Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 1973: Velin City

After Grey spent some time with the Necromancers, he soon came to a realization; the Gnomes were more organized when going to battle compared to Humans.

According to the Necromancers, there were hundreds of troops, with each troop having a Commander at the Peak of the Sovereign Plane. Not just that, but around seven to ten troops are usually assigned to one Half God Plane expert. The Gnomes are very strict with their military rankings and no one is allowed to disobey their superior, with death being the punishment. There is also a chance of increasing one’s position through military merits.

Comparing this to the Humans, the difference is quite vast. Take for instance when they went out to help True Dawn repel the Gnomes, they randomly gathered a few people. With little to no familiarity between them, taking on a well organized group of Gnomes could have ended badly for them. Luckily, they had Grey and Chris who were able to plunge the battle into pure chaos. This chaos is the reason the Gnomes’ organized attack failed, ending with them losing a few Half God Plane experts. Yes, they succeeded in breaking the seal, but the death of four Half God Plane Gnomes was a painful loss to the Gnome as a whole.

Necromancers were a huge part of the Gnomes’ camp since they were the major people giving them vital information on each Force from the Human World.

As the conversations ensued, Grey was asked which Commander he was stationed under. Knowing he could not avoid this, he told them he was directly under the Seventh Prince and did not need to engage in any battles. The Princes all had Necromancers working for them, this was a well-known fact. He even showed them the Seventh Prince’s token to seal his lie.

The Necromancers looked at the token with blazing eyes. If they could work under the Seventh Prince, they would not have to participate in the dangerous skirmishes in the Human World often. They were hated even more than the Gnomes in the Human World. Most Humans would rather kill a Necromancer than a Gnome.

The Necromancers constantly threw flattering words at Grey during their conversation after finding out his ‘identity’, with each offering him a toast before taking a gulp of their drinks.

Grey did not refuse their toasts, taking a sip of his drink whenever they did this. He had never been much of a talkative, only saying a few words and giving vague replies to most of their questions.

The Necromancers tried to see if they could get him to help them into the Capital, only to receive a noncommittal nod from him. They knew it was going to be difficult and only asked for the sake of it. After almost two hours, they left the Inn, leaving Grey alone with his thoughts.

He soon left the Inn, searching the marketplace for the Principal, he departed the City after not finding his target.. His destination was the Capital. Judging by the map, it would take him close to a week to get to the Capital City.

….

Velin City.

Grey stood outside the City gates of Velin City, this was his last stop on the way to the Capital City. It has been five days since he left the first City he got the map from. Noticing the top experts in those regions were limited, he charged forward at full speed, only stopping whenever the Bunny Leader signaled him about any potential top expert. Although the Bunny Leader did not fight, his keen senses and use of the space element made his value to Grey skyrocket. There were also the Bunnies under him that could be used to scout the area.

Grey has made it his task to visit each City on the way in search of the Principal. It only took at most an hour, thus he did not find it as time-consuming.

Velin City is one of the biggest Cities in the Gnome World, spanning well over eight hundred square kilometers. It is also home to some of the top experts of the Gnome World.

If Grey fails to find the Principal here, Brown would be his last resort.

Entering the City, Grey knew he had to be extra cautious here. He could use the token of the Seventh Prince to throw his weight slightly in weaker Cities. In a City like this, there is a high probability of someone who has had regular contacts with the Seventh Prince to be present. The last thing he wants to do is to be forced to control the Seventh Prince to come help him.

Even with the size of this City, it was still filled to the brim with Gnomes. The population of Gnomes could easily be twice that of Humans, if not even more. The number of Peak Sovereign Gnomes Grey had seen over the past few days has been staggering to say the least. He had even heard of a group that would be attacking a particular Force in the Human World in a few days time. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to transmit this information back to the Human World. The restriction of the world boundaries made it impossible for him to use his special communication tool to contact his friends or father.

As Grey moved around in Velin City’s marketplace, he went to the part where Humans were sold. Only to be greeted by the sight of people bargaining for a Human who was placed on sale. This Human was an Old man, who looked to be around eighty or so. What attracted Grey over was not the arguing, rather, the clothing of the Man. It was identical to the uniform worn by those from True Dawn. With the exception of his Teacher, pretty much everyone else he saw at True Dawn had this same uniform on.

This Old Man was only an Origin Plane Elementalist. There were some teenagers by his side who were no older than fifteen that were also being sold.

Standing in the busy street, Grey walked over to another stall and pretended to be observing the items. He could not go over to bid for these people for fear of exposing himself, besides, he also did not have the funds. Since he lacked money, he would wait for whoever bought the Old Man and then follow the person home.

After a few minutes of arguing, the Old Man was bought by a young Gnome who was a Venerable. The Gnome wore luxurious clothing, and was accompanied by two First stage Sovereigns.

Grey frowned at the sight of this. He thought the person who would get the Old Man would be a random person he could easily kill to get the Man back. This did not seem to be the case, just from the young Gnome’s dressing alone, he could tell he must be from a powerful Family. Having two First stage Sovereigns following him further verified this fact.

This did not sway Grey, sneaking behind the group, he followed them as the young Gnome continued purchasing different things. Other than the Old Man, the young Gnome went on to buy two young Ladies who were both outstanding beauties. The Ladies were only Mid stage Sages, slightly stronger than the Old Man. They both wore matching outfits, one Grey found oddly familiar. Not thinking too much, he decided he would question them after saving them. He wanted to ask the Old Man from True Dawn if he had any idea where the Principal might have been kept.

He hoped the Principal’s situation was most likely the same as this Old Man.

Leaving the marketplace, the young Gnome boarded a carriage that was dragged along by some strange looking Beasts. They were identical to horses, only bigger with webbed feet. Grey had seen them before in the Capital City of the Gnome World.

He followed the group silently for a while before stopping about five hundred meters away from the large compound the carriage entered.

Calling out the Bunny Leader, he sent him inside the compound to scout the place and see if there were any experts present. Grey was not confident he could conceal his aura from Peak Sovereigns. The Bunny Leader was different, Grey has no idea how he does it, but he could even conceal himself from Half God Plane experts, much less Peak Sovereigns.

The Bunny Leader only spent ten minutes inside before coming out to give Grey the all clear. Apparently, there were only five Late stage Sovereigns currently in the compound that spanned close to a kilometer. There were a few compounds like this one in this City, some were even larger. There was no need to say, these were compounds belonging to the influential and powerful members of Velin City.

Grey decided to wait until later that night before he made his move. He wanted to use the cover of the night to make his mission easier.