After leaving the city.

In the woods.

"Can I ask you a question?" Grey stopped, looking at Sylvia.

"Yeah sure," Sylvia nodded.

"What are your true intentions?" Grey asked.

He already decided to ask her after they left the city, so he didn't delay any longer.

"About?" Sylvia raised a brow, staring at Grey.

"Why are you so adamant about me getting stronger? It's odd if you think about it. You have no connections with me, nor did I help you or anything, so why would you go through the stress of trying to make me stronger?" Grey asked, looking at her straight in the eyes.

"Also, if you were to be in my position, would you truth you? Someone you knew nothing about just picking you up, deciding to train you?" He added.

"Guess there's no use keeping you in the dark any longer," Sylvia said before walking towards the tree beside them, sitting below it.

"Actually, I originally approached you before I had nothing to do, but after you absorbed my lightning attack, I grew interested in you" She began explaining her reason behind wanting to help Grey grow stronger, and just like Grey expected, it wasn't any simple.

According to Sylvia, there's a Faction her family had an issue with. There's a secret realm that opened at the border of the two territories, since they couldn't decide who had it, they agreed to bring their best genius below twenty-five years of age. Whoever won would gain ownership of the realm for ten years.

For the past two hundred years, they had been losing constantly to this Faction. Not to forget, the Faction was regarded as the second strongest Faction in the entire Aurora Continent.

It was almost time for the competition for the secret realm once again, and she wanted to bring in someone to break their bad luck in the competition. This was why she traveled out of the Middle Continent, searching for the right candidates. She had encountered a few people who she had sent to her family for training, and just when she was about to stop her search, she heard of a treasure appearing somewhere in the Gale region.

She encountered the Pyro Faction leader on her way back after obtaining the treasure. He thought she was weaker than him, so he tried attacking her, luckily for him, she was in a good mood, hence she refrained from killing him.

When she saw Grey absorbing the lightning, she wanted to test out his strength, and also see his potential. This was why she allowed him to fight against Clara at the Gayle family mansion, and also the reason she was trying to get him to challenge others to quickly boost his strength since there was just around two years left before the competition.

.

Grey stood beside her, surprised for the reason she was trying to make him stronger. He couldn't believe she was actually preparing him for something that important.

"Why would you put your trust in a total stranger. If I'm not wrong, you should have powerful geniuses in your family, especially since you're actually going against the second most powerful Faction in the entire continent, it means you guys aren't weak either. There are definitely people who are more powerful than I am in your family," Grey said.

He couldn't understand why she would do something like this when she knew nothing about him.

"There are. Honestly, there are a few in the Origin Plane who can achieve what you've achieved in the competitions that you've won in these regions," Sylvia answered honestly.

"Then why choose me?" Grey asked.

"I have a special feeling about you, and you're different. Not just that, but there's a fire in you that gives me confidence in choosing you," Sylvia replied, to the shock of Grey.

He did not expect her answer to be something like this.

"Hmm, well, I can't be too sure of that yet. For now, I have a lot of things I need to settle, putting your challenge as one of them is not something I can say I want to do. There's also the problem of the mark that necromancer placed on my back," Grey voiced out his thoughts.

Although fighting against what was regarded as the second strongest Faction in the continent sounded nice, he wouldn't want to make an enemy of them because he wanted to assist Sylvia. Not just that, but he wasn't confident he could even be of any help, at least with his present strength, that is.

"I know this isn't something you can just agree to, but let me tell you this. That secret realm was what turned this Faction into the second strongest Faction in the continent, and if they were to continue using it, it would only be a matter of time before they turned into the strongest Faction. Although, there's still the possibility of them using the entire resources there, so we can't be too sure," Sylvia said.

"Then as for your reward, you can head into the secret realm to train for two years," She added.

"I can't decide if I'll be participating for now, two years is still a long time for me. I'll decide when the time comes," Grey said.

He couldn't carelessly make such a decision, after all, he knew nothing of the Middle Continent. He had only been in the Eastern Continent and was currently headed towards the Southern Continent to search for Ellis. If things work out, he might even leave immediately he finds him so that he could bring his friends here.

"Alright, I never expected to agree immediately. We'll go our separate ways once you're about to head into the Southern Continent. I still have a lot to do," Sylvia nodded to his words, not feeling surprised by his decision.

"Alright, since we've come to a conclusion with that issue, I want to ask, are you from the Northern Continent?" Sylvia asked after a moment of silence.

"Northern Continent? I've never been there before," Grey shook his head.

"Alright," Sylvia nodded.

'Looks like he's not from that family.'