"What the heck is going on?"

  Liam questioned the man, unsure what to feel about what he had just read. The message has spoken of this being a Dungeon and elementals from a different planet being here and yet it was a human inhabited castle. He [Analyzed] the man before he could speak to check if he was truly human.

  [Hal Mitchell, Human, Level 5

  Path of Metal

  Elemental Blessed]

  [190/190]

  His Skill told him that he was, but he was also suspicious of the Title so he honed in on that.

  [Elemental Blessed

  Uncommon Title

  +50 Elemental Energy]

  It went well with the man's Path but likely meant that he was subordinate or allied with the Elementals in this place. He would have to find out more before he acted and to that end he began listening to what the man had to say.

  "You've probably seen some crazy things since this began."

  The man started and Liam noticed the holster on his side, strapped to some sort of vest hidden under the man's armour and holding a taser.

  "And you've probably come across the messages before too."

  He continued and Liam nodded along.

  "So what I'm trying to say is, the message you just read is accurate. There are beings from another world living in this castle with us and they've kept us safe. Now some of us don't entirely trust them but we know what they want from us and we trust that enough to know that they'll keep on protecting us for at least a while now."

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  He explained and stopped, waiting to see if Liam was taking it all in properly. For his part, Liam had been nodding along and now took the opportunity to speak up

  "And what is it they want?"

  "Elemental Energy. They want as many of us as possible to take on an Elemental type Path and feed most of the energy we generate from it into their Rift."

  "And that brings more of them over here?"

  "Yes, it does. But rescuing some of them is a small price to pay for what they're doing for us. They've wiped out all of the monsters in the area and they've given the strength to keep protecting ourselves if they ever leave us to the few of us who have accepted the situation."

  "I'd like to meet one of these Elementals if you wouldn't mind?"

  "Sure! They're friendly enough and if you haven't got a Path yet I'm sure you can find one of them you'd like to learn it from. I'm sorry, do you know what a Path is?"

  "Yes, I'm afraid I already have one but thank you."

  To that, the man nodded amicably towards him and continued leading him into the castle in companionable silence.

  They passed through the large double doors of the keep, ones that reminded him a bit too much of the ones to the Lich's hall in the catacombs. He almost pulled out of seeing the Elementals there and then but his curiosity and confidence won over his fear and he steeled himself to continue.

  He was led down a couple of corridors lit by hovering balls of light until he was brought into a lathe, empty room reminiscent of a lord's dining hall without the furniture.

  "This is where they brought us when this all began. I'll go see if I can get one of them."

  Hal said, starting towards the door. He didn't make it more than two steps, however, when a large figure walked in. It was a see through humanoid, only visible because of the waves of air that moved around in its body. It was so large that it's from had to compress to fit through the doorway and expand out again when it had finished squeezing through.

  It took a step into the room and looked at them before freezing in its tracks. Liam seized hold of the opportunity presented by its momentary halt to [Analyze] it.

  [Greater Sound Elemental, Level 23

  Path of Sound

  Walking its Birthright]

  [960/960]

  Before he could check out it's Title, it raised a trembling finger towards him and spoke in a booming voice.

  "Why did you bring that here?"

  It questioned the man who had brought him here. Liam readied himself for a fight but as he moved his axe he realised it wasn't pointing at him, it was pointing at his weapon.

  "It is already robbing us of the area's ambient energy! It will prevent us from rescuing the rest of my kind."

  It continued, torn between lumbering forwards to deal with him and trying to stay as far away from the bone relic as possible. To try and diffuse the situation, Liam extended his [Spirit of Protection] to coat the weapon and isolate it from the environment. The elemental calmed down a bit and became notably less irate once he did this, the agitated waves in its body calming down. He jumped at his chance to speak before it could make any more declarations.

  "I'm sorry. I had no idea the my axe would interrupt what you're doing here. In fact, I thought it might be able to help."

  He apologized and tried to reason with the being, who seemed quite receptive to what he had to say. In fact, it considered his words and came back with some of its own, though they didn't quite book as loudly now that it was calmed.

  "And I apologise for my outburst. Now please, tell me how it may help. Each moment we delay is another that could be spent saving my siblings."

  "I understand, I probably would've reacted the same way if I was in your situation. Now let's get down to business..."