Infinite Realm

"Haha. You are indeed right. I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement." A young man walked in from the side. 

He had a handsome face, black hair, and a perfect physique, making him quite similar to a flower boy. From his posture and walking steps, one could feel a firm sense of self-confidence and pride radiating from the young man. This was a by-product of the environment he grew in alongside his status in life. Some would call this the aura of a king.

Sato stared at the figure in the display as his mind went back to memory lane.

Kurosaki Genma.

While he wasn't the son of the current head of the Kurosaki family, he was still a direct member of the family line. If things were to be put in more descriptive terms, the former head of the Kurosaki family, which happens to be Sato's paternal grandfather, had 5 children: 4 boys and a girl. 

Kurosaki Kento, ranked last of the four sons, was the father of Genma as well as Kenshin's younger brother and Sato's uncle. While he didn't succeed in becoming the family head after Kenshin's death, he still got his hands on a lot of power and authority over some of the family's businesses so he was still a man of authority in ISJ and had to be taken seriously.

Being one of the privileged sons of Kento, Genma enjoyed a lot of privileges and was able to get whatever he asked for since birth. Eventually, after completing his studies at a notable business school, he, alongside his elder brother, took charge of a couple of businesses under their father for a while before Genma left the business scene to become a pro gamer. 

While a lot of people felt that Genma's decision was a waste of talent, Genma didn't care and only did what he wanted. In the end, he proved a lot of people wrong and shut a lot of mouths after his stunning performance in his first-ever international tournament where he took the 33rd position out of hundreds of finalists. Since then, Genma had made a lot more achievements both locally and internationally and eventually became one of the official ambassadors for Quantum electronics, one of the companies under the Ajita Group which dealt with the retail of electronic appliances ranging from complex devices like gaming capsules, consoles and 3-d displays to common household appliances like a microwave or a television or display unit. 

With so many achievements, sponsors, and fans surrounding him, Genma could be said to be at the peak of his life but others begged to differ. This was because Genma was still young, being 21 years of age. He had a lot more years ahead of him and so had a lot more potential than some other gamers. Because of this, Genma had another nickname apart from 'The Frost King of the Red Sea'. He was also called 'Ajita's 5th star'. 'Ajita's stars' were a group of youngsters from the Ajita Group, specifically the Kurosaki family, who had made stellar achievements in various sectors, be it in the VR gaming industry or the marketing department, and still had lots of potentials to do more. In simpler terms, they were the most prosperous under 30 of the Kurosaki family and Genma was ranked 5th. This was with him having both high expertise and skill in business administration and VR gaming, something you wouldn't see every day, anywhere. One can only imagine how amazing the next 4 were.

'Genma…'

Others may not know but Sato could guess why Genma had left the business scene. He most likely suffered suppression from both his big brother and the other family members. While the Kurosaki family might seem like an amazing family with a lot of wealth and talents, it was these very two things that made the competition within the family a whole lot harder. Even kidnapping and threats were an everyday occurrence for an up-and-coming family member. For a young man like Genma, it wouldn't be easy to survive in such a field so his best option would have been to withdraw.

"Welcome." The male host stood up and shook hands with Genma. The young lady, on the other hand, smiled at him with stars in her eyes. It was unknown whether this was an act or how she truly felt.

"You all might be wondering why we invited him today so I might as well let you know. The 1st tier guild, Sovereign, happens to be the leading guild representing the entire White Valley town's player population. So who other than the very guild leader of this magnificent guild, would be the most suitable to explain the situation to us?" The male host said.

Sovereign was the guild founded by Kurosaki Genma. With his amazing gaming skills and expert management ability, he had raised the guild from the 4th tier rank to the 1st tier within 5 years. Originally, he didn't start out as the guild leader, only taking the role of the guild owner when the guild was founded. It was only after he fully delved into gaming 3 years ago that he officially took the helm as the new guild leader.

"So, unlike the various reports and analysis of different VR gaming analysts and prognosticators, you were saying otherwise to the expected destruction of White Valley town. Can we know why?" The male host returned to the topic at hand.

"There's no other reason than the fact that Sovereign would be taking the lead in this battle. While it is true that the monster wave would increase in quantity and quality with each wave, we have already planned a few contingencies and setups to help with this." Genma answered confidently. 

With the way he spoke, it was as if the monster wave that had yet to occur was already done with. If anyone didn't know the specifics about it, they might think that it was nothing more than a breeze. 

The interview went on for a while and even after they had discussed the issue regarding White Valley town's safety. Genma didn't leave because he was the special guest for the day so until the segment was over, he had to still be present. Just his presence alone was sure to cause a spike in the viewer ratings for the day's show so the 2 hosts wanted to take advantage of it.

Sato had lost interest the very second Genma had come within view.

His relationship with his father's family could be said to be very shaky and even making contact with any one of them was too risky. Because of that, Sato started planning on how to avoid contact with any one of them and tried to recall the various characters of the family that may have joined the game.

'He's changed a lot.' Sato thought as he saw Genma's profile.

Back when he was still a part of the family, Sato was quite close with Genma and while they weren't the best of friends, they were still close cousins. Back then, Genma was a naive little kid that always cried at the littlest disruption. He was a lot shorter than Sato so he always followed after him making people presume that the duo had an older and younger brother relationship. 

Now, however, the previous signs of that naive little kid were all gone.. All that was left now was a man with billowing self-confidence.