As we flew past the residential area where the weaker lots of both Dark World denizens and Noxians could be seen actively mingling together, I observed the key structure we have to pass through first.
It's a huge gate that's probably even bigger than the Door of Transcendence which stood tall to bar entry towards the central area.
This previous capital of the Noxians was divided into two parts. The outer area where the general population lived and the central area where the five main Aristocratic Families previously resided. That's how their race ran before. Most of the power was in the hands of the Aristocratic Families.
The central area can only be accessed by passing through the gate. The 20-meter tall obsidian wall surrounding it doesn't have any other entrance beside this one. Above, It has a Defensive Formation which prevents anyone from entering by flying higher than the wall. No one is allowed to fly inside except the Noxian Transcendents. Everyone else needs to pass through this gate and traverse the bridge behind it to arrive at the central area.
When the Noxians vanished and secluded themselves at almost the same as the Luxians, the Human Race and the Elementals didn't move to occupy their territories.
Now that they reappeared as an ally of the foreign invaders, the Dark World denizens gave it back to them.
At this moment, the Noxian Transcendents were the highest-ranking officer for the Dark World. Once those higher world Transcendents descended, they'll surely be degraded to a lackey.
They're most likely aware of that and like Lucas, they will probably try to pass through the Portal to convert their Source Energy inside the Dark World.
Apart from the two Noxian Transcendents, the only thing we have to be wary of were the Trap Formations set randomly. Even if we're concealed, we could still trigger it. Though it wouldn't seriously injure us, it would instantly alert them. Well, with my sensitivity to energy, it will be easy to spot.
During my 3 hours inside the Library, I got the knowledge about how Formations through the various books tackling that topic.
It's almost similar to how one will create their own spells except, it needed physical items which contained Elemental Energy such as Elemental Stones as well as a Core item such as the artifact we are going to steal.
The Elemental Stones can be found anywhere and some can be mined. The stones will become the Elemental Nodes of the Elemental Formations.
The core items can be forged or naturally formed. Just like Arland and Fleur's staff. In short, the core items are similar to the Meta Energy-powered engines of a Metagen. Using it as a base of the Spell Nucleus, the Elemental Formation can be maintained. And the higher the rate of the Core's Energy Output, the stronger the Formation can be made using it.
That Artifact is a cube-shaped ore as big as a cargo box. It was unearthed on one of the mines from the now-destroyed city of Arland's wife. It could be cut to be used for crafting weapons, however, like Arland, his wife used it as a core of a Defensive Formation she laid out in her city. When she died, the two Noxian Transcendents and the Dark World army they brought broke into the formation, destroyed the city and took that Artifact away.
"How will we pass through this?"
It only took us 3 minutes to fly from that river to arrive in front of the Gate of Paradigm.
Looking at it closely, it's seriously huge which reminded me of the front gate of a certain Assassin family in that popular manga series.
It's also a layer of doors however, unlike in that manga series, it was not being used to test someone. The number of opened layers corresponded to the importance of whoever will pass through.
Most probably if they're someone from one of the five Aristocratic Families or someone important from the Dark World, the number of layers will be high.
Currently, there were only commoners lined up to pass through the gate and each one of them was being checked thoroughly.
Now that I could see them, most of the Noxians had a weary face as they lined up to enter the gate. It's a line to enter the central area for their work.
As to what kind of work, most likely, it concerned those Aristocrats.
There's a Formation that they had to pass through and only a higher nodes Disguising Spell could fool it. The Aura of Concealment might be able to pass through it without any problem but for now, I have to make sure so I chose to look for another entrance.
The Noxian Transcendents are currently here and risking a battle at the heart of their territory sounds like a dumb move.
"There's that door. It's probably a backdoor for them."
I pointed at the left corner of the gate where a Dark World denizen who seemed to be a Rank 4 Mortal just came out.
It's surely a backdoor for those working to manage the gate. It's a common feature of a huge gate like this. Inside that door is another passage that will lead us behind this gate
"But we can't be sure of what's inside."
Fleur hesitated and looked at me to answer her doubt.
"This concealment aura will wear off soon, let's see first and decide after entering it."
After saying that, I led the way and approached the door. Utilizing my sensitivity to any type of energy, I sensed that there were only two people behind that door.
The guy who left the room earlier came back and reopened the door. Using that opportunity before it closed again, I entered after him and pulled Fleur with me.
It feels like that time when I infiltrated Zerina's manor alone and also when I infiltrated the concealed area in that fortress with Jayna.
As soon as we entered, I took in the interior of the place, apart from the door we entered, I immediately took notice of another door which will lead us to the other side of the gate.
"How's the line holding up?"
One of the three Dark World denizens asked the guy who came back from outside. He's the same as him, a Rank 4 Mortal at most. The other one who's busy with something is the same.
"It's still long despite the time of the day. Shouldn't we close up now? Those at the top didn't really care about them anyway."
He answered after putting down something on a table designated to him.
"We'll be chewed up by those ignorant Aristocrats if we do that. It's troublesome. Good thing we can relax here."
The one who asked earlier answered and slumped himself in his desk.
"Daisuke, are we not going to move? You're correct about this room."
Fleur whispered, ignoring the conversation between the two.
"There's only one path. Let's wait for a bit here. Their conversation sounds interesting. And we should renew the concealment aura here. This is a good place to do that. Neutralizing them is easy for us and apart from these three, no one will come. Even if there is, we just need to prevent them from alerting the others.."
When I scanned the other door, There's no one behind it, it's the only path that would lead us inside the central area. There's also no one past that but I couldn't be sure since I only relied on my sensitivity. Just in case someone else entered later, it wouldn't be a problem considering our strength.
"… If you say so. I'm just a tag-along anyway."
"Don't say that. I experienced this kind of situation in all the worlds I've been to and each time, I've learned something new from these foreign invaders."
Not all situations were the same but each time they opened their mouths, a new information about them would be revealed.
"Eh? They have loose mouths if that's the case."
"Certainly."
That's an accurate description for them, eh? In any case, learning something new about them will help us in the long run. Though these guys were now insignificant, that's only applicable to us, Transcendents.
Reinys, Caila and Noelle were now behind Yuko and soon Zerina. The two girls will be fighting with us on Transcendent level but the other 3 will still need a longer time to become a Transcendent themselves. The same could be said to Ophelia, Old Man Reol, Jagu, the twins Rei and Ren, the dragon couple Ezyn and Yse and others that weren't connected to me.
A single Rank 4 Mortal is still a threat for others especially to those from Earth. With the rise of the Dark Cult, the changes have just started to be felt by the Earthlings.
"Those Aristocrats are surely cruel. They're benefiting a lot from our world but they're not sharing it to their whole race. They're working them harder like this instead."
"When our Transcendents descend, those ignorant Aristocrats and whatnot are insignificant. Even their prided Transcendents will do nothing but kneel in front of them."
"What can you expect from a Mortal World? Once the Dark World assimilated this world, their races don't matter anymore, they'll just become a new tribe."
"Haa. You're right. That's the only fate of worlds like this one. Just like ours."
See. They really have loose mouths. In just a short conversation, they have already given me information about what will happen to the assimilated worlds. As it turns out, they'll become a part of the higher world. The tribe they originated from were not originally a part of the Dark World. Most possibly, the Dark Soldiers, Dark Beastmasters, Dark Elves and the Darkbugs in the World of Meta were the same.
Due to this, new questions started appearing in my mind. Is assimilating lower worlds a prerequisite to something or it's just their way to expand?
Each world has different Source Energy types, what will happen to those who have different Source Energy Types? Will they have to start again from scratch?
Also the real question is… What type of Source Energy is Dark Energy?
Ugh. I'm overthinking again. But these are valid questions. There's still a lot of information I needed to find an answer to. Even after all this, they're still shrouded in mystery.
"Fleur, can you put them to sleep? Let's wait here. If someone comes in, please do the same."
Their topic has switched to useless ones now, there's no value in listening anymore. This room is also devoid of traps. A really convenient place to wait out the cooldown of the orb and to review our plan.
"Okay."
Fleur acknowledged.
Without waiting for me to move, she waved her hand and a 6-nodes Elemental Spell was instantly evoked. The three Dark World denizens in the room didn't have any time to react. One moment they're chatting with each other and the next moment, they fall unconscious at the same time. Unaware that there are two Enemy Transcendents in the room.
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