"We're sorry!"
On a calm evening, inside one of the rooms of a bustling inn, two people could be seen prostrating to a sighing girl—her demeanor indicated that she had expected this. It seems the rain had stopped.
"Didn't I already say that it's fine...?"
"I am aware that you were there—but! I still want to say it to you directly." Naoki buried his face in the ground.
"Eh? Carol was there!? I-I..."
It seems that Astria had trailed Naoki using their connection through "marriage", which helped them understand each other's general thoughts and location. It seems that Astria had known about it for a while now—Naoki's thoughts couldn't be hidden forever, apparently.
"Hehe, you had held back because of me this whole time, right?" Astria approached the kneeling Dorothy, comforting her.
"Carol...!" Dorothy teared up.
Now that everything about her life has been revealed to Astria, she no longer puts a facade over what she truly feels—she had never felt so liberated in her life and from her pride.
"Naoki... go outside," Astria said.
"Eh...? But—why?"
"Girl's time!" Astria dragged Naoki outside, closing the door behind him.
She appeared to have more to say to Dorothy. It goes without saying, that Astria was first irritated at Naoki—though their soul connection had transformed her displeasure into empathy; as she had felt his intense consideration and agitated thoughts very well.
*Silence*
"It seems it's gonna take a while..." Naoki could only heavily sigh, wondering if he had made the right choice.
After a few hours, Naoki was finally let in. Since Naoki didn't need sleep, they had only availed of one double-bed room. After several glances that were thrown at Naoki, the two had slept peacefully, their faces satisfied—Naoki had wondered what they were talking about earlier.
<<----------->>
"Hmm... Good thing you didn't reject that girl."
"Eh...? What do you mean?"
Naoki was performing Alchemy in Leariz's Soul World—it seems he can make a Soul Pill out of every 50 failures now. While it sounds disastrous, it is actually quite an achievement considering he was using low-grade materials.
"No one can survive the effects of a Soul Seeking without protection—especially for your soul that completely understands the Primordial Language."
"You mean...! That..."
"Yeah, if you had delayed it a week later, her soul would not contain it—thus committing suicide." Leariz sternly said.
The look on his alchemy master was serious, it seems that she was not lying. She further added that Naoki would die within a month if it was left ignored.
"That is why... don't use your ability—your Soul Cultivation is still too low to handle it without suffering repercussions." She continued.
"Shouldn't you have told me this earlier!?" Naoki exclaimed.
"By the way, if I use my Soul Seeking on you, you'd instantly die just by looking away from me." Leariz grinned mischievously, ignoring his remark.
Soul Seeking does not appear to be as straightforward as it appears. This would have explained why most individuals are quickly drawn to Soul Seekers and why Naoki is able to resist them somewhat due to his ability.
"...? Ah!" Naoki flinched, something had popped out of the furnace.
"Heh... that's a good quality Soul Pill—it's almost comparable to commercial-grade ones."
"Oh!" Naoki jovially celebrated, this was his first time making such a good pill.
Apparently, Soul Pills with 10x potency were considered commercial grade. And while Soul Pills are based on the Soul Fragment that it was used on—a true master alchemist can at least bring out 20x its potential no matter how strong the fragment is.
"That pill is now equivalent to 8 and a half-giant furballs."
"Hell yeah! To think massacring them again would be this thrilling!"
"..."
What Naoki had synthesized was a Soul Fragment of a Giant Furball that he had defeated earlier. It seems he would cultivate faster if he kept on improving his alchemy.
"With that, you'll finally be able to break your 5th node... though I have to say, I have never seen a man in Zenia who went from no cultivation to the 5th node in less than 2 weeks." Leariz looked at Naoki with mixed emotions, unsure how he should feel about that.
"Afraid that I'll surpass you?" Naoki mocked.
"...we'll see about that." Leariz surprisingly had a smile on her face, the idea didn't bother her.
Leariz began to teach him a new pill recipe—which was a type of medicinal pill. This usually is the first kind of pill that is taught to new alchemists—but Leariz had a better variation that might not be suitable for beginners. What she hates the most is inferior pill recipes, after all.
<<----------->>
"This is... the Sky Tower."
In front of Naoki lay the outer corridor walls of which that protects the entrance of the vine-looking majestic silver tower, the Sky Tower. As thanks for helping out the group yesterday, they gave three Sky Tower passes—which were quite expensive. Although these passes only lasted for 10 days, it costs 50,000 Zeals—which was equivalent to 10,000 skewers or the minimum wage for 7 months.
"Hah... those two had become ever so closer now—leaving me to go shopping on their own." Naoki heavily sighed.
"Though I'm not going to waste a rare opportunity like this."
He entered, showing his pass to the veteran female guards that were stationed outside—who had looked at him with pity and disdain. Surprisingly, there were lots of people inside—a huge circular plaza could be seen that surrounded the gigantic gate, which served as the entrance to the tower.
*Murmur* *Chatter*
"I feel so out of place here, even that guy is getting stared at..." Naoki looked at a distant young man who had looked down at the ground out of embarrassment.
It seems that wherever he went, this was the reality of this world. If only for a slight moment, Naoki had dreamt of proving them all wrong and shocking the whole world—which was quickly dissolved after he had laughed at his own childish desire. After dispelling these thoughts, he began to wade through the crowd, entering the tower.
"Kaori...! I'm drenched!"
"Hah... didn't I tell you not to touch that monster?"
"Well-well... it's okay, your royal highness didn't mean to do that."
"Lydia... water bomb... scary."
"...?"
Naoki heard a familiar voice pass him. He couldn't remember where, but he had certainly heard it before.
"..."
"It must have been my imagination..." Naoki looked back, only for him to see a massive crowd.
Naoki proceeded onwards, a welling excitement had built up inside him. Who could blame him? This was his first-ever visit to the most important foundation of every kingdom, the Sky Tower.
"Hmm...?"
"What's wrong Kaori-chan?"
"Ah, no—it's nothing... I heard that the palace has gotten another stray?" Kaori said dismissively, changing the topic.
"Yeah, that's right. The Knight Captain, my mother, had told me about it. It seems that person had a talent for making Soul Arts—I heard she can already make Soul Armors that can withstand an attack from a 4th star node cultivator..."
"She's also a prodigy... I saw her once yesterday... cute." Minami nodded.
They continued talking for a while. It seems this new person was about to be introduced to everyone in the palace—which was why they had abruptly ended their training at the Lizea Sky Tower.
Meanwhile, Naoki entered it—this was the first time he had been alone on an adventure for a while, he thought.
"This is not bad once in a while."