(A/N: Almost the end of the first week of June, this poor author hadn’t been bestowed with a single Golden Ticket or a gift! The author might just fall in depression T-T)

....

A while later, a wave of silence had descended upon the previously noisy environment. The three men and Daereth herself looked at Emperal with profound shock in their eyes.

One by one, he had identified every damaged and malfunctioning array, along with the formations connected to them. Not just that, he had even given a few solutions. Just a few.

Daereth stood in silence, her eyes staring at Emperal as if she had just found a goldmine.

"Fix all the arrays and formations, and I will reward you handsomely."

She said, the men behind couldn’t help but nod their heads.

Emperal’s smile widened when he heard that, "It would be my pleasure, lady. Also, I have a doubt."

"Ask."

"These formations, I’m sure you haven’t bought them on plates and jades from Draeventhar, how did you manage to spread all of this?"

It was true, looking at their reactions, certainly none of them understood a single dime about formations.

Daereth sighed when she heard that, gritting her teeth, she hissed in anger. "Some enemy invaded us a few weeks ago, and in the aftermath...our formation master was dead."

Her anger was valid; formations were among the most useful tools one could have in an unknown realm.

The danger would basically be halved when one has an adequate number of formations laid down.

"I see."

Emperal nodded and didn’t speak much.

"Alright, let’s go and get it fixed!"

Daereth waved her hand and signalled the men behind her, who nodded enthusiastically.

Emperal followed Daereth right behind, his eyes couldn’t help but wander through the settlements.

Strangely, he still hadn’t seen Calder anywhere.

"He must be on some mission." Emperal shrugged.

A few hours later, Daereth personally led him to the first array. It was the Presence Web Array, and Emperal hummed when he saw it.

The array, as its name suggests, spreads small, thin Verth threads across the ground at ankle length. Used to detect mass and movement rather than Verth signatures.

Daereth and the rest stood back; this time, even Korrath had joined them. He stood behind Daereth like a loyal dog.

Emperal crouched beside the array’s anchor point and read the Verth script that was running in it.

It was standard construction with competent work.

"So? What should I do?"

Emperal ’smiled’ at the array and moved his hand erratically to put on a show for the audience.

"Sigh...fix the dead zone first, those two overlapping signals that are cancelling each other. Adjust the angle by exactly four degrees and eliminate the interference."

The Infernal Dragon sighed in a rueful voice; it couldn’t help but rethink its life choices.

With a ’smile’ on his face, Emperal did exactly as he was told.

One of the men, Lindar, watched from two meters away with his arms crossed. His expression was dubious.

After a few minutes, Emperal stood up and wiped the ’sweat’ on his forehead.

"The overlap has been fixed, the array will start working when supplied with Verth."

He spoke, and Lindar stared at him for a second before waving his hand.

A burst of Verth was released from his hand, slipping into the array.

In the next moment, a small jade appeared at the center. Numerous light beams spread through the air harmlessly.

Lindar and the rest looked on in wonder.

"Good, very good!"

Daereth nodded excitedly, Emperal looked at her briefly before flashing a small smile.

He stood and walked towards her.

"Next."

...

The second array was an Affinity Mirroring Array. It reads the incoming Verth signatures and reflects a harmless copy back.

Emperal looked at it for a second and, without hesitation, he crouched down. His hands began to glow slightly.

"...Its core readings are broken, just fix that."

And fix it—he did.

He found the core part, identified the calibration issues, and fixed them cleanly in front of Daereth and her subordinates.

For the following hours, he roamed the entire region. Fixing the arrays and formations left and right.

The IronScales were incredibly satisfied; they even praised Emperal. Finally, after eight full hours. Most of the arrays and formations were fixed, even the offensive ones.

After that, he found Daereth at the entrance’s structure. She had been observing him, a wide smile plastered on her face.

Emperal walked over, "It is done."

He said.

"You have done wonderful work, my friend."

"Thank you, now. About my...payment."

Emperal said, his words widening Daereth’s smile.

"Of course, of course!"

In the next second, she waved her hand.

In the next instant, a claw-like hand grabbed Emperal’s neck from behind!

His eyes widened in panic, snapping his head towards Daereth, he roared.

"What is the meaning of this, Lady Daereth!!?"

He struggled violently, but Korrath’s grip was like a hawk. No matter what he did, the hand grabbing him didn’t move in the slightest.

"Hehe~ There is no way I will let such talent go. You will be staying here from now on."

Daereth smirked, looking at Korrath. She waved her hand.

"Throw this brat in prison."

Saying that, she vanished.

"BASTARDS!!!"

Emperal cursed out loud, but of course, Korrath couldn’t care less about Emperal’s feelings. He dragged Emperal by his neck towards the back of the base, where ’special’ prisoners were held.

...

"Lady Daereth...was that a wise choice?"

In Daereth’s personal meeting room, Lindar raised his voice. His expression was a bit...difficult.

"What? Are you questioning my decisions now?" Daereth shot him an annoyed look.

"I won’t dare my Lady, but directly imprisoning him...without any prior dealings, seemed a bit hasty."

Lindar still didn’t back down.

"I kinda agree with him, we could have just offered a lump of money and made him stay here. Given his nature, he would definitely halt."

Daereth was silent when she heard them. According to her, if she kept a treasure such as Emperal, they could eventually build an impenetrable fortress. But after hearing the words of her subordinates, she started having second thoughts about her decision.

"Hmph! Doesn’t matter; he is a mere Verth Seeker. Just threaten him, and he will do our work."

...

Back in the prison cellar, as Emperal’s body rolled into one of the cells. He groaned slightly.

"What a pain in the ass to pretend to be weak, man, I hate this." Emperal spat, he hated the concept of playing weak.

Just as he was about to move, a familiar voice rang in the cellar, making his eyes widen in surprise.

"Emperal...is that you!?"