Jake took a second to process what the hell the elemental had just said, and before he could even do that, he felt bloodlust radiate from behind him. This shook Jake back to reality as his own aura also unconsciously leaked, joining that of three others.

Carmen had been the first to stare daggers at the elemental, seemingly ready to pounce, but, to Jake’s slight surprise, the Fallen King and Sword Saint also showed their clear displeasure as they looked ready to assist Carmen should she attack.

However, before any of them could do or say anything, Sylphie proved that she didn’t need anyone to stand up for her, as she made a no-nonsense reply.

”Ree.”

The elemental was taken aback, partly by Sylphie’s screech and partly by the four C-grades seemingly ready to turn him into slushed ice. Still, he managed to keep his head cool as he focused on Sylphie.

”Please do not take offense. It would be an honor for you to join hands with me. We are both holders of autho-”

”Ree.”

”Such a reply is shortsighted and-”

”Ree.”

”… what?”

”Ree, ree, ree. Ree,” Sylphie explained as the bird stood perched on nothing in mid-air.

Surprisingly, Wintermaul looked deep in thought for a moment before he tried one last time. ”I… I can change, or we can maybe find a solution…”

”Ree,” Sylphie shook her head, making the poor ice elemental look dejected.

”Alas, it seems we are not meant to conjoin our Paths. I apologize if I overstepped… I did not mean to make anyone uncomfortable or make any enemies.”

Turning to Jake, who was still looking at Wintermaul with narrowed eyes, the elemental bowed. ”I congratulate you on your brilliant accomplishment and shall take my leave before I make a further fool of myself.”

With that, the elemental backed away, as Jake, the Fallen King, Sword Saint, and Carmen didn’t let him leave their sight before he was far enough away.

”I swear, if not for those rules,” Carmen muttered as she unclenched her fists.

”An uncalled-for proposal,” the Sword Saint also said with a hidden anger in his voice.

”Such arrogance for an inferior being that dares approach one superior to himself,” the Fallen King also chimed in, clearly not being entirely honest with himself as he tried to hide his protective nature of the little hawk.

As for Jake… well, he briefly considered the possibilities of marking Wintermaul and tracking him down in the ninety-third universe to have a ”conversation” around boundaries and social etiquette, but that didn’t appear to be necessary.

Sylphie had handled the situation surprisingly well, and while the knowledge did make Jake a bit uncomfortable, she clearly understood what the elemental had asked. Her response had also genuinely sounded like she considered the offer carefully before rejecting it. With brilliant Sylphie-level arguments, too.

”So… not to butt in, but I have no idea what Sylphie’s screeches meant,” Caleb muttered, having not yet learned to speak Sylphian Hawk, something perfectly understandable, as it took a bit to get used to the nuances of the complicated language.

”She just kindly explained to the ice elemental why they could never work out,” Jake said, shaking his head.

”And that explanation was?”

”He’s too cold, hard, and spiky to make a proper nest, and Sylphie only likes to sit in cozy and warm places, making them incompatible,” Jake explained to his little brother. ”Plus, he didn’t even have any feathers. Which is apparently a deal-breaker to her.”

”Ree,” Sylphie confirmed with a firm screech.

”I… I see,” Caleb said, looking at Sylphie and then back at Jake. ”I guess that works.”

”Sure as fuck hope it did,” Carmen added in, throwing a final glare toward the elemental. ”I don’t hope for that icy bastard he decides to try again somewhere without a Primordial keeping watch. Then again, I do like crushed ice in my drinks.”

”Him trying again does appear like it would be an unwise decision,” Caleb agreed as he glanced at the four people who had been ready to start a major conflict over an elemental who had absolutely no flirting game.

The atmosphere in their group had gotten a bit more tense than before due to the visit of the elemental, but it soon calmed down again as Jake gave Sylphie some well-deserved scratches for dealing with the situation well.

Even if Sylphie was more than fifty years old by now and was to many definitely an adult, Jake still thought she was too young to get into any committed relationships quite yet. Then again, to Jake, she would always be the little fluffy ball of feathers that would run away whenever he took out his cauldron, screeching bloody murder.

As things were calmer, they also got to speaking more internally, as Jake finally got to catch up with Casper his old buddy. And it turned out his friend had a favor to ask.

”So, you know how the Prima Guardian is descending on Earth in a few years?”

”Still got a system notification hidden away somewhere about it,” Jake nodded.

”Well, so do I, which is kind of the reason I’m asking. There is good reason to believe there will be some unique rewards from the event, and not participating would kind of suck, so could you maybe hook me and some others up with a way back to Earth? Just for the event,” Casper asked, seemingly a bit nervous about making the request.

”Of course,” Jake said. ”Shit, if you want to stay afterward, that would also be fine. It’s ruled by a council of sorts now, and there are already plenty of immigrants there, so one would notice a bunch of Risen also settling there again.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

”Thanks for the offer, but we’re quite happy with what we got going on,” Casper answered. ”We have quite a nice hidden world set up by now on our floating piece of rock. New Yalsten, we call it. It will take some time, but with the root you gave me, I think we can regrow the tree again and turn it into a proper mystic realm.”

”Fair enough,” Jake nodded. ”Guess I’ll have to visit one day.

”One day,” Casper smiled. ”Right now, it’s still very much closed off to outsiders. I could still get you in, but honestly, there isn’t much going on there. Unless you want a lengthy lecture in Dungeon Engineering and the work that went into creating New Yalsten, that is.”

”You know what? I think I’m good,” Jake smiled.

”To add, I will also be returning for the event,” Eron suddenly said as he had overheard their conversation. ”For the same reasons, too.”

”I also heard that some people from the Holy Church, including the Augur, will return,” Maria added further. ”Wouldn’t be surprised if most people try to return to their native planets to try and reap some rewards.”

”Sounds like we’ll have quite the gathering,” Jake smiled. At this point, he kind of felt bad for this poor Prima Guardian. Imagine arriving on a planet only to be met with Jake and all the others standing there, ready to pounce… definitely didn’t sound like a fun time.

”Speaking of having quite the gathering,” the Sword Saint said after a bit. ”I believe I have a few people I should seek out. I sense two others who also carry the Blessing of my Patron, and it would be rude not to at least go say hi.”

”Yeah, I think I should regroup with Azal, too. By the way, I asked if he wanted to speak to you directly, but he didn’t seem keen on the idea,” Casper said as he shook his head. ”He did something very dumb to try and get a higher spot on the Leaderboards, and I don’t think he is feeling good that you pushed him out of the top 5.”

Jake nodded as he remembered what Nevermore had said about Azal. He had been the one to gain the most levels out of everyone, but only by making a dumb sacrifice that would likely hurt his future. Jake was a bit too curious, though.

”What exactly did he do to gain so many levels?” he asked, knowing full well there was a good chance Casper couldn’t or wouldn’t respond.

Casper sighed. ”I probably shouldn’t share this, but fine. The weapon he carries around is a powerful mythical sword he made himself, and with it, he can absorb spirits and souls to increase its power and use them as resources for certain skills. However, at the end of Nevermore, he chose to do a pre-prepared ritual to absorb and destroy all of the spirits he had gathered not just throughout Nevermore but since he made the sword right after he evolved. Repairing the sword will be expensive as hell and take a long time, and his Records took quite the hit, but I think he can recover, though it won’t be easy. He isn’t a bad guy, and it does suck, but he cares way too much about the honor of the Risen and all that. At least he can take solace in having beaten every person from the Holy Church, even if I heard they did something similar. All in all, as I said… he did something dumb, in my opinion.”

”I see,” Jake said, as the others had also listened intently.

What Azal had decided to do was similar to if Jake had done a ritual to absorb all the curse energy inside of Eternal Hunger. Well, alright, it would also require Jake to have a Path that revolved around curses far more, but if he did, absorbing all the curse energy to gain a lot of levels would technically have been possible. It would be stupid and lead to a shaky foundation and a limited, if not ruined future, but it would have been an option.

These thoughts also inadvertently made the face of a young half-elf pop into Jake’s head as he shook his head to dispel the thoughts. What Azal had done wasn’t even close to the same level as Temlat.

”Anyway, enjoy,” Casper said as he left a few seconds later after he gave Jake time to process what he’d said. ”Oh, and I will now have to also share some details about you with Azal to make things fair. Like the fact you are still walking about with the curse-version of a nuclear bomb in the form of a katar.”

”Fair enough, not exactly a secret,” Jake smiled as he saw his old coworker and friend off. It was still a bit weird that Casper had turned into a pale undead, but alas, what can you do about it?

With Casper gone, Jake just took the time to observe the hall a bit using his sphere. Carmen and the Fallen King were talking as they compared if his claws or her fists were tougher, and Eron and Arnold had somehow ended up standing and staring at a tablet together as the healer motioned and pointed at the screen, with Arnold giving short responses.

Meanwhile, Maria talked to Jake’s brother, leaving just Jake and Sylphie, the bird enjoying the relaxing downtime. Elsewhere in the room, groups had also gathered and talked, with a huge group around Ell’Hakan, pretty much as far away from Jake and the other Earthlings as possible. Silverstorm was with a woman with golden hair and horns, which he recognized as the princess from the Regalflight and fifth-place finisher. Together with the two of them was also the seventh-place finisher, the Disciple of Heartsoul Daolord, a young girl who looked barely in her teens, though she was definitely far older in reality. He had a good feeling he would get to talk to them later, and based on how they threw some glances his way occasionally, he even got the feeling they were talking with Silverstorm about him.

Jake had been a bit surprised Dina hadn’t gone over to say hi yet, but he soon saw why not, as she chatted with a few people he presumed to be members of the Pantheon of Life and United Tribes. More accurately, the wolf who took the ninth spot on the Era Leaderboards, Grimclaw Noxmane. Jake did know that the United Tribes and Pantheon of Life had a close relationship, so it made sense she was doing a bit of politicking. He also saw the beast that reminded him a bit of the Great White Stag with this group, along with several other beasts and beastkin who had all placed highly.

Speaking of beasts, Jake had to check an extra time before he found another person of interest. Lopas, the sloth-like beast and fourth-place finisher of the universe and eighth in the era, was currently sleeping under a table, having taken one of the tablecloths to cover himself.

To that, Jake could only show respect. He was a sloth who knew what he wanted, and what he wanted was apparently to just be left alone and sleep. Jake also looked a bit around for the person known as Immortal Faith and the Eastbound Monk, but he wasn’t sure what they looked like. The monk was probably part of the Dao Sect, though, with Immortal Faith… well, that person could be part of pretty much any faction with gods in it. He had even considered if it was maybe Eron who had used that name, but that wasn’t the case.

Finally, of all the factions Jake looked for, there was the Holy Church, the largest of them all. In their group alone, they had nearly forty people – one-tenth of the total number of people attending. While they didn’t end up taking any of the absolute top spots on either the Era or Universe Leaderboards, they could still be said to have dominated it simply by the sheer number of people they had in the top 250.

Alongside their many allies who also stood nearby, with Ell’Hakan even standing not that far away, it was almost as if a line had been drawn down the middle of the conference hall. There definitely were cliques, with many of the fully neutral factions standing in between.

As Jake was standing there, just looking out at the room after taking another drink, he was approached by someone. He turned and looked, instantly seeing an appearance that didn’t match what was in his sphere, and he also felt an aura he wouldn’t ever fail to recognize.

”Greetings, Viper’s Chosen, and congratulations on your performance,” the young woman said as she got closer, raising a glass with a smile on her lips. Jake narrowed his eyes as he responded.

”Thank you, miss…?” Jake responded, keeping calm as he wondered what the hell this person was doing here. Everyone else was busy, and Jake made sure to be a bit way as he tried to speak privately to not get any of the others involved.

”Does what you call me matter?” they responded, swirling the liquid in their glass as Jake only now realized that only he could hear what this person said, while anything he responded was also only heard by them. ”And no reason to act that suspicious. I have come with no ill intent, just curiosity about something.”

Jake narrowed his eyes as he stared at the young woman… the shapeshifted Eversmile. He couldn’t understand why he had appeared here or how he had even done so. Then again, he had seemingly been able to hide his true identity even from the Wyrmgod inside of Nevermore…

”What are you curious about?” Jake asked… with the answer not at all the one he expected.

”Where did you get those boots?”