NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1214 An Internal Mess
Chapter 1214 An Internal Mess
"Hiiik…!!!"
Unsurprisingly, the man began to crumble under the pressure Valyr directed at him, his actions at that moment making it seem for possible bystanders that he was either submitting or pledging allegiance to the young man.
However, such thoughts did not pop up in the young man's mind at all, his actions merely focused on obtaining the answers he sought. After all, if he wanted to know what Riekan wanted him to do in exchange for upgrading his necklace, he would need to figure out the root cause of it all first, which would be the contents of the flint gem given to him.
"So, you don't plan to speak, huh?" Seeing as the man in front of him turned mute all of a sudden, Valyr doubled down on the aura he directed, even going so far as to activate [Limit Break: Second Verse] in order to make it more imposing.
Whoosh!
"Hiiiiiiik…!!!"
Yet, just like before, the man merely let out a shriek in response to the added pressure, his mental faculties having long succumbed to the terror the young man had instilled within him.
Because of that, a myriad number of expressions soon began to appear on the man's face, causing Valyr's face to faintly light up with interest as he thought he'd finally get the answer he was looking for given enough time.
Unfortunately, rather than be greeted by a string of words from the side he was coercing, he was instead greeted by an expression filled with immense fear and terror, prompting him to realize that he had messed up this time.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Not long after that realization, the young man began to hear the faint sound of trickling water coming from somewhere, causing his guilt-laden expression to show even more guilt as he quickly understood what was going on.
"Hiiik…" By just slightly tilting his head downwards, Valyr was able to see that the man's pants had been long-soaked with a foul-smelling liquid, to the point that it began to drip onto the ground they were standing on.
"Man…" Tilting his head upwards after that, the young man was soon greeted by the man's face, now covered to the brim in a mix of tears and mucus that had accumulated at some point.
Briefly scratching the back of his head at how the man reacted to his show of intimidation, Valyr inwardly let out a sigh filled with guilt as a thought popped up in his mind not long after that.
'…I could've just talked it out with him like a normal person, no?'
…
"Sniff… sniff…"
Thanks to Valyr comforting him after realizing what he'd done, the man was gradually able to extricate himself from the terror and fear he was experiencing, allowing parts of his former self to return over time.
Then again, even though he was now in a much better position than sometime earlier, the man was still prone to becoming paralyzed in fear when Valyr directed even a bit of anger at him.
'I really went too far this time.' Reminding himself that it was his own fault as to why the man was reduced to such a state, the young man let out a low sigh once more, deciding to give the man all the time he needed to recover from it.
Fortunately for Valyr, it only took the man a few more minutes to regain a modicum of composure, letting out a long exhale as he slowly turned around to look at the young man.
Although the man's instincts told him to get away from him as quickly as possible after what he went through, the man tried his best to suppress the feeling as he took the initiative to start the conversation. "W… why did you… do that?"
"I'm sorry." Seeing the man forcing himself to go against what his body felt, Valyr began to feel even more remorse for what he did, bowing to the man in apology. "I definitely went too far. I… just wanted to know what message you received from your founder through the flint gem."
"I… is that… so?" Though the man did feel a bit of anger at being the target of the young man's aura for such a reason, the man did not show any of that at all, with his expression instead showing great relief the moment those words left Valyr's mouth.
After all, even if he did show Valyr the fury he felt at that moment, why would he bring doom that he could've avoided in the first place?
Sure, he may be a Rank 5 class holder, allowing him to act with great confidence and pride with every move he made.
But, in comparison to the aura Valyr directed at him at those moments, he felt that the young man's aura had gone beyond the realm of what was possible for a Legend to release.
To him, he felt like he'd been cornered by a veteran Myth!
With that in mind, the man became silent for a brief moment after that, taking some time to compose himself even further as Valyr's words faintly lingered in his mind.
By the time he felt like he'd recovered a bit more of what he was like before, the man let out yet another exhale as he nodded at the young man, telling him that he was ready.
"You… wanted to know what message the founder sent us?" Swapping into a new set of pants as he swiftly cleaned himself up with a bit of elemental manipulation, the man asked Valyr for his reasons once more to be certain.
"Yeah." Valyr nodded, inwardly letting out a wide sigh of relief after seeing the man slowly return to how he was before. "I've been feeling like something was off with your group ever since I showed that gem."
"There were a couple more things throughout that caused me to become more suspicious, but my suspicions were only confirmed to some extent when you started talking to me a lot more politely," he continued, causing the man's eyes to widen in slight surprise as he looked back at him. "You noticed that?" asked the man, his body language now showing no sense of fear or terror whatsoever. "Were… were their actions that obvious in your eyes?"
"No, not really." Valyr shook his head, only to give the man a wry smile soon after. "But… if you have a group of people constantly looking in your direction from time to time for minutes on end, wouldn't you also begin to notice that something was amiss?"
"…That obvious, huh." Hearing those words, the man returned a bitter smile of his own, only for him to let out a long and drawn-out sigh after that. "I guess they received a different message from the founder when they looked at the gem."
"Do you perhaps have any idea of what that would be?" asked the young man in response, finally feeling like the conversation was heading in the direction he wanted.
"…I do." The man nodded after a bit of deliberation, recalling the words the founder told him the moment he focused his attention on the flint gem.
Briefly feeling a hint of the fear he suppressed return without rhyme nor reason, the man quickly quelled the feeling as he looked at the young man with a calm expression. "There's two messages contained within the gem, both of which have been made available to me when I looked at it," he said, causing Valyr to raise his eyebrows in slight interest. "If my memory serves me correctly… the message they got from the founder was that while he's absent from the clan, you would act as his representative."
At those words, Valyr looked back at the man with a hint of confusion, wondering what Riekan meant by that. "And the other message?"
"To help you out in returning the clan to the way it was before," replied the man after some time, causing the young man to close his eyes for a bit as he mulled over the two pieces of information he got.
'Man…' Of course, with how the two messages were phrased, the intent Riekan held in the messages were more than obvious for Valyr to eventually discern.
'All that just to upgrade my necklace?'
'I really hope the upgrade makes the effort more than worth it.' Resigning himself to the current situation as obtaining the goodwill of a Myth-level being was possibly the greatest benefit he could get out of this, Valyr faintly let out a sigh as he decided to ask the man for more information.
"So, if my interpretation of your founder's words are correct, your clan is currently having some internal problems, right?"
"I wouldn't really say some… but yes." The man nodded after adding a bit of clarification. "The clan fractured into various factions ever since the founder left the clan a couple of centuries ago for unknown reasons."
"If you don't mind me asking, how many factions are there in the clan at the moment?" Knowing the exact reason why Riekan wasn't at his clan for that length of time, Valyr remained calm on the outside as he asked his next question.
Only for the facade to break the moment he heard the man's next words.
"Uh… nine, if I remember correctly."
"…"
"…How in the fuck?"