The cave that had been sealed with some magic opened, and everyone walked out calmly, having been healed by Maevon, rank 8 of Astrong Academy, and Kael. They had fully recovered their strength.
"So it was those three who stole and jumped in here."
Holding a paper with the thieves' appearances, Shen Keifeng, rank 9 of Shengtian, looked like someone who took martial arts very seriously if his clothing was any indication. Beside him was Yue Qianlan, rank 5, scanning the surroundings attentively, unwilling to miss a single movement. Liang looked toward Shen.
"Yes, they are all circle two and must be somewhere in the dungeon. Since there's no one on this platform, they must have passed the first trial and are taking another one."
"You're right. Besides that, I think they prefer to stay here as long as possible since they're certain they'll be caught once they leave."
It was easy for the three to guess what the thieves were thinking—it was obvious. The problem was that they had surely stopped somewhere and set a trap, and the group had to figure out where. Qianlan seemed to sense something.
"Leader, something is following us."
Liang slowly turned his head, trying to disguise it. Seeing a watery liquid moving, he prepared a spell to cast—but before he could, a spear of water shot past his head, striking where the thing was.
"Kael."
"Calm down. Alaric and I captured it."
Realizing those two had planned something, Liang looked and saw Alaric struggling to use his water magic to pin something to the ground. Approaching, he saw what looked like a small fairy squirming in Alaric's hands.
"Let me go, you bastard! If you don't, I won't choose you as my guardian!"
"What… what is this?"
"I'm a fairy, can't you see, idiot?"
"Hello, fairy."
Kael was the first to come closer, and Alaric released her. She began huffing in anger, arms crossed, saying nothing else while glaring at the two water mages who had caught her, clearly waiting for something.
"Sorry about that."
"I accept your apology, but you earned fewer points than the boy with ocean magic."
"Me?"
"Don't get close to me, or I'll be suffocated by your aquatic beauty. And just so you know, you earned three more points."
All three tilted their heads—this fairy was quite strange. They had expected her to be cuter, but her personality was already unpleasant. Alaric decided to ask what this "points" thing was and what it was for.
"Good question—one point for you. Well, the points are simple. Every water mage who appears here, when all the trials are over, I can choose as my contractor. So be grateful."
"I'm grateful, great fairy."
"You earned a point for that, red-eyed human."
Kael stepped back. To be honest, he didn't think a contract with her would work for many reasons, so he'd leave it for the other two.
"You don't seem to want the chestplate or that fairy."
Beside him, Meilin spoke, with Elaris and Arvanys also raising their eyebrows at him, since they had noticed as well. Liang, too, by the way he looked at them. With a small laugh, Kael turned to the side.
"Well, that's because I prefer to reach my goals with my own power."
"Really, your own power? How irritating. For me, it doesn't matter what I have to do—I'll use everything to become stronger."
"Lord Liang seems rather irritated. Was it something I said?"
With an amused smile, Kael got closer to him, but Liang pushed him away with a jade barrier. Kael decided to stop provoking him and moved ahead, at least until Dorian behind him asked a question.
"Who do you want revenge on?"
"My mother."
Everyone stopped. Kael seemed to be smiling, but his eyes showed no amusement at all. They all wanted to ask more, but thought it would be rude—except for Kai, who was curious and didn't care.
"Why?"
Thankfully they had an idiot around to be the target of anger if things went wrong. Kael looked down at the water, remembering something far away.
"She betrayed me. So I'd like to ask why she did it."
"So everything could turn out fine if she answers correctly?"
"I don't know. The only thing I do know is that if she answers wrong, I'll kill her…"
Everyone felt a chill—the look in his eyes was completely different, darker, his red eyes glowing for a second. Alaric decided to step forward, having seen people like him before, knowing the question he would ask always made them reflect.
"And when you complete that revenge, what will you do?"
"I'll shock the world by being the strongest."
The confident gleam in his eyes surprised Alaric. Kael hadn't hesitated a single second, meaning he had already mapped out the path he wanted to pursue. The fairy spun around him, saying he had earned points for that, though she was still more drawn to the boy with ocean magic.
'That's good… at least he won't lose himself like…'
Shaking the thought from his mind, he noticed the others looked surprised—like Elowyn—and satisfied, like Liang, who respected that statement even if he still thought Kael's actions were foolish.
"Let's keep going. We have a long way ahead."
Everyone entered the next cave, where the second trial would take place. As they entered, an earth-camouflaged cockroach watched them from the wall.
"Looks like they've reached the second trial."
"Alright, let's get ready to separate them."
"This will be easy."
"Maybe not. Judging by the power used, almost all of them are circle two."
Three shadows watched through two earthy eyes that transmitted their arrival. The three thieves were about to put their trap into action.