As of now, Apollo has identified ten people who attended that secret meeting. Some however are hiding quite well since they use a puppet to attend the meeting.

    "They are really cautious, some didn''t even attend personally but instead use puppets and hypnotic spells to control people, and attend for them"

    Apollo felt amazed at their ways though it didn''t really matter. Since he turned back time he was able to acquire their mana signature and could use it to trace them.

    "The system''s upgrade will definitely help me"

    He said so until the power of the authority helped him get an accurate reading of the mana signature.

    "Right this should do it"

    He said while cancelling the power of the authority and his spell.

    "Hoo..." he breathes while his body releases the tension that accumulated from using both an authority and a forbidden spell"

    [You are improving, and with our upgrade now the authority of time can save you from dying from using that forbidden spell]

    "Yeah, I''m glad we gathered enough stat points for the upgrade"

    Apollo felt relieved though something still bothered him.

    "Jillian hasn''t contacted me, I wonder if she succeeded in finding what I asked her to find"

    Right after the trouble at the eastern kingdoms, Apollo asked her to check on something for him. So under the pretext of being sick Jillian with Keith''s father went on to do what Apollo asked.

    [Are you certain this is right? I reckon that we could have done the search]

    "We could but we aren''t the same as the people of the north, they basically know the ins and outs of the place, and that is something we can''t replicate no matter how much data we devoured. We can copy techniques and increase talent but we can''t do those things with experience. That thing takes time and not some knowledge we can take"

    Apollo told him as he exited the forest and proceeded to travel towards the second coldest place on the continent, the outer ice shelf, the place where Keith and Jillian used to live.

    .

    .

    .

    "Child, are you sure you can still go on?"

    Lothar, Keith''s father asked as they ventured to the white and icy field.

    "I am okay chief, however, what we need to do is report this to Apollo"

    "Indeed let''s go back to our cabin first, then we can write a report that we will send to him"

    Jillian nodded until their tracks stopped when a sudden gust of cold wind hit them. The girl felt confused then she began to look around only to see the usual thing she saw every day.

    It was a serene, snow-covered landscape, blanketed by white stretches of ice as far as the eye could see.

    Tall, frosted trees sway gently in the raging wind, their branches covered in snow. The air is cold and carries a sharp cutting chill, it penetrates through even the thickest layers of clothing.

    Jillian felt frustrated since she never felt cold ever since she was little. Then amidst this tranquil yet harsh environment, a solitary figure emerges from behind a cluster of trees.

    "So in the end was it all to cover the church?"

    Apollo now felt confused but decided to bury everything since it didn''t really matter to him.

    "In the end, I have to eliminate them" he concluded as he entered the warm cabin.

    .

    .

    .

    "So did you guys succeed?" after they settled inside the cabin and ate a bit Apollo began to inquire about his objective.

    Right after finding out the roots of the world tree and its relationship to the church Apollo remembers a specific plant that has the force to freeze everything including mana. He was able to discover this info when he plundered the ancient books found in the dungeon where he found Lothar.

    He was able to find this information in one of the oldest books which also contained the oldest language.

    Apollo thought that if he could get his hands on the said flower, then he might be able to recreate or replicate its effects to freeze mana, or if he could he might even freeze life.

    "About that" Jillian felt a bit worried but still presented the thing they had discovered.

    "We have found the flower you have mentioned, however..."

    She felt conflicted as she spoke while putting down a black cylindrical object right on top of the table. Then Jillian tapped a button making the thing on the table open.

    "Whoah" Apollo can''t help but exclaim as he was hit by a sudden freezing energy.

    [That is one chilly energy]

    Jeremiah gave his remarks before putting up some defenses to protect Apollo from the cold energy.

    "So as you can see the flower is way too weak to be considered to be the flower from the information you gave us" Jillian said while looking a bit disappointed.

    However, her words were something Apollo didn''t expect.

    "You mean this is weak?"

    He asked just to be clear and innocently his friend only answered "Yes it is weak"

    That statement made the boy even more chilly. The flower''s mere presence was enough for the system to put out its defences to protect him yet it was still deemed weak.

    "Wait" Apollo suddenly noticed something and he immediately looked at the three people with him.

    "None of you looked cold" he mumbled as he observed that despite the cold energy being released by the flower none of the three people with him seemed bothered.

    "Apollo? You okay?"

    Keith asked seeing his expression looked complicated.

    "No, I am okay" the young mage just replied while shaking his head. Truly it wasn''t a mistake to let these people handle this task.

    "Nevermind that Jillian explained to me why this is considered weird"