Sam sent the team and Arkiv to the city so that they could investigate. He also let the shadow mice go. Arkiv is mostly concerned about the rest of the players. He communicated with other players the most, every just thinks that he is sociable, but what they don't know is that he has a keen observation towards the behavior, habits and the nature of people.
That is the reason Sam wants to work with him. After all, he doesn't need any sociable people with him, his beasts are a better company than any other creature could give him.
Arkiv's special understanding towards the other players is the reason why Sam made an alliance with him and another reason is that they became a bit closer with time. He is the best person to see if there is any activity of other players nearby.
He could pick up subtle clues and track them back to their estimated locations and hiding spots.
Sam kept Night Ghost with him as they went towards the location that Old Beast told about.
Sam used the dimensional drifter to arrive at the valley so that he doesn't have to waste any time.
He arrived a hundred meters away from the valley, along with Night Ghost, as soon as they arrived, they were shocked. Because there are a lot of people at the mouth of the valley, Sam was worried that they would have been noticed, but from the looks of it, no one paid any heed.
Sam and Night Ghost slipped from the spot and took a high vantage point nearby and looked at the valley only to feel another surprise. Inside the valley, there is a large skeleton.
It is the skeleton of the Thunder Phoenix. Sam didn't expect that something like this to be present here. Even the Old beast didn't mention it. There are many people around the Thunder Phoenix skeleton and it is giving off some ferocious aura of lightning energy.
When looking at it, Sam was reminded of the Hydra skeleton he had in his divine dimension. Even though Mia's mother agreed with him to do whatever he wanted with the Skeleton, he didn't want to tinker with it.
After all, since he and Mia are like family now, it is beyond his bottom line. He kept the skeleton with him for now and decided to bury it in the Hydra grave in higher realms about which he learned directly from the Old Beast.
Since Mia needs to take revenge for her mother, the hydra beasts would have face him sooner or later, then he would be able to dig through the graveyard of other hydras and use those skeletons to do whatever he wanted.
Sam looked at the valley full of youngsters. All of them are lightning elemental users and they are all meditating at various places near the skeleton and some of them even sat in the middle of the rib cage.
There are also some people who seemed to be guarding these youngsters.
Sam felt the aura of the skeleton and felt that it is not as strong as the aura of the Hydra skeleton, the difference is almost as vast as the strength between an Initiation cultivator of Mortal Plane and the Initiation cultivator of the Astral Plane.
But there are this many people to gain comprehension from such a skeleton. Now only Sam understood what kind of resource he held.
But that is not bothered him now. He needs to find the location of the hidden entrance to the divine dimension the Old Beast mentioned.
With the number of people here, it would be almost impossible to go unnoticed.
Luckily the strongest is only at Late stage Transcendence of Astral Plane which is a bit of a relief.
Sam wanted to find more information about the whole situation and sent out some insect type puppets to see if he can hear anything from the people that are at the mouth of the valley.
Everyone is talking a lot of nonsense, but finally there is someone who is speaking something that has some useful information.
"So, how many days the valley is going to be open for us this time?" An elderly man in a luxurious robe asked a middle aged man who is standing behind all the crowd.
The middle aged man smiled and said.
"Why are you so worried Elder? I heard you have been asking this question to everyone."
The Elderly man smiled and said.
"It is just that my grandson is on verge of breaking through the Astral Plane. As you know he is quite talented. But he might need some time for the comprehension. I just want to be prepared."
"Oh? Your grandson is already on verge of the breakthrough. I thought it would take some time. It is no problem. This time our Puppet Organization is going to hold the valley open for fifteen days. You don't need to worry. Tell your grandson to focus on just comprehension and the breakthrough inside."
The elderly man beamed with joy and said.
"That is a relief. I am really thankful for the Puppet organization."
"Haha, what are you saying? Your lightning swan sect is one of the loyal subordinates of the Puppet Organization, and you have every right to use this. If your grandson has any problem tell me, I will try my best to help him."
As the two them started flattering Sam brought the puppets back.
From this talk and the rest of the miscellaneous talks around, he understood what is going on.
As the Old Beast completely ignored this skeleton as it is worthless in his eyes, the situation is different for the Puppet organization.
They used the aura of the skeleton as a commodity through which they reward their subordinate members.
They would give access to other occasionally and this time they are going to let other enjoy the facility for fifteen days.
So, Sam should either cause a commotion by revealing this place while all these people are here or he can just wait for fifteen days to come back when there is a relatively a smaller number of people are here.
He chose the second option and left with Night Ghost and this time they travelled by foot.
He wanted to the study the terrain in the path between the City and the valley.
After a few hours they are back at the capital and they entered the inn where they decided to meet.
Arkiv's face is quite serious as he waited for Sam and as soon as he saw him, he sprung on his feet and said to Sam.
"The rest of the players are all near the capital and it seems they have company."
Sam was quite surprised by the sudden outburst and wanted him to calm down.
"We need to get out of the city first."
Sam frowned but nodded. All of them started getting out of the city one by one and when they reached a certain place, Sam took them into the Ice divine dimension and found a hidden location to place it. They didn't come out and held their meeting there.
"So, what is the trouble you are talking about?"
"All the remaining players are here now and they seemed to have planned something big."
"So, they already formed an alliance? Is that why Akhil and Noah rejected the proposal."
"I don't know if they are working together. But from what I could see each of them have company of someone powerful. In fact, Dayus is currently in touch with one of the young masters of the Puppet organization. He is roaming around the city like he is not afraid of anything."
"Did they find out about you?"
"Yes, they saw me and they also know about each other's presence. They knew about your presence too. I don't know what each of them are planning but it is about to turn chaotic.
But one thing is for sure. Dayus is planning this for a long time and so is Kumar. I overheard their conversations with other people and that is also the time they spotted me.
I couldn't get a hold of what they are planning but it seems like they are doing something big. We need to be careful.
Sam nodded and took out a shadow mice before giving it some orders and sending it to the city. Now that the shadow mice finally had his combat ability, he can now roam around the forest without any problem.
He sent the shadow mouse to inform the rest of the shadow mice to target the players and keep an eye on them.
At the same time, he let the surveillance equipment out and they made a camp to have a proper look.
Since they are not far from the city, they got the live feed instantly. That night nothing happened.
The next morning though, something caught Sam's attention, two large groups arrived at the city through the wormholes and went to headquarters of the First branch of the Puppet Organization.
By afternoon some of the shadow mice returned with some information.