The Shelter Game: Me, Starting with a Tenfold Drop Rate

Before the elder could finish, Shadow Celestial shook his head decisively. "You need not continue to persuade me. I find Elder Astra\'s plan to be exceptionally sound. Therefore, Elder Astra, you may proceed with your actions directly!"

With that, Shadow Celestial turned and left the room. Elder Astra, too, did not linger for long. He felt no need to engage in extensive discussions with the other elders of Night Blades. In his view, some of the elders were already covertly aligning with him. His only task was to demonstrate his strength to solidify their support.

As for the elders who did not back him, he certainly had no intention of wasting words on them. Nodding to the other elders, Astra quickly exited the room. He intended to first acquire the Dark Portal and then hasten to the real world.

Elder Astra believed that he needed to act quickly. He had to complete all preparations before Shadow Celestial could sense that something was amiss. Initially, Astra thought he would face obstacles from others while trying to obtain the Dark Portal. To his surprise, the member in charge of the Night Blades\' treasury handed over the Dark Portal to him without hesitation upon seeing him.

"Lord Shadow Celestial has instructed us to give you the Dark Portal as soon as we see you. He also wishes for us to convey a message," the treasury member said with a smile.

"He hopes you can deliver a significant blow to the Angel Guild! Irving is no longer our primary enemy; the Angel Guild has become our main foe."

After hearing this, Elder Astra nodded. "I understand! I will do my utmost to inflict substantial damage on the Angel Guild." With that, he took the Dark Portal and departed.

In truth, Elder Astra was unaware of the real meaning behind Shadow Celestial\'s message. He simply interpreted it as a new directive from Shadow Celestial. As Elder Astra made his way to the real world with the Dark Portal, Shadow Celestial was in a concealed room, making contact with his trusted confidant already dispatched to the real world.

"We must revise our previous plans! Do not act recklessly; just observe Irving\'s every move from the shadows. Elder Astra has already taken the Dark Portal to the real world, where he will launch an attack on the Angel Guild and Irving. If Elder Astra intends to collaborate with Irving and the others, you need to inform me of this immediately.

Aside from the unexpected situations I just mentioned, you need not worry too much about any other occurrences," Shadow Celestial instructed his confidant.

In reality, Shadow Celestial had prepared for both scenarios. Regardless of Elder Astra\'s intentions, he had the capability to create a significant crisis in the real world. This would inevitably throw various factions into a state of panic. Such a situation would work to Shadow Celestial\'s advantage, allowing him to seize more clues about the chaotic artifacts.

Moreover, Shadow Celestial had already detected Irving and others at the Smith family ancestral home. He decided to leverage the chaotic power lingering within that location to negotiate with Irving. If Irving was willing to collaborate with him, he would share Elder Astra\'s operational plans. If not, he would use Elder Astra to deal directly with Irving.

With this two-pronged approach, as long as one of his strategies succeeded, Shadow Celestial stood to gain significantly. He believed he had positioned himself in an invulnerable spot.

"Now I just have to wait for Irving and the others to reach the inner depths of the Smith family ancestral home. The chaotic power in their current area isn\'t strong enough; I must continue to exercise patience," Shadow Celestial murmured to himself.

At nearly the same time, Irving and his companions were cautiously making their way through the Smith family ancestral home. Following the recent unexpected events, they had all become much more vigilant.

After passing through several doors, they finally arrived at a well-lit building. Outside, they could see two figures moving around within. This sight left everyone puzzled.

Vicky lowered her voice and asked Irving, "How is this possible? There shouldn\'t be anyone in the ancestral home."

Irving gently patted Vicky on the head, hoping to calm her down. He knew very well that what they were witnessing was indeed strange. However, he believed that only in the face of odd occurrences could they uncover more clues.

"Don\'t panic just yet! The appearance of these peculiar situations could be beneficial for us. We might finally find some leads from these anomalies," he reassured her.

After saying this, Irving turned his attention to the members of the Angel Guild. "You all stay here! I will move forward alone! Hand over the box containing the chaotic power to me."

Irving\'s meaning was very clear. He felt that advancing together posed too great a risk. If he moved forward alone, he could rely on his own strength to ensure his safety.

His words caused some hesitation among the members of the Angel Guild. Aron believed that the box containing the chaotic power was discovered by them, so a member of the Angel Guild should accompany Irving.

"I think I should go with you. I have a better understanding of the box containing the chaotic power," Aron stated, stepping forward with the box in hand.

Seeing this, Irving\'s expression became slightly unnatural. "You still don\'t trust me?"

As Aron closed the distance to just a step away from Irving, Irving bluntly asked him. Aron responded with a hint of confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

"My meaning is quite clear! The reason you want to accompany me is that you\'re worried I will steal the box containing the chaotic power, isn\'t it?"

"I absolutely do not think that! I just feel that I can provide assistance if I accompany you!" Aron hurriedly explained. He didn\'t want his relationship with Irving to deteriorate as it had before.

Aron had already realized that the strength of the Angel Guild was not as formidable as he had once thought. Without Irving\'s help, the Angel Guild would be unable to confront the threat posed by the Night Blades. Find more to read on M V L

After hearing Aron\'s words, Irving nodded. "In that case, just hand over the box to me! You don\'t need to accompany me! I can succeed on my own!"

With Irving having said this, Aron had no choice but to reluctantly hand over the box containing the chaotic power.

Irving took the box and quickly moved toward the brightly lit building ahead, leaving the others behind to watch his actions.

Aron felt a bit awkward and, after a moment of thought, returned to the group of Angel Guild members. At that moment, Vicky spoke up.

"Irving is just that kind of person. Once he has a plan in mind, he won\'t easily change it. I don\'t think what Irving did was intentionally aimed at you." Vicky hoped to defend Irving a little.

Although Vicky believed that Irving was the strongest among them, she still thought it was important for him to maintain good relations with the others. After hearing her comments, Aron could only nod awkwardly. The other members of the Angel Guild felt somewhat uncomfortable as well.

Anna and Nick believed that Irving was indeed being a bit dismissive toward them. However, they also recognized that Irving\'s stance wasn\'t entirely unreasonable. After all, he was the strongest among them. If Irving thought that having others accompany him would put them in danger, then it made sense for him to act alone.

The group fell into silence. A few minutes later, Benjamin suddenly broke the stillness. "Do you guys feel like there are a lot of transparent monsters around us? I feel like countless eyes are watching us!"

His words sent a wave of panic through everyone. Aron, Anna, and Nick immediately began to scout their surroundings. They quickly realized that what Benjamin said was indeed true. There were numerous monsters around them, and they were completely transparent. If they hadn\'t taken a moment to calm down and focus on the fluctuations of power around them, they would never have noticed their presence.

Vicky instinctively moved closer to Benjamin. She knew that in a crisis, he was the one who could help her. "What should we do now? Should we attack the monsters around us? We\'ve encountered a similar situation before. Back then, Irving led us quickly away from the danger.

But we can\'t leave now; we have to wait for Irving to return."

Aron quickly expressed his thoughts. Although the situation they faced was similar to before, without Irving present, they couldn\'t muster the resolve to leave in a hurry. Benjamin didn\'t answer Aron\'s question because he didn\'t know what to do either. In his view, since the transparent monsters hadn\'t attacked them yet, they didn\'t need to respond immediately.