Chapter 173: [173] Confidential Information

"You said you found this in a tower you cleared? Did it have anything to do with a technological civilization?"

Tristan’s face lit up with recognition. "How did you know?" He paused and smiled with interest. "You have been into one of those domains in the past, haven’t you?"

"One of them?" Ark’s curiosity was growing stronger by the second. "Are you saying there are more?"

Tristan nodded. "Have you noticed how the towers and dungeons, from the most simple ones to the most complex, always have a storyline?"

Ark nodded.

"Usually, these stories are completed in a single tower or dungeon." He waved a cookie in the air as though to say it was obvious. "In those cases, we call them Movies."

"How original." Ark said, his voice bleeding with sarcasm.

Tristan waved his hands dismissively. "But sometimes, the story does not end in a single tower. Sometimes, it takes as little as two, sometimes more."

"We call those ones Seasons." He explained.

’Of course.’ Ark sighed internally.

"What is the longest they have ever been?" Ark relaxed deeper into his chair, enjoying the conversation.

"Hmm..." Tristan stroked his jaw. "That should be the "To Steal A God." So far, there have been over Fifty recorded events."

Ark immediately sat back up. "Fifty??"

Tristan nodded, and Ark’s eyes immediately moved back to the artifact in his hand. He couldn’t help but wonder just how many more episodes remained of the Dreamer’s story.

If there was more out there, then he would like to investigate them. There was no real reason, it was just like he felt an invisible tug, drawing him to that plotline.

"Anyways, that should be all for today. Good luck with your exploration, Ark." He paused for a few seconds. "And please... don’t die."

"Losing someone like you will be a high blow to humanity, considering what is coming." His words were barely a whisper.

Ark was not even sure what if he was meant to hear it, but had heard it anyway. He waited for Tristan to continue, but the old man just smiled and stared at him.

"Are you really going to leave me hanging?" Ark asked coldly.

"I’m afraid what you want to know is confidential information, it is not something I can readily disclose to the public. Ah, but if you were to join the association—"

"Forget it." Ark got up and walked to the door, he held the handle then paused, turning around to stare at Tristan.

"This information... what do you plan on doing with it?"

All this while, Ark had only bothered about the dungeon itself. Not once had he bothered to ask what the information was going to be used for.

Now that he thought about it, he found himself growing curious.

Tristan smiled.

"If you say it is confidential information, I will request all my hundred of my duels right now."

His face twitched, then he frowned before letting out a breath. "It is confidential information..."

Ark’s face darkened.

"But I guess since you are the most important part of the operation, I can tell you." His tone grew more serious, and Ark felt a little of his killing intent slip through. "But what I am going to tell you, you cannot tell to anyone else."

He nodded.

Tristan stared at his cup of tea, watching as the crimson liquid swirled within the cup.

"Hell-level domains."

"We are going to track them."

<•••>

Eden was just as deceptively beautiful as it always was. It was a bright, sunny day. The sky was clear of even the tiniest wisps of clouds, leaving behind a veil of spotless blue.

Ark had left the association with more questions than he had come with. "Tracking Hell-level domains." He shook his head.

He had no idea what the association or the top guilds were planning. Hell-level domains were meant to be avoided, why would they want to willingly go into them?

Tristan had been unwilling to reveal it to him, but from what Ark had gathered, there was apparently a rush to acquire as many Hell-level domains as possible among the top guilds in Eden.

Ark stared down at the city once more, before he stepped back from the window and drew his window shut.

He had already gathered everything that he needed. He summoned the key and stared at the gleaming black surface.

Now all that was left was to return to the—

Click!

Ark’s door suddenly swung open, and he felt his chest run cold.

"Aha! I knew I heard sounds coming from this room." Ark heard a familiar voice scream from behind him.

Panic flooded his body.

"Shit!" He pulled the window back open, the rush of the morning breeze washing over his body. He hurriedly stepped onto the window sill—-

Tap—Tap—TAP!

The sound of rushing footsteps came from behind him and he glanced back, just as a heavy force slammed into him, pulling him away from freedom and tackling him into the bed.

Thump!

Ark felt softness on both sides. Orange hair suddenly cascaded down, brushing his face. He tried to move his hands, but the woman grabbed both of them, pinning them to his sides.

"Where. Were. You?" Olivia asked, her eyes moist with tears, but boiling with anger.

Ark did not respond, instead, his eyes searched the room, looking for any route he could use to escape. There were none.

"You were gone for more than a week, and not once did you even bother to check up on me—" Her voice stuttered on the last part, and she immediately corrected herself. "You did not check up on your guild!" She hissed, her cheeks flushed red.

"What kind of person does that make you?" Her grip on his hand tightened, and Ark heard his bones groan underneath the force of her fingers.

’She has grown stronger. Damn it, how did I get into this mess?’ He mused as he stared into those fiery green eyes.

After their time in the volcanic plains, they had all decided they needed some time off before their scheduled dungeon raid.

It was meant to last only three days at maximum, and that was the plan.

That was until Soo-jin got involved...

After she kidnapped him and took him to the party, both of them met up daily after that to practice the Patient Ear.

Each night, he would come back far too exhausted to do anything, and early the next morning he would be back at the association to meet her.

He had become too enamored, so lost in the training that he had forgotten everything else.

And just like that, Ark had practically ignored his guild members for more than a week.

He knew he had to apologise, but he also knew Olivia’s rage would not be so easily soothed.

So Ark did the only sensible thing he could have done at that moment.

He tried to run.

Into the tutorial.

Olivia’s eyes darted to the key that was still clenched tightly in his hands, and her eyes grew even wider, her fury magnifying.

Ark saw lightning in her eyes.

"Wh-where you... were you planning on running into the tutorial without telling us?!"

’I’m... I’m dead.’