Back on the ship, the six people who were originally on the ship had incredibly odd expressions on their faces. Originally, they had been incredibly lucky with how they were located 30 m above the ground, however, over the course of two weeks, countless surprise attacks were launched at them; ranging from arrows to spells. Naturally most of the spells failed to even reach the bottom of the ship, but still, they lose nearly 10 members, adding on the 4 members they had lost on the way here to the Rank 2 beasts, they had only 6 people barely hanging on.
They had hoped nothing out of the ordinary would happen and when the time to leave came, the six of them could manage to hold onto the ship, however, Daron was exactly the 'out of ordinary' event they were hoping not to encounter.
"At the least, they did not throw us off the airship" one of them whispered.
"Alright. For now, let's focus back onto the ground and prevent any more from entering the ship."
Thankfully, Daron's power had scarred off most of the people, and had caused the remaining few to not have any courage to attack the ship for the time being.
A few hours went by in a flash, and the time for leaving this barren land finally arrived.
"Everyone who is on an airship which has 20 or less people should prepare to leave. For those who had more than 20 people on board and forget about every leaving this place. You have 60 seconds to comply before the airships that meet the criteria will begin to move."
This was an announcement that was sent directly to the minds of each and every participant. The people on the ground began to despair all throughout the fog. They had been scavenging for enough food to survive for the past two weeks, and those who had some with them when they were ejected from their airships, had already exhausted it. They would not be able to survive here for too long.
Daron was also awoken from his beauty sleep by the message directly transmitted to his mind, only to feel incredibly uncomfortable on his face. Touching the skin on his face, he could feel something incredibly slimy and sticky covering his entire face.
"Arf, Arf"
Turning around, he found the culprit, but was even more stunned. It was clear from the situation that Snowy had slobbered his face in spit while he was sleeping. But what surprised him was that snowy was no longer a size that could fit in his palm, but had grown to about an arm's length! And what was even more surprising was that even though he was sleeping to rest, he had put up his guard, yet failed to notice not only Snowy approaching him but also licking his entire face.
"You little…"
After sighing, Daron proceeded to wash off the saliva from his face and changed into newer clothes he had in his inventory.
Picking up Snowy, Daron asked Sirious, "What happened?"
[Snowy appears to have gone through an evolution. It can now be categorised as a Rank 1 magical beast]
'Just like that? Shouldn't there be some reason or simulating factor? Like some unknown power gems, or fighting a life-or-death battle with an insanely strong enemy?'
[… the reasons appears to have something to with all the blood and flesh of monsters it ate since it bonded with you. But it clearly takes time for Snowy to fully digest the blood of creatures at Rank 1, and therefore, it only evolved now.]
'Does that mean I need to feed it Rank 2 blood for a long time for it evolve to Rank 2?'
[Your guess has a 74% chance of being accurate, master.]
'Cool, once I settle in to whichever organisation this huge airship is taking us, I should get Snowy some Rank 2 blood. If it can evolve to Rank 2, it would be equivalent to an Intermediate Knight! Haha…'
However, it was then that Daron realised something. He had been practicing Internal energy for so many years, yet Snowy would soon be able to catch-up, or even leave him in the dust. But it was fine, as long as Snowy would not be able to practice magic. He at least had this power as his own.
Soon enough, Daron arrived at the main deck, where everyone was gathered, vigilantly searching the surroundings for enemies. Thankfully, within those left-over 20 seconds, no enemies came, and all the airships began moving once more.
"Don't put down your guard until we arrive at the organisation." Daron mentioned in passing.
Almost as though he could see the future, As soon as the ship moved closer to the mountain, countless spells were launched at them, and all the other ships in the surroundings. This was the last stand by those who had been left behind.
However, at this moment, all the spells stopped 2 meters from the ship, as though there was an invisible barrier around them all.
"I gave you guys two weeks. Those who aren't strong enough, or don't have enough courage to attack other ships for so long have already lost the opportunity to do so. Please, do not make yourself at home on this mountain, and clear the area within 2 days. Anyone still here after that period of time will be killed."
This time around, the message contained a hint of strength from the person sending it, causing everyone who heard it to shiver, including Daron.
'Thankfully, we got onto a ship. But still, I wonder how Bob was able to secure a ship for himself. Apparently, he had reached the Phoenix college, which meant he had resisted two weeks of surprise attacks from countless enemies. The others with him must have been pretty strong to be able to pull off something like that.' He thought to himself as the airships reached the top of the mountain, where the fog was nearly non-existent