The Old men led Grey into the cultivation chambers, instructing the others to leave. Not wasting any time, Grey immediately got to work. Like any other cultivation chambers, the McCall Family chamber was well guarded, and there were a few people inside cultivating when Grey came. To get a faster result, Grey opted to study one of the youngsters currently in the middle of creating their cores. After proper observation, his expression changed. The reason for this was because he couldn't find the source of the string.
'Was I wrong?' He was a little skeptical about not finding anything here.
If the source of the string is not in the McCall's Family cultivation chambers, then the situation might be a little different from what he expected.
Seeing Grey's change in expression, the Old men knew there was a chance Grey didn't find the cause of the problem. Nevertheless, they remained quiet as they watched him contemplate the matter.
Grey fell deep in thoughts as he tried to figure out what might be the problem. If the strings didn't come from the chambers, then it had to come from somewhere else.
'Could it be linked to this place?'
There's a chance that the entire McCall Family Manor might be the problem. However, if whatever is creating these strings weren't from the cultivation chambers which everyone uses at the start of their cultivation journey, then it is most likely from something in the Manor.
Grey has been in the McCall Family Manor for a few days, and although he knew it was rude, he has swept the entire place with his spiritual senses and he didn't find a single thing out of the ordinary. Even the tombs of the McCall Family's Ancestors who are buried with countless treasures have been secretly inspected by him. There was nothing of value to the current him. If he had been here when he just broke through to the Sovereign Plane, then he might've taken a few, it wasn't like they would find out. Fortunately for them, there was nothing he needed.
Grey was still thinking when the Old man in blue suddenly spoke up.
Hearing the Old man in blue address him respectfully, Grey turned his attention to him, a little surprised. He motioned for the Old man to go ahead.
"You spoke about it being something used at the start of an Elementalist's cultivation journey, correct?" The Old man in blue asked.
Grey nodded, he indeed implied this with his words earlier.
"If that's the case, since we're looking for something at the start of our journey, shouldn't we look toward the thing that was the real start to all our journeys?" The Old man in blue continued.
Grey continued staring at the Old man, not saying a word as he tried to understand the meaning of the Old man in blue's words, his eyes lit up as he said, "You mean?"
"Yes." The Old man in blue nodded before explaining, "Every Elementalist used affinity stones to check their elemental affinities, our McCall Family is no different."
When Grey spoke about something used at the start of an Elementalist's journey, the Old man in blue's thoughts immediately went to the affinity stones. Unlike Factions that recruit Elementalists unless said Elementalists are born into the Factions, Families like the McCall Family and the others rarely recruit Elementalists as the power of the Family will generally be within itself; meaning almost all members are directly related by blood to each other. Children born in these Families will only have their elemental affinities tested with the Family's affinity stone.
"If it's convenient, I'd like to see it." Grey turned to the Old man in black.
The Old man in black led the way without saying a word. After a few turns, they arrived at the testing ground. It was an open space, and in the center of a circle was a three meters tall stone slab that was around a meter wide.
Grey walked close to it and started inspecting it, he couldn't help but click his tongue when he recalled his first time using an affinity stone. Placing his palm on it, he recalled the heartbreak he felt when he heard the words 'no affinity'. As at the time it felt like his world had ended, even as a child.
His state of reverie was quickly broken when he felt a subtle energy moving from within the affinity stone and into his body as the strange energy contained within the stone moved around his body.
Grey opened his eyes, staring at the Old men, he said calmly, "Please excuse me."
With that said, all six Old men felt a bizarre energy envelope them, the next thing they saw was the walls of the main hall. All six of them were teleported here without their knowledge.
The entire hall was quiet after they appeared, all wearing confused looks on their faces.
"H… how?" One of the Old men asked in complete befuddlement. A second ago he was standing in an open space staring at the glowing affinity stone, and now he was standing in the main hall.
"Do you think is stronger than the City Lord?" One of the Old men suddenly asked in amazement. Having such thoughts after experiencing what he just experienced isn't out of the ordinary. One has to remember that the space element is foreign to them. Even with the City Lord's strength, none of them felt he could achieve the same feat as Grey.
The possibility of Grey being stronger than the City Lord scared and excited the others. If Grey is as strong as the City Lord or even stronger, doesn't that mean that whatever is attached to the other end of the string won't be too much of a problem?
Knowing that the stronger Grey was, the higher their chances of being free of whatever the string was, they all secretly hoped that he is stronger than the City Lord.