Affinity:Chaos

"What do you mean his consciousness has an array in it? Is that even possible?" Grey was taken aback.

"There's an array in his consciousness, and as you can see, it's clearly possible." Robert replied.

"Is there a way to go through it?" Grey asked.

"It's beyond anything I've ever seen. You'll have to take a look yourself." Robert made way for Grey.

Grey stood in front of the Seventh Prince and his mental energy burst out. When Robert saw this, a thought came to his head, but then he shook his head. Before he could even begin his plan, Grey might've killed him already.

'Amazing!' He was startled with the amount of mental energy Grey possessed. With such mental energy, Grey would have zero issues with controlling ten Peak Venerables which is something only those in the Sovereign Plane should be able to do.

'What sort of freak is he? Freakishly strong with his elements, and now even his mental energy is far above anything I've ever encountered.'

Robert was stupefied by Grey.

While Robert was still wondering what sort of person Grey was, he heard something that scared him.

"I can work on it, but I'll need a few days. The array is made like an alarm, if tampered with, the person who placed this array there will be able to find out about it." Grey explained.

This was an old array, it was like one of the ones he had been studying recently, and he managed to get a thing or two on this. In fact, this array will also help his general array knowledge after working on it.

Robert was stunned by the fact that Grey said he could crack the array and even do it in a way the person who implanted it wouldn't be able to notice.

They took the Seventh Prince and headed towards a cave. With the disappearance of the Seventh Prince, the Gnomes left were a little worried but also free to go search for treasures.

The secret realm was in a peaceful state, and although fights broke out occasionally, it was natural in this place.

Grey was focused on deciphering the array and also learning the art of mind control from Robert. It was best if he had control over the Seventh Prince. As long as he was the one with control, he could do what he wanted without having to miss anything.

Robert didn't have any issues with teaching Grey the technique, of course, as the creator of the technique, he made sure he was immune to it. This was to ensure that Grey never tries to place him under his complete control. The terrible thing about it is that if Grey were to do so to him, there's no way he would be able to find out, hence the importance of making himself immune to it.

It took Grey three days, but he finally completed his objective. Not only creating a loophole in the array, but also placing the Seventh Prince under his control. When he tried to control the Prince for the first time, he was astounded at the feeling.

'Such a strange concept. I'll make sure this thing is never practiced by anyone else.' He thought to himself.

Robert was a dispensable figure, and he wouldn't mind letting him go now that he could achieve mind control on his own. But he didn't mind having a few people under him so he decided to spare Robert.

He controlled the Seventh Prince for a while, making sure he learned how to use the puppets and everything before scrolling through his storage ring.

This was the Seventh Prince of the Gnome race, of course he would have some invaluable items stored there. And Grey was right, he found some top items, but there was one that caught his attention.

'This thing can help fix leaking cores.' He had read about this particular item before, but it was so rare that finding it was almost impossible. He never expected the Seventh Prince to have one in his possession.

Klaus' father, the Principal, had an issue like this after the final battle at the Azure Continent. The last time he spoke with his Teacher, there wasn't much positive news from him about the Principal's condition. With this, he could help restore the Principal back to normal state.

'If I take this he will notice it, but who cares, there's no way he would know that he's under my control.'

Grey didn't bother about how the Seventh Prince would react when he noticed this item missing and took it. He also took some top notch treasures before sending the Seventh Prince back to the Gnome camp.

The duo who were under Robert's control were sent back with him. The person Grey left alive was killed in the end. Robert couldn't put too many people under his control, and already having these two along with his siblings was taxing.

There was no harm in slowly scraping off some of the Gnome race's strength, although two Peak Venerables aren't that important in the general scheme of things, it didn't matter.

"Alright, we should head back now. There's no point staying here." Grey took the lead as they headed towards the exit.

Robert looked at the back view of Grey, still stumped by what happened these past three days. The fact that Grey not only found the loophole, but also learned the mind control technique in such a short time was monstrous. This shouldn't be possible, but Grey did it.

'Following him might not be bad after all.' He thought as he followed Grey.

Grey and Robert left the secret realm in the same manner they entered, without making any fuss. Other than the person guarding the portal, no other human saw them enter and exit the place.

On the Gnome's end, only Robert was seen, and they didn't know anything about him. The Prince left and returned some days after, rushing into his room and telling the others not to disturb him. Only two people of the four who went out with him returned, and no one questioned him.