Chapter 61: Decision

The question captured her full attention. Gayle’s once relaxed demeanor disappeared and was replaced with a serious and contemplative expression. Now that she was truly thinking about it…why is he here?

‘Why did I never question such a basic thing? Wait. I know the answer to that…’

A tinge of red flushed her face before it quickly went away.

Gayle came upon the realization that the talks they had with each other these past few days— although it didn’t make her drop her guard— softened it enough to take her attention away from what his true intentions always were. Those carefree talks where she could share everything she found interesting to a listening ear, it genuinely made her happy. Yet in that happiness, she lost her vigilance.

The discussions were one part though, his strength was another reason that she had dismissed her ingrained vigilant nature. Before meeting any obstacle, Gayle would accurately observe and consider any and all details of the situation. Whether they were potentially game-changing, or whether they were small, insignificant details, Gayle would take into account every detail, and how each of those details could go wrong or right for them.

Normally before meeting any opponent, she would accurately gauge their strength through the power of her bloodline and plan according to the details of the situation, the best courses of action. The problem was however, that the gap between her and her opponent this time was much, much too large. In the face of pure, overwhelming strength, any plans she would have made against Zan would have simply failed. There wasn’t any space to question his intentions when he could just kill them all and take whatever they had.

Yet, now that Gayle and Zan had somehow become unlikely friends…or at least acquaintances…she now had the necessary calm in her mind to ask herself why the boy was here in the first place.

Thinking back…the boy himself was full of mystery.

The youngest genius that came from humans without bloodlines, was around twenty-ish years old when he reached Master level in terms of energy manipulation. Yet, here was a teenager who reached Inhuman level in terms of body cultivation. Such a feat was arguably more difficult, if not miraculous. If Zan had dragonblood, it would make sense, yet he had no powers in his blood that could have augmented his body to such a degree.

That was not the only mystery however. Zan didn’t know it, but as soon as Gayle placed her owl-sight on him and those eerie dark gray limbs, she instantly deduced that there was no way those powers came organically from this planet. And she was not wrong either, for eldritch entities either resided in space or the void. Either they were floating around happily, or busy devouring planets.

Shaking her head, Gayle dismissed the many mysteries of the boy and tried to focus on the most important question right now.

‘Why are you also heading there…’

She thought harder and harder until finally an idea lit up in her head and her eyes opened wide in absolute shock.

‘He…must be here for the same reason we are!’

‘Power. Wealth. Connections.’

‘And in his case with his vehement obsession with strength…’

‘The core…he plans to take it for himself!’

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The conclusion was as jarring as it was obvious. It was so easy to see but Gayle never once thought of it. He never hid his intentions either which made the densely analytical girl gloss over such a simple thing in plain sight.

However as much as Gayle wanted to beat herself up for overlooking such a visible thing, there was another matter that concerned her attention. The sheer audacity of Zan’s goal was extremely bold, reckless, and something that was going to bring him an immense amount of enemies.

Such an amount that if Gayle and her convoy stayed with him, they would all but be totally annihilated. Well, Zan and her would probably live, but the rest of her people that depended on her would die.

Gayle was not made the leader of a talented band of youths for nothing, she knew the circumstances surrounding the slave city even better than the four draconic heirs did, and she was determined to keep her people alive through the conflict.

That slave city was soon going to turn into a battleground for the draconic heirs and the surrounding regions’ nobles. All those innocent but weak base humans were going to be pulled into the flames of war and die an ignoble death.

But no, it was not just base humans. Royals and nobles of the surrounding regions, illegitimate sons and daughters of illustrious main families, mercenaries, exiles, adventurers, people from all walks of life and backgrounds were going to try their hand at seizing the core, and most of them were going to die. And many more young, talented youths such as them were going to die trying to prove their worth to the draconic heirs.

Gayle looked at the girl who asked her the question, and responded immediately. Despite the sheer amount of thoughts that raced in their leader’s head, it only took her an impressive five seconds to think about everything she just considered.

“His business is his own. Once we separate from him we must do our best to stay away from him, even if that means choosing a different draconic heir than what we planned.”

The words were cold and logical, the demeanor of a responsible and dependable leader was being displayed on full blast. Her new friend was simply too dangerous for them to associate with. As Gayle got to know Zan, she knew he was much too prideful to put himself below another individual. This meant that not only was he going to be an enemy towards every other faction, but he was going to be an enemy of the draconic heirs.

While the heirs may not be united, and may even betray one another down the line, in the end they were going to bite first at outsiders rather than their own kind. Zan was strong, strong enough to be a force all by himself. Yet they were not the same. Being pulled into a fight at his level of strength would spell out their death. They were young with bright futures. It was better that they held the leg of a draconic heir and allowed themselves to grow into greater strength.

Gayle’s verdict was rational, clear headed and decisive. Yet…despite the necessary decision to cut him out of their life, she still felt a pang in her heart at their eventual separation. This was the first person that she confided in, and the first person not a part of her family that Gayle showed such a vulnerable and open side to. Her party will always see her as the cool, collected, aloof leader, but Zan would remember her as the talkative, lively and curious young girl.

As much as it hurt for her to find and lose her first friend, for the greater wellbeing of her party and her own life, she had to say her goodbyes. The girl once again relaxed her head onto the wooden wall of the carriage and closed her eyes. Her party members looked at the carefree and composed demeanor of their leader, and with the reassurance that they were just granted, they too started to ease up.

Gayle closed her eyes and found relief in the darkness. Within the blank slate of her mind, she was holding on to the hope that he somehow survives such a tumultuous undertaking, and one day they could be reunited after it all ends.

…

Zan sat inside his luxuriously furnished carriage. It was quite larger and visibly much more expensive, being pulled by four gigantic horses sporting sleek black skin and a gorgeous red mane of hair.

At first the four horses would not listen to anyone, not even Zan. They only listened to the one whose blood was ingested by them, and thus consequently who they shared a very special bond to. Legend says that the horses each needed a drop of blood from the heart vein, and after they drank your heart’s blood they would remain loyal unto death.

How did Zan eventually bring them to heel, you ask? Well, there were originally five horses…

A fork was stabbed into the red meat of a delicious meal. Using Quin’s stash of hidden potatoes, a few berries plundered from the convoy’s newly stocked reserves, and the meat of a stubborn redhorse, Zan enjoyed a very hearty meal.

A goblet filled with the blood of the animal was raised to his mouth, and in true eldritch fashion he drank the blood of his enemies.

‘Refreshing…’

As Zan enjoyed his meal, he thought about the looming slave city and his goals.

Surprisingly…Gayle was wrong. She had all but assumed that she was correct in her deductions, yet she was wrong. In all fairness if someone thought with logical and pure rational thinking, they would come upon the same conclusion as her, yet they would be wrong too.

Zan never knew about the rumor that there was a core at the level of prime. When he heard the word “core” from Conrad and the group, he immediately thought of the orb. But…the orb was so much more different than the core that he used to empower himself and save the three-eyed wolf from death. He could only deduce that what Gayle and her squad were looking for, was an object similar to what he used but much stronger.

The prospect of getting his hands on that core…it sounded delicious. Zan thought as he took another bite out of the soft meat of the stubborn horse.

Yet…in the end that was a mere side quest to him. What was more important than the constant advancement of strength to Zan? It was clarity of mind. The removal of the stain upon his great pride and there was only one thing that would grant him that clarity. Defeating Balo— no, it was absolutely beating the shit out of that beefy dragon boy.