While he acted very assertive with Yogan, Ray was sweating bullets mentally.
'Did that sound as good as it did in my head? I hope I didn't sound cringe.' He scripted what he was going to say in advance, but the speed at which Yogan submitted threw him through a loop.
He had a few responses planned for the most likely counter arguments, but he got none of that and was forced to freestyle mid way.
But that didn't mean that he didn't believe what he said. He did in fact fear death, especially after the deaths of his parents, but he also believed that the only way to ensure that it was coming was to remain weak.
He didn't like to think this way, but if his father was strong then he wouldn't have died that day, and if his mother was strong then she wouldn't have collapsed after the news.
But that was easier said than done, not many would have his experiences at his age and his parents at the time were not that much older than he was now.
They have lived normal lives, poor ones but still normal, until the hunting accident.
Seeing his parents pass like that at such a young age instilled a hatred for weakness, but up until now he had no control over his own life beyond which gang he was going to work for next.
It was part of the reason that he even went to the Lotus guild that day, while the money was certainly tempting, he was hoping for the slightest chance that he would get the opportunity to increase his own strength after the fact.
Otherwise with his own weariness of those in power he wouldn't have entertained it, or he would have long dropped out of the rigorous training. While he didn't find it that difficult it wasn't uncommon for him to break a bone or two and he didn't like pain.
Since he had even more control over his life he was naturally happy, but now that he didn't have any future goals he was a bit lost as to what he should strive for. While not a far reaching one, finding a way back to the old world served as a direction to put his efforts into but now that he decided against it he had to find his own path.
'Let's think about that after I leave this place, thinking like that will serve me no good.'
"Umm… young master."
"What is it?"
"I thought it was strange at first, but now I am concerned. Why is this place so barren? It wasn't like this before and it hasn't been that long."
"Oh, that. The plants here are very valuable to me, well besides the trees, so I have been collecting them."
'Collecting them? Then where the hell is he putting them? This isn't just a few pounds of leaves but a few hundred tons at least. I've heard of spatial pouches but they shouldn't be that large. But I am afraid to ask.'
"Also, I need you to tell me about outside. What is the direct surroundings like, and is it close to people? What about the surrounding strength? Also, you know where the black sands mountain range is."
"What? Why would you need to know what is going on outside? Didn't you come from there?"
"Well my situation is a bit special. I am not from here, this dimension I mean, but a connecting one. After a bit of a 'misunderstanding' I was forced into here by a supremacy ranked old bastard. I don't even know where I am to be honest." Since Yogan would be following him around for the foreseeable future he had no issue telling him his own circumstances.
'What the fuck did I get my self into. A misunderstanding? Bullshit! What did he do for a supremacy to go out of their way to push him here. Wait, that means'
"Traveler!"
"Hmm, oh yes. I think that's what the natives call people like me. Anyway, now that you know, please answer my questions."
"Well, around here there isn't much, but this forest grows a lot of valuable herbs as you have seen, so a lot of people come here every so often to harvest them though they only stay on the outside near the entrance. After a while a small village formed but I don't know much about it. But I do know that the strongest there is only at the master tier, otherwise they would have moved on."
"Don't you feel embarrassed saying that?"
Turning his head away he responded under his breath. "It wouldn't be strange for a saint to stay in one place for a few thousand years."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Well what about the black sands mountain range?"
"I don't know anything about that, but I have heard of the black pearl mountain range. They might have a connection."
"Well what about there?"
"I haven't been there myself, but from what I understand it is extremely far away, about 3 million yan(1). But I would advise against trying to go there, it is in the capital of the Aurelian Kingdom and they are extremely aggressive and territorial. And their king is a tyrant that doesn't even allow visitors to leave. Whatever reason you want to go there, forget about it."
'So that's about 15 million miles away, just how long would it take for me to get there? And how the hell did Itz'tal find himself so far away? By the time I get there, who's to say whether or not I would be much stronger than him?'
"Either way I am still a bit interested in it, when we get to the village I'll ask around, Though I doubt that they would know anything about such a far away place."
"Why wouldn't they? All of this area is still under the jurisdiction of the Aurelian Kingdom and a short distance away from here is the border. They might not know the fine details, but they should still know something."
"Well either way let's go see what is going on below your nest."
While Ray by himself could get there quickly, going at the speed of Yogan was a different story. What was a few hour trip for him, turned into a month long journey.
While Yogan was running as fast as he possibly could, it looked like Ray was taking only a few steps to keep up.
Naturally he wasn't wasting this time, but he couldn't get any more information out of Yogan for the time being, as he was focusing his all on running, so he was catching up on some errands.
First was his unique way of flight, after observing some of the native beasts and how they traverse through mana he felt like he was getting closer to achieving his goal. At first he needed to greatly increase his mana output if he wanted to attempt something similar, but now he could hover in place without activating his vein tattoos.
With a little bit more experimentation he could perfect his own way of flying that didn't depend on the surrounding mana density.
Next he made a proper robe for himself, he was tired of running around practically naked but because it was still just mana it looked blue. Thankfully it wasn't transparent but it did glow in the dark. Then he started working on clothes for Laura and her kids, which he sent to them remotely after informing her about his actions. They had yet to have a proper conversation but that didn't mean that he was going to keep her in the dark.
After that he started work on artifact refining, of the professions that he wanted to reach greater mastery, preferably perfection, this was the only one that he could do on the fly.
He rapidly made short knives out of mythril, since it was a better material than pure iron to make artifacts out of, and he was progressing rapidly. Following Itroth's experience he quickly reached greater mastery, which was enough for the creation master title, but none of the enchantments he put on them were permanent as he only used his mana and not a proper medium like ink of blood.
No matter if he made it sharper, lighter, fly around or explode on impact, all of it would go away when he retracted his mana. This was fine for just him, but if he wanted to refine an artifact for someone else, or maybe sell them, then he needed to find a proper medium.
And all while he was doing this he was cultivating the hundred flowers cultivation method. By the time they both arrived at the nest, he went from 1% to 2%, which didn't sound like much but it was enough to push the level of his mana from the early stages of the extremity tier to the middle stage.