Seth arrived at the place where instructor Durlan was waiting for the returning participants. It has only passed one hour since the beginning of the event, but there seemed to be some elves that had already passed.
He approached the instructor and said: "Here, my token."
Seth gave him the blue token, but he didn't receive it. He looked towards Seth with a reproachful stare and made a stop signal with his hand.
"You don't need to give it to me, just make sure to present it tomorrow morning to the guards at the Central Stadium entrance and they will allow you to enter."
Instructor Durlan knew that for a person to finish the test in a single hour, it was almost a hundred percent chance that he would be cheating, however, he could do nothing but accept it, since those people were probably from rich and powerful families. But that didn't mean he would condone with them.
He gave Seth a cold look and told him to go. He wasn't interested in trash that bought his way up and he thought that even if Seth had money to buy a Qi Transformation beast core and use it in this stage, the next one would crush him, since it was meant for only strong practitioners to pass.
However, Seth did something that shocked the instructor before he left.
"What?!"
Seth took the blue token in his hand and crushed it with sheer strength., destroying the token completely. He wouldn't need to use it, since he was going to enter without a disguise on the next stage.
He had already seen what he wanted to see and was starting to understand some things. Elyon somehow wanted to cause a huge commotion, but on the next stage, he would be going to be in the middle of everything.
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A day later...
Chief Commander Allannia was checking a bunch of documents about the next stage of the Wild Games when suddenly, a guard came and knocked on the door of her office.
"Chief Commander Allannia, Paeris Beihorn came to talk with you."
"Hm... Send him in."
Paeris Beihorn was one of the members of the Secret Security Unit, but his standing in the unit was of a normal soldier, since he was a Mana Control powerhouse.
He entered inside Allannia's office with a grave countenance.
"Chief Commander Allannia, there has been some problems."
"What happened?"
"In some parts of the forest where the preliminaries of the Wild Games were happening, the beasts were acting in a total chaos. Except for the western parts, where instructor Durlan was in charge, the other areas were assaulted by many enraged beasts and the number of causalities is many times higher than what we expected."
"Hm? A beast riot?"
"No. Not a riot, more like they were mindless. It seems that they were crazy and attacking anything they saw, even other beasts... The way they acted, was very similar to the way the beasts from our last expedition to the Forbidden Grounds acted."
Allannia stood silent for some time.
"If what you're reporting right now is really the truth, I will have to contact the Elf Queen, since those matters are of utmost importance for her."
Paeris had a feeling that this would be bigger than he thought.
"Are you sure? I and the other members of the unit can deal with this..."
"No. This is not something we can deal with without her Highness here. However, before she comes, I want every single member of the unit ready for tomorrow. Until there, try suppressing the information from leaking. I don't want a commotion to break out because of this."
"Alright."
Paeris left to inform the other members.
Allannia took out a green talisman and crushed it. This was a way to quickly notify the queen that an emergency was happening. But by the distance the Elf Queen was from the capital city, Allannia didn't expect her to arrive before the event that would happen tomorrow.
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.
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Seth had already returned to his room inside the Allakiir mansion and was currently studying the corrupted blood he got from the instructor he met inside the forest.
He could feel the red energy inside the blood, but it was very weak, yet it was able to drive those beasts to madness. He knew that sooner or later, this energy would end up infecting humans, elves and demons. However, he already knew what would be their ending, since he has seen it many times on the caverns inside the demon territory.
He wasn't bothered by what would happen with the elves, but... What would be of his journey if everything were to crumble? He came here to get stronger, get resources that were strong enough for him to grow beyond his limits, but now, he was in the middle of something he didn't expect.
"Sigh... What should I do?"
Knock! Knock!
Seth heard some knocks on the door and went to open it. He didn't check who it was with his sense, since he thought it would be Arel. But when he opened, he saw Elyra standing there.
"Lady Elyra?"
Elyra entered Seth's room and closed the door behind her.
"The Secret Security Unit was summoned for tomorrow's event."
"As I thought." Seth said.
"Hm? You were expecting it?"
"Well, after what I saw in the forest today, something like this was to be expected."
"What happened in the forest?"
"Elyon commanded some instructors to infect the beasts with the blood he acquired from those humans."
"!!!"
"I think he is going to make a bigger move tomorrow."
"So, it's like that..."
Seth stopped for a bit and decided to ask Elyra about something.
"Elyra, do you really think Elyon is dumb enough to make a move with the entire Secret Security Unit there?" His question seemed to have a deep meaning behind, but Elyra wasn't able to get it.
"As crazy as it is, if he makes a move like that, it will be akin to suicide. Everyone will be there tomorrow, hidden among the participants. He will certainly be caught and dealt with." Elyra seemed to be feeling relieved that everything would end.
"That is actually why you should be more preoccupied, instead of relieved."
"Huh? Why?"
"Do you think that Elyon would make a second move, right after alerting the Secret Security Unit with his first? Actually, that is not the right question. Elyon will make a move for certain, but would a person like him make a move only to be discovered and arrested?"
"..."
Seth continued: "No... If I were him, I would move only if I knew that there would be a hundred percent chance my plan would work, and that is where I wanted to get. He has more than he has shown. You should be careful, because he will strike with everything."
Elyra could only stay silent and muse over his words. She felt that he was right. Tomorrow would be a turning point for the Elven History.
"Sigh... There is no point to keep thinking about it anymore, we just need to be prepared for whatever he throws at us."
"You're right Seth. I have another thing to tell you. Tomorrow is going to be the real beginning of the Wild Games, and the human guests are going to join in. You will be entering as a human from now on, right?"
"Yes."
"Then for the next stage, the requirement will be a party of five people. You were already assigned to participate together with other four humans that were invited."
"Four humans? No problem, but... What will actually be the next stage?"
"Do you know why this city is called Ereinrith?"
"Hm? No, I don't."
"Ereinrith Abandoned Ruins. That is the name of a dungeon located in the heart of this city, right below the Central Stadium. This entire city was built around it. For thousands of years, we elves tried to clear that dungeon and claim the treasures inside, but we weren't able to."
"What?! There is a dungeon in the middle of the city?"
"Yes. When we first arrived here, there were already many ancient ruins at that place. What we did was to gather all spatial masters available, to create an underground area and push all those things below. Year after year, we explored it with all our efforts, but we ultimately ended up failing."
"Why? Don't you have the Elf Queen, a Mana Sovereign Real cultivator to explore it for the elves?"
"The Elf Queen was never interested in what lay there, she left the chance inside that place for whoever gets to complete it, but I think that even if she did the dungeon, it is impossible to predict with certainty what would happen. There seems to be a very powerful guardian there, it is just that we have never awoken him from his slumber."
"I see... I didn't know that the Elven Territory was hiding something like this." Seth was getting interested on that. Maybe there was something that could help his growth down there.
"Get ready for tomorrow. Every member of the Secret Security Unit is going to enter the dungeon disguised.. If something irregular happens, we will deal with it."
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