Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 394: New Information

Aris and Rakati, far in the distance, made a sharp turnaround the moment they heard Thalion’s command. To be fair, Rakati took a bit longer—he grabbed one of the Aviari mid-flight for a little snack on the way back.The fact that they even to Thalion was already a huge win. Now he only needed to determine how much control he actually had over the two of them.

First, he needed information.

A lot of overdue information.

Like, when exactly did E-grade end and D-grade begin?

What awaited in the next stages?

How many were left?

And hopefully this one was already close to ending.

The sooner this treasure hunt concluded, the better. Everyone else on the leaderboard was gaining levels while Thalion invested all his experience into a better evolution. He only hoped the investment would pay off—and that he could eventually break the system’s hold over his soul, so he wouldn’t get sucked in later as a god.

Well… that was a very distant problem.

Right now, every day was a fight for survival.

If he failed this treasure hunt he’d be in massive trouble—not only behind in levels, but stuck with a class that might not compensate for lost time.

He to place high enough to reach a divine class at the very least. Aris and Rakati would help him—or their journey would simply end here.

The planks creaked as Rakati and Aris landed before him, glowing red eyes fixed on Thalion. He had to admit—those eyes suited them.

Red glowing eyes look awesome on everyone, he concluded while studying them more closely.

Rakati had definitely gained muscle—he looked bigger and broader than before. His scales had darkened slightly, and the crimson lines running across them glowed brighter than ever.

Aris had also gained some muscle, but nowhere near as noticeably as Rakati. The biggest change was the mist. The red haze pouring from his feathers and mouth was far more intense now. Their auras were also significantly stronger than before. Maybe they were burning through large amounts of blood for power, or maybe their bodies had simply changed to something inherently stronger.

Another detail puzzled Thalion: Rakati stood right next to Aris with no hostility at all. If Thalion remembered correctly, Rakati had been very eager to kill Aris when he first arrived.

Seeing them standing calmly side by side raised a whole list of questions—and Thalion didn’t hesitate.

“Do you two remember who you were?” he asked curiously. He had plenty of theories:

It seemed impossible they retained their memories—otherwise they would be furious with him.

Why would two elites willingly follow an F-grade?

His best theory was that the curse had erased everything except muscle memory.

“I remember everything,” Rakati said in his deep voice. “It just doesn’t matter anymore. Does it?”

That answer caught Thalion completely off guard.

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Aris nodded as well, which didn’t help his confusion in the slightest.

He had planned to keep this conversation short—runaways from the army might alert the higher cities, which meant a stronger force would probably arrive soon.

“Huh… then why are you so nonchalant about following my orders? Don’t you feel anything about killing your own kin?” Thalion asked, still surprised by their response.

“I know everything that happened, but it doesn’t matter anymore,” Aris answered calmly. “This curse gave us incredible power, but we need blood to stay alive, or we die. My memories are dull anyway. I have no emotional connection to them… so no hurt feelings. I can also sense the power of your blood, and the origin of the plant and curse flowing through you. Following you is natural. And I doubt you have any emotional issues killing other humans.”

Aris went into far more detail than Thalion expected.

Only now did Thalion notice something else:

even though they weren’t staring at him with wide, worshipful eyes like he was their messia.

But they still looked at him with a great deal of respect and awe. Thalion let his gaze drift to Rakati, who clearly shared the same thoughts as Aris. One thing, however, still confused him:

Thalion kept that thought to himself. His title would have warned him if they secretly intended to attack him. Their behavior had to be rooted deep inside the curse—especially since Rakati and Aris also weren’t trying to kill each other.

Thalion wondered.

Zombies never fought among themselves either.

Then again, that information came from movies, and he had no clue if Nathaniel could even create zombies. His curse had been far too destructive for anything so “stable.”

Either way, time was not on his side.

“Good. Then to our next objective,” Thalion said, his voice taking on a predatory sharpness, a bit of killing intent leaking through. “I want everything of value your people have—and, more importantly, every single antidote. After that, you will tell me everything about the next stages of this treasure hunt.”

Just because the people here had a way out didn’t mean Thalion wouldn’t slaughter them. They were hunters—predators who chose to prey on trialtakers below. It was simply unlucky for them that they had crossed Thalion’s path.

Aris seemed unusually talkative and answered again.

“I don’t carry an antidote. I already killed twenty-three trialtakers in this stage, so I am safe. The antidotes are stored in our warehouses and handed out at the end of the stage to those who failed to find their own. I don’t know the exact number, but in the warehouse of the small city above us, there might be up to a hundred antidotes. There are many more in the bigger cities higher up. But we cannot attack them. There are too many strong fighters.

“Even now, while most are out hunting, we would stand no chance. I also don’t know what items will be valuable to you, but every settlement has a small temple dedicated to Ratgul, where we offer our greatest treasures to please the god. You may find something there. As for the stages—there are many variants, just like this one. I only know one version. The next stage will be a single massive jungle, with trees that grow hundreds of kilometers into the sky.

“Every stage contains a secret treasure worth a massive amount of leaderboard points. In this stage it is a special seed from one of those giant trees. It can grow only once and is located in a specially guarded flower at the highest point, where it gets maximum sunlight.”

Thalion almost stormed the city right then and there.

That meant over one hundred thousand points just from returning them.

The treasures they offered to Ratgul were insignificant compared to that.

And if the next stage really was a vertical jungle, then the plan was simple: go straight up. Claim the secret treasure. Earn the massive leaderboard bonus.

If these information dumps continued, he might be able to win this event simply by being smart—without ever fighting another Chosen, which by now was likely impossible anyway due to the growing level gap. Kaelir had already defeated him easily, and the difference in power would only widen as the others continued leveling.

For now, it was time to collect.

“Good. That makes things easier. Let’s pay this city a visit. I want those antidotes—and the treasures from that god’s temple.” Thalion said, his killing intent intensifying around him.

Aris and Rakati nodded and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to take flight. But Thalion wasn’t going anywhere with his real body. The skyship was close enough for the Crimson Eidolon to reach it easily, and staying here was far safer. It would also give him more time to train with the Eidolon and refine his movement skills—skills that were still imperfect and could become a real problem now that everyone else’s strength matched the power of his bloodline-enhanced abilities.

Aris and Rakati gave him a strange look when he simply sat down. Vines sprouted from his body, enveloping him in a cocoon as the Crimson Eidolon emerged from his chest—red burning eyes hungry for more blood.

The voice coming from the Eidolon was identical to Thalion’s, and lacked none of his power.

“FOLLOW ME!”