The first to step out of a portal was a massive Black Dragon at the Totem Rank. That wasn’t the leader of the Divine Beast Nation, as they had the only Mythic Rank creature on the continent, but this was likely the spokesperson for that Dragon.
{Humans. Beast Master. I thank you for your succinct communication style, it made it quite worthwhile to intercept.} The Dragon began, speaking in Serpent.
Karl noticed that he no longer needed Remi to translate, he could just understand what the Dragon was saying, even while it was speaking another language.
“While it wasn’t directly our intention to make your life easier, I will accept your good intentions. I take it that you are aware of the nature of this place?” He replied.
The Dragon nodded his head, then paused while three more Totems stepped through their portals to form a semicircle in front of Karl, facing the orb with him between them and the prize.
That was not the positioning that Karl had hoped for, but he hadn’t had time to move.
The Archbishop stood between the Dragon and a Totem Rank Naga in plate armour, while an enormous Mountain Giant stood at the far end of the group.
That would be the General, who was the other Totem Ranked leader of the Newbon Empire, Karl assumed, as well as the leader of the Mountain Giants, whose title Karl didn’t know.
The Dragon turned to the others. {Welcome to my new toy, everyone.}
The General hissed in annoyance. {Your toy? This is clearly my Relic. Not only is it in the middle of my territory, my people are here first.}
The Archbishop chuckled at the combative pair. “Your people? I believe you mean my people. There are two Clerics of the Dragon Gods here already, as well as a pair of Elites.”
That math didn’t math, and Karl began to wonder which one of them was not being counted. Was it Ophelia in Werebear form? Or was it him? The dragon had greeted him separately.
The Mountain Giant chuckled grimly. “You have a lot of brave talk for a man whose army can’t even hold its own borders.”
Karl could sense that things were about to go downhill very fast. None of these people liked each other, and he already knew the sort of damage that even a casual fight between Totems could do.
Leafa and the Emperor weren’t actually trying to kill each other, but their strikes destroyed multiple square kilometres with every blow. Of course, they likely wouldn’t resort to that here. It would risk the Relic, and that was what everyone had come for.
The Naga General was the one that decided to go for answers first, instead of bickering with his rivals.
“You, Karl. The Emperor told me about you. Is it true what it says in the message? This place can awaken classes and advanced classes?” He demanded.
The Archbishop looked like he was ready to burst with excitement, as this could be just the sort of thing that the Golden Dragon Nation needed to push the Elite Program to a new level.
Even a short period of study might bring huge gains.
Karl nodded. “It helped me. But not everyone. It shows the clerics a vision from their patron deity.”
It would be better if he didn’t throw the others under the bus.
If it was unclear what Dana and Ophelia had gained, or if they had even had the chance to make an attempt before the leaders arrived, they might escape the attention of the Totems.
The Totems seemed more concerned with defending against each other than anything that Karl was saying, and for a few seconds, it looked like they might be at a stalemate.
Then the General opened another portal, and brought through a whole group of soldiers. One of them was Colonel Lu, the wounded Royal Rank Minotaur Colonel that Karl had brought to the farm the first night.
Karl waved to him, and the old Minotaur gave him a thin smile. It didn’t take a genius to guess that everyone here under Totem Rank had a low chance of survival.
“Find out how to work that.” The General demanded.
“Focus on your devotion and loyalty to the World Dragon. Those are the instructions on the plinth.” Karl added helpfully.
The Black dragon tilted its head a little to read the inscription, then nodded.
He would let the soldiers try first, and then if it actually did something, he would take action for the Divine Beasts. If this was an active System activation point, it naturally belonged to the Dragons, the heirs to the Dragon Gods.
At least, that was his opinion.
The Giant seemed to be thinking the same thing, and he opened a portal of his own to call through a handful of soldiers, fresh from battle and still treating their wounds.
“Praise the gods and request access to the System. The inferior beings have found an access point.” He demanded.
That was odd phrasing. He made it sound like his people were not the ones who had found it. But who, other than the Giants, was going around and destabilizing anomalies in search for relics and trials?
Could it be that he simply hadn’t received the update from his own people before he sensed Prince Corbin’s message?
It was taking a while as the monsters tried to understand the method. Then Colonel Lu seemed to have a flash of inspiration, and as he closed his eyes he smiled, then vanished.
“Well, there is one success. Let’s see how his luck is.” Karl noted.
“Luck?” The General asked.
Karl shrugged. “Aren’t all things System related affected by luck? Only the lucky few could activate it, even ten thousand years ago. It was a large portion of the population, but not even close to everyone. Plus, everyone who has entered so far got a different opportunity or vision.”
The massive Naga General frowned as he considered the options. The Giants weren’t having any luck with the Relic, and everyone was pretending that they hadn’t noticed the small portal that led to the border between the Golden Dragon Nation and the Hill Giants. Nobody had come through that one, but it was close enough that Karl knew they didn’t have to. They just had to focus on the orb, and they might be able to activate it.
What Karl really wanted to know was if the Giants were going to be able to activate it, as they didn’t follow the World Dragon. This wasn’t an anomaly that just anyone could enter, and the requirement might make it difficult for them.
But if that portal to the border led to the location the students were fighting at, there might be dozens of advanced classes gained today.
Then, three more of the soldiers, two Orcs and a Troll, all vanished.
That made it nearly half of the monsters, and no Giants so far. “Are you going to get in on this game?” Karl asked the massive black Dragon, whose casually stretched wing was shading his entire group.
“Young people are always in such a hurry. There will be time, or I can make time.” The dragon replied.
“Then you should probably make sure that Misty doesn’t wander away.” Karl agreed.
The dragon chuckled, and puffed out a cloud of darkness that gave everyone present a chill down their spines.
Black Dragons breathed Death, a literal cloud of underworld energy which made life impossible within its radius. It was a sign of favour from the Goddess of Death, and at Totem Rank, even the slightest of contact would put most targets beyond the reach of even Lotus’ resurrection magic.