The existence of that race was perhaps the most obscure knowledge on the Iskaris continent. Even she barely knew anything about them.
Black Fang glanced at her dumbfounded colleagues who were slowly coming back to reality, and instinctively felt that none of them drew the same conclusion she did. It made sense, after all, she found this knowledge in an old book and she herself thought its contents to be nothing more than the ramblings of an insane man – up until today that is.
There was one last thing that wasn’t adding up. He claimed just earlier today that ‘he was holding back all this while to make his life easier’, but she doubted if those words were true. She was watching him intently during the initial round of the Trials and he didn’t strike her as a man who was trying to hold back. He was using all the stats that were available to him.
If he had moved with the same speed he had today, he could’ve finished Cedric and Selene off before Heretic swooped in and ended the event.
Why would he not finish his enemies there? To make her and the other circle members think he was in the level 10s instead of 20s? Why? Was he afraid that they would investigate him? But they didn’t make a move when it was recognized that he was 7 weeks old, which happened before the first round.
If she and the other leaders didn’t show signs of caring, why would it matter if he was hiding his level? Was a 7-week-old baby at level 1X a much more insignificant spectacle than a 7-week-old baby at level 2X?
No, of course not.
It didn’t even help him against the competition. It’s not like he used the fabrication he created of his lower level to now swiftly eliminate someone like Cedric or Selene or his harshest presumed competition like Ice, Massacre, and Whirlwind.
He didn’t even show signs of caring about anyone in the entire competition besides his battle partner, Wrath. He seemed to be much more interested in flirting with Vex and that random merchant girl than he was in eliminating the two people he was beefing with previously. If he allowed them to pass this round, it was quite possible that they would become Vesper Phenoms without him having the ability to do anything about it, after which they would be his presumed enemies with an equal rank.
So no, Black Fang didn’t accept his words. After all, if she was using her earlier hypothesis of him being a primordial, it made so much more sense that he simply leveled up numerous times since she last saw him.
He must’ve felt inclined to lie about his vastly increased level because it made no sense for a human to level up so much even if he spent every waking minute hunting greenskins in the forests.
Her colleagues might’ve considered Black Fang to be insane, which they weren’t exactly wrong in doing so, but she was also a very intelligent person who didn’t just spend her time soaking in a poison skincare bath all day every day – well, she was, but she was also reading books while doing so. It was quite likely that she’d read more books than any other human alive today, and she was less than half the age of some of the elders.
She loved soaking in knowledge. Black Fang was struggling with leveling up because of the so-called ‘Heavenly Restrictions’, and she’d long since mastered her class and spells, so she was making herself stronger by preserving her youth and acquiring as much relevant knowledge as she could.
“Dear Goddess…” The army head whispered with utter disbelief.
“Your acute senses are incredible, old friend. You have all my admiration.” The slaver decreed while eyeing Black Fang. “I’ll have the 10,000 gold coins delivered to your HQ by the end of the week.”
“It’s not over yet…!” The intelligence head spat. “Massacre, live up to your name you big dumb oaf! Go and slay! Devil is banned from using magic, you can still catch up!”
The logistics head who was ridiculed for being poor was snickering for the first time in a century. What a blessed day this turned out to be. “Desperation is not cool with the fairer gender. Accept your loss with dignity. The scoreboard paints Devil and Wrath as if they were grown adults contending against newborn babies.”
“Yeah, both Ice and Selene couldn’t go all out.” The army head spoke with a defeated sigh. “Selene because she was paired with a weak melee combatant so she was on the defensive a lot, and Ice because she was a lot more reserved. She showed no signs of thinking of this event as an opportunity to level up – which Devil and Wrath very clearly did. The fact that her partner is Ambition, a pure tanker, didn’t help either because Wrath is much better at killing monsters. Both Devil and Ice didn’t need bodyguarding, so Ice drew the short end of the stick with getting a tanker. If she got Whirlwind instead and had the right mentality, things might’ve been more competitive… Speaking of Whirlwind, he seems to be around equal to Wrath in his ability to slay monsters at a quick pace, but instead of getting an Elemental Sovereign who wields a fucking badass pitch-black saber in place of a wimpy wand, he was ‘blessed’ with a partner who had the Archer class… so, yeah.”
Although the army head was bitter like hell, he knew how to lose with dignity.
Furthermore, he had a very good income because the Vraven Kingdom was at war with both of their neighbors. The Greenvale duke often found himself in trouble regarding his sworn duty of protecting the borders and thus gave him lots of cash to help against the beastkin invasions with the large army he controlled.
Since the Consortium was led by democracy, he had to share some of his income, but he kept most of it which was also why the drug and slavery heads were the richest and most coveted seats in general. They raked in more cash than others. The only exception was the mediator. He had the right to collect 10% income tax from all six departments, and unlike them, he had no departments that needed financing, thus he could use all those coins for his personal wishes.
The seat of the mediator was thus the clear-cut best one. He had the strongest voice at the table and he was the only person with the right to decree a state of emergency, at which point the leadership of their armed forces would be transferred from the army head to him, with the former becoming his second-in-command. Find your next read on empire
Obtaining this seat could only be done by first getting appointed as an Obsidian Circle Member and then once every century you could demand a duel from him. The fight had to be overseen by the other circle members who were under unbreakable oaths to remain impartial and not interfere no matter who won. The winner would be the mediator.
“Are we sure Black Fang is the best candidate to polish this outstanding but clearly rough gem? I volunteer for the job and am willing to pay her an additional 10,000 gold so that no bad blood gets between the two of us.” The finance head decreed.
The temperature in the room instantly plummeted to ice cold as soon as these disgusting words reached Black Fang’s ears.
