Right the next morning, Paul and his ladies went to find the elders, which was not that hard since they already knew where they lived.
To say that the five women were shocked by the information shared by Paul's group would be a colossal understatement.
After taking a look at the letter left by Wang Lei, as well as the book, they immediately gathered everyone to warn them all at once and inform them about the true danger they were facing.
-Thank you all for gathering so fast.
Lin Mei said in the central area of their district.
She was standing in the middle, along with the other elders and Paul's group behind her.
-Thanks to the new group of arrivals, we managed to get our hands on information, crucial to our survival in this place, as well as shedding light on what happened to this city and the Blue Lotus sect.
To answer the question you are most likely wondering about right now, it was Paul Marshal who obtained that information from the city lord's mansion.
He is not only a healer but also has the shadow affinity, which allowed him to enter through the barrier.
She explained.
-As for the information itself, it comes from the notes and a letter left by the last sect master of the Blue Lotus sect.
According to that, his whole sect was used to conduct an experiment aimed at enhancing humans with the spirit and magical beasts' abilities, by another sect from the twelfth realm called the Wild Claw sect.
Moreover, they transported this whole city to some desolate place to avoid their experiments being discovered.
Also, to prevent anyone from escaping and calling for help, they tampered with the portals, turning them into deathtraps.
This, unfortunately, means that all our sisters who tried to ascend through the portals have died.
As for the creatures that are preventing us from leaving this place, either on foot or in a boat.
They are the disciples of the blue lotus sect and the people of this city who were experimented on.
According to the sect master's notes, their strength is comparable to that of a peak ascension stage expert, making it impossible for us to fight our way out.
Lastly, the portals were set up in such a way that only females were brought here for a reason, and that reason is that the Wild Claw sect want's to be sure that the evidence of their activities in this realm will remain hidden until there is no way to prove that it was their work.
We also discovered that the creatures they created are mostly unstable and don't live long. Still, they can procreate with females of any sentient race, so being killed by them might actually be preferable to being captured alive.
The final piece of information we have to share with all of you is that the barrier surrounding the city lord's mansion is actually the only thing keeping these monsters out of the city, as it is emitting a pulse that keeps them away.
So, from now on, any attempt to destroy the barrier is prohibited, since I don't need to tell you what will happen if it disappears.
As she spoke, the faces of all the women present went pale from learning the shocking truth about their situation.
-This is all I have to share with all of you right now. If we find more information, we will share it with everyone as soon as possible.
Lin Mei said, finishing her speech, and as soon as she did, dozens of women started asking questions, all at once, creating quite a chaos.
However, most questions were the same.
-Is there a way to escape without getting killed or turned into a breeding slave for the monsters?
-Is there a way to disable the portals, to prevent more people from falling into this trap?
-Where were they if the whole city was relocated?
-What did the elders plan to do about all of this?
Such questions were repeated time and again, and all five elders were doing their best to answer them.
However, most answers boiled down to.
-I don't know, or we didn't have the time to formulate any plans for now, as we also just learned about it.
The shock that all the women were exposed to by revealing the information was enough for all of them to forget about Paul, who slipped away with his ladies, using the shadow jump, as soon as Lin Mei finished speaking.
-Well, Paul, do you have any idea about leaving this place?
Natalie asked as soon as all of them appeared back at their mansion.
-Previously, I had an idea about leaving here, but with the new information, it has been rendered useless.
The man answered.
-What was the plan?
Anna asked, curious, what he came up with.
-I was planning to fly out of here using a hot air balloon.
That, however, was before I learned about the flying beasts living in the forest, and if we were taken down, the creatures would make short work of us.
Considering that their power exceeds the peak of this realm, we would be basically helpless against them, whether we tried to fight or run away.
-That would work, if not for the beasts.
Anna stated hearing his plan.
-Well, right now, the only other option is to go underground, but making a tunnel that is at least seven hundred kilometers long would take years, even if we had help from all the earth mages in this city.
Not to mention that we would need to dig some ventilation shafts, making it possible for the creatures to find the tunnel.
Paul sighed in resignation, as no matter how he thought about it, there was no way to leave this place other than ascension, without using the portals.
At least no way that had more than a slim chance of success.
-It seems that we will need to stay here until we can ascend without the portals.
Elaina said with an unhappy voice, as that would hinder the task she received from Queen Dryad, and also possibly make it impossible for her to complete the path of Eldars.
-I also see no other option for now, but the good news is that even if we are forced to ascend, to leave this place.
We will be able to come back to the beginning realm once we go to the Ascension realm.
Paul said, reminding them that going down to the lower realms was still possible.
-The main problem we have now is the portal in this place.
We need to find a way to disable all the portals or destroy them to prevent others and ourselves from returning to this city.
-Sei, do you have any ideas regarding this matter?
Paul asked, remembering that his reincarnation soul was also an array master in the past.
-There are a few possibilities.
The soul said as it materialized before them.
-However, to see which of them would work, I need to examine the portals and barriers protecting them.
As for leaving this place, you should settle down here for a while and leave by ascending, which is the safest route available to you all.
What's more, you won't need to wait for all of you to reach the ascension stage.
The moment any of you do so, you can use the slavery contract to all go up, at the same time, and it also eliminates the possibility of you being separated.
Sei added, reminding them that the group size was only a problem if they used the portals to ascend.