Hogg Mining's Water-Drawing City regional manager, Garvin, was renowned far and wide throughout Zelandia and even the Northlands.
Of course, that "renowned far and wide" was somewhat watered down.
Because most people had heard his name through Garvin's Paradise Set.
And for that very reason, after amassing enough titles to fill an entire storage locker, Garvin had once again acquired such absurd epithets as "Liberator of Coriel Women" and "the Mind Druid Who Stands Above All Males."
Yet regardless of how outsiders viewed this controversial master of illusion and Psionics, in the eyes of most Zelandians, he remained a legendary figure on the level of Los Biplas.
It was said that forty-six years ago, he had already been a Level 17 psionic master. But after Li Wei fell into slumber, he had voluntarily faded from public view, resigned from most of his governmental duties, and become something akin to an "advisor."
In the years that followed, he had quietly accompanied his father George in running an alchemical bicycle shop, assisted his wife Vina in expanding the light-and-shadow industry and newspaper business, and silently made outstanding contributions to Zelandia's influence and expansion on the surface.
Many even speculated that over the past half-century, he had likely advanced to Legend long ago and become a true big shot—he had simply kept an excessively low profile.
No one knew whether he had deliberately stepped away from the center of power in Zelandia while Li Wei was absent in order to avoid suspicion, or whether the endless stream of buyers coming to his door had left him with psychological trauma.
Thus, even during the first assembly of the Zelandia Free City-State, he had not uttered a word.
Because while everyone else was still watching Li Wei overhaul Zelandia with sweeping reforms, Garvin had already