Chương 331: Chapter 305: Trust Issues: Now Available in Elf Flavor

Thalion made his way to the wall, wearing a red tunic while his armor rested safely inside his spatial ring. No one needed to see the unfinished design. If the elves tried anything, he could always use the crippled Eclipsari form. Lucan stayed behind, still working on the runes for Thalion's armor. Thalion was pleased with how quickly they had progressed. It was a lot faster, in retrospect, than he'd thought possible.

Probably because he had thrown himself completely into his work, using it to distract from the loss of his first party members. If the elves were here to pick a fight, maybe this was the perfect excuse to get some combat testing in. At the moment, controlling his abilities was… difficult. It was almost like driving a car far too powerful for its own good, where pressing the gas even slightly too hard would send you straight into a tree.

For Thalion, it was the same, but the crippled Eclipsari form was still easier to control than his human one, mostly because it didn't need or had any movement skills. Speaking of movement skills, now that he had this bloodline, he really should go skill farming. Every single skill was amplified to ridiculous levels, which would help him in almost any situation. Oddly enough, the skills were easily three times stronger but only cost about twenty percent more mana at most.

Thalion still remembered the system's voice explaining how difficult bloodline theft was, how almost no one ever succeeded… and yet he had swiped a bloodline skill, and now an entire bloodline, in just a few weeks. It was a shame that, once he reached New Earth, he could forget about getting new bloodlines. Having a bloodline meant being strong, which also meant you wouldn't be in F-Grade.

Everyone knew to evolve in the final hours of the tutorial because doing so gave a slightly stronger evolution than evolving afterward. This was a fact several gods had revealed, and others had learned by buying information from the system shop. Since Thalion wasn't going to evolve until his three special quests were complete or he was forced to, he couldn't steal more bloodlines since the process required both parties to be the same grade. Annoying, yes, but it did nothing to deter him.

His goal was set, and he would do whatever it took to achieve it. What good would becoming a god be if the system just gobbled him up as fuel for some higher deity? He moved quickly through the streets, amused that some didn't seem to recognize him without his armor and mask. Most still did. After all, there was no other human with crimson eyes and red skin. It took a bit longer than expected to reach the wall, where Maike and Kaldrek were already waiting.

Jack and Josh were there too, along with a group of newbies who seemed curious about what would happen with the tall elf now. They gave Thalion strange looks, probably because his aura was so perfectly concealed that they thought he was weak.

"Good that you came quickly. We can't let him stay down there, so close to the main gate, forever," Kaldrek said in a tone that was equal parts worried and amused.

"You're right. Best to get this over with," Thalion said, eyeing the elf with interest. What could he possibly want? Maybe he wanted Thalion to kill the female elf so he could take back leadership. That sounded like a very elf thing to do. Before the elf could speak, Thalion jumped from the wall, landing a few meters away. The elf raised his eyebrows. He clearly hadn't expected Thalion to come in person.

"So, why have you come here?" Thalion asked bluntly. If the elf could arrange a duel that let him capture the female elf, he was all for it. It took a moment for the elf to answer, but when he did, there was no dancing around the subject.

"Like your followers told you, I want to join your base. Permanently." That was surprising. Thalion had been told he wanted to act as some kind of double agent.

"To be honest, that's not quite the message I received. Why join me? Elves don't usually care much for humans," Thalion asked. This was about to get interesting. The guy was either trying to fool him, or he had another agenda.

"Yes… it took me some time to make this decision, but it's necessary for my survival. The royal prince's death and the fact that he was possessed by a lich, will reflect very bad on me. They will kill me for it. My only way to stay alive is to abandon the elves and start over. Since you have the strongest force in this tutorial, with even some orcs among your ranks, I thought I might have a good chance of joining. Otherwise, I'll leave you in peace and hunt alone until the tutorial ends."

Althirion's voice made it clear, it wasn't easy for him to say this out loud. This was something Thalion had expected, but it was probably not ideal to have such a strong elf in the base while he was still experimenting with his armor and hadn't tested his skills. An elf like that could cause a lot of damage if things went wrong.

"Hm. You probably understand that I have some trust issues and can't just let you join us simply because you said we can trust you," Thalion said after a moment of thought. There was also the question of why the elf really wanted to join. He was strong enough to survive in the wild without much trouble, so this all felt a little off to Thalion. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Also, why do you want to join us? You don't need this base for protection, and you don't need our smiths to make armor for you," Thalion continued. He wanted to know the elf's true motivations. Maybe the answer would reveal information that could prove useful. His title couldn't detect any sinister intent, but that didn't mean there wasn't more to it. Another option would be to give the elf a task, perhaps bringing weaker survivors back to the base until the tutorial ended. If he did well, he could stay.

"I have my reasons, of course," Althirion said.

"In the new world, you'll need crafters to make better weapons and armor. Alone, I'd eventually fall behind, and the powerhouses roaming the new world will be far stronger than either of us. My strength alone won't help me much, and I probably won't be able to join any faction as an elf. Sometimes the new special quests allow for group formation, and I was hoping I might earn a place in your group. Against the stronger factions with chosen in them, we won't stand a chance.

They'll steamroll us, but against everyone else, I think we have a real shot. Also, I'm not the only elf who will be cast out of my clan. If I join your base, other outcast elves might want to join as well, which would strengthen you." With his title, Thalion could tell the elf was genuine. Still, he could sense that it pained Althirion to know he would be seen as a traitor to the elven race. What he said made a lot of sense, and it didn't sound like a bad deal.

This didn't mean Thalion would trust him outright, but he would at least consider allowing him to stay under strict conditions, of course. The elf would need to prove his loyalty first.

"Alright, I'll think about it. What's going on in the elven camp right now? I'm guessing that female elf is the leader now?" Thalion asked, curious. This was a rare opportunity to learn about the elves' plans, and it was highly unlikely they would simply stay behind their walls and wait for the tutorial to end, especially with such a special quest at stake.

"Yes, Elaria took over," Althirion replied immediately.

"She now rules through power alone. The council we had before is gone and no one dares to oppose her because of her strength. At the moment, she's sending out hunting parties to capture humans, either to keep them as slaves or to use them as bait to lure you out. Getting her son back is her top priority."

"Why doesn't she just challenge me outright? Wouldn't that be easier?" Thalion asked, worried for the low-level humans still out there. He needed to act soon to end this needless suffering.

"Isn't it obvious?" Althirion said.

"You have the strongest base by far, with the most warriors. Storming it outright would be impossible for her. It would be far harder than even defeating the undead in the catacombs. Ankhet's death also made her wary. She suspects your base has some kind of secret weapon, something strong enough to kill someone like him. She wants a duel where your army can't save you if you lose. By the way, how did you kill Ankhet? I've been curious about that myself."

"Could you bring her a message that I'd be up for a duel anytime if she still wants her son back?" Thalion asked, watching the broad elf's shocked reaction.

"I can deliver the message," Althirion said slowly, "but you shouldn't provoke her, or accept the duel. She's powerful, and I don't think you can beat her. Elven scouts recorded your fight against Kael, so she already knows your abilities. Don't get me wrong, you're strong for a human, but she's better. It's best to wait out the tutorial, claim as many treasures from the palace as you can, and leave. There's no reason to risk your life in a battle you're likely to lose.

I don't know what happened, but she's grown incredibly powerful all of a sudden. Even the lich could barely contain her, and he had the prince's bloodline."

"That will be my concern," Thalion said firmly.

"Deliver the message and bring more people to this base by the end of the week, and you can join us." He was dangling bait and he didn't want the elves enslaving low-level humans at this stage. These elves weren't like the ones in Lord of the Rings. They were arrogant and saw themselves as superior to all other races. Killing and enslaving others was simply natural to them.

"Alright, if that's what it takes to earn your trust, I'll deliver the message. But speak with your adviser about this, she's extremely dangerous. Even if I don't like to admit it, I'd fall after the first exchange," Althirion said with a bow before turning and hurrying off toward the elven base. This whole situation was about to get very interesting. Gaining another bloodline would be the perfect way to end the tutorial. As for the female elf… he could even torture her to learn exactly what her bloodline did.

He would never make the same mistake he had with the lich. Fusing a bloodline into himself without knowing its properties. Unfortunately, the lich had felt no pain, making it impossible to extract that information through torture.

"I'd better get some training in so I can properly defeat that elf," Thalion thought as he walked back toward the outer wall of his base.