In Dylan's Residence...
"Sir Dylan, where have you been last night? We were shocked to discover that you were not within your room when we came to check earlier." Jack asked after they have arrived at the residence.
"Jack's right. You did not tell us anything about you leaving." Beverly said with a worried look.
"We were so worried. We thought that something might have happened to you." Larry had a dejected look on his face.
"Ah..." Dylan suddenly realized that he forgot to say that he was going to leave last night. This unknowingly lead to his employees worrying of his whereabouts. As he scanned the looks on their face, he knew that he had wronged them so he decided to tell the truth as an apology.
"I left the city and cultivated at the Great Pine Forest. I'm really sorry for forgetting to tell you and making you worry needlessly. " Dylan admitted.
"Why do you have to leave the city just to cultivate?" Ronald asked.
"Because my cultivation technique causes too much of a disturbance as I breakthrough. If I stayed in the city to cultivate, the higher ups of the city would then notice. You all know how controversial my identity is. Thus, I have to keep low profile and leave the city to cultivate." Dylan explained.
"Oh." Hearing his explanation, the employees understood. It was really difficult for Dylan to train in the city if his cultivation technique attracts unwarranted attention.
"Then how strong are you now? Have you already entered the Awakening Spirit Realm?" Arnold inquired.
"Eh? Can't you detect my current level?" Dylan was slightly shocked to hear this question. Normally, cultivators could sense the cultivation level of another if the gap isn't more than 2 sub-realms. Thus, it was with reason that Dylan was shocked with Arnold's question.
"No, we can't." Arnold shook his head.
"Yeah, boss. What's with that? I can feel that you are far stronger than before but I'm not quite sure by how much." Ron nodded on Arnold's reply and asked Dylan.
"..." This question made Dylan think and silent. Why couldn't his employees see his current power level?
'Why can't they determine my strength? I just cultivated the Legendary Co... That's right! I cultivate the first chapter of the Cosmic God Manual which is a God-tier cultivation technique! In some light novels, those who cultivate a vastly superior grade of cultivation technique or those who possess extreme levels of energy purity could block outsiders from figuring out their cultivation level!' Dylan suddenly realized this after searching his memories for plausible answers.
'The Cosmic God Manual has both of these features which almost secures that others wouldn't be able to ascertain my true power. Of course, this only applies if the person is slightly stronger or weaker than me or even equally powerful as I am. However, if that person is a realm stronger than I am, then they would be able detect it.' Dylan concluded.
"Sir Dylan? Are you okay?" Rick's voice was suddenly heard.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just lost in my thoughts for a moment there. I'm not entirely sure whether my answer is right but I think it is due to my cultivation manual being levels higher than yours which prevents you from seeing my true strength." Dylan woke up and quickly shared his thoughts.
"Oh, I heard of this before. Cultivators who cultivate higher grades of techniques than those around him would give him immunity from energy ascertaining."A voice from upstairs was heard after Dylan's sentence.
"Is that true?" Tom asked.
"Wait, who said that?" Scott curiously said.
They traced the origin of the voice from upstairs. They heard footsteps from the stairs. Several moments after, the owner was revealed. He was Barry who was asleep all this time.
"Hi." Barry greeted with a simple smile. It could be seen that he was lacking in energy as he was using a wooden cane to support his body.
"Bro! Are you okay? Why are you up already? You could barely stand! You're still pretty weak from last night! Go back to your room and rest." Dylan quickly went to Barry's side and aided him.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm tougher than you think." Barry put up a thumbs up, implying that he was truly fine.
" Hehehe, Dylan, you didn't tell me that you had such a big family with you. It seems that there are some pretty girls here. Mind if you could matchmake your poor single brother?" Barry teasingly said while showing a sad expression.
"I don't know about that." Dylan laughed.
....
As the two brothers were talking, the employees were in a state of baffledness before recovering slowly.
"Bro...? Wait... Bro?!" Jack and the others were shocked when they heard this. How come they never heard of Sir Dylan having a brother?! Wasn't he the son of True King Derik and Magma Phoenix, Melissa?! Could it be that they were twins?! That can't be, they looked too different from each other!!
Sir Dylan was just gone for a night and he suddenly brings home a man who could barely stand?!What's more was that they looked really close with each other?! Sir Dylan looked worried and said that he was still weak from last night..? Feeling weak? Last night? Could it be that...?
"No way." The boys stood there feeling lost. They never thought that Sir Dylan was...
On the other hand, the girl's reactions were far more worse as they could not accept such a thought and screamed, "Noooo!!!"
....
"Noooo!!!"
"What the-?" Barry and Dylan who was just done talking heard the girl's scream. Dylan turned around and looked at the ferocious faces of the girls. He almost jumped from fright due to this.
The girls quickly approached them and distanced Dylan from Barry by dragging him. Dylan was forced to sit onto a chair.
"What's~?" Before Dylan could say anything, he saw the girls suddenly tearing up.
"Sir Dylan, we never thought that you were like this..." Marie's sobbing could be heard.
"What do you mean?" Dylan blankly asked. He clearly did not understand why they were being like this.
"We never expected that you were..." Mary just couldn't bear to continue.
"I am what?" Dylan felt really confused. He did not understand what was happening.
"It's your fault for seducing our prince!!" Audrey Nile, a blonde and yellow skinned beauty, suddenly screamed and pointed Barry. Tears were streaming all over her face.
"Wait, seduce what prince? The hell?!" Barry blinked for a few times. He didn't understand what any of this girls were saying.
'Se... duce?!' Dylan was dumbfounded by this remark.
"Right! It was you!" Hearing this, the girls focused their attention to Barry and released their anger.
"Girls, formation!" Allana commanded.
"Allana, what are you doing?" Jack woke up from the shock and tried to stop her.
"Yes!" The girls readily followed and formed into groups of 5! This were their positions for the Synchronized Battle Skill!!
"Ready!" Allana shoutrd.
"What the heck?! Mister, run for your life!" Jack cried out. He tried to run but he knew he was too far.
"Run for my life?!" Barry did not expect this to happen at all!
"Synchronized Battle-" Before the girls could do anything, Dylan's voice resounded like thunder.
"Enough!" Dylan reprimanded loudly which made the girls stop from what they were just doing.
"What do you think you are doing to our guest?! Is this how I trained you all? It seems like I had been far too lenient lately! " Dylan coldly questioned.
"We..." The girls suddenly realized how rude they were. They looked at the calm expression that Dylan had and shivered as they heard his cold strict voice.
"I don't need a reason! Hurry up and apologize!" Dylan coldly uttered.
"Yes, sir." They obediently turned around and shyly faced Barry. They bowed their heads and apologize, " We apologize for our unsightly behavior. May sir Barry forgive us for our wrongdoing."
"Uh... It's fine, it's fine. I'm all right. No one got hurt. It was just a misunderstanding. Dylan, you better clear things up or else it would be embarrassing to face your employees, hahaha!" Barry who was still in a daze, quickly recovered. Being an intelligent and wise man, he knew that there a misunderstanding happened. He was not so petty as to get angry to such trivial things.
"I guess it is my fault for not making things clear earlier. It seems like you misunderstood that Barry and I as something like lovers, huh? So let me clear thing's up, Barry was the person who saved my life back in Great Pine Forest. If it weren't for him, then I would have already died. We swore to the heavens and was acknowledged as sworn brothers who will stand side by side no matter what. I hope this clears up everything. So are we clear?" Dylan clarified the whole thing.
"Crystal!" Everyone answered. The employees and Dylan apologized to Barry for that misunderstanding. Barry was a virtuous man so he let it slide without thinking much.
"So does anyone have any more questions? Raise your hand if you have one." Dylan asked once more.
"I do, sir." Allana raised hers.
"Yes?" Dylan said.
"Sir, how about the dog outside? Where did he come from? How did you meet him?" Allana asked about Rian and pointed the little dog who was currently taking to the Jagger Wolves who were shockingly prostrating in front of him!
"Oh, that's Rian. He became my companion by accident. As for where he came, I'm not really sure because he just magically appeared in front of me and Barry." Dylan answered with some awkwardness. He really did not know where Rian came from. All he knew that when Rian was still in his egg, he entered his mind to incubate.
The employees looked at Barry waiting for an answer.
"Well, I could attest to that. It was really weird how Rian suddenly appeared back then." Barry gave his reassurance.
"Oh." The employees nodded.
"Hahaha, Dylan! You're finally back! I just conquered the pack of wolves and became their supreme leader! Hahahaha!" Rian suddenly jumped out of nowhere and landed on Dylan's shoulder.
"A... A talking dog?!" The employees almost had their eyes bulging out of their sockets when they heard Rian speak!
"Oh, I thought you were still busy with them. It seemed like you were enjoying yourself earlier." Dylan said.
"Hahaha, it took quite a bit of time to make them completely submit. They were a relentless bunch not bowing their heads from just one beating so I decided to give them 5 beatings each! Eventually, they acknowledged me as their leader." Rian nagged on and on about his deeds today.
'The little dog made the Jagger Wolves submit?! Just how powerful is this dog?!' The employees thought.
"So that's why you took this long." Barry smilingly said.
"Right,I just finished telling them my heroic stories. Hahahaha!" Rian smugly said
"What heroic stories? You were just born yesterday." Dylan sneered and then laughed.
"Hahahahaha!" Barry laughed at this.
"Errr. Damn you, Dylan! Take this!" Rian opened his mouth and bit Dylan's shoulder ferociously.
"Ouch!! That fucking hurts! Ah, it's bleeding! Get off me, you little punk!" Dylan cursed from the immense pain on his shoulders.
"Nebvwer! (Never!)" Rian said while biting Dylan's shoulder.
"Hahahaha!" The residence was filled with happiness and laughter afterwards. Though the employees did not completely understand what was happening. They could not help but smile and laugh seeing their Sir Dylan being so happy and recovering from the loss of her sister.