Lyrian looked around, noticing everyone that had shown up, 'This is... not the ideal situation. I wanted to explore the different groups at the very least, but it seems the final few days of this exam are going to be nothing but a fiery dance of determination and battle.'
Seeing Ray's somewhat frustrated expression, Lyrian realized what he was probably thinking in his head. They clearly didn't want many to know of this since it would lessen their chance of getting the core.
'They tried to hide it as a big hunt and even tried to seem honest with that little speech. No wonder they didn't have the faction leaders show up, as that would entice too much attention.'
Leaning in near everyone in his group, Alten said, "Guys... the tundra... it makes sense."
He almost whispered amongst the commotion of the crowd behind him, as Leon, Rylan, and Lyrian leaned in as well to listen in.
Alten, noticing Leon and Lyrian looking at Rylan, first started off by saying, "He won't give away our information... trust me--" Alten was about to say, but stopped himself.
There had been many instances where he had let down his group, and this felt like another one of those times when the same might happen, 'I should... just tell Rylan to back off from the conversation for a moment,' He thought to himself.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Before he could speak, however, Lyrian interjected, "Rylan will stay and listen. He may be weak, but he has some valuable information that I want to know about the factions."
Rylan nervously laughed on hearing this, seeing the situation he was in. He could tell that there was something secret that they wanted to discuss amongst themselves, but although it was backhanded, he took the compliment from Lyrian.
"Are you sure? What if... you know."
Alten didn't want to say it out loud, but everyone knew what he was thinking -- and that was that Rylan was a spy. Alten didn't want his team to be screwed over because of his ill decisions once again.
However, Rylan looked down at the ground, kind of in a little bit of an upset tone himself. The thought of his childhood friend imagining him to be a spy was a rough one, but it wasn't totally uncalled for. They hadn't seen each other for the entire exam, so there would be some doubt there.
However, what Rylan didn't know was that Alten wasn't suspicious himself, but unsure of his own decision-making abilities at this point.
That's when Lyrian spoke again, "Listen, if this is really where the Yang creature is, then it is the end of the exam pretty much. If all hell breaks loose..." Lyrian smiled, "So be it."
Both Alten and Rylan were slightly taken aback by this.
"If Rylan over here turns out to be a spy," Lyrian placed his hand on Rylan's shoulder, making him lift up his head and look at Lyrian, "Then we will eliminate him instantly before he gets the chance to spill any information. We will keep an eye on him until then."
Leon nodded in agreement, the proposal making sense to him. Alten paused for a moment but also agreed. Rylan didn't really have a say in the matter but wasn't totally upset at the outcome. Now, he was seen as someone who was half trustworthy, which was better than a complete spy.
After this, Alten finally said what he was going to in the beginning, "Yin was the creature of darkness, and he appeared in arguably the darkest place in the entire wilder lands. Under the earth, inside of a cave. A difficult area as well."
The others followed what Alten was saying closely.
"Since actual trials were leading to Yin, as spoken about by Zoldith and now even the larger factions here in the center, we thought that there were no clues to Yang, as those who knew the Yin clues didn't know the Yang clues... but that's wrong. The clue was in the Tasnan Wilderlands all along. All you have to do is look at the creature and where they could possibly exist."
At this moment, the idea had already clicked for Lyrian, "I see... The creature of darkness resides in the depths of the caves, and the creature of light resides in the most bright biome within the Tasnan Wilderlands; the tundra."
With this, everyone had a moment of understanding and realization. They paused for a moment, thinking of what to do next now. Leaning back, they delved back into the situation at hand.
"Fine, all of you are free to do as you wish! But know this! If the golden-tiered creature isn't there in the tundra, all of you will return as enemies of the three factions!"
As Ray exclaimed this to the frivolous crowd that had only grown from before, the kid from the Dark Horses shouted back, "Using fear to divert us huh? Well, it aint gonna work. If you really believed that the golden-tiered creature wasn't there, you would leave some of your group members here, but I doubt you would do that.
With this, Ray abruptly turned around and stepped down from the stage. Those who had gathered began preparing for the tundra raid. They readied their weapons and equipped their pieces of protecting armor and the scarce few who had mounts got atop those as well.
Following the four main factions, everyone stationed themselves at the edge of the dome nearest to the tundra biome.
Getting atop their ostriches, with Rylan on Leon's ostrich, Lyrian and his crew also prepared and rode to the front of the giant crowd of nearly 150 kids, and began moving towards the front where the four factions were lined up next to each other horizontally.
Each of the groups had about 4-6 people, all separated 10 feet apart from each other. Most of the group members were standing, but each faction had at least two mounts.
One for the leader, and the other one presumably for the second hand. The Dark Horse group leader was another boy with brown eyes and brown hair, wearing a similar dark robe to the rest of his group mates.
However, what distinguished him was a large black mages hat on his head. He rode atop a large black stallion and so did his second in command.
The White Knight group leader was a bigger boy than an average 10-year-old. His build was alike to that of Kang's, taller and much more muscular. His sleeveless arms were popping out, making him look even bigger. He had a knight's helmet on his head as well, hiding his face.
He rode atop a large gray wolf, as his second in command, the black kid who accidentally saved Rylan from the bullies, rode on the same type of mount.
The Deck Group leader, Spade, rode atop a large gray rhino that had green patterns swaying through it, as the second in command, a boy who Lyrian recognized as Syanr, also rode the same. A tribal tattoo on the side of his face was enough to distinguish him.
Finally, as Lyrain and his group lined up right next to the four groups, they saw The Yaltan Wind group. As soon as they pulled up to see them, Alten's eyes widened in pure shock, and even Leon was taken aback.
Lyrian too was perplexed, as he saw something completely out of his expectations.
They, however, captured everyone's attention. No fool would dare line up next to the factions, but here they were, with one more mount than the others as well, and formidable one's at that.
The other groups also gazed at them, but at that moment, a simple smile appeared on Lyrian's face, "This is going to be... interesting."
New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on free(w)ebnovel(.)com