The Villain has Perished

After forming a Contract with Orca, I left the orc chieftain's residence. Sneaking out of the village wasn't tough, thanks to the chaos Jae-sung created and the war.

Since the Great Ape tribe was attacking the orc tribe from the border of the middle section, the border towards the inner section of the forest was fairly unguarded.

As for the injury that Orca inflicted upon me, it had stopped bleeding, though it still stung.

—

<Healing Bandages>

Grade: High-Uncommon

Description: These healing bandages will continuously heal all physical injuries for 24 hours. It is a one-time use item.

—

Healing Bandages were a high-uncommon grade item with only one use. In exchange, it had expectational healing properties for its grade. It was thanks to these bandages, that my injuries inflicted by the orc chieftain and Orca weren't fatal. Though, the injuries weren't healed completely yet.

The inner section of the forest was no different in terms of appearance. If I had to point out a difference it would be lack of monsters.

'No life dares to thrive in the reign of Griffin.'

It was a line Jae-sung said in the . You won't even find insects or birds in the inner section of the Forest of Silence. Trees were the only living beings here.

I left the unconscious Orca under a tree and continued towards the nest of the Griffin. As I had formed a Contract with Orca, I wasn't worried that he could escape.

—

<Contract>

<Level: 1>

<Cost: 1000 Magic Power>

<Slot: 1/1>

<Description: As a Summoner forming a contract with other life forms is a must-have skill for your skill set. This skill allows you to summon the contractee by using 1000 MP at any moment. At level 1 the Contract skills doubles the contractee's [Wisdom] stat.

Please Note - The contractee life form cannot betray the contractor once the Contract has been signed and once signed a Contract can never be canceled. Until both parties willingly agree to the Contract the skill won't be triggered.>

<Level Up Cost: 100,000 Life Points>

<Level 2 Benefits: The contractee can share their skills with the contractor.>

<Level 3 Benefits: Reverse Summoning. Increases Slots by 2.>

<Level 4 Benefits: Can revive a dead contractee.>

<Level 5 Benefits: ???>

—

[Wisdom] stat was responsible for increasing your skill learning and skill mastering speed. It was a hidden stat alongside [Luck] stat. Both of the hidden stats cannot be increased by training, only by special methods.

Wisdom stat is determined by birth and is the numerical value of one's talent. A higher Wisdom stat allows you to learn and master skills faster.

Link, the multiverse connection, increases your skill mastery speed by connecting you to others and learning from them. It increases your growth pace even if you have low talent.

Normally, most would ignore Wisdom stat. Because as your rank increases your Link strengthens and you will find it easier to learn skills of the same rank when compared to the past. In comparison, increasing Wisdom stat was a lot tougher and time-consuming.

However, that was naive thinking. What happens when you need to break your connection –the Link – with the Tower? Or worse, when the Tower becomes an enemy?

When that happens those who ignored Wisdom stat will find it impossible to increase their skill mastery and move higher in ranks.

After leaving the Orca behind, I continued moving ahead. Traversing through the forest wasn't difficult thanks to the hound wolf I was riding.

'How am I going to save the tribes?'

During the rush, I did what I could to form a Contract with Orca. Making a promise of stopping the war among the monster tribes. But truthfully I don't have a perfect plan of saving the tribes.

'There are two ways I can think of stopping the war.' I thought while riding the hound wolf.

'First is the easiest. Have the Griffin stop the war. Although the monster tribes have a reason to fight with each other, if the Griffin says that they can't fight, the monsters can only nod their head. After all, the Griffin is the overlord of the forest.'

In this case, if the war between monster tribes stops, the Empire also won't be able to attack. As they won't have any gaps to take advantage of.

But it was easier said than done. There is no guarantee that monster tribes will follow Griffin's words. The hierarchy between monster tribes isn't absolute.

The reason why Griffin is the Overlord of the forest is mainly because, inside the forest, it is the only monster species with the ability to fly. It had aerial supremacy. The higher rank was only an added bonus.

Moreover, there was another reason that made me doubt Griffin would agree to mediate between the monster tribes.

'Second method is to create a common enemy for the monster tribes to fight against. If it's a common enemy the monster tribes will have no choice but to cease war and combine their strength against the enemy. As for the Empire, I can create a diversion to shift their attention from the Forest of Silence to somewhere else.'

Needless to say, the 2nd plan would be putting the horse before the cart. It will result in massive deaths of monsters, which was opposite to my promise with Orca.

'Where is Griffin?'

I was nearing the nest of the Griffin. Yet, there was no sign of the overlord of the Forest of silence. It made me feel uneasy. After all, it was suspicious that Griffin hadn't left the inner section while the forest of silence was engulfed in chaos in the past week.

'It hasn't gone mad yet, right?'

The uneasy premonition showed no signs of going away. My brows furrowed and I frowned slightly.

In the , the Griffin was 'attacking human villages outside of the forest.'

The Griffin, a monster who didn't even show its face to the monster tribes in the middle section, suddenly left the forest after hundreds of years and attacked the humans.

If it hadn't gone insane, I had no idea why the Griffin — a monster with intelligence comparable to humans — would do that.

'...Hm? Isn't that…'

"Stop."

The hound wolf stopped at my command. I swiftly jumped down. A few meters ahead, seven oddly shaped rocks were placed similarly to Pleiades.

I climbed the tallest of the seven rocks, that was 3 meters tall, and scanned my surroundings. It didn't take me long to find my goal. Peeking through the thick forest was a massive 30-meter-tall tree. I roughly estimated the nest of the Griffin – the 30 meter tall tree – to be only a few hundred meters away.

'If that is the Griffin's tree, then these 7 stones must be that.'

Jumping down, I injected mana into the base of stones in a specific pattern. 3rd stone, 6th stone, 7th stone, 2nd stone, 5th stone, 1st stone, and finally 4th stone.

Immediately, an invisible pulse of energy spread into the surroundings.

⟪ Congratulations! ⟫

⟪ You have found the Port connecting to the World 12BSA43: The World of Ancients! ⟫

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Wiki:

Contractee - In a contract, the person providing the services is the called contractor, while the person receiving the services is the contractee.