"Elemental Crystals."

After pausing for one second to create some suspense, I flatly revealed the answer in one breath.

"Eh?"

The Clan Leader whose expression remained static during the discussion so far aside from the times he was showing his intentions using an apologetic expression finally had a shocked expression for a change, and even the Great Elder who had just closed his eyes couldn't help but open his eyes and raise his brow slightly…

'Well, it's not like one can blame them.'

After all, the situation was quite special, so even most collected people would find it hard to remain unmoved.

"Are you-"

"There is no need to assume things too quickly, just like you shared some hardly believable information earlier yet you believe it's true, I believe that my own piece of information is true as well, all you need to do is simply give me the chance to explain without interruption and you shall believe so as well very soon."

Although I wasn't one to speak in attention-grabbing styles of speech that would be built on suspense and release like leaders or negotiators do and would just simply say what I wanted to say, since I was being treated as someone on equal terms with the Dragon Clan's Leader, I decided to speak in the way that I found most suitable for the situation.

"..."

Naturally, just as I had my own doubts just before, seeds of doubt were quite apparent in the Clan Leader's eye even though he chose to stay silent, but the same couldn't be said about the Great Elder, he had already closed his eyes once again as if the surprise was merely momentary.

'Is this trust or…'

"First of, I do know that the major reason behind your doubt is the fact that elemental power is merely secondary to most beastmen, however, as you may have guessed by now, the Elemental Crystals I'm speaking of are by no means ordinary ones."

According to the various books that I read in the Imperial Library, unlike the artificially created beastmen whose main strength was elemental practice, true beastmen's strength originated from their corporeal physiques while elemental practice held secondary value. After all, not only were they born with a complete pseudo-elemental generator but they also didn't need elemental arts as it was part of their instincts just like beasts, putting them all on an almost the same starting ground when it came to elemental prowess.

As such, other than some who had special lineage related to special elements, almost all beastmen relied on methods of advanced body refinement which used their bloodline as the basis, only using elemental attacks as supporting methods. In fact, even the two 'guides' that were part of the 'noble' Dragon Clan also seemed to conform with this path as well.

When it came to elemental resources such as Elemental Crystals, they would only prove somewhat useful to young ones when they consolidated elements within their bodies but nothing more. So, it naturally didn't make any sense to say that Elemental Crystals were the reason behind the Shadow Alliance's sudden rise, hence why the situation was quite special.

"As for what makes them 'special', not only are this special type of Elemental Crystal capable of enhancing their elemental prowess, but it's also capable of enhancing their physiques. Furthermore, it can even combine both paths into one path. In a more specific way of describing its effect, it changes one's elemental affinity into a 'special' element that allows all these effects to take place."

The nature of the Corrupted Elemental Crystals was nothing simple as I thought it was to be back when I first discovered it, just the fact that it produced 'Pseudo-Omni Elemental Crystals' after purification made its origin unordinary...

At first, I thought that the one being amazing was the system's ability to purify it into that form, but it didn't turn out to be that simple. Back at the Light Domain, I had the chance to observe Corrupted up close and compare their achievements before and after corrupted and I also made sure to investigate the Corrupted Elemental Crystals as I purified them with the system's help which quickly lead me to the discovery of its true ability to some extent.

Unlike what I first thought, its value as an 'affordable elemental crystal' was nothing but its value as a bait, its ability to use the unique elements of 'Corruption' to supplement whatever path one's strength belonged to once the corrupting process is complete was its actual value to the demons as a tool for creating an endless powerful army while wiping out other races in the process.

"Let me finish that by stating the following fact to reassure you of my experience, the reason for my peculiar form of appearance on the domain was none other than that I came from another domain, one where I had come into contact with these special Elemental Crystals and witnessed their effects, and they happen to exactly fit both what I had observed and what you described. Whether you believe that or not is up to you."

Although I usually tried to hide the fact that I traveled within domains and did things while laying-low, I couldn't afford to do so when the demon's plans had advanced that far, if using this fact made me more believable as a co-operator and gave me a useful background then there was no harm in revealing it sooner than later.

While shock was still partially apparent on the Clan Leader's face, he looked towards the Great Elder who simply nodded back, causing a frown to form on the former's face.

"Indeed, while it does seem to be a fantasy-like explanation, it's true that it fits the 'plague' that fell upon our domain and it would be a waste of time to question the unimportant details, so let me immediately ask the following question since you have already experienced a similar situation to ours…"

"What exactly could the source of such 'unlogical' Elemental Crystals be?"