Author's Note: For those interested, there are now five advanced chapters (we're on chapter 27) and a poll about drawing that we will be requesting in the future for this story on my on P-atreon, which you can read and vote for just $5.
I also finished the first volume of my other story, "Welcome to the Alternate Multiverse Chat Group."
So if you can, please go to my profile and check it out.
Remove the spaces and dash: p-atreon/ Krakenian01
X-X-X-X-X
Leek P.O.V
You know what's bad about having high expectations? You usually end up disappointed with the final result, something similar to what I felt a few days after starting this journey, I was expecting adventure, danger, epic battles, and things like that.
This made me a bit skeptical about the rest of the trip, I thought it would be something routine, you know, we'd arrive at my camp, everyone would be surprised by what my ship looked like, and then we'd head back, something simple and without too many complications.
But that wasn't the case, my ship had been taken, turning this journey from a simple "retrieve an object" mission into a tracking mission to recover it.
And after thinking about it for a while and letting go of my frustration over being robbed, I decided that this was fine with me, after all, it meant something more interesting could happen, like a conflict, a duel to reclaim my ship, or even the possibility that the thieves were members of the dark guild, which would mean a real fight.
Still, I tried to keep my expectations low, after all, as I said before, when you have high expectations, you often end up disappointed with the result, even if it's "favorable".
But I had to admit that what resulted from our encounter with these people in the St. Ancestral Mountain Range was truly unexpected.
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Third Person P.O.V
The tacitly agreed-upon idea among everyone was that Huyan Xiong and Ye Shuo would lead the meeting between the search group and those who had taken Leek's ship, since one was the patriarch of a well-known noble house and the other an elder of the Ye family, it was obvious that if the people they encountered were truly from Glory City, their words would carry more weight than anyone else's in the group.
And if it turned out that those they encountered were enemies, both could deliver a devastating first strike, being the strongest in the group.
With this in mind, the two stood at the front of the group, however, it seemed that among those in the camp, there was at least one person with sharp enough senses to detect them when they were less than 100 meters away, as a result, everyone lined up, ready to defend themselves.
Without further delay, the two groups finally met, and the search group was greeted by eight gold-ranked spiritists, ranging from 4 to 5 stars, who maintained a defensive position.
The tense atmosphere lasted only a few seconds, as the man who seemed to be the leader of the group showed a look of recognition upon seeing the faces of Huyan Xiong and Ye Shuo.
"Patriarch Huyan? Elder Ye Shuo?" A bald man spoke, stepping forward.
"I remember you, you're from the Hong Yue family, Hong Yue Zhou, right?" Ye Shuo asked.
Noticing that the elder of Glory City's most prominent family remembered his name, Hong Yue Zhou's eyes widened, and a second later, he bowed his head and clasped his right fist to his left palm.
"That's correct, sir, greetings to the elder of the Snow Wind family and the patriarch of the Huyan family!"
The seven men behind him also seemed incredibly surprised, but after seeing him offer his greetings, they reacted and did the same.
"Greetings to both!" Their voices echoed.
Ye Shuo and Huyan Xiong nodded in acknowledgment, and when the eight spiritists stood straight again, the Ye family elder spoke. "I didn't expect your family to be on an expedition so deep into the St. Ancestral Mountain Range"
"Yes, it was at the request of one of our elders." The man replied respectfully, though without giving too many details.
"I see." The elder nodded a couple of times before continuing. "Then let me be direct so as not to bother you any longer, did you happen to find an object like this on your way here about a week ago?" The elder raised his hand, causing his interspatial ring to glow, and a piece of paper with a rough drawing of a sphere appeared.
The man looked carefully at the paper being handed to him, and his surprised expression made it clear to everyone what the answer was.
"This…" The man said, unsure of how to respond. "Does this object belong to the Snow Wind family?"
"Not exactly, it was discovered by a member of Glory City, and it was proposed to the city lord that it be studied to determine its origin, I must assume you do have it then?"
The man, still a bit stunned, nodded a couple of times before speaking in a hesitant tone. "I have it, but sir, according to the laws of Glory City, this object, having been found by our Hong Yue family, belongs to us"
"I understand that, and the laws of Glory City will be respected, but would it be possible for us to see the object? Just to confirm if it's the one we're looking for"
The man, though somewhat reluctant, raised his hand, and one of the rings he wore emitted a faint glow, a second later, the ship Leek had used to land in this world appeared.
All the men who had come with Leek widened their eyes at the sight of the strange object, it was unlike anything they had ever seen before, Huyan Xiong was the first to recover and turned to Leek.
"What do you say, boy?"
"Yes, this is it." Leek nodded with a serious expression.
"Huh?" The man seemed surprised that the youngest-looking one was being consulted. "Lord Ye Shuo, this boy…"
"He's the one who found this artifact." The elder replied.
Leek approached the sphere, circling it a couple of times to check if it had been damaged in any way, and only when he was sure it was in the same condition as when he left it, he turn to the man and asked. "Have you tried opening it?"
The older man frowned slightly at the young boy's blunt tone, but since he seemed to be backed by both the Huyan family, a noble family like his own, and an elder of one of the three main families, he simply replied, "No, we didn't want to risk damaging it, we were waiting for our patriarch to study it in Glory City before attempting anything"
"I see." Leek nodded a couple of times, satisfied that the interior of his ship hadn't been tampered with by strangers, then he stepped back to stand beside Huyan Xiong and Ye Shuo as the man raised his hand again, causing the ship to disappear back into his ring.
"This object is important to the city lord's mansion, so we'd like to acquire it, would you be willing to make an exchange?"
Hong Yue Zhou seemed a bit nervous, but this proposal was exactly what he needed at the moment.
"If Lord Ye Shuo and Patriarch Huyan Xiong truly need this object, then I have no problem handing it over." He said, bowing slightly, which surprised Leek and the others, at least until he named his price. "But in exchange, I'd like to ask for your help with something, please accompany us to our camp, where we can explain everything"
Both adults decided to accept the offer without hesitation, so the two groups merged and headed back to the camp, meanwhile, Hong Yue Zhou, Huyan Xiong, Ye Shuo, and Leek entered the main tent to discuss the terms of the agreement.
"Let's not drag this out too long, what do you want from us in exchange for the object you found?" Huyan Xiong asked.
Hong Yue Zhou nodded and began to speak. "The reason we're still here in the St. Ancestral Mountain Range is that we're waiting for my father, Hong Yue Mu, an elder of our family, to return, almost three days ago he separated from our group, saying he had sensed a powerful soul force, the problem is that he said he'd be back by last night at the latest, and as you can see, today, well past midday, he still hasn't returned"
The expressions of the two adults who heard this turned quite surprised, after all, both knew the man's name, the younger brother of the Hong Yue family patriarch, a spiritist who had entered the black gold rank a year ago, but what surprised them more was the fact that this man had voluntarily separated from his group in a place like the St. Ancestral Mountain Range.
"Where did your father go?" Ye Shuo, now much more interested in the matter, asked, since it involved a black gold-ranked demonic spiritist, a valuable asset to Glory City, he decided he needed as much information as possible.
"He went…" Hong Yue Zhou seemed uncomfortable, but finally sighed in resignation before speaking. "In the direction of the Dark Ruins"
"What?!" Huyan Xiong, true to his character, expressed his thoughts with a single word in an incredulous tone.
"Why did you let your father go to a place like that? No matter what he sensed, entering the Dark Ruins alone is incredibly dangerous, if he really sensed a powerful soul force and thought it might be from a dangerous demonic beast, you should have returned to Glory City immediately to report it and form a search party of black gold-ranked spiritists." Ye Shuo said, his tone deadly serious.
"The truth is, no one else in our group felt the pulse of soul force that my father claimed to sense, he simply said he felt it, as if it were calling him, and told us to set up camp here because he wouldn't be long, after that, he left at full speed, so we couldn't stop him." Hong Yue Zhou admitted, making the situation even stranger.
"Um." Leek raised his hand, drawing the attention of the three adults in the tense atmosphere. "Excuse me if this sounds like a dumb question, but since I feel like I'm missing a lot of context, I'll ask anyway, what are these Dark Ruins you're talking about?"
"The Dark Ruins are a place within the St. Ancestral Mountain Range, one that's even more dangerous, if surviving in this mountain range requires at least peak gold rank, the Dark Ruins are dangerous even for black gold-ranked spiritists." Huyan Xiong explained.
Now that he had all the relevant information, Leek came to the same conclusion as Huyan Xiong and Ye Shuo regarding what Hong Yue Zhou's request would be in exchange for handing over the ship, so the Saiyan decided to verbalize it.
"I see, so, what you want in exchange for handing over the sphere is help to bring your father back from that incredibly dangerous place, right?" Leek asked, crossing his arms.
Hong Yue Zhou looked directly at the young man before shifting his gaze to the two adults, who also seemed to be waiting for his response.
He really wanted to ask who this kid was to be allowed to participate in this conversation, but since he seemed to be backed by two such important figures and there were more pressing matters at hand, he decided not to dwell on it and answered.
"Yes, I'm worried that my father ventured alone into such a dangerous place, but I don't have the strength to go help him, that's why I want the help of both of you, who are black gold rank spiritists." The man bowed his head to show his sincerity.
"Even though a black gold-ranked demonic spiritist is an incredibly valuable asset to Glory City, you're aware of the fate your father might have met by entering the Dark Ruins, and more importantly, the fate we might meet if we accept your request, right?" Ye Shuo didn't seem very impressed by the sincerity Hong Yue Zhou was trying to show with his gesture.
For him, going to a place like the Dark Ruins was something he'd normally do only after making the necessary preparations.
The man's fists clenched so tightly that a bit of blood dripped from his palms, but he didn't back down and continued speaking, still bowing. "I'm aware of what might have happened to him, and that even for you, it's risky, but at this moment, there's still a good chance he's alive. If we wait until we return and organize a rescue party, it will take at least ten days in the best-case scenario, by then, there'll be almost no hope of even finding a trace of him. That's why…" The man's voice was clearly marked by uncertainty and sadness, as if he didn't want to think about what he was about to say. "Even if you only find his body or something that proves he perished, I'll be fine with that"
The tent fell silent for a moment until Ye Shuo responded. "Lend us this tent for a moment to discuss it, we'll let you know once we've made a decision"
Hong Yue Zhou finally raised his head, his expression hopeful, and nodded. "Thank you very much for considering it!" He said before leaving the tent, leaving the two men and the young Saiyan.
"Ah, this is annoying." Huyan Xiong complained, scratching his head, it wasn't so much that he refused to help, but in his opinion, this situation could have been avoided if Hong Yue Mu hadn't been so reckless.
"Something that particularly interests me about all this is what Hong Yue Zhou mentioned about no one else besides his father feeling that powerful soul force"
"Normally, I'd say a Hallucinatory-type beast is responsible for something like this, but considering this isn't the usual environment for them and that we're talking about the Dark Ruins, a Nightmare-type demonic beast would fit better, don't you think?" Huyan Xiong asked, catching Leek's attention.
Leek pulled out one of his journals and quickly flipped through the pages until he found what he had written about the types of demonic beasts.
According to his research, Nightmare-type demonic beasts were among the rarest and most difficult to capture, this was because this species of beasts had a wide variety of mysterious abilities.
And the Hallucinatory-type beasts were something he was already familiar with, since Lanruo was one of the few people in Glory City who had one, a Snow Sakura, which, like others of its species, had illusion-based abilities, this one specifically oriented toward charm, something like a succubus in fantasy stories.
The problem was that these creatures were found in warmer climates, so the possibility of this type of beast being responsible was, at best, very unlikely.
"That's the most likely scenario, but what worries me more is that, whatever type of beast it is, it was able to affect a black gold-ranked demonic spiritist, even if it's one who hasn't been at that rank for long, depending on its range and the number of people it can affect, it could be incredibly dangerous for Glory City and for us"
"Don't you think that, if that's the case, its limit would be one person? Otherwise, it wouldn't have left the other eight spiritists unharmed, especially since they're weaker than the black gold rank, the fact that only the strongest was affected proves that whatever did this has at least enough reasoning to target the biggest threat, besides, I don't think it's that strong; otherwise, it would have attacked the group openly, the fact that it resorted to tricks like this likely means it had a chance of losing in a direct fight, at least, that's what I think." Leek chimed in, giving his perspective.
Both men fell silent, thinking about the young Saiyan's words, and after a few seconds, Huyan Xiong responded. "I think you make good points, but there are still more doubts, it could be a sealed beast that can't leave its location, that's could be the reason why it didn't attack the group, it might not have seen the need to control the rest of the group because it didn't view them as threats, among many other possibilities"
"Still, I think young Leek is right, but just to be sure, can you try to sense any presence in the direction of the Dark Ruins? You said that depending on the power of what you're searching for, it's easier or harder to sense, right? If it's someone at the black gold rank, it should be easier, and if it's the demonic beast, it must be at least at the same level to affect someone at that rank." Ye Shuo requested.
"Well, I guess I could try, in which direction and how far are the Dark Ruins?"
"To the north, more than 70 kilometers away, Sand if a demonic beast is responsible it could be nearby stalking the group." The Ye family elder pointed in the direction with his arm.
"Alright, give me a moment, but remember, my range is much shorter than that distance." Leek nodded before closing his eyes to concentrate.
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Third Person P.O.V
Outside, a few meters from the tent, Hong Yue Zhou stood with his arms crossed, tapping his foot nervously.
The truth was, he was quite unsure of what response he'd receive. When he found that sphere, he felt excited, even though it didn't emit any aura, it was quite striking, and since he didn't know what was inside, he couldn't wait to return to Glory City and, with the help of his father and uncle, open the object to see what it contained.
Only then would he decide whether to keep it or sell it to the highest bidder.
But with this new problem, his priorities had changed, his father had disappeared, voluntarily separating from the group for a dubious reason to head toward one of the most dangerous places known.
Glory City was a safe place for humans, but that didn't mean it was peaceful, the Hong Yue family was one of the highest-ranking noble families, with influence over several aristocratic families and one of the best and most prestigious auction houses in the entire northern region of Glory City.
But all this good fortune came with certain… complications, there were other noble families they were at odds with, families that wouldn't miss an opportunity like the loss of one of their only two black gold-ranked spiritists to seize some of their assets.
Zhou was the type of person who was loyal to the family, so he didn't want his to suffer such a fate, not to mention, he genuinely loved his father, as the fourth child and only son, he had been doted on by his father as his heir, always given the best elixirs, the best teachers, and all kinds of resources.
It was thanks to this that he reached the 4-star gold rank at the age of 32, meaning he had the potential to reach the black gold rank if he worked hard enough.
Because of all this, he was genuinely grateful to his father, so, in addition to wanting to avoid trouble for his family, he sincerely wished to save his father's life if he was in danger.
Therefore, if in exchange for the possibility of saving his father, he had to hand over the artifact he had found, he would do so gladly, after all, Ye Shuo and Huyan Xiong were his only hope of achieving this.
The minutes passed, but Hong Yue Zhou didn't move from his spot, patiently waiting for the two demonic spiritists, however, after 40 minutes, he began to grow a bit impatient, he understood that they needed to carefully consider all options, but he didn't think it would take this long to make a decision.
Because of this, Hong Yue Zhou thought of the worst-case scenario, one where he would receive a refusal to his request, so he quickly thought of a new deal he could offer, he and his team would stay here to wait for his father, but he would ask one of the black gold-ranked spiritists to return to Glory City at full speed to organize a rescue team.
In exchange, he would sell them the artifact they wanted at a reasonable price, that way, they wouldn't be in any danger, and the team could arrive, at the very least, three days earlier than it would take him to return.
But just as he finished thinking of this new deal, three figures emerged from the entrance of his tent, the two adults had serious expressions, while the youngest seemed deep in thought.
Huyan Xiong and Ye Shuo walked over to stand in front of him, while Leek stood behind them, still focused on his own thoughts.
"We've decided to accept your request." Huyan Xiong spoke.
Hong Yue Zhou's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? I-"
"But we have one condition." Ye Shuo interrupted. "Considering the distance, we'll reach the entrance of the Dark Ruins in a little over three hours, once we're there, we'll explore and search for your father for a maximum of one day, while we're gone, we'll send one of our companions back to Glory City to have a rescue team on standby, and if we don't return by this time tomorrow, we want you to send another man to inform the city lord, so help can come as soon as possible, in the meantime, you'll wait here, that's our condition"
Hong Yue Zhou, who had expected a more irrational request, nodded frantically, actually, this was more beneficial for him, after all, he didn't want anything bad to happen to two black gold-ranked spiritists.
If his father had perished, though it would hurt, he would accept it, but causing the death of two other black gold-ranked spiritists, one being the patriarch of a noble family, close to the city lord, and the other, an elder of the Ye family, would be guilt his Hong Yue family couldn't bear.
"Very well, then." Huyan Xiong nodded and pulled out an envelope from his robes before speaking loudly. "Huyan Min!" The patriarch called, and a couple of seconds later, one of the men who had come with him arrived at his side.
"Return to Glory City immediately and go to the city lord's mansion, request to speak with him, and make sure to deliver this letter only to the city lord"
"As you command!" The man bowed, cupping one of his fists, before taking the letter and storing it in his interspatial ring, then he took a few steps back and began to merge with his demonic spirit, his body seemed to slim down slightly, his muscles tensed, and black spots covered his body as lightning emanated from his feet and hands, once the fusion with his Thunder Jaguar spirit was complete, he dashed off at full speed toward Glory City.
"He's the fastest person in my group, he'll reach Glory City in a few days, have the person who will depart for Glory City tomorrow ready if we don't return, and give them this letter." Huyan Xiong pulled out another letter and handed it to Hong Yue Zhou.
"I'll keep my promise, I swear on the name of my Hong Yue family!"
"Very well, then we'll depart immediately." Ye Shuo said before turning around, and with him, Huyan Xiong and Leek began to move.
"Huh? W-wait a moment!" Hong Yue Zhou seemed quite confused. "Are you taking this young boy to the Dark Ruins?"
"He's capable of something that could make our task much easier." Was all Ye Shuo said before the three turned around again, gaining momentum and moving at full speed.
And as they ran, a small smile appeared on Leek's face.
A rescue mission in a dangerous place?
'Now this feels more like a fantasy world adventure.' He thought as he ran.
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Well, another chapter, as I said in the previous chapter, with the place where Leek and company will go being the Dark Ruins, some of you probably already know what will happen next.
In the next one we will have a fight, there has been a real one for a while, and a story that has a Saiyan as its protagonist can't go too long without one, so next time we will have our dose of action, please look forward to it!
Besides that, I also wanted to ask you for something else: I'd like to commission a drawing for this story, either a new cover or a fan art of a scene.
That's why I wanted to ask you to please join my P-treon, those who join, in addition to being able to read the 5 extra chapters there, will also be able to vote to decide which of these two options will be the drawing.
If we get 19 people with Legend rank to join, and I add a little bit of what I have saved (because the good artists I've seen on X aren't cheap), I think I'll be able to find a good artist to draw something for this story.
Remove the spaces and dash: p-atreon/ Krakenian01
Besides that, I wanted to ask you the same thing I did with my other story, if you could please leave a positive review about this story, that way it will reach more people, thank you very much!
That's all, see you in the next chapter.