The Xerah Manager of the Intelligence Guild was sipping tea while browsing through the latest reports.
[The traces of Princess Maria, Princess Bella and Prince Sohan were visible until the great chasm where they disappeared. They were chased down by an excess number of elves…]
[We sensed the aura of the adventure group <Light Slayers>. The Skeleton Undead, the Hound as well as the Elf. These are their corresponding files…]
[<Light Slayers> and Princess Maria had a clash when they were on the 29th floor. Princess Maria was chased down by the Skeleton Undead and managed to escape.
We do not know what started off the conflict but the fight on the World Tree seemed to be the continuation of the conflict.]
[We sensed traces of auras that didn't belong to the elves. But they're too scattered and broken to make anything of them.]
[<Light Slayers> Leader Captain Light recently had a sworn brother join their group.
In a famous pub on the 36th floor a year and three months ago, after heavy drinking was looted by a gang of six thieves. A few days later, the thieves disappeared. Their corpses were never found.
But according to the reports of a cementry on another planet given six months later, six people were buried alive, tortured to disastrous degrees and turned into something between a living and dead.]
[Captain Light's team <Light Slayers> lost all its original members except the captain over the course of three years. All the current members were recruited later on.
Notably, Captain Light hasn't contacted any of his friends or performed missions together. He rarely comes to safe zone to advice the newbies and advertise his team like he used to.
His former peers are of the opinion that his teammates' death changed him.]
"Hm…I see, it'd have been hard to connect the dots if not for them attacking the Princesses and the Prince. Captain Light would've been just another depressed adventurer with personality problems." The Xehar Manager grumbled and deleted the files.
"Then what exactly is the identity of that man…"
Black hair. Black eyes. And that confident smile that really got on his nerves.
The manager knew that Varian enraged him on purpose. He wanted to get into that Colosseum prison. Everything went according to his wishes.
Varian could've simply kept silent about it. Even if he did get suspected by the Xehars later because of his connection to Princess Maria, he could simply go to the 31st floor and hide.
'That man is planning something…'
Even though he was enraged, the manager noticed the obvious.
But so what?
The manager would bet his soul on the Colosseum and the safe zone's rules. Whatever that man could try, he wouldn't be able to break out of the prison. Even the oldest record never mentioned a prison break.
There was no history of it and there'd be no precedent.
So, the manager had his own plan. He'd put him in the prison he so desired, let him experience the 'happiness' of being a champion in that cruel place, and dig up everything about everyone involved in the case.
Then, he'd offer the young man a condition.
'Tell me everything I need to know or you'd be spending your life in prison, unable to die and unable to live.'
Over his relatively long period of life, the manager learned that death wasn't as terrifying as a life of unending suffering.
The safe zone's prison, which stopped death of any kind, was the most terrifying thing for any criminal.
He expected the man to confess everything and help him solve the issue at hand. Since the reports are also gathered, it's about time.
[There's no information about the man except the name he used, Baldur. He appeared out of nowhere, entered the tower, and teamed up with Princess Maria. We do not know who he is, or what he wants.]
"It doesn't matter. He's going to confess everything."
The manager called his attendant and asked him to initiate a video call with the man.
A holograph popped up and the manager saw Varian's gloomy face.
"Oh? What happened? Are you already scarred by the prison?"
Varian pursed his lips and briefly glanced at the ratman. Instead of anger and despair, there was a hint of gratitude in his eyes.
'W-What the hell is wrong with him?'
"I will not hold a grudge against you." The hologram suddenly distorted and a black light expanded, devouring everything in the prison room.
And then—
"Hey!"
The prison room had a hole. The man was gone!
"You're kidding me. This is an illusion, alright!"
The manager rushed to the prison and by the time he reached it, it was already crowded by Xehars holding important posts.
Every one of them was gathered in the same prison room, gawking at the hole in the prison cell, frozen like puppets and utterly speechless.
"W-What did I do?" The manager's legs wobbled and he collapsed onto the floor.
— — — — —
31st floor:
Varian sprinted on the dinosaur planet and found a volcano similar to the one they entered before.
'High rank 6 beast.'
This time, he didn't bother sneaking in.
[Fusing Powers. Adept Rank 4 —> Adept Rank 6 (Low).]
Varian raised his demon sword and as if it caught fire, the sword blazed with a red aura that flared for a hundred miles.
With a slash of the sword, the volcano was sliced off and Varian teleported away with it. The heavenly beast rose a moment later, but the culprit was already gone.
Seed acquired.
32nd floor:
Varian's space power soared to rank 6 and the tribats near the edge of the black hole were teleported to him.
The space crushed their bones into fine powder.
Soil acquired.
33rd floor:
Evernight. The land of an unending forest in an infinite darkness.
Varian raised his Binder power instead of fighting physically.
Every tree in the forest had a guardian beast and he needed to steal from the pool of water near the Chief Tree, hoodwinking the Chief Guardian Beast.
His soul power, aided by the Aether pendant, easily manipulated a few beasts and set them on a rampage.
They led away the Chief Beast and led to a successful mission.
Water acquired.
34th floor:
Nova Stars—a hundred and ten star systems ravaged by exploding stars, planets, and comets was an apocalypse brought to life.
The Utopia Varian lamented on was on this floor.
Instead of waiting for a planet to explode or exploding a planet, Varian used the power of slivers and pushed a piece of the planet's core under a volcano on an uninhabited island.
Then, the volcano erupted thanks to his matter and energy manipulation, delivering him the final piece in the puzzle.
Fertilizer acquired.
With all the ingredients in place, the seed grew into a tree and broke through the space, paving the way into the familiar World Tree.
Varian put on the mask of the tower, achieving near-absolute stealth, and teleported down the World Tree while sprinting between the teleportation intervals.
The elves felt the space fluctuations sometimes and tried to find the man but since Varian maintained his full speed from the start and never slowed down, he was never identified.
The guardian elves could only tell their brethren to be wary of a creature that was fast-moving on the World Tree. But no one panicked.
No matter how fast, you'd have to slow down at some point! The World Tree was just too vast for even a peak rank 6 to cover in one sprint.
What they didn't know was that when Varian had to break the tower's rules and drill a hole in the indestructible prison, he had to push the limits of his sliver powers. As a result, he was now able to use their powers way better.
A white lining covered his body like a full suit, hiding his aura when he rested. Because the order power was superposed with the tower mask's stealth, unless the elves deliberately checked, no one would know he was here.
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