Jason wasn't sure why he was there, but he couldn't leave just yet. He was supposed to enter the subspace along with everyone else—the first group had already left, while he, along with many others, were still detained in the temporary camps.
He thought the mission was urgently critical, but there could be various complications he wasn't aware of.
He was fine with commiserating with others in the camp until his elder sister called and brought him to a different tent, not giving any reason as to why.
The only answer she had given was: "You'll know soon."
She left after saying that, and that was at least two hours ago. He even thought his sister was keeping him from entering the dangerous subspace infested with forsaken. But that wasn't Jessica's style. She would rather beat him to unconsciousness if she didn't want him to enter the subspace.
Bored to death, Jason could only sit down and meditate. It wasn't until the last stretch of time, when most of the group had already entered, did they call him up...
"It took me a little more time than I hoped," said a boisterous voice, "but I hope this helps..."
There stood a tall, sweaty middle-aged man with a long spear in his hand, which seemed to be recently forged. Jessica was next to him and took the spear from him, giving a piercing gaze.
There was no special script engraved on the heavy-looking spear; actually, there was no script on the spear, though it seemed to be made out of rare, expensive ores.
"I hope you're not too late in giving this, Elder Ming," Jessica said, tossing the spear to him.
Jason caught the stem of the spear, and found it was actually even heavier than it looked. He was quite tall, but even he found it to be slightly long and bulky. He swung the spear in a couple of practised swings, getting the hang of it.
"That's not yours," Jessica told him, which was obvious at this point, considering how ill-fit the weapon was to his style.
"Give it to Warden when you find him in the subspace," the middle-aged man, Elder Ming, said, letting out a breath. "While we hope he has no need of using it yet."
None of them could give a definite answer to that. In the end, he stood up, finishing off his tea.
"What are you planning?" Jenni asked, who had been relatively silent throughout the conversation, her anger at him evident.
He brought out his sword from the void space and latched it on his back. The Radiant Heart was pumping a warm surge of energy every moment to keep him at ease. Only the wound Ariha inflicted on his abdomen—to access his void core—remained unsolved with his regenerative power.
She had restricted his void core completely to use her Domain Decree on him, or else she wouldn't have been able to access the lost part of his memory.
He had learned a lot about himself in the remainder of the time, though a large part of it was still lost. However, Ariha had shown him a way on how he could regain his memory.
He would need a lot of studying and training, but before that... he cast his gaze towards the portal open on the west side of their camp.
"Are you planning on joining them?" Cassandra quirked her eyebrows.
He nodded. A rest and some time to contemplate everything that had happened to him was what he required now. But before he would get to that, he would have to take care of this forever.
"Warden, you should—" Jenni opened her mouth, but she cut herself off, recognising she couldn't sway him.
"Don't worry, it won't take long," he said, as his body hovered into the air.
"Give Marcus a smack in the head for me," May said.
He had promised to help Agnes, but now with what he had gained, he could do a lot more. With his inclusion in the struggle against the forsaken, the imbalance would tilt in their favour. He was eager to see how much they could push him.
"I fear," he sighed, "none of them stand a chance..."