Is this really a Game?!

The party had soon arrived at the giant tree, they were going to meet Aelrinder as it seemed that their researchers had managed to find the secrets of the item that Reign and the others had taken from the Tainted.

"Aelrinder."

"Reign."

The two shake hands before entering a secure room on one of the higher floors of the tree. There they were able to see the item and a couple of researchers that were currently doing their research.

The item was bound by a couple of branches that extended from inside the tree while the researchers were looking at some sort of data on multiple screens that were created by mana. The tree itself had many functions other than acting as the base of the elves. The mana that could be found in the tree was immense as its roots absorbed all of the mana from far below. The mana could be then used by the elves, but only with the help of skilled researchers and mana engineers who were able to create things with the help of the tree.

The room that Reign and the others were currently in was one of their main research rooms. The tree branches and the screens were all created by the mana engineer in cooperation with the researchers. Not only could the branches hold dangerous items without any fear of repercussion, but they were also able to use the mana from the tree and give data to the researchers on the many screens. Of course, that was only the basic explanation of how everything worked, Reign and the others couldn't even understand a single sentence of what could be seen on the screen and it was obvious that the researchers were incredibly important for the whole territory.

"Well, take a seat, I'll bring you up to speed about what we have learned," Aelrinder tells the group while pointing at multiple seats on the side, all of them nod at him before sitting down and listening to him.

…

"So, in essence, we were correct, this thing can control monsters?" Reign asks Aelrinder after hearing the complicated story that the latter had just told them. It seemed that the item was not a simple one at all as an incredibly small trace of Transcendent mana could be felt on it. The only possibility for something like that was if a Transcendent had created the item, but that notion was soon scrapped as there would be definitely more mana present on the item, the other possibility was that a Transcendent had blessed the item in order to make it more powerful.

Now that led to the main question, did the Tainted have a base somewhere in the forest with a Transcendent leading them, or did they simply use a kind of summoning ritual in order to get the item blessed. If the latter was correct then there would be no worries for the future, not only would it be incredibly difficult for the Tainted to attempt such a ritual again, but there was also a possibility of the ritual failing mid-way which would further bring them down.

If the Tainted did have a Transcendent leading them, however, then that meant that there was not only a possibility of similar cases happening in the future but that locating and taking down their base would be nigh impossible as the Transcendent could, in his or her rage, decimate all the attackers in a similar fashion that the queen was going to do.

"But shouldn't that Transcendent be unable to do things like this?" Shadow suddenly asked, there were of course rules that needed to be followed when it came to Transcendents, just like the queen who was unable to help her people without incurring the wrath of the system the others couldn't really help out either.

During the demonic invasion, Jack and Eldar simply left everything to Reign and the others simply because they were bound by the rules of the system and couldn't help. A long time ago when Jack killed the huge wolf that appeared in front of the castle there was no penalty because of two reasons, firstly the wolf was not really a threat to the safe zone, and secondly, the wolf wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, it was a bug that appeared and allowed the monster to come all the way to the safe zone with his full power intact.

Back when Eldar used his powers in order to kill the monsters that were coming towards Reign's territory and when he injured the ape was another thing that was allowed by the system. Reign and the others had managed to capture a high-ranking territory and because they were originally from the castle they had become allies with them immediately which allow Eldar to help them out.

"Not all the Transcendents are the same, there are some that have incredibly profound and weird abilities that can be used to help others without triggering the penalty of the system as it is technically not them doing any deeds, those kinds of Transcendents are usually not powerful when it came to battles but were more suited for working in the shadows and plotting against others using all sorts of tricks and tactics."

"If such a Transcendent was truly leading the Tainted then it is going to be incredibly difficult to win against them, but from what I know that shouldn't be the case here and they probably did a ritual, but if there truly was a Transcendent then we would have to rely on you for the future." Aelrinder suddenly said as he looked at the surprised faces of Reign and the others.

"What do you mean to rely on us?"

"Your marks, even a Transcendent wouldn't dare kill those that were given a mark by a god, even the weakest amongst them could destroy a Transcendent, body and soul with a flick of a finger. If you were together with us then the Transcendent would have to take the loss, no matter how crafty and powerful he or she was, if someone marked by a god was killed by a Transcendent then it would be a slap in the face for the god and there would be no place in the universe for the offender to hide."

"So wait, does that mean that we're safe from pretty much anybody?"

"Of course not, some Transcendents are members of powerful organizations that would defend them, it would of course depend on what had happened, if you were killed by someone that was still in the leveling phase then the god wouldn't bother trying to revenge you as it was fair game, but a Transcendent is different and from what I know there is a rule that they shouldn't attack those that were still in the leveling phase."

"Not to mention that you guys are different as well, the marks given to you are all from powerful characters, especially the two of you." Aelrinder suddenly pointed at Reign and Wolf.

"The Lightning God is one of the members of the Pantheon, one of the strongest organizations in the universe while the Immemorial Dragon was the leader of another influential organization, the moment someone recognizes their marks they wouldn't dare to hurt you, of course, that is while you're still in the leveling phase, from what I know everything changes after one becomes a Transcendent."

"Anyway, back to our current problem, the item you retrieved functions both as a beacon and a mind-control device, however, the mind control is on a very slight level as they mostly just gave a command to the monsters to attack us, to be frank, it wasn't even a command, a slight suggestion that made the monster feel as if that was what they were going to do in the first place.

"The mist you guys had seen was exactly that, when the monsters would breathe in the mist they would charge towards us, while the beacon itself was the thing that drove them to come to the area, if you guys hadn't taken it then I fear that thousands of monsters would have attacked us."

The party all take a deep breath after hearing that, the very notion of facing thousands of monsters was terrifying as even if they used everything they had they would still lose. Not only would the mana and stamina consumption be too large, but there would simply not be enough time during their power-ups to kill all of those monsters. In the end, the dome would definitely fall and the elves would be in danger, the queen would have been forced to take action and save them by killing all of the monsters that were attacking them.

But even after that, if the beacon was still there then more and more monsters would arrive and there would be nothing the queen could do after that as the system would have already penalized her. It was a brilliant strategy that would make sure that the elves would be completely wiped off the face of the earth. The only possible way for them to survive would be to hide in the tree, but without food and water, they would only last so long before dying.

The Tainted would have full control of the forest at that point and the queen's gambit would have been for naught. Luckily all of that was prevented by Reign and the others who foiled the plans of the Tainted without even knowing it at the time.

"Hey, is there a way to reverse engineer it?" Wolf suddenly asked

"To what?"

Aelrinder asks with confusion as a dangerous smirk was suddenly plastered on Wolf's face.