Supremacy Games

"This is my wife, Chieftess Sunflower. She is the sunflower field surrounding the entire village and protecting it from invaders. If she didn't want you to find the village, you wouldn't have been able to find it even if you took flight." Chief Cloveris introduced his wife with a tint of pride and love in his tone.

"Nice to meet you, everyone." Chieftess Sunflower bowed politely in front of everyone before adding, "If you need anything, just ask me."

"Thanks for the hospitality."

Felix and his companions bowed their heads back in appreciation, knowing that they would be unwelcomed in most areas due to being outsiders.

"Take a seat." Chieftain Cloveris requested as he pointed at the living room inside the village hall.

Just like all the cottage houses in this village, the chairs and tables were built with new and refined wood, making it seem like a craftsman had a hand in them.

But in reality? It was just the villagers' own doings as all of them had wood/plant manipulation depending on their species.

After everyone sat down, Chieftain Cloveris inquired with a firm tone, "First, I have to ask about your goal of coming all the way here."

"It consists of two goals, meeting Lord Zurvan hopefully and taking advantage of the environment and time difference to get stronger." Felix answered truthfully, having no reason to be deceitful to the only people capable of helping him out.

"Meeting Lord Zurvan? I don't think that's possible for even the elemental gods and goddesses." Chieftess Sunflower glanced at Lady Sphinx and Fenrir, believing that they were the ones seeing this meeting.

"Is it really that difficult?" Felix knitted his eyebrows.

"All I can tell you is that unless Lord Zurvan wants to meet you, you will never manage to find him even if you searched the entire galaxy." Chieftain Cloveris stressed.

"I see..."

"..."

Both Felix and Noah showed obvious looks of immense disappointment.

As for Olivia and the rest? They merely had confused looks since Felix had never told them about his revival plan.

In his eyes, there was no need to open Olivia's wounds by giving her false hope after she finally embarked on her healing journey.

Only he and Noah were still hung up on the matter and clearly, they would not stop trying until no other options were left unchecked.

"I don't know what you want exactly from Lord Zurvan, but I believe that he will give you some of his time." Chieftess Sunflower smiled gently, "He never allowed anyone to enter our galaxy regardless of what they offered...So, my advice is to just relax and wait for him to make contact."

"Thank you for your comforting words." Felix and Noah seemed to have some light restored in their eyes.

It might seem like Chieftess Sunflower merely said so to comfort them, but Felix truly believed her words.

That's because he always felt deep down that Lord Zurvan wouldn't have allowed them entry into his galaxy just because of Lord Osiris' favor alone.

What made him more convinced was the fact he gave him permission to bring companions when Felix didn't even ask for it.

It was only common sense to think that Lord Zurvan must have plans for them...At least, that's what he hoped.

"As for your training, can you expand on this?" Chieftain Sunflower asked with a confused tone.

"Well, we chose this planet because it seemed to be one of the few ones with almost every type of environment in it." Felix clarified, "To train our elemental manipulations and runic spellcasting we require rich environments with the same elemental energies as our familiarities/affinities."

"In my case, I desire to train in environments with rich poison, lightning, gemstone, sand, and water elemental energies." 

"Hmm? I thought outsiders can have only one elemental manipulation." Chieftain Cloveris was taken aback by Felix's varied list of elements.

"You're right...My situation is just a bit special." Felix replied without going through the details.

"I see..." Chieftain Cloveris glanced at the rest, "How about you?"

"I'm only here for the time difference." Bodidi answered bluntly.

"I require an environment with rich nature elemental energy." Olivia shared with a shy tone.

"I hope for a rich nature, fire, earth, and wind elemental energy to learn new spells." Selphie bowed politely.

"How about you?" Chieftain Cloveris asked the silent Noah.

"Ice...Please." Noah replied expressionlessly, trying his best not to sound like a d*ckhead.

Fortunately for him, Chieftain Cloveris' strict and solemn persona made him favor those straightforward answers.

"Well, in the case of nature and earth elemental energy, there aren't many richer environments on this planet than my forest." Chieftain Cloveris shared as he eyed the girls, "So if you want to train those elements here, you are free to go for it. I will make sure no one will bother you."

"Thank you, elder."

"Much appreciated, elder."

Selphie and Olivia showed their gratitude immediately.

"As for you boys, all I can do is recommend you to North Pole Chief Arcturus and The Third Ocean Queen Merlinia, and see if they are in a good mood to help you out." Chieftain Cloveris informed.

"I am greatly thankful for the recommendation...But, what about the others, elder? Is it possible for me to get in contact with them and seek a way to train in their territory?" Felix stressed, "I can even use food to buy an area or rent one."

"Well, food can get you in favor with many Elementals around here, but you should understand that if you chose this path, you will get ripped off immensely." Chieftain Cloveris warned, "Not everyone is as easygoing as us. Some desert tribes, swamp tribes, and volcanic tribes are extremely hard to befriend. If they realize that you have a lot of food, they might not steal it from you due to Elder Strauvis' protection, but they will definitely clean you off in merely a decade or less."

Upon hearing so, Felix couldn't help but knit his eyebrows deeply and start thinking of other options.

In his mind, he believed that the food he brought would give him easy access to those territories to train his manipulations and spellcasting...But, it seemed like not everyone was as nice and kind as the Northern Forest tribe.

Felix understood that even though he brought a crazy amount of food, if he showed that he was an easy target to swindle, he would be cleared off in no time and he would have no more bargaining chips in his pockets.

After all, he could neither return to the alliance to bring more food nor make someone send him more without receiving permission.

"If you want to make it around here, you need to understand the world's structure and personalities of each environmental chief." Chieftess Sunflower spoke softly, "Elder Strauvis is in the top five planets with the most intense conflicts occurring on monthly basis because of his nonchalant attitude towards conflicts. This gave birth to many tribes desiring to expand on their territory forcefully, not caring about encroaching on another tribe's territory."

"Unfortunately for you, most of your desired environments are in a state of war and aren't too interested in hosting guests. So, if you want to get their approval to train in their territory and even receive their assistance in the matter, you will be forced to choose their side in the war and even participate in it if you are deemed worthy."

"This is the only way to befriend them if you don't want to spend all of your food on buying their time."

By the time Chieftain Sunflower went silent, Felix was left with a deep frown and quite a disgruntled expression.

'Peaceful my ass!'

In his ideal vision, he planned on coming here, bribing elementals with food, and training all of his manipulations and spells for the next thousands of years in absolute peace.

Yet, his ideal vision had crumbled on his first day here at the notion that the planet he chose was in deep water in terms of conflict.

Felix shouldn't really be blamed on this matter since the propaganda span by the Elementals' representatives in the alliance made them seem like the friendliest and most peaceful race in the universe.

This would drive anyone to assume that the galaxy would be voided of conflict.

'You were really duped.' Asna chuckled at his misfortune.

'Based on Chief Cloveris' words, it seems like only the water people will be interested in welcoming me without strings attached.' Felix rubbed his eyelids, 'I will have to get myself involved deeply with other tribes if I wanted to train my other elements.'

"Am I really allowed to join such native battles as an outsider?" Felix asked, hoping for a rejection.

"You are the first outsiders we have, so there isn't really any rule about it." Chief Cloveris added, "Plus, I doubt Elder Strauvis will care about it."

"I do think he should." Bodidi bragged, "Boss is one of the strongest fighters in the alliance. If he joined those wars, they will be ended on the same day."

"..."

"..."

Chief Cloveris and Chieftess Sunflower glanced at each other and then at the irritated and slightly embarrassed Felix before chuckling simultaneously.

Ow!!

Felix elbowed Bodidi in a swift moment before trying to make amends for his reputation, "Please don't mind him...He doesn't know what he is talking about."

"Haha, it's alright, it's alright." Chieftess Sunflower smiled gently at the wincing Bodidi and advised him with good intentions, "If you want to survive on our planet, it's best that you forget everything from your home."

"What do you mean?" Bodidi changed his attitude after realizing that he must have spoken too rashly.

"Elementals' strength depends heavily on their consciousness' prowess and elemental manipulation. In terms of consciousness prowess, all the chiefs on this planet were born out of environments that stretched for thousands and thousands of kilometers. Since our age is relatively much higher than the outsiders, our consciousness' prowess continued to grow until we could be considered posing a serious threat to even primogenitors in our territories." Chief Cloveris got closer to Bodidi's face and said calmly, "So unless you make your masters fight your battles, you can forget about defeating a single chief on this planet."