After lying down comfortably on his bed, as soon as Legolas gently tapped the grey apple tattoo that was on his wrist, his consciousness disappeared.

After over a month and few weeks of not seeing it, Legolas was back in the grey world that he received from his virtual interface as a developer package.

On arriving, he saw that the Elementalist spirit was already standing before him as he welcomed him respectfully. “Welcome, Legolas”.

Legolas smiled back at the Elementalist. “Nice to see you too Aaron”.

Aaron was the name of the Elementalist, and yes, during the 3 years and few months that Legolas spent with it, their relationship was already amended.

Aaron was the only one in this world who knew of Legolas’s reincarnation secret, while Legolas was capable of snuffing the remaining life in him away with a sneeze. This was why the both of them relented and decided to choose peace.

With Aaron providing him with unlimited mana access, Legolas had no motivation to kill him, they enjoyed a pretty good symbiotic relationship.

As their friendship grew through the years, they began to open up to each other till the extent where they started studying the grey world together.

Though Legolas never let down his guard and always had all the power, he and Aaron were able to achieve a lot and understand the grey world much better.

Now, Legolas could do a lot more with the grey world.

“That battle was harrowing, but I’m glad that you survived it”. Aaron said as he led Legolas to the middle of the grey world where they had unlimited access to.

Through their mana connection, with Legolas’s permission, Aaron could see what Legolas saw in the real world. He saw everything that transpired in the Nightmare Beast Island and was why he did not ask about the postponed gathering.

After conjuring his throne and the round table with the powers of the grey world, Legolas finally turned to face Aaron. “So, where did we stop?”

“After our last discovery, you made a decision that during your next visit here, you would create the grey doppelganger to smoothen some troubles that come with communicating with the 2 members of the gathering as The Hermit.

“Oh yes, I remember”. Legolas slapped his head.

Over the years, Legolas learned that communicating with the 2 members of the gathering as The Hermit was extremely tedious.

Unlike with his other professions, he never pursued the profession of a Charlatan which now made things hard for him to pick up on.

This was when the thought of creating a body double in the gathering came. With a body double, he would no longer be tasked to act as The Hermit, he would rather be a casual member where he could benefit more.

Over the years, seeing the cooperation between The Emperor and The Star, he craved creating a body double to also engage in transactions like them.

This desire was amplified due to his telling need for materials to concoct the Ultimate Man Potion.

Having observed them for 3 years, he knew that they were more than capable of fulfilling his requests so long he offered something equivalent in return.

Once he was ready, Legolas finally mobilized the power of the grey world and he was surprised. “Hmm, I suddenly have a deeper control over the grey powers”.

“It’s probably because you became a Grade E Summoner”. Aaron theorized. “You’ll probably have more access to its secrets as you grow more in strength”.

“That’s nice”. Legolas was happy as he finally gave the order. “Create body double”.

The grey world reacted like usual and in no time, a body double that looked exactly like him was created opposite him.

The body double smiled, spooking Legolas. “Hi, Legolas”.

“H-hi…”

It took some getting used to for Legolas to calm down seeing another version of himself. “Well, you’ll be called The World”.

The body double could make basic conversations, but for complicated thought intensive speeches, Legolas needed to manually direct it which was a perfect setup for his purpose.

After observing the body double, Legolas and Aaron explored the grey world again. After becoming a Grade E Summoner, his reach in the world also expanded.

They still did not discover anything significant though, and once the 2-hour mark reached, Legolas finally did the needful.

…

Bzzz! Bzzz!

“Good morning, your Excellency the Hermit”. The Star’s cheerful voice reverberated which was literally the first voice in each gathering now.

“Good morning, your Excellency the Hermit”. The Emperor also greeted.

Unlike the first time that they were summoned here, these 2 were no longer as vigilant and wary. For over 3 years, the Hermit had never harmed them nor do anything to complicate them, he rather only helped them passively.

This made them arrive at a lot of conclusions already, but one of these conclusions that they held to was that the Hermit had no wish to harm them.

Instead of vigilance, the emotions that Legolas felt from them was worry, worry about why the last gathering did not commence as planned.

This was when The Hermit finally spoke. “I recovered a significant part of my powers last week, that is why the last gathering did not hold”.

This deliberate explanation from Legolas sent their minds running wild.

“He is indeed a high-grade Super who is recovering from an injury”. The Emperor thought, excited for guessing the truth right.

The Hermit continued. “Before we start today, I want to introduce a new member to our gathering, one of my followers in the real world”.

“Welcome The World”.

Bzzz!

As soon as a 3rd chair appeared and another member obscured by the shadows appeared, the Emperor and the Star both had different reactions.

“Finally, another member”. The Star was happy.

As for the Emperor, his thoughts were different. “He can summon another person now; it seems that he really recovered more of his powers”.

“And he also referred to him as a follower, is the Hermit such a strong super?!” He was astonished as his mind ran wild with different ideas.

Over the years, The Hermit already made more grounded rules for the gathering. The first phase of the gathering each time were the 2 members each telling the situation of the outside world to the Hermit.

The Star mostly gave information about the nobles and the royal family, while the Emperor mostly gave information about the desert.

After both members welcomed the new member, The World, the first phase of the gathering commenced as they gave information about the outside world.

This lasted for an hour after which transactions between the 3 members started. This time, the World joined in and after the others were done, he finally presented the list of things that he needed.

“I need Drake Fire Leaves, Mud Water Leaves, and 10 Elysium seeds”.

“…” Silence reigned for a few seconds after the World was done.

The Emperor coughed as he directed a suspicious look at the blurred figure of the World. “I can provide Drake Fire Leaves but they are rare goods”.

“I can pay in any form that you want”.

The Emperor continued. “I also heard of news of a Mud Water Plant appearing in my region, I’ll have to confirm first before replying you”.

“For my payment, I’ll leave it till another time”.

“Ok, what of you the Star?” The World turned to ask her.

“I don’t have them but if I ask for them, I think I can get them”. The Star said in an absentminded tone as she seemed to be hesitating about something.

“The World, you are a follower of The Hermit, you must be strong right?”

Legolas contemplated before replying. “Yes, you can call me strong”.𝒪𝐕𝐥𝐞xt.𝗰𝑶𝐌

She bit her lips before continuing. “There was an assassination attempt that was recently made on my father, now he is bedridden and the culprit still boasts through hidden means that he’ll come back to finish the unfinished job”.

“I-I…” She stammered. “I want him dead, that is my pay”.

“An Elysium Seed goes for approximately 500,000 Darvis credits, I hope getting 10 of them for you is enough to get your help”.

“For a fellow member of the gathering of the Hermit, it is enough”. The World added. “Also, I have an Elementalist main class rune for sale”.

The Star’s eyes sparkled on hearing that. For 3 years, she had always made her desire for a main class known but it seemed no one could help her.

Finally, the new member did, her favorability of the World was already rising.

“I’ll take it, I’ll pay 10 million Darvis Credits for it”.

The World laughed. “That’s too much, 2 million will do”.

After the transaction session was over, The Hermit finally took over again. “You all know how to contact me when the materials are gotten”.

“Finally, before we leave…” The Hermit’s voice suddenly turned deeper and more ancient, commanding total silence in the grey world. “I will be giving the first mission of this gathering to its 3 members”.

All of them felt goosebumps as they heard this.

“It’s finally here”. They thought.

“First, be on the lookout for any organization called the Clown Society”.

“Second, be on the lookout for a sudden influx of citizens across the planet. Give me any noteworthy information that you discover about them”.

“The gathering would be adjourned now”.