The figure that showed up from behind the shadows was none other than their dear friend from the far eastern world.
"Chumo!"
Seeing him after several weeks' worth of journey with only four of them made everyone very happy.
"Great to see you… What are you doing here?"
Chumo looked around and shook his head, a message for them to not make a scene in the middle of this still crowded city. Everyone nodded in agreement and walked inside to talk back in the inn's tavern.
Klea reinforced her enchantment and ordered the man to provide them with some food and to treat them like normal guests without any relation to the current event.
After so long, finally the five members of the Earth Magus team had gathered together. This was the first time all five had gathered outside the bounds of the academy.
Perhaps, thanks to that, the ice between them from the remaining conflicts have melted and their smiles were much warmer than before.
"So I heard you guys are looking for information about this ritual, right?"
Emery and the others nodded, but while Klea did nod, she kept staring at Chumo with a questioning glare…
"What is it?" Chumo raised his eyebrows at her and asked.
"Before that, I need to check if you really are our Chumo! This must be some kind of elaborate illusion!"
"Whoa, whoa, what's gotten into you? It's me, really!"
Emery stared at the two and quickly activated his spirit reading just in case Klea was right. From what he was able to pick up, there was no way for the Chumo that was standing before them to be fake, but then again Klea was their best spirit reader; if she is suspicious, that would be grounds enough to doubt the truth of his words.
"That can't be! The Chumo I know was too shy to even talk to me properly!" Klea said.
Chumo gave her an awkward smile until his narrow eyes practically disappeared and said, "Guys, come on, it's been one and a half years, I am sure you all have experienced many things, as well."
The statement was not wrong at all, all of them had pretty dramatic experiences these past few months, it wouldn't be weird if something happened that could cure Chumo weird sickness as well.
"Aw, I see... must be something to do with a girl, good for you Chumo" said Klea, teasing him with a look that once again made Chumo returned to his old self and unable to say a word.
The teasing and jokes eventually passed in favor of a serious discussion and Chumo started to explain about the ritual. The event was usually held in secret, but in the eastern world, it was a little more well known.
History had mentioned about a war that happened a few hundred years ago involving the Qin dynasties in the north, the Greeks in the west and the Mauryan empire, all fighting for the right to claim the sacred tree's Holy Fruit. In order to prevent that, the temple prepared this event every 10 years.
Surprisingly, although Chumo did receive an invitation, it did not come from his father the king, but from the Dongboyou shrine priest, the kingdom's royal sorcerer.
Chumo told them that, even though they got an invitation, the Dongboyou never really participated, as they had no chance to win at all. Hence, the invitation would always be kept by the high priestess. This time was no exception, for the royal sorcerer still wasn't interested to come.
"Well, that is until I received Klea's message that you were all heading east. I had a hunch that you would show up here. Considering we all are talking now, I guessed I was right"
Unfortunately for them, even Chumo had no idea where or how they could get extra invitations. They decided to just follow him tomorrow. There must be a way to sort this out.
Now that the serious discussion was over, they decided to have some fun by eating and drinking, while sharing their stories. Be it good or bad, they spilled them all as if they were in a yearly family gathering.
The next morning the group headed toward the temple standing on top of the hill. The temple was a huge complex surrounded by stone walls and filled with stone buildings.
These devotees of the temple would wear nothing but yellow robes, most of them shaved their head, but a few chose to tie their hair up.
Most of the monks they could see were sitting on the ground and chanting, they were mostly steeped deep in their training.
"Emery, at least half of them are cultivators like us," Klea said and Emery nodded in agreement, as he could feel it too.
Unexpectedly, Chumo interjected. "They're only rank one and two, none of them managed to even reach rank 3."
That surprised the others, including Klea, as her superb talent in spirit reading and S-rank aptitude in magic still couldn't guess it that accurately. Not even Emery with his maximum spirit force
Chumo looked at his friends, smiled and explained, "Ahh, didn't I tell you?" He pointed towards his left eye and the others saw there was white line in the middle of his jet black iris.
This was the ability he received when he broke the legendary Dongboyou bow in that cave, known as [Eye of the Raven]. This ability was also the reason why he could spot them quickly last night. Another of its abilities enabled the wielder to see the other person's stats.
"That is a great and useful skill indeed!"
The group arrived in front of a pair of huge gates made of stone and surrounded by more stone walls spreading across the place. Inside, there were at least a dozen strong looking monks. Chumo whispered that they were all rank 4 cultivators.
Amongst the crowds, Emery saw the group wearing all-black garb he saw yesterday and they walked without talking towards the gate, but only the person wearing the silver mask entered. The others took a spot in the field and sat in a lotus position, following the meditating monks all around them.
"The silver mask guy had reached rank 6, pretty strong," said Chumo.
The group then headed toward the gate and Chumo gave him his invitation and inquired about the invitation for his friends.
The monk politely bowed and said.
"My apologies, only those with an invitation are allowed to enter this place."
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Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,