There was a mansion located in the first class city known as Asher City. This mansion housed one of the elite teams of the Grand Tourney. Not only had this team passed several stages of the competition, they had been able to knock out the previous champions of the competition; thereby ensuring that there would be new champions crowned by the end of this year's Grand Tourney. And the most fascinating thing about all this was that they had knocked out the champions only today! They did so in the Semi-Finals of the Grand Tourney, making them the new finalists who would go head to head with the last team remaining – the Black Team – in a month from now. It was bound to be an exciting affair, and everyone was anticipating an exciting game! How grand it would be. Asher City's very own Black Team led by Black Saga versus The Citadel's Orange Team led by Vital Orange.
Contrary to the excitement of the ordinary people, the unordinary folks in the city were currently very unsettled. Be it the City Lord, the Indigo Team, or other powers who were keeping an eye on the tournament, they were all unsettled. And that was because of the final act of the grand play. The power that an unknown assassin had displayed shocked these great men and women to their very core. And this unease didn't end with the foreign powers, for the Orange Team itself was in a state of anxiety. The proof of this was their manor. The place that should have been filled with excitement and jubilation was as gloomy as the darkness of the night. There was no warmth or joy, but caution and a bit of fear. Within one of the rooms of this luxurious mansion, there was a young boy chatting with his fairy. Their topic was none other than the last scene of the Semi-Finals of the Grand Tourney. The very scene that had scared many into hiding.
"That power…did you feel it too?" For once, Hildegarde was seated somewhere other than Mane's shoulder. She was seated at the foot of Mane's bed.
"I did," Mane nodded his head with certainty. If Hildegarde could feel it, then he who was only about 70 meters away could also feel it. He was seated cross-legged on the floor of his room. The manor was a luxurious one, so naturally the floor of each room was covered in very expensive carpets; carpets that Mane didn't doubt were made from the hides of Magical Beasts. This was because he could actually feel the residual aura of Magical Beasts from the carpets. The one in his room for instance, was made with the hide of a Low Class Magical Beast! That was an extravagance indeed, considering how important the remains of Magical Beasts were.
"Was there anything about Dragons on the slates that Dan gave you?" Hildegarde asked. As for why she asked this question, Mane was very aware of the reason.
"Actually there was," Mane replied with a nod.
"So, what did it say?" Hildegarde asked. She had seen part of the text on the slates Dan had given Mane, but she didn't see everything. The part about the Dragon was one of the things that she didn't see.
"It was something about a legend involving a man who came to be known as the Dragon Of The East," Mane didn't see the need to hide this from Hildegarde, so he told her all about the Dragon Of The East. He told her about what he was before, how he got his title, and the mystery surrounding his disappearance.
"Initially, I thought that it was nothing but a myth. In fact, the one who wrote the legend down also added that it was just a myth, so I didn't take it too seriously." Mane confessed.
"Until today," Hildegarde said, and Mane nodded in agreement, "Until today."
"Nightmares: a level of power long forgotten because of the rarity of people with this level of power. But that was what the Black Dragon was. And like other Mystic Path Users at the Nightmare level, he had his own title: the Black Warrior. Because Mystic Path Users were fundamentally different from New Types, they didn't earn titles based on ordinary animal forms because their power was beyond that. They could summon flames and ice and could manipulate the elements based on their affinities. And the Black Warrior was no different. Legend says that he had the ability to manipulate darkness, and his power was called the Darkness Set. The Darkness Set was a set of armor that Black Warrior could summon to protect himself. It was so strong that it could not be breached. Along with the armor was a dark sword that was even more powerful than the armor. Legend says that there was nothing it couldn't pierce."
"When they fought the Winged Serpent, many of the Mystic Path Users died, leaving only a few survivors behind. The Black Warrior came out of the battle as the Black Dragon Of The East. And that was because of an ability he unlocked when he faced the Winged Serpent – Hellfire. Legend says that Hellfire was a black flame that could burn through anything, even actual fire. But he disappeared after he returned from the battle. No one knows if it is because he was severely injured or he had other reasons, but he never appeared again. Initially I thought that Dan was a remnant of that group. But it seems that he was born after that turbulent period. And it was likely that the information I gained from his Status Window about him being a Mystic Path User was false, since he didn't really know anything about the Mystic Path."
"How is that possible? The Status Window is never wrong!" Hildegarde argued. The Status Window couldn't be false. It was something built with absolute certainty.
"That's what you think. But have you ever wondered why the Legendary, Mythic, Chaos and Origin levels are not part of the released list of levels amongst the fairy population?" Mane asked, and Hildegarde grew silent. However, her eyes were still filled with unwillingness.
"I used to think that it was because it was above your 'paygrade'. But what if it was rather that these levels were beyond your control? What if the Fairy King wasn't certain on how to control these testing grounds, and whether everything could be controlled?" Mane asked. Without waiting for Hildegarde to speak, he continued,
"Think about it. You said that you fairies are educated on how to handle Tested, and how to provide help depending on the level of difficulty. Yet you were never educated on the obscure levels like Chaos. Why is that?"
"Because that information is classified," Hildegarde argued.
"True, but why is it classified?" Mane asked, but Hildegarde had no answer. "It's okay. I wasn't waiting for a reply from you." Mane shook his head and said. And then added what he wanted to say, "What if it was classified because of a lack of confidence in the information given."
"Every level, apart from the obscure levels, has been explored thoroughly. Several people have passed each level under the obscure levels, but only a few have been through the obscure levels, and as such, there is very little information on them. That means that their information on this world is likely outdated, or inaccurate. It may be precise, but lacking in accuracy." Mane concluded.
His thinking was actually simple. He felt that this world was so unexplored that the information that the fairies had was definitely based on what fairy guides companion to the few Testeds who had unlocked the Chaos difficulty had given them. But this information, because it was from only a few sources, was bound to have flaws. For instance, maybe those who came before Mane didn't know that Dan wasn't a Mystic Path User, and assumed that he was. And this information had been passed onto the top brass by the accompanying fairies. Since all the reports were the same, the information was precise, but because it wasn't true, the information was inaccurate. So they were all inaccurately precise.
"Anyway, that wasn't what we were talking about," Mane knew that he had dropped a lot on Hildegarde, and he felt a bit sorry for that. But he needed her to be on his side – unconditionally. And to do that, he would need to slowly let her lose faith in her higher ups. The less she thought of them, the easier it would be for her to let them go.
"That Black Hand guy, the aura he released at the end," Mane furrowed his brows and said, recalling the powerful aura that took shape before his very eyes – the aura shaped like a Dragon!
"His power increased significantly from that power up, and he was able to easily dispatch a Predator. I don't know what relation he has with the Black Dragon Of The East, but he certainly isn't ordinary. We have to find out more about him."
"But how? There is no way they would tell us anything." Hildegarde shook her head and said. She was right. The Orange Team weren't inclined to satisfy Mane's curiosity. However, Mane wasn't even thinking about asking them. He smiled brightly and said,
"I didn't say that we should ask them. It seems the visit to the City Lord would have to come earlier than planned"