My Infinite Cultivation System-Chapter 108: Safe Zone

The crimson light faded from Alex’s back, leaving behind nothing visible to the naked eye. The wings had merged completely, becoming part of his spiritual essence rather than a physical appendage. He could feel them there, dormant but ready, like a second heartbeat waiting to be unleashed.

Mira watched him with an expression he could not quite read. Relief, perhaps. Or resignation. It was difficult to tell with her.

"You feel it?" she asked.

"Yes," Alex replied. "Like holding a storm inside a bottle."

She nodded slowly. "Use it wisely. Five minutes is not a long time. But in this place, five minutes can be the difference between climbing and falling."

He turned to face her fully. "Why did you show me this? You could have kept searching for someone else who might activate it. Or you could have waited until you grew strong enough to meet the requirement yourself."

Mira’s hands stopped their constant movement for the first time since Alex had met her. She stood perfectly still, her small frame somehow appearing larger in the silence that followed.

"Because I have been here for five months," she said quietly. "Five months of hiding and surviving and watching others die. I have claimed small advantages from this ruin. Techniques that made me faster. Artifacts that helped me sense danger. But I have never claimed anything that would let me truly compete."

She looked at the empty cylinder, and something flickered across her face. "The wings were my hope. My reason for coming back here every day. And every day, they refused me. I began to understand that some treasures are not meant for people like me. Some treasures are meant for people who are destined to climb."

"You believe in destiny?"

"I believe in patterns." She met his eyes. "And I have seen enough of this battlefield to recognize when someone arrives who does not belong among the prey."

Alex considered her words carefully. He had learned long ago that trust was a currency that depreciated rapidly in places like this. But Mira had given him something genuine. Whether she had done so out of desperation, calculation, or something else entirely, the gift remained real.

"I will remember this," he said. "When I climb, you will climb with me."

Mira’s expression did not change, but something in her posture softened almost imperceptibly. "Survive the next three days first. Then we can talk about climbing."

They left the chamber and began the journey back through the twisting tunnels. The traps remained where they had been, invisible to anyone who did not know their locations. Alex followed Mira’s footsteps exactly, memorizing the path as they went.

When they emerged from the hidden entrance beneath the crystal forest, the sun had fully risen. The battlefield stretched before them, transformed by the morning light. The distant spires gleamed like silver needles against the sky. The crystal forest sparkled with refracted rainbows. Even the bloodstained clearings looked almost beautiful from a distance.

But Alex knew what lurked beneath that beauty.

"Where do we go now?" he asked.

Mira pointed toward the eastern horizon, where a cluster of low structures barely broke the landscape. "There is a neutral zone there. A marketplace of sorts. The strong do not hunt there because the overseers enforce a truce within its boundaries. It is where people trade points, information, and services."

"How do the overseers enforce the truce?"

"Painfully," Mira said simply. "Someone tried to kill a rival there last week. The overseers removed his arms and legs and left him at the boundary for the hunters to finish. No one has tried since."

Alex filed that information away. A safe zone changed the dynamics considerably. It meant he had somewhere to retreat, somewhere to plan, somewhere to breathe without constantly watching every shadow.

"We should go there first," he said. "I need to understand the current landscape. Who is hunting. Who is hiding. Who might be worth targeting."

Mira nodded and began walking. "The marketplace is three hours away if we move quickly. We should reach it before midday. But we can only stay there for three hour per day."

Alex nodded. That made sense otherwise everyone would hide there for 3 days who were not strong enough.

They moved across the battlefield at a steady pace, avoiding open areas and staying close to terrain that offered cover. Mira knew the ground well. She led them through gullies that hid them from distant observers, around clearings where the grass still bore the marks of recent violence, and beneath the shadows of rock formations that provided natural concealment.

Twice, she stopped abruptly and pulled Alex into cover. The first time, a group of seven figures passed approximately two hundred meters away, their movements coordinated and purposeful. They wore matching gray robes and moved in a formation that suggested military training.

"The Gray Covenant," Mira whispered. "A group of thirty-two geniuses who pooled their points to form a hunting collective. They target solo participants almost exclusively. If they see us, they will chase us until we are dead."

Alex watched them pass, noting their spacing, their speed, and the way their leader scanned the terrain. They were efficient. Disciplined. Dangerous.

"How many points do they have collectively?"

"Enough that their leader sits at number seventeen on the board. But their true strength is not in individual power. It is in coordination. They have hunted together for months. They know each other’s techniques and tendencies. Fighting them is like fighting a single entity with thirty-two limbs."

The Gray Covenant disappeared over a ridge, and Mira waited a full minute before moving again.

The second time they took cover, it was for a single figure.

He walked alone across the plain, his pace unhurried and his hands clasped behind his back. He wore simple black clothing and no visible weapons. His hair was white despite his young face, and his eyes were the color of old blood.

Mira’s breathing stopped entirely.

"Do not move," she breathed, her voice barely audible. "Do not even think too loudly."

The figure continued walking, passing within fifty meters of their position. He did not look in their direction. He did not need to. Alex felt the weight of the man’s presence like a physical pressure, as though the air itself was acknowledging something superior.

When the figure finally disappeared over the horizon, Mira exhaled shakily.

"Who was that?" Alex asked.

"Kaelen," she said. "Ranked fourth. He does not hunt in groups. He does not need to. Last month, he killed seventeen geniuses in a single day. Seventeen. Including three from the top fifty."

Alex filed that name away as well.

They reached the marketplace shortly before noon.

The neutral zone was exactly as Mira had described. A collection of low stone buildings arranged in a rough circle around a central courtyard. Hundreds of participants moved through the area, some browsing makeshift stalls, others conversing in small groups, and still others sitting alone with their backs against walls and their eyes watching everyone who passed.

The atmosphere was different from the rest of the battlefield. There was tension here, certainly, but it was the tension of a truce rather than the tension of imminent violence. People spoke in normal voices. Some even laughed.

Alex followed Mira to a corner of the courtyard where a stone fountain still functioned, clear water cascading down its weathered surface. She sat on the edge and gestured for him to do the same.

"Watch," she said quietly. "Learn. The marketplace will tell you everything you need to know about who is dangerous and who is pretending."

He watched.

A tall woman with bronze skin moved through the crowd, and people parted for her automatically. She did not acknowledge them. She simply walked, and the crowd accommodated her as though she were a force of nature rather than a person.

"Valerias’s second-in-command," Mira murmured. "Seraphine. Ranked ninth. Do not make eye contact." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Alex did not. He watched her pass and noted the way her gaze swept across the courtyard, cataloging faces and positions with professional efficiency.

Near the center of the courtyard, a group of five participants stood in a loose circle, their heads close together as they spoke. One of them glanced in Alex’s direction, and even from this distance, Alex felt the weight of that gaze. The man smiled slightly, then turned back to his conversation.

"Who are they?"

"The Inner Circle," Mira said. "Ranked twelve through sixteen. They do not hunt in the traditional sense. They control information. They know where every significant treasure is located, where every powerful participant sleeps, and when every major battle will occur. They sell that information to the highest bidder."

Alex watched them for a long moment. Information was power. And these five had built an empire on it.

He stood slowly.

"What are you doing?" Mira asked, her voice sharp.

"Introducing myself."

"That is a terrible idea."

"Probably." Alex began walking toward the Inner Circle. "But terrible ideas are how I survive."