Lucin started to explain the rules of the Wilderness Hunt.
"The Wilderness Hunt is divided into three sections. One for the High Mages. One for the Archmages. One for the Ancestral Mages."
"Every section will be held in a different wilderness."
"The wildernesses have been prepared by me and the 20 Bolts behind me. We have created tombs, caves, and many other things that will serve as trials. We have also littered the wildernesses with valuable treasures."
"Of course, the more valuable a treasure, the harder it is to obtain. You will meet powerful beasts, deadly traps, powerful criminals, and many other kinds of dangers. It is your job to survive these dangers and earn as many resources as possible."
"The amulets you have just received must be worn at all times. They show others your level, which is important in the Wilderness Hunt."
"In the Wilderness Hunt, you are allowed to attack other Clouds and kill them. You may keep all of the dead Cloud's belongings."
"However, you are only allowed to attack people at the same or at a higher level than your own. Attacking people below your level is strictly forbidden."
"As soon as a fight breaks out, one of my Bolts will oversee the battle and make sure that no third person gets involved. Every fight is a duel, and no one is allowed to interfere."
"In order to make the Wilderness Hunt possible in the first place, your amulets will also suppress your Spirit Sense to a radius of ten kilometers. On top of that, there are several Magic Circles in the wildernesses that stop you from looking into the ground with your Spirit Senses."
"The Wilderness Hunt will last for one year for the High Mages, three years for the Archmages, and ten years for the Ancestral Mages."
"When the time is up, we are going to come to you and bring you back to the Hibye."
"If you have entered a smaller trial located within the wilderness and time runs out, you are allowed to finish that trial before you have to leave."
"Any questions?" Lucin asked.
None of the Mages had any questions.
"Will the Bolts watch us constantly, even outside of fights?" Shang asked.
Lucin nodded. "Every participant will be watched over by one or more Bolts at every moment unless during special trials, but you will be informed if you enter such a trial."
That was everything Shang wanted to know.
This meant that he couldn't show his more sensitive abilities involving his Entropy Affinity.
There were no other questions.
Lucin nodded. "Then, I wish everyone good luck."
A second later, three Bolts stepped forward, each summoning a big Transportation Plate.
"High Mages, here."
"Archmages, here."
"Ancestral Mages, here."
The people all gathered on the three different plates. The remaining bolts split up amongst the different groups.
As for the Ancestral Mages, there were a total of 36 that took part in the Wilderness Hunt.
16 of them were at the Peak Ancestral Mage Realm, two were at the Late Ancestral Mage Realm, three were at the Mid Ancestral Mage Realm, five were at the Early Ancestral Mage Realm, and ten were at the Initial Ancestral Mage Realm.
The three Bolts leading the groups took to the sky and flew in different directions.
Shang's group was flying towards the north.
"Your trial will be held in the Deep Crevices," the leading Bolt said.
When the Ancestral Mage Clouds heard that, their brows furrowed.
"I've not heard of that one," one of the Clouds said.
The Bolt turned around and looked at her.
"You new?" he asked.
She nodded.
"You have an Ice Affinity?" he asked, looking at her light-blue hair.
She looked around at the other Clouds but nodded in the end.
"Depending on your fighting style with your Affinity, you will either have a great advantage over others or a great disadvantage," the Bolt said.
"Okay," the Cloud said awkwardly, "but what are the Deep Crevices?"
"You'll see," the Bolt said.
After flying for a couple of minutes, Shang could feel a huge body of water with his Spirit Sense.
Shang's Spirit Sense had a radius of 3,000 kilometers usually, but with the amulet, he only had one of ten kilometers.
Yet, he could still feel how fast they were moving.
And right now, he was seeing nothing but water for over a full minute of traveling.
That was when Shang realized where they were.
This was Shang's first time being in the Eternal Ocean, the gigantic body of water surrounding Aterium.
Near the beginning, Shang had still been able to feel the ground beneath the ocean, but now, he couldn't feel the ground anymore.
Even more shocking was the fact that they had traveled for over five minutes across the Eternal Ocean.
Based on the speed at which the Bolt was traveling, this meant that they were over a million kilometers away from Aterium right now.
They were literally in the middle of the Eternal Ocean.
And then, the Bolt suddenly stopped.
Shang looked around with his Spirit Sense, but he could feel nothing but the water below him and the sky above him.
"And we're here," the Bolt said.
The girl that had asked about the Deep Crevices earlier opened her eyes widely in shock. "But there's nothing here!"
The Bolt turned to her with a smirk. "Not on the surface," he said.
It took the Cloud a bit to realize what the Bolt meant, and her face turned white.
Wait, the Wilderness Hunt would be held on the bottom of the Eternal Ocean?!
How deep was it?!
While a bit of water wasn't an issue for an Ice Mage, the sheer density and pressure of the Water Mana at the bottom of the Eternal Ocean were probably unimaginable!
This was what the Bolt had meant earlier regarding her Affinity.
If the Ice Mage fought by converting Water Mana to Ice Mana or similarly, she would have a huge advantage. After all, she would be surrounded by extremely dense Water Mana.
Yet, if she didn't fight like that, it would become an issue.
Back in Area 23, Shang had learned about Mana Transformation.
The Ice Wyvern Zone had been filled with Ice Mana, and the Empress Cobra Zone had had a lot of Water Mana.
When the Water Mana flowed into the Ice Wyvern Zone, it turned into Ice Mana, and when the Ice Mana flowed into the Empress Cobra Zone, it turned into Water Mana.
So, if the Ice Mage didn't fight by transforming Water Mana into Ice Mana, she would find that her Ice Spells would be much harder to use.
She would need to use much more Mana for every Ice Spell since she would need to increase the density of the Ice Mana.
Obviously, she didn't have enough Mana to exhaust all the Water Mana in her surroundings. The best thing she could do was to keep her Ice Spell alive before it was inevitably turned into Water Mana, making it harmless.
Of course, Ice Mana wasn't the only kind of Mana that would have some issues inside the Eternal Ocean.
Fire Mana would get weakened just like Ice Mana.
Wind Mana couldn't borrow the inherent power of the air, which meant that one would need to use much more Wind Mana.
Metal Mana didn't technically care about the Water Mana, but the power of pressure, gravity, and the density of the water made it very difficult for a solid object to move very quickly.
Light Mana would also be at a horrible disadvantage since there was no light down there.
However, there were also kinds of Mana that benefited.
Earth Mana would have a great time at the bottom since there would be a very dense mass of earth beneath them.
Water Mana obviously had a great advantage.
Lightning Mana would also be very useful.
Due to the absence of Light Mana, Darkness Mana would also prove to be very useful down there.
And lastly, Gravity Mana was also at an advantage due to the increased pressure and gravity down there.
Naturally, the reactions amongst the Clouds were mixed.
A lot of them had furrowed brows, but there were also a lot of them with smirks.
Surprisingly, 28 of the 36 Ancestral Mages seemed to find this to be an advantageous wilderness for them.
Almost everyone had several Affinities, and these geniuses also had impressive abilities to adapt to new environments.
The Clouds had so many different Spells and techniques that they could find an advantage in any kind of extreme environment.
Sadly, there were also some of them that looked quite scared.
However, it was always difficult to accurately judge these Clouds.
It was possible that some of the seemingly unconfident Clouds were actually just faking their fear to lure others into attacking them.
"Alright, let's begin."
