Uncle here isn't your average office worker!

The heavily armored soldier in front of him dissolved and reconstructed as if by viscous fluid, eventually transforming into a short, gloomy, blue-haired boy.

"King of Shapeshifters!" Manfred exclaimed, "You... you actually have an alter ego in Letania?"

“I’m everywhere. I don’t mind playing the role of a rat in the gutter or a nobleman in a moving city. Why are you so surprised?” the King of Shapeshifters said with little interest. “Theresis was right to have me follow you. Otherwise, you would have caused him a lot of trouble.”

“I…” Manfred’s expression suddenly darkened when he mentioned Theresis. “I’m sorry, General.”

"Go talk to him yourself, I don't want to listen." The King of Shapeshifters glanced outside the cell, stretched out his hand, and his slender, white index finger instantly transformed into a key, which he inserted into the cell door, easily opening the heavy iron door.

This iron gate was far more difficult to open than one might imagine. It was made of materials that suppressed Originium Arts, and it was also equipped with counter-spells and a sophisticated mechanism. However, the abilities of the Shapeshifter King were not considered Originium Arts, and the slime could perfectly match the shape of the key.

Manfred emerged from his cell. The King of Shapeshifters merely glanced at him before transforming into his likeness, perfectly mimicking his voice, tone, and manner of speaking:

"I'll go out first. You can find a chance to leave on your own. I shouldn't need to teach you that."

Manfred nodded immediately: "Understood."

Volume 1: Chapter 236 The Future!

Letania, the voice of the Queen.

The fact that the Grand Elephant had entered the Empress's Voice was already shocking enough, but what was even more shocking was that just a few days later, the Empress's Voice announced the decision to hold an emergency imperial conference.

The Emergency Imperial Conference, officially known as the Imperial Conference of the Emperor and Electors of the Leitanian Empire, is a system where, although the Emperor and Electors are in a subordinate relationship, each Elector and their subordinate nobles possess a high degree of autonomy within their own territories. Even the Emperor cannot interfere excessively under normal circumstances, and in the event of such matters, he must issue formal orders to the local nobles and resolve the issues according to established procedures.

However, there are always exceptions. The emperor could not stand idly by and allow his authority to be so severely restricted and weakened. Therefore, in addition to the regular imperial conferences, the late emperor of Letania also promulgated the "Emergency Conference Act," declaring that the emperor had the right to convene emergency imperial conferences in extraordinary times to pass certain bills that were not suitable for discussion at the imperial conferences, or to deal with certain emergencies.

Although such a bill exists, an emergency imperial conference cannot be convened at will.

In nearly a century, emergency imperial councils were convened only three times. The first was when the Iberian Armada, during its golden age, launched an expedition against Letania; the second was when the Letanian-Gallic War broke out and the Witch King declared war on Gaul; and the third was when the Twin Queens defeated the Witch King, and the imperial scepter changed hands. These three events were all highly relevant to Letania's fate and even its survival, which sufficiently demonstrates the significance of these emergency imperial councils.

Only a little over a decade has passed since the last emergency imperial conference following the fall of the Witch King, and news of the upcoming fourth emergency imperial conference has already spread like wildfire, enough to stir up a storm in Violet City, which has just experienced a major upheaval.

"What did Her Majesty the Queen see in Violet?"

What was discovered during the disappearance of the Teutons and the Queen?

"Is the upcoming summit with Kazimierz, which was instructed by the Queen, related to this matter?"

The Electors, who had already begun to gravitate towards Violet City or were close to the position of the Queen's Voice due to the disappearance, repeatedly questioned their intelligence departments, but none of them were able to get a truly definite answer.

With a suspicious nature, a meeting not attended by representatives, but by the seven electors themselves, and chaired by the White Queen herself, officially began at the heart of the Queen's Voice.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here to discuss not the distribution of benefits, nor the conflicts between one leader and another, nor relations with any of the core nations.

The past is not over, but the future has arrived. The true trial for all of Terra has just begun. Before the meeting begins, gentlemen, I hope you will look towards the place you have never looked before.

Look towards the ocean, look towards the tundra, look towards Originium, look towards the sky and beyond that, to places even more distant.

Then you will understand that what we are about to discuss is the fate of this world!

—Excerpt from the archive "Into Terraleta: The Queen in Transition"

..........

Kazimir, Kavaleriaki, streets brightly lit.

The tall, blond man raised his arm and straightened the simple black tie around his neck. His light blue and white shirt couldn't hide his athletic and upright figure, so he covered it with the black suit jacket draped over his other arm.

His expression was full of exhaustion and impatience, and he was muttering something as if he were cursing a blue-haired man who wasn't there. But he kept looking at the watch on his wrist, and his pace didn't stop at all. In fact, it even quickened as the clock hands moved.

He was on his way to a meeting, an unexpected yet perfectly logical one.

If Roy's shocking words weren't just empty promises, this meeting would have been held sooner or later. He just hadn't expected it to come so quickly, even choosing a late night on a day off, forcing him to drag his body, which had just managed to escape from endless paperwork and finally lie down to rest, back to the National Assembly's hearing hall.

Frankly, he didn't know what the outcome of this meeting would be. The Terran were clearly not prepared, and when he selectively relayed the information he had gleaned from Roy to Grand Knight Russell, he read more doubt and disbelief than seriousness and contemplation in the latter's expression.

This is enough to explain a lot.

Squeezing through the revelry of the street jousting performances, he finally stood before the imposing building. The National Assembly building was one of the few structures in the Great Knights Territory still constructed and decorated in a classical style. According to a spokesperson for the Commercial Federation, it symbolized "the history and heritage of this city and this country." However, he didn't feel that a place built solely for tourists to pay for photos possessed any cultural significance, just as he didn't think that present-day Kazimierz had anything to do with the Kazimierz of the past.

The security guards maintaining order at the National Assembly spotted him, and civilian staff immediately and respectfully approached him, guiding this now influential figure in Kasimir's political circles:

“Mr. Marner, this way. The main entrance is closed. All the representatives are waiting for you on the third floor.”

Marner glanced at the man's name tag; it was Markowitz, the name of this well-dressed man. He nodded and followed Markowitz into the National Assembly. The civilian official kindly pressed the elevator button for him and watched him board the "final leg" to the meeting.

Moments later, a cordon was officially set up at the main gate of the National Assembly, keeping all reporters and citizens who had come to investigate out of the way. Platinum-Hinterlaya, the current leader of the Business Federation's reorganized Unarmed Alliance, led her men to officially seal off the scene.

Marner pushed open the door to the hearing room.

Seated on the left were representatives of the Kazimierz Commercial Union's Board of Directors: Kane, a reporter from Rose Newspaper, and Aleister, the "Hunter" from Originium Cloud Daily Necessities. Seated on the right was Russell, the "Grand Knight Commander," representing the Kazimierz Supervisory Council. The central seat was empty, for Kazimierz was now without a king, and no one was qualified to preside over the meeting.

As soon as Marna sat down, the Grand Knight Commander's booming voice rang out beside her:

"Now that all the delegates are present, I hereby declare this meeting officially open."

"The reason for this meeting is that Letania provided us with a detailed account and list of evidence regarding the four major crises. Based on its contents, we have to admit a startling fact."

Russell glanced sideways at Marner beside him and continued,

"Therefore, the topic of this meeting is: the future!"

PS: There will be more tonight.

Book 1: Chapter 237 Dorothy's Call

Columbia, Trimont, Rhine Life.

Roy misjudged the timing; Rhine Lab was founded much earlier than he had anticipated. Even its formal commercialization and the attraction of numerous scientists didn't occur until 1085, a full 10 years ago.

Although Dorothy, as Roy had predicted, had not yet officially joined Rhine Lab as a department head, years of media coverage and academic exposure had made joining Rhine Lab a major life goal for her. Roy's initial plan—"if Rhine Lab hadn't been established yet, let Dorothy act as an angel investor with funds"—had failed before it even began.

Although the plan deviated slightly from the beginning, the final result was still not bad.

Unlike other scientists in Trimont, Dorothy, born into humble circumstances, didn't receive the same level of attention. Even after joining Rhine Lab and becoming the head of the Originium Arts Applications Department, her research funding was often insufficient, let alone now. The funds from Roy's investment in the Treasure of Drip Village allowed Dorothy to restart many projects that she saw as promising but had been temporarily cancelled due to research difficulties and funding issues. And the results she achieved on these projects were undoubtedly far more attractive to large corporations like Rhine Lab than the results of basic research undertaken merely to appease investors and secure funding.

So much so that when Yara, the head of personnel at Rhine Labs, formally approached Dorothy, she was genuinely surprised. Dorothy had essentially turned down all research aimed at securing funding, throwing herself wholeheartedly into research projects that she considered too advanced for her to comprehend. And her research funding came entirely from regular remittances from a Casimir account.

To put it bluntly, Yara even felt that Dorothy's lifestyle was no different from that of the popular actresses in Bluewood who were kept by wealthy capitalists or nobles. Both had placed their entire hopes on another person, and Dorothy's situation might even be worse than those kept actresses. Those actresses were only engaged in a transaction of flesh with the capitalists; at worst, even if they were abandoned, they could find ordinary people to take over, and simply surviving wasn't difficult. But what about Dorothy? Her research hadn't yielded any results yet, and if the funding was cut off, it would be almost impossible for her to find a kind person to take over these unfinished studies. Moreover, judging from her state, she clearly "enjoyed" her current research method. It was hard to imagine how much of a blow she would suffer if the funding were cut off.

"Dorothy, don't you have any doubts? This kind of approach—asking you for money to do your research without asking for anything in return"—Yara asked with genuine concern.

"Doubt?" Dorothy's large ears perked up, seemingly surprised by Yara's question. "Doubt what?"

She exclaimed excitedly, "The people who invest in me always tell me they look forward to seeing my work! My research is almost finished, and I'm willing to give them my life's work. Why would I doubt such a relationship?"

Yara was at a loss for words. She couldn't understand why Dorothy would believe that there were people on this earth willing to invest unimaginable amounts of money in a dream with no visible outcome, and she couldn't understand why such people actually existed and had actually invested money in Dorothy.

They've never even met! Isn't that rich fool afraid Dorothy is a con artist who'll run off with all the money?

To put it even more absurdly, Yara felt that even if that person was spending a fortune because of the female scientist Zalak's looks, she could barely accept that he was rich and capricious. The key point was... the key point was that she had confirmed countless times that the investor really didn't want anything.

"never mind."

Covering her forehead to confirm she wasn't feverish or hallucinating, Yara refocused her attention on her mission. She opened her brightly colored designer handbag, took out a recruitment contract bearing the Rhine Lab logo, and handed it to Dorothy.

"Miss Dorothy, would you be interested in working for Rhine Life?"

She was supposed to follow up with a lengthy introduction to Rhine Lab's hiring conditions and advantages after this opening statement, but she didn't. She didn't think the material benefits she offered, such as insurance and research funding, could surpass Dorothy's current situation. So, after careful consideration, she said...

"At RheinLife, you can meet more like-minded people, more people who look forward to your technological achievements, and more people who will create the future."

"Just like my investor?"

Dorothy's eyes sparkled.

Yara forced herself not to avoid Dorothy's gaze and nodded awkwardly, saying, "We're all similar, let's seek common ground while reserving differences."

She couldn't guarantee that Justin from the business department was as wealthy as that mysterious investor. If she did, the first resignation letter she'd receive at work tomorrow would probably be from Justin.

"Hmm... I need to think about it, is that alright?"

Dorothy thought for a moment, then nodded and said.

Yara nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world:

"Of course, that's your right. You can call me anytime within a week. I look forward to seeing you at Rhine Life."

Yara wrote a private number on the back of the business card, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Dorothy, and then returned to Rhine Lab.

Dorothy remained alone in the lab. Instead of immediately restarting the experiment, she returned to her messy desk, which was piled high with stuff, opened a drawer, and carefully took out another piece of paper that was clearly well-preserved.

It also contains a phone number.

This is her investor's phone number, stemming from their first and only voice conversation.

She dialed the number with some trepidation. A beeping sound followed, and after a short while, Roy's puzzled voice came from the other end:

"Hello, who is it?"

"Um... um... hello, this is Dorothy's Lab, I'm Dorothy Franks."

Roy, who was wondering why a completely unfamiliar foreign number was calling, immediately realized what was happening and nodded, saying:

"Miss Dorothy, it's been a long time. How's the research going? Any results? Or are you short on funding? I'll have someone send you a call."

"No...no." Dorothy took several deep breaths to suppress her inner turmoil and joy, and said, "Mr. Roy, Rhine Lab has extended an invitation to me. Should I join?"

Rhine Life?

The invitation came earlier than expected. Is it because of me that Dorothy's research progressed faster and caught Christen's attention earlier?

Roy answered while thinking:

"Of course, if you'd like."

"But, Dorothy, if you join Rhine Lab, be sure to watch out for Ferdinand Clooney and Christen Wright."