99 The Journey to the Great Tower (I)

The Great Tower was a treasure trove in the eyes of many powerful experts and nations. This place had an abundance of rare ores, a plethora of magic crystals, magic potions, magic spells book, battle skills not to mention many high-class Agate crystals.

No one could clearly speak of the exact origin of the Great Tower. Some described it as an estate that came from another world or the central mainland of the Eidrin world. Some also said that it was the tomb or the house of a god or a powerful being.

Because the Great Tower was located in the depth of the Dark Forest and not within the territory of any the four Empires or any of the small kingdoms, It became a place without an owner.

After falling into the trap of the Eye, all the grand characters within the Magic-Knight Council didn't bother to hide the secret anymore and shared the information with the public as well.

Thus, at this moment, all the four great empires, small kingdoms, and powerful noble families clamored to send their descendants and subordinates on their way to the Great Tower, to see whether they would be fortunate enough to seize the treasures and magic potions formula left behind by the Legendary Henry. Even experienced mercenaries, hunters, assassins had joined the fray as well.

Even though the saying was that the Great Tower was for the world to share, in reality, the people that could actually enter the Tower were all powerful experts from the four great empires and nobles families or a renowned tyrant of one direction. As for the ordinary weak warriors and mages, they weren't qualified to enter the Tower with their meager strength unless they had a powerful backer or someone to lead them inside.

There was nothing more tempting than magic potions that could extend one's lifespan for these powerful 9th rank warriors or mages with withering lifespans. Even though they were powerful, they were still mortals and their lifespans were limited, so most of the powerful 9th and 8th rank experts that had nothing to lose, or were not affiliated to any of the four great empires left their nest for the Great Tower as well.

In a short period of time, the Egul continent was in furor as many people frantically rushed to Great Tower within the Dark Forest, no matter how dangerous this place was.

The proverbs once said that fortune and danger live together. So while the Great Tower and the Dark Forest had many dangers, at the same time, there also treasure to be found asides the ones left by Henry. The magical beasts frequently fought each other in the forest, so upon their deaths, their Agate crystals would be preserved. If One had good luck, then they would be able to come across a few magical beasts that still had their agate crystals and collect them, but the chances of that happening were still rather low.

......

At this moment, under the command of his great-grandfather, Shad along with the Lightning corps were headed to Great Tower within the dark forest. Outside the hundred members of the Lightning Corps and the four imperial knights, Monalisa, Mina, Nina, and even his big sister, princess Viviana tagged along as well. As for his great-grandfather, he stayed behind to protect the Empire just in case the other 9th rank experts from the Eye decided to make a move.

Mark had visited the Great Tower before while venturing in the dark forest for training purposes, but he didn't dare go inside. Because of that, he had learned the path that leads to the Tower. Under his lead, they have ventured deep within the forest in just half a day.

The magical beast's level had become much stronger where they had arrived now. The magical beasts in the outer part of the Dark Forest were just some normal and low-level beasts. However, as they ventured in the deeper part of the forest, they encountered some mid-level magical beasts, with only a few of them being at the peak of 6th class.

Of course, this level of strength could be considered strong for normal warriors and mages. For someone like Shad, they were still too weak. Right now, Shad was an early 6th rank mage and when he used the lightning energy, he was able to jump rank and slay 7th rank experts. Furthermore, he had four 6th rank warriors as well the members of the lightning Corps who were all warriors under his command. This powerful combination allowed them to walk through the outer part of the dark forest like it was their own backyard.

" Lil broth, when are we gonna take a break, I am tired already." Asked Viviana with a puppy and innocent face. Even though Viviana was acting all cute and innocent, everyone knew that she was a little a demoness and a scammer. They all have heard and witness how this cute little girl had robbed the 4th imperial prince and their supreme commander 30 magic crystals last night.

" We haven't even left the outer part of the forest yet. We will take a break when the sun goes down," Answered Shad with a caring and amiable smile on his face. He really didn't want to get into a fight with that fiery temper girl.

" But I am hungry and tired." She retorted. Because they were traveling within the Dark forest, they didn't bring any horses or carriage. The Dark Forest was an extremely large mountain range. The landscape was rough, filled with numerous trees and valleys, as such it made it hard and arduous, and almost impossible to use horses or carriages.

" Well, who told you to disobey the old man and followed us secretly in the forest. Did you think we were going on a picnic? You should know how important this mission is to the empire. We are already behind as many people have left before us, so we have to keep this pace. If you want, I can make Monalisa drop you to the Imperial Capital using her ability."

The trip of the Great Tower was a very dangerous and important one, and the only reason the old man allowed Mina go along with them was that he was afraid that Henry might have left some instructions in the Tower in that weird language of his which tell the exact floor where he left all his treasure, as such, her skill was very important. As for Viviana, the old man had clearly forbidden her not to go because she would increase Shad's burden as she would be added to the number of people that he would have to protect within the Tower. However, Viviana didn't listen to him as she secretly followed Shad in the Forest.

" Hehehe, little brother sure is all grown up now. Now that you've become the Sword and the Shield of the Empire and wielded power and authority similar to gramps, do you think that I still can't kick your ass or tell Monalisa and the girls how you used to wet my mom's bed." Whispered Viviana to Shad's ear with a demonic smile on her face.

" There's a lake approximately four hundreds meters away from here. We'll take a small break there," Quickly answered Shad with an ugly expression on his face.

' Damn, it only happened twice when I was a little kid. Furthermore, the main reason it happened was that I thought I was peeing in a trunk of a tree in the forest but it turned out that it was just a stupid dream' thought Shad as he was looking at the devilish smile on his sister's face.

The other girls as well the Lightning Corps didn't know what the Princess had said to the 4th imperial prince that made him changed his mind, but they were still happy, especially Mina who wasn't strong as the others, thus her feet were killing her at the moment.

Soon, they made it to the lake. Unlike Shad and the lightning Corps who stayed behind to wash their faces in the lake and eat something at the same time before they continued their journey, Viviana went directly to imperial capital by using Monalisa's ability to take her little hour of break. Not only her, but Nina, Mina and even Gwen who was the only female Imperial knights followed her as well.