Rosalie calmed down after a while.
"I will get strong," Rosalie clenched her fist and looked at Aeron. Sniffing hard, she said, "Brother Aeron, will you help me?"
Aeron smiled and properly cleared Rosalie's face with snot by turning some spirit energy into water.
"Of course. First, you will go to the best school in the core area. I will make sure of it," Aeron smiled. "Your brother's will is always with us. We must not forget him and live strongly and survive for his wish, okay?"
"Mhm," Rosalie nodded with resolve. "I will live strongly."
"Good."
The waitress saw the situation and promptly brought the food. It was cooked some minutes ago, but she waited for Rosalie to settle down as she didn't want to interrupt.
The waitress put dishes and bowls on the table before she at Rosalie and pointed at a particular covered bowl. "This is especially for you from our chef."
"Enjoy," the waitress said before leaving.
Rosalie curiously looked at the bowl and uncovered the lid, only to see the rumored milk tea, with a smiley cream design on it.
…
Aeron and Rosalie started eating and didn't speak much. The food was like a feast to Rosali who hadn't eaten such a luxury for a long time.
She silently ate and also occasionally dropped tears as she couldn't help but remember her time with her brother and the lingering desire that wanted him here with her.
"Brother. We can buy my Ability Potion tomorrow…I-I am tired so I want to rest for today."
"That's good."
Aeron gently nodded with a smile. "Mourn for him and get together your resolve for his wish."
Rosalie nodded teary-eyed and continued eating.
"I'm sure you are more hungry, so eat one more bowl. You must stay healthy, alright?"
"Mhm," Rosalie nodded.
…
Aeron and Rosalie went back home after eating. Rosalie was tired, not physically, but mentally.
She hadn't managed to sleep much during the night due to the curse mark, so she needed to sleep in the first place.
Aeron left after locking the door and looked at the rising sun. It was almost eight in the morning.
"What about that flower we got?"
[We can bring it to any Alchemy shop and get a reasonable price, but keep it for now. Just store the resources since you have the storage.]
"Alright," Aeron replied as he started walking, leaving the colony and moving in the direction of the Phantom Association.
[What's your plan?]
'I don't have a plan, but I have a goal and that is to get lots of spirit credits for now. Rosalie is sleeping and when she wakes up, I want her new life to begin.'
'So you tell me a plan to improve myself and our finances at the fastest rate possible.'
Lapis fell into thought for a bit.
[The fastest way to increase your finances is to get your power to a proper C-rank Phantom Hunter, learning all advanced Abilities and becoming able enough to explore a C-rank Dark Ruins.]
[But for that, you need to join one of the Phantom Guilds in the core area of the city. Joining a guild can give you a place to become more powerful and also give you information about Dark Ruins.]
Lapis narrowed her eyes.
[Unlike the Dark Claw Forest, which is an open-type Dark Ruin of Z-rank, meaning that its danger level varies according to its areas, there are other closed Dark Ruins that have more powerful and particular Haunts and resources.]
'Interesting. But if I want to go into one of them, I need to enter a Phantom Guild?'
[For sure. The Phantom Guilds' members explore outside regularly in danger to find places and resources. If you go out aimlessly, you'll just waste time.]
'Make sense.'
[A Phantom Hunter's identity and recognition is a Phantom Badge. You also get benefits based on the rank of your badge from a branch of the Phantom Association. But before that, you should test yourself at Phantom Tower. That's the best place for you to learn and improve before joining a Guild.]
[After all, if you want to join a powerful Phantom Guild, you'll have to impress them.]
'Phantom Tower?'
[It's 78 kilometers away from here, between the border of the inner city and the core city area.]
'78 kilometers….This city is bigger than I expected.'
Lapis chuckled.
[Its size is a total of 289 km² in length, shaped like a boomerang. There's a confined mountain and a lake at the curved empty area between the two ends of this boomerang city. It's big enough to house roughly eighteen million people and still have empty lands, so of course it's big.]
'But there are only six more cities like this out there in this whole big world, eh?' Aeron wryly smiled. 'Troubling indeed.'
[Let's think about ourselves for now. Fortify yourself and start running at your full speed according to my lead, but don't affect anything or anyone on the way.]
Lapis smiled.
[This is your first exercise task.]
'Alright,' Aeron's figure was enveloped in a glowing liquidy-like Veil on him before he used Enchant to Fortify his body and then created a thin Veil over Fortify.
*Swoosh*
Aeron's figure sped up as he ran at superhuman speed, easily reaching 60 kilometers per hour.
But that was not the end.
Aeron focused and ran on wide and low-populated areas in the general direction.
But it seems that this was not an uncommon occurrence because Aeron sensed and saw Phantom Hunters running fast like him throughout the city as he traveled through roads.
He gradually gained more proficiency with Fortify and Veil in this running state and increased his speed to 87 kilometers per hour.
After fifteen minutes, Aeron raised his speed to 109 kilometers per hour, making him as fast as the top speed of Avrage cheetah.
The city was indeed big, and Aeron saw many people along with a myriad of different areas, buildings, and such. Moreover, he hadn't even traveled over half of the city yet!
Suddenly, Aeron saw a fast aura approaching, even faster than him and it immediately passed by him, giving Aeron a slight vibration as the person was over twice as fast as him.
'Woah, who was that? I almost thought I would crash.'
[He went too fast. I couldn't see his face because you also couldn't. But if you failed to capture that, then it means he is likely a B-rank Phantom Hunter or higher.]
"I see."
[Don't bother about him. The tower is near.]
Aeron's eyes shone as he could see already the big black tower from afar. "That's at least five hundred meters tall, right? Looks like a fun place."
[Yep. It's the place where all Phantom Hunters can gather regardless of their affiliation to guilds. The top floors are reserved for only the strongest and it's also a watch tower of sorts to detect Haunts in the city's surroundings.]
'Nice. I am excited,' Aeron grinned.
Lapis smiled.
[Just wait until you see the real deals.]