In a very prestigious courtyard, a white haired man who seemed to be younger than what his hair entailed sat cross legged as a young man was politely bowing before him...

"So what's the result…"

"I'm sorry, master, we found absolutely nothing! The apprentices searching all over the mountain parameter didn't find anything, other than…"

"Hm?"

"A collapsed 'Dark Nest', that all, which doesn't help much with our target…"

"I was pretty sure that this is not an ordinary occurrence, our domain's laws are not that close to the lightning law, so such a magnificent lightning bolt flashing at this place out of the blue should have been a sign for a natural elemental treasure's creation or the birth of an extraordinary creature with noble blood, it's more likely that…"

"Master! Do you think that whoever destroyed that 'Nest' would have gotten lucky and snatched the treasure as soon as it came to be?!"

"That's the only plausible possibility that we could arrive at with the limited information we have…"

"Should we…"

"No need to make a big fuss since we are only guessing, just stay alert to the news around and scan the area lightly, if the treasure indeed fell in the hands of someone, then it's no longer up for grabs…"

The white haired man stroked his smooth and long white beard as he stared into the sky, seemingly lost in thought...

`~~`~~`~~`

It turned out that the ordeal that hit the village was actually… Because of my 'hatching' process…

'The point of view was different after all…'

As I gave the result of the 'hatching' my full interest, the moment the 'Lightning of Recognition' flashed, I was almost blinded for a few seconds, so I didn't realize that its effects have spread much further, visually at least…

According to the bandit chief's words that indeed verified the old village chief's guess, it seemed like everyone thought a treasure was born…

'But it's not like they are completely wrong…'

Just the 'half Sky Dragon' could be considered a supreme treasure in its own, not to mention Light!

After all, not only was Light a treasure chest of cuteness but he also had a rare bloodline that should have appeared for the first time according to the system's words…

'This might be troublesome…'

As I just arrived in the domain, it would be extremely annoying to have people hunting me around as I travel, while the Dragon was already in hiding, Light couldn't do the same…

'Let's not overthink it for now…'

Linking the treasure with me might be quite hard to begin with, since I barely left any evidence behind, but even they did…

'Whoever tries to take Light from me…'

A bit of an evil smirk flashed on my face for the first time as I left the room…

`~~`~~`~~`

After conversing lightly with the old village chief earlier, he obviously didn't mind to give me my target, information.

However, as it seemed like it would take forever, If I asked him questions one by one, it would be a waste of time, not to mention it wouldn't make sense that I would ask about the basics of the domain…

So, I as always chose the second of my favorite things list, reading books, which has been recently topped by playing with Light, the three-eyed lightning cat, and followed by sleeping…

The village head apologized that they didn't have that much books on advanced knowledge, but I only found that better for me as I asked him for the location of the library, which he gladly informed me about, before leaving in a hurry to calculate the losses of the village and manage the new 'employees' that they had just acquired…

It only took me a few hours to read them, analyse the important parts and finally come to an understanding about the political & cultural system of the domain.

One word, sects.

While there were villages, towns, cities, and even great cities, there was no such thing as an empire or even a small kingdom, the whole domain seemed to be like a partitioned map that was divided between the mysterious sects…

The land under every certain sect had to provide a part of its earnings from whatever work they did to that sect every month, all that was due that sect being their protector who fends of the threat of the dark, which is also known as the 'Dark Nest', which were seemingly the 'Corruption Gate' I was familiar with…

Some sects also acted to stop the act of bandits and people who violated the land of their sect's provider, while some isolated themselves only rushing out to help eliminate the 'Dark Nests'...

From the ambiguous description of the sect's people, they seemed to practice weapon arts as their main attention, with some leading sects who delved into elemental arts coming with revolutionary ways to produce an even powerful 'Elemental Warrior' battle profession, while the sects who focused on pure elemental practice were simply too few in numbers…

Of course, all that was just my conclusion from reading several books with little to no mention about that, it only came to this after everything was put together...

Simply put, the major powers in the domain were in the hands of the sects, so in conclusion, my target was also likely to be within the sects as well.

After all, if I were to be one of the demons, it would be obvious that I would begin my conquest by taking over one of the sects using the same method they managed to corrupt the whole Light Empire back at the Light Domain, and in that case…

'I have to join one, huh…'

To find out the actual sect that's either colluding with the demons or simply taken control over by them, it was necessary for me to enter the power whirlpool of sects to interact and analyse…

Besides, wouldn't having a sect's support against another sect be better than fighting them alone?

That being said…

'The problem is how…?'

While it seemed like there was some sort of an annual domain over-all competition to recruit talents that had already sprouted alongside picking up people who might be still beginners but have a great aptitude, but due to how shallow the books were, the time or the place seemed to be unknown, and it wasn't likely that they would allow anyone to join either…

Knocking on a sect's door to join or just forcing my way into one was bound to result in total failure as well, so I had to search for another way…

'I will just ask the old village head about it… otherwise…'

If that also didn't work, I would have to leave the village soon and head out for a more populated place that might hold the answer to my question…

`~~`~~`~~`

Meanwhile, back at the courtyard…

"Sect Master! We managed to get hold of a piece of news!"

"Oh?"

"It seems like while we were busy searching for the natural treasure, a bandit group who have become a bit renowned lately took the chance to attack a village that was nearby, they seem to have sent one to ask for our help earlier but he wasn't given attention due to the search, but it seems that they have managed to subdue the group due to the help of an unknown youth…"

"Hmmm, tell me more..."