Chapter 1968: Fruitless Endeavors The Gnome led the Seventh Prince to his place which was located on the far eastern part of the Capital City. To be on a safer side, Grey made sure to tell the Sovereign accompanying him to stay outside as he entered the Gnome’s house. One of the reasons he was interested in this Gnome was the fact that he was researching something that might be able to nullify his biggest advantage over the Gnomes. The second reason is because since this Gnome is going after those in the Sage Plane and below, there was a possibility that he might have bought the Principal from the market, and even if he had not, he would still get more later on. Grey had already decided if he did not find the Principal here, he would inquire about those captured from True Dawn. Although that would be suspicious, he did not think anyone would pick it against him if he asked. The Gnome’s house was not large, and only after a minute or so, he was led to an underground chamber under the Gnome’s house. The chamber was around a hundred and fifty meters wide. Looking around, Grey could see multiple stone doors. “What is behind those doors?” He asked without reservations. The Gnome’s face twitched when he heard this question, grumbling inside, he gave a vague reply, “Humans and some random things, Your Highness.” “Oh, you have some Humans here?” Pausing, he looked around and asked, “Dead or alive?” “Alive, Your Highness. I can’t complete my research if they are dead.” The Gnome replied honestly. “Bring out the Humans you have, let me have a look at them.” The Seventh Prince commanded. The Gnome did not know why the Seventh Prince was interested in the Humans he had with him and just thought maybe he was curious about his research. He was more relieved he did not ask about the other things he had kept here. After today, he would remove anything of value from this place to make sure when next someone like the Seventh Prince came again, he would not need to be worried. He brought out the Humans he had with him, and as Grey looked at each one, his heart grew colder and colder. Each Human looked emaciated, in addition, they all had multiple injuries on their bodies. Some of them even had iron impaled on different parts of their bodies. The Humans ranged from young to old, with the youngest being as young as eight. One has to know an eight year old Human has not even awakened any elemental affinity yet, so their bodies are generally weak compared to those who have awakened their elemental affinity and could take in elemental essence to strengthen their bodies. Sadly, there was no sight of the Principal here, which made Grey a little worried. The Gnome began giving Grey an elaborate explanation on his research and how he planned to bring glory to the Gnome Race. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea the person he was currently talking to was the same person his research is meant to stop. Of course, he had no idea of this since Grey was currently controlling the Seventh Prince and he felt the person he was speaking with was the Seventh Prince and not someone else. Since the Principal was not here, Grey naturally had no reason to stay here. Although he was a little intrigued by the Gnome’s research, it was not enough to keep him here. “If you already have this many people, why do you need more Humans then?” He asked out of curiosity. He was attracted to the Gnome due to his argument with the shopkeeper, now that he was here, he noticed the Gnome had Humans with him, so he did not see any reason why he would still be interested in more people. “As you can see Your Highness, they have depleted their essence reserves and it will take a while before they can recover. If I can get a few more, I won’t have to worry about any delays.” The Gnome explained with some sort of expectations. To him, the only reason the Seventh Prince would follow him back to his place was because he was interested in his work. Getting support from the Seventh Prince is the same as getting support from the Emperor. Everyone knew since the strange incident that caused the deaths of some of the Princes, the Seventh Prince is highly favored to take over. The Emperor spending a lot of resources on him solidified this fact. The Seventh Prince nodded in agreement, he could see this just from the conditions of the Humans. After a short time, he told the Gnome he would send someone over to help out with some things. The Gnome was elated and thanked him zealously. Leaving the Gnome’s place, Grey had no choice but to head back to the Palace. There was no other option, he had to ask about the prisoners taken from True Dawn. On getting back to the Palace, he noticed a meeting was taking place in the main Hall. After careful consideration, he decided not to go. It was not that he was afraid, he only noticed he did not have the time to do that. The strain of having to keep control of the Seventh Prince for a few hours was starting to tell on him. The best choice right now was for him to confirm what he needed and return his consciousness back to his body. He marveled at how the Emperor was able to improve the cultivation of the Seventh Prince in such a short time. When he controlled the Seventh Prince a few months ago and got information on the portal that could bring in Half God Plane Gnomes, it was not as straining as it is now. Following the path according to his memory, he found the cells. Questioning one of the guards, he was informed about the location of the place where the portal was located.