Chapter Ninety-Nine: Assembly and Intelligence

Lando knew nothing of what had happened on Alice’s side. By then, he and Leia had already been lingering around the Green Wing Tribe’s territory for three days. Though he had heeded Jens’s warning and abandoned the idea of going straight into the tribe to investigate, Lando was not without other means.

A thread of mist was drawn back, and a hunting party of five sixth-rank warriors lay collapsed before Lando. This was the method he had come up with for gathering information. Warriors who spent their days hunting outside would certainly know the distribution of monsters within a given region like the backs of their hands. Then, so long as he learned which areas they were strictly forbidden to enter in ordinary times, or heard certain terrifying legends, he could more or less deduce the range of the higher-ranked crystal creatures.

“All right, we’ve gathered most of the information we need. Let’s go level up for a while first, and then think about the Crystal Plain Ruins.”

“Mm!”

According to the map, the Crystal Plain Ruins were still rather far from where they were now. But with Lando’s abilities, it would take at most two or three days to reach them. Adding in possible delays along the way and the time needed to prepare, setting out ten days early ought to be more than enough.

Over the next two months, Lando and Leia roamed everywhere in search of higher-ranked crystal creatures. They collected quite a few blue souls from seventh- and eighth-rank ones, and they did encounter several ninth-rank creatures, but unfortunately not a single new purple soul was obtained.

Along the way, they also ran into a few descended Arcanists. In accordance with his agreement with Jens, Lando told them about the gathering at the Crystal Plain Ruins. Most of them actually already knew of it, which gave Lando a little more confidence that he might encounter Alice there.

Two months of leveling and monster hunting brought Lando’s companion crystal up to the seventh rank, while Leia’s had already advanced to the ninth. It could not be helped. The girl was lucky, and among the several ninth-rank crystal creatures she encountered, two had been primarily earth-attuned. Those alone gave Leia’s companion crystal a tremendous boost.

...

“So this is the Crystal Plain Ruins? How desolate.”

Five days before the appointed gathering time, Lando and Leia arrived ahead of schedule.

The place truly deserved the name of ruins. As far as the eye could see there was only a bleak, barren expanse. No plants grew here, and the ground itself was mottled and parched. Now and then, they would see long fissures, some of them so deep that when one looked down, all that could be seen was a silent abyss of blackness.

“Could this be an area where a node crystal was destroyed?” Lando guessed.

Leia nodded solemnly at his side. “Very possible!”

“...”

“Aren’t we here for a gathering? Where are we supposed to meet?” Leia asked.

“The whole Crystal Plain Ruins are vast. If the one who called us here wants to gather everyone together, he’ll probably have to make some kind of commotion. Let’s just wait.”

During those five days, Lando and Leia also wandered around the Crystal Plain Ruins for a while. Aside from running into a few other Arcanists with the same purpose, they saw no plants or animals, nor any trace of native tribal activity. However, at the center of the area they did discover a huge basin, as if it had been formed by the destruction of a node crystal, which confirmed Lando’s speculation.

Whoosh!

Boom!

Just as Lando was studying the ruins of the node crystal, even thinking of going deeper to see whether he could scrape together some profit from it, a gigantic firework suddenly shot up into the sky not far away. It burst overhead and formed a peculiar pattern that lingered long after.

“Fireworks? That works.”

Lando called to Leia, who was bored enough to be kicking at stones, and the two of them headed toward where the firework had risen.

By the time they arrived, there were already more than a dozen people gathered in twos and threes. At the center, atop a huge boulder, sat a man in a hooded cloak, his face impossible to make out.

The crowd exchanged quiet conversation and greeted familiar faces.

Half an hour later, the firework pattern in the sky vanished. Another half hour after that, the stream of arrivals dwindled. To Lando’s disappointment, among the more than two hundred people who came, Alice was nowhere to be seen.

At that moment, the hooded man on the boulder rose to his feet, drawing everyone’s attention. Just as he was about to speak—

“Lando!”

A cry shattered the silence ahead of time. Following the sound, they saw a girl who seemed almost elfin in her beauty waving excitedly in their direction.

Lando’s heart jolted at the sound. Turning around, he saw Alice running toward him, and in that instant, he could not help but think back to the first time the two of them had met.

“I finally found you. Senior Leia is here too!” Alice said, a little plaintively, as soon as they met.

Lando smiled faintly. “Yes. I finally found you too.”

Seeing the warm atmosphere slowly rising between the two of them, Calvo could not help feeling a touch of displeasure and secretly clicked his tongue. Then he stepped forward and said politely, “You must be junior Lando? I’ve long admired you.”

Only then did Lando notice Calvo standing there with Shadai and the sisters Jenna and Shadai. He first glanced at Calvo. Since he did not know the man’s identity, he merely smiled and nodded at the greeting, then said to Shadai and Jenna, “Long time no see. I never expected to run into you here. This one is...?” The last sentence was directed at asking Calvo’s identity.

Before anyone else could answer, Alice spoke up first. “This is Calvo, just a normal friend of mine.”

Her answer made Calvo stiffen slightly. By rights, he ought to count as Alice’s childhood sweetheart.

With a bitter smile, Calvo said, “Calvo Mason. I used to pursue Alice, and I was her playmate when we were children.”

Since he could not have her, then cutting his losses in time was necessary. Childhoood playmate was surely better than mere normal friend.

A rival in love?! Lando grew wary, though his sharp senses detected no hostility from the other man. Odd.

Cough.

At that moment, the hooded man atop the boulder made a sound, once again drawing everyone’s attention.

“I didn’t expect so many people to come this time. I assume everyone gathered here is for the exchange of information? In that case, I’ll begin.”

Without waiting for a reply, he directly projected a map into the sky. Although it still lacked the distribution of crystal creatures, it was already quite expansive.

Seeing this, the others began to fill in the missing portions of the map one after another. When no one else made a move, the map suspended in the air had expanded considerably.

“Before everyone starts sharing, I have one more piece of information to offer.”

After retracting the projected map, the hooded man said gravely, “I’m sure all of you have sensed the changes in this crystal world. Perhaps some of you have even learned something about the Void Abyss, but among you, no one knows its exact location yet, correct?”

Seeing that no one spoke and that they were all simply waiting for him to continue, the hooded man also found the lack of response rather dull. So he said directly, “I know the exact location, and I’m looking for a few strong teammates to explore it with. I wonder whether any of you are interested?”