POV ADRIAN HALE:
The savory aroma of broth assaulted my nose as the restaurant staff began placing bowls of still-steaming spicy noodles one by one on the long table surrounding the five of us. Yeah, we were at a spicy noodle restaurant recommended by Sierra!
"Whoah..." My eyes sparkled as I stared at the spicy noodles. I just remembered something, this might be the first time I'll eat spicy noodles in this world. The last time was back on Earth!
I took a bowl of noodles, picked them up with chopsticks, and slurped them into my mouth.
'Sierra was right, the noodles here are delicious. Good thing we came here.' Actually, before we came here, Azrael suggested our farewell be just drinking wine at a bar that also served food.
Oh, of course I didn't agree with that. Not just me, Emily also disagreed. Emily answered Azrael with her usual flat expression: "I don't like wine." Meanwhile, I gave the answer: "I'm afraid my little sister will get mad."
And as a result, we were here at this restaurant...
"Let's eat, everyone," Sierra clapped her hands with chopsticks in them, a signal to start eating. But unfortunately, I had already eaten first.
Aaron beside me immediately grabbed his bowl of noodles with gleaming eyes, while Azrael, whose face was usually stern, now softened as he began slurping his noodles. And Emily… don't even ask, she was still her usual self with her expression.
"You're ordering spicy noodles for once. Didn't you dislike spicy food?" Sierra looked at me with slightly curious eyes.
"I'm in the mood for something spicy," I answered easily.
"Ah, Azrael, you're already Rank B, right? So you'll be promoted to 'B+' soon. Oh yeah, Emily too. That means you'll both be recruited to Shernity City? Have you received any letters or notifications about that yet?" Aaron asked Azrael, who was eating while casually lifting one leg.
"I don't know about that… I haven't received anything so far. You neither, right, Emy?" Seeing Emily nod, Azrael continued, "Well, maybe that notification will come when I actually reach Rank B+. Besides, I don't really want to leave this city yet because my little sister is still young."
I listened carefully to that explanation. In this Safe Zone, when a student reaches Rank B+, they are usually recruited to Shernity City to help investigate the outside world alongside other hunters from various cities. Yeah, that's actually another reason I left, sooner or later, this party would disband because Emily and Azrael would leave. So I just left before that happened.
"Dammit, so I'm gonna be left behind, huh?" Aaron clicked his tongue and went back to eating.
"Aaron, you're forgetting about me. I'm not leaving," Sierra said in a sweet tone.
"Yeah, yeah," Aaron nodded.
"Hmm, maybe after Azrael and Emy leave, we can form a new party and recruit Adrian again. Well, that is if he's ranked up by then," Sierra looked at me with hopeful eyes.
"Of course, we'll meet again. I'll rank up quickly," I answered casually.
"How are you gonna do that?" Aaron said without looking up, eating the noodles in his bowl.
"I have my ways… The important thing is, don't you guys get too strong too fast. That's all," I said it in a joking tone.
Aaron suddenly punched my arm, causing some broth to spill. He did it with a grin on his face but didn't look at me.
"Dammit, Aaron." I just smiled while wiping my table, now wet with broth, with a tissue. Then Aaron chuckled, which eventually spread to Sierra and then Azrael, but not to Emily.
…
We had finished our meal, and now the five of us stood outside the restaurant, with me standing alone while they lined up facing me. They planned to return to the Academy because they had business to attend to, while I would go home.
I scratched the back of my neck, then put on a smile that felt stiff to me. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways? But before that, I want to thank you all for accepting me as a member of this party…. Azrael, Emy, Sierra, and Aaron, thank you…"
'Thank you also for making me feel like I had genuine friends for the first time.' I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
"You're so dramatic, as if we're parting forever? Thank you too for helping me this far, Adrian. Without a trustworthy mage like you, maybe I wouldn't have reached this point. Haha, maybe someday we should have a reunion," Azrael held out his fist toward me, offering a fist bump.
'Someday? Will that day ever come?' I froze for a moment thinking about that, then snapped back to reality and bumped his fist. Then I said:
"Of course." Then my eyes searched for the others standing behind Azrael. I approached Aaron and offered a fist bump like before, but with a joking expression on my face.
"Take care," Aaron said briefly. I nodded, then walked over to Sierra.
We just looked at each other. Her emerald-green eyes were slightly teary, then she said: "Take good care of yourself. Don't be reckless."
I nodded, then walked toward Emily, who had been silent all this time but was now looking at me. I was confused about how to start a farewell conversation with her. However, she suddenly smiled softly and nodded… Then she said gently, not flatly like usual, "Take good care of yourself."
I nodded, then stepped back to leave. Looking at all of them, I said: "Well then… You guys take care too. Look after yourselves." I waved while walking backward.
Sierra waved back, while the others just nodded, perhaps because there was nothing left to say. Not wanting to linger in a situation like this, I finally turned around and walked away, leaving behind those who were probably also turning to leave now.
For some reason, a smile wouldn't leave my face.
'Alright, that's enough.' I clapped my hands softly to forget this bittersweet farewell and focus on what I needed to do now.
Of course, my plan now was to gather members, and the way to do that was by posting on social media, looking for anyone who wanted to join. 'Hopefully, there are some.'
But before that, I wanted to check something…
…
I now stood beside the Safe Zone wall, which was fifty meters tall. Seen up close, this wall was already moss-covered and overgrown with some roots climbing upward. This place also looked deserted because it was somewhat far from civilization. Well, that's because building a house next to the wall was very risky and not recommended…
Why?
Okay, imagine you build a house next to the wall, and suddenly a large creature crawls from outside the wall and knocks on your door? That's not funny, right? If you want to build a house next to the wall, you better be prepared for something like that.
I kept snapping my fingers, trying to recreate the magic I used when fighting the Serpent Centipede: Wind Riding. For some reason, this was harder than when I used it the first time. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline and how excited I was back then? Or maybe because I was traumatized since I was immediately punished by the limitations I created for myself, making me afraid I'd run out of mana again, which would be very dangerous for me. How ironic.... I, who was once the creator who could do anything, now had to follow the rules I made myself.
–Swoosh!
Finally, a small tornado began swirling around my body. At first, it was just a breeze, then it grew stronger, lifting my body. Adding a bit more mana to the tornado, I began ascending very, very slowly because I had to focus on controlling this wind to keep it stable and mana-efficient.
I wiped the sweat covering my forehead.
By the way, the reason I wanted to climb to the top of the wall was because I wanted to see the outside world before setting foot out there, which might happen tomorrow after I prepared. The reason I wanted to go outside the wall was that I wanted to meditate to absorb natural mana to increase my mana capacity.
This technique was called 'Natura Link'. Haha, I was the one who named it. Actually, I could also meditate inside the Safe Zone like I did last night in my room. However, I felt that the natural mana inside the Safe Zone was very low and not enough to increase my mana capacity even a little. So, last night's meditation was only for practicing my mana control, and look, it worked, even if just a little? Besides all that, Natura Link meditation could also speed up the assimilation of my Shadow Rune.
"Finally, I made it…" I dropped my hands to my knees, breathing heavily when I finally reached the top of the wall, which had probably taken me about three or four minutes.
Then I lifted my gaze.
Instantly, my fatigue vanished as my eyes were greeted by the green scenery beyond this Safe Zone. I saw rows of large mountains merging not far from here, and as far as I could see, there was only the green of trees.
Then I stepped closer to look down. I crouched; below me now were many tall, large trees with dense leaves so thick they covered the ground beneath. The wall on this side had roots that had already climbed all the way to the top, but they were only small roots and weren't a problem.
I stood back up and took a few safe steps backward.
"Hmm, it should be fine for me to go out tomorrow, right?" I touched my chin and paced back and forth as I thought about the risks and what equipment to bring. Currently, there were two risks. The first was monsters… However, as far as I could see, I didn't see a single monster. This was strange, monsters from the outside world were usually very attracted to human mana because human mana was fresher and not contaminated with 'evil mana' like theirs. As a result, they wanted to eat it to fulfill their need for pure mana and to evolve.
Yeah, that's why monsters were so vicious toward humans…
I infused wind magic into the palm of my hand with considerable force for a Rank D. Then I aimed it downward, right at the densely packed trees below.
–Swoosh!
Branches crackled as my wind magic hit the tree, and then a flock of small birds began flying away, startled. But besides that, there were no other signs of movement. And when I used my Mana Sensing, I didn't feel any other mana here either.
A smile immediately spread across my face as I reached a conclusion.
'It seems there are no monsters here… Well, if there were, I would have definitely felt their murderous intent, their gaze on me like when the dragon was in the prison.'
But I was still confused, why were there none here?
Okay,let's try to think like a monster starving for pure human mana. Hmm, in that case, I would go to the place with the highest concentration of human mana… And of course, I'd choose Shernity City, right? Because many hunters gathered there, and there were even Rank S hunters.
I nodded in agreement with myself. 'Alright, risk one is settled. Even if there are small monsters here, I can escape using my Wind Riding, or if possible, I'll fight them for practice.'
Now for the second risk: the atmosphere out here. Yes, exactly, the atmosphere. It wasn't just monsters that prevented humans from leaving the wall; it was also the atmospheric air out here, which was so intense it could make your chest feel tight because the oxygen was mixed with mana. The stronger the mana intensity, the more dangerous it was. It was like being told to inhale oxygen meant for creatures as large as dinosaurs in the past. Clearly impossible, your lungs could only handle the oxygen of the present.
But this issue was trivial in my opinion. Besides, I wouldn't go far, just around here, specifically the mountain I saw not far away. So maybe the mana intensity here was still tolerable. I would also use an air-filtering mask. I saw plenty at the university yesterday, so I'll borrow one…
'Alright, done looking around. Time to prepare.'