Whoosh!
A few seconds later, Aurus appeared on the center of the faded magic circle that both him and Herellia used to enter the inheritance a while ago. He took in a deep breath of air through his body and let out a sigh. "It's good to be back outside."
Although he was now the owner of the inheritance and had tons of skills he could learn, he would still need to accumulate experience in the world of Erudinia or else he might become rusty. He used his [Spirit Detection] skill to detect any sign of Herellia as she was the first one to get out of the inheritance. It only took him a few repeats of the spell to find where Herellia was, about twenty meters or so away from the magic circle. Aurus decided to use [Tempest Burst] this time since using [Gale Hover] would be a waste if taking the distance between them into consideration. Not only that, he checked the details of [Tempest Burst] and noticed that the duration was boosted by another 10 seconds while the cooldown was reduced by another hour.
Whoosh!
Within a few minutes or so, Aurus was able to see a glimpse of Herellia's body that exuded an aura far more tyrannical and suffocating when compared to before. Noticing that Herellia was in some sort of meditative state, Aurus decided to not disturb her as he knew that any woman would get angry when disturbed.
But contrary to what he expected, Herellia actually noticed Aurus and hovered towards him as she let out a cheery aura. "Aurus! What took you so long?"
Startled by the fact that Herellia was in front of him, Aurus could not help but let out a stifled chuckle. "The trial I went through was a bit harder than yours, hence the delay."
Of course, the secret about him being ownership of the inheritance should never be divulged to Herellia or any other being for this matter, as this would allow Aurus to grow stronger at a fast pace, considering the amount of skills within that vault.
Although Herellia's intelligence was near an Animate's, she still did not perceive the secretive aura around Aurus, letting out an affirmative aura before turning into an aura filled with guilt all of a sudden. "I...have to tell you something Aurus."
'Eh?' Aurus could not help but overthink what Herellia was going to say. 'Is she going to tell me about her system?' This was the first thing that came to mind after sensing Herellia's aura. He thought she felt guilty that she did not tell him about her system. Sadly, that was not the reason.
"Aurus, I'm sorry for not believing you. The entrance to the inheritance actually worked and I..." Aurus could sense a melancholic aura circling around Herellia as she said that. Of course, as a man, he should be there to comfort her. Without delay, he replied, "It's fine. I did not even have enough evidence to make you believe me anyway. Let bygones be bygones."
After hearing Aurus' reply, the melancholic aura around Herellia gradually dissipated, being replaced with a slightly cheerful aura. "A-are you serious? You're not mad at me, the leader of the Tempest Branch Alliance?"
"Why would I be?" This time, Aurus chuckled in order to cheer Herellia up. "You're the leader of the alliance I'm joining. It's okay to have doubts at times towards your alliance members."
After that, Herellia's aura turned extremely cheerful as Aurus could feel that Herellia was sincerely smiling inside. "Alright then, let bygones be bygones just as you said. In exchange, I won't let anyone mistreat you when you enter the alliance!"
"Haha, sure. Let's go with that." Aurus did not dare to drag this conversation any further as the two of them decided to head towards the Tempest Branch Alliance's base of operations, under the directions of Herellia of course.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Unlike before they entered the inheritance, Herellia would have to slow her speed down in order for Aurus to catch up. At this moment though, even when she sped up or slowed down, it did not deter Aurus from following behind at all...except for when his [Gale Hover] spell expired.
"What kind of things did you get from the inheritance, Aurus?" Herellia did not hesitate to ask as he was going to join her alliance.
Of course, Aurus would not reveal all of his gains to Herellia, maintaining a low profile. "I got the two skills I wanted. You?"
"Hehe!" Herellia could not help but laugh after remembering the rewards she reaped. "Not only did I get a few skills and [Stick Regeneration] from the inheritance, I also got an invincibility skill as well!"
Hearing that Herellia obtained an invincibility skill from the inheritance made Aurus widen his nonexistent eyes in surprise, but concealed it easily due to the fact that he had no eyes whatsoever. Neither of them had eyes.
As they continued to traverse the Tempest Ruin and get out of it, all of a sudden, Fenrir, who was silent all this time, started to speak "Where are we, Master?"
"The outside world," Aurus replied inwardly to Fenrir's question. He knew that if he revealed Fenrir to Herellia, he would definitely shock Herellia to the core.
"Outside? Is it...big?" Fenrir thought about Aurus' words for a bit and asked a question. Aurus could not help but inwardly laugh and reply, "Yes, it's big. It will also help you grow stronger."
"Grow strong...yes! Fenrir will grow strong!" Hearing that it could grow stronger in the world of Erudinia, happiness could be felt throughout Aurus' mind.
Aurus could feel the enthusiasm that Fenrir radiated throughout his mind and laughed as he said to himself, "I should grow stronger as well!"
...
It took Aurus and Herellia about a day or so to reach the place where the Tempest Branch Alliance's base of operations was located. To be honest, it was already incredibly fast for the two of them to reach it at a day, thanks to Aurus not dragging Herellia down.
"Here we are, the alliance's base of operations." Herellia looked at the sight in front of the two of them and could not help but feel homesick, as if she left the place for a few months or so.
As for Aurus, he looked around his surroundings for a while and decided to ask Herellia. "Uh...where is the alliance's base of operations?"
Herellia awkwardly chuckled as he used SP to form a blood tendril as it pointed towards a certain direction. "Right there."
"Hm?" Aurus looked at the direction where the blood tendril was pointing. "The only thing that looks oddly unique is that big hole in front of us."
At the current moment, Aurus and Herellia were currently hovering above the edge of a small cliff, looking down at the plains that had small hills and mountains sparsely scattered all over.
In the end, Herellia decided to steel her courage and said, "That big hole is our base of operations." Herellia and Aurus were referring to the big hole that was formed naturally at the base of a small hill. Its entrance was around 10 meters in height and around 8 meters in width, allowing branches and saplings of all shapes and sizes to easily fit inside.
Aurus could not help but let out a sigh as he said, "As expected. It's a good place as a base of operations, it won't arouse any suspicion from other beings at the very least."
"Okay, let's go inside then." Aurus did not hesitate to move towards the big hole, leaving Herellia at a dumbfounded state for a few seconds before waking up from her stupor.
"Eh? Ah!" Herellia only realized Aurus was gone after Aurus was already halfway to the big hole, forcing Herellia to use her movement skill to the limit. "Wait for me!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
And so, with the two branches...well one large branch and one weird branch heading towards the Tempest Branch Alliance's base of operations, a change was bound to happen sooner or later throughout all of the Tempest Cliff's Inanimate population.