CHAPTER 61: BLACK STORM

Silva headed to her office with the core; she, on the other hand, went to clean up. She met him in the office sitting down, laid back with the core in his hands.

She walked to her chair and sat down as well, then she faced him. She looked him in the eye, but she couldn’t tell anything about him.

"Sigh, tell me what happened," she said.

Silva leaned forward. "Alright, it will sound far, fetched, but I’ll give you every detail," he said.

He started telling her exactly what had happened. He didn’t really do anything crazy, so there was nothing to hide, aside from his demonic forge and some other things.

He just told her that after a grueling battle, he defeated the tendrils, but he refrained from explaining in detail.

"So basically, you ran into the cult again, and then the gate boss dragged you all the way to its nest," she said.

"Yeah, that’s basically it," he stated.

"It sounds crazy, but I believe you, or I want to. But I have a question, a genuine question for you, Silva," she said.

"Okay, lay it on me," he replied.

"What exactly are you? Nothing about you makes sense in any conventional way or form. You are growing stronger at a pace that no one has done before, and you are doing what would normally be impossible," she explained.

He looked at her. She genuinely wanted to know what he was. He gave her a soft smile as he spoke.

"Lady Elena, you’ve been helping me for some time now, but our relationship hasn’t gone deep enough for secrets. But still, I think you deserve some sort of information to answer a bit of your questions.

The gate where I nearly died is no average gate. That gate changed me," he said, then leaned back.

She took a deep breath. "I see. I hope one day we can have a relationship where you tell me more about yourself," she said.

"I’m sure we’ll get there," he replied, then pointed at the core.

"So what do we do with this?" he asked.

"The core can be used to make a weapon, and if we give it to someone that’s actually very skilled, their entire life can be used to make an S-ranked weapon, which means a treasure," she said.

"Whoa, that’s more than I thought," he said.

"Honestly, it could be used for more, but it’s difficult to harness the true power of a core like this," she said.

"I have a question. If the goal of entering gates was to destroy the gates, why aren’t more cores found?" he asked.

"Remember when I said it’s not luck? Well, you defeating the monster and getting the core wasn’t luck.

But finding the core is the issue. It’s extremely hard, and many people spend weeks to months in a gate searching for the core," she explained.

"Hmmm, I see, but a part of me tells me that it has more to do with regulation as well," Silva said.

"You are smart, maybe too smart for your own good. But yes, it has to do with regulations as well, because if high-ranked awakened just started entering and destroying gates, it would cause an upset in the delicate power structure.

For the most part, getting a core like this is good, but only when you are from one of the major guilds or an extremely high ranker.

Because even a C-ranked core like this is extremely important and expensive, a lot of organizations will kill you for it," she added.

"A lot of this makes sense and a lot more doesn’t. So what if gates begin appearing more rapidly?" he asked.

"Then we have to start taking down more gates. It’s like I said, regulation. What you did today will show on the news as a good thing.

Because it’s just one, but if more start showing up, it’s going to cause an issue," she said.

"Gates have monsters that kill people. My parents researched a gate and died in there, and a gate broke near my sister’s school; she almost died.

If I enter a gate, I’m going in with the mindset of destroying the gates," Silva said.

"Well, that’s a good idea." The door of the room suddenly opened, and a young woman walked in. She looked to be Silva’s age, with purple hair and a sharp yet strikingly beautiful face.

She had on a casual black hoodie and pants. She walked up to Silva and looked at his hands.

"I knew it, I knew from the moment I saw you outside the gate that you were the one that did it, so I followed you.

Who knew you would end up here, with her," she said and shot Elena a cold look.

"Who let you in, Lily?" Elena asked.

"Do you really think your people will dare to stop me?" she asked with a smile.

"Uhm, who is she?" Silva asked Elena.

"She is Black Storm, or Lily, the prodigy of the Golden Dragon guild. She is an S-ranked awakened. We’ve worked together in the past," Elena said.

"Yup, that’s me," the lady said with a smile and then snatched the core from Silva before he could even react.

"Hey!" he yelled, but she ignored him. She tossed it into the air and caught it.

"You really destroyed a gate, that’s pretty nice," she said, looking at Silva.

"Lily, stop that. Also, what do you mean ’that was a good idea’? You said it when you came in," Elena said.

"Well, me and Victor have been doing research, or mostly Victor, and he discovered that lower, ranked gates have started popping up more, and the amount is picking up even more.

And there is a possibility that the cult you have been chasing has a hand in it," she said, her smile still bright.

"What do you mean more gates? I haven’t heard of this till now," Elena said.

"Well, duh," Lily said. She pulled a chair and sat down, her legs placed on the table. "Let me explain."