The day before the grand opening ceremony, Kael and Lila arrived in New York.
However, they weren’t staying at a hotel. Instead, they were t at the airport by Ben and Thea themselves and driven to an exclusive luxury residence in the heart of the city. The building was a modern marvel—a solitary, impossibly tall skyscraper that dominated the skyline. They were escorted to the duplex penthouse at the very top.
This was only Lila's second formal eting with the Carrington siblings, and the air was still thick with a sense of unfamiliarity for her. Thea, however, acted as if they were old friends, warmly taking Lila's arm and giving her a tour of the residence.
"Lila, please, don't be so formal," she said with a genuine smile. "Make yourself at ho."
"Thank you," Lila replied, still a little nervous in the presence of the Carrington family's eldest granddaughter. But Thea's warmth was disarming, and she soon began to relax.
Thea led her to the floor-to-ceiling windows, which offered a breathtaking, panoramic view of the city.
"Wow, it's beautiful!" Lila gasped.
"This apartnt was a gift from the federal governnt," Thea explained casually. "My grandfather found it too high up for his tastes, so he never moved in. If you like it, it's yours."
Lila was stunned. It wasn't the offer of a hundred-million-dollar penthouse that shocked her, but the fact that Thea had the authority to give it away. How could a gift from the governnt be given away so freely? The level of trust Sebastian Carrington placed in his granddaughter was imnse.
Thea watched Lila's expression, knowing she understood the implication. But she was certain Lila couldn't guess the truth: the instruction to make this offer had co from her grandfather himself. Whether Lila accepted was irrelevant. The true purpose was to prepare her psychologically, so that when the real news dropped tomorrow, she wouldn't be completely overwheld.
Lila considered the offer for a mont, then politely declined. "Thea, that's an incredibly kind gesture, but I have my own ho. I couldn't possibly accept."
Thea simply nodded, not pressing the issue. She then led Lila to her massive walk-in closet to try on dresses for the event.
While the two won conversed in soft tones, the sound of Ben and Kael's laughter echoed throughout the living room. Due to the contractual obligations of Godpath, Ben, as a direct descendant of the Carrington family, was restricted from playing the ga like a regular player. Most of his knowledge of the ga ca from watching streams and reading forums, a spectator to a world he longed to join.
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Having finally cornered Kael in person, he wasn't about to let the opportunity go. He begged Kael to recount his adventures in Thaloria.
Kael was more than happy to oblige, his tone animated and engaging. He started with the plight of the Earth immigrants, then detailed how he'd used the Hidden Realm as a lever to increase their influence. He described how, after securing the realm, he'd organized the coalition to seize the mines, and finally, how he'd played both sides at the negotiation table to co out on top.
Ben listened, completely enthralled. "Incredible! Absolutely incredible!" he exclaid, clapping his hands together. "Your strategic thinking, your decisiveness... I'm truly in awe!"
They talked late into the night, two kindred spirits lost in tales of digital conquest.
The next day, the streets around Carrington Tower were under heavy security and traffic control. The global elite, dignitaries and magnates from every nation on Earth, converged on the location. A red carpet, a full mile long, stretched out before the entrance.
Every person who stepped onto that carpet was impeccably dressed, radiating an aura of power and prestige. They moved with a practiced grace, so offering a slight nod to the adoring crowds, others ignoring them completely.
Unlike a celebrity red carpet, there was an air of profound dignity here. Posing for caras? That was for actors and influencers, the commodities they themselves controlled. To preen and posture at an event of this magnitude would be seen as a sign of weakness, a pathetic cry for attention.
The press photographers lining the carpet were in a frenzy, their caras flashing nonstop. They were desperate not to miss a single face. For the production staff, it was a logistical nightmare. Any one of these individuals was worthy of a feature-length interview, yet here, they would only get a few seconds of screen ti.
Of course, the one person everyone was truly waiting for was Sebastian Carrington.
Ultimately, they were all disappointed. It was foolish to think he would enter through the main gate with everyone else. A man of his stature would have his own private entrance.
The procession of guests on the red carpet lasted for three full hours. It was past noon before everyone was finally inside.
The main hall was a dazzling spectacle of light and architecture. The space was divided into three tiers, all circling a central stage. The first and second tiers were for guests, while the third was reserved for the dia.
The first tier was for the ordinary guests. These were the mainstream billionaires, the nas that frequently appeared on Forbes lists. Their wealth, while vast, was largely virtual, tied up in the fluctuating value of their company's stock.
Though they were worth tens or hundreds of billions on paper, they could never truly liquidate their assets without causing their stock prices to plumt. They were, in the grand sche of things, the paper-rich.
The second tier was for the true elite. These were the aristocrats and old-money dynasties whose real wealth was imasurable, not reflected in any public market.
But as powerful as these figures were, in front of the Carrington Family, they were all minor players.
It was rumored that they had achieved a critical breakthrough in the technology to detach human consciousness and upload it to a digital network. This ant that humanity could finally shed the shackles of the physical body and exist as pure consciousness in a virtual world.
If that day truly ca, they would possess the one thing that emperors and commoners alike had dread of since the dawn of ti.
Who, after all, doesn't wish for eternal life?
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