"Oh, really?"

The yellow little potato's face showed a hint of unease; the description from the Wind Element always made her feel odd. It didn't seem like the description of a human; either the Wind Element mistook Ethan for an Elemental Elf or considered herself to be human.

Miss Earth Element found it hard to imagine what had happened between her friend and Ethan recently to lead to this current situation.

She asked for a specific reason; the person seemed to aspire to become a "master of all elemental shaping," so sooner or later she would have to deal with Ethan.

She prefers to understand her partners in advance.

Every natural element that had come into contact with Ethan had a good relationship with him; even the thought processes and other elements were differentiated — the same fire element was no exception. But precisely because of this, Miss Earth Element became cautious.

Couldn't hear a single negative comment.

It always felt like something was off, leading her to suspect if Ethan had given the other Elemental Elves some kind of strange magic potion and brainwashed them.

Humans are most skilled in making these potions, enthusiastically applying brainwashing to their own kind or other races.

"He didn't feed you any strange little potions, right?"

Miss Earth Element stared suspiciously at the Wind Element. The Wind Element shook her head dully, her body completely embedded in the earth, with only her head exposed, making her look even more dazed.

Miss Earth Element sighed. This girl is definitely the easiest to deceive.

She's the kind who would still help the other party count money even after being cheated.

She wanted to remind her good friend of something, but was interrupted by a surprised voice, "You really are here!"

Soon after, the door of the wooden house was pushed open, and Miss Earth Element saw an excited Ethan rushing in. What she wanted to say was stuck in her throat, and this scene suddenly made her find Ethan a bit scary — she was about to remind the Wind Element to be cautious, but Ethan caught her right on.

Moreover, he was so excited that he could barely close his mouth, like a kidnapper.

"Why did you come here?"

"I told him we found the treasure."

The Wind Element Girl proactively confessed, "This house was where he used to practice Fire Elemental Magic."

"You have a good eye, actually finding my wilderness solitary little villa."

Although this wooden house is quite rudimentary, having only one level theoretically means this plot of land belongs beyond the boundaries of Ximu Town— usually deserted with no one venturing off the path just to come here, thus embracing it as his own — back when Ethan was struggling the most, he imagined the wooden house to comfort himself as a solitary little villa.

"Why did you tell him we were here!"

The yellow little potato grumpily complained to her friend.

"Because he asked."

The Wind Element Girl spoke with an air of inevitability, "You said friends shouldn't hide things from each other."

In the course of speaking, the yellow little potato happened to see the box she had brought back as a trophy, filled with colorful and unknown-effect magic potions.

She couldn't help but shudder.

A while ago, she had mentally mocked Ethan's poor skills at hiding things. Only a novice would like to bury the treasure under the dirt near their home, naively thinking others couldn't find it. As a treasure hunter expert, she had ventured into countless ruins and ancient tombs, witnessing designs that could be called works of ghosts and gods.

Now, however, a sentence suddenly sprang to her mind.

High-level hunters often appear in the form of prey.

Though it seemed she easily found Ethan's hidden spoils, in reality, she unwittingly became his trophy.

Scenes of being force-fed strange magic potions after defeat even flashed in her mind.

"What, what do you want to do?"

The yellow little potato's half head drilled into the dirt, preparing to escape at any moment.

"I want to thank you; after seriously considering your hints, I suddenly realized something."

Ethan originally planned to have a subtle conversation but since the yellow little potato questioned so directly, he didn't hold back either, as this was a perfect opportunity to test this theory.

He heeded her.

— "Miss Earth Element, do you want to become a super phantom thief?"

.........

Evening, Siwalant.

A secret interrogation was underway; a woman wearing a golden mask was being contortedly forced into an instrument slightly over a meter tall. Though even her bones emitted sounds of stress, she didn't make a noise, looking extremely quiet, with six conduits piercing her head.

No need for whipping or coercive questioning; they could extract the truth from this betrayer's head.

The interrogation was overseen by a man wearing a sorrow mask, distinguished by an expression different from the uniform prevailing expression, a symbol of his uniqueness.

Above the container measuring slightly over a meter, the experiences of the woman being interrogated over recent times were gradually playing out.

The sorrow mask remained silent.

The war had lasted too long; as subjects of the King of Gold, they had never experienced such a prolonged three-month tug-of-war, and the battle lines in this dimension showed signs of stretching even longer.

The betrayers created something called "Shadow Lamp," its composition unknown. They smuggled "Shadow Lamp" into Siwalant via Evil God's Followers, even infiltrating the Royal City, releasing Princess Vivian and the great craftsman from the control of the golden mask, hence triggering a sudden escape.

Vivian Gallog had already fled Siwalant; she had been hidden beneath the slope by the stream, and the "Hunter" failed to detect her presence. She should now have escaped into the Empire.

This dimension harbors too many phenomena unknown to scholars; even now, they couldn't explain why the faith in the Evil God could sever the golden radiation's effects on the followers. Instead, they had to settle for developing more powerful brainwashing tools.

The downside is that they must manually put these masks on the rebels, meaning a real war must be waged to completely conquer the Empire and Ophira.

Of course, victory was bound to be theirs.

They already ruled most territories in this dimension; weapons of war were being produced continuously. With each passing day, the disparity between the rebels' forces and them grows.

"Take her to the smelting plant."

The golden mask handed down a silent command, and the extracted glowing energy was stored in a transparent container, rendering the aging body worthless.

Two guards from Siwalant, wearing golden masks like walking corpses, lifted the container slightly over a meter tall.

The smelting plant was where "Hunters" were produced.

This was a biological weapon, emitting a pungent metallic smell even before approaching — originally a historical museum in Siwalant, it was reconstructed into a smelting plant for war machines after the King of Gold descended. The container measuring slightly over a meter was placed haphazardly into the materials library.

Here, plenty of biological materials are stored for smelting "Hunters."

Monsters, humans, subhumans — one could find most creatures inhabiting this continent here, but none were exempt from being confined in narrow cages at this moment.

They looked extremely quiet, even when chained, facing the fate of being put into a furnace, they wouldn't resist.

The golden mask suppressed their thoughts.

To the subjects of the King of Gold, this isn't death, but serving the Golden Kingdom in another form.

However, plainly, someone had differing viewpoints.

After the two guards left and the materials library fell completely silent, four round "potatoes" drilled out from the floor.

"I have a question."

A young girl with flax-colored long hair and a delicate face, evidently one who pays great attention to upkeep, posed a question, "Why did we have to burrow out from the floor?"

It's truly against noble etiquette.

"It's simple."

A youth from the team replied, "Because we are phantom thieves."