In the deep forest of the Lost Valley, Zuriel, Dion and I were walking towards our destination, the City of Wealth, Asul. According to Zuriel, this Planet Vermillion is covered 90 percent by thick vast forests and humongous seas leaving only ten percent of the planet occupied by civilization.
While it also meant that most of the planet was unexplored, with whatever civilization was there, they were barely managing to survive on this planet.
I looked at Dion's new look, grey hair and blue eyes with his facial features still cute but different from the previous one. There was a hint of maturity in his look, making it wonder if he was a child or merely pretending to be one.
Meanwhile, I was in my Reaper's attire, with an additional change in the facial features to make sure nothing seems in common with the original look of Dion. I observed Zuriel walking in front of us as she calmly analysed the path ahead of us.
Consequently, she was here in search of a certain herb that has specific healing properties. When I asked her if we needed to search for it, she simply replied that it was not needed anymore because the power of Light that I use is more than enough to heal the person which she needed to heal.
"All right, this path is safe. It would take about a week to reach the location from here at normal running speed," she said as she looked at me and I nodded at her before proceeding to pick Dion up. However, to my surprise, Dion declined my help as he spoke,"I can run on my own," and I couldn't help but look at him with a slightly questioning gaze.
While we were not travelling at the speed where I exerted my full power but still we would be anything but slow. Though, since he has already seen the fight, it must mean that he knows what he is talking about.
And honestly, the fact that he knew what he was talking about… made me even more curious about him. So…
"Okay, you start then. We will maintain our pace around yours," I spoke and Zuriel looked at me, wondering what I was on about. Not so smart in the head, is she?
Dion nods before looking ahead and then… his eyes turn slightly green… the green was different from the one I have when I use Spirit magic… it was more like a hue of mint green over his current blue eyes and then…
-Whoosh
I saw him vanish from there and reach quite a distance away from us while he was still running ahead…
"Haha…" I chuckled out loud at this sudden surprise before a wide grin forms on my face as I mutter in silence,"Spirit Magic: Haste" and then… my speed increases by a notch as I run behind the boy. Zuriel follows us with a slightly surprised expression, before she realises something and her eyes narrows at Dion for a moment before she observes me with an even more narrowed gaze.
I, on the other hand, was so preoccupied with catching up to Dion that I did not pay attention to that gaze of Zuriel's. I observed him carefully and what I found made me even more shocked than before.
He wasn't running, but walking… extremely fast… it's as if the time was slowed for him. I observed him for quite some time before reaching closer to him and kept analysing him over and over.
The more I analysed, the more I realised that the surrounding time was literally slowed down. I was baffled as I observed him, wondering what… and how exactly is he doing this? Just what… is he?
At this moment, I finally recalled about him being wanted all over the world… Does it have something to do with this? I analysed him for quite some time as I tried connecting the dots however I could…
Currently, I have met only Amon who could turn back time… while it looked like Lucifer, too, knew about the time reversal. And Janus… Well, he knew it because of that spell he put on me in the previous timeline and Dolos has no idea about me, so he doesn't know about time dilation completely.
'So… how many chances are there for this kid to be connected to a Guardian…?' I thought as I observed him, and my interest piqued even more. I then turn left only to see Zuriel observing me and Dion with a curious face. I wanted to know what she was thinking, but respecting her privacy, I did not ponder over what she was thinking. Who knows, she might bring up another quest or something…
From there onwards, all three of us kept running at a fast speed while maintaining our stamina intact. Ordinarily going at normal speed without any restrictions would have got us to our destination in about a week or so, but at this speed, it will take about 3-4 days.
If we didn't need to worry about the monsters and other disturbances in between our travels, the travel time could have been much shorter. Still… it's fine as the view wasn't so bad with all these strange plants and animals all around us.
After about a day or so, we finally stopped to eat and drink at a safe location. While we did encounter a few monsters along the way, they weren't really strong. Zuriel herself was enough to take them out without any help from me.
I saw her carving out the skin and monster cores from the monsters and storing it in her space storage. While she threw the meat to be left over… though, I collected it, making her give me a piercing look. Her eyes were asking, 'what are you going to do with those?'
Well… according to her, the only thing that the monster meat here can be used for is potent poison. I sighed as I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of delicacy she was missing.
As we camped, I took out the monster meat and then first I set fire at a distance where I smoked the meat. After the meat was smoked, I purified it using a potion which I made before I came into this world to give it a better fragrance. Then I used my light magic to purify the meat before preparing it and use it as an ingredient for steak.
I used a few flavours I carried in my space pocket… while I was going to use it in making potions later; I think it would be a good investment to cook something good and healthy in this unknown place.
I used my fire magic to cook it at some place, while I kept my water magic hidden because if she knew that I could use water… or perhaps all elements. It wouldn't really be a favourable outcome, would it?
The savoring aroma of the meat spread out and reached Zuriel and Dion's noses as they flicked their heads towards me. They had a questioning and surprised expression on their faces… Well… I did tell them that I would be cooking the monster meat… doesn't look like they really believed me.
For the next 30 minutes, I kept cooking the dish, and those two kept their focus on me… erm… at the food that I was cooking. Though as soon as it was done, they turned their gazes away.
I took the dish and brought it towards them as I saw them taking peeks at the dish. I chuckled as I placed the portions one by one in front of them and they looked at me with a really question-filled look.
Rather than explaining it to them, I began eating my portion to show them that it was safe to eat it. While Dion looked like he was about to eat it, Zuriel didn't move an inch from her place. I saw her just standing there, making a really conflicting expression.
Though… it doesn't look like it was related to the food exactly because she was looking at me deeply…
"What is it?" I asked without twisting my words. I don't barge into other people's thoughts so often but all this analysing and observing doesn't feel good, you know?
"Zero… who exactly are you?" she asks as she observes me and I sigh as I think,'this again?' before I gaze at her and speak,"what do you think?"
She then looks at me before sighing a little as she speaks," I don't know… you don't make sense at all. It's as if you don't exist at all…" as she kept gazing at me before moving towards me closer and closer… and closer… finally reaching a few inches away from me with her eyes fixated on mine.
I just let her look at me for a few moments without blinking at all before she finally speaks,"how can… how can a human like you… how can a human like you be able to use spirit magic? It shouldn't be possible at all!!"
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