At that moment, within the Southern Lookout, Old Hutch could actually be found within his office. Or, more accurately, the office he had snatched from the previous Supreme.
Though he was here, it seemed he was only so physically. By the way he put his wrinkled feet up and was snoring away with a box of pizza sliding around his chest, he most deifinitely wasn't here mentally.
BANG!
At that moment, a young lady slammed her small palm on the table, causing it to directly split in two. She couldn't have been more than 16 or 17 years old, but she didn't give Old Hutch the slightest bit of face as she startled him awake.
"Damn perverted old man. You called us here for something urgent yet you're sleeping without a care in the world?!"
To the young lady's side, there was a quiet young man who was seemingly used to all of this. He kicked at one of the falling wooden pieces of the once whole desk, just barely allowing it to catch a piece of falling pizza before it stained the expensive carpets.
Old Hutch and the young lady looked toward the young man.
"Clean freak."
They snapped as one, causing the young man to roll his eyes.
"Why did you call us here old man?" The young man asked.
"Oh… Why did I call you here? I forget…"
Old Hutch smacked his lips. Who knows what he was dreaming about for his eyes to be so misty.
"Damn old pervert…" The young woman spit out through gritted teeth.
"Ah, that's right. There's a Force Eruption on the B Sector Project Hunt Island. Go help them out."
The brows of the two youths furrowed.
"Just the two of us? Are you crazy?" The young woman snapped.
"What? Aren't you supposed to be geniuses?"
"Don't joke around, old man." The young man's frown deepened. "We're supposed to be getting ready for the SS-grade Zone. If we get injured in a beast tide, how will we go?"
"I'm sure we've got plenty of Healing Type ability users in this place." Old Hutch said lazily.
Judging by the look of the young man and woman, they wanted nothing more than to tear Old Hutch apart. But, they knew they weren't a match for this old man. Causing him to lose a small bit of face every so often was the best they could do.
"Fine, fine. Things aren't so simple as they seem. I received an intelligence report a while ago that the Brazinger Clan is involved."
"Weeks ago? And you still let those kids go?"
This time, it was the young man and Old Hutch's turn to look at the young lady weirdly. Her 18th birthday was still a couple months away. Many of those 'kids' she was talking about were older than she was.
The young lady, though, didn't seem to notice their weird gazes and kept glaring at Old Hutch.
"They needed to be tempered a bit." Old Hutch said with a yawn. "Plus, I thought it would be a while more until the Force Eruption occurred. Those Brazinger family brats probably got caught off guard as well or else they wouldn't have come either."
"Fine, fine. But that still doesn't explain why you're only sending the two of us."
"Those hidden families like to find excuses to bend the rules all the time. If I send someone better, they'll move in under the guise of 'protecting' their young brats then directly take whatever it is they want. This Force Crystal Mine is too good to give to them."
Seeing that the two were still frowning, Old Hutch got up and patted their shoulders with a grin on his face.
"You two don't have much of a choice."
The expressions of the two darkened.
"While you're out there, look out for a brat who goes by Leonel. You three should probably work together to get out of there. Off you go."
The two youths looked at each other.
That Project Hunt Island was one of the weaker ones. It could only be considered somewhat special due to the fact it had a Force Crystal Mine. But since the Slayer Legion was waiting for it to mature, they still hadn't touched it.
As for them, they obviously went to Project Hunt Islands with greater challenges. They felt no need to waste time on this island.
But, this said, they weren't blindly arrogant. If they were, why would they feel so apprehensive about going to an island with an ongoing Force Eruption? They knew exactly how dangerous such a thing would be. If they blindly went, they'd be asking for death.
Of course, this didn't mean they weren't confident. They both believed that if they were cautious, no harm would come to them. It was just that it would be impossible to save the 80 or so youths that went with just the two of them alone.
This was all to say that they were a bit baffled that Old Hutch would be talking about this 'Leonel' as though he was their equal. If he was, wouldn't he be rubbing elbows with them? Why would he be over there?
"Don't underestimate that kid, he's quite arrogant and awakened Light Elemental Force."
The two youths finally raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Light Elemental Force? That was exceptionally rare. At least, there was no one in their Slayer Legion with such an ability. From what they knew, there was only that person currently in the Capital with it…
"Either way, you'll be entering the SS-grade Zone with that brat soon. So, you might as well get used to teaming up."
This time, Old Hutch didn't play any games. If this was just a normal encounter, he might have tricked these two into hating Leonel first. But at a time like this, even he couldn't be careless. It would really be a pity if those youths all died.
But, there was something even more important to grasp from this… Old Hutch was still willing to risk these lives just so that the Brazinger Clan wouldn't have an excuse to claim the Force Crystal Mine…
**
"Young Lord, we've completely lost track of Jian and Quinn. Should we check the tunnels they were assigned?"
Simeon's brow furrowed deeply.
If they wasted time doing this, they would lose at least a few more days. But, what if they didn't and the reason the two disappeared or died was as a result of encountering the Force Eruption? In that case, wouldn't they be missing out?
Just when Simeon was about to make a decision, another group suddenly converged on them. Of course, they were also part of the Brazinger family.
"Young Lord, we have good news."
A man with red hair and eyes, similar to the rest of them, stepped forward with a happy expression.
"You found the Force Crystal Mine?" Simeon's eyes brightened, already forgetting about the disappearance of his two subordinates. Who cared if they died if the mine was found?
"We can't be certain, but we have found something good." The man quickly explained, not willing to allow Simeon to become disappointed. "We found a passage out of the hive."
Simeon frowned. He had already felt unhappy when the answer was no, now this fool was telling him about a passage out of the hive? There were hundreds of those. If it wasn't for this, how would they have so many tunnels to explore?
"No, no, no. Sorry Young Lord, I'm a fool who's terrible with words. What I mean is that this passage out of the hive leads to the valleys. We stepped out and found that the Force Concentration was many times higher there. It's possible that there's a more direct path to the mine through the valleys."
It was only after hearing this that Simeon's expression brightened once more. They had tried many ways to descend the valleys, but they all ended in failure. A few of his subordinates had even died in the attempt. If there was another path, this was perfect.
The likelihood that there was a direct path to mine through the valleys was exceptionally high, especially since it was theorized that the valleys themselves were caused by the mine to begin with!
"Excellent! Lead the way."
