"That's right. There's a "but" involved."

Enjoying his smoke on stage like nobody's business, Eren continued.

"The White Raven guild has gotten hold of an ancient array that immerses a ranker in the pure elemental manifestations of their respective elements. The environment the array creates for the ranker helps them increase their elemental attainment to a significant level in a short time.

Of course, there are a lot of limitations imposed on the ranker. And these limitations change as per the ranker's capacity to handle the elemental pool they are immersed in. So there's no use in me listing them out. You will find your limitations soon enough if and when you decide to participate.

The array also allows them to increase their ranking status if they can manage to practice their ranking techniques while being immersed in the elemental pool. As long as you are confident in your ability to handle pressure, there are no technical restrictions on your growth.

But"

Eren's words before the word 'but' sounded like a dream-like symphony in the rankers' ears. Alas, they were forced to snap back to reality when Eren started speaking about the risks involved in the updated program.

"But there's a possibility that the elemental pool might damage your mana core and kill you. Or worse, turn you into a mortal. There's also a chance that you might lose your sense of self in the elemental pool if you don't understand your limits and decide to stay inside the pool.

The elemental pool generated by the array can only be used once. Try to use it for the second time and it'll make your mana core implode and waste you in a second.

Furthermore, there's a chance that the elemental pool is not compatible with you. In this case, you will experience the side effects of your incompatibility even if you do all the other things right.

And you only have one chance to bet on yourself and your growth. You have to bet on your future with your own life and current potential as currency.

To put it simply, it's a gamble."

Eren's voice started turning grim as he spoke about the ill consequences of using the elemental pool. He didn't try to hide the cons because he needed people with strong convictions to enter the pool.

People started murmuring when they heard about the consequences. Half of the rankers started hesitating about joining the program because the side effects were simply too much. Even rankers who had performed well in the first phase of the rank-up program found it difficult to be okay with phase two's negative effects.

***

Eren had heard from Ror that there was an Ogre tribe controlled by Bigua that had this elemental array on his tribe's grounds. Bigua had gained clarity of his own when he evolved to a certain degree from being a mere Ogre Soldier. He used this clarity to create this phenomenon for himself and his tribe.

Bigua wanted to avoid Kev Larson and Meera Madinah from visiting his tribe's grounds for the same reason. He had an ambitious plan to evolve into a true Monster Overlord and also help some of his trusted tribe members using the elemental pool. If his plan had succeeded, Bigua's tribe would have become a severe threat to rankers and other tribes in the Badlands.

If the special forces knew what he was doing in his backyard, they would never have made deals with him. Kev and Meera would have attacked him without considering the effects of their actions on the battle with the soldiers of Layos.

One had to say that Bigua was a crafty and talented Ogre. At the time of Drin's mission, he killed a member of his own tribe Hiram with his own hands to prevent the situation from escalating. He killed the Ogre Lord and ended the matter then and there. Then he made a deal with the special forces of Edinburgh to obtain more resources for his project.

At first, Bigua's elemental pool was only capable of increasing one's elemental attainments in the water element. Only those who walked the path of the water element were able to use the elemental pool for themselves.

However, everything changed when Bigua saw Drin mimic the effects of other elements with his shadow element. Bigua belonged to the Oni dungeon and was still in touch with the monsters inside it. He consulted with Durbag who was supposed to be a genius when it came to the study of arrays.

Durbag was the same orc who had constructed the pyramid-encompassing array to free the entire monster population from Har Jahar's tyrannic control by killing him. The array was then used by Eren to kill the Oni King using his own hands.

Even as an expert in arrays, Durbag was very impressed with what Bigua was doing. The ogre's knowledge of the subject was limited but he knew what he could do with it. The two monsters discussed and used various shadow-element resources to make this array compatible with almost anyone.

This was also the reason why Bigua wanted to kidnap Drin Dawn and conduct a few experiments on him and his shadow element. It was to alleviate the consequences of using the elemental pool. Alas, Drin was protected by Meera Madinah and Kev Larson at that point, preventing the Ogre from resolving the matter for the better.

A significant portion of the resources had been used in the construction of this elemental array. Bigua had even traded with the Oni dungeon and other tribes within the Badlands to make his project a success story. However, his efforts were thrown down the drain for him when Kirin launched an attack on his tribe.

Bigua was just about to use the elemental pool when that happened. He was challenged by Kaal and defeated in mortal combat in front of his entire tribe. Kaal was half-dead in his fight against Bigua but he managed to defeat the quasi-Monster Overlord by a hair's breadth.

Bigua had huge backing in the tribe who strongly opposed Kaal's hostile takeover despite the monster traditions in place. This rebellion was easily squashed by Kirin, using it as a reason to justify her interference in the tribe despite being a non-Ogre.

Kirin had managed to keep her word by obtaining the elemental pool for her husband. She rushed right toward the butcher after the mission concluded, enabling him to begin phase two of the plan.

AN: The clues about Bigua's plans can be found in chapter 719.