Speed Is King

"It's simple. It's unexpected. It's bold. It's audacious. It's perfect." Red said in awe after he heard Elliot's plan.

However, Elliot wasn't paying attention to him. He was looking at Rom, or rather, Romarok the Dark Brainwyrm, who would be the key to Elliot's plan.

"If we succeed, I will be infesting an Ancient level warrior. But if we fail…"

"Certain death." Elliot said frankly.

"Hoping for great gains without taking equally great risks is folly. Although the risk is great, the reward is… extraordinary. Count me in on your plan." Romarok said seriously.

"Good." Elliot said very calmly. He was completely unperturbed by the fact that he was about to enter the maw of a ferocious beast that could bite him to death with but a single snap of its mouth.

His mind was completely locked on by the desire to forge his Teardrop of the Gods armor set and gain the qualification to challenge and fight against Ancient warriors!

"Wear this." Elliot passed him one of the miraculous Rings of Absolute Stealth.

He didn't know if someone was picking out the rewards for him or if it was completely random, but the rings were turning out to be extremely useful.

Judging by how the rewards had been specifically tailored to his needs, however, he suspected that it was the former.

"Incredible. The Gaming Commission is even willing to part with a few of their hyper rare Rings of Absolute Stealth. You must be a massive money maker for them, pip." Red sighed enviously as he looked at the spot where Rom was a moment ago and detected completely nothing.

Elliot nodded as understanding dawned.

It was in the Gaming Commission's best interest to keep him alive. That was why he got the Beast Tide event which allowed him to reach the peak of King level.

"And the Red Dragon Blood Essence as well. The Gaming Commission really wants to keep me alive huh? Hey if you're listening, give me the blood essences of the other dragon types as well! If you do that, I promise you I'll give you a good show." Elliot called out.

Somewhere in Fortune Hermit Mountain, Chairman El'Taras had to fight down the urge to go to Elliot and smash his head into the ground.

"Just what kind of dog shit luck does he have? He actually got the Teardrop of the Gods! And he's even asking for more dragon blood essences! What a bastard. I better make sure I milk the hell out of him.

Director Sands! I want Elliot to go through Hidden Dungeon Challenges every two days! And his participation in the monthly race this month is compulsory! Move the monthly race to a separate dimension!" Chairman El'Taras roared.

"Compulsory? We are being quite loose with the rules and regulations of the Gaming Commission, are we?" Director Sands chuckled.

"But no judgement from me, Chairman. I fully agree with you. The attention of the universe is completely on him. We need to capitalize on that!"

And just like that, an exciting week full of thrilling (read: tiring) challenges for Elliot was scheduled!

Elliot sighed when nothing replied him, and waved Red back into the beast dimension.

"Romarok, you ready?" Elliot asked.

"Yes." He simply said.

"Let's go then." Elliot grabbed his arm and immediately blinked away.

The first challenge was to look for an Ancient.

The Ancient had to be alone, or at least not with another Ancient. That way, he wouldn't have to deal with the second Ancient's crushing attack should anything go wrong while infesting the target Ancient.

Having to deal with a second Ancient in an already fatally dangerous mission was pure suicide.

"How do you plan on finding an Ancient if you're not appearing to lure one out?" Romarok asked.

"I don't have to appear to lure one out. I can just kill every single Emperor and Hegemon I come across, and eventually an Ancient will appear." Elliot said calmly as though he was talking about what he was planning to eat at a sushi bar instead of killing powerful beings strong enough to level buildings.

Romarok merely nodded quietly.

Elliot had changed drastically in the few weeks he had spent hibernating within Rom's body, and Romarok felt like he was talking to a completely different person.

A person who was much, much colder.

Romarok had thoughts to rebel against him as soon as he got his hands on the Ancient, but he realized that somehow, the contract that he had signed with Elliot had gotten much stronger!

It completely locked down his actions and rendered him physically incapable of betraying Elliot under pain of death.

"It doesn't matter." Romarok thought to himself. "Getting my hands on an Ancient will be an extremely huge boost to the clan's power. I will be able to secure those life seeds faster."

And so, both of them travelled rapidly southwards where they hoped to find a huge bunch of powerful enemies to kill.

The first group soon appeared before them. An Emperor and a Hegemon.

Both were humanoid males, and dressed in the same garish uniform that gave them a very comical look.

"Scouts, very likely. I'll kill the Emperor, you infest the Hegemon." Elliot commanded.

"As you wish." Romarok replied quietly as a powerful force appeared in his heart and compelled his utter obedience to Elliot's words.

Elliot blinked down next to his two unsuspecting victims and very casually severed the Emperor's head while disabling the Hegemon with his highly enhanced frost domain.

Romarok positioned his head above the Hegemon's and quickly slithered out of Rom's head while remaining completely undetected in his shadow form.

Whoosh.

He entered the Hegemon's head and took over his entire body even as the Hegemon's eyes were widening in shock at the sudden attack!

Within a single second, an Emperor was dead, and a Hegemon was infested by Elliot's slave Dark Brainwyrm!

"Good." Elliot nodded in approval as soon as he noticed the Hegemon's frantic eyes calming down.

"Master. This Hegemon is from a Star System called Kirilia. They had two Ancients, one got himself killed, while the other had left to take revenge. He went south." Romarok reported.

"South it is." Elliot nodded as he passed the ring from Rom to Romarok and dismissed the Specter Wolf into the beast dimension.

Blink.