Various Parties

As for being with Dole, that had also been to repay the Third Prince's favor.

It was only after spending so much time together that Yuno discovered she could learn a great deal from Dole. No matter the field, he far surpassed her, and his gaze reached much farther ahead. She liked being with Dole, and she also liked being with Aixi. Both of them were geniuses among geniuses.

Daphne was a genius too, but like Yuno, she specialized in the elemental side rather than alchemy, and could not offer her much help.

Yet as fellow geniuses, the two of them had far more topics to discuss than they did with others—for instance, techniques for controlling magic and methods for condensing sorcery nodes.

In the dark passageway, the two stood alone at the very back, speaking to no one else. They looked isolated and weak.

Teams kept arriving. Everyone was constantly contacting their own side, mourning their fallen teammates, companions, brothers, and sisters on one hand, while secretly discussing other matters on the other—such as the Spatial Calamity Pearls.

Da Vinci and Da Naiqi had kept all the Spatial Calamity Pearls they collected along the way on themselves, but neither had told anyone their total.

Others were asking one another as well, yet no one nearby was willing to reveal anything.

That made things seem exceedingly strange. This competition was based on the number of Spatial Calamity Pearls, yet no one knew exactly how many the others possessed.

Augustine's expression was grim. He did know whose pile of Spatial Calamity Pearls was the largest—it had to be Dole's. He could pass through walls, his attainments in alchemy were extraordinarily high, and the scanners he crafted were surely more advanced. Combined with the Wizard Tower's formidable amplification, Dole had at least