Chapter 146: A step closer

Vincent decided to read the message of instructor Theodore before Leila as the other party wasn't only a mere instructor but his caretaker, someone that directs him to the right path and contact him mostly because of something important.

"Hey, I have already mailed a few life-increasing magic herbs your way. They should arrive in a few hours or by tonight. I know you would want to thank me, but there's no way for you to contact me. After all, I am out of reach. No, seriously! I am busy cleaning up the creatures of hell that had invaded different worlds and closing hell dimension portals, so to say, Hell's Paradise. You won't be able to contact me until I return to the academy. So don't sweat if you're unable to reach me. Anyway, take care and enjoy your campus life!"

After reading instructor Theodore's message, Vincent realized that he was out of planet Xavier and in another world, fighting against the invasion of the creatures of hell.

Although the situation was like that, the instructor didn't forget to draw a doodle of himself at the end of the message. Seeing this, Vincent laughed out loud, thinking to himself, he sucks at drawing.

He read his girlfriend's message right after. It was plain and simple; however, she filled it with a lot of love talk and ended it with a few important notes, telling him that she is going to the Tomb of Roselia with her brother and a few other people and asking if he wants to be on this adventure.

Vincent didn't know much about Roselia as the tales of the greatest hero, a book he didn't read, mentioned a lot about her and the story of her life. However, he still knew who she was as he had read books on the history of not only Earth but also planet Lorena. So, he knew that she was the firstborn daughter of the first Emperor of the Avalon Empire and also the strongest lady, hence her title as the Iron Clad Lady.

"I'm on this." He replied without hesitation, knowing full-well that exploring the tomb will net him things necessary to boost his strength above the monster of the Demonic Realm. He might even become as powerful as a Sky realm monster, which is a monster one realm below Monster Lord.

"Come to Peter's and Nevis's living quarter." She said, urging him to come to this place where they have all gathered.

"Okay," Vincent replied before he headed towards the boy's dormitory, and a few minutes later, he knocked on the door.

Varth, who has been missing for a day, answered by opening the door.

Just after Vincent entered the room, Peter's voice sounded in his ears.

"What about the academy, Iris?" asked Peter. "Will they let us go to such a place where there is a high chance of getting lost or getting in trouble with monsters and beasts, worst yet, dying to them? Also bringing troubles to the Federation?"

They needed to pass through a restricted zone to reach near the Tomb of Roselia. A restricted zone is a wilderness inhabited by monsters and ruled by a monster lord. A place that the military doesn't allow for others to enter. After all, there was a tiny chance of the Monster Lord getting annoyed that a human has entered their territory and start a beast stampede, something the military wanted to avoid.

"I won't let you die to them, so don't worry about it. As for legal matters, leave them to me. I will solve them all by tonight and also gain the Academy permission to go out for two weeks." Iris said in a calm voice, looking at Peter with a lovely smile.

Peter felt warm as he heard her words, but also a bit confused as he didn't know why she was willing to go to such great length for him even though they met only a few weeks ago.

Maybe I am so handsome that she is lovestruck? Peter thought with a narcissistic look on his face.

"How are you so certain? Are you the daughter of a rich man who can sway the judgment of the military academy with a single word?" Nevis asked after a moment.

"Nope," Iris shook her head, refusing his claim. "I'm Iris Twilight, a member of the Twilight Temple."

Her claim widened their eyes as they found it hard to believe that her surname wasn't only Twilight, but she was also related to the temple of the same name. They had thought that she wasn't related to the temple, although her surname was Twilight. Because the temple doesn't interfere with worldly matters, much less send someone to the military academy.

Since she was a member of the Twilight Temple, a mysterious existence on the same level as a Great Royal Family, it wasn't hard for her to gain the academy's permission to head out for a week. After all, unlike Nevis and Varth, she was supported by her backers and family.

"So are we going to go and tackle Tomb of Roselia together?" Iris stood up as she was tired of sitting and asked them.

They heard this and agreed. Only Vincent said that he would like to wait for some life-increasing magic herbs and eat them first. After all, he wasn't in his peak conditions. His vitality has decreased considerably because of evolving, forcing the change in the color of his hair. It didn't affect his physical capabilities by a lot, but his stats did drop by a few points. He wanted to be in peak condition before heading out to conquer the Tomb of Roselia.

The other five agreed to Vincent's demand as they needed to buy necessary things, too. Stuff that would help them pass through the restricted zone and safely enter the Mysterious Violet Forest. The Mysterious Violet Forest is a massive forest located near the southern border of the Monster Lord Tarantula's restricted zone, no more than a few days worth of travel from the military academy, and is home to the Tomb of Roselia.

"Okay, then let's go get prepared to head out at night!" Iris said, clapping her hands in joy, happy to see that Vincent, Leila, Varth, herself, and Nevis were willing to help Peter get the Fruit of Life.

They have decided to earn the Fruit of Life for Peter. Of course, it didn't mean that they won't get anything in return. The Tomb of Roselia is a place filled with ancient treasures, some at the level of Fruit of Life itself. And a person can obtain them by completing the trials of Roselia. And they've already decided to keep what they earn from passing said trials. Everything except for the Fruit of Life.

"Alright!"

Thus, each of them went their own way, looking for items that they wanted to purchase. Vincent, on the other hand, waited for the magic herb to get delivered to his doorstep. He got it after a few hours, a box with a few life-increasing magic herbs, each called a thirst-quenching mango.

This mango, however, contained a small part of the vigor of the sun, one that was enough to increase a person's life force by a few dozen years.

‹ You've gained a Life-Quenching Mango ›

‹ It can be converted into 130 experience points. Would you like to convert it into that? ›

‹ Yes › ‹ No ›

An instant after he picked up one of them to eat, a few notifications popped up in his mind, telling him that he could convert the fruits into purified units of life force.

He blinked his eyes without much change in his expression as he already knew about it, and he then proceeded to eat one mango after another in silence, unable to even savor its taste, until his hair regained its normal inky, black color.

By that time, he had used five out of ten of them.

"Blood, convert the rest of them into experience points," Vincent said in his mind, telling Blood to suck the life out of these tasteless mangoes.

‹ A total of five life-increasing mangoes has been converted into experience points ›

‹ You've gained 650 experience points ›

‹ Total XP: 9250 ›

Now he was one step away from his dream of owning a portable island! Something he hasn't heard anyone else having. After all, subspace items and spatial devices had their limit. At most, they could be as big as a Castle. Yet again, living beings couldn't enter it. In his subspace, however, it will be soon become possible for living to enter and exit it as he like.

Vincent felt excited and couldn't wait to head out to the restricted zone, kill some monsters, and get enough life force to upgrade his inventory.

Though he needed to wait for night to arrive. In the meantime, he went through the status screen the heirloom around his neck projected In his mind. He saw free five status points, ones he hadn't used immediately after receiving them. So, he used them now to increase his speed.

His speed increase to 115 points, pushing him above the speed of a few monsters in the demonic realm.

Sometime later, he grouped up with the others near the exit of the military academy.

The time to head to Monster Lord Tarantula's restricted zone has come!