In just a day, the Southern Continent was engulfed in the raging fire that was the news of players finally getting to return back to where they came from.
It wasn't just the players that were happy with the news, but also people that were not players. After all, it was clear that players were vastly more talented than regular people, these regular people wanted nothing more than to not have to see the players again.
Of course, the truly successful players didn't even give going back a thought. They had already lived the majority of their life here and had friends and families that they would've wanted to get rid of just so they could go back to a life that they didn't even remember that well.
There were others, however, who were more than happy to learn that they could go back. They rushed through the continent, with the help of the Royal army, to reach the capital as soon as they could.
In just 3 days, over 120 thousand individuals were gathered in the Sunborn Sanctuary, and the number was steadily growing.
In 4 days, it reached 140 thousand, and in 5 days, it reached 150 thousand. That seemed to be as many people as were going to come. Still, Alex decided to wait 2 more days as he initially planned for it all to take an entire week.
"Just over 150 thousand," Hao Ya said softly. "The people who came to the Southern Continent should have numbered over 600 thousand. Now, there's less than a fourth of it."
"Is that bad by any chance?" Alex asked.
"No, I was just making an observation," Hao Ya said. "Although that does makes one wonder just how many refused to come back... and just how many can no longer come back."
Alex spent the remaining 2 days doing something he thought was worth it. He had to use up one of the spirit veins he was planning on taking back to the Western continent, but it was for good reason, so he didn't feel any guilt.
He only wished that the work he had done wasn't at waste at all.
In the remaining 2 days, a few people had still come, but the number didn't increase by much. However, the excitement and nervousness in the air grew with every moment.
Soon, the time to leave was arriving, so everyone gathered around the Intercontinental Teleportation formation.
The formation itself was large enough to handle about 20 thousand people at once, so they would have to do multiple teleportations to send everyone away.
If not for the royal army that was keeping peace right now, people would've already stormed the formation to go away immediately.
"You guys decided to go?" Alex asked Jai Heiyun and Harry who were sticking together. Thanks to being one of the best alchemists on the continent, the two had managed to form a friendship that even Alex couldn't have thought about.
"Just to check," Harry said. "We have no plan on staying."
"You are absolutely sure we can return, right your Majesty?" Jai Heiyun asked. "I only want to visit my home, I don't want to be stuck there."
"No, we will return," Alex said. "I'm confident. You don't have to worry."
"I can't believe I'm actually going back," Harry said. "I wonder if anyone is still around. I wonder how things have changed."
Alex thought the same himself. He left to prepare a few more things and returned to Scarlet who was with his father.
"Father, I'm glad you agreed to go visit home," Alex asked.
"Yes," Graham said. "Even though your mother isn't back there, I still want to visit. If nothing, I want to visit my parent's graves one last time."
Alex nodded. "We should go then," he said.
Scarlet stood tall next to them as she looked toward Hao Ya who was flying in the sky with some sort of artifact.
"That young lady has a lot of precious artifacts," she said. "Her master is no normal person."
Alex looked at Hao Ya as well and couldn't help but wonder once more about the creator. 'Just a little longer,' he thought.
After Hao Ya was done with whatever test she was doing, she put the artifacts away and started speaking.
"I will now explain something that you will all have to very carefully listen to," she said.
Alex was curious about what she wanted to talk about as well, so he let her speak.
"First of all, the place you are returning to, your home, is actually the Central Continent. That is where you were from, and that is where you will now go," she explained.
The crowd became a mess of questions and confusion. The noise they were making made it almost impossible to discern what they were talking about.
"QUIET!" Scarlet spoke in a booming voice, quelling every question and inquiry in a single second.
Hao Ya bowed toward Scarlet and started speaking again. She explained where the players came from, she explained that quite a bit of time had passed.
She prepared them to be disappointed and she prepared them to not be emotional in any way. She prepared them to be civil about everything and not hurt the mortals in any way. She prepared them to arrive just about anywhere and have to find their own way around the land.
Most of all, she prepared them to never try to leave the place while they were there. After all, the Qi barrier around their homeland was so strong that it would easily destroy anyone that tried to leave.
Once she said everything she needed to say, she moved away from the teleportation formation and said something into Alex's mind.
Alex nodded and ordered the royal army to slowly let people in. One by one, people walked onto the platform from the crowd, slowly filling the Teleportation formation.
Once they were all there, Alex ordered the elders to activate the formation.
The formation whizzed for a few seconds, which was enough time for Alex to get pessimistic about the whole thing 3 times over.
However, when the space actually fluctuated strongly, Alex smiled as he understood that the formation was working. The teleportation had now started.
A second later, the 20 thousand different people on top of the formation disappeared at once, teleported to the Central Continent.
Once they were gone, they waited for about 10 minutes before letting another 20 thousand people get onto the formation. Once they were there, they teleported away too.
Chunk by chunk, the people in the crowd disappeared, sent back to their homes. After most of them were gone, with about 12 thousand people remaining, Alex and the rest finally boarded the formation.
He stood next to his father and Scarlet and took a deep breath. Hao Ya came to stand next to him as well.
"Thank you," she said in a small voice.
"You don't have to thank me," Alex said. "I did it for myself anyway."
Scarlet gestured for the elders to start the formation.
"You must be looking forward to meeting your Clone and daughter," Hao Ya said.
The teleportation powers amped up as space fluctuated to take them away. Even as they were taken away, Alex couldn't help but give a surprised look toward Hao Ya.
"I have a daughter?"