"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Darian said dryly, staring at the Elder.
"You contaminated the Celestial Yang Mulberry! Its energy has weakened drastically!" That Elder roared 'furiously', but his eyes clearly lit up at the chance to get rid of them.
All the Elders stopped what they were doing and moved closer. They quickly saw a one-meter dried root on the ground. At the same time, they followed the energy trail and noticed the whole stretch of root was weaker, as if Darian had tried to absorb several meters but failed.
Then they looked at the Mulberry Tree itself, and some of its leaves looked more withered than usual. He was the one who caused this: affected all the roots, a big part of the one he was on, and even the Mulberry itself.
"This can only be the work of a traitor! We've always suspected that crazy Dragoness. She killed so many innocents... no wonder she'd have some evil partner just like her!"
Niara lost her patience and growled, spreading her wings and clenching her fists. "Who do you think you are?!"
Immediately, the atmosphere turned tense.
'Niara, listen to me, don't do anything.' Darian tried to calm her mentally.
That was a clear provocation, aimed right at her. He had touched Niara's weak spot, the one thing that made her lose control. He clearly knew about her past and what had happened with that couple before; it wasn't hard to figure out she couldn't stand anyone bringing that up.
He had waited for the perfect opportunity to use it against her. If she really lost it now, combined with the Mulberry problem, she'd be condemned as a criminal with no chance of redemption.
But, contrary to what he expected...
'Fine, but promise me I get to punch him later.' She took a deep breath and answered in his mind.
Her explosive attitude was just a desperate defense. Now, she didn't feel desperate anymore. After all, she had everything she needed to reach her goals. All she and her partner had to do was keep moving forward. And for that, they had to trust each other.
Darian took a deep breath too, relieved. Niara had a rough life and learned to act like that. The harm she caused in the past probably came from that explosive attitude. And now they were trying to exploit exactly that.
Darian stared at the Elder coldly. "I still don't know what you're talking about. You're the one who set the rules, and you were the one watching. You only said we couldn't get closer than ten meters. I had no way of knowing that, and now you're accusing me of a crime? If I really did something malicious, then you're the one who should've warned me and stopped me. Are you trying to dump the blame on us to cover something up?"
"You think that's enough?" the Elder grunted coldly.
"Fuck you, you piece of shit," Darian said flatly. "I didn't break any rules. If you accuse me of something I didn't do... oh right, if I remember correctly, by the rules, my partner can use her emblem to trigger an alarm in the academy. That would start an emergency investigation. You sure you want that? If it happens, you'll be held responsible too, no matter the outcome."
"You..." The Elder swallowed his words, furious. Then he turned to Niara.
She stood still and silent.
How did she not blow up? The records about her were clear: when provoked, she attacked right away. She'd caused an unprecedented bloodbath once.
"I'll request an investigation myself and make sure all this gets recorded," the main Elder said coldly. "Don't think you'll walk away from this if it turns out to be true. For now, we'll continue the test."
He turned and walked off coldly.
The other Elders continued the count in silence...
A bit later.
Darian got one meter, earning 2,500 points. But he didn't take as much as he could've, or he really felt it would've harmed the Mulberry too much. So his score wasn't much higher than the others'.
Because he weakened the Yang, about ten elite participants got 2,000 points, and one of them also got 2,500 with one meter. First place was tied in this test phase. But overall, Niara was still in first.
She had 3,750 points. Second place had 3,200.
It wasn't an impossible gap to close. But...
The last part of this test was something only female Summoners could score points on. Meaning, she could pull even further ahead. So much so that, in the final three-day test, the gap might become unreachable.
"Let's go, quickly," the Elder shouted, moving fast.
Everyone followed, heading northeast from where they were, crossing the field.
Soon, they saw a very green area ahead, but it wasn't flat and had lots of trees blocking the view. It was surrounded by what looked like a simple fence, but was actually a very carefully made inscription. It looked pretty big; you couldn't see the other side.
The Elder stopped in front and started speaking.
"Over there are some of the Academy's very important Sacred Beasts. They're called Yin Sacred Goats."
Darian had read about this new term created in this universe. These Sacred Beasts were literally regular beasts, not very intelligent. But they got the title because they could produce something very useful, powerful, and valuable for people.
"The test is simple. All the Yin Sacred Goats have Yin milk right now." He turned to Darian and Niara. "The goats aren't like plants or stones. They have senses and instincts. If you try anything weird, they'll run. And just so we're clear: it's strictly forbidden to use force on them."
Darian looked back at him, expressionless. Why would he try that? His Summoner was a beautiful woman and could do what all the others were doing.
The Elder continued, "The goats only allow women with strong Yin to approach and connect. That way, they can be milked to get some of the Yin milk. The effort is similar to the Yang root, but different. The goats don't respond well to Spiritual Guardians, so they must pass the ring's energy to their Summoners, who must go alone. That means they'll have only a limited amount of power, which makes it harder."
"But don't worry too much. There are many levels and personalities among the Sacred Beasts. If you find the most compatible one, it'll be easy. None of you will leave empty-handed, unless you get greedy and go after something impossible."
All the women nodded, clenching their fists.
"As you can imagine, once collected, this milk doesn't do much for women. But male Summoners get a lot out of it. That's why it's considered a treasure by the Academy. But unlike the dry root, the milk can't be stored. It has to be consumed by a male Summoner within an hour or it loses its effects." The Elder finished calmly.
"You have one day. Once you enter, you can't come back, and you can only milk one single goat. As soon as you succeed, the goat will leave. The Elders will be watching everything and will score you based on the level of the goat you manage to milk. So, as soon as you get it, return."
They all nodded, understanding: they had to collect the best milk possible. When they came back, they'd either pick a Summoner with a good root and trade it… or just give it to the one they liked.
"Go."
At the command, all the women jumped over the fence and entered the goat pasture.
Niara was the only one who stayed behind. Darian was transferring the power of the ring to her, channeling it completely into her spiritual root.
All the Summoners who received power from the ring stored it inside their own bodies. No matter how strong a Spiritual Guardian was, the summoner could only hold a very limited amount.
But she was different—she could take in 100% of what Darian had and use it however she wanted. A spiritual root could hold energy within it—or anything else... this test was an opportunity.
Once he finished pouring everything into her, she placed the slug on a rock and ran off excitedly.
All the smaller Spiritual Guardians were there waiting, along with all the male Summoners. A Spiritual Guardian couldn't go too far from their summoner; the limit was around a hundred meters, but the pasture wasn't even that big.
Four hours later, some of the women began returning.
They hadn't been greedy and had found goats they knew they could milk. One of them quickly handed a bottle to her man with a big smile. The others came over to negotiate for a Yang root.
By the eighth hour, many had returned. That was when Niara came back—slowly.
She looked at Darian, holding a bottle filled with white liquid. When their eyes met...
Darian understood her perfectly.
She walked forward slowly—but not toward him.
Everyone's attention snapped to her, then turned to surprise. She was heading toward one of the elite male Summoners!
She stopped right in front of a specific one. He was a Mannaz from the bird tribe, with a pair of black wings. The same one who, during the Yang Root test, had cursed her out but didn't take the bait when provoked.
But... that wasn't why she walked up to him.
When she stopped in front of him, he looked her up and down.
She held up the bottle of milk. Everyone figured she was about to offer it and start a trade, but...
She just reached out and handed it to him, asking for nothing.
Everyone—even that Summoner—was stunned. She turned and walked away...
"You! Why did you give this to me?" he asked quickly.
She turned, a playful smile on her face. "Because you are cute."