Nova slowly reached out and Ning guided her hand to touch the gem that was floating in the air.

The moment she touched it, the gem flashed a bright light and suddenly embedded itself into her crown.

Once that was done, Ning turned to Derel and gave her the gesture to return. Then, he opened a portal and took Nova back to her usual hiding place.

Once they were there, he got rid of her blindfold and sat her down. “What did you do?” she asked with a look of confusion.

”See,” Ning said as he created a mirror for her. When Nova looked at it, she saw the gem on her forehead. 𝑜𝓋𝗅𝐞xt.𝗇𝓔t

”What? Is that what you made me grab?” she asked.

”Yes,” Ning said.

”Then what was with the mystery? I would have grabbed it without earplugs or blindfold too,” she said. “I know how important this is to us.”

”Yes,” Ning said. “And it’s important to all the other people too.”

Nova paused. “There were other people?” she asked.

”No, not this time. But I had to be sure,” Ning said. He quickly checked Group 4’s screen and saw that the dead people were just out of bounds of the screen.

”By the way, what were you doing there?” Ning asked her.

”I was…” Nova tried to think. “I don’t know. I think I was asleep.”

”Or maybe someone drugged you,” Ning said. “Is that even possible?”

”It is,” Nova said. “If the person didn’t have much thought behind what they did, then they wouldn’t hurt themselves.”

”So whoever took you never intended to hurt you,” Ning said.

”Or he simply never saw me as a threat,” Nova said.

”I see. They might have some other reasons to take you then. Maybe making you hostage was part of their plan,” Ning said. “Or maybe the person wasn’t even here and sent a puppet of theirs to get you there.”

”Either way, you are safe now and it doesn’t matter,” Ning said. “Since you have the gem, you won’t have to keep looking for my signal either. Go to sleep or waste your time however you can. You can also now see the screens and see how the fight is going.”

”I can see what?” Nova asked.

”The screens. Just think about it,” Ning explained to Nova how to look at the screens.

Ning quickly told her everything that had been going on in the match so far.

”Group 4, 5, 7, and 8 are already done. Of the remaining, perhaps Group 2 and our group is the only remaining groups with all 5 people.”

”Group 1 and 2 had 2 crowns already, and our group has 3 crowns. Group 3, 6, and 9 are still with their original 1 crown.”

”Now, we will need to—”

Ning stopped speaking when he noticed something on the screen. Another monster had popped up.

This time, it was a giant crab with a seemingly ocean-blue shell and pincers the size of a car.

Drake and Issi started fighting it immediately, but they seemed to be struggling.

Group 2’s Lion was already getting close to beating it, while in Group 5’s location, Derel was also getting close.

”I will need to go,” Ning said and opened a portal to go through it.

The moment he appeared, he saw Issi send out his water slash but nothing was happening. Meanwhile, the crab’s shell was so thick that Drake’s fingers weren’t able to pierce through it.

”Step back, I will handle it,” Ning said and arrived in front of the two with his spear. Ning started slashing and smashing at the crab before realizing that its shell was indeed very tough.

’I need to put in more strength,’ he thought and immediately used his Aether to strengthen his body. At the same time as he was doing it, the Crab’s pincer arrived next to him.

Ning felt a moment of fear and tried to teleport away, but he only belatedly remembered that he didn’t have access to the skill right now.

So, the crab ended up catching him without a problem. Without pause, the crab tried to crush Ning between its pincers and Ning could feel a mountain-like pressure on his body.

However, no matter how strong the crab was, Ning was still an Aether Divinity. With a single push, he split apart the pincers and jumped toward the crab to swing at it.

He slammed the spear on the crab’s shell with every little power he had and the shell crumbled beneath his attack like a thick stone through a glass pane.

Then, Ning landed on the area of the broken shell and drove his spear through the broken shell. The spear entered the beast and cut apart the inside.

It took about 3 more hits before the beast disappeared and he earned 14 points.

Despite taking so long, he earned so many points. Ning was honestly quite surprised. He looked at the screen and other than Group 2, Derel, and Group 9, everyone else was still fighting.

Taking the time, Ning sat down beneath the tower and brought out a glass full of Aether, and began drinking it.

He had ended up using a bit too much energy, and if he wanted to keep fighting at the same strength, he needed to have his sea of Aether full.

Without talking, Ning cultivated and waited for the next monster to show up.

Slowly but surely, the monster was killed by every group. But the ones where only a single person was fighting, they couldn’t beat it and were forced to return back to their own group.

Now, 3 of the 4 empty groups were without anyone to keep the monster in tab, and if Ning knew any better, he knew that it would continue to be that way.

Especially, if they decided to up the monster’s level again.