Chapter 155: Gifts Gathered
Priam stopped his faction’s advance, then turned to look at Dandara right behind him.
She had already stopped roaring nonstop, since everyone in the army had already understood what to do. Besides, they had already realized that following her orders properly was like climbing a mountain toward eternal victory. None of them had died, and the battle formation was absolutely solid and perfect.
"Why isn’t she this cool all the time? What a waste..." Flaris said lightly, staring at Dandara’s imposing figure.
Shione and Lumiere nodded. At that moment, they turned to Priam.
The three of them had already promised they wouldn’t be surprised by anything from him anymore. But this time... they failed completely.
This Dandara was absolute chaos, making them initially think that Priam had a thing for half-beast women. But now, it was clear that he knew what he was doing.
At that moment, the other four factions moved a little away from them.
Priam snorted, moving the army to the side, toward the wave of water-element power.
After arriving there and moving a little, he stopped.
[Divine Concealment]
[Use?] [Yes / No]
He quickly accepted. Right after that, he moved some materials from his spatial ring.
[Synthesize?]
[Yes / No]
Now, using Divine Concealment, he didn’t need to worry about the others around him. Everything happened completely hidden from the senses, even from the Elders who were far away.
If the Elders had been close, Priam wouldn’t have risked it. But now, he felt it was fine.
In seconds, Priam nodded.
A small blue rune appeared in front of him.
[Power Rune: Sacred Water Source]
[Creates a small amount of the water element in its purest and most sacred form. Perfect for purification, among countless other uses.]
Priam didn’t waste any time, moving all the rune’s power forward.
The barrier he was using to control the wave of power opened, and the rune advanced.
The glow of this rune became intense, growing stronger and stronger.
Then...
Several small blue points hurriedly appeared, approaching the rune.
They had all kinds of sizes. Some looked like blue flames in the middle of the wave of elemental power, others like small shining stars.
Priam smiled faintly, then turned around, meeting Shione’s gaze.
"They’re water elemental spirits," he said, pointing at the power rune. "The one in the center is definitely the strongest, since it’s dominating the power I created. This is your chance."
Shione’s eyes shone, then she ran forward, excited.
Priam dominated the element ahead, opening space for her to approach.
Ever since this test began, Priam had noticed that, together with the waves of elemental power, there were also small spiritual life forms mixed in. They moved freely inside the elements, like fish in a lake.
This was perfect, because the three Vanculari behind him were already ready to create their first contract. They had mastered the basics of the race’s Ancestral Art.
Not only was it perfect, but the level of these elementals was also extremely high. Very different from those naturally found in the forests of the Divine Plane. It was great luck to find them here.
As for the power rune he created, it was something he had gained knowledge of before. Its description was very direct, and he had the formula and materials to create other similar ones for the five elements. That was incredible for attracting the elementals that existed in this place.
After a few seconds of absolute concentration, Shione extended her hand, activating her ice core to the maximum. An intense bluish light appeared in her hand.
Everyone behind her watched closely and anxiously.
They didn’t have all the time in the world. She couldn’t take more than a few minutes, or she would harm the entire test. But fortunately, Shione hadn’t been brought by Priam for nothing; she was truly talented.
Quickly, the most powerful water elemental moved toward her hand.
She opened a radiant smile, moving both hands and bringing that Elemental Spirit close to her chest.
Within seconds, it disappeared inside her.
"Good work," Priam murmured, and Shione turned around radiantly, meeting his gaze.
She ran back, positioning herself in her place again.
Without any delay, Priam moved again with his group.
This time, to the far opposite side, where the wave of the fire element was.
Both Lumiere and Flaris controlled the same element. In Flaris’s case, she used a peculiar mutation of fire, completely focused on Yin.
Priam stopped in place, creating two other power runes.
One of them was almost identical to the previous one, made to attract fire elementals. The other was the same type of power rune, but Priam mixed the basic energies with an extremely high-level Yin herb, which he had stolen... which he had received as a gift from a very friendly race of Primordial Chaos Beasts.
This made that power rune emit a strange fire aura, together with Yin.
Priam imagined that, among the fire Elementals, who were living beings, there should be some with distinct personalities. So, if Flaris had a little luck, one of them with greater compatibility with her Yin Fire would appear.
He nodded, and the two power runes advanced.
Then, Flaris and Lumiere stepped forward, both very excited.
Without any surprise, the best fire elementals went to the power rune where Lumiere was. Just like his younger sister, he only needed to win over the strongest elemental.
As for Flaris...
Almost no elemental moved toward hers. Only the weakest ones, who couldn’t compete with the others to get close to the other rune, went to that one. But even those, after feeling the Yin it emitted, retreated, as if they hated it.
Flaris took a deep breath and waited...
Silent seconds passed.
Until her eyes changed.
She felt it... very far away, a small and fragile shining point approaching, very slowly.
Priam observed that, sighing. It was very, very weak. Maybe a hundred times weaker than the one Lumiere was trying to form a contract with. But no matter its strength, this fire elemental was the right partner for his cousin.
When that weak elemental arrived, almost immediately, Flaris managed to attract it and form her contract.
Lumiere took a little longer than Shione, but he was also very fast.
"It’s done, Cousin! Thanks for the help," Flaris said, delighted.
Priam merely smiled back.
Everything lasted a mere ten minutes. But...
When they turned forward, they saw that the four factions were reaching the final third of the path. As for them, they were still only a little past the middle of the place.
"Gifts gathered, now let’s defeat these idiots," Priam said calmly, taking quick steps forward.
"You heard him! Boss will only accept victory!" Dandara roared.
"GO!!"
All 1,200 soldiers roared excitedly, seeing Priam’s back move.