NOVPUBFor some reason Eryndor's heart couldn't sit still everytime he thought about heading outside.
As if he was leaving some kind of safe net and returning out there in the big wide main world.
No use worrying, I am probably just too used to staying in this small place. I'll get over it soon.
Maybe his feeling emerged from the fact that there were some truly monstrous, genius and scheming beings out there.
He had thought back to his train of thought when he talked to Caulin, and he noticed some more facts about it.
Back then, it chilled his heart when he thought he had just narrowly saved himself unknowingly.
Eryndor thought of a few points which he hadn't paid attention to after knowing the entire plan of Caulin.
The first point was, the machines which changed the location of the Maws of Abyss.
The second point was, the information about the Shx'Trelith eldritch entity.
For Caulin's plan to work, he had to know that particular information about Shx'Trelith which mentioned no devices with connection back to the Earth were allowed near it because there were high chances it would trace it to reach Earth.
Eryndor recalled the two conditions he assumed about the high price for the information about his title from the Mystical Artifact.
One - It was based on the rarity of the information.
Two - It was based on the level of life form involved in the information, and since he was an eldritch entity, that price turned out to be high.
As usual, there could also be a third option which involves both.
However, if the Mystical Artifact indeed used the level of life form to determine the price, then Shx'Trelith was also an eldritch entity.
It's level of life form was certainly on the same level as him.
Then just like now, Caulin would have had to pay a high price if he wanted information about Shx'Trelith.
But.
But.
What if…he didn't use the Mystical Artifact?
The machines moving the Maws of Abyss, and the information related to Shx'Trelith.
What if he had gotten help from the Cyborg Outer Domain?
They certainly had the capability to go head to head, or even come out victorious against the Human Federation if it came to technology.
They could entirely launch spaceships without letting the Human Federation know and conduct their own information gathering.
Could Caulin put machines on the third planet to move the Maws of Abyss without letting the Federation know of his moves? Doubtful.
But could the Cyborg Outer Domain do it? Certainly.
Now, one could argue that Cyborg Outer Domain was helping Caulin because he was about to betray humanity.
But then, why would they tell Caulin about information related to the Trenek secret realm which was important enough to consider significant for humanity in a bad way?
There was only one answer, Caulin had someone loyal to him in the Cyborg Outer Domain.
Of course, all of this was based on a mountain of assumptions.
One - That the price of information was related to the level of life form involved in the answer.
Two - That Caulin hadn't paid the price to know information about Shx'Trelith.
Three - That Caulin wasn't capable enough to evade the Human Federation to put machines on the third checkpoint planet which housed the Maws of Abyss.
If everything was true, then Caulin was truly daring.
Deriving from point number two, Caulin hadn't paid the price for Shx'Trelith's information even when it concerned his entire betrayal plan.
Sure, he had a spy planted in Cyborg Outer Domain, but to steal information on an eldritch entity which was already highly classified enough, and even send it to a widely proclaimed Cyborg genius of the Human Federation? That was extremely risky.
Which meant, Caulin hadn't even paid the price even at the cost of his planted spy.
In this event of Polinek, humanity would've lost only Pat Ravencroft, a Commander level figure, and a few other members of Ravencroft family while gaining Calix, a Commander level figure who could 'continue' to be a Commander level figure.
Everytime the Cosmic Limit increased, people had to be quick to climb up in order to maintain their lead. Who could climb faster than Calix, whose ability made it such that his power depended on the number of people under him?
He was at least one of the fastest if not the fastest climber at least in the early stages of the power system. Eryndor had no doubt that he might already have a power at the peak stage of level three.
Humanity also successfully planted a nail in the side of the Mage Outer Domain.
Now, if we turn to this event.
Even if we considered that Caulin somehow knew about the tournament taking place, what would humanity gain out of the information he was about to tell him?
Nothing.
Even if it saved the lives of Guardian Sol and all the students, that was just what humanity already had, it couldn't be called a 'gain'.
Because if we looked at it that way, Caulin, a future Commander level figure, the mercenary teams and the senior students of the Academy which had gone to help in battle of Polinek, could be called a 'gain' as well since they didn't die and were still on humanity's side.
No matter what, regardless if Caulin knew about the tournament or not, the overall value of the battle of Polinek city was much greater than the Trenek secret realm.
Caulin didn't pay a price even when it concerned the battle of Polinek city, and now when it concerned the Trenek secret realm, he wanted Eryndor to tell him the title, which, in a roundabout way, had the same weight as the price he wasn't willing to pay.
So essentially, Caulin was playing a game with him.
He was lowballing the offer covertly. 𝔫𝔬𝖛𝖕𝔲𝖇.𝖈𝖔𝖒
If Eryndor had agreed to the deal straight up, it would mean that the value of Trenek secret realm to him was higher than what Caulin thought.
And if Caulin indeed knew about the tournament, there must be someone among the students or the two high ranking members of the Human Federation that this entity who exposed his plan valued.
If Caulin looked deeply, only the four students Eryndor, Paulina, Drakarion and Valentina were involved in the plan of Amplifier Doll and Polinek city, which concerned the battle of Polinek city, and now were present in the tournament which concerned the Trenek secret realm.
Among them, Eryndor was the only one who happened to be with Liliana on the mission to Shx'Trelith where he could've obtained all the information about it and also know Liliana's actions, which weren't possible for the other three which were in the Polinek city at that time.
Won't that mean his doubt on me would substantially increase? He would pay even more attention to me than to Paulina who was simply assumed as a middle man for now?
It was a good thing he hadn't agreed to the deal back then.
He took a risk and changed the terms so that Caulin wouldn't become suspicious that this entity who exposed his plan had an abnormally high valuation of the Trenek secret realm.
I really should be careful with these people.
