-" We are almost done with preparations for the Royal Tournament, all we need to do now is wait for the qualificatory tournament to end." Dennis sighed as he finished his presentation, he was nervous as being the one responsible for organizing the Royal tournament was no easy task.
-' Good job, as for the qualificatory tournament, how many schools are competing this time?" Hugh smiled as he contents with Dennis' job.
-" This time many of the third rates magic schools decided to enter it, they are looking for an opportunity to show off, even if only in the lesser stage." Dennis quickly searched the papers he was holding for the exact number of schools participating. " This time there will be fifteen schools participating, eight of them ————" Dennis froze midspeech as he noticed a small crystal tied to his belt shining.
He gulped as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. " I'm sorry, Mister Hughs. Something of importance came up, can I take my leave?" Dennis gripped the crystal with his eyes full of hope.
-" Take your leave? We are in the middle of a reunion!" One of the old men in the room scolded Dennis. " What is more important than the Royal Tournament?"
-" Calm down, Lester..." Hugh gave an annoyed look to the man on his right and returned his attention to Dennis. " Is this about Allison's disappearance?" Hugh had taken a liking to Dennis since he was a student in the Royal Academy, so he naturally knew that his spouse that gone missing.
-" Yes..." Dennis' eyes trembled with emotions. " Family members of other people that went missing in the same area continued to look for leads, and we decided to trade Signal Crystal in case the case of someone discovering any leads."
-" I understand." Hugh stood up and patted Dennis on his back. " She went missing in the Thundering Willow Timberland, right? Why I don't take you there?" He was interested in what was the cause of so many disappearances, so he felt the urge to check it out.
-" You don't have to worry... I can go there by myself." Dennis didn't want to bother Miste Hugh.
-" Relax, I am quite interested in what was happening there already." Hugh clapped his hands, and a small magic circle appeared around him and Dennis. " This meeting will be on hold for now, we will resume it after I return." Hugh felt his blood pumping, he always liked adventures, but, since becoming the principal of the Royal Academy he barely had free time to go around exploring.
Just like Dennis, people all throughout the Thule Kingdom noticed the Signal Crystal shining and they all rushed to the Thundering Willow Timberland. No one wasn't sure who activated it or what it was found, but, they all had a sense of blooming hope
-" Help is already on the way." Peter was worried, after all, he didn't know if the Signal Crystal could pass through the mist without having its information warped. " Let's just hope that they arrive fast."
-" Help?" Henry grew nervous as he looked around the room, he wanted to keep his identity hidden." Who is coming?" Henry almost felt the urge to ditch Peter and hide away from the group that was on their way.
-" Families and companions of the missing people." Peter laid his daughter down and got up. " Many of them are close by as they didn't give up searching still."
Henry felt his forehead fill with sweat, and began to look for something to hide his identity. He had a few hoodies in his inventory, but, this wasn't enough, and he decided to use the mask he had gotten from the body of the robbers.
-' Hatred's Mask - Low Grade - Second Level Human Realm Artifact - A Mask that causes the people that look at it to be enraged.' Henry never wore this mask as the effect made him afraid, but, he hadn't any other choice now.
Peter watched in curiosity as Henry put on the mask and a dark hood. He knew that the man was trying to lay low, but, he never expected that it was so important to him.
-" Peter... Don't call me by my name for now." Henry was fine with Thomas's and his family knowing his identity, but, he didn't know who was coming and if he could trust them. " When I'm wearing this mask, you will call me H." Henry was somewhat excited, he wondered if he looked like some cool mysterious cultivator.
Peter almost laughed as he saw how Henry was acting, but, he decided to play along. " Of course, Venerable H."
-" Venerable H? I like how it sounds!" Henry was too into his roleplay, he always thought of creating a hidden identity, but, he never found a cool enough name.
Henry finished taking all the unconscious people out of the cells, and decided to look around for treasures, he was sure that a place like this had to have some good things, and as the system scanner was on cooldown, he had to search the old fashioned way.
While Henry was going around looking for treasures in the cave, an enormous group of people was already forming at the entrance of the Thundering Willow Timberland.
They were all energetic and eager to enter the forest.
-" Who activated the Signal?" A man asked as he looked around the group.
-" Who knows? Did he find anything?" An old woman with eyes full of sadness spoke up. " I Swear to kill him if this is just a prank!"
-" Calm down everyone! Let's wait a bit more and go all together to the location of the signal."
-" Wait? We don't have time to wait, What if my child is in danger? We need to act now!"
The group was rowdy, and they couldn't agree on anything, however, they all stopped their squabbles as they saw two people approaching from far away.
-" Mister Hugh! Nice to see you." One of the men in the group bowed as he greeted the famous cultivator
-" Greetings to Mister Hughs, is your family doing well?" The old lady also gave him a bow as she greeted him.
The entire group was shocked, they never expected that Hugh Lyons himself would come to join them at this time.
-" Oh? Quite a big group." Hugh's eyes were full of excitement, he missed the rowdy atmosphere of exploring. " Why don't we enter the forest? Staying still isn't something we could afford now."
Dennis sighed, he knew that Hugh had come for the thrill of adventure, but, he still appreciated his presence as it would make everything easier.
The entire group nodded and followed Hugh's words, and before long they discovered the strange mist.
Hugh let out a smile as he observed the mist, the trip had just begun and he already found something interesting. -" What an incredible formation!" His eyes shone in excitement as he grabbed a small amount of the mist. " No wonder no one found the missing people."
-" What we will do now? Enter it?' Dennis was anxious to finally find his spouse.
-" What more can we do? Just stay close to each other, this mist was a sense numbing effect." Hugh was eager to put his skills to the test against the formation. " Follow me, I will try to guide us out of this."
Hugh walked carefully, trying his best to understand the underlying principles used in this formation, but, even someone as powerful as him had trouble navigating through the mist.
At first, he had quite the trouble, guiding the group to two dead ends in succession, however, he slowly got used to sensing the mist. " Not only does this mist decreases the sense, but, it can also confuse the mind..." Hugh was impressed by the formation power, and even more so impressed by the person who managed to escape from it. " We are just walking around in circles, it's almost like a labyrinth made of mist." Hugh stopped and finally decided to get serious.
While the group tried to find their through the mist, Henry continued his search for treasures in the cave, most of the items in the cave weren't worth much, but, he was still able to find some herbs and potions.
-" And I was thinking that the owner of this cave had good treasures." Henry was disappointed, the treasure of the highest level he found was just a second-level potion. "
Henry sighed as he tallied up all he gained on this trip. The items he found weren't even worth the potions he used. There was just one small room left for him to search, but, he hadn't any hope as the room was just a small hole inside the main room.
Henry had to crawl inside the hole, and his eyes lightened up as he saw a small altar adorned with ten small blue crystals and one strange-looking dark stone. " Well? Looks like I hit the jack spot." The crystals shone brightly giving them an expensive aura.
-' Small Mana Stone - Low Grade - Fourth Level of the Human Realm - This small stone contains great amounts of mana, one can use it to cultivate, craft treasures, and energize formations.' Henry gulped as he realized that he truly had struck rich again, as this was the first treasure above the third level he had found since the swords.