King Helion Starfall concluded his address to the heroes and returned, following through the same part he had taken out.

Zorat assumes that’s the wing reserved for the royals as their personal abode, and is completely restricted. So, the likelihood that what Zorat was after, being through there, was very high.

Saintess Sylvarra likewise went through the same wing, only on the opposite side of the entryway. Considering her status, it isn’t surprising she’s being accommodated in the royal wing.

As Zorat watched these two individuals disappear through those large double doors, with everyone else present bowing in respect, someone else was watching Zorat. The grand vizier.

But Zorat was one hundred percent certain the man would not actually be taking any action whatsoever in the vicinity of the royal palace.

With Zorat’s physical form becoming stronger, he could now channel some of the senses linked to his own soul through his body as a conduit.

The stronger you get, the easier it becomes to sense those below you in realm.

Just as Zorat could tell that King Helion and Saintess Sylvarra were the strongest individuals among those they’ve physically seen so far....

He could also sense the presence of up to five other similarly strong individuals, gathering at a particular location in the general direction of the royal wing. Stronger even.

Of these five individuals, some were stronger than Helion, who, according to Zorat’s senses, should be incredibly close to the transcendent realm, were it not for the lingering internal injury that he could also sense in Helion.

Meaning, these individuals were all above paragon and getting close to transcendence, with one in particular being half a step away from it and probably only needing to accumulate enough experience to breach that chasm and cross fully into transcendence. Which might take even centuries for the denizens of this world. Which is still insanely fast from Zorat’s understanding.

Zorat believes these individuals are the elusive royal enforcers, people almost equal in status to the king himself.

Their roles are not set in stone, but generally viewed as guardians. They would always be there to thwart every ploy aimed at the royal family or whatever crime is being perpetuated inside the palace or its immediate environs.

At least that’s the rumours; Zorat had never seen them in action since no one has been bold enough to do anything requiring their attention.

They are said to move only when the interests of the royal family or the kingdom are at stake.

They prioritize the royal family more because, as rumored, these royal enforcers are retired monarchs of the previous generations.

How they keep an eye on all that goes on in the capital, and especially the palace, is still unknown to Zorat; he assumes it must be some sort of artifact at work.

Suffice it to say, the royal family has a lot of secrets.

It is this belief and fear of the existence of these monsters that prevents Victor and others like him from acting rashly or even carrying out any manner of violence directly or indirectly in the vicinity of the palace grounds.

Especially on heroes, since there is also their status to consider, and the status of the Saintess who considers heroes the chosen ones of the goddess Arleria.

However, noticing the desperation in Victor’s present glare at him, Zorat was certain Victor would most definitely come up with a more creative way to destroy him.

Unfortunately for Victor, just as he had his plans, so too does Zorat, which leads to why he’s been extending his senses into the deeper reaches of the royal wing.

There were just a few more details Zorat needed to fall naturally into place for everything to flow swimmingly.

He had to exercise caution at the moment because, although he has these close to authority-level abilities, they still couldn’t be used in their full capacity, not even a tiny bit. A body that’s barely crossed the adept realm could only withstand so much.

Presently, if Zorat is to go against, say, Victor, for example, who’s at the Paragon realm, Zorat could not yet execute his skills with enough lethality to slaughter one at the Paragon realm that had gone through an exponential boost in stats.

Even when Zorat had killed Tavian, who was a grandmaster, he had to use a considerable amount of mental strength to get through his tough exterior; it only looked easier because of Zorat’s supreme level of control.

Zorat was currently using these abilities at a rate similar to 0.008% of their efficiency. Going over that at his current realm would instantly turn his physical form into dust.

A body is just as important as the soul. The body is a conduit for channelling dimensional runes. Only Authority-based runes are independent of the body since they become their own systems, essentially constituents of the soul itself.

Right now, since Zorat still cannot directly kill Victor, not until his body becomes strong enough, he would have to engineer others to do that for him.

There is, of course, the familiar route of cultivation, a more effort-intensive method to progress one’s realm, as is done in the hell dimension.

But as mentioned before, that would be an insanely sluggish process.

The rate of advancement in this world, especially for the heroes, using this convenient leveling system, is ridiculously fast.

It would be like being handed a horse and choosing instead to walk. So that option is a no-go, considering Zorat is also on a timer.

The other option is inscribing himself with runes, which he can design to directly increase the durability of his physical form. This would also take a very long time, but way shorter than the sluggish method of cultivation.

However, there was in fact no longer a need for Zorat to go looking for a more expedient way to increase his stats. The leveling speed was already broken, and now he had Kaelara. She was like the gift that keeps on giving.

"Hi, Caleb."

Zorat turned around to see that Ava was already behind him. He hadn’t even noticed when she arrived.

Maybe it’s because he tries his hardest to ignore her presence, but it’s also obvious her skills as an assassin are becoming more refined; she almost seemed blended to the space around her.

Wearing his professional, mesmerizing smile, Zorat responded. "Oh, hi, Ava... nice weather we are having."