Prime Originator

While Aria and the others were wondering about the male dark faes' purpose for waiting outside the mountain instead of returning to their clan, the male dark faes also spotted them.

Some of them even trembled with fear and retreated a few steps, pushing the rest of the crowd into backing away as well.

Leon's group's presence alarmed them.

Even so, none of them left dared to leave—or rather, none of them dared to leave beyond the vicinity of the Red Ghoul Clan's outpost nor get close to it.

"Seems like the male dark faes' mental states are worse than I could imagine; it isn't farfetched to say that the Red Ghoul Clan broke their spirits," Leon commented with a frown.

This wasn't a group he could use.

Given the weak and broken wills they have now, even if he tried to train them, they will not have high accomplishments in their cultivation.

"What should we do with them?" Aria asked curiously.

She was simply wondering how the male dark faes should be handled.

But when the male dark faes heard her question, they shivered with fear, thinking she wanted to dispose of them.

"We'll let Nyfarella deal with them," Leon said.

But after glancing around, he failed to spot Nyfarella anywhere in the vicinity.

"By the looks of it, Nyfarella hasn't finished her business in the dark crystal mine yet," Leon added.

Nevertheless, he spoke too soon.

Nyfarella exited the mountain crack within three breaths of his last word with the last group of male dark faes in the mines.

"I've settled my business in the dark crystal mine, my Lord," Nyfarella reported, albeit with a bit of surprise.

She did not expect the Lord to be waiting outside the mountain for her. Alas, that was just her misunderstanding—but not one that Leon needed to correct nor be aware of.

"You mean this is all the men left in your clan?" Leon inquired before sweeping another glance at the male dark faes.

There were no more than five thousand men, a small fraction of their former number before working in the dark crystal mine.

"There were a lot of bones in the mine. Nyfarella believes most of my clan members died or the red ghouls ate them," Nyfarella reported her findings with a sigh.

"That's unfortunate. At the very least, five thousand men survived; given time, your clan's male population will increase again," Leon spoke.

"Yes, my Lord."

Whether the female dark faes were willing to copulate with such weak and broken-willed male dark faes was another story.

Nevertheless, many of them should have families waiting for them.

"Let us head back to the clan. These men have experienced much hardship and require medical care. I will resolve their health issues, but their spiritual recovery will be up to your clan."

"Yes, my Lord!" Nyfarella answered gratefully.

The male dark faes' conditions were truly terrible to look at.

Some had grey, black, and purple patches of skin, a clear sign of necrosis, infection, or rotting; others had missing pieces of flesh.

There was no need to guess what happened there; the red ghouls had taken bites out of them.

'So this is what the demon's territory is like, huh?' Aria silently studied some of the male dark faes' condition and felt nauseous.

Darlene didn't fare much better, but Duna was simply indifferent to them all.

"Why didn't you return to the clan on your own? Why did you all wait out here?" Nyfarella questioned the crowd after making her way through to lead.

"W-we were afraid of the garrisons in the outpost… If they see us escaping, they will kill us…" a male dark fae replied timidly.

After hearing that, Nyfarella sighed helplessly and said, "There's no one left in the outpost. I already killed them all."

"Eh?" the male dark faes were surprised.

"Never mind. Let us head back."

…

Sometime later, Nyfarella led her clan members back to the clan.

At the same time, the female dark faes in the clan quickly rushed over to welcome them with joy and excitement after hearing the news.

However, it didn't take long before the mood became mixed.

While some rejoiced at the return of their beloved, others mourned for the ones that didn't make it back.

"Give them time to settle their grief and reunion," Leon stated.

"Yes, my Lord," Nyfarella nodded. Shortly after, she inquired, "Shall I arrange your accommodations in the palace, my Lord?"

"No," Leo shook his head and said, "Where is the original version of the Dark Fae God Canon? Take me there."

Nyfarella's eyes lit up after understanding his intention.

"Yes, my Lord!" Nyfarella complied with excitement.

She quickly led Leon up the mountain, away from the heavy atmosphere at the entrance. They passed numerous stone hunts, buildings, and towers.

Before long, they reached the highest peak of the mountain, the stone palace.

Without highly advanced planning and architectural skills, carving an entire city out of the mountain peak wouldn't have been possible.

The Dark Fae Clan's strength was not worth mentioning, but their craftsmanship was on a whole different level—or so Leon and Aria thought.

"How did the dark faes build this entire city? It must have taken an incredible amount of planning to know which part of the mountain to carve out precisely," Aria wondered with awe.

She was already impressed after looking at the city from a distance, but it was even more impressive up close.

This is how the peak of primitive craftsmanship would look.

There was a certain beauty in the simple things.

Nevertheless, Nyfarella's following reply to her comment was not quite what Leon and Aria were expecting.

"Eh? The entire clan indeed participated in the Darkstone Peak's construction, but this feat does not belong to us alone. Rather, most of the work was done by the Mad Dwarf Clan," Nyfarella explained.

"In fact, most Mid-rank clans in the Great Blackrock Mountains entrust the task of building their homes on the mountain peaks to the Mad Dwarf Clan."

"The Mad Dwarf Clan?" Leon raised an eyebrow.