Affinity:Chaos

Chapter 2013 2013: Return To Red City

Grey's discussion with Hugh lasted for a few hours, and they were interrupted by Klaus. With Klaus's arrival, Grey knew it was time for them to leave. Standing up, he walked away, telling Hugh they would continue their conversation another time.

A teleportation array was soon set up by Grey, knowing there was no way any of them could continue staying here, not just him and his friends, the Commander as well as the troop had to leave as well. The incident of them wiping out the Gnomes' camp is bound to infuriate the Gnomes of course, they had nothing to fear, but since Grey and the others were leaving, there was no point in the Commander and the troops to continue staying since it would be no different from throwing their lives away. The Gnomes are bound to send multiple Ninth stage Sovereigns over, even a few Peak Sovereigns after finding out this camp has been wiped out, so if the Commander and the troop stayed back, the chances of surviving was very low. Since that was the case, it was best for them to leave together with Grey and his friends.

It took a few hours for Grey to complete the array, and once he was done, those below the Sovereign Plane were the first to be sent to Red City. It took almost thirty minutes to completely send over the over two hundred people left alive. Grey, his friends, Hugh, as well as the Commander were the last to step on the array, with a flash, they disappeared. The City was soon left empty for the first time since the war officially broke out.

As soon as they returned to Red City, Grey took Klaus to meet up with the Principal. When Klaus heard that the Principal was being accompanied by his wife, he was delighted. If not for the fact that his father has been stuck in the Trial Land, he would have already introduced the duo to each other by now.

Klaus and Alice went to meet up with their families since they were also currently situated in Red City. When Grey heard Hugh had nobody to meet, he was delighted, hurriedly taking Hugh to the Mayor's manor, and putting him in one of the free rooms in the wing he was staying. The duo continued their discussions on the wood element. Even after a few hours, Hugh did not show any signs of being tired of speaking on the wood element, which went to show just how much he obsessed over it. Grey was also not tired of listening, soaking in all the information he was getting from Hugh. Right now, there is no one other than Hugh that is able to educate him about the wood element.

He did not know if there were anyone else who were blessed with the wood element as well, however, Hugh was the only one. He spoke with Hugh until it was dark, repeatedly inspecting the wood essence each time he created the small vines. It was only after he received a message from his father did he recall that he had to report back to him.

Inside the main hall of the Mayor's manor.

"Wood element?" Lucas wore an odd expression, not sure of what he was hearing. This was the first time he heard about something like this, so he was naturally curious about it.

Grey nodded and told him all he had learned about the wood element as well as who Hugh was.

"How can he go from the Sage Plane to the Sovereign Plane in only a few months, that shouldn't be possible, right?" Lucas furrowed his brow, feeling this was not so simple.

"I questioned him about this too, but he said he had no idea how his cultivation soared in such a short time. If I'm not mistaken, it should have something to do with the wood element. It was after he gained some insights on it he entered seclusion, only to come out with such strength." Grey told his father his hypothesis. Of course, it was just a hypothesis, but thinking about Hugh's background which was quite plain, there was no other things he could think of.

"Bring him over."

Grey did as he was ordered, bringing Hugh to meet his father.

When Hugh arrived in the main hall, he was nervous, even though Grey reassured him repeatedly not to worry, he still felt worried about being called over by the man who seemed to be in charge of everything.

"Don't worry, I just want to confirm some things." Lucas smiled softly, trying to show he meant no harm.

Seeing how amiable Lucas presented himself, Hugh calmed down and hurriedly bowed to the former. Lucas did not beat around the bush, going straight to the point. He studied Hugh seriously as he answered all his questions. A few minutes later, he dismissed Hugh, leaving only Grey and himself in the hall.

"This is indeed very strange." Lucas caressed his chin as he looked at Hugh's disappearing figure, turning to Grey he asked, "Is there a chance you can also use that element?"

"Most likely, as long as I can have a good feel of the essence, I should have no problems." Grey replied, he had only been exposed to the wood element for a few hours and knew it was going to take more than just a few hours before he could familiarize himself with the wood elemental essence.

He told his father of the strangeness he felt in the world essence when he returned from the Gnome World, linking it to the sudden appearance of the wood element.

Lucas did not think Grey's conjecture was wrong, since the time between the two coincided. To be honest, given his cultivation, there are certain things he had recently noticed about the world essence that most people would not. Of course, only those in the Half God Plane could sense this as those below the Half God Plane had no way of sensing this.

Grey did not stay with his father for long, leaving to continue his conversation with Hugh as soon as he could. They were both Sovereigns, given their current cultivation, there was no need for them to worry about sleeping as they spoke all through the night and it was only in the morning when Klaus came over did they stop. Seeing Grey's appearance, Klaus knew the reason Grey was so invested in discussing the wood element, and to be honest, he did not blame him, if he were also in the same position as Grey, he would do everything he could to understand the wood element as well.

The group stayed in Red City for a week without doing anything serious, Grey and Hugh spent most of their time together, discussing the wood element while Grey repeatedly had Hugh make use of the wood element so he could feel the wood essence. Unfortunately, he could not stay in this situation forever, after another week, Grey and his friends were told to head somewhere in the Azure Continent, according to the order, they were to help a troop that has been engaged in a battle against a group of Gnomes that were trying to sneak out of the portal in that area.

Although most of the focus was placed on the main portal in the Magical Beast's Forest, the Gnomes knew the only way for them to be able to invade fully was by dividing the strength of the Humans, so these other portals were still used frequently. Just like them, the Humans were also dispatching troops to any place where Gnome activities were discovered.

This place the group were sent to was a place that was discovered some weeks ago. Lucas had even sent out troops there from the first time it was discovered, unfortunately, they underestimated the strength of the Gnomes sent there, which made things difficult for the troop. They recently received a call for help, as the troop has almost been wiped out and the Sovereigns there were doing everything they could to hold back the Gnomes while the weaker people tried to escape.

Grey and his friends arrived there in only a few hours. They were met with the corpses of thousands of people, Gnomes and Humans. The strong stench of blood almost made them throw up. Looking at the piles of bodies, they knew they were too late. It has been a few hours since they received the call for help, and even though they moved as fast as they could, they were still too late.

The sight frustrated Grey massively as he had the urge of rushing to the Gnome World and flipping it upside down, unfortunately, his strength was not enough.

They spent some time following the tracks of the Gnomes who survived, and they soon found them camping in a valley. The strongest Gnome was only a Peak Sovereign, and there was just one, the others were in the Eighth stage and below.