In his room, Aldrian sat on his bed with his head resting on the headboard. He straightened his legs and closed his eyes. His conversation with Olivia had been fruitful, providing him with many pieces of information and clues. He took out the odd leaf he had found on the street the night before yesterday and looked at it.
"Now I have confirmed that the woman in my vision when I picked this leaf is also a spirit, and if I have to guess, she is also a spirit of a world tree. Her language is the same as Olivia's, but which world tree? That giant world tree that is so high I can't sense the top? From the way she spoke, she also knows me." he pondered.
"Also, the one who made the artifact to hide the devils' energy must be a blacksmith master who is at least at the Emperor stage, to elude even Olivia. There are a few of them, but they have a similarity, they are from the Dwarf race and located in the Forgeheart Kingdom, the kingdom of the dwarves." There are many blacksmith masters throughout the continent, but only a few of them are at the Emperor stage and can make artifacts that can elude the senses of an Emperor stage being like Olivia. Olivia suspected a few of them, but they were all from the Kingdom of the Dwarves, the Forgeheart Kingdom.
"And one of them has been missing for twelve years. The one who is missing can be most suspected for now, but whoever it is that made those artifacts, if we catch him, we can cripple the devils' plans significantly."
Aldrian's mind kept working, and before he knew it, he had already fallen asleep in the same position. His mind and mental faculties had been working nonstop for two days. With many comprehensions and things in his mind at the same time, it could be dangerous for others because they could develop inner demons, but he didn't know it. Well, because he couldn't feel it. His mind just rested for itself to remind Aldrian that he also needed a rest.
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In one part of Balin city, there was a place that was always bustling with activity and people passing by. Almost the entire city of Balin was like that, but this place was special. It was located not far from the mayor's mansion and still under the shade of the world tree. The place was like a plaza, but it wasn't because in the center of it there were five structures shaped like giant standing circles with complex formations under them.
In the center of the circles, the space was wobbly and had a light blue color like a curtain, and usually many people could be seen coming out or entering it. For many, this was an essential thing on this continent, and that was the teleportation station. The size of the continent was so big that most people who lived here would never have a chance to travel across the entire continent in their lifetime. The existence of the teleportation station significantly helped the mobilization of people and goods throughout the continent.
But the teleportation station had its downside. Due to the complexity of the formation and the need for this device to operate 24 hours a day, it required a huge amount of energy and strict maintenance by formation masters and forge masters. The energy itself could be supplied by energy stones, each person who used the teleportation service had to pay a certain amount of energy stones. The further your destination, the more expensive the fare.
At this moment, the place that should be bustling with a crowd of people was eerily quiet, with many soldiers from Balin patrolling the area. The accident last night was a shocking event, and news of it had already started to spread to the closest cities, towns, and even villages. The mayor of Balin had given orders for the teleportation station to reduce its operations and to more strictly check every person coming out of the teleportation station. He felt the devils would quickly catch wind of their failure, so he was preparing for their next move in Balin.
The elven soldiers of Balin formed lines in front of one of the teleportation devices, like they were in some kind of ceremony, with Livrin standing at the front. Suddenly, a few people in knight armor with golden tree symbol on their chest plates emerged from the wobbly space, followed by two others. If Aldrian saw them, he would recognize them instantly by their names.
"Attention!" Livrin shouted when he saw those two elves.
"At ease, mayor Livrin. I already received your report. Let's take a look at the site first," said one of the elves with silver hair. He was Grand Duke Thalion Sylvaris, his voice sounding solemn. When he heard the report that devils had infiltrated Balin and summoned a Hydra, he jumped from his cultivation session and rushed to prepare an army in Sylvaris city, the capital of Sylvaris Grand Duchy.
He feared he might be too late because a mid-king stage Hydra was too much for Balin. However, he was shocked to hear that the problem had already been solved by the same boy he had met the previous day. He instantly reported the situation to the imperial family, who were also shocked. The imperial teacher who heard it volunteered to look into the situation.
Without much delay, they rushed to the Hydra corpse, now guarded by Balin city soldiers. The place still attracted many curious onlookers from various races who wanted to see the rare beast and the remnants of the devils, of which nothing remained. When Livrin's entourage arrived, there was still a crowd of people surrounding the line made by the soldiers.
Thalion and the imperial teacher Elthar, looked solemnly at the corpse and the destruction caused by Aldrian's battle. From the lingering aura that still remained, they could imagine the technique Aldrian had unleashed.
"Amazing! I have never seen this kind of sword technique. Even the remaining aura of the sword here can give sword cultivators enlightenment and new comprehension," Elthar said. His words were not false, as among the crowd, there were a few sword cultivators meditating to comprehend the remnants of Aldrian's sword will. Even at that moment, across the path of slash energy, some sword cultivators meditated to deepen their comprehension. The sharp aura could be felt so strongly that others felt like their bodies were being slashed many times if they got too close.
Thalion and Elthar then looked at the distant mountain 500 kilometers away, noting how its peak had collapsed, creating a flat land full of sword will remnants. Even from that distance, they could feel the same power emanating from this place, and the remnant energy kept traveling to the sky, extending beyond their sense and perception. Elthar closed his eyes to try to feel the sword will, but what he sensed from the remnants was a complex technique with many comprehensions fused into one.
"Yes, he must be the one! There is no way an ordinary Viscount stage cultivator could unleash this kind of technique." Unlike others who doubted Aldrian's cultivation level, Thalion firmly believed Aldrian was still at the Viscount stage, and he had his own reasons for that belief.
They inspected the area for a few minutes before Elthar turned to Livrin.
"Where is that boy? I mean, where is that esteemed person right now?" Elthar asked.
"He has not yet returned to the mansion this morning, but his older sister said we need not worry because he will come back on his own. Let me check right now." Livrin then took out a communication device and contacted the mayor's mansion. After a few moments, he seemed surprised and relayed the information.
"He is already in his room now, but I think he is resting."
"Good, don't disturb him. I want to talk to him later. For now, let's investigate the devils in Balin. Where are the devil prisoners?" Elthar asked.
"They are in the city's dungeon. We have already sealed their cultivation and taken away their means of escape. Thanks to young master Aldrian's accurate information, we successfully captured those devils without fail."
"Nice. I really want to punish them for daring to infiltrate my territory," Grand Duke Sylvaris said. Truthfully, he felt it was also his negligence not to realize the devils' scheme in such a strategic place like Balin, which was under his grand duchy. He could already imagine how it might be used against him by the Grand Duke Maelis faction. He felt humiliated and enraged that they had almost fallen into the devils' plot and wanted to torture the devils for this. They then moved to the city's dungeon, where Balin's authorities usually held criminals.
Meanwhile, Aldrian was still resting in his room, oblivious to all the events happening outside. When he finally opened his eyes, it was already noon.