Chapter 47

"We don't have much time," Rydel spoke hoarsely.

Rydel wore a mask that hid his features. He was slightly crouching to appear shorter. The Mantle of Night made him look like a shadow. Only his two blue eyes shining in the alley's darkness were visible.

Naveena's demeanor completely changed from a frightened girl to her usual aloof personality. It was an attitude that Rydel wasn't accustomed to, as she always showed her bratty side to him in their private moments.

"I'll give you one chance to confess why you were trying to steal from me," Naveena said with finality.

She had used her transformation technique to modify her face. She wasn't scared of them remembering her.

They didn't respond. The goons looked unsure at their leader before deciding not to do anything.

Naveena waited for a couple of seconds before shaking her head.

"Don't blame me for being ruthless then."

She approached the goons. Thick dark spiritual chains bonded them- they had struggled until they realized that they couldn't move an inch from their spots.

An invisible wave passed through their bodies before their eyes turned unfocused. Inside their minds, they saw the illusion of how they would have been rescued in the most logical scenario for them.

Their assailants were dealt with before the illusion superposed with reality, changing Naveena's face to their savior.

"What did I order you?" Naveena's voice reverberated in the alley, carrying an authoritative tone.

"Boss! Y-you've come!" The leader frighteningly said.

"Tell me." Naveena coldly said.

The goons didn't know why their boss's sudden change in personality. They did see that it wasn't wise to enrage him further.

"Y-You told us to steal the life stones of every newcomer without backing." The leader said. He wanted to ask the boss to unbound them too but didn't want to count his lucky stars.

"Think. Why was that?" Naveena pressed.

"B-because of the next tournament." The leader rapidly added. "To reduce the competence."

"That's right," Naveena said. "I didn't ask for my subordinates to be useless and get ambushed."

"B-Bo-"

"Enough. You have disappointed me enough. I don't want to hear about this ever again. I'll take care of the rest." She said before waving her hands.

Rydel used his spiritual tendrils to hit a pressure point on their necks, making them faint on the spot.

He nodded at her before they rapidly left the alley.

"Won't they suspect anything after waking up in the alley alone?" Rydel asked.

"No. I made sure to show them an image of their boss leaving them there before they fainted."

"The tournament, huh..." Rydel thought aloud.

They couldn't ask for information about their boss, 'young master Erlathan.' That'd make the illusion too obvious. Besides, it was a piece of information that shouldn't be too difficult to get, seeing how the goons believed their boss's name to be enough deterrence.

The tournaments were a topic widely discussed in the market. The early E-grade variant was the most common, although they weren't essential on a large scale.

It was an excellent opportunity for those elves who moved to the capital from the different settlements out of Osserion to win a decent amount of life stones. There were official betting shops that were quite popular too.

Of course, the tournament was only for E-grade. There wasn't a version for Ascended. Their power scale was too big for the city, but it'd also create unnecessary grudges between the top powers.

The capital suffered from the same problem of natality that plagued every elven city. It wasn't that pronounced because of the number of citizens-Around 100k people lived in Osserion. Even then, new elves were always welcomed with open arms.

This was a way of letting the young rising stars achieve their dreams. The tournament was held every half a year, the next being in a month. The top prize was five thousand life stones, enough to buy different cultivation pills that could aid in leveling up.

Other prizes ranged from pills that loosened bottlenecks to pills that strengthened the foundations and even pills that gave a modest amount of Ether.

In the Elphyra Clan, Elder Roshia was in charge of alchemy, along with various disciples of her. The supply of these pills was always low, with long waiting lines unless he made a significant contribution to the clan.

Rydel hadn't used them before reaching E-grade as it would have been more harmful than beneficial. After consuming them, pill toxins would enter his body in the form of impurities.

The first stage was about removing impurities, so unless someone is desperate, they wouldn't use any cultivation pills until the middle stage of E-grade.

Right now, Rydel could get away with consuming a couple of these pills, as he can remove the pill toxins by purifying himself with his Dao. The Dao of the Sun was naturally affined to this process. Nothing purified better than a good ol' ray of disintegration.

"Are you going to enter the tournament?" Rydel asked.

"I don't think it's a good idea. I don't want to attract much attention. My transformation skill isn't perfect. A strong elf could notice something is off about me when I'm fighting." Naveena denied.

"That's a pity. It'd be a guaranteed second position for you." Rydel regrettably said.

"A guaranteed first position," Naveena said with confidence.

"Only if I didn't participate."

"You wish. I know your weaknesses. I can trap you in an illusion that you'd never be able to leave."

"Woah, so scary." Rydel made himself shiver. "I definitely can't use my overwhelming spirit attribute to dispel anything you throw at me."

"Hmph. Laugh now that you can."

They bickered for a while before approaching the manor. Naveena was back in her standard form, waving her tails around.

Shael was waiting for them in his room.

"Were you waiting for me?" Rydel said.

"It doesn't surprise me that you went out on your first day here. You could have told me, though." Shael said.

"I needed to stretch my legs after two weeks of traveling on the ship. It was an exciting experience- Osserion isn't anything like Elphyra's Clan village." Rydel happily said.

"I can show you around if you want the next time."

"That'd be great! As a local, you must show me the best places around." Rydel was already thinking about all the food he would taste.

"Of course." Shael stiffly said.

"I talked with one of the artificers under Lady Allyna." Shael didn't beat around the bush anymore and went straight to the main topic. "First of all, how much experience do you have at blacksmithing?"

"Well, not much. I learned the basics with Galather in school, but nothing too impressive. Forest elves aren't focused on creating weapons, as nature itself was enough for it."

"I figured that out. You made me a nice gift for a beginner." Shael smiled. "That you had the capability of imbuing your Dao in artifacts already proves your impressive control. This first step stumped many people from ever embarking on the path of becoming an artificer."

"However, imbuing your Dao isn't enough. Many things can be done to create powerful artifacts. We have learned a myriad of formation glyphs that gave birth to countless abilities. Even the strongest artificers of Osserion would claim only to have scraped the surface of the Dao of Formations. The base materials and how to handle them is of paramount importance too." Shael quickly said.

"You seem… rather invested in how to create artifacts," Rydel commented.

"I have some interests in the topic." Shael coughed. "Artificer Nindrol would be available in a couple of days. I'll warn you of the exact time, be prepared."

"Thank you for the opportunity Miss Shael." Rydel bowed to her.

He then commented that he wanted to join the next tournament.

"Huh, the Rookie Tournament isn't a bad idea." Shael thought about it. "You'll have to enter under my name to participate."

"Why? Can't I participate like any other newcomer without any backing?"

Rydel's backing was shaky at best, as he didn't have a strong relationship with Shael. He considered her a good friend, but that didn't mean he wanted to take advantage of their friendship. It was better not to owe her too much.

"It isn't impossible," Shael said. "However, I don't recommend it. Don't ask me why, just know that it's better for you."

"Is it that bad?"

Shael didn't say anything. She intently gazed at him.

"Fine, let's do it your way." Rydel reluctantly accepted.

Between this silent warning and that young master stealing life stones from newcomers, Rydel didn't know what was happening with what he had thought was just a plain tournament that was used as entertainment.

The undercurrent ran deep in the city, infesting every corner of it.