Is this really a Game?!

Part of the mana that Reign was pouring inside the core was being expelled out of the core, adding to the aura around it in the form of gas, but it was just a small portion, nothing too big.

Most of the gas being expelled out of the core was the original mana that was inside of it, and as long as Reign didn\'t pour his mana in too fast and allowed the original mana enough time to be expelled and then scatter in the air around them as gas, then the core would not find anything wrong with the entire process.

As the minutes ticked by, the core began to glow faintly, a sign that it was accepting Reign\'s mana. The process continued for hours, each moment filled with tension as Reign worked tirelessly to complete his task.

Wolf and Shadow had come behind Reign a couple of times and poured their mana in him in order to replenish the mana he had used up. After all, to almost completely fill the core with mana would take a lot of it, and even Reign didn\'t have enough to do it without stopping.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the core began to emit a soft hum, a sign that it was almost fully charged with Reign\'s mana. With a final surge of effort, Reign withdrew his aura and mana, stepping back from the core.

"It\'s done," Aethion said, a note of relief in his voice. "The core now recognizes you as a friendly being."

"It\'s almost fully charged with your mana, and this will last for several hours, which means that you and the others have more than enough time to go to the desert, make your way through the underground area, and then wait in front of the base until Elijah does his part and sends the \'gift\'."

Reign and the others nodded in agreement, ready to proceed forward with the plan, which would be the most dangerous part of the plan, as well as the final one.

"You did good, Reign," Aethion told Reign with a calm voice.

Reign nodded, feeling a sense of accomplishment wash over him. He had completed the most crucial part of their mission, and now they could proceed with the next phase.

Before doing anything else, however, Reign was first going to rest. He had used up quite a bit of mana and had to focus for a long period of time in order to do what he had done, and he needed to just meditate for a bit, to ease the toll it had taken on his body and replenish his mana.

It would take about an hour to do so, but luckily for them, they had the time as the core would continue recognizing them for over 10 hours before returning to normal.

After one hour passed, they all started making their way back. They had created a tunnel from the surface to this place, and getting back would be much easier compared to how it was when they were making the tunnel and were slowly going down to the core.

They went inside the hole in the wall they had created before Hargan closed it and then moved forward. He had to use his earth manipulation a couple of times in order to make it easier for them to move up, and after about 2 minutes, they were already near the top of the tunnel they had created.

Reign and Shadow once again created the barrier so that they could hide the hole that was about to be created by Hargan, as well as make it impossible for anybody to see them get out of the hole.

Upon doing all of that, Hargan once again closed the hole before they made their way out of the base.

Elijah would go inside the base only after Reign and the others gave him a signal. He was in their group, and thanks to that, it was easy for them to communicate in a way.

They didn\'t have any more communication crystals that were usable over such a long distance, not to mention that the underground of the desert made it even harder to talk to one another, but they had one thing that couldn\'t be stopped by anything.

The party inventory.

Elijah had access to it since he was a member of their group, and the signal would be a simple one.

Reign would place a piece of paper inside the inventory, one that had something written, of course. Elijah would constantly monitor the inventory in order to see when the piece of paper was placed and would take it out immediately.

If what was written was that they were in position and were waiting for him to act, then he would go to the base with the hood on.

From the memories they had managed to recover from the hooded man they captured, he and the others who wore the robes and had hoods on were never stopped by any guard of any base. They would be allowed to enter the base without any inspection and would usually just make their way toward the portal before going through it.

That made things incredibly simple for Elijah who could just act as if he was one of the hooded men and go inside the base before throwing in the \'gift\' through the portal.

The others would monitor him from outside, and the instant he threw the \'gift\', they would initiate an attack.

There were plenty of people in the base who were innocent and had nothing to do with any attacks or the spread of corruption. Only those who showed talent and strength would be allowed to learn more about what the faction was about, and if they ended up not taking the news well, then depending on the situation, they would either have the memory of that erased, or they would be eliminated.

Thanks to that, the groups waiting outside of the side base would have to be a bit careful. They couldn\'t just indiscriminately slaughter everybody in the base, like Reign and the others had done when attacking the Wardens, and had to attack the guards, but still be aware of their surroundings in case somebody from the base tried to attack them as well.

Reign, Wolf, and Shadow nodded at Elijah who nodded back before they started walking back to the Verdant Jungle. In all honesty, it was not walking back, but running back with full speed.

They indeed had many hours before the mana that Reign had poured into the core would no longer be enough for the core to recognize them as members of the enemy faction, and even though they were supposed to have more than enough time, they didn\'t wish to risk anything and were hurrying back to get to the portal in the jungle.

The others were waiting for them in the desert, to be more specific, they were waiting for them in the tent where Ivan and the other leaders of the mercenary group were present.

They would meet up with them, create the barrier again, and then go down inside the underground of the desert and attack the enemy base.

The sprint back took them about 40 minutes, and that was mostly thanks to Gabriel who knew of the plan and had placed the behemoth near the border of the jungle so that it could accompany them back to the portal and keep the monsters of the jungle away.

Upon reaching the portal and going to the desert, Reign and Shadow quickly created a barrier around themselves and started walking toward the mercenary camp. They also looked around the area, keeping an eye on any enemy combatant who might be walking around or was spying on the camp, but they didn\'t manage to notice a single person.

They even made their way to the rock where the hooded man had previously lied and observed the mercenaries, but again, they didn\'t manage to notice anything out of the ordinary.

The man was gone, the runic formation was gone, and the camp seemed to no longer be under observation, but they knew better than to believe that. They had to be careful.

Upon entering the tent, Ivan and the other mercenary leaders joined them, the barrier making them all invisible as they walked out of the tent and started walking toward the entrance to the underground area they had visited previously.