The mountain where the Raven camp was established was discovered by the third family head of the Ravenstein family. The mountain held great sentimental value for the family.
It had no remarkable features, there were no ancient dragons sealed within, nor were there any overpowered treasures to be found. Even the mana surrounding the mountain was subpar at best; without any external influence.
So, why did the next generation of Ravensteins receive their training there?
The reason was simple: it was where the first Paragon rank of the Ravenstein family had emerged. During that time, the Ravenstein family had etched their name into the history of the human domain as one of its rulers.
Since then, the Ravenstein family had been faithfully maintaining the mountain, considering it an integral part of their heritage.
In the heart of the mountain, the arena where the trainees had their combat challenges every three months was completely empty. The challenges were scheduled for later, around 10 am, so it wasn't surprising that the arena was currently vacant.
The arena had only one entrance, a large double door that all the trainees used to enter. It was currently wide open in anticipation of the trainees.
On the opposite side of the door stood an ordinary-looking wall. The wall appeared exactly like the walls surrounding the arena. Only those with the most discerning eyes would notice something odd about that part of the wall.
The entire wall was covered with runes, including a higher-level illusion rune etched on its surface, making it appear ordinary to the eye.
Inside the wall, in a surprisingly spacious space, three men were in the middle of a card game. Each of them radiated a master rank aura and had the distinct white hair of the Ravenstein family.
Every single wall in this space was adorned with screens, displaying the live stream of every location in the camp. This was the control room where the entire camp was being monitored.
The first individual examined his cards carefully and spoke, "Gentlemen, I think it's time to show you the magic of my lucky deck."
The two remaining individuals raised an eyebrow, and one of them said, "Lucky deck, huh? We'll see about that," with a chuckle.
Despite playing cards, they were all keeping a close eye on every single thing happening in the camp. Multitasking was child's play for people of their strength.
Just as the first individual was about to play his card, he suddenly noticed a figure on one of the screens.
He turned to look and was surprised to see one of the camp's instructors walking purposefully toward their wall.
'What is he doing?' he wondered. The other two also turned to look and had the same question in mind.
They all couldn't help but ask, 'How did we miss him until he got this close?' simultaneously in their heads.
But the men weren't novices at their jobs; they had been working at the camp for years. One of them immediately instructed, "Report this."
They found it odd that an instructor was walking towards their wall. In the camp, apart from Rowan, no one was allowed to enter the control room. The people stationed in the control room had each taken a separate oath different from that of the instructors.
Just as one was about to stand up, the man on the screen suddenly brought out and artifact from his space ring and immediately attempted to infuse mana into it, but his hand suddenly froze in the air, and blood immediately started streaming out of his eyes and ears.
The man smiled; he knew this would happen.
Despite mana contracts being a form of assurance, they all had a major flaw. Mana contracts only react to actions.
They would only react when the individual went against the action mentioned in the contract.
He knew this, which was why he connected the artifact to his life force. It would automatically activate when he died.
The Ravenstein family was extremely thorough when drafting their mana contracts. But regardless of how thorough they wanted to be, the camp staff were, at the end of the day, part of the Ravenstein family.
It was impossible to turn their own into slaves.
They couldn't perform any action that would directly or indirectly harm the trainees or the camp.
This was the highlight of the contract. There were other terms in the contract, of course, but those words were the most significant.
Regardless of how sensitive this position was, it was impossible to include in the contract something that affects their thoughts.
Therefore, the staff were able to think about betrayal or harming the trainees, but they could not carry out the action itself.
Throughout the months that he had been thinking of betraying the Ravenstein family, he hadn't carried out any action yet. Today was the day he planned to, and as he was about to activate the artifact, the mana contract restricted him from doing so.
He couldn't help but think about how he got here. His parents were one of those elitists who wanted him to marry only someone from a prominent family.
But he had fallen in love with one woman, an orphan he met one day. Because of the sensitivity of the position, the Ravenstein family offered protection to each family member of the staff, but because he didn't want his family to know about her, he had kept his family a secret.
Only he knew how he hid this secret, especially from the eyes of Lyanna.
This was what those people used to manipulate him. He couldn't help but clench his fist in anger. It was when they had come out to pick up Atticus and the other trainees that they had contacted him.
He didn't know how, but they had someone with the bloodline ability to communicate from a large distance. They also had someone with a space bloodline who transported the artifact he's currently holding now to his space ring.
It was impossible to do this normally as the owner of the ring could detect the fluctuations and react accordingly.
However, because they had threatened him, he refrained from taking any action. The mana contract didn't react because he didn't carry out any specific action. And they weren't searched when they returned because they simply went out to pick up the trainees. Through out their outing, they all stayed on the ship, which was observed 24/7 by those at the camp.
'But at least they'll be safe,' he thought, as his face turned resolute, and he tried to channel mana into the artifact with more fervor, making blood come out from all his orifices as he knelt down, gazing upwards one last time, muttering "I'm sorry."
As soon as he said that, he tried harder to channel his mana into the artifact, and his mana core immediately shattered and exploded, leaving a gaping hole in his torso.
He fell down on the ground, lifeless.
The three men watched all of this in absolute shock. 'What the heck is going on?' They all thought. But one of them, who was always observant, quickly realized what happened and shouted, "Get what he was holding now!"
The others, too, seemed to realize something was wrong, and they all quickly opened the door and dashed out of the control room, intending to retrieve the artifact.
As they got within 20 meters, the artifact suddenly emitted a blinding light, and immediately a palpable force radiated from it, spreading outwards with great force.