In a few words, Kalen was surprised. Although he didn't know all of the existing traits, the leader was definitely not an ordinary one.
Not only that, Elisabeth even had an inherent ability of his trait, [Captivating Voice], and although her description was short, it was simple in its explanation.
Kalen started to think if he had been affected by Elisabeth's words at some point, but after analyzing it for a few seconds, he denied his own thoughts.
'...No, she could not have influenced me. If she had...'
Kalen began to get a headache from all the information swirling around in his head, but Elisabeth's next words cleared up several doubts.
"No, my words did not affect you" Elisabeth unconsciously massaged her neck.
Kalen remained silent as he looked at her seriously.
'...She probably tried to convince me at the beginning of the conversation, but when she saw that it didn't work, she decided not to try any more'
But then another doubt arose in Kalen's heart.
'What if she only influenced me by making me believe that it didn't work...'
It didn't matter if Elisabeth's words had influenced Kalen, he would definitely raise his guard every time he spoke to her.
Elisabeth stopped massaging her neck, stood up and straightened her jacket.
"Anyway, I hope our arrangement will be fruitful... Is there anything else you want to ask me?" asked Elisabeth before she left.
Kalen didn't move and just looked at her from below.
"No... well, actually one more thing"
"What?"
Kalen looked over to where most of the group was sleeping and spoke without looking back at Elisabeth.
"Find out if anyone else lied about their name like I did"
While they were at it, Kalen would use his deal and Elisabeth's ability to find Rodhlann Danneir, and even if he didn't find him, he could at least rule out people.
So far, he had already ruled out 3 people, Elisabeth, Zayne, and Talika were definitely who they claimed to be.
As for Elisabeth, not only did he know her from before, but he had seen her information screen with his own eyes.
As for Zayne, it was also difficult to be mistaken, since he was a public figure, and enough people knew him to believe that it was not his real name.
And finally, Talika, since it was not only his test to save her, but he doubted that the young woman who called herself Talika was not really her and had pretended to be Talika when she was really someone else.
Why hadn't the real Talika said anything?
They were useless thoughts, so Kalen dismissed these three people completely.
Maybe he wouldn't have thought so much if Elisabeth's actions hadn't made him more paranoid than before.
"Finding out if someone lied about their name...? It may not be easy, but I'll try" Elisabeth said before looking at Kalen one last time.
"Good night... although I don't think you'll sleep"
Elisabeth began to drift off and then lay down next to the group of women. Kalen looked at her silently and then closed his eyes again, pretending to be asleep.
Not only would he not be able to sleep now from watching Talika, but there were so many things on his mind that he would need a good while to organize them.
***
A few hours later, several people began to wake up quietly.
The first-person Kalen saw awaken was Jeanne Siljard, the young woman who had decided not to follow Elisabeth.
Jeanne had fallen asleep quite early while the group was discussing things the night before, so she was one of the first to wake up.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one else was awake, Jeanne made her way to one of the cave's tunnels to get out of Kalen's sight.
After Jeanne, the next people to wake up were the brothers, who started talking to each other while waiting for the others to wake up.
Slowly, everyone woke up until the last person opened their eyes and came out of their sleep.
Talika looked around cautiously, but she seemed much calmer than the night before.
That's when Elisabeth clapped her hands again to get everyone's attention.
"Well, since we are all awake, I think we should plan our next actions"
Everyone agreed and gathered in a circle to talk better. Even Talika approached unobtrusively, and Jaume Che joined in, although the young man looked rather haggard, as if he hadn't slept at all.
"As I said yesterday, we have to split up into groups to find the most important things, water and food"
They all nodded and continued to listen.
"I think it would be best if we split into two groups and go through two different tunnels"
As Elisabeth explained, Oliver Hans raised his hand and Elisabeth gave him the words.
"I agree with everything you have said so far... but what should we do with Zayne's group?"
As soon as Oliver mentioned Zayne, Kalen could see Jaume Che's body tremble slightly.
'They must be related…'
Yesterday Zayne had called Jaume and if Elisabeth hadn't intervened, Jaume would have gone with them. That meant they had known each other before... and it was definitely not a good relationship.
Among the people Kalen was most wary of, Zayne was the second, simply due to the fact that his father had surely trained him to fight and overcome his trials, and above all to survive Urasis.
The first person he was most wary of was Elisabeth, mostly because of her abilities.
Elisabeth stood thoughtfully for a few moments before she spoke.
"For now, we should ignore them, we have our differences, so I wouldn't put it past us to clash at some point... but for now we need to focus on ourselves"
Oliver nodded and fell silent again after Elisabeth's explanation.
For almost 20 minutes the group concentrated on splitting into two groups and coming up with a concrete plan. Then they split up and headed for different tunnels, ignoring the one Zayne's group had entered.
Kalen looked at the entrance to the tunnel in front of him and frowned slightly.
'This is where Jeanne went'
Something brushed his arm and Kalen forgot what he was weighing to notice the person who had caught his attention.
Next to him, Elisabeth was also looking at the tunnel entrance.
"Ready?" she asked as if she was speaking casually, but Kalen knew that there were several intentions behind her words.
"Yes... ready"
Together with Elisabeth and himself, his group had split into 6 people. Oliver Hans, Talika Bon and two other young women of the group were with them.
Kalen hadn't asked Elisabeth to put him in the same group with Talika, mainly because he didn't want to reveal that he had a relationship with her. So, it was pure luck that they were together.
Apart from Talika, Kalen watched Oliver Hans, the other man with them. He couldn't rule out that he was Rodhlann Danneir, so he would keep an eye on him during this exploration.
"Well, let's go then"
Following Elisabeth's lead, the group entered the tunnel and started walking.
Compared to the main cave, the tunnels were much smaller and narrower, so no more than 3 people could walk together if they didn't want to run into the walls.
"Wow... it's beautiful" said one of the young women who was with the group.
Although Kalen said nothing, he was amazed inside as well. The views were very different from what he was used to.
All over the ceiling and walls, hundreds of blue crystals lit up the tunnel. The crystals were constantly flashing and emitting a faint sound, as if they were dozens of fireflies trapped inside the glass. This was the reason why this cave was named as such.
The tunnel continued for about 100 meters until they reached another cavern, much smaller than the main one, but somewhat more comfortable. Still, 3 more tunnels could be seen all around, indicating that there were many more paths to explore.
All the while, Kalen never forgot his third test. To find a golden firefly.
In the time they had been walking, he had not seen a single firefly, and if in fact there were none, and it was because of the crystals that gave the cave its name... then perhaps the golden firefly was a simple golden crystal.
There was no way to know, the only thing Kalen could do was to keep exploring. Besides, it was only the first day, and there were 29 days left before the trial was over.
So, time was not an issue for now.
There was also Elisabeth's third test, which asked her to investigate the strange happenings in the cave, so she also had to explore the cave if she wanted to fulfill her test.
And Kalen was pretty sure that Elisabeth wanted to complete all three tests, just like he did. Their conversation hours ago had made that clear to him.
Elisabeth wanted power, she wanted control. She would not give up the chance to gain more power, even if it meant sacrificing other things.
Very similar to Kalen's thinking.