"Baron Silverpeak! Please allow me to shake your hand!"
"My deepest gratitude. If not for your command and predictions, our commander might truly have died at the Maze Lord's hands..."
"The Frontier Reach repays every kindness. Mr. Silverpeak, your command was truly exquisite. I heard you faced the Blazing Flame Lands' special operations squad in the Southern Ridge and even crushed three Construct Knights head-on. What an incredible record!"
"If Scholar Elge had been severely injured or even killed... the City of Knowledge would have suffered a devastating blow!"
"Please allow me to take you to meet all those who wish to see you..."
The moment he stepped out of the armored transport pod, Ian was surrounded by exceptionally enthusiastic yet remarkably restrained officials and Ascendants from various nations—though "surrounded" was not quite accurate. They had all politely kept their social distance; only their gazes were scorching and their voices thunderous.
As for why Ian was so popular... it was perfectly normal, really.
Mahdi was indeed the sole protagonist of this Xenobiology Research Institute expedition.
From fighting the young elites of every nation alone, to battling the Maze Lord, to successfully defeating the Maze Lord, piloting a dragon body to Dragon Island, and simultaneously withstanding an attack from a Fifth Energy Level...
Such an experience was undoubtedly the stuff of true legend, enough to be eagerly recounted and celebrated by later generations for decades.
But Mahdi was not here.
And although Ian was slightly inferior, he had also accomplished several extremely important things!
First, when facing the Maze Lord, the Dark Gold Dragon, if Ian had not decisively used his powers as a Seer to command everyone, helping all the young elites avoid the Dark Gold Dragon's attack zones and foresee the areas of destruction, probably very few of them