Chapter 243 Meeting
Till seemed to be extremely shocked about the fact that the foreign races expressed their emotions to such a degree.
Humanity already expected something like this, but having the theory proven, felt weird.
Meanwhile, Jason wasn't sure what he expected from Till, but it was definitely not that he would be shocked about the fact that living beings had emotions.
Was that not something commonly known?
The reminiscence-ceremony was just the way foreign races expressing their emotions, even if the extent was extremely humongous.
As such, Jason couldn't help but acknowledge that the foreign races didn't seem to be as simple as humanity declared them.
Comparing his knowledge about the foreign races from a week ago, right now, Jason felt as if his knowledge was much more profound.
However, that was not everything, because Jason also became extremely interested in the foreign races.
If his knowledge was not fundamentally wrong, the foreign races were seen as a smaller problem for humanity compared to the terrifying beasts, when the mana outbreak occurred.
In the end, the foreign races forced humanity to stay on Canir and the archipelago, without whipping them out or pursuing them further.
This in addition to the facts about the foreign races' individual schemings, attacks, or abduction and manipulation of humans were most likely the only thing they did to intervene in humanity's growth.
'But why would they bother to nurture the Goblin King then?' Jason suddenly remembered.
Considering, that the Goblin King had a rare blue fire affinity mutation, it was only obvious that the black origin flame would be used to further enhance the Goblin King's mutation and affinity, but the real question was already stated in this case.
'Is there even a reason for such a drastic measure?' He genuinely began to wonder.
Thinking about every piece of information he had, Jason could only conclude a few scenarios.
The first scenario was that the foreign races divided mankind's territory amongst themselves in order to prevent any clashes with each other in order to prevent clashes with each other.
However, Jason ignored this conclusion almost immediately, thinking about the time, where the three foreign race envoys talked to each other, with the Shadow walker saying that they were already in the war.
As such, Jason thought the second scenario might be the most possible one.
The second scenario was that some big families were able to communicate with foreign races. With this, they probably struck a deal, that was most likely, about the destruction of the Drake family's island, and maybe even more than that in exchange for anything valuable.
'But, in this case, what is valuable enough for the foreign races to exchange it with the black origin flame??'
Thinking about this, Jason couldn't find an answer right off the bat, until he remembered the most likely reason for humanity to stay alive, even though they were much weaker in comparison.
To the foreign races, the soul-awakening humans undergo was probably the most valuable thing humans could offer.
'Did some big families offer humans with a high soul-awakening star rating as exchange?'
Without being sure about his assumption, Jason didn't dare to utter it, but the more he thought about it the more likely his assumption seemed to become.
'What a bulls*it!' Jason almost exclaimed, with Till seated next to him.
The two of them minded their own business and Jason didn't want to continue his train of thoughts, which led him to open a book about alchemy he downloaded some time ago.
Fortunately, his emotions calmed down without any other disturbances, while it seemed as if the foreign races remained with the three other sovereign-ranked humans.
One of them was the patriarch, while the other two were most likely just his followers, and considering that they were not the sole sovereigns in their family, clan, or whatever, Jason could estimate the rough number of sovereign ranks humanity had.
In the end, even if Shane was a sovereign rank, his soulbonds were not extraordinary good, while his growth during the last several decades was greatly hindered, almost nullified, because he was forced to stay hidden.
This meant that Shane's superior strength was less powerful, against the assumed number of 300 sovereign ranks humanity had altogether.
Maybe there were more but Jason thought that 500 sovereigns were the highest he could imagine, with a handful of them being stronger than that, either infinitely close to the next rank or barely broken through.
However, Jason couldn't know that and he just decided to not bother about uncertain facts, as long as possible.
Reading for a few hours, Till suddenly stood up, with the two foreign races ascending into the air.
Jason noticed Till and looked towards the foreign races, and after they left Cyro-City, the two of them waited for an additional half an hour, before Till picked him up in order to fly towards the patriarch.
Approaching Cyro-city's center, Jason felt extremely uncomfortable, and landing in front of a large tower, exactly in the center, didn't help him out.
Rather than that, he began to eye the large tower, with the magic device that controlled the dome installed at the top, trying to calm himself down.
Entering the building, Jason noticed a large number of government workers hurrying from one place to another, while their expressions were still saddened by the astronomical amount of emotions that invaded them.
Not wanting to experience the reminiscence ceremony from such a short distance, as the government workers, Jason was already glad that they were far away from the center at that time.
Entering the elevator, the two of them were brought to the highest floor, where Jason also perceived the three sovereigns, with Old Drake, Max, and Seron arriving.
'They're also questioned?' Jason wondered and it seemed logical to not only ask him but also the others, as he remembered that Till already told him this, which caused him to sigh in relief.
Arriving at the top, they entered a single room, with a spiral staircase leading towards the mana-dome application.
The room was surrounded by thick, mana-tempered glass and allowed one to look down, as Jason finally dared to look at the six persons in front of him.
Approaching them, a middle-aged man with dark blue hair, radiating a perilous, yet also somewhat gentle aura turned around, staring straight into his eyes.
He didn't even show any emotions, as he nonchalantly asked
"You're the boy with mana eyes?
"
The patriarch Jael Drake spoke to him, in a cold, yet demanding voice, and Jason felt uncomfortable being looked down on by him.
Gathering his courage, he continued to stare into the patriarch's eyes, saying
"Yes Sir, my name is Jason Stella.
"
Jason was intrigued about the patriarch's strength and decided to take a look at his mana core, which was hardly possible before due to the vast difference.
However, from a distance of a few meters, Jason could tell, that Jael Drake had three solidified prismarine-crystals consolidated inside his mana core, which was one more than Shane had, while his mana core was additionally enlarged by roughly 15%
The patriarch had only an ice affinity, but it seemed to be an extremely strong one, and from Till, he knew that it hailed from the Ice Dragon, that was probably a Low Monarch ranked beast, or something comparable in order to enlarge the patriarch's mana core by 15%.
More shocking was, however, that the patriarch's mana was completely transmuted and it seemed as if it was completely different from anyone else he ever saw and much more distinct and powerful at that.
Jason was extremely shocked, but he forced himself to suppress his emotion, as he thought
'Is his cultivation method different, or was this caused after contracting the Ice Dragon?'
Averting his gaze lightly, without trying to attract any suspicion he glanced at the two sovereigns behind, as he noticed that both of them had a single solidified prismarine crystal, that seemed to be extremely crude and on the brink of breaking, while their soulbonds didn't seem to amplify their mana core by much.
If Shane was in his top form, he would definitely be able to defeat the two sovereigns behind the patriarch, without much effort, which caused a faint smile to emerge on his face.
Jael Drake noticed this as he noticed Jason gazing at his subordinates, with interest gleaming in his eyes.
"Is something interesting about the two behind me?
" Saying this without any emotions, Jason couldn't help but be taken aback, as he tried to answer, without revealing what exactly he could see.
"Sir, please don't misunderstand...I was just curious about their strength because I can faintly see their mana fluctuations, while I'm unfortunately unable to see through the firm concealing behind Sir's mana
"
Sucking up to others was extremely annoying, but Jason couldn't reveal the extent of his mana eyes, which would bring him many problems.
Even revealing that he could perceive the sovereign's ranks behind the patriarch might already be too much.
However, Jael Drake seemed to be disappointed about his revelation, as he averted his attention to Old Drake.
"Didn't you say that his eyes are superior to all mana eyes you ever saw? This is disappointing...Even if he saw Max's physique, without being able to see through my perfect concealment, this is useless against the foreign races…
"