Gravis had totally forgotten about his birthday. After all, birthdays kind of lost their meaning.

However, one million years was still a long time, and Gravis needed some time to process that.

Gravis was a million years old now.

After a moment of shock, Gravis recovered and thanked everyone for coming.

Then, all of them had a small get-together, which reminded Gravis of the time he had left for the middle world. Back then, they had also held a small party for Gravis.

Gravis still remembered the present his father had given him. It had been a black scale, and Gravis had had no idea from whom this scale came. 

Now, Gravis knew.

It had been a scale from the Black Magnate.

Stella wasn't here right now since she was busy comprehending more Laws. Additionally, Gravis also hadn't been there for Stella's millionth birthday. 

It wasn't really an important event, and everyone knew that, which was why the party had only been very small and short. It basically only acted as a small get-together and reunion.

Gravis didn't speak much with Mortis, the Black Magnate, his father, or his mother since he was in regular contact with them.

However, Orpheus was someone Gravis hadn't met in a while, and he asked him how he was doing. After all, Gravis hadn't seen Orpheus in Manuel's faction.

"Oh, I'm just comprehending Laws," Orpheus said with a smile. "The Ancestor of the Eternal Fire Sect offered me the position of Sect Master, but I declined. I don't want to be bound by a lot of responsibility."

This took Gravis by surprise. "Wait, what? The Ancestor asked you to be the Sect Master of the Eternal Fire Sect?" Gravis asked.

Orpheus nodded with a smile. "Yes, apparently, there had been some kind of competition I didn't know about. However, that explanation cleared a lot of my doubts."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

Orpheus only grinned. "Well, not soon after I entered the Eternal Fire Sect, several people started to act against me. Some of them were slandering me. Others were trying to put the blame on me for something I didn't do. Some people tried to convince me that there were hidden spies in the Eternal Fire Sect, and so on. There have been a lot of incidences."

"Someone wanted to go against you?" Gravis asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

When Orpheus saw Gravis' eyes, he only laughed. "I like that you're trying to help me, but you're still a bit too young," he said with a chuckle.

Gravis only continued looking into Orpheus' eyes with a serious expression.

Obviously, he wasn't taking this situation as a joke.

"You don't have to worry, Gravis," Orpheus said. "Power is everything, or did you forget that? All these political schemes are unimportant, and I let them do and say whatever they want."

"The entire leadership of the Eternal Fire Sect hates me now, but who cares? I'm still a member of their Sect, and if they try to throw me out of the Sect, they will only have lost one of their most powerful Ancestral Gods."

"By the way, that's eventually something that happened," Orpheus said with a grin.

"You were thrown out of the Eternal Fire Sect?" Gravis asked in shock.

"No," Orpheus answered with a smirk, "but they tried to."

"What happened?" Gravis asked.

"As soon as the vote was nearly complete, the Ancestor appeared, and he berated everyone quite heavily. He said that infighting was great for creating outstanding new Elders, but as soon as one reached the top of the Sect, everyone had to work together."

"They would have banished me, which would have resulted in the Eternal Fire Sect becoming much weaker. They can deal with losing thousands or millions of Star Gods, but they couldn't deal with losing someone with the power to become a Sect Master."

"Eventually, he said that I acted correctly while everyone else acted only for their personal gain. Well, acting for one's personal gain isn't that bad if it involves a significant increase of power, but this was all about status and position. If they had a way to become far more powerful by banishing me, the Ancestor wouldn't stop them. He would even support them."

"However, they didn't. The power of the entire Eternal Fire Sect would drop significantly, which meant that this was a stupid action."

"That's when the Ancestor said that he would grant me the position of Sect Master, and that's also when I declined," Orpheus said with a smirk.

Gravis looked with a strange expression at Orpheus.

If Orpheus had accepted the position of Sect Master, he would have gained an incredible amount of resources to further his own power.

However, he would have also gained quite some responsibility.

Yet, this was a trade everyone was willing to take.

Except Orpheus.

'Would I have declined?' Gravis thought.

Silence.

'No, I would have accepted. However, I would have put a proxy in my place. In short, I would get the resources with none of the work.'

'I would have probably used Manuel as my proxy.'

"Then, who's the current Sect Master?" Gravis asked.

"Officially or unofficially?" Orpheus asked with a smile.

"Both," Gravis answered.

"Officially, it's the current Sect Master. Unofficially," Orpheus said before making a short pause, "Also the Sect Master."

Gravis' face transformed from curiosity into a deadpan expression.

Orpheus had to laugh when he saw Gravis' face. "Well, in a way, the current Sect Master is basically only a replacement Sect Master. In a sense, she will only occupy the position of Sect Master until the actual Sect Master is powerful enough to lead the Eternal Fire Sect."

"Oh?" Gravis uttered with some interest. He already had a suspicion.

"Is it Manuel?" Gravis asked.

Orpheus only grinned. "Yep."

Gravis' eyes narrowed into a distrusting gaze. "Did you actually decline the position of Sect Master?" Gravis asked slowly.

Orpheus only laughed with a smile. "Yeah."

"Really?" Gravis asked again.

"Hmmm, maybe I tried to become the Sect Master and use Manuel as a proxy, but in the end, I declined," Orpheus said with a smile.

"Mhm," Gravis muttered.

'As if Orpheus would decline the resources such a position comes with,' Gravis thought. 'So, he had the same idea as me.'

"And I guess they declined, right?" Gravis asked.

Orpheus laughed a bit. "Well, the Ancestor said that this was basically his position, and the Sect can't have two Ancestors. Additionally, if I wanted to become the Ancestor, I would have to be as strong as him. He needs someone that actually takes responsibility."

"However, he also said that if I trust Manuel so much, he can keep Manuel in mind as a contender. As soon as Manuel becomes powerful enough to rival the Sect Master, and as soon as I become powerful enough to rival him, we can both take over the positions of Sect Master and Ancestor, respectively," Orpheus said.

Gravis' eyes widened in surprise. "He said that?" he asked.

Orpheus nodded. "Strange, isn't it? Usually, Sects don't want to undergo a major shift in leaders, but the Eternal Fire Sect doesn't think like that. If someone was able to completely take over their Sect, it only means that the leadership was too weak. If the new leadership managed to claim the Eternal Fire Sect from the old leadership, the new leadership could only be more powerful than the old one."

"As long as we keep the name, everything goes."

"Huh, interesting," Gravis said.

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