The reactions only grew more serious as the announcement spread upward through the hierarchy of the known world.
A Blue Core Elven territory convened an emergency council.
An Indigo Core Vampire Lord ordered every informant in three regions to begin listening for unusual Angel activity.
A Violet Core Dragon ruler dismissed the message with a laugh until his oldest adviser quietly reminded him that the last confirmed SSS-bloodline Dragon had eventually established a dynasty that ruled for nearly four thousand years.
The Dragon stopped laughing.
Inside an enormous mountain palace, the Dragon Lord leaned forward on his throne.
"Four thousand?"
"Three thousand, nine hundred and eighty-seven."
"Close enough."
The elderly Dragon adviser folded his hands.
"Bloodlines outlive individuals, Your Majesty."
The Dragon’s golden eyes narrowed.
"And the child is Angelic."
"Yes."
"Do the Angels even have a functioning high-ranked kingdom anymore?"
"Several."
"Powerful?"
"Some."
"Then why would the system hide the territory?"
The adviser smiled faintly.
"Perhaps because wherever the child was born cannot protect him."
The Dragon Lord went still.
That possibility had occurred to more than one powerful ruler. The world announcement did not reveal that the child had been born in a Red Core territory. Had it done so, Urelias Territory might already have been doomed.
But the secrecy created its own problem. Every powerful Lord was now guessing. Some believed the infant belonged to one of the remaining High Angel empires.
Others suspected one of the secluded Seraph clans. A few believed an ancient Angel faction had secretly returned.
Almost nobody imagined the truth.
That the child currently responsible for halting an S-ranked territorial war was sleeping peacefully in the arms of his exhausted mother inside a small manor located in one of the weakest territories in the world.
And then, far beyond the skies known to Antony Urelias, the announcement continued travelling.
Beyond the barriers surrounding the known world existed another plane.
A higher dimension entirely.
The inhabitants of the lower world called such places myths; Ascended realms, Divine worlds or Celestial dimensions.
Most did not even know which name was correct. What they did know was that Violet was considered the pinnacle of territory development.
That was what nearly every Lord had been taught.
It was also wrong.
Inside the higher dimension, a vast city floated above an endless ocean of clouds. Its walls stretched farther than some lower-world kingdoms.
Winged creatures larger than castles circled between towers made from translucent crystal, while enormous chains of light connected floating islands together.
At the city’s center stood a Territory Core.
A pure radiant white.
A man seated within a vast hall opened his eyes. Before him appeared the same message.
[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT]
[A child possessing an SSS-Potential Bloodline has been naturally born.]
[Race: Angel.]
[Parents: Protected.]
[Territory Location: Protected.]
The man’s expression barely changed.
Around him stood beings whose presences alone would have forced most lower-world Lords to their knees.
One woman glanced at the announcement and smiled.
"Isn’t that an interesting development."
The man said nothing.
Another figure laughed.
"SSS potential. The lower plane is becoming noisy again."
The woman shook her head.
"You’re looking at the wrong part."
"What part should I be looking at?"
"Naturally born."
The laughter stopped. Several figures turned toward the screen again.
The man on the throne finally spoke.
"How long has it been?"
Nobody needed him to clarify.
An elderly figure answered.
"Since an Angel with that level of potential was naturally born?"
"Yes."
The old man thought for several seconds.
"At least eight thousand years."
Silence settled across the hall. One of the younger figures frowned.
"Then it’s probably from one of the remaining celestial branches."
"No."
The answer came immediately from the woman.
He looked at her.
"Why not?"
"Because if one of them had succeeded, they would not have allowed the world system to announce it before establishing protection."
The younger man’s expression changed.
"Then someone unexpected produced him."
"Precisely."
The man upon the throne finally leaned forward. The White Territory Core floating behind him pulsed softly.
"Lower realm?"
"Almost certainly."
"Location?"
"Protected."
He smiled faintly.
"So even we cannot see it."
One of the others seemed offended.
"The system is blocking us?"
"The system has always blocked information it considers protected."
"That restriction should not apply across dimensions."
"And yet it does."
The man closed his eyes briefly.
"Do nothing."
Several heads turned toward him.
One figure immediately protested.
"My Lord, an SSS Angel bloodline..."
"Is an infant."
The hall quieted.
He continued.
"If he survives, grows, awakens his bloodline, develops properly, and eventually reaches the level implied by his potential, then we will care."
The woman smiled.
"That is a considerable number of conditions."
"Exactly." He waved one hand. "Potential is not strength."
Nobody argued.
Yet when the meeting ended, several figures quietly sent messages of their own. Because while the ruler had spoken logically, none of them had missed the other implication.
The announcement had crossed dimensional boundaries.
That alone was unusual.
Farther still, beyond the White Core territory, other lights existed.
Colors unknown to the lower world. Stages Antony Urelias had never heard named. Territory ranks beyond anything currently recorded by the Lords who had descended from Earth ten years earlier.
And in more than one of those distant territories, ancient beings opened their eyes.
Some immediately dismissed the notification, some smiled while some began searching.
One woman standing before a core whose strange color shifted depending on the angle stared at the announcement for a very long time.
Then she whispered,
"An Angel child?"
The servant behind her bowed.
"Yes, Your Grace."
"SSS potential?"
"According to the system."
She slowly turned toward him.
"And naturally born?"
"Yes."
The woman’s expression became unreadable.
"How interesting."
"Should we investigate?"
She looked back toward the message.
"No."
The servant seemed surprised.
"No?"
"Not yet." She smiled faintly. "An infant is only an infant."
Then her eyes narrowed.
"But remember the announcement."
The servant bowed.
"For how long?"
The woman turned away.
"Forever."
Back in the lower world, the golden light above Urelias Territory finally began fading.
Antony knew none of this.
At that moment, Antony Urelias had much smaller concerns.
His newborn son had begun crying again.
Even with the realization that his peaceful Red Core territory was apparently expected to evolve, Antony was quickly discovering that none of those things were quite as difficult as figuring out why the baby refused to stop screaming.