The initiates were given a few days to settle their affairs and prepare for their life-or-death experience in the western wilderness.
Xeeseir had opted to name the team, ‘Iron Ant Team’. Supposedly, there is a species of ants that consumed iron to turn as hardy as iron, and Xeeseir named the team in hopes of their members’ survival, combined with the fact that they would certainly be swarming like ants against mightier foes.
The members of the group came together in the mission hall to determine their approach in the western wilderness. They had taken a cursory stroll through this place on their orientation day.
Dahk did not even speak a word, shrugging his shoulders when questioned.
“As long as I gain the contribution points needed, and become a riser,” said Wilo.
“I am of the same mind as Wilo.” Xeeseir nodded in agreement.
“I’ll follow the words of my celest…” declared Suey brazenly in front of the others. Rein knew that the woman truly did not care, assuming her words on her attempts to twist fate are true.
“Rein. It is your choice then. You joined because of your hometown’s destruction, no?” Xeeseir nodded to himself unconsciously, confirming his own memory.
“Yes… but…” Rein replied, somewhat hesitant, not wishing to place others at too much of a risk solely for his personal goals.
“Go ahead. We have already agreed to take on red diamond and above missions.”
“Very well then.” Rein hooked his fingers in thanks to all those present. “I wish to find and kill devils. Perhaps some of them may have information on my younger brother.”
“Although I have come to terms with the likelihood that my younger brother has likely lost his life by now, perhaps I can at least recover a corpse and kill his kidnapper.” Rein’s tone was sullen, and the others could sense the deep sorrow within his heart.
“I would recommend you to project a vision of whoever might have captured your younger brother, such that others may identify the individual or group of devils with a vision egg,” Xeeseir advised as he tapped his own chin in thought.
“As for finding devils, allow me to share my own experience,” he continued. “Those of the fallen devil sects-- they lack the ability to cooperate with each other, often stabbing each other in the back for benefits.”
“You may think the disagreement between us, the Halls, and the Convergence Sect to be colossal. I wish to inform you that it is highly different in nature. For one, if that outer advancer named Dunzkr had just a tinge more inhibition, he would not have chosen to go so low as to attack an inner advancer, and none of this would have happened.”
“If Dunzkr had successfully taken mine and Rein’s lives, the Halls might not have escalated the situation for just us two new initiates.”
“The devil sects on the other hand… they follow no rules. They will murder for the smallest of benefits. Or perhaps just because they dislike your appearance. A whole human settlement can be wiped out for no obvious reason. They follow their primal urge, and only fear can limit their actions.”
“As such, they have zero trust even amongst their own members. That is why they can only reside in the western wilderness. Perhaps their continued survival hinges on the minute cooperation they can sustain in fear of the orthodox advancers.”
“Regardless, the point is-- they do not work in groups, and often take action solitarily. And thus, it’s incredibly difficult to track down these targets.”
Xeeseir’s words pointed out the difficulty of even finding the notorious devils of the bounties. For a group made up of inner advancers, the bounties on upper-to-peak devils are considered red diamond missions, while those of lower-to-mid outer devils are considered black star missions.
For these devils to be selected as bounty targets for the Hall of Heroes, they naturally needed to have ability. A far higher ability than the corpse-man that Rein, Chenhr and those under Master Yirn had taken out.
“This is mad…” muttered Chirh, his voice quivering.
“Hardly…” Wilo replied. “Did you not see Rein physically dominate that mid-shell prodigy of the Convergence Sect?”
“It’s completely different!” exclaimed Chirh hysterically. “The Convergence Sect relies on combining pulses to gather and generate force, thus, their less experienced members lose control when pummeled endlessly by continuous and powerful forces.”
“The devils… they use all sorts of poisons, captured slaves and demons, bloody arts and more, combined with despicable methods!”
A smack was delivered across his face by Dahk, the spearman. “Keep your mouth shut.”
“Chirh,” Rein could only sigh. “I hope you haven’t forgotten House Larne. You won’t have a future in the Halls if you don’t go all out.” Rein’s words quietened down the scaredy cat who was close to losing his mind.
“Hmm…” Xeeseir had been deep in thought the whole time, and paid no heed to Chirh’s outburst. “The only way for us to target these devils is to draw them to us. If we have something extremely attractive to them…”
“The bodies of demons…” Wilo noted.
“Yes… Yes!” Xeeseir repeated as he confirmed his thoughts. “Many devil advancers use poison, and as such, they are very much drawn to harvesting the poison glands of demon beasts and plants!”
“They are also drawn to areas of death, where they can gather aurae and materials relating to their nefarious magical arts. And of course, the western wilderness, being inhabitable to the average person-- much sustenance comes from demon beasts.”
“As such, the best method for us is to target some of these valuable poisonous demon beasts and plants, while laying an ambush for any of these devils.”
Rein widened his eyes. Would that not mean that they would have to complete two red diamond missions back-to-back? Or maybe two, simultaneously! Valuable poisonous demon beasts-- these are considered red diamond missions as well. The danger level was rising. There was also the possibility that a black diamond bounty-- an outer advancer-- might show up to rob them of the demon beast’s resources.
Chirh’s face was pale as a corpse, knowing full well the madness of the group’s plans.
“Perhaps I can be of assistance.”
The members of the team twisted their heads in surprise to see Lyne of the Xuere Clan standing beside them, accompanied by four other unknown advancers.
“If an outer devil appears, we will handle them. You will handle shell-ranked devils,” she coolly stated.
Why had Lyne made such an offer? Rein only felt baffled. There are many other teams much more experienced than theirs. He couldn’t help but wonder if Baejenh was involved in some way, seeing as Lyne seemed to idolize that Fusion Sect elder.
“Our contribution… Will it count if we’re alongside a shell advancer group?” Xeeseir asked.
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“These mission rankings are only estimations. Your visions will be assessed for an accurate determination of the difficulty,” Lyne replied. “Worry not. I can guarantee you that your method will succeed. It might even draw too many moths to the flame.”
Why exactly was Lyne risking herself in the western wilderness? That was something that Rein was trying to figure out, now also recalling that day when Lyne, upon a steed, had trotted down the avenue to the Halls while dragging captured demons and devils in a wagon.
The most obvious possibility was that she wished to earn Baejenh’s favor. Lyne must have a strong desire to enter the Fusion Sect! The Hall of Heroes must be aware of it… If so, the Halls’ relationship with the Fusion Sect must be far more complex than Rein initially thought.
The other possibility was that she wished to avoid marriage to a prince of the Dingien Clan. Or, she might just be some virtuous angel willing to die against demons and devils.
“These are four of my companions, all shell advancers. Zehz--a master of creating illusions using light aurae. Nunan--She’s a formation master. Bohr-- a man of incredible defensive capabilities. Karsutz-- A thief and assassin.”
The members on Lyne’s team had far more defined talents and roles.
“They all have joined the Xuere Clan, while maintaining their contribution to the Hall of Heroes. Highly talented and reliable.” Lyne’s words reminded Rein of her attempt to recruit Xeeseir. The nobles did not share one singular belief. The Xuere Clan belonged to the faction that believed in absorbing the bloodlines of talented advancers.
The two that stood out most to Rein were Zehz and Nunan. If Lyne’s claim that many moths would be drawn to their flame turns out to be accurate, then these two advancers would be pivotal in creating mismatches in such a fight.
Rein did not share the same degree of concern as Xeeseir did for contribution credit. If he could interrogate and find out what had happened to his younger brother… That was his priority.
Chirh had an inscrutable expression. Rein had assumed he would be leaping in joy due to Lyne’s assistance. Not so.
Comparatively, the others were overcome with joy, but Xeeseir was not blinded into immediately accepting the offer.
“How will we distribute the spoils?” he wondered.
“Naturally, the outer devils will belong to us, the shell devils to you. As for the demon beasts or plants that we use to lure the devils? We require antidotes against all types of poisons to hunt these targets. We will require an alchemist’s assistance, and as such, those spoils will all have to be handed over to the Halls. The flesh, however, we may consume-- though some demon beasts do have poisoned flesh…”
Rein had forgotten that much of the spoils had to be given to the Halls. However, they would be allowed to keep the personal belongings of the devils.
All-in-all, this was a pretty generous deal. Thus, Xeeseir accepted the cooperation.
“Anyone here know one of the primary alchemists in the Halls?”
All heads turned to Rein. Out of all the initiates, only Rein had chosen to put a degree of effort into alchemy.
“He has never given me his name, but I will make an attempt,” Rein agreed. If he failed, then they would have to purchase antidotes with other more costly methods.
Soon, a stack of parchments was handed over to Rein. These contained all the demons that they intended to target. These were picked by Nunan. The formation master had rapidly assessed which demon beast and plant was likely to attract which shell and outer devils. This allowed them to request more specific antidotes alongside general ones.
In the next few days, Rein made his preparations. He had received more contribution points for his role in sowing discord within the Great Sects. He traded these points for a bottomless pouch. He had avoided doing so previously because with his current level, he could barely force aurae to the tip of his finger to activate the pouch.
He also bought many more vials of wood and lightning-aspected aurae infusions. Previously, he had used these vials solely on his body-tempering, fearful that a rapid rise in his advancer realm would attract suspicion. Now, if he survives the western wilderness, returning with a peak inner advancer realm would not raise such suspicions.
Then, there was his meeting with the alchemist instructor. It went much more smoothly than he anticipated. The alchemist negotiated directly with the watcher in his hood, and reached an agreement that by providing the required antidotes for the various poisons of the different targets, he would receive the poison glands and the herbs harvested by the two teams of Lyne and Xeeseir.
“Rein,” the alchemist instructor added. “My name is Vahrk. You deserve to know now that you’re close to memorizing all the herbs and their variations.”
“Additional advice for you… Certain elemental powers can be useful against poisons in different ways. Water, for example, can dilute and weaken all poisons. Lightning is very effective against many poisons, easily igniting plant-based spores, fully penetrating water-based poisons. However, its most effective use is to counter devilish poisons. It has one single weakness, that being earth-based poisons-- do take care against such demons.”
“And fire…?” Rein was rather curious.
“Fire is very effective at nullifying large area-of-effect plant-based poisons. I should clarify that lightning is better at dealing with more limited areas, such as specific targets and your personal body.”
Just with those words, Rein could already hypothesize that wind must be effective against airborne poisons, probably by simply… blowing them elsewhere, even back at an enemy.
That moment of seriousness from Vahrk quickly vanished. He soon returned to his half-crazed behavior as he madly began mixing ingredients within multiple cauldrons. The fire below these cauldrons turned into different colored- flames, and the liquids within these cauldrons boiled, switching between shades of purple, dull green, vibrant red and contaminated blue.
“Up, up, up!” The man yelled and raised his arms up in reverence. His outer advancer tendrils forced the fluid within the cauldron to form a sphere, and peering in, Rein could see the ball of liquid becoming increasingly solid as more water was evaporated and siphoned from the ball.
This single sphere was split into ten, and gradually condensed into hardened pills. Vahrk repeated this for all the other cauldrons, and Rein soon received many bottles of pills, each labeled with the pills’ effects and which demon beast and plant each bottle of pills was intended for.
There were twenty of each type of pill, except for two types. There were only ten of these two other types, the reason being that Vahrk had blown up two cauldrons. His hair was now singed and his face decorated in soot.
“Failure is normal, unfortunately,” Vahrk sighed. “However, it should still be enough unless you fail miserably during the fight. Good luck!” He dismissed Rein with a grumble, somewhat discontent at himself for failing two cauldrons.
Based on what he had studied so far, Rein had learned that compared to liquids, pills are capable of holding medicinal effects for far longer, and also much more effective at delivering continuous long-term effects. They are also capable of carrying higher density of aurae.
These pills must have been designed to slowly release the antidote to allow the Iron Ant team to battle over a period of time against their targets while resisting the poison.
The day for departure soon came, and Xeeseir’s team, Lyne’s team, alongside many groups waited at the Tavern of Reverie.
“Clear the tunnels and brace yourselves!” The watcher announced, her voice reverberating through the underground labyrinth.
Then, the sound of rumbling earth filled Rein’s ears as he observed the tunnels outside the Tavern of Reverie switching in a mind-bending manner.
Soon, the exit of the Tavern of Reverie only led into one single room, with a complicated inscription on the ground surrounding a stone stele in the middle. A sky blue-robed woman was already waiting within the room.
Initially, the inscription on the ground confused Rein, and yet as he observed longer, the inscriptions swum in Rein’s eyes, and he discovered that its secrets unraveled in his mind! He could but assume that his origin ability’s affinity with the spatial element allowed him to understand this inscription.
One group after another entered the teleportation room. The blue-robed woman slotted a power gem into a concave indentation on the stone stele, and the figures vanished with a flicker as the inscription on the ground shone in a silvery light.
Soon, it was the Iron Ant team’s turn. Rein stepped in alongside his group members. The minor keeper activated the teleportation circle, and Rein’s vision flashed as they teleported to another room.
They walked out the doorway of this new room and Rein was greeted with an awe-inspiring city.
Swiveling his head around, Rein soon changed his opinion-- this was more like something in between a fortress and a city. The back of the fortress was against a steep mountain peak to the north, impossible to climb based on Rein’s assessment.
Only an outer advancer who can fly would be able to ascend this mountain. Even then, they would have no stable place to land. Defensive towers touching the heavens also defended those peaks. Any outer advancer and above from the western wilderness attempting to sneak over would be shot down by those towers.
High walls of unidentified stone lined with complex inscriptions, wrapped around Rein’s sight. The whole location was certainly more like an extended castle. Looking farther south, Rein could see the beginnings of a mountain range.
He turned his eyes southeast and could barely make out the glittering surface of the Green Trout River. This meant that the mountain range to the south must be the northern tip of the Evergreen Mountains.
A gray-Halls-cloaked man greeted them with hooked fingers.
“Welcome to the City of Zyne, the unbreakable stronghold of the Xuere Gap!”