"I came late!" Jack huffed as he arrived at the west. Due to his injury, getting here had been extremely difficult, but he pushed through regardless.
However, he was met with an empty spot. At first, he was confused, thinking the Elemental Beast had already been dealt with. After checking around and asking others, he discovered that wasn't the case.
A sigh of relief escaped Jack's lips. As he stood there, his communication crystal buzzed, and he answered.
[You have a week to get the crystal, boy.] The voice skipped any formalities and went straight to the point. [If not, consider yourself disowned!]
The communication line cut off, leaving Jack with a frown on his face.
'Not like I want to be part of your messed-up family. The only reason I'm doing this is for Mother, not you, bastard!' He sneered and crushed the expensive communication crystal.
'About that offer?' he asked the voice in his head. 'You said you have a way to get to the Elemental Beast, right? How?'
[Hehehehe, I thought you'd never ask.]
'Well, things change. I need to get the crystal before seven days...so what is it that I have to do?'
[It's very simple,] the voice laughed devilishly. [All you have to do is...]
The Maverick Guild arrived at their temporary base, and Nox quickly excused himself from the others, heading to the control room.
Closing the creaking door, he pulled out the blue orb and narrowed his eyes.
There was still a trace of blue energy, and the youth strongly suspected this orb was the cause of the signal.
But who had left it? According to the others, the last signal had also been a blue beam, meaning the person who fired the signal was most likely the same.
'Because the others seem so engrossed with hunting the Elemental Beast, they probably didn't notice,' Nox thought and suddenly had an idea. 'Fluffington can differentiate smells, right? I mean, he did it once...in that Demon Dimension, right?'
Recalling how Fluffington had differentiated the water from blood at the entrance of the ruin, Nox summoned the cat.
"Who do you think it belongs to?" he asked Fluffington as he placed the orb close to the cat's nose. The cat sniffed it a couple of times and shook his head.
[It seems whoever left this behind purposely hid their scent to make it difficult for anyone to track it.] Fluffington reported his findings as he licked his paws and lazily lay on his stomach.
"Why do I have this strange feeling that someone is purposely messing with us?" Nox muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on the orb. 'Maybe it's someone else who is after the Elemental Beast. They could just be misleading everyone while they buy time to hunt the beast so that the others won't be able to join the fight.'
Nox's eyes narrowed, and the more he thought about it, the more the theory in his head made sense.
'They've even gone the extra mile to make sure...no one tracks the beast to them... Should I inform the others about this?'
Nox was conflicted about what to do. He would have liked to keep this information to himself and watch the others sweat trying to follow the signal while he figured out this mastermind, but he needed guidance, a lead, and resources.
The only people who could provide him with this were the Maverick Guild, as they were much more knowledgeable about this city and the people who were after the Elemental Beast.
'If there is anyone who could find more info about this mastermind, it should be them,' Nox thought, getting up and dusting off his pants. 'I guess I'll tell them to keep this a secret...huh?'
Suddenly, Nox felt something strange in his Taming Space. Even Fluffington beside him stood up as if he could sense that something was wrong.
This was the first time his Taming Space had reacted , and the youth was alerted. He quickly sat and took a meditative state. He was attempting to send his subconscious into the Taming Space. According to the book his father left behind, this was actually possible, and all he had to do was concentrate on entering the Taming Space.
As he did that, he could sense his soul departing from his body gradually. The feeling was very strange, as if his soul was trying to escape the mortal realm.
"Is he sleeping?" Brenda and Hex came into the control room, finding the cute boy in a lotus position.
"Are you dumb? Who sleeps like that? He's clearly meditating," Hex sneered.
"What should we do then?" Brenda asked with a lost expression. "The Guild Master has called for a meeting, and I don't want to disturb him...he looks so peaceful and cute."
"Alright, let's wait for him a bit. If he takes more than 10 minutes, we'll wake him up."
Nox found himself within thick fog. He felt solid ground beneath him but couldn't see more than two meters ahead, as everywhere was filled with this strange fog. How did his beasts live in such an area...was this the reason they always preferred the real world?
Even though the Taming Space was nourishing and had its benefits, even Nox wouldn't like a place .
Just then, he noticed loud, laborious breaths.
He frowned and walked deeper into the fog...what was going on here?
Those breaths sounded very familiar.
As he walked deeper, Nox spotted a lone tree whose branches stretched into the sky. The place where the tree stood was less foggy. It was the ideal place for anyone to stay in this foggy world.
As he got closer, Nox saw it was a large Silver Oak with a thick trunk and twisted branches. The tree seemed to glow slightly, and the air around it felt calm and peaceful.
Under this tree, Nox saw a familiar white and black creature doing a series of push-ups with a giant blue rock on his back. His arms were trembling, but his gaze was fierce as he let out deep, laborious breaths.
'I knew those breaths sounded familiar,' Nox thought, looking at the panda with a loving gaze. 'He's hardworking as usual.'
Just then, Nox's gaze drifted to the blue rock on Thirteen's back. He was at first confused, but when he looked closely at the rock, he recognized it...not only that, there was something new as well.
The egg was now showing signs of cracking.
Nox's eyes widened as he stared at the egg with a panicked expression. "Shit, that thing is very delicate! Why is Thirteen playing with something so casually?"
[Umu?] At that moment, Thirteen sensed someone's presence and looked beside him, finding his master/father staring at him with a panicked expression.
The panda was startled, thinking something was wrong, and jumped up, causing the egg to fly into the air.
"Damn it!" Nox cried out when he saw this sight.