[Are you my pa?] The panda walked up to Nox and looked at him with those big black and white eyes. Its adorable expression began to morph into a frown as Nox kept it waiting.
Resisting the urge to pinch the creature's cheek, Nox said, "Yes, I'm your papa."
Because it was still a toddler, the panda had little recollection of its actual family. However, after Nox tamed it, the lingering memories were erased, and now it was like a child meeting its parents for the first time.
Nox honestly didn't know if this was a good thing or not, but he preferred it this way. That way, this creature wouldn't feel the pain of losing its parents.
"Why is he making those strange sounds?" Serena furrowed her brow as she watched the scene of a human and a panda speaking in an animal language filled with "Hoo-hoo-ha" and "bleeat."
Even Nyx felt weirded out.
It looked extremely silly, beyond her wildest imagination, but somehow it was happening right in front of them.
"I guess it's their way of communication," Nyx shrugged. Then she looked at Serena and proceeded to ask her for more information about these dimensional worlds and a way back home.
If she had her class, she wouldn't be in such a hurry to go back and hunt monsters to her heart's content, but doing that was pretty risky since she didn't have offensive and defensive skills.
And the only person who had offensive skills was too reckless.
Nyx looked at Nox. Sure enough, the raven-haired boy was rolling on the grass with the panda, laughing without a care, as if they weren't in a dimension infested with beasts and strange flying creatures.
...He was too carefree and foolish.
So the best course of action was to leave this place and return when they were prepared. From Serena, she had learned that these dimensions would remain as long as the Gatekeeper was not killed. Some cities intentionally preserved the Gatekeeper for continuous hunting while gaining more loot in the process.
"Now how do I get these two to stop playing?" Nyx felt a headache coming on as she watched the panda and her brother, who seemed to be in their own world already.
*Growl.*
Just then, a low grumbling sound came from the panda's little stomach. It stopped playing and looked at Nox while rubbing its stomach.
[Panda... hungry!]
"Hmm... What do pandas love most?" Nox pondered. Fluffington loved milk and meat, but for the baby panda... bamboo! Luckily, his knowledge from Earth came to the rescue, and he jumped to his feet. He informed the group that they would start moving now, something Nyx was very grateful for.
Along the way, the group saw several tall trees that stretched to the sky, a kaleidoscope of beautiful flowers, ponds reflecting the vibrant sky, and creatures darting among the foliage with iridescent wings.
"Strange... Did people live here before?" Nox couldn't help but speak aloud when he saw a dilapidated two-story building with two fallen pillars at the front. Shattered wooden windows covered in dust and rubble littered the ground. A broken fountain alongside a statue stood in what once seemed to be a mansion of the past.
This was the first building they had come across, and clearly, all three could tell it was once inhabited by humans. But how? Wasn't this dimension supposed to be like fantasy dungeons, infested only with beasts? So what was a building doing inside?
Subconsciously, Nox looked at Serena. Serena only smiled. She had anticipated this. For once, she was happy to be the one her friends could rely on, so she said:
"According to my father, these dimensions are different worlds just like ours, once thriving with civilization." Her face turned grim. "But somewhere along the line, they were invaded by an entity that was too much for them to combat, hence the current state. Don't take my words to heart though, because this is just a theory scholars came up with."
The revelation gave Nox a lot to think about. Even though it was just a theory, there was a semblance of truth in every theory. What if this entity they talked about invaded Eos as well?
Nox shook his head at this thought. "No, that's not possible. The world of Eos has powerful gods and a pantheon overseeing them. No matter how powerful this entity is, it can't possibly be stronger than those gods."
With this thought in mind, Nox and his group moved ahead. They passed by several more ancient buildings, and Nox felt a tug on his cloth. Looking down, he could see the panda staring at him with those big black eyes.
[Panda... hungry!]
As luck would have it, they reached an area populated with lots of bamboo trees, stretching proudly toward the sky.
"Food... You want food, you'll get all the food you want!"
[Food! Yay!] The panda exclaimed in joy as it started feasting on the bamboo, snapping it and eating the sturdy-looking trees with no care in the world. Its jaws were surprisingly strong, as the bamboo disappeared into its mouth at a rapid rate, leaving Nyx and Serena stunned.
"Iron teeth!"
They hadn't expected the cute little creature to have such strong jaws and eating speed!
Watching the little panda, Nox felt a sense of satisfaction. Inwardly, he wondered if this was how it felt when parents watched their child eat.
---
A group of three people had arrived at the entrance of the dimensional rift on strong-looking horses. They wore blue uniforms with an emblem of a shield with two swords crossed in the middle. These men were sturdy-built warriors with the aura of soldiers from the Armstrong Duchy, overlords of the west.
A report had reached the Duke about the appearance of a dimensional rift, and he had dispatched these two. They thought the informant had been bluffing, but looking at the swirling portal, they couldn't be more certain.
"Thank you for your service. Here are 10 gold coins for your trouble." The leader of the warriors, a scar-faced middle-aged man named Kron, threw a pouch of coins to the informant.
The man caught the pouch with a wide smile. Ten gold coins were an amount he could only dream of in his lifetime! The highest amount he had ever received was only one gold coin, which had lasted him almost two years, considering that 100 silver coins were equal to one gold coin, while 100 copper coins were equal to one silver coin.
'How am I not sure these soldiers aren't cheating me? What if the Duke gave them even more? I'm very sure they'll make millions of gold coins from this rift by selling the resources to the capital.' The man couldn't help but feel greedy, but he couldn't fight these people; that would be pure stupidity.
As he opened the pouch to take a look, however, a vicious blue snake with a forked tongue attacked him. With wide eyes, the man fell down and died.
The soldiers didn't react much to seeing this sight; after all, their Duke had specifically commanded them to get rid of him, for unknown reasons.
Turning to the portal, Kron narrowed his eyes, a vein bulging in his temple. "This bastard lied! Someone has already entered the dimension!"