Chapter 107: The Way of the Tree Spirit

Meanwhile, in a room in the Orthlys royal palace.

"What's the meaning of this?! I said I have information about the Echo company attack! I know the guilty party!" The short-haired blonde girl yelled as a group of soldiers threw her into a room.

"Quiet down dear. I heard you," a woman's voice emerged from the inside of the room as the blonde girl turned around from her feeble attempts to break the door down.

"Huh? Who the hell said that?!" She looked around, seeing a familiar white-haired woman sitting in the corner.

"O-oh my goodness, are you her majesty the queen?! M-my apologies…" She bowed down, to which the white-haired woman laughed.

"No need to be so wary of me. You are Rebecca Brid if I'm not mistaken, yes?" The woman asked.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Very well Rebecca, I have something you can do for me…"

Back at the Tincer estate, Rein and the group had just said their farewells to Raxo's mother and maid and made their way back to the carriage. As soon as they entered, all of them flopped down and went to sleep, completely exhausted from the events that transpired during the day. Rein whipped the cart into motion then went back into the carriage. He didn't feel sleepy and wanted to reflect on the day's events, so he climbed up to the roof of the carriage and slept as the breeze floated across his body, gazing upon the twinkling stars, deep in thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a tap as someone landed on the top of the carriage, emerging from inside.

"What's up Xenia? You need something?" Rein asked without even looking up, somehow knowing it was her already.

"What are you doing up here? You should get some sleep while you can," she advised as Rein rolled over, facing away from her.

"Heh, I'll be fine. Though, I guess you already slept for a while earlier, so it'd make sense why you're not tired," Rein remarked as Xenia sat on the other side of the roof, also facing away from him.

"Look… I just wanted to apologize. You know, for hitting you and shit… It was just, your complacency pissed me off. But as usual, when the moment came, you came through. Thanks for saving us," she spoke, making Rein sit up, scratching his head.

"No need to thank me. I'd be damned if I let my sister, and my teammate suffer like that. That was some good thinking though! Unexpected by you," he laughed, which pissed her off, but didn't talk back.

"I found it kinda strange too… I've never really been that bright, and since I had the curse on me for the past 6 years of my life, I haven't had any battle experience. But somehow, at the moment, I came up with that plan to use that old guy's orders to invert Saph's Spring to call for someone. I even surprised myself," she remarked as she kicked her feet back and forth off the side of the carriage that rattled as it moved.

Rein knew the reason for her confusion and her sudden increase in battle knowledge. It was a result of the intellect he gave her prior which allowed her to develop thoughts at that moment.

"Anyways, that's one thing out of the way. The second reason I came up here was to ask you something," she turned around to face him, who was still looking away into the starry horizon.

"Ask away."

"You killed the guy, right? And it wasn't out of necessity. You threw him into the lake. You told the others that he killed himself, but in reality, it was you, wasn't it?" She asked, making him twitch slightly, then sigh.

"So you were awake back then," Rein uttered as he turned around, sitting cross-legged towards her and staring her in the eyes with a still expression.

"And? What of it? So what if I killed him? Surely you're not gonna say I should've spared him?" Rein cross-examined her.

"No. I just had to make sure that he was dead because If not, I would've gotten off this carriage and ran back to the city to kill him myself," she declared, Rein's eyes widening in surprise, not expecting her to say that.

"Well damn, I've got a newfound respect for you. Anyways, I'm gonna head down and sleep now. See you in the morning," Rein remarked as he stood up and stretched.

"Just one more thing. About Core, we're gonna be fighting with him in class, yeah? Will we be okay? He's helped me during lessons before, but I know nearly nothing about him. Do you have a plan?" She stood up as well and stretched as Rein laughed softly.

"We'll be fine. Don't worry, even if it were just me, I could beat 75% of the class at the same time. We've gotta get you up to the same class as Clyde so you 2 can make some progress," Rein laughed, making her blush angrily.

"What the hell! How do you even know about that? Also, I don't want to hear anything about progress from you! You and Chloe literally live together!" She retorted, Rein pointing to himself with a confused face.

"Oh? But Chloe and I are already together."

"What?!"

"Haha, don't worry, I'll give Clyde a few nudges in the right direction. Well, see ya," Rien waved as he entered the close carriage and dropped down on the couch, instantly falling asleep.

Xenia stayed on the roof for a while longer, her red face lingering as she thought about her future in Ranger Academy.

As usual, Rein awoke to the white haze and met with Versys, who was waiting eagerly for him to arrive.

"What's up? Any news today?" Rein asked as he walked up to Versys, who always gave him the full System report at the end of each day.

"Yeah, here's the spiel.

You gained 4 levels, bringing you from level 123 to 127

You're almost at the next level, you have 194000 EXP out of 250000

Your speed went up to 337.9

Your strength went up to 421.5

Your defense went up to 344.4

Your intellect went up to 311.6

Your inventory limit is now 843.0 kg

You got 2 new technical skills. The first one is 'Third Eye': lets you use special vision to see if things are being affected by a Spring.

The second one's called 'Built Different': Allows you to make an object, or yourself, indestructible for 2 seconds. Cooldown is based on the damage it absorbed.

That's pretty much it. All of this has been updated in your menu, so you can see it at any time," As Versys finished speaking, Rein barely had enough time to thank him before the carriage came to a sudden stop, waking Rein instantly.

He sat up and looked out the window, seeing that they had arrived back at the Zacrozir guild branch and that everyone else was still asleep.

"Not again," he thought, rolling his eyes, then proceeding to wake everyone one by one.

The group woke up as slowly as the first time, checking the time to be 6 AM before getting up and checking the carriage back to the guild, thanking the guild receptionist before heading to the Hasbin gulf teleporter. Rein thought to use his newly acquired skill, third eye, to see if these teleporters were by-products of a Spring. Not to his surprise, they were, seeing a blue aura surrounded the pad.

As everyone else went through the teleporter ahead of him, he ducked down and set his hand on the teleporter, copying the inverse of it into his system, being very careful not to invert the effect itself.

Original effect:

Allows the user to link 2 points which they have been to together with a space-altering wormhole that sends whoever steps on it to the other side, however, the user cannot use them. A maximum of 5 links can be made at 1 time.

Inverted effect:

Allows the user to link 2 points which they have been to together with a space-altering wormhole that only sends the user through. Nobody else is able to use it. A maximum of 5 links can be made at 1 time.

"Interesting, so this time it didn't invert the main effect itself, but the sub effects? I was looking forward to seeing what the opposite of teleportation was though. It was the same thing that happened with that red-haired guy from Crypt. Ah well, whatever. This'll still be useful," he thought as he stood up and walked through the teleporter.

Finally, he had returned to the Hasbin gulf as he saw the glimmering glow stones all over the walls, glimmering with radiating energy. He saw the academy in the distance and the dorm building as well, as he felt a sense of belonging in the town.

The group made their way to the quest receptionist and turned in the quest, amassing their rewards.