Nobody was unsure whether it was true that only Jael was strong enough to do a feat as he did, but the number of humans who were capable enough to do that could be counted at one's hand.
Most of those were probably the leader of ancient clans and blessed with great soul-awakenings, a superior mana aptitude, or even in possession of a special trait.
??
However, Jael had nothing of that! His soul-awakening was only above average among the big families, at most, while his mana aptitude was great, yet not superior.
Instead of a trait, he had a unique soulbond that gave him an extremely strong ice affinity, that was as strong as its mother's while the cultivation manual to transmute his mana to that of ice mana was extremely precious.
He had only obtained this manual that was labeled as a "Heaven" grade and the 'Sky frost Spear' that had pure elemental runes engraved into it by signing a complex, yet beneficial soul contract with the My?ldra race, he had encountered inside the rift where he had abducted the Ice Dragon egg.
With blue skin, curved horns protruding out of the side of their head, sky blue eyes, and scales covering their upper body, they seemed like a ferocious race which they were!
The My?ldra race was extremely powerful and even the youngest generation was as strong as humanity's strongest powerhouse which everyone noticed as one of those younglings that looked similar to a young man, manifested a thirty meter long icicle which it shot towards one of Jael's men, killing him in an instant.
This shocked Jael and his underlings greatly and they were about to die when the My?ldra race youngling stopped attacking when Jual and everyone else released their soulbonds to fight next to them.
The My?ldra race's leader was astonished and both sides withered the chance to obtain benefits from the other party which caused them to create a complex and lengthy soul contract that was supposed to exploit the other side.
However, how should Jael have known that he was subtly influenced by everything he had obtained from the My?ldra race, slowly twisting his mind, manipulating him, turning him into a marionette without him realising?
Jael Drake was still of the opinion that everything he did was for his own benefits and that it was his superior intelligence that allowed him to exploit a mighty race.
Yet, both the manual and spear were meant to influence his mind in the direction the My?ldra race wanted. While the manual was changing Jael's mana transmutation, it also changed the instinctive repulsive behavior every living being had against certain abilities, runes, and curses.
The Sky frost spear was powerful, yet, also extremely dangerous if wrongly used which was exactly what the Drake patriarch did. There was one particular rune engraved inside the spear, one that was not allowed to activate while using the Sky frost spear.
Without being aware of this, Jael Drake activated all of its runes every single time he fought with the Sky frost spear, which released an effect, changing the mental state of the spear wielder over time
It was similar to a slow acting curse, one could hardly find without the necessary knowledge that humanity didn't have.
As such, everytime the My?ldra race exchanged goods with Jael Drake, they tested how far the curse had progressed, only to wait for the perfect timing to initiate their plan.
When they heard that other foreign races started to infiltrate Argos, the individuals that were assigned to said plan sensed their chance, which was how the current situation occurred.
However, nobody was aware of what happened to Jael Drake and why exactly he had changed by 360 degrees during the last few months.
The vast majority thought that he turned insane after the Ice Dragon attacked the Drake clan's headquarters.
Furthermore, it was unsure why Jael Drake had turned Astrix, the island he governed into some sort of prison, but one thing was sure; living on Astrix as a prodigy was unthinkable because all of them had been taken to Canir!
Meanwhile, the untalented remained on Astrix, acting as if nothing happened, trying to continue living their life peacefully.
But, was that even possible?
Only the weak, injured, or old and untalented remained on Astrix, drastically decreasing the average combat prowess on the small island.
Every single city was understaffed and the number of guards was a tenth of what it had been before Jael Drake cleansed Astrix from everyone talented.
This allowed beasts to roam through all zones without anyone being able to hold them back from leaving their designated wild zone as it had been the case before.
Magical and Guardian ranked beasts noticed that something had changed too.
The same applied to those beasts inside the Sanctum that was situated in Cyro-City.
In the end, it didn't require much intelligence to notice that not a single human was outside the dome, searching for beasts they could hunt.
As such, those beasts within the large zones they had inhabited for a long time ventured outside.
Slowly, Astrix turned chaotic and it was only when the first horde of Unblemished ranked beasts pursued by a magical ranked beast, accidentally entered the Dome that everything had begun to change from a bad state to the worst possible!
Not only did the Drake clan abduct everyone with talent, leaving those weak and untalented behind, but he didn't show any mercy at all as he had ordered his underlings to take Astrix's resources away too!
In the end, the Drake family abandoned the entire Island they had governed, leaving it to the weak and all kinds of beasts that started to create a massacre inside the cities that were unable to maintain the dome's defensive measures that required a huge amount of mana to supply them consistently.
Only six months had passed, but the whole Island had already been overthrown and only a few cities had been able to avoid the worst-case due to the dome's defenses that worked properly there.
This was only owing to a few old, yet prominent merchants that used up their stockpiled mana stones to supply the dome with enough mana to protect them for the next few months, if not years if necessary.
After that, they would have to face their inevitable death the merchants had barely postponed.
When Jason heard this, he couldn't help but feel that Jael Drake was truly insane!
But other than that, it also made him wonder why not a single big clan wanted to claim Astrix island for themselves.
Only when Shane explained the situation clearly, Jason began to understand the reason for the big clans' behavior.
The major reason for not helping the citizens on Astrix was the fact that the benefits one could obtain on Astrix had become insignificant.
What use was an empty island with destroyed cities and a population of a few, untalented citizens that used up a large quantity of star-notes without giving anything in return?
If one were to send help, one would have to send several Lord ranks because several humans at the Grandmagus rank wouldn't be enough to cope with the dangers on Astrix anymore!
Furthermore, the earth dragons that had waited angsty for several months, only to notice that there was not a single young human taking away the two remaining earth dragon eggs, began to understand that something was wrong too.
It was dangerous, but they had to figure out what was going on.
This led one of the bravest earth dragons to return to the surface in the same way they had taken more than a century ago when they had been forced to enter the underground hall.
After it was clear that not a single human was left, the earth dragon called its brethren that were shocked about the news.
Time passed slowly and the earth dragons turned into Astrix's overlords, free from mankind's reigns.
The soul contract they had signed never mentioned a case like that and only stated that they would be hunted if they were to return to the surface.
However, who was going to punish them, now that nobody governed Astrix anymore?
Sending out several Lord ranks would be dangerous after the Earth Dragons regained their complete combat prowess too.
As such the dangers and expenses to reclaim Astrix were not worth the benefits one could obtain.
The only benefit most big clans could see was the large mana vein, but that was everything valuable left on Astrix!
Rather than gaining something, it was more likely to bring losses!
Jason could understand their reasoning to some extent.
If they had to send one of their few sovereign ranks, who knew what would happen in those dangerous times that were about to start.
From the looks of it, big clans didn't seem to trust each other anymore and even the gathering should be a charade lead by several foreign races that remained in the shadows.
It was the sad truth, but Jason had to acknowledge that it was not feasible to reclaim and save those who had survived on Astrix until now.
At least not right now!
Even though some hunters wanted to help, they wouldn't dare to venture to Astrix, in fear that they might be abducted from the Drake family that could return suddenly, without notice, forcing them into signing an enslavement-like soul contract, or to die!
In times like these, nobody knew what was going on and Jason was sure that not even the big clans could get the hang of the whole, big picture!
Maybe, something would change in the next months, but Jason doubted it.
Reality was cruel, but those without powers or connections could only accept their fate or fight against it with all their might!
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