Speed Is King

Of course, he was only Universal Treasure Number Two in the eyes of the Chairman of the Gaming Commission.

Nobody else of note knew about Jessica Sands, and El'Taras intended to keep it that way.

If the powers of the Universe knew about Jessica and her discoveries, not even the full and combined might of all the top fighters in the Gaming Commission and their deep backing could survive the onslaught.

They would be wiped out without a single trace within a single night by some old fogeys with Godlike powers seeking to climb that final rung towards immortality.

No, news about Jessica Sands had to be kept a secret at all costs, and that was exactly what he was telling Aunt Hillary at that moment.

Of course, being Jessica's aunt, she was completely on Jessica's side. In fact, she was feeling rather cross that El'Taras was eavesdropping so much on Jessica.

Wasn't he, by doing that, indirectly spying on her too?

"I don't appreciate you doing this, you know." Aunt Hillary said to El'Taras sternly. "I would have reported this to my father and he would have told you in due time."

"Of course. It is my bad habit. I just can't wait for critical information to slowly make their way up the chain to reach me. I like to stick my nose everywhere to get the latest information as soon as they're made. I do apologize for my rudeness." El'Taras apologized profusely to Aunt Hillary.

She was somewhat mollified by his words, but both realized that El'Taras had refrained from promising that he won't do it anymore. Because well, frankly speaking, of course he will continue spying on Jessica.

In fact, he probably won't allow her out of his sight from that moment on, except during her private moments.

But even then, he would probably monitor her surroundings completely in terms of energy fluctuations and physical movements.

"What do you intend to do now?" Aunt Hillary asked El'Taras curiously.

"You heard the girl. What else can we do? It's good that she's completely motivated to create a grand total of twenty four Chil- ah Ascendant Runes. We have to keep her motivations completely in place. And to do that, we need to ensure the boy's safety. At the same time, we also cannot draw the slightest bit of attention and suspicion on us.

So… we must power him up in the most natural way possible." El'Taras sighed.

"What do you mean by that?" Aunt Hillary asked.

"Challenges, of course, and generous "rewards". This way, the games would continue safely, and Elliot would gain strength. Very soon, he should be able to protect himself against even Hegemons, even if he can't outright kill them." El'Taras explained and sealed Elliot's fate for the next eleven months with his words.

"Sounds good. Keep it intense and exciting, that would make Jessica more motivated to finish the Chil- ah Ascendant Runes as soon as possible." Aunt Hillary nodded.

"Right. Let's see… Hmmm? Interesting." El'Taras said.

"What? What's interesting?" Aunt Hillary asked.

But only silence greeted her.

"Grrrr. What an irritating person." Aunt Hillary pursed her lips slightly in displeasure and switched on her screen.

"What?! What happened there?" Aunt Hillary was so surprised that she actually shouted out loud!

"What? We aren't talking about runes at all! We're talking about pancakes!" Jessica shouted defensively.

"I'm not talking about you, silly. Look!" Aunt Hillary pointed at the screen.

"WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED THERE?" Jessica shouted in horror as she saw the completely flattened landscape and the seven very dead Emperors around Elliot.

"A massacre, that's what happened." Monkey King chuckled. "Judging by the strange insect parts all over, and the black stuff Elliot is so greedily looting, I am guessing that it's the bunch of people with Living Armor again. He just struck gold."

"Those people from Fortune Hermit Mountain are too much!" Jessica stamped her foot angrily. "How can they target Elliot over and over again! They are courting death! Aunt Hills! Let's go over to Fortune Hermit Mountain this instant and give that old man a good talking to! That should teach him to control his disciples more!"

"You want to scold Old Fortune Hermit?" Aunt Hillary asked mildly with a incredulous smile on her face.

"Yes! Just because he's so strong, it doesn't mean that he could do anything he wanted! He's not the only strong old man in the universe. We Void Walkers have strong fighters too! Let's call great grandpa to come out of seclusion for a few days to teach that stupid hermit a lesson he won't forget!" Jessica shouted passionately.

"Great-grandpa?" Aunt Hillary choked slightly. This little fire cracker! She's talking about calling a Supreme Grand Elder to leave seclusion just so he could wallop another Supreme Grand Elder for having disciples who bullied the guy she likes?

Preposterous!

But… if she didn't… what if she loses all her mood to work on the Ascendant Runes? That would be worse!

"Why would you do that?" Jul'Taras frowned. "Those stupid disciples of his are literally hand delivering their extremely rare Living Armor to Elliot. Instead of teaching that old man a lesson, you should be thanking him instead! Look at Elliot. What do you think he is feeling right now?"

As one, all three of them turned to look at the screen.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Hahahaha! I'm rich! I'm rich!" Elliot laughed loudly as he received all the little bits of Living Armor all his beasts, big and small, were bringing to him.

His Beasts' attacks were so powerful that a lot of the Living Armor were scattered everywhere, and he had to command his beasts to scour the area and collect every single tiny bit for him!

"Rich. Rich! RICH!!" Elliot guffawed as the stream of loot continued to make their way to him.

"Are those the black stuff you made me eat the other day?" Jessica asked Elliot.

"Yup. These are the raw and unprocessed version. Once I deconstruct them, they will be useable for us. I intend to give them to Jennifer." Elliot said.

"Good. Collect more. We have to make sure Jen becomes as strong as us." Jessica nodded.

"Of course she will. Don't you worry. Once we're done here, we'll go rescue her. HEY ALL OF YOU! WORK FASTER! WE HAVE INCOMING!" Elliot roared at his beasts.

"Incoming?"

"The blue dragons and Autumn." Elliot said with a smile. "Perfect timing!"