Chapter 75: Barren

Michael walked around the islands, looking for a quiet place, however, it seemed that no matter where he went, there were always people around.The areas where there was no one were way too open, he wasn't sure what he had to do yet but he assumed that it would require some privacy.

You are not wrong, just find any place where no one would bother you, why don't you just go to the bottom?

Michael seemed a bit puzzled and walked to the edge of the island, looking down but not seeing the ground.

'I am not above the clouds and I can see mountains, but I can't see the ground, do you seriously think something is down there?'

Why wouldn't there be? Have you ever thought that you might just be a little high up, this is the same world as the one you saw that city after all.

'You are right..' He contemplated for a moment and looked around, trying to find any way to get down.

However, nothing was in sight, all the islands were connected with no pathway leading down.

But just as he was about to give up, he remembered the map Amanda gave him, it contained a good amount of information.

He took it out and stared deeply at it, finally finding some kind of a hint.

'Most of the mountains were crossed off, but there is one not too far away that wasn't..' Michael put the map back in his pocket and started heading in that direction.

After walking for a few minutes, he noticed that the mountains did not seem like they were getting any closer, perhaps being even bigger than he initially thought.

However, he began seeing a mountain in the distance that did not seem as big as the others, it did not pierce the sky and it looked just barely tall enough to reach the floating islands.

'Is that mountain small or are the others just too big?' He kept walking towards it.

And upon arriving just before the mountain, he realized his assumption was incorrect, the mountain was by no means small.

He glanced around and looked at a town not too far away 'Just how do these people breathe up so high in the air?'

Michael thought that even as strong as they were, it would still prove difficult to remain at this altitude for long.

I am feeling a lot of mana from inside of the mountain, it was most likely what caused it to grow to such proportions.

'That would make sense..' He jumped down, landing on the very top of the mountain, it was a pretty small drop and it would not require much effort to get back up.

Michael began sliding down, trying to keep his balance by using mana, however, that only lasted for a few seconds before he lost control and started tumbling down the entire mountain, his shield absorbing most of the damage.

'Well.. at least I will get down easier' He sighed and resigned himself to his fate, watching as the islands above him slowly started disappearing.

After landing on some sort of a ledge, he recast a shield on himself and stood up, looking down on what was below him.

A barren land greeted him, contrary to the greenery above, it looked terrible.

There were no cities in sight either, just a few scraps and plants from time to time, even if they were completely withered.

'System, do you have some kind of a GPS function?' He asked and started descending again, this time carefully.

I do, do you want me to mark this mountain on the map?

Michael tilted his head in confusion 'You are going to mark it on the map?'

Just as his words landed, a blue screen appeared in front of him, copying all of the details of the map Amanda had given him but with extra detail and more areas.

He placed his hand on it and it zoomed in a little, providing a better view of the surroundings, he was being shown as a green dot.

'Could you always do this? Because you know.. it would have been really useful a couple of weeks ago..' Michael grumbled, it would have been useful when they were lost.

No, only recently did I unlock an ability like this, I have also compiled the maps of your world.

'Ohh.. you are finally going to rank up from being a Wikipedia, nice' Michael chuckled and finally landed on the barren land.

...I can also assist you in battle now.

'Oh? What do you mean?'

I can remotely cast your skills and that map you see, it shows you all hostiles in a certain area around you.

Michael's eyes widened as he remembered the system telling him something about automation quite a while ago, it appeared today was that day. Sёarᴄh the ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

'So.. Can you cast my spells at full efficiency?'

Yes, I use you like a catalyst of mana and in turn, I can cast your skills as we are tied together, if a tough opponent comes along, you would be at least twice as efficient as before.

A small smile appeared on his face but as he was about to enjoy this little power up, the system shot him down.

Of course, there are downsides. Since I am using you like a catalyst, the mana costs of the skills I cast are significantly increased, I will only be using Aegis of Light for the most part as it can restore mana upon successful block or parry.

'Way to ruin my mood' Michael sighed and continued walking forward, zooming in on the map and seeing the ground level where he currently stood.

The map was separated into the sky islands and the ground level, he tried zooming more in or out but there was nothing.

He was able to see some kind of a settlement and a thought popped into his head 'The data of the areas are live right?'

They are, when you get closer you should start seeing some people on the map.

'I see, well I'm going to head there then, not too far behind it is some kind of a grassy land, I'll try to find a place to stay there.'

Suit yourself.

Michael decided to pick up his pace, there was nothing around him that could make him want to admire the surroundings.

Upon getting roughly 5 kilometers away from the settlement, he was able to see some dots on the map, they varied in color.

A lot of them were green while a few were red or even yellow.

'Wasn't your detection range a bit higher?' He asked with curiosity.

That's how much I can actually feel and transmit live, anything above that would provide quite a massive delay as the mana travels pretty slowly over these types of distances, even if the mana is denser than on your world.

'Hm? How does that work? Shouldn't denser mana mean you can use more of it? Why would the detection range remain the same?'

Denser mana does not help with Detection, it in fact hinders it, I can bypass it but you can't, so be happy with what you have.

'Sure.. though why are the red dots growing in number?' Michael looked at the map and sped up his pace, he felt like something was wrong.

The green dots became dimmer before disappearing, meanwhile, the yellow dots began slowly changing to red.

'What's happening?'

A fight, hurry up if you want to save at least a couple of people.

Michael began running at full speed, casting Swords of Light and sending them into the sky above him.

'Shit.. there's trouble wherever I go..'