Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign-Chapter 392: Black Quartet

"Guessed as much" Ezra remarked. Delving deeper into the cave until he reached the end.

Analyzing the cave structure on his way there. Ezra surmised that the cave was artificially made, probably by the black dragon he saw before.

Reaching the end, he finds the floor crushed to make for a comfortable cushion, with remnants of origin energy concentrated in the area, highlighting its use as a cultivation room.

You then had claw marks all over the walls, but nothing substantial beyond that.

"Hmm..."

Thankfully, he already memorized the dragon’s facial features. Sitting, Ezra used his communicator to try and track down the black dragon.

The galactic web provided many functions, and one of them was media sites for all types of people to showcase themselves in an attempt to gather fame.

Whilst very little higher beings used it, there wasn’t really any place he could start searching better than this.

He could only hope that black dragon had a profile on this platform.

With only facial features to identify him with, Ezra soon realized that it was going to be an incredibly difficult task.

He was in the Black Dragon galactic cluster after all.

As the name suggested, black dragons were indeed the most populous race within the entire galactic cluster.

In such a scenario, searching for a black dragon by looks alone was at least ten times more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

Not to mention that the needle would stick out in such a scenario.

’How annoying. Should I have just captured him that time?’ Ezra wondered before shaking his head, since he didn’t have the power to turn back time, such thoughts were of no help.

In this aspect, trying to find Khasavar, who had no really distinguishing facial features was next to impossible.

But Ezra wasn’t one to give up.

Using his brain, he filters his search to only ’Higher beings’, diminishing the search area significantly, but even the search pool still had more than a hundred thousand results.

Then, centering it on ’Transcendent’, the search area decreased to a bit beyond nine thousand.

Then, he excluded all those of variant races, narrowing the search pool even more.

Having gotten as far as he could go, Ezra began sifting through the information, skipping past hundreds of profiles until he chanced upon the picture of a black dragon that wasn’t him, but held an uncanny resemblance.

Ezra rejoiced, two hours into his search, he’d found a clue.

Alas, the profile only ever uploaded a single picture, the one he’d seen. It had no activity beyond that.

Thinking he’d hit a dead end, Ezra sighs, about to continue his search when he spots a location tagged in the profile description.

Black Quartet.

He does a search, and a few minutes later, his face turns tense, darkening.

Black Quartet is what you would call the main galaxy within the galactic cluster.

It is marked as the main base for black dragons, and is also where the black dragon clan main branch is stationed.

For reference, a main clan is basically the headquarters for a race and its variants.

Making it the representative branch and simultaneously, the most powerful branch of a race.

Ezra’s face could only darken.

This signified Black Quartet as the most important place to all black dragons.

In hindsight, that also meant it would be the most guarded place, swarming with nascents.

Finally, Black Quartet being tagged as location meant the black dragon lived there!

While he hoped it wasn’t true, if it was, that meant Ezra would have to delve into the heart of enemy territory to scout for his target and if needed, abduct him!

’What a hassle’

Ezra couldn’t help but seriously question why he hadn’t apprehended the black dragon when he had the chance earlier.

Letting off a deep sigh. Ezra contemplated his next action, and decided...to simply wait.

Since he concealed him, the black dragon had most likely not seen him.

So there was a good chance he would return.

Ezra intended to apprehend him once he did.

Not knowing that his target had already been spooked into never coming back.

First of all, he laid out a layer of energy over the entire cave and outside of it.

This way, if someone stepped in front of the cave, he would be alerted immediately and instantly activate <universal concealment> to hide his presence.

To avoid noticing him before getting in the range of his perception, Ezra used his darkness affinity to shroud himself.

’Now we wait’

With his plan in place, Ezra began cultivating.

A day passed, no one came, Ezra decided to hold on.

Two days passed. It was still too early to come to any conclusions, Ezra waited.

A week goes by, Ezra suspects something’s wrong, but decides to wait a little longer.

At the end of the second week, Ezra no longer had any doubts.

That black dragon was not coming back here.

He would now have to scout Black Quartet, a whole galaxy, to find him.

It was the worst outcome.

Over the past two weeks, Ezra had been cultivating while at the same time brushing up on things he didn’t know before.

Thanks to his position as an Elder of the red dragon clan, he was to access information about black dragons and the black dragon clan cordoned off from the public.

Unsurprisingly, the black dragon clan is the largest and most powerful clan in this galactic cluster.

It was race-exclusive. Only those possessing the bloodline of the black dragon were admitted.

Those of other races who passed their entry level exams were given true blood-blood containing bloodline essence-to drink, thus making them variants of the black dragon race.

Only then would the new student be accepted into the clan.

Being rulers of the galactic cluster, they only gave ruling positions to those of their race, which made joining their clan more alluring.

If nothing else, you were guaranteed a job.

And having fostered hundreds of Nascents and thousands of Transcendents, they are a force to be reckoned with.

In lieu of this, they have privileges allocated to them.

For one, if any clan in with the black dragon star cluster was to chance upon a secret realm or dimension, they were obligated to report it to the black dragon clan where the realm would then be divided amongst the two parties.

Failure to do so would have them suspected of conspiring against the black dragon clan and would have them facing punitive action.

Basically, any clan caught monopolizing a secret realm is liable to be wiped out.

Of course, the smaller clans wouldn’t just stand for such blatant injustice, as such, another rule was written in conjunction.

Just as the smaller couldn’t monopolize secret realms, the black dragon clan was also obligated to report any secret realms and dimensions they find to all the other clans and grant them an allocation in the expedition team.

In the situation where the slots available are not enough for every clan to participate, participants are then chosen by their strength.

So, for the smaller clans, beyond reporting the secret realm to the black dragon clan, the management of the secret realm and frequency of expedition was for them to decide.

Moreover, in the case where the number of expeditors is limited, the black dragon clan is entitled to only a quarter of it.

Like this, the outrage of the smaller clans were appeased.

So far, the information sent to him by the clan detailed that the Black Dragon had only discovered four secret realms and one dimension.

These were one of the main pillars supporting their reign as they ensured steady production of higher beings.

Of the four secret realms, one did not restrict the number of people who could go in. This is what is meant by unlimited allocations.

The other three of the secret realms were of limited allocations. Two of them limited the entrants to a particular rank, rather than number.

One was only accessible to Transcendents and those weaker. Opening once every year.

While the other had its accessibility exclusive to Nascents. Opening once every two years.

The third one allowed for Nascents, but allowed only three thousands entrants at once.

It would normally be tough for Ezra to get into this one, but it was noted this secret realm was the first of those found and had been expedited for centuries, leaving it bare-boned.

With most of its treasures already taken, most Nascents didn’t bother entering it, the gains of cultivating during the time used to delve into secret realms would be more substantial for them.

This secret realm opens once every year as well, two months and two weeks after the first one.

The first secret realm, reserved exclusively for Transcendents, opened in the first week of June.

Which was just a bit over two months away.

The second secret realm would open up in the last week of august.

As such, Ezra secured an allocation in the expedition party for both secret realms using his privilege as an Elder.

Beyond the gains to be had in the secret realm, the expedition party always assembles at Black Quartet before then setting off.

In this way, Ezra decided that he would simply go to the Black Quartet earlier than usual to scout his target.

This way, he wouldn’t have to hide all the time, and his presence wouldn’t cause suspicion.

Moreover, if his target really lived in the Black Quartet, there was a high chance he would be part of the expedition party.

In which case, things would be even easier and he would handle the matter while they were in the secret realm.

Until then, Ezra decided to cultivate.

The secret realm exclusive nascents were not going to open this year, but next year.

Therefore, Ezra set a goal to become a nascent before that time so he could delve into it.

It was also in preparation to dive into the secret realm with unlimited allocations. As that opened once every two years as well, earlier than the one exclusive to nascents.

Unlimited allocations meant anyone of any range could enter.

As such, Ezra was then curious as to why such a secret realm was not being held in the hands of constellations or ascendants and asked the clan leader.

Apparently, the treasures within are worth little to them, which was why it was left in the care of nascents.

’That makes sense’

In other words, the de-facto rank limit for the secret realm is nascence.

Normally, this would have a Transcendent cheer that there was more for them to gain, but Ezra didn’t see it that way.

From his perspective, the secret realm would act no more than a cage in the case where you weren’t a nascent.

He was sure this one with unlimited allocations would be swarming with nascents, probably every nascent in the entire galactic cluster.

After all, who didn’t want to become stronger?

Therefore, entering such a place as a Transcendent would mean forfeiting your life to the whims of the nascents and inadvertently placing your life into their hands.

Shaking his head, Ezra made a decision instantly.

’If I haven’t reached nascent rank by the time it opens. I’ll give up my allocation’

He would rather wait for another chance than take such a massive risk.

What was a treasure worth in death? Besides, in such a place the worthwhile treasures would be snatched up by the nascents.

Transcendents would only touch scraps and if they did chance upon a real treasure, it could easily be snatched from them.

Or they lose their lives trying to forcefully hold onto it.

So beyond the risk, entering as a Transcendent into such a place did not seem like a smart idea at all.

Although, his thoughts could change after testing out some possibilities in the secret realm he would be entering.

Beyond that, more strength meant he’d have an easier time enacting revenge.

After going through a revenge saga that surpassed an entire lifetime, he was no longer hasty in dealing with enemies.

Especially when the enemy is unaware of your existence, better to act slowly but thoroughly than to rush and make mistakes.

It took two lifes to truly understand what the saying ’Revenge is a dish best served cold’ meant, but he knew now.

Except for death, Ezra was determined to pay back all the suffering that had occurred on Orion to whomever it may be.

But unlike before, he now had no qualms in waiting and taking as much time as needed before doing so.

Ezra steadied his breath, straightening out his thoughts and arranging his plans.

As for the dimension, it was likewise open to all contestants with unlimited allocation.

But unlike the secret realms, constellations gather to scour the dimension.

Meaning there was no chance in hell for Transcendents to get in.

But, it only revealed its location once every five years, so there was no use worrying about it at the moment.

They say the collision of opportunity and preparation is called luck.

As such, he intends to invite his own luck.

With his plans set, Ezra placed his singular focus on cultivating.

In no time, two months pass.