'Minos Stuart, I want to see you in person. Come to me.'
A voice reached the minds of Minos and everyone in his group, including Julian, and made them look in the direction of where the elves, the leaders of this meeting, should be.
"Such a voice..." Julian recognized who was behind that message and immediately realized that one of the strongest people on Elven Island wanted to meet with Minos.
"Minos, you must go and meet him. But be careful and as respectful as possible. That being is probably the strongest here at the moment". Julian said, looking soberly at the brown-haired young man in front of him.
Even the strongest Sky Whale there, representing his tribe, lost in strength to that elf!
As was said before, just because the Sky Whale Tribe was the strongest in the Spiritual World, it didn't mean that every member of the race was stronger than members of other races, at the same level.
For example, there were level 99 humans who were stronger than level 99 Sky Whales.
That was extremely rare, and most Sky Whales were much stronger than those of other races at their level.
But the elf who had just called Minos was one of those rare exceptions, someone who was second in strength only to the leader of the Sky Whale Tribe!
"Okay, then I'd better go alone." Minos looked at his companions, confident that the elves wouldn't do anything against him.
Many experts were there, and Minos had already made deals with several groups. What's more, his leadership of the Black Plain Empire could serve the elves' purpose of keeping as much of the Spiritual World as possible at a high level during and after the crisis that was about to hit the world.
Elves were the protectors of nature, of the world itself, but also those who benefited most from the spiritual riches of the Spiritual World.
To them, anyone who acted in defense of the world and did things that brought wealth to the world was welcome.
Knowing the truth, though aware of the elves' dirty side, Minos set out to meet this level 99 elder.
In the blink of an eye, he entered a small room inside the large tent of that camp, where he encountered two elves sitting on cushions on the floor, drinking some sort of hot beverage.
"Seniors." Minos made a gesture of greeting to the two individuals there, one a level 99 elf and the other a level 98.
Both had greenish skin, blond hair, and an extremely youthful appearance, with their characteristic large, pointed ears.
These were the common characteristics of all elves, something that made it easy for an inattentive person to confuse two elves of the same gender.
"Minos Stuart..." The weaker of the two looked into the brown eyes of the human standing before him and his companion and saw a glimpse of the young man's fate while feeling his powerful aura and spiritual fluctuation. "You are truly a rare gem. Where exactly are you from, Minos? Who were your parents?"
"Ordinary people, far way to the greatness of the elders," Minos answered sincerely.
"As expected... Indeed, you are a child destined for disaster." The stronger elf muttered while analyzing Minos at the same time.
"Does the senior think I'm unusual because of the difficult times ahead?" Minos easily understood the elf's words, knowing hard times made strong warriors.
"Yes, I do. But that doesn't take away from your merit. The world gives its inhabitants more powers when in danger. But the things you've achieved are not guaranteed just because you were chosen randomly." The elf said, slowly speaking as he used a piece of bamboo to shape the steam from his tea.
The steam took the shape of the things he was talking about, showing Minos an animation of a world in trouble, with several 'stars' appearing around it.
"We elves are also part of the world's chosen ones, so we protect it. Do you understand that, Minos? I can see that someone from my tribe has made a deal with you, so I'm afraid you understand us wrong."
"Is there a wrong way to understand you, senior?" Minos asked.
The level 98 elf replied. "When one of us makes a deal like the one one of our juniors made with you, Minos, it's not necessarily to your detriment.
You must have benefited before making a deal with one of our tribe members, right? As long as you keep your word, your deal with that elf will be completed, and both sides will have won.
The actions of our tribe members are not about stealing the destiny of talents. This trait of ours is just an advantage that the world has given us to guarantee our agreements and our ability to foresee disasters and protect the world from them.
"If it weren't for that, Minos, we wouldn't be able to foresee the current crisis, let alone stand up as the leader of the world coalition to organize the forces around the world in these difficult times ahead." The other level 99 elf said, showing Emperor Stuart that they weren't necessarily bad for acting the way they did.
The one who had called Minos there, Levis, said. "We're not telling you this to make you think we're your friends. We're just explaining things. Many people don't understand why we act as we do, which can greatly hinder our plans for the world in this difficult time.
I know you must hold a grudge against the elf who forced a deal on you, but you shouldn't think it was necessarily done to harm you or that the elf tribe has that intention. A few of us deviate from the norm and do things we despise. But most of us just use the ultimate consequence of our agreements so that we don't lose all the investment we've made in people like you.
In any case, I hope this doesn't discourage you from seeing the Elven Island as a friendly force. As long as you have the same goal as us, and I know you do, we'll be fine, and we can have a great time working together."
"Work together? Is that why the senior called me here?" Minos asked.
The level 99 elf placed a pillow beside him and pointed to Minos. "Sit here. Let's talk as equals."
"Oh?" Minos didn't disagree with the elf's recommendation, but he hadn't expected to be treated like that.
But there was a reason for it!
"We heard that you're going to the North Sea. Is that true?" Kolvar, a level 98 elf, asked, having already heard from the Dragons and the Sea Folk about Minos' group and how he intended to go to the most dangerous sea in the Spiritual World.
"As expected... The seniors know about it." Minos smiled.
