Genius Seventh Prince

At sunrise, everyone was prepared to head out and gathered at the gate. If one looked at them, it would seem they were only taking a short day trip, but all the representatives had their own spatial tool. Greyson couldn't help but once again feel the usefulness of spatial magic tools.

The Duke was the last to arrive, but he did not come alone. Surprisingly, the Emperor himself had walked to the gate to give his blessings to the representatives. The 10 young faces all changed to shock as they quickly knelt down. 

"Haha, no need for such formality. I just want to see our country's young heroes off. I can only pray for the safe return of all of you and hope that you can win glory for our country. You are all important parts of the future of our country, please treasure yourselves as such. I have confidence that I will hear pleasantly surprising news this time around after the competition." As if reflecting his words, the Emperor truly did have a confident smile and shining eyes as he looked at the 10 representatives in front of him. He glanced at his brother and the grin deepened. Something about this batch gave him an optimistic feeling that things would be different this time around. 

"We are honored that Your Majesty places such faith in our abilities." Trevion took the lead to respond for the rest. 

"Well, I do not want to hold you all up with pointless speeches. Just fight your hardest and come back with no regrets!" 

"Yes, Your Majesty!" All of them saluted.

Taking his cue to step up, the Duke stepped out from his position next to the Emperor. He pulled two fingers up to his mouth and a loud whistle echoed into the sky. It echoed for a small moment with nothing but silence, but soon one could hear a screeching noise from above in response. The group continued to look to the skies to see when they would spot what was coming. Greyson was the first to spot a dark spot fast approaching the city. As it got closer and closer, the rest could finally make out its identity. Greyson showed a shocked expression at first as he felt a slight pull from his bloodline. When he got a closer look, however, he calmed down and understood what was happening.

"Is that a Snow Dragon?!" Colin was the one who ended up gasping in shock. 

Eris looked over at Greyson with interest, but she did not seem too shocked. Trevion, Keaton, and the imperial siblings were also not shocked as they were in the know. 

"You must be joking. That would be impossible unless we want a war on our hands. Plus, who here is not aware how difficult it is to make a contract with pure-blooded dragons. Let alone a member of one of the most powerful dragon clans." Zaire looked at Colin while shaking his head.

"A Frost Wyvern." Greyson spoke out at this time. 

"Correct. This is the Frost Wyvern that the First Emperor captured and bound to a contract with the imperial family. It is another guardian of our empire. His real name is, of course, a secret. However, his common name is Kazer. You all may refer to him as Elder Kazer." The Duke introduced the Wyvern to the group as it landed down in front of them. 

Common names were what all dragons went by under most circumstances. Each dragon was also given a true name in the Ancient Dragon Language, however, those were sacred and could be used against them if an enemy got a hold of them. Even lesser dragon species like the Wyvern or Beastmen would have similar effects. It's something that they learn the moment they are born. No one else knows it unless you trust someone enough to know it. All of the names that Greyson referred to his friends in the Dragon Tribe by were their common names. If one knew the true name of a dragon, you could bind them to a contract without their permission. There were also evil spells that could weaken a dragon if one knew their true name.

Greyson was guessing that there were some dubious circumstances behind the First Emperor learning this Wyverns true name and enslaving him. However, he was not stupid enough to voice these doubts of his. The First Emperor was treated like a holy being in the Empire, so any words against him would be blasphemous. While he pitied the circumstances, he was not going to risk himself to speak out justice for the Wyvern.

"Greetings, young humans, I am Kazer." An aged voice spoke out.

"Elder Kazer." The 10 representatives greeted the Wyvern back respectfully. 

"Hm? Young one, you feel... familiar." Kazer did not pay much attention to the rest, but his eyes stopped on Greyson with some vague feelings in his heart. 

"Elder is probably feeling this," Greyson started before his eyes turned purple and his eyes thinned to slits. The aura radiating off him suddenly changed and the Elder Wyvern flinched. 

"This is! Snow Dragon. You are a scion of the Snow Dragon tribe?" Frost Wyverns were a subspecies of dragons and were even more specifically a subordinate tribe to the Snow Dragon tribe. Therefore, Greyson did not feel surprised this Kazer would be able to feel something from him.

"Yes." Greyson did not bother to hide it. It was an open secret anyway. Although he had not clearly stated it to everyone, they were definitely people who have witnessed his transformation before. White scales and purple eyes were almost a dead giveaway to the identity of his other bloodline. Though, most people were probably unaware of his elf bloodline that was still sealed away. 

"Alright, enough with the pleasantries, we need to be on our way." The Duke interrupted. "Elder Kazer, I have already gone over the route with you. We will be counting on you to get us to Feorr."

"Yes. Get on, then." Kazer stayed polite but brief in his response. His attitude was generally cold. He lowered his neck, but some of the people still needed help getting up to the top. Greyson helped Eris, Braiden, and Aphina using his wind magic. Since Kazer's back was smooth, the Duke had a magic tool with a special array set up that would block the wind and make it easy for them to stay still. 

"Safe travels." The Emperor remarked.

They all nodded their heads towards him before Kazer flapped his wings and took off into the sky.

...

The first part of the trip was peaceful. They would only stop at some hot spots that the Duke was aware of to fight off different beasts. It was usually them getting outnumbered in order to force them to work together. Zaire and Kazer would watch for the most part. Since they had Aphina and Greyson, both of them were not worried about members getting injured. Everyone was slowly getting used to each other and becoming smoother in making up for their individual weaknesses. Greyson usually stayed as the main force in the front. Eris, Efren, Colin, and Keaton also tended to be on the offensive while the others played more supportive roles and covered their backs. Greyson knew he could probably beat a lot of the enemies by himself, he was practicing his skills with the sword and bow and trying to use minimal mana while fighting. This allowed him to quickly improve in his practical fighting skills. The Duke encouraged him to do this in order to improve his overall battle capabilities. It was a good back-up to be confident in fighting even without mana as it was not a never-ending energy to keep expending.

Although he brought them along, Greyson did not have Lucius, Snow, or Theo participate unless they got too bored waiting around. Although spatial tools could not hold living beings, Al could. Since he knew he was going on a long trip, he brought him along. They stayed inside his shell. Most things, he would keep in the spatial tool because they were easier to call out. Things inside Al, he would have to go in and grab himself instead of just willing it to come out. Eris and Aphina enjoyed playing with them, though, during breaks so the younger ones were thoroughly entertained. 

Kazer flew extremely quickly and it did not take long until they flew through the third country on their way. Feorr was the 5th country down the east side, so they were already more than halfway through their journey. 

Everything was going smoothly until they were almost at the edge of the third country. They continually saw dead towns. Each had no bodies present, and even the houses and structures were still intact. Yet, there was no one present living there. It was as if all the people vanished. They kept trying to stop for the night but kept running into this eerie situation. Kazer was getting exhausted, but the Duke kept pushing him to go on until they crossed the border. He kept mentioning that it was not safe for them to stay the night in this area. His face grew darker with each progressive town they passed. No one spoke as they also started to feel apprehensive. 

"I don't know. The other towns in the first half were fine. It's just been the area for the last hour or so that suddenly we keep running into this situation. Uncle seems to know what's going on, but he is not saying anything. He just keeps surveying our surroundings like he is looking for something." Braiden responded.

"More like, looking out for something." Eris corrected.

Just as they were chatting with each other, an aged voice suddenly spoke out of nowhere.

"Oh, a Frost Wyvern? How rare! Perfect for my experiment..." A dark body seemed to phase right out of the night sky in front of them.

Kazer just snorted and seemed to want to fly around as he was not interested in fighting at this time. However, it did not take long until hundreds of shades appeared surrounding them. Greyson looked at their get-up and suddenly understood what was going on. Were these not the same beings he saw back in Iris City? They were the Nocte Corps, Terrors!

"The Midnight Order!" The Duke clearly recognized them as well as he spoke out while his expression sank. 

"Hahaha, it seems our reputation precedes us." The old man's hoarse voice grated on the ears and made the listeners uncomfortable.

"This sir, we are just headed for this year's Proelium Honoris. I would hope you could let us through. What you do in Mer is none of our concern." Although what Zaire said was cold-hearted, everyone knew better than to antagonize the Midnight Order for no reason. It was not a normal power. They had connections all the way into the center region. Plus, they had no idea how powerful or high up the person in front of them was. 

"I also have no interest in you. I just happen to need a Frost Wyverns core for an experiment I am going to try. If you hand that over, then I think we can just peacefully go our separate ways." The old man spoke simply as if he were not asking for anything big.

"It seems, then, that we have nothing more to speak about." Although it was risky, Zaire was not one to fear a fight. "All of you get ready to fight!"

Greyson and the rest were ready even without his warning. They pulled out their weapons or started chanting spells in advance. 

"Hmph! Then, you can just die!"