While Atlas was trying to figure out the answers to his questions and decide what to do about the other two remaining people inside the chamber, far away from Solara, the Queen of the Celestara had already arrived at the Royal Palace of the Elven Continent, Rosomolios.
She had arrived there long before the incidents that had taken place in Celestara. The moment she had left the chamber where the Researchers had reported their findings to her and told them that she would be away from the Continent for a day to meet Eliana, she had already reached this place. There had been no long journey or delay involved in it because someone at her cultivation level didn’t need a Spirit Jet or a Relic to cross such a distance. Teleportation was enough.
At her current level of cultivation, Solaris could travel to any location in the world through her own strength alone. Distance had already lost most of its meaning for her and for the few Individuals at a similar stage who currently ruled the major Continents. This was also the exact method she had used earlier when she had taken the Monster high above the clouds after killing it, bringing it away from the city so she could investigate the strange substance inside its body. Now she had simply used the same method again.
Deep inside the grand Royal Palace of Rosomolios, far away from the outer chambers where attendants and other Elven Individuals moved around throughout the day, there was a private chamber that belonged only to the Queen of the Elven Continent, Eliana Rosomolios. The chamber was enormous and looked more like a small section of a forest than a normal room because its walls, floor and even parts of the ceiling were formed from massive pieces of wood, tree trunks and roots. Yet the material wasn’t ordinary wood. Anyone with strong enough perception could sense dense Spirit Energy flowing through it, making the entire structure feel alive as though the palace itself had been constructed from a huge living tree.
At the center of that chamber, two women sat opposite each other on two raised wooden platforms attached directly to the floor. They looked similar to chairs, although their surfaces were naturally shaped and slightly angled to make sitting more comfortable. Another raised platform stood between them and acted as a table, with two cups of tea placed on opposite sides while thin wisps of steam slowly rose from them. Despite the warm tea and the natural structure of the room, the atmosphere around them remained strangely cold because both women were powerful enough for even their presence alone to change how the chamber felt.
The two women had been sitting there for a long moment without speaking. Solaris had one hand resting near her cup while Eliana remained relaxed on the opposite side, her eyes calmly watching her old friend. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable because both had known each other for far too long for simple silence to become awkward.
Eventually, Solaris was the one who broke it.
"Now then, Eliana, why don’t we talk about the parchment you sent me? Why so silent after seeing your friend arrive after almost two decades?" Solaris asked in her smooth yet slightly chilling voice. "Is it because my appearance surprised you...or is it because you don’t want your friend here anymore?"
Eliana’s smile became slightly wider after hearing those words, which only made Solaris narrow her eyes a little before she continued.
"If it is the latter, I would really be hurt, you know? I might even stop considering the things written in that parchment at all, hmph! I would start thinking that you only call us friends because it is a convenient political facade, nothing more."
Eliana remained seated opposite her while listening to the entire thing without interrupting. Her ethereal appearance remained unchanged, with her long green hair falling naturally over her back while her complete white strapless gown covered her body from her feet up to her neck. A calm Spirit Energy constantly surrounded her without any deliberate movement from her side, making it seem like the energy was simply part of her natural presence.
She raised her cup, took a small sip and placed it back down before finally answering.
"My sweet friend Solaris, do you really think I would care about political pressure at my level?" Eliana asked with a small laugh. "Hehe, then you must have forgotten my true nature over these two decades. I know what you’re doing! You’re only trying to make yourself look like the victim while making me look like the criminal here, hmph! I should be the one getting angry at you for saying such things."
Her voice became slightly louder as she spoke, but instead of making her sound intimidating, it only made her expression look slightly childish compared to her normally mature appearance. Solaris watched her without speaking for a few seconds before Eliana continued again.
"And as for that parchment, every word in it was true! We are friends! Best friends, Solaris, Hmph!" She paused before narrowing her eyes slightly. "But you seem to have another best friend in Solara now. What was that girl’s name again?...Ah! Seraphiel, right? Hmph! Go and talk with her then. Why have you come all the way here while thinking about me like this?"
Solaris raised one eyebrow after hearing that.
’Tch, she investigated my personal matters...but how did she even do that?’
She continued looking at Eliana for another moment before remembering something.
’Ah...I almost forgot she had that.’
Her eyes narrowed slightly as the answer became obvious to her, and at the same time Eliana seemed to realize that she had probably spoken too much. One of her hands immediately went over her mouth while her expression changed slightly.
"You..." Solaris spoke while staring at her. "You even went that far to find out about my personal affairs? What has gotten into you?"
"Oops...I got caught again, huh?" Eliana replied while lowering her hand with a small sigh. "Tch, nothing can really be hidden from you after all."
She paused for a moment before continuing in a more serious tone. "But don’t misunderstand me. I had to use it because I wanted to know how you were doing and what had been happening around you. There is also that matter involving Azarion, and I think you came here for exactly that, right? You want to know more about Azarion and whatever he is planning."
Eliana finished while giving Solaris a slightly dissatisfied look, her cheeks puffing up as though Solaris was the one who had actually done something wrong.
"Hmph! You have no regard for your friend when you just arrived, yet you keep trying to make me look like the criminal while you yourself want to talk about something completely different."
Solaris remained quiet for a moment because she couldn’t really deny what Eliana had said. She finally released a small breath before answering.
"Fine. I admit that I came because I wanted to ask about the matters regarding Azarion, but I had a reason for that. An Ex-rank Monster attacked the central city of Solara itself, and it wasn’t alone. Several S-rank Monsters appeared on the same day as well, and every one of them contained that same strange substance we have been investigating."
The playful expression on Eliana’s face disappeared the moment she heard those words.
Her eyes widened as she stared directly at Solaris, "What did you just say?"
Solaris noticed the immediate change in her expression and knew that Eliana had understood the importance of those words without needing another explanation. She leaned slightly forward before continuing, "You heard me correctly, an Ex-rank Monster appeared above Solara, and there were several S-rank Monsters around the forest surrounding Solara on the same day which the revenants handled and I killed the Ex-rank one after trying to locate the source of the strange substance inside it, but I couldn’t find anything."
Eliana’s fingers tightened around the edge of her gown.
"An Ex-rank Monster..." she repeated quietly before raising her eyes again. "You’re saying it appeared inside Solara itself?"
"Above the city." Solaris nodded. "And the strange part is that its rank had been forcefully increased. According to the Researchers, the substance inside it could increase a person’s overall strength by several times and could even forcefully raise their cultivation rank by one level."
Eliana remained silent after hearing that.
She no longer touched her tea.
Solaris noticed the change and asked, "You knew something like this was possible, didn’t you?"
Eliana didn’t immediately answer that, her thoughts were already moving toward the parchment she had sent to Solaris and the reason she had told Solaris that information. She had suspected that something unusual was happening around Azarion, but even she hadn’t expected Solaris to bring information about Monsters connected to the same matter.
"Yes, I knew something like that was possible but...this Ex-rank monster wasn’t in my least bit of expectation, we need to prepare fast, something big is coming and that Azarion is the one behind it all."
- - -
[A/N: Sorry, I slept off and couldn’t type another Chapter...]
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