Lachlan looked at the so-called demoness in shock, usually one wouldn't be so open about their plans to steal from the dragon king's castle. Especially when that person was a complete stranger with no connections to oneself.

The self-proclaimed demoness in front of him had dark blue-purple skin, their hair was mainly black but by the tips of her hair, it was dark red. Protruding from her head were two, small but sharp horns that were black.

When she stood up she was 5'0, a similar height to Lachlan. A matte black tail swayed from behind her, swiping across her legs in a fluid motion, small black wings extended from her back as they twitched ever so slightly.

'Analyse'

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Name: Drate (High-Rank Demoness)

Age: 32 (Adult)

Demon Slaves: 3/5

STR: 96, AGI: 93, VIT: 100

INT: 31, PER: 32, WIL: 21

Weakness: Naive, Idiotic, Sensitive Horns

Strengths: Darkness Control (Level 4), Fire Control (Level 4), Maximum Speed (Level 2), Heightened Senses, Demonic Beast Language Understanding

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'Aaron, what's this demoness and the demonic beast thing about?' Whenever Lachlan had any trouble understanding something he would turn to Aaron, the only one that lived in the world for a majority of his life.

'Well, demons are beings that are heavily looked down upon by humans due to their destructive nature. Somewhat similar to the said curse of my species before the evolution, they cause back luck onto those around them. As for the treasure, I'm not sure as usually, demons stay within their continent and never leave its borders unless there's a war or they've got something they want to accomplish' Aaron explained as even he was rather shocked by the appearance of the demoness.

Back when he lived with Sarah and Aaron, when he was small he remembers hearing many stories about wars between races. Demons and humans having the most intense wars of them all, countless lives being lost due to the grudges that have long since become unknown.

So although no one knew of the cause for their race wide wars, after years of killing each other their anger for the other race couldn't be quilled so easily. No piece of paper could halt their fury, even during peaceful times some demons fuelled with revenge would still enter into human territory and terrorise the land and its inhabitants.

"You're rather open about our goal," Lachlan said as he leaned against the balcony railing. "If I was a subordinate of the dragon king what would you do? You shouldn't trust strangers with such valuable information."

Drate tilted her head in confusion, raising an eyebrow at Lachlan's question. "Don't you know? Along with the tournament and festival comes a hidden challenge which the dragon king knows full well about."

This was the first Lachlan had heard of something; granted, if it was meant to be something hidden it was understandable that he had no clue about it. "No I don't know, what are you talking about?"

"Well, the dragon king is well-reputed for his treasures, the treasures he's acquired from many continents and races. Now, he understands full well that some of the treasures would garner the anger of the races they originally belong to; so, instead of starting a war he decided to create a hidden challenge for other races when they're here."

Taking in a deep breath Drate continued her explanation. "When the dragon king leaves his castle he'll be gone for 6 hours to watch the tournament. During this time, those of other races have to sneak into the castle and make their way to the treasury. Once there, they're allowed to take as much as they want, they just have to make sure to not get caught."

Lachlan puckered his lips as he nodded. "Huh, sounds pretty simple, what's the catch?" No hidden challenge would have only rewards with no risks, that's just not how things worked, especially to someone that's known for his treasures.

"Well, the castle is heavily guarded by hand-picked soldiers of the dragon king. here's also a lot of magic systems and traps to halt any intruders. As for the consequences of getting caught, well, there is none. The dragon king is just that confident in his defences that he enjoys watching other races in their futile attempts to get back their treasures."

"The king sounds slightly sadistic," Lachlan remarked.

"Sadistic?" Drate questioned as she tilted her head in confusion. "You speak some funny words for an elf, not to mention your way of speaking is slightly different from those of the spirit elven race. Not to mention you don't have the pointy ears, are you a half breed?"

Lachlan swiftly realised he had been communicating with the demoness without any issues for the past few minutes. Looking slightly confused Drate smiled before pulling out her necklace, it had a small green gem embedded into it. The chain was silver as it wrapped around Drate's neck.

'Analyse'

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Name: Necklace of Language

Description: A demon made item possessing the ability to translate any language spoken to it into the language of those listening within milliseconds. It can only translate one language at a time and the chain is quite fragile.

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Lachlan nodded at the necklace, finally understanding as to why he hadn't noticed anything odd about their way of talking. "Will there be things like that in the dragon king's castle?"

Drate burst into hysterical laughter, tears slightly coming out of her eyes as she slapped her legs. "Something like this is sold on the streets for 1 dragon gold coin, it's not something so valuable as to be held in something like the dragon king's treasury."

Lachlan laughed awkwardly as he scratched his head from embarrassment. "Oh, I'm rather new here so I wasn't sure. The place where I'm from is quite behind in terms of such magic and craftsmanship." Lachlan could only give an explanation to lessen his embarrassment.

"Yeah I'm not surprise, the elven kingdoms wouldn't want you anywhere near their citizens, as for the humans; well, it's obvious what's happened to them. I suppose that's what makes you unique then," Drate said in a friendly tone, nodding with a bright smile. "Anyway, I've got preparations to complete for the challenge, see you at the castle tomorrow."

She jumped away, onto the roofs of the balcony before scurrying into her own room. Lachlan heard the door slam shut from where he was and he sighed deeply, letting his chest sink down as he relaxed.

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He had thought he had been lucky, but it seems many individuals were vying for the dragon king's treasury just as he was. Not to mention, with the new information he just got, it seems the task will be a lot more difficult then it seems.

Not wasting time contemplating on it Lachlan went back inside and laid down on the futon, it seems the time works differently in Aaron's world as he's come to notice. The sunlight is there for 16 hours, while the night lasted 14 hours, making for a total of 30 hour days.

Granted, Lachlan had no clue as to whether or not they had anything similar to daylight savings happening as of now. But, even if there were such an event, then it would still be roughly 30 hour days.

'You four, make sure you're ready for tomorrow, it'll be one hell of a day' Lachlan explained as he closed his eyes, placing his hands behind his head.

'Don't worry father, we'll get every treasure before the other races even knew what hit them' Disaster said in his cute, childish voice. "And once we have the treasure, we just need to hightail it out of there before anyone can notice.'

'Indeed, we'll go in with efficiency on our minds and complete the task swiftly and without notice' Calamity said in his calm, composed voice. Seemingly acting like an oldish man that's overcome many trials and tribulations.

'Nah, let's go in with blazing fires and lightning, completely decimate the opposition, giving us the ability to take all the treasures without any hindrance' Catastrophe explained with fire in his eyes.

'Or, you can do what Calamity said and move sneakily and swiftly through the castle, no need to attract attention with our strength' Aaron remarked as he sighed. 'Granted, I'm not sure you know what sneakily means.'

'Ha, I know what sneakily means, it means to move through a course without alerting any guards, see, I know it' Catastrophe explained with pride as though sneakily was some sort of unknown and ancient word only he knows about.

'Good job, I didn't think you had it in you' Aaron said sarcastically as he couldn't be bothered talking to Catastrophe anymore. 'I'm going to sleep, want to be in peak performance tomorrow, you should do the same.'

'Yeah, yeah, I'll rest a bit late' Catastrophe brushed off Aaron's advice before going into his own thinking state. Planning in advance how he's going to get into the treasury.

Disaster and Calamity both took Aaron's advice to heart and went to go rest, they would begin to plan together when they woke up with a rested mind.

...

Back on Earth, the island began its movement again with the group on board. This time they were heading to the capital city of Mississippi, Jackson. A rather odd name for a city but the group didn't think too much of it.

Once they got there there were rather surprised at how good the condition of Jackson was. Although there was partial damage to a few buildings, a majority of the city was still fine. In comparison to New Orleans, it was basically a city of gold.

The group stood on the edge of the island, looking over Jackson with bright smiles as they looked forward to their start here. The people they might meet, as well as the events that might be entailed.

Descending from the island the group landed in front of the Explorer's Guild building, located near the centre of the city. A man burst from the doors, his forehead covered in sweat as his breathing was erratic.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead the man composed himself. "Welcome to Jackson! We've long since waited for your entry and will do everything in our power to make your stay here as comfortable and stress-relieving as possible."

Flynn stepped forward and shook the man's hand. "Thanks, I'm guessing you are the one in charge of this branch's Explorer's Guild."

Gripping firmly the man smiled brightly. "Indeed, the name's Hans Alfeairi, we've long since been aware of your journey across America and want to make it as best as we can."

"Great, well then, hopefully, we can enjoy this cities life as we start up our businesses," Flynn said before letting go.

Hans nodded before leaving the group to return to the building, but just before he went through the doors he turned around. "Oh yes, if you're going to stay for a while I would suggest looking towards our research institutes and possibly our training facilities. We've worked hard on them to improve everyone's chance of survival and it would be greatly appreciated if we could get your feedback."

"Will do," Flynn nodded before turning away. "Alright, let's go scout for a plot of land to buy or a room we can rent. Doesn't have to be too large remember, Marie will take care of her side of things while we take care of our own."

The group nodded and went their ways. They did feel slightly odd from their recent encounter, but since Hans asked nicely they didn't see a problem in not going. It'll also allow them to splurge a bit of time.

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Important Notice:

Currently my internet is down and I'm upload this through mobile data. However, I'm currently running low on data and might be out of it b tomorrow. So, tomorrow's upload will be rather late if telstra doesn't send over a technician today.