Genius Seventh Prince

Just as Greyson expected, the first night watch was an awkward one. Trevion had tried starting some conversation and Greyson played along, but the two quickly realized that silence was the less awkward option. As if the earlier chaos was a dream, the night sky was extremely peaceful. Without a large source of light around, the stars were brightly twinkling in the sky. To relieve the boredom, Greyson tried connecting them into pictures and words. When he was younger, Sister Lily had told him legends of great heroes who eventually died and became stars in the sky. Although he knew these stories were fake as he mȧturėd, it was nice to take a moment and reminisce. 

Time passed quickly while Greyson was lost in his thoughts. Trevion, unlike Greyson, was exhausted and counted the time hoping to quickly lie down and get some rest himself. Once it was time for the next shift, he quickly tapped Greyson and reminded him to wake up the next people. Afterwards, Trevion quickly went to drill into his tent and bedding. Greyson was speechless for a second, before sighing and walking over to Eris's tent. It was easier to wake up the one he was more familiar with, then have her wake up her partner. 

Once the next two settled in, Greyson walked over to an empty space. Controlling the earth element, a small hut and bed were created from the roots of the trees. Afterwards, he went and grabbed Lucius, Snow, and Theo from inside Al's shell. They did not participate in the fight, so Greyson wanted them to help with the night watch as an extra reassurance. He spoke a bit with them about the previous fight that occurred earlier. They were a little upset to have missed the action but were understanding that Greyson would not have been able to grab them from Al's shell in the middle of a fight. After they ran off to find good vantage positions, Greyson forced himself to clear the many thoughts and questions bouncing around in his head before closing his eyes to sleep.

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Greyson did not stir until the first light the next morning. The bright sunshine peeked through the cracks between the roots. Greyson felt it must have been a peaceful night since he did not hear any noise. He jumped up out of bed and stretched his stiff body. With the next thought, the roots receded back into the ground and the rest of the camp became apparent. Everyone else had already woken up and started packing up their supplies right away. They seemed to be in a rush to get out of here. Greyson could understand the sentiment. They had just suffered a random disaster earlier after all. No one would want to stay longer in this area. Everyone wanted to quickly move to the next country and closer to the home of the tournament. Greyson quickly called out for Snow, Theo, and Lucius to come back. He had them climb back into Al and carried Al in his pocket. 

Once the packing was finished, everyone climbed back onto Elder Kazer's back. They took off into the sky, but everyone did not relax their guard. Greyson could see that they were all scanning the sky around them to check for another enemy. This caution continued until they crossed the Mer Country border into the last country before Feorr, Ebon. Everyone unconsciously let out a sigh of relief when they crossed the border. They no longer flew over any ghost towns. 

Ebon was an interesting outer country. Compared to its neighbor, Feorr, it was not particularly known for being powerful. However, they had a special method to tame and form slave contracts with Feynir. Unlike the Fey, since Feynir have only formed a weak intelligence and consciousness, humans have always wished to take advantage of them. Under normal circumstances, no one can form a contract with a Feynir because they do not have the level of intelligence to sign one or say the chant. There is no way like with dragons and their true names to force Feynirs into a contract, either. Thus, most people had given up this ambition. The founder of the Ghea Empire, which rules the Ebon Country, was obsessed with researching this specific topic. Near the end of his life, he actually accomplished his goal! Others were greedy to learn the method, however, the founder was a very strong magician emperor and prevented others from taking the chance. He also made the method in connection with his blood, so no one but himself and his offspring would be able to use it. 

Like the founder of the Maple Country, legend states almost all the citizens of the Ebon Country were descended from that same founder. They all had similar traits: grey hair and blue eyes. The country had a lower population and smaller size in comparison to other outer region countries. Almost all citizens are born with the ability to use the Feynir taming method. The few who could not were unfortunately ostracized for not awakening their bloodline or having no trace of it. Not many non-citizens immigrate into this country due to their strong xenophobia. Most people also avoided the country because they have a strong enmity with the Elf Empire which no one wanted to be a part of.

The reason being that the Fey and the Feynir were born in the Elf Empire. The Elf Empire had a holy flower that they worshiped as their god. Legends state, similar to the Church of Elos, this flower was actually the form of the original elf who became an elemental god. This flower's power radiated through the entire empire and helped plants eventually grow consciousness. The Fey also worship this flower as their ancestor which was the reason the symbiotic relationship between the Fey and the Elves formed. Feynir, although not biologically related to the existing Fey, were treated like their children. The Ebon Country stealing Feynir and controlling them to fight has caused strong hatred between the Fey and the Ghea Empire. Due to the current era of peace between the humans, beasts, and elves, they are not allowed to outrightly fight each other, but it does not mean there are not any smaller skirmishes out of the public eye. The Ebon citizens all have to travel into the Elf Empire to get Feynir, but they are banned from crossing the border. Thus, they normally have to entrust the capture to secret teams or the black market. 

Knowing the treatment they would receive due to xenophobia, the group decided not to rest in the towns and instead to rush through to Feorr. Ebon was not a large country in the first place, so it only took a couple days to pass through with minimal breaks. This time, they did not run into any resistance and quietly crossed the last border into Feorr.

"Alright, everyone, it should take us a little more than a day to get to the capital of Feorr, Kratos. We should go over some things before we arrive." After crossing the border, Duke Zaire cleared his throat and started to speak to the rest of the group. Everyone stopped their conversations or looked up from meditating to pay attention to him.

"As you all should know, our country has consistently done poorly in this competition. It's inevitable looking at our position on the continent and the generally lower levels of mana throughout our country. It's harder for talents to be born. We also do not have any connections with the inner region powers like some of the other countries. Our founder was not a part of those groups. This is not to bring down morale but more to explain the reality of our situation. You will not be respected when we arrive in the capital. There is a large chance that other groups will taunt you or try to pick a fight. At the location of the competition each year, there is a strict ban on fighting between the country representatives. Do not let them rile you up into throwing the first punch. If anything, since they are also not able to make a move either, you can talk back to them if you dėsɨrė. Though, I would recommend keeping low key and not making too many enemies before the competition starts. Although it looks a bit cowardly, getting the other countries to look down on and underestimate you could allow you to take advantage of them and beat them later by surprise."

"Duke, who would be the opponents we should look out for?" Eris was the first to speak up.

"We have a fairly bad relationship with the southernmost outer region country, Ignis. They are like us except with an overabundance of fire element magicians. Our magicians tend to naturally oppose and weaken them, so they are quick to pick a fight with us. One year, when Jayson Glacier participated in this competition, he managed to incapacitate most of their members. It was an extremely humiliating moment for them in history, so they tended to target us in all the following years."

Jayson Glacier... Greyson had not heard the name in years. He remembered that he was the genius who set the record for youngest magister in the Snow Country before Greyson at the age of 18. It seems like he was pretty powerful back then.

"The Greenwolf Country also tends to pick on us. Mostly because the royal family and aristocrats were truly descended from a famous bandit group. They all follow the philosophy to pick on the weak and kiss up to the strong. We are the weak team that others want to take advantage of. They are also very bloodthirsty and love to kill whenever they fight. Most of the other countries will just injure you, though I would recommend to always be cautious."

"We have some countries that we have a decent relationship with like Maple Country. Most relationships between countries are neutral, meaning they will not target us specifically but they would also not help us if we were in danger. Any country that approaches you for a temporary alliance is probably just trying to take advantage of you. They would also change their face at the drop of the hat. I would recommend just politely rejecting any requests like that. If you are not together with each other but split up, even more reason to keep to yourself. It's better than having to fight while always watching your back and hoping to not be betrayed. Don't trust anyone except those from this group." Zaire was trying to give his best advice before the start of the competition. 

"Lastly, if I hear of anyone betraying the other representatives here or teaming up with other countries for personal vengeance, then I have the authority to banish or even kill you without trial. No one from your family would be able to complain otherwise, either. This is too important for our country as a whole to let somebody mess it up. So, I hope any enmity you have with each other will be put aside until the end of the competition." Zaire stared pointedly at Keaton as he knew just what type of person he was. 

Keaton looked disgruntled, but he just grunted in response and did not say anything. Who knew what was actually running through his mind. The rest of the members could not help but look at him warily. To say that any of them trusted such a narrow-minded snake would be a lie. They just all tolerated him due to his personal strength. 

After saying everything he wanted, Zaire stopped talking and the rest all broke off into their own conversations. Greyson kept away from most of them and just quietly meditated on his own. He might seem to have been peaceful, but only he knew how restless and excited he was on the inside. He was not really even meditating successfully due to being unable to concentrate his thoughts. Every person always had at least a little ambition about winning glory for themselves. This was a big stage for him to perform well and gain recognition. It was also the key to entering the inner regions. He had heard that the concentration of mana only increases the further you go towards the center of the Human Empire. Inside, a person has a greater chance of breaking through to new levels. 

The rest of the day slowly passed by. When the sun was rising the next day, the group finally saw a large city approaching. It was illegal to fly to the city wall, so Elder Kazer landed and the group decided to walk the rest of the way. With their abilities, such a distance would not even make them break a sweat. The capital city, Kratos, was quite the sight to see. It was not spectacularly beautiful like Iris City, but it was larger than any other capital Greyson had seen. There was also an intangible heavy presence as they approached the tall walls. Even the gate guards gave off a strong aura that deterred others. The entry was waved for representatives from other countries and their guardians. Lodging was also provided. 

One of the soldiers quickly approached them after their identities were verified. He was charged with leading them to their lodging and introducing the laws of the city. Most of the representatives drowned out his voice and instead looked around at their surroundings with interest. They could always catch up on the rules later. They were more excited to look around and see the sights. Some were even looking forward to meeting up with competitors from other countries.. Greyson could also feel a hard to hide anticipation for the coming days. After a long process, it was finally time to compete!