point that their bodies couldn't handle it, nor too weak that it wouldn't stimulate them.

With resources, they could get stronger!

In the middle of this conversation, the group arrived again in front of the coliseum-shaped building, where several children were already gathered with their families and friends, slowly entering the place.

Vicente followed the walk he had taken with Rory a few days before and was soon in line.

When he identified himself to one of the temple staff, Vice was directed to the inside of that zone and followed a similar path to the one he had taken with Lauren years ago.

Rory and the rest of the group went to the observation galleries, where without delay, they found a spot from which they had a good view of Vice.

On that Awakening Platform, Vicente observed the surroundings momentarily. Then he closed his eyes, coming to this day after hard years of work and waiting.

'Finally... I am finally here.' He felt his heart beating faster while his eyes ached in a special way.

But he wouldn't shed any tears there and clenched his fists tightly, feeling the determination to Awaken his powers.

'Come on! Give me what I need to fulfill my purpose! I will use this gem wisely and push it to its limit, no matter how ordinary it may be!' He shouted in his mind, swearing an oath to himself.

As he finished saying this to himself, the voice of the temple master of Seidel sounded, marking the beginning of another Awakening Ceremony!