Affinity:Chaos

Their encounter with the Barbarians taught them a lesson. Of course it didn't stop Void and Klaus from causing trouble. 

Void could sense treasures, so whenever they were close to anyone, he would naturally sense them. 

Going through the forest meant they would encounter treasures, and with treasures came danger. The battles helped the group grow, but they also showed them that the dangers here were not on the same level as the Azure Continent. 

Had Grey not comprehended the light element, they would've completely used up the remaining vials of healing tonic. The items they've managed to acquire were only raw items, not usable to them. They could only sell them whenever they got to a city or town. 

Grey's light element however could only do so much. He doesn't have a high mastery of it, neither is the elemental grade high. They had to get healing tonics from the cities since the one they got from the Blooming Viper was too valuable. 

Klaus and Alice were still in the same stage as before, but their strength had seen a significant increase. Klaus in particular had been focusing on his ice ability and his heavy water, making them more powerful. 

The heaviness of the water has almost doubled, now, without even a sneak attack, he could use it to break through Grey's earth wall. 

Alice had been practicing as well. Unlike the others, she didn't really have anything special other than being a Dual Elementalist. So she trained more than they did. 

They had challenged the geniuses from the Regions they've gone through, and she had lost one, drawn one, and won the other three. Klaus also fought as well, he only managed to defeat the person ranked fifteenth. When he tried to challenge someone higher, he lost, quite woefully at that. 

Grey had been conservative, not challenging those in the Late stages. He only watched the others. 

Reynolds had started challenging those in the Mid stages, and without the help of the Elemental Warrior, he was unable to get into the top fifteen. In the same stage, Alice was stronger than him. 

They were currently in Latchram Region, the last region before moving to the high leveled Regions in the Western Continent. They've been traveling for a while now, and the group felt it would be best if they joined one of these Factions sooner. 

Grey and the others had heard of people going into secret realms, and without joining a Faction or being from a powerful family, then there was no way for him to join them. 

Grey had a score to settle, so unlike the others, he was short on time. The quicker he improved, the better for him. His opponent wasn't an ordinary person. The humiliation and life-threatening attack he experienced that day, he wanted to return back to the young man. 

He hasn't told his friends of this, so they had no idea of it. 

Alive suggested they search for those in the geniuses rankings like usual and challenge them. Since Klaus and Reynolds agreed, Grey didn't really have much of a choice. 

It took them almost a week to find who they were searching for. They had to travel through multiple cities. From their numerous travels, Grey's essence stones were already halved, and at this rate, it would finish in no time. 

The plan of making a long range teleportation array came to his mind, but when he tried it, he realized he couldn't pinpoint the location of the one he made back at the strange forest. The space here was too strong for him, so he gave up on that idea. Although he gave up on the idea, it didn't stop him from making the arrays though. 

He would get powerful enough to use it one day. 

The target of their search was a young lady who went on an expedition, and according to what the group found out, a treasure was forming there. It would form completely, and most of the geniuses in the Overlord Plane had gone there. 

The treasure was only beneficial to those in the Overlord Plane, so people in the Sage Plane didn't come over. 

When the group got to the location, they were stunned by the barren land in front of them. Not a single vegetation was in sight, only dried rocks which looked like they would crumble from a single touch. 

"What the hell is this?" Klaus commented when he saw the state of the place. 

"This was caused by the darkness element." Void remarked after getting a feel of the place. 

"The darkness element?" Alice and the others asked, stunned. 

Grey closed his eyes and tried to feel the darkness element in the area. It took a while, but he was able to sense it later on. 

"He's right. It must've been done a long time ago, but it's still affecting this place." He looked at the place, a little shaken by how powerful the person who did this was. 

Even after so long, it still had such an effect. It showed the Elementalist was by no means weak. 

"Actually, this was caused well over three hundred years ago, I'm surprised you sensed it." A voice came from the side. 

The voice sounded a bit familiar. When the group turned around, they were surprised to see Kyle, the young man Reynolds fought against back at Dixon Region. 

"Kyle, you came as well." Reynolds was the first to speak up. 

"I heard of a treasure while passing by a small tribe, so I decided to come check it out. Who would've thought I would see you four here. Now my chances of getting it are as good as gone." Kyle replied with a shake of his head. 

"You know what happened to this place?" Grey asked. 

"Rumors had it that around three hundred years ago, a powerful Darkness Elementalist fought against the current ruler of the Western Continent. Their battle lasted over three days, and this place was reduced to this state." Kyle gave them a rough description of what he knew. 

"Oh, and this is just the outer perimeters. The closer you go, the more powerful the effect. There's a miasma in the center." He added.