Vale shrugged after seeing Chad’s reaction... "You were taking too long. And we didn’t want to wait..."
Chad looked around at so of the stunned practitioners, the scorched battlefield, and the remnants of the summoning site.
Then he nodded.
"That’s true... It’s been a while since we all got together... Is Maya going to be there?" Chad asked.
"Lisa should’ve invited her..." Vale replied.
Chad felt quite excited after that... Still, before returning to the Shadow Domain, he turned to Vale and the group of people clearing up the battlefield before he gestured toward the distant hills.
"Co with for a bit," he said. "There’s sothing I want to show you. The Beast Arts Practitioners have been waiting for a chance to et you properly."
Vale raised an eyebrow but didn’t object. After a mont of thought, he gave a small nod.
"They’ve been loyal," he said. "It’s only right I show my face."
With that, the two of them left the battlefield behind... Although there were also leaders or elders here, they were busy handling the remnants of the cult, so Chad decided to bring Vale to their base instead.
They traveled on foot, moving through the forested outskirts of Duskwither Sink until they reached a hidden valley located between two cliffs. There, built into the natural stone and reinforced with beastbone architecture, stood the Beast Arts Faction’s forward base.
It was a sacred outpost used only during tis of crisis.
The mont they arrived, several elders and practitioners bowed in respect... Even Grandmaster Varn hurried to this place after dealing with the matters of the Order of Fatality...
Chad gave them a nod, then he led Vale around the base, past training grounds, beast stables, and ritual chambers.
"They’ve been doing well," Chad said as they walked. "Ever since we opened access to the Beast Arts Tower, their growth has been... impressive."
Vale glanced at a group of young practitioners practicing totem channeling in the distance. Their tattoos glowed faintly, and the air around them was soon filled with beast energy.
"They’re adapting to the unknown totems?" Vale asked.
Chad nodded. "Better than expected. The Tower’s archives had dozens of extinct or undocunted beast types. So of them were considered myths until now. With our help, they’ve been able to awaken totems no one in their faction had ever seen before."
Vale actually wasn’t aware of the details of these matters.
He only knew that their 16 Arcane Towers were used to create connections to the various Factions. Though there were others who were skeptical about their goals, the Beast Arts Fation and a few others were still thankful for sharing their resources.
"That’s good to hear... It’s not like we’re using them. If they’re happy about it, you could try to find trustworthy people so we can open Beast Arts Branch in the Academy." Vale said.
He paused, then added, "They’re grateful, by the way. Not just for the Tower, but for the trust. Letting them train inside the Shadow Domain or the tower... it ant a lot to them."
Vale gave a nod of acknowledgnt. "They’ve earned it. I heard we’re getting a lot of resources from them as well. They’ve been reliable ever since."
Indeed, there was no way the Shadow Domain could sustain five cities without doing trades in various cities...
Furthermore, with so many Arcanists within their territory, it was normal to have a huge demand for various Arcane Materials, Alchemy, Potions, and many other ingredients for various weapon crafting or materials for rituals...
The Beast Arts Faction was one of their suppliers for those materials.
Soon, Chad led him to a quiet overlook where the valley opened into a wide training field.
From here, they could see the full scale of the Beast Arts camp... There were dozens of tents, Arcane Beasts, and ritual circles etched into the ground.
"They’re preparing for war..." Chad said. "They know the Order of Fatality isn’t done."
Vale’s gaze sharpened. "Speaking of which... how bad is it?"
Chad’s expression darkened.
"Worse than we thought. The cult’s spread deeper into the Pallham Empire than the Arcane Bureau initially reported. They’ve embedded themselves in remote villages, old ruins, even so abandoned military outposts. And they’re not just hiding... they’re recruiting nonstop. It was as if they were being financed by so other large organizations..."
Chad sighed as he recalled the reports.
"We don’t know yet which organizations were helping these people, but whatever they are, they surely wanted to create chaos."
Vale found this matter important, so he knew that the Order of Fatality must be uprooted really soon.
"Still mostly rogue Arcanists?" He asked....
"Mostly," Chad confird. "But the numbers are growing, especially among the Summoning Arts defectors. The internal conflict in their faction created a perfect storm. Hundreds left, and the Order welcod them with open arms."
Chad then recalled the Grimoires that they were using.
"The Grimoires of those who defected changed greatly... The cover and the pages beca thicker, and many of them beca covered with black leather with the image of an eye."
Without a doubt, the ones supporting these defectors were definitely rich...
Chad then continued.
"They’re teaching them how to summon Evil Entities directly through their grimoire or so corrupted rituals. They’re also trying to make them permanent instead of temporary summons..."
"That might be a huge problem if they continued doing this." Vale muttered as he considered what to do.
"How many sites like Duskwither?"
"Too many," Chad said. "We’ve confird at least seven across the western provinces. And that’s just what we’ve found. The Arcane Bureau suspects there could be more in the central territories, maybe even near the capital."
Vale was silent for a mont.
Then he said, "We’ll need to escalate. If they’re summoning Immortal-level entities, we have to respond appropriately... I’ll have rlin and my new Avatar take care of it. Don’t worry too much."
"That’s great to hear..." Chad finally heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that...
The two then looked toward the horizon, where the sun was beginning to set behind the mountains.
"Let’s finish up here," he said. "Lisa’s probably already setting the table."
Chad chuckled. "Then we’d better not keep her waiting."
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