Chapter 93 - Favor
Finally entering the bustling main tent, we saw a great number of warriors, even some masters were there albeit in lower numbers. We sat on the chairs prepared for our party, I looked around as I felt this place was quite similar to a lecture room, though it was a bit more outdoor-ish. The sound of the discussions coming from the 100+ warriors around the tent made quite a noise, luckily the meeting should be beginning soon and we won\'t have to bear with this noise for long.
Half an hour later, the chaotic atmosphere that surrounded the tent almost vanished, as everyone sat or stood without moving around, while most of the eyes, including mine, were concentrated at a certain portrait.
My eyes shone as I saw it, after all, this was the first step in my plan!
`~~`~~`
"As you all have been informed, the entirety of our Light domain has been thrown into turmoil lately, mostly due to \'Early Eruption\' and \'Error 404\' that has been occuring lately, while \'Early Eruption\' needs no explanation, \'Error 404\' was the code we used to signify the recent accidents of cave calculating tools giving totally erroneous info."
"So, that\'s why we have set several camps like this one around the domain, to make a wave extermination to all caves with break-out dates that are less than a year from now. Several teams have already head out to start this wave, and our \'recon\' team has already brought in all of the locations of the caves within this part of the domain."
The guy wearing a white leather armor explained, as he pointed towards the big scrolled down portrait, that was portraying a map!
"52 caves have already been discovered, and 8 have been destroyed so far with the help of the teams that already set out and some of the teams that are here with us, however, the true wave shall start from today, every team will be given a map with their target caves after the meeting concludes, every team would have to initiate a raid once every two weeks at least…."
He then proceeded to explain the much further details, and even accepting questions and answering them, as for me, I didn\'t need to ask anything, so I just listened casually till the discussion concluded an hour later….
".....since no one else has further questions, I shall conclude this meeting, all the raids will start from tomorrow morning, the maps will be given to you shortly, and I wish you all good luck!"
As soon as the speaker of the association left, the place became bustling with talk once again, we only waited to get the maps, before leaving and heading out.
`~~`~~`
"So, I plan to truly act as support for the first cave we are heading for tomorrow."
We four were all gathered in our tent to discuss how shall we go with the raid, However, as soon as I spoke, all of them had faces of confusion.
The first gate we were heading for was a much easier gate than the one I entered before, merely being a lv20+ gate, so while they were all reluctant to especially Grace, they expected to be carried through the gate, while I breezed through the enemies.
I was somewhat grateful for this party for several reasons, whether the fact that they covered up for me when I cleared the gate, saving me from the following nuisance, or the fact that they gave me the library and the house, allowing me to achieve my recent gains in the last month and a half with ease. Not to mention the fact that they got in this trouble because of me, and considering that a major plan of mine was set thanks to their enemies\' intervention, I decided to pay them back with helping them this time since it was within my goals anyway.
However, I didn\'t plan to simply give them a free pass using this chance to return their favor, I wanted to give them something more precious than that, combat experience!
Their team already had somewhat high strength considering they were all 2nd stage elemental masters, but their major weaknesses was their low levels, and their lack of combat experience, similar to my earlier case when I headed to the forest.
Their map had 4 gates instead of 5 unexpectedly, it didn\'t seem that their enemies\' presence was that high, However, on second look, one could see that other than the relatively easy first raid target, all other gates had at least a lv30+ label and the fourth target was even lv40+. This wasn\'t a normal assignment for a team with an average level below 20….
So, as my plan included already, I didn\'t plan for them to even enter the later 3 following gates, as for how, I had my own ways. Thus, I planned to lead them around in the gate that is so close to their own levels, while supporting them in true death moments, giving them enough combat experience for when the time comes for its need.
"While I said, I would help, I didn\'t mean it in that way, I shall just support you and lead you from the rear, that is of course if you trust me enough. Otherwise, if you are expecting me to babysit you through the cave during the whole campaign, then I would better leave, since I already got what I came for."
"You have until we head out tomorrow to decide if you plan to trust me on this, or just do it on your own, you should prepare thoroughly and think it through till then…"
After finishing what I had to say, I sat cross-legged above my sleeping bag and closed my eyes and entered practice state trying to harvest some more elements, what happened next for the time being, mostly depended on their choice….