Chapter 392 Wildlands  

Lady Elmara tested the barrier with her own ways and failed to gain any information, so she spent the following few minutes asking questions to Aqua, as just like Alex, she also believed that the young girl was an old monster.

Aqua took the law oath to only tell the truth to them, which Lady Elmara confirmed was active, removing the possibility of her tricking them, and if she was still able to trick an individual who stood at the pinnacle of strength, then they could do nothing about it.

Aqua told them that she couldn't remember anything beyond a year ago besides having a singular goal to return home, and when asked about her home, she refrained from answering even at the promise of mythical quality magical treasure, which seemed to be her only desire.

So besides her history of one year, Aqua knew nothing, nor could she control her ability to be protected, besides just knowing that it would activate automatically when she was even in the slightest of danger.

Lady Elmara could only gain little information on Aqua even after she used a plethora of means besides attacking, as she discovered that the young girl held strength similar to a peak third Rank individual with all stats reaching their limits.

The strength of Aqua was a bit underwhelming because, with her diet consisting of only magical treasure, it wouldn't be a surprise if she was far into the Rank of Elementalist.

The strength of Aqua was a bit underwhelming because, with her diet consisting of only magical treasure, it wouldn't be a surprise if she was far into the Rank of Elementalist.

Lady Elmara concluded that the potent energy Aqua acquired from the magical treasures was likely responsible for keeping it active, while she became almost assured that the barrier was of Trasendent grade and could block the devourer curse.

But she also shared that replicating the barrier, which she believed was an innate ability of Aqua with little to no information and with her having no control over it, the task would be monumental, but she was happily up for the challenge. Aqua referred to everyone with a nickname, with Alex being Mister, Varon being Elder, Lady Margaret being Blossom, Elder Darrien being a Scary guy, and she referred to Lady Elmara as a Maniac, and, in turn, she has been labeled a brat.

But, both ladies shared a fondness for each other as one was promised new knowledge and experiments, while the other legendary-quality magical treasures and the fulfillment of any requests she desired for her corporation.

Alex left Aqua with Lady Elmara, and as there was still a day left before he needed to return to the Elven continent, he decided to complete his Ruler missions.

Alex needed to complete twenty Ruler missions to gain an increase of 8000 points of intelligence stat, and with 14 of the missions already completed and three more being done in the following few weeks, he was close to achieving that goal.

The majority of missions required Alex just to bring a certain number of players into the domain and then just wait for them to achieve various goals, but there were also missions that he needed to complete by himself.

The current three missions required him to learn the difficulties of two random clans as he did with the dwarven clan, learn about the domain's history to a decree, and solve the bandit issue in a wildlands area.

Alex didn't know how much he needed to learn about the history to complete the mission, and also didn't know how long it would take to gather intel or clear the bandit problem, so while he wanted to test his new knives against the bandits, he decided against it for the time being.

Alex returned to the palace and went to the library and began studying the history of the domain from the era of the first Ruler, as going back would mean studying the era of Titans, and as interested as he was in that era, it was not considered a part of the mission.

Alex spent the following few hours learning about Erebus, the golden child, a man born to the mightiest figures of the ancient world in an era known as the golden age when the world was at its peak.

Alex also learned further about the invasion of the outsiders and the war that followed suit, who betrayed whom, and what role Erebus played.　　　　　　　　

The most significant piece of news was that the appearance of the Ruler system, Shop, guardians, and related things came at some point in the war, and Erebus was chosen as the first Ruler.

Alex knew that Erebus was the first Ruler but never clearly understood this concept as it could be that he was the first Ruler in history, or he was the first non-Titan Ruler or just some other way, but now he knew he was the very first Ruler. It didn't take a genius to understand that Lady Enigma, who was behind it, also came at the same time as the outsiders, and the system she gave was of great help in determining the winner of the war.

Alex already knew the Lady Enigma that the third guardian mentioned was an outsider from the details he shared and had a good purpose, and this bit of information cleared her character and nature a bit further.

Alex learned further about Erebus's time as a Ruler, the harsh decisions he made, and the good he did for the inhabitants of the domain, and after three hours, he received the notification of the mission's completion.

Alex wanted to read further as besides the big events that spanned throughout the world, there were also major events that occurred between major powers, but as he still had quite some time, he decided to visit the wildlands and study or even deal with the bandit situation.

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The Malefis Domain was massive, stretching for thousands of kilometers, and not every area came in the territory of some clan and the zones free from the influence of any power were called the wildlands.

Those lands had no official ruling power, but that didn't mean there was no power ruling them, as those zones were ruled by one or more families, rouge clans, or influential individuals.

The bulk of wildlands bordered the smaller clans, or in areas not really rich in resources, and the majority, if not all, the inhabitants of these areas were descendants of exiled criminals, real criminals, families that were exiled, or those who left their clan to establish their own rule in a distant area.

However, this didn't mean that the wildlands were full of chaos, as they just didn't have a singular power, so rules were different depending on the ruler, as one area could be following all the laws while the other could have open slavery and gambling arenas of hosting true death games.

The wildland area Alex picked was at the edge of the continent, in a desert area, and currently, the small area was in a power struggle between the Zephyrblaze clan and the Oasis Scorpions bandit group.

Both powers had a middle-stage Elementalist as their head, and their overall strength was similar, and as the bandits never directly attacked the clan and only extorted resources from the villages and settlements, the clan also didn't wage a full-scale war to eradicate them.

This had resulted in many inhabitants suffering, forced to work in mines and fields, but as the bandits were not slaughtering people like mass murderers, no surrounding clan was free enough to put a stop to them as they had enough issues in their own domain.

It was not like the various clans were not doing anything, on the contrary, they were doing a lot because in the condition the entire domain was in, without their work, the domain would be in complete chaos.

If everyone didn't have a fear of authorities, many would rather stop subsequent rules and do as they please, and while few did just that, as they would rather live as they please and be labeled as outlaws and even get killed, then placed into frozen coffins for the unknown period with little hope of salvation.

Most inhabitants lived almost a usual life, but the stronger one became, the harder it was to constantly live life with reminders of their days being numbered and what fate awaited them, and for a weak-willed individual, going down an evil path was an easy choice.

After arriving at the location, Alex first decided to spend some time hunting monsters to get familiar with his new knives before visiting the only significant city to gather data on the bandits.