He Became A Monstrous Genius After Obtaining A Time Dilation Artifact-Chapter 479. A memorable moment

The Vatican Empire was a bastion of inventions and technology—magnificent metallic and sleek skyscrapers, extremely high-quality teleportation circles, vehicles faster than seen in other empires, floating cities and isles enhanced by anti-gravity technologies, amongst others.

It was said that in Ancient times, certain factions of the machine race received support from the founder of the Vatican Empire during a civil war with certain factions of the Dwarf race.

Because of that, the said factions of the machine race, beings known to repay favors for favors and evil for extreme evil, decided to dwell in the Vatican Empire and contribute to its development.

The Vatican Empire had therefore become a hub for research and inventions. Various researchers and scientists in the low-tier civilizations mostly made their way here because the resources of the Vatican Empire were tailor-made to sustain their research.

At the heart of the Vatican Empire's academic institutions of research stood the headquarters of the Titanium Research Institute, located at the capital of the Empire, Eleria.

This was a research institute with branches across several empires in low-tier civilizations.

The Titanium Research Institute operated independently of the decisions and political influences of the Empire. For this reason, they had managed to stay influential, and establish branches, even across some empires that had skirmishes with the Vatican Empire in the past.

The Headquarters of the Titanium Research Institute was very lively at the moment.

This was because of a particular event amongst low-tier civilizations that was about to occur in a few days' time.

The Interempire Secondary Carrier Alliance Conference.

It would be hosted in the Titanium Great Stadium, a bastion of magnificence that could house any number of individuals.

Some said that a very mysterious supreme-stage dao-level machine race awakener had used rules of space in the past to construct the Titanium Great Stadium.

Every 200 years, this was where the conference was hosted in the low-tier civilizations.

At the moment, several spaceships of different calibers were parked at various dock points of the Vatican Empire's capital, Eleria.

A young man with smooth dark hair, pale white skin, enigmatic dark eyes, and a lean athletic build stepped out of the spaceship.

He was donned in a casual T-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers.

Two middle-aged-looking men followed, then someone who looked like he was in his late 20s, alongside a young lady.

In several other spaceships lining the one Kailen and the others had stepped out of, several individuals from the Astral Empire stepped out.

These were the runesmiths and alchemists who came to the conference for learning experience.

Kailen's eyes scanned the docks. Several individuals from different races could be seen walking around and conversing. Those from the machine race were numerous, engaged in various conversations with those from other races.

What actually intrigued him was that those from the machine race were very numerous.

Tall metallic-looking humanoid builds. There was this mechanical feel to them. But, at the same time, the individuals from the machine race felt strangely organic. They were active, sentient lifeforms. Not like those depicted in the science fiction movies Kailen used to watch on Earth.

"Just like the guys I saw in that Nyk simulation," Kailen mused inwardly.

"Let's move to the hotel booked by the Secondary Carrier Alliance for us," Li Dan said.

Kailen and company nodded.

****

Kailen was currently in his room at the moment.

He was about to rest when he saw a notification on his ID slot screen.

[Meet me at the Titanium Research Institute, Kai. There's a small restaurant at the opposite end of the road away from the institute. I will be there]

Kailen smiled, then dressed up.

Cool long coat, pants, sneakers,

He slipped out of the room, headed towards the meeting point.

The city was as lively as ever, with individuals from different races engaged in different conversations.

Kailen was in his hover vehicle, which was leagues below the hover vehicles in the Vatican Empire, especially the capital.

Several demeaning remarks

were passed his way due to his vehicle ,by some narrow-minded youngsters , but he could not be bothered to pay attention to them. In fact, the mere fact that he didn't pay any attention to them made them feel extremely stupid. He had treated them like they were nuisances.

After traversing several distances, Kailen finally arrived.

He entered the restaurant. The place looked clean, refined, and had a very nice aroma.

Kailen saw her.

White hair, petite frame, bubbly smile. His heart melted.

His figure flashed.

"Wait, Kai…where are we…"

In a moment, their seats were empty.

The waiter stood behind the table. He was about to ask for their order, but they had disappeared?

Shrugging, he moved to the next person.

****

The beach was extremely serene, the twin moons hovering across the skies. Its light washed across the shore, making the view very picturesque.

Kailen and Arrie were currently seated at the most deserted beach together. They had managed to find an empty beach after searching three different planets in the Vatican Empire's capital.

Arrie was resting dreamily in his arms, back reclining on his chest intimately.

"I missed you," Kailen said.

"Missed you as well, Kai."

Kailen stroked her hair.

"Can you believe it's been a year since we met? And in three months it will be our birthday?" Arrie said.

"Yeah," he said, breath intentionally lingering across her ear.

Arrie felt tingles at that, cheeks reddening.

"Your naughtiness never ceases to amaze me," she chuckled.

"I try," Kailen said shamelessly.

"Babe," Arrie said, "Phila reached out to me."

Kailen felt pained. "That betrayer."

Arrie chuckled. "She said you were having a hard time planning a birthday event."

"It was meant to be a surprise. Damn it, Phila," Kailen sighed.

Arrie smiled, hands softly caressing him. "She reached out to me to find out what I love for a birthday present. But I'm too sharp to not realize she was doing that for your sake. Caught her red-handed, and she came clean. Said she wanted to ask and report to you so you would be able to plan something to impress me."

Kailen sighed again. "So that's what she meant by 'give me some time to come up with a plan,' huh."

"Kai, how about we spend our birthday together on a beach, like this, alone, together? Nothing fancy?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"What of our friends? Won't they want to celebrate with us?"

"That can happen after our time alone together, right?"

"I suppose you have a point. You are really good at these kinds of things, Arrie."

"Well, I try," a chuckle followed. "It's strangely comforting, seeing you struggle at something, Kai."

"An enemy of progress, come here."

"Ah~ Kai, stop that. At least set up a camp with shadow manipulation first~"

"Right.... Tent set up.. now where were we?"

"Kai, why the rush~"