Ocean went down to the dungeon right after dinner to fix up Earl Sortes’s son. Lyall was already there.

As soon as he saw Ocean walk in he bowed deeply, "Welcome home, Master."

Ocean gave him a nod before looking at the sorry state the young man on the table was in. He reeked of blood and medicine but his agony was still beyond the reaches of the bandages wrapped around his body.

Ocean didn’t say anything to Lyall as he does worse to people and simply casted his Supreme Healing spell to put the poor man out of his misery.

He moved as soon as he was healed and quickly sat up, Lyall smacked the back of his head knocking him out in an instant and Ocean sighed.

"Remove all the bandages and have him thrown near the slums, just make it look like he was drunk and mugged." Ocean instructed.

"Yes, Master." Lyall responded.

"Also, come up to the library quickly." Ocean said and Lyall nodded.

Ocean went upstairs after that and found Kai, Enora, Roan, Remi and not so surprisingly, Silas waiting for him in the library. Kai looked like he was eager to bombard him with questions but Ocean simply smiled at them all and then glanced at Silas.

"Good evening, Uncle." Ocean spoke and Silas nodded.

"Are you all right? How was your... expedition?" He asked.

Ocean smiled, "Just have a little more patience, one more person is about to come."

After a few minutes, Lyall entered the library apologising for being late. Ocean simply waved his hand and gestured at one of the empty chairs that surrounded the large rectangular table.

Lyall walked over and sat down beside Enora.

Ocean stood at the head of the table behind his chair, resting his arms on the head rest.

"There are dark forces in Elvenland." Ocean started making everyone go stiff.

"If not demons then the involvement of the Witch or a Warlock is a confirmed thing." Ocean announced.

Silas leaned ahead, eyebrows furrowed deeply as he asked, "And the Elves didn’t notice them?"

"Well, we all know that these people are extremely smart and they can fool anyone. Elves are sensitive to mana but that place has its loopholes."

"So, for the past two days you were in Elvenland to check if there were demons there, Master?" Kai asked.

"That was part of the reason," Ocean clarified, "I was asked to stop the civil war in Elvenland and for that I needed information. I just got the confirmation that there was a third party involved as I had suspected."

Kai pondered over it while Silas leaned ahead, "You are not planning on dealing with them on your own, right?"

Ocean sighed, "Even if I want to, I couldn’t. The Elf King insisted that he will take care of it so, I’ll only step in when things get out of hands."

Silas still didn’t seem convinced and Ocean continued, "Besides, we have some troublesome individuals here as well."

Silas frowned a little and Ocean plucked out the two things from the inner pocket of his coat and placed it down on the table. Silas eyed both the objects and his eyes widened.

"The key was found a few days ago by Nox when he and some guards were chasing a suspicious man." Ocean explained, "And that piece of cloth was also found by Nox but in Elvenland."

"That means there are not one but two covens involved, one is here and other is in Elvenland and you have to fight against both of them!" Silas pointed out.

Ocean steepled his fingers and gave Silas a serious look.

"I understand the dangers of that, Uncle but we need to also face it now. They are actively trying to start the war and since I am a Dragon so, it falls over me to deal with it."

Kai opened his mouth about to say something and Ocean looked at him.

"I know what you want to say, Kai." Ocean spoke and Kai pursed his lips, clenching his fists on his lap.

"You will have your chance to help me, but it won’t be going against the covens, for me the first priority for now are the Trials and I want them to be going smoothly."

Kai nodded lowering his lashes and Ocean sighed. He knew sooner or later Kai would have to deal with these matters as well, but his parental instincts always chose Kai’s safety before everything else.

"Besides, weren’t you planning on having Eric to help solve the problem of Elvenland?" Silas asked, "Why isn’t he here then?"

Ocean shook his head, "I was, but considering that two covens are involved here, I’d rather he only focuses on the Trials."

Silas frowned a little but then sighed, "What’s your plan?"

Ocean glanced at everyone before him and then sat down on the chair with a serious expression.

"Three things," he started, "First of all, we need to make sure that the Trials go smoothly and for that, I would need every person we have on the field and in their places to keep an eye on every anomaly and every being that can sabotage it. I had made preparations for that but we still can’t rest assured thinking it will go without a hitch."

"Second, the Witch’s coven who can and will try to interfere with our plans. I can go straight away and destroy their coven the moment I find it but they are sharp, they keep moving and they have someone who can cast high level spells like teleportation."

Silas cocked his brow hearing that and asked, "Without a mana device?"

"I didn’t sense or see any device, but I saw the magic circle."

Silas frowned, "Magic circles were used by the old generation mages."

Ocean nodded, "Exactly, but it was perfect. We cannot underestimate them so, I can’t blindly mess with them just yet."

Kai looked a little concerned and Ocean continued, "As for the last issue, then that’s of Elvenland, I have managed to bring both the Elf and Dwarf Kings in the equation but it’s still hard to tell since I haven’t met with any of the Dark Elves of the Elvenland."

"Why not ask the Dwarves to provide the information?" Lyall asked and Ocean sighed.

"That’s what I did, but the Elves are too secretive and have closed off all the outside connections so if anyone else has to find any information then they will basically have to infiltrate the kingdom and well... that is also a problem because if an outsider uses mana in Elvenland then they will be detected because there is a mana barrier all around the kingdom."

The words sent a ripple of tension around the people and Roan frowned a little, "Wait, if there is a barrier then how come these Witches were able to infiltrate and create troubles?"

"There might be two ways, first, they are not using their mana and instead only relying on the dead mana which is a part of Yggdrasil."

"What’s a Yggdrasil?" Remi asked and even Kai looked confused.

Ocean looked at all of them as none of them were aware of this fact yet, Silas’ expression looks a little conflicted for a moment and then his eyes went wide as if realisation had just dawned on him.

"Wait, don’t tell me that their plan includes destroying Yggdrasil." Silas spoke and Ocean nodded grimly.

"That’s why, they must be stopped at any cost."

"Will you tell us what’s Yggdrasil?" Roan asked butting in.

Ocean and Silas explained their best about Yggdrasil and mana and till the end of it the audience was now on the same page, dreading the danger.

"So, what will you do to protect Yggdrasil, Master?" Kai asked.

"It’ll be tricky but I am planning on using every resource I have including the other races who live around Edrisyl."

Silas and others frowned and Ocean simply waved his hand, "That’s all I can tell about the Elvenland. We still have two pressing issues on our hands."

The meeting ended soon after and everyone rose from their seats to leave when Ocean spoke up.

"One last thing,"

Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"Whatever happens, none of this should go beyond us. There is also some mage in the coven who could hypnotize a person into doing whatever they want so, I’d rather that the information that we have remains within the few people."

The gathered people looked at each other before they nodded and then left. Ocean also left the library with Kai and exhaled heavily wrapping an arm around his shoulders as they walked.

"How is Sol doing? Did you check on him?" Ocean asked.

"I checked on him yesterday, he seemed fine. Big Brothers and Sisters say that he usually doesn’t do much but just meditates in the forest and helps the Dwarves with making some tools." Kai explained.

"Sounds like he misses us." Ocean commented and Kai hummed.

"You should go see him tomorrow, he will be happy." Kai suggested and Ocean nodded.

"I guess, I will."

Ocean entered his room after dropping Kai to his and plopped on his bed. There were a lot of things to do, the day that he had finally been dreaming of was right the day after and once the Trials were over he could safely assume that if not directly the King then Eric will be announced as the Crown Prince. Ocean’s purpose was to make Eric not only the King but the Emperor and for that he still had a long way to go.

The silence and the sounds of the night crickets slowly took over his racing thoughts and his eyes closed. Amid the darkness behind his eyelids, he felt a soft smoky wisp curl over his consciousness. It was a faint, soft voice that was calling for him.