Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 420: Information Is a Weapon

The king paused briefly after announcing the group missions, which didn’t seem to bother anyone. At least so far, no one spoke up—though some made faces like they had just bitten into a lemon. Thalion was definitely part of that latter group. Being forced into a group was the maximum difficulty for him. No question about it.Now there was only one major ingredient missing: were the groups already decided, or would they be allowed to choose their own? Thalion wasn’t sure which option he hated more. Finding someone who didn’t want to kill him was like looking for a needle in a haystack—assuming such a person even existed. At least the tablet situation would keep him safe, as long as it wasn’t elves. On the other hand, why wouldn’t the other top Trialtakers try to cripple him? Even if Thalion could regrow most damage done to him, there were definitely ways to leave lasting injuries. He trusted the creativity of his enemies when it came to that.

To distract himself from the horrible position he was in, Thalion ate the last of his meat sticks and focused fully on the grilled meat. From now on, everything depended on which group he ended up in and what task they would receive. It didn’t sound like the king was about to hand out crafting missions.

Sadly, the next few minutes were filled with the king ranting about sects and rival kingdoms he had to compete against—apparently all of them super evil. As if such concepts even mattered within the system. As long as you weren’t eating babies or doing something equally extreme, it was kill or be killed. Thalion guessed it was the typical ruler’s speech, meant to prime his underlings for battle. Giving them the feeling that they were fighting evil and securing a better future was probably good for morale.

Instead of listening, Thalion let his gaze wander across the balconies, hoping to spot someone he might actually be able to work with. The problem was that on the opposite side, he mostly saw elves…

Another issue crept up as well: he could no longer use Identify freely. Inside the city, everyone was constantly identifying each other, so it hadn’t mattered. Here in the theater, you were only hit by the occasional Identify. Thalion suspected it happened to him more often than to others, since the elves on the opposite side had clearly noticed him by the way they stared. Since the king already disliked them, they refrained from acting up—for now. But after this announcement, anything was possible.

In hindsight, it might have been better to sit on the same side as the elves. At least then he wouldn’t have been directly in their line of sight.

The elves weren’t the only ones who had noticed Thalion. Several people stared at him with wide eyes, which often shifted to confusion once they noticed his level. Thalion briefly imagined starting a group chat just to see their reactions. That would have been funny.

Most people limited themselves to staring—but someone took it a step further.

Thalion turned when he felt someone approaching, his title screaming a warning. A tall insectoid woman parted the curtain behind him and stepped into his little area—where he had felt relatively safe until now.

“Quite the interesting stage, isn’t it?” the First Daughter said, moving forward to lean against the golden railing.

To be fair, this wasn’t how Thalion had expected things to go. He had already prepared himself to go all out if necessary. Instead of lazily leaning back in the wide chair, he sat upright, his feet no longer resting on the second chair that had felt so comfortable.

“Yes… I guess. What are you doing here?” Thalion asked, keeping his voice low so the king wouldn’t hear them—though with the man’s constant shouting, that seemed unlikely anyway.

“Well, there are many things I’d like to talk to you about. My mother is still very interested in you. To be honest, she’s interested in most other races—especially those who survived the conflict with the Hive,” the First Daughter said.

Her demeanor was unreadable, and Thalion’s title was screaming danger at the top of its lungs.

“Yeah… it’s not like I’m missing out on much right now,” Thalion replied, still unsure where this was going or what she could possibly want from him.

In the background, the king was verbally tearing apart someone in the front row for chuckling after he explained how a sect had attacked and sacrificed an entire town.

“Good. First of all, I think we should congratulate ourselves for proving to everyone that our tutorial was the hardest of them all,” she said, her sharp teeth and mandibles clicking—something Thalion interpreted as amusement. “We could also exchange information about some of the Chosen or those at the top of the leaderboard. I suspect you’ve had your fair share of encounters. I already know of one—from my sister.”

For Thalion, that sounded like a great idea—but at the same time, suspicion began to form in his mind. Could it be that the First Daughter wasn’t as powerful as she appeared? Was she afraid of someone? It could be possible.

None of the Chosen were simple opponents, so exchanging information made sense. What rubbed Thalion the wrong way was that it didn’t quite fit the demeanor of the insectoids. He clearly remembered how the other daughters had looked down on him during the tutorial, especially after she had driven him out of the Hive.

“Sure, I’ve encountered a fair few. Please, go ahead,” Thalion said, holding back a grin. He normally wasn’t the smug type, but every small victory mattered—even if it was just during casual conversation. The rest of this treasure hunt would be anything but easy.

“Good. I ran into Felix, the Chosen of Eryndor. He’s an incredibly powerful mage with a high number of skills across every element. I wouldn’t be surprised if he already has over twenty active skills. Even though his build and baby face don’t make him look like a warrior, he definitely is—and easily one of the strongest I’ve encountered so far. In our fight, he used multiple movement skills, from wind teleportation to summoning a stream of water beneath him and surfing along it. As defense, he relied mostly on strong winds that slowed me down and defensive mana barriers. You don’t want to switch environments while fighting him—he uses everything to his advantage, from exploding ground to vines that try to entangle you. His offense is just as dangerous, ranging from domain skills that deal damage over time to fast attacks like wind arrows. During our fight, he mostly used variants of wind blades and lightning bolts.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

That explanation was far more than Thalion had expected—and, to be fair, extremely helpful. He knew Felix was still alive since he appeared on the leaderboard, which meant one of them had likely triggered an escape token. Thalion would have liked to know which one it had been. For now, it was his turn to return the favor.

“I had a little tussle with Kaelir, the Chosen of Pyrael. He’s a fire elf with a bloodline that empowers all his fire skills and drastically reduces mana costs. Kaelir can fight in close combat using his fists or at range while wielding a staff in each hand. His skill set is all over the place—healing, setting his own body on fire, and bombarding his enemies with all kinds of fiery projectiles. If you fight him, go all out and try to kill him as fast as possible. Outlasting him is not an option—unless you have something equally overwhelming.”

Thalion hoped that would be enough to keep her talking. He really wanted to learn more about the other Chosen in this treasure hunt. With how things were going, it was only a matter of time before his next encounter.

“Interesting. I have to say, those bloodlines are becoming extremely annoying,” she commented before describing the next Chosen she had met.

“Zargaz is an incredibly powerful vampire with a blood plant growing from inside him. He’s terrifying in every aspect of combat and moves as if he already knows what you’re going to do next. His speed, strength, and vitality are all at the limit. Wounds close within seconds, and you always need to watch out for those vines. In fact, I remember my little sister reporting something similar after fighting you. Are you two allies? All in all, I’m very curious about your class and skills. We already know you’re a shapeshifter, but they’re usually weak—nothing like you.”

Thalion had to admit, it was crazy how many high-tier encounters the First Daughter had already experienced. The last two she mentioned had both been in the top ten of the leaderboard the last time he checked. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up. There was the Prince, Ethan, and Eric. With Eric, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to share information, and her little sister had already seen Ethan and likely knew far more than Thalion did.

Probably best to keep going with a real banger.

“The Prince in third place is extremely dangerous. He’s almost impossible to damage and incredibly fast. From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t rely on many flashy abilities—but you lose the moment he manages to touch you, which completely immobilizes you. He devours everything by releasing a dark green shroud from his mouth that melts even the strongest armor without slowing down. The moment he uses that skill, his body becomes much easier to destroy. For movement, he can jump in midair and probably has some sort of sprint ability as well. Last but not least, his sense of smell is absurdly good—hiding won’t work forever.”

With Kaelir, the First Daughter hadn’t shown much interest. Now, however, she leaned forward. With insectoids, it was always hard to read their demeanor—but it was clear she wanted to hear more.

“What do you mean, he takes no damage? And how does the touch ability work? There have to be some invading energies involved, right?”

Those were exactly Thalion’s thoughts as well. The only explanation he had was that it had to be a bloodline or a transcendent skill. With the latter, he had no idea whether it would be wise to share such speculation with the First Daughter, given the experimental nature of her mother.

“I have no idea how it works, but since it worked on another top-five member of the leaderboard, I’m guessing it’s a bloodline at play.”

The First Daughter nodded, as if she had already suspected something similar.

“That’s a problem—and it sounds like the perfect counter to someone like me. The prince seems overpowered in general, with no real downside. As long as he doesn’t start eating, he can kill anyone, and a single touch that ensnares someone is also very good.”

Thalion understood where her thoughts were coming from. Someone like the prince was almost a perfect counter to her, depending on where her limits lay.

“I don’t think he can’t be hurt at all. During the fight, he was dodging the greatsword of a Chosen. Heavy hits still do damage, but the Chosen was also burning through his resources like crazy.”

Thalion kept Eric’s identity to himself. The poor guy would sooner or later clash with the termites in pursuit of his god’s world-conquering ambitions. Even now, Thalion didn’t know whether Eric was truly an ally. Still, the fact that Eric hadn’t tried to kill him on sight already put him ahead of most others.

“Even so, it sounds like a terrifying combination. Is the prince skilled? And do you think he came from the tutorial or from an incursion? We have an incursion nearby that’s also stupidly strong. It seems there’s only a level cap when it comes to blessings—bloodlines can enter freely, which is a massive problem.”

Thalion had to admit, this conversation was far better than he had expected. Until now, he hadn’t realized incursions could be this dangerous—but if someone like the First Daughter was complaining, it really had to be serious. Thinking back, he had been incredibly lucky with his first incursions, given how easy it had been to close them.

“Hm, yeah. I’d say he’s skilled, but he fights more like a maniac. He doesn’t wear armor or use weapons, which is wild when you think about it. No ranged skills either—pure melee, relying entirely on speed,” Thalion summarized, recalling the fight.

Whatever transcendent skill or bloodline the prince possessed would match the Crippled Eclipsari frighteningly well. Greed stirred within Thalion. Yes—after this trial, that could become his mission. The man was unhinged, likely devouring anyone who got too close. Hunting someone like that once he was strong enough was something Thalion would enjoy immensely. Ripping that bloodline out of the man’s soul would be one hell of an achievement.

“Hm. Then I’d better avoid that human. In the tutorial, everything was easier. Staying on top during this trial is… scary,” the First Daughter said, nodding—something that genuinely surprised Thalion.

Wasn’t she supposed to be the scariest one of them all? Maybe that was a bit exaggerated, but Thalion doubted she was helpless. At level one hundred forty-five, she had definitely done her fair share of killing. Still, he agreed with her. Bloodlines were terrifying.

To be fair, Thalion himself had some absurd advantages. His bloodline was powerful, his curse deadly. The Crippled Eclipsari could dissolve almost anything into darkness. The Tidecaller Serpent could tear entire areas apart, and Eagly was no joke either. On top of that, there was the poisonous wyvern. It didn’t compare to his other forms, but it was still more than decent—and if he weren’t so many levels and an entire grade behind, it would have been a real threat.

“You mentioned the Chosen of Tenebrice earlier. Did he have armor or a weapon?” Thalion asked. He didn’t recall her mentioning either, and good equipment could make a massive difference in a fight.

“Yes. He wielded a dark red spear and wore dark armor made of metal plates, covered in multiple dimly glowing runes,” the First Daughter replied after thinking for a moment.

Of course he had full-body armor. What else? Thalion thought, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

“On another note—what’s your queen’s plan? And why are there only two of you in this trial? Isn’t this a massive opportunity for you?” Thalion asked, genuinely curious. A lack of rings didn’t seem likely.

“As I said before, there are several extremely dangerous incursions close to our territory. Even with time dilation, we’ll still be gone for weeks. It wasn’t possible to send more than the two of us. We were sent here to make a statement—and secure valuable opportunities,” the First Daughter explained after a brief hesitation.

These were important news, which could be used against her. Good thing for the termites that Thalion was in a relatively good mood today, despite the circumstances. Still, it was interesting that the termites were under such pressure.

He would have liked to ask more questions, but their conversation was cut short as the king’s voice rose to a crescendo.

“THIS IS WHY WE WILL WIN! YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED YOUR TEAMS, AND YOU BETTER PERFORM—OR HEADS WILL ROLL! NOW STOP STARING AT ME LIKE YOU’VE BEEN LEFT UNCLAIMED AND MOVE YOUR ASSES!”