Chapter 0164

Tempest was able to catch her breath once she was inside the cave.

The cave the mages squeezed into was long and narrow; only two mages can enter at a time. Furthermore, the entrance of the cave was well hidden among an outcropping of large boulders and rocks.

If Ventus didn’t lead Tempest towards the cave, she wouldn’t have known it was there. Once the other mages saw Tempest and her group enter the cave, they followed suit.

Bei Ting Mao, sensing they were safe, sat down to meditate. He needed to regain his mana as quickly as possible. There was still a chance for the magical beasts to find the cave they were hiding in and attack them.

When he was meditating, he also sent out his senses to map the cave they were in. His interest peaked as he realized they can escape the magical beasts outside if they went deeper into the cave since the cave is not simply a cave but one of the many entrances to a series of labyrinth-like tunnels that spreads throughout the entire Emblemic Mountain Range.

Li Ming tried to give Bei Ting Mao some pills to recover his mana and heal his wounds but he refused and continued exploring their surroundings with his senses.

Li Ming was worried about Bei Ting Mao’s wounds as his clothes were torn in several places and dyed red with blood until she realized the blood wasn’t his. She visibly relaxed, only to realize she was also covered in blood. She was about to cast a spell to clean the blood off her self repairing mage robe when Graden stopped her by nudging her with his foot.

She looked at him while he glanced at the other mages in the cave with them. Li Ming understood his message and started to mediate to regain her mana, leaving the blood on the mage robe.

Once Graden saw Li Ming got the message, he turned his attention towards Fenix.

The battle was a harsh one where it pushed them to their limits. Graden was worried about Fenix and Starm. Their affinities limit the amount of mana they can use or they suffer for their rash actions.

Graden worried Fenix burned from the backlash of her spells, but the redhead gave him a cheeky wink, silently shook the water charm in her hand and continued her mediatization. A load immediately fell off of Graden’s shoulders.

Fenix’s experiment the other night did bear fruit. She was able to use the mana in Tempest’s water charms to control the backlash of her fire spells. The charms also told him Fenix didn’t use as much mana as he thought she did. Instead, she limits her mana consumption by supplementing it with the wind charms, thereby giving the illusion she is a fire wind mage.

As for the other problem child in his group, he needn’t worry. Starm was fine form. He looked better than anyone in the group. He was also attending to Tempest, who was lying on the floor panting.

Graden rushed towards Tempest asking, “Tempest, are you alright?”

“Let her rest.” Starm replied for Tempest, “She took more damage than we realized. Her body needs time to heal.”

“I have pills.”

“This isn’t something your pills can cure,” Starm said solemnly.

Graden judge Tempest’s situation to be severe but not life-threatening from Starm’s reaction. He can’t tell what was wrong with Tempest but he knew Starm can. If Starm said Tempest needs rest then he’ll let her rest.

As for Tempest, she was glad Starm was keeping people away from her because she needs to focus all her attention on her body.

Even now, the chaotic power created havoc throughout her body. Her heart was pumping at an alarming rate, trying to dissipate the power. Tempest heavily pant as a sense of suffocation pervade her body as her wind power tried to expel the invader with each breath she took. A feeling similar to ants crawling all over her body told her Astrapi was also working hard trying to discharge the power through rapid electrical impulses.

Tempest tried to cope with the demands of her spirits made on her body by focusing on taking deep breaths. She figured the deep breaths would slow her heart rate down as she satisfies her body’s need for oxygen and her intense concentration would block out her hallucinations. It worked in the movies.

Then the screeching started.

“What was that?”

Tempest believed she was somewhat tolerant of the hysterics of others (not really, but Tempest convinced herself she has the patience of a saint and there was no one to tell her otherwise) except now wasn’t the time for it.

Tempest cast a Silence Barrier at the entrance of the cave before another wave of chaotic power rioted through her body. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate but the intense shrill wouldn’t let her focus.

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“I have a right to know what is going on!” Hannah Trellis belligerently demanded. “You guys know something. I demand you tell us everything.”

Graden ignored Hannah Trellis’ demand in favor of watching over Tempest from a distance. The others did a good job of faking their injuries. Tempest was really injured, though from what Graden couldn’t say.

Hannah Trellis grabbed Graden’s mage robe and forced him to face her. “I asked you a question.”

Graden notices the loud noise causes Tempest to spasm. He slapped his hand over Hannah Trellis’ mouth and silently warned her, “Shut up or I’d throw you out there to be food for the magical beasts.”

“Now, don’t be so hasty. We just wanted to know what is going on and you seem to have the answers.” Mark Aventil intervened. He didn’t agree with Hannah Trellis’ behavior since there were still magical beasts lingering outside the cave entrance and they needed all the manpower they can get if they were to get out of here alive. It was no time to pick a fight.

However, he did agree with Hannah Trellis’ assessment. Graden seems to know something about the ambush and he’d rather get it out in the open rather than fight with scum at their back.

“She needs to learn there are a time and place for things and now isn’t the time for it,” Graden growled out.

Mark Aventil took the opportunity when Graden’s attention was on him to cast a wind spell, pushing Graden away from Hannah Trellis.

“And you need to tell us what is going on!” Hannah Trellis yelled when she could speak again.

“Not now Hannah.” Mark Aventil tried to calm the annoying woman in front of him.

“I’d rather start now than enter another battle with them using us as cannon fodder. They knew there was an ambush up ahead. They knew there was more going on and they didn’t tell us. What is that if not using us as pawns?”

Hannah Trellis grew up in the royal court of the Augur Kingdom. Anyone who lived in any royal court knows how to discern danger, sniff out schemes and use their gift of the gab to their own advantage.

Hannah Trellis' statement riled up the eight mages in the cave. Mark Aventil’s expression changed from mild annoyance to serious consideration before going towards anger. Flunky One and Flunky Two stood beside Hannah Trellis, silently supporting her.

The other five mages considered Hannah Trellis' word before they too sided him. They started to eye Graden with suspicion and hostility.

“What makes you think we know what is going on? Why don’t you go ask one of the three mages leading you?” Graden countered. A few of the mages shrunk their heads back. What Graden did make sense but most of the mages here were weak both in personality and potential. They knew how to follow the strong and stomp on the weak. They don’t question the strong.

“I saw you sneaking around the camp last night!” Hannah Trellis falsely accused Graden. There was no sneaking around. Graden openly and justly bargained for information from the other mage groups. If it was Hannah Trellis sneaking around, then she was either patrolling the area or monitoring situation. However, if anyone else was doing the same thing she was doing, then in her mind, it was sneaking around.

“We were doing what every other mage groups were doing, sharing information.” Graden sneered at the sheer ignorance of the girl in front of him.

“How come we weren’t included? We were in the group too. We have a right to know.” Hannah Trellis righteous stance emboldened the other mages. Most of the time the other mages - Mark Aventil excluded - lived with their heads down and they followed orders of the more powerful members of their group.

Flunky One and Flunky Two strove their best to cozy up with Mark AVentil and Hannah Trellis due to their status. Mark Aventil is the sixth prince of Solen Kingdom. Hannah Trellis had Skylar Sedonis’ backing, and since Skylar Sedonis’ position in the Augar Kingdom is high and honored, Hannah Trellis essentially had the backing of the entire Augar Kingdom. Flunky One and Flunky Two bowed their heads and flattered the two powerful people in their group, hoping they would support the two in the guild once the five year trial period was over.

The other mages lived their lives similar to Flunky One and Flunky Two, by flattering the strong and stomping on the weak.

Their method of surviving the cultivation world might not be the best, but it instilled in them a strong sense of survival.

When their lives were threatened, then they brought up the meager courage they had to demand answers. Their lives might not be worth much to others but it's all they have. Why would they flatter the strong if not to live?

“That’s right. We have the right to know.” One mage jumped in.

“You’re being selfish withholding vital information that could affect the whole group.” Once one mage started throwing stones at Tempest’s group, another jumped in.

“How can you so shameless.”

“You are nothing but cowards.” Fenix sneered at the pathetic display of courage. “If you wanted answers, you could have asked the three bastards who lead us here. Why didn’t you? Because you are nothing but sniveling sheep who follow the crowd. Sheep who follow the crowd like you guys get slaughtered. What else did you expect?”

Fenix was right and they knew it. They shrunk back at Fenix’s verbal onslaught, all but one foolish woman who thinks she is entitled to everything. “We’re not cowards. It’s you who's shameless. You knew there was an ambush and didn’t warn anyone.”

“Why would we walk into a trap along with you useless bunch?”

Tempest noted Li Ming finally got a backbone. Yet it was all Tempest could note of her surroundings. Throughout the entire argument, Tempest was still trying to calm the raging chaotic power in her.

No matter what she does, it won’t dissipate. The power pullbacks as Tempest push forward. Once there is a pause in Tempest’s effort, the power pushes forward, forcing Tempest’s power back.

The fight between Tempest and the foreign invades goes to and fro with Tempest slowly gaining the advantage. Yet, Tempest doesn’t have all the time in the world to fight the power. She knows they have to move sooner or later.

It is only a matter of time the magical beasts outside would find them.

As Tempest tried to calm the raging power, the argument around her continued to heat up.

“You followed ‘us useless bunch’ for treasure. You knew you couldn’t get it yourself, so you set up the whole scheme for use to weakened the magical beasts for you.”

“We don’t have the prestige or the power to do so. Have you considered it was the three mages who were using us as cannon fodder?” Fenix countered.

“I was considering it until I saw that midget over there hiding treasures from a spatial tear in her mage robes.” Hannah Trellis said triumphantly.

When eyes filled with greed turned towards Tempest, Tempest snapped.