Chapter 384 Time Flies
When Alex exited the testing ground, he was welcomed by the cheers of hundreds of high elves, as he had earned a bit over twenty-six thousand points, ranking him 78th, which was a grand achievement among the elves because his record was destined to stay in the top hundred for years to come.
A group of six royal guards led by a Verdant Enforcer, a cold beauty with an aura that was more overwhelming than the beast king he slayed, arrived to pick him up, and with her arrival, the hundreds of individuals who were trying to make acquaintance with him parted away and stood in silence.
As the group escorted Alex, she introduced herself as Velatha Aelthion and asked about his lineage. He replied that from the day he came to this world, he did not have any blood relatives, which was true, but to everyone, it gave the impression he was an orphan.
Alex was currently a Recruit and technically not an official Royal Guard, and even though he would need to take an oath not to betray the elves, he wouldn't need to take the pledge of servitude.
This situation was perfect for Alex as he didn't need to burn system wishes to get out of a system contract in the future or use undetectable means to temporarily get isolated from the worldly laws, which would cost him a rare Nine Rank potion.
There were means to get out any oath or watcher contract, but the price was always extremely steep, and 99.99% of people could never hope to use those means.
While there were ways to check if one avoided the oath or the contract, it also came at a great cost, and elves would not use such means on Alex.
Alex was led to the capital city of the Aelthion clan, a marvel of magic, technology, and nature, and moments later, he was seated in a cozy room before a bearded elf elder.
After congratulating him on his success, the elder began by asking him questions about his origin, where he lived, his goals in life, and so on so they could gather information about him.
Alex gave vague answers that were true yet false at the same time and did not answer those that could be proven false.
The meeting concluded after he took the oath to stay loyal to the crown, but as he had consumed a Seventh Rank law isolation potion before he even left the testing ground, he was not affected by the oath.
Alex was given a resident in the city a plethora of rewards, a full set of early-stage legendary gear, a weapon of choice, and instructions to be present in the training ground every day from sunrise to midday.
Alex's routine for the next three weeks was spending his time on the training ground doubling against the elves, gathering any information he could without appearing that he was interested in such sensitive details while keeping tabs on the movement of Boras through mercenary group members.
Alex had found critical information about the emperor as he was being kept inside a space treasure that no one could enter without the permission of the empress.
In three weeks, he had found out the people that the empress trusted and took them with her inside the space.
He wanted to make a move, removing one of those individuals and taking his place, but he was no idiot to do such a thing hastily when so much was on the line.
Alex didn't trust the empress or any elf, and with the empress being a peak Eight Rank, even if he could fool her eyes and senses with his appearance, he couldn't hope to perfectly replicate the behavior of his persona.
So, for the time being, he was just observing, gathering the necessary intel so he could make a move on his own or use Boras if nothing else worked.
In the real world, he spent his days training beside Venedikt and Andrei, who were adapting to mana at a rapid rate, and according to Zoe's calculation, Andrei could be awakened in a week or a month while Venedikt would need at least two more months.
While Venedikt and Andrei were gifted with adapting to mana, their relentless training was also a big help, as Alex had seen his brother pushing their bodies to a point they couldn't even move and had broken bones and major muscle injuries.
It was not the best experience to see them go through hell, but seeing their determination, Alex also didn't have the heart to tell them to take it easy as they were not in mortal danger.
After three weeks, Alex took a mission to leave the elven city, and after losing the assassins tailing him using the temporal beacon skill, he changed his appearance and went to the human continent, to the city of Nova.
Today was the opening of the continental travel to the Terbis Continent, and it gave him the perfect opportunity to make his move to recruit Boras.
In reality, continental travel was established several days ago. However, only the members from the top three guilds and prominent figures of the continent were granted access to it, and today marked the official opening of this access to the public.
A public announcement by the Terbis Continent was made that the first thousand fourth Rank individuals could travel freely to the continent, all expenses would be taken care of by them, and on top of that, every fourth Rank individual could bring up to four individuals with him at half the normal cost.
It was a lucrative offer as normally it would cost them 10k gold, while for the fourth Rank individual, it was free, so many were rushing to reach the new continent, hoping to gain an advantage and the mercenary team that Boras was part of was also aiming to benefit from this opportunity.
While Alex no longer saw Boras as a petty thief and useful individual who could become his close ally, that didn't mean he trusted him because of how little he knew about him.
This was the reason Alex didn't make contact with him, as doing so could make Boras think he was some chosen, inflating his pride, and that was the last thing he would do when he needed to play a major role in the critical plan.
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[The Present Day]
"So if any of us can gain a response from this orb, you will pay him one million gold coins, and there is no cost if we fail?" A female asked, her voice showing her surprise laced with disbelief.
Alex was disguised as a simple-looking man, seated on a chair in the center of the inner city square with ten stands placed before him, each with a pristine crystal orb placed on them.
Alex decided to make it appear it was a game of fortune, but he knew Boras was in the city, and as the news of his presence spread, he was bound to arrive to test his fortune.
Boras would believe it was his luck that granted him the opportunity and not some chosen individual destined for the legacy of a Monarch, making him not get cocky with his newfound influence and power.
"Yes, what I said is true, but you only have a single chance," Alex replied with a toothy grin, saying it loud enough so the bystanders could hear it.
"What is the guarantee that you will pay the price," The female swiftly asked.
"Because I say I will, but you are welcome not to play the game of fortune," Alex replied, and the group of four females exchanged looks before they each walked toward a stand with anxious looks.
They kept pushing mana into the spheres, but no reaction came, so disappointed, they stepped back while the surrounding few individuals stepped forward to test their luck.
It didn't take long before a big crowd started to form around him, with more than a hundred individuals testing their talent with no victor, making many voices that it was just a sham and a waste of time.
But some stood waiting for a victor to emerge, as many took advantage of this absurd event and started to livestream it, attracting players by the tens of thousands.
Alex made the crowd create ten lines so he would attract the city guards and need to shift places, and everyone complied under the threat that he would end the game if they didn't.
After the number of testers surpassed a thousand, the curse Alex was receiving was off the charts, but the number of gathered and waiting individuals was only growing, and before long, Alex spotted Boras.
The man would be a model if he decided, as he stood at 6.3ft tall, alongside slightly tan skin, a chiseled jaw, broad shoulders, plus dense, bright golden hair flowing down toward he's shoulders with piercing amber eyes.
Yet He also had an innocence toward he's eyes, this same like one would find within a simple man who hasn't seen some real hardships.
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