The Alchemy exchange was going to last a total of 20 years. That was the time that had been set between the two continents.
At this time, the 20 alchemists that Alex had taken with him would work together with the alchemists from the Eastern Continent, teaching each other and growing together.
Alex was sure how many of those 20 years he would be spending there, but he would spend as many as needed. After all, he had 2 tasks he had to do over there.
First, he had to figure out who the person that had killed Pearl's mother was.
Second, he had to find his cousin Hannah.
"Don't worry, Aunt Liz. I'll definitely find her," Alex told her while he was with his family, saying his goodbyes.
Everyone was present, except Scarlet. They needed Scarlet to remain hidden so they could keep the fact that she wasn't as powerful. If Commander Jianyu saw her and realized that she was in fact only in the Saint Transformation realm, he couldn't imagine what would happen.
He was dealing with the same person that had planned to rob the Western Continent after the White Tiger there had died. If he realized the Phoenix was weak as well… well, Alex didn't want to let him find out that.
He said his heartfelt goodbye to his family and subjects, promising to come visit them soon again.
Helen cried as she had only found her son again after being separated for over 30 years, and he was going to be away for another 20 years once more.
After all, had been said and done, Alex got on the teleportation formation, along with the two elders, 20 Alchemists, and 20 alchemist assistants. The assistants were there to help the alchemist and learn from them to become proper alchemists themselves.
They were also there to guard them, but that was more of a secondary task they had to do, aside from assisting.
The ones for Jai Heiyun and the other 4 Saints however were definitely more guard than assistant.
After Commander Jianyu got onto the teleportation formation, Alex gave the command and they all teleported.
They arrived at Eastwatch city, the main city where travelers from other continents came from. Alex looked around, reminiscing a bit about the place he had come to so many years ago.
This was the place where the Huang family was situated, and this was where he had stolen from the family head back then and run away. The person in charge had already been changed, but the Huang family still feared Alex, desperately hoping that he didn't hold any grudges.
"I had once seen your people roaming this place, searching for something," Alex said, turning toward the commander. "You've never mentioned who or what you were searching for. Can you still not tell me?"
"I'm afraid I cannot, your Majesty," the commander said.
Alex nodded. He didn't press the man as he had most likely been asked by the Dragon Emperor to keep everything a secret. Still, he wondered what they were searching for that they couldn't find in the dozens of years they had been here.
"Are you still searching, or will every one of your soldiers be returning along with us?" Alex asked.
"Most will be staying," the commander said. "I hope that doesn't anger you, your majesty."
"No, no, it's alright with me. As long as you follow the law and remain civil, I have no qualms," Alex said. They were already being kept an eye on anyway.
"This way, your majesty," the commander showed him the way. "My men are waiting by the shore."
Alex and the others walked for a while, surrounded by normal citizens who recognized his gold-laced royal robes and started chanting his name.
He smiled and waved as he went past the people, making his way to the beach where 2 enormous ships had been waiting for them.
The ships were colored in bright azure blue with a golden dragon wrapped around a sword, that was the insignia of the Azure Imperium.
"Two ships?" Alex asked. "Surely a single ship has enough space for us, right? There are not even 50 of us."
"We had two prepared in case Your Majesty wanted to leave on a separate ship from the others," the commander replied.
"Thank you for your thoughtfulness, I don't mind being in the presence of my people. We can use just one ship."
The commander nodded and walked up to the ship that was sitting in the sand and with a flick of his wrist, he put it away.
"Your majesty, we are ready to take you all on board," the commander said.
Alex nodded and flew, with the two elders flying behind him. The other 40 people followed behind them and one by one landed on the ship's deck.
Everyone looked around at the metal ship which looked almost as if everything was made from a single sheet of metal. The deck of the ship was about 20 meters wide at the widest part and 5 meters at the narrowest.
The entire ship was about 100 meters long and was tall enough that Alex didn't doubt there were more places to stay below deck. The small rooms that he could see on the deck were only the start of it.
There were formations that were clearly carved onto the metal ship, some of which Alex recognized, some which he had never seen before.
He could stay there and try to decipher the formations, but he decided to do so later.
"Let me show you to your quarters," the commander said and took Alex into the living quarters that were prepared for soldiers to live.
There were a few fancy rooms where the VIPs were kept under the deck, and Alex was taken there. The elders were given rooms on either side of his and they were shown the various functionalities of the room.
There were formations to change the temperature of the room, to turn the side of the wall invisible to see everything outside. There was a Qi gathering formation where one could put space stones to generate Qi to use it.
There were also surprisingly recording talismans with recordings already in them that could be used to entertain oneself while they were there.
'This is quite the place,' Alex thought, looking around.
"The ship will take off in 5 minutes, if that is alright with you, your majesty," the commander said.
"Please, do it whenever you see fit," Alex said.
"Then, you can relax here or go to the upper deck whenever you feel like it. I will return back to work," the commander said and left.
Alex nodded and decided to stay back for a moment. There wasn't any reason for him to stay here other than cultivate, but there was something important he thought he had to do before he could feel safe.
He needed to find out if there were some formations or scripts that were there to spy on him while he was there. He wouldn't feel free to do whatever he wanted inside here unless he knew for a fact that he was free.
He called out Whisker and had him look around. While Alex's eye could see a whole lot of things, Whisker's whiskers were infinitely better.
A Seeking mouse could see, hear, sense, and even taste things through their whiskers. It was all different from when they did it with the respective organs, but it was close enough and worked quite well.
Temperature, Air density, Humidity, Concentration of Qi, the smell of the air, the taste of whatever was on it; Whisker could take in every piece of information.
Alex usually didn't accept this information being sent to him through their bond, but this time he did. And together, they searched the room for any hidden formations or scripts or even hidden compartments.
After searching for a while, Alex found nothing at all. The room was safe for him to be in. He sat on the bed, finally relaxed, knowing that he was free.
Suddenly, Alex felt the ship lurch. A formation activated, surprisingly making him unable to feel the effect of inertia. He also activated another formation, one which made the metal wall next to him invisible.
Alex saw the ship lift off the sand and slowly go high into the sky. "I can't remain inside to watch this," he said and got off the bed.
Whisker jumped onto his shoulders and sneaked into his robes where he hid.
Alex wished Pearl could come out as well, but he didn't want to tip off anyone that he had a White Tiger with him. Even mistakenly, he didn't want them to know that he had a White Cat with him.
Alex wasn't sure which of the people from the Azure Imperium were responsible for his mother's death, so he had to go in expecting everyone was involved. That included commander Jianyu who he spoke so pleasantly with.
The commander was far stronger than Alex, so he couldn't ask him anything, lest he spoke something wrong that brewed conflict with them.
Conversely, he also didn't want to give them man something he could hold against him either in the form of a favor or blackmail. That was also one of the reasons why Alex had told all the alchemists and elders about finding Hannah but had no plans of asking the Dragon Emperor to help him do so.
Alex arrived on the deck of the ship again, where a few alchemists and assistants were already gathered.
They were all watching the ship take off and go beyond into the ocean, which was something they had until now thought as untraversable.
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