Chapter 400 - Unhindered Exploration

A week later, in the New World Republic's border near the forest, where the ruins that were presumably left behind by the ancient races of Alterna, Gabriel alongside Cecil's handpicked scouting force were now preparing to officially explore and scout out the area around the ruins.

Cecil had ordered them to prioritize their safety so Gabriel planned to scout out the area around the ruins before actually going into the ruins. He needed to find the average power levels of the monsters in the area so that he'd be able to paint out a picture of what he and his team would be expecting when they traversed into the ruins.

Since the ruins were located close to the central area of the No-Man's Land, it was bound to be a dangerous place to explore.

There was already definite proof of this fact since the NWR's army company who were sent to scout out the ruins, or at least tried to, were reported to have received a great deal of casualties amongst their ranks.

They didn��t have the technology that the Silvaria Kingdom possessed neither did they have the advanced magical knowledge, they relied only on their somewhat advanced cold weapons to try and hack their way through but were only met with a fierce retaliation from the indigenous monsters that inhabited the forest surrounding the ruins.

When Cecil had read through the report and had shared the information with Gabriel when he had first appointed him to be the leader of the expedition, the two had formulated many plans beforehand and the training that Gabriel and his squad had to go through so that they would be able to survive their mission... even with all these preparations, Gabriel was still somewhat worried.

Thanks to Cecil and Ren, the Silvaria Kingdom was able to advance their technologies in weaponry and magi-tech so the 6-man scouting force was fully equipped with the latest weaponry and armor that the kingdom had developed.

The new Magi-tech handguns that were able to shoot elementary level magic spells that had runic arrays that could boost the strengths of the spells close to that of intermediate level magic if more mana was injected into the array, enhanced weapons and armors created by the combined efforts of the Silvaria Kingdom's craftsmen and the Anglaria Kingdom's dwarven masters, coupled with the martial ability that Cecil had drilled into the bodies and souls of each party member—it could be said that these 6 individuals were currently the strongest people in the Silvaria Kingdom combat force.

Of course, it had to be pointed out that these 6 individuals had no affiliations with the Silvaria Kingdom itself. Instead, they were directly under the command of the Silvaria Family's young patriarch.

This in itself was a sort of status, but no one was currently aware of this. For all everyone knew, this team of people sent by the Silvaria Kingdom was only scouts. Even if the two other superpowers had planted spies into the Silvaria Kingdom, no one had any access to the projects or activities that were directly managed by the Silvaria Family which acted as the kingdom's overseers.

This was only made possible because Cecil kept all of his close secrets and studies from the World Tree hidden from anyone who was directly affiliated with the kingdom. Even his father, his eldest brother, his eldest sister, and his second brother didn't know about the plans that he was secretly doing since they were part of the Silvaria Kingdom's government.

Only Angelia, Gabriel, his mother, Anastasia, along with his two wives, was aware of what he was doing. As for why he did this, it was naturally so that he could prevent anyone, even those that were closest to him, from making a slip-up and inadvertently leaking out his family's secrets.

Seeing all of the members of the scouting group possessing a personal spatial ring that only they could access, Gabriel released a reassured sigh. Each spatial ring had all of their equipment in them so all they needed to do was equip it once they began the operation.

The equipment that they were going to be using was pretty conspicuous and they didn't want to attract attention to themselves by appearing all flashy. Cecil wanted the equipment to be less showy, but unfortunately for him, the crafting division that he had created under the name of the Silvaria which hired the dwarves and craftsmen that he had personally taken under his wing, wanted to make it 'awesome'.

Also, it wasn't just that, but the materials that they used were quite high-spec since they were rare materials that Cecil and his party had collected through mercenary and guild commissions and also the ones that they would randomly pick up during their long journey.

Most of it was used for Cecil's magi-tech development and his training with Ren, but there was still a large excess of it since only two people would have any use for the materials during the journey.

Now that Cecil could put it to better use for his family and him personally, he didn't hesitate to just dump it all into his family's treasury.

Gabriel eyed the group of soldiers that was a distance away from them. He already knew that once they made their move, those soldiers would follow after them.

The group that had come to the NWR wasn't just Cecil's handpicked scouting group. The Silvaria Kingdom's expeditionary force was sent here as well. Actually, over the course of the few months that had passed by, the expeditionary force was relegated and integrated into the army as the first special division.

There was little left to explore of the No-Man's Lands' peripheral area since most of it had now been divided among the Earthling into territories. All that was left to explore was the inner and core areas of the lands but it was much too dangerous for any team or company of soldiers to even go about doing, so instead of having the expeditionary force disbanded, they were instead integrated into the army with the same command structure as a special force.

Gabriel eyed his fellow captains and informed them that his team would be making a move soon.

"We'll stay here and hold the fort, although, I would love to accompany you on this exploration, it seems that it's not my place to do so," Anise Velten, now one of the captains of the Silvaria army's Special Forces, said.

"Make sure to keep everyone else behaved. We're representing the Silvaria Kingdom in this endeavor so don't bring shame to our kingdom. Remember, we were only relegated to the kingdom's Special Forces purely because of our combat experience. We aren't special in any way."

"Yes, captain. I wish you luck on your mission."

Gabriel nodded and walked over to his team. He eyed everyone and began issuing out orders.

"Get ready. We'll be making our move soon."

"Yes, captain!" The other 5 replied in unison.

"Once we break through the tree line, Angelia, I want you to send your monsters ahead to scout out the area around us. Once we find a good place, Tyra and Kira, quickly put up a barrier and we'll swap out our equipment. Medel, make sure you erase our tracks once we're done changing equipment. Ian, both of us will lead the way."

"Yes, captain!" Medel and Ian replied.

The 3 teenagers of the party, Angelia, Tyra, and Kira replied subsequently.

"Alright, big bro!"

"Let's go then!"

"R-remember what Master Cecil said, we should all be careful..."

Gabriel signaled with his hand and the team quickly darted into the forest. Due to their training that Cecil had personally overseen, and the secret techniques of his family that he had taught them, their speeds were superhuman and it didn't take long before all 6 of them broke through the forest's tree line.

Over at the NWR's army company, one of the soldiers who were keeping an eye on the Silvaria Kingdom's soldiers from afar quickly noticed Gabriel and his team rush into the forest, he honestly couldn't believe his eyes just how fast they were traveling.

The speed they were moving at was inhuman and if he hadn't been paying specific attention to this group of people who seemed to be quite different than the rest of the Silvaria soldiers, he might have missed the moment when Gabriel and his team made their move.

"S-sir! A squad just detached from their group and—"

"I know! Have everyone get ready to mobilize! Send the scouts ahead first and trail after them! We can't lose them!"

"Yes, sir!"

By the time the scouts had mobilized, Gabriel and the others had already found a secluded place to swap out their equipment. Kira and Tyra, the twins who had a knack for Cecil's sensory and barrier abilities, had already sent out a Mana Pulse into the surroundings to check the area and had already set up an isolating barrier.

"5 minutes, go!" Gabriel yelled out.

The team quickly began pulling out large black cases. They popped open their cases and began pulling out the equipment that Cecil had prepared for them. The team had already trained using prototypes of the equipment so they were already familiar with them.

Once everyone had already changed gears, Gabriel had Kira send out a Mana Pulse into the area and once he made sure that no one was around, Gabriel had everyone move out.

The Mana Pulse was a sensory skill that had the same principle use as Cecil's Mana Sense, however, unlike the Mana Sense, Mana Pulse only gave the user feedback on any known presence in the surrounding area and a vague outline of the area around the user.

Using the Mana Sense required Cecil's unique Mana Eyes, but Kira was able to use a downgraded version of the skill purely because he was quite talented at manipulating mana on a micro-scale.

The twin sister was better with materializing, solidifying, and masking her mana. Because of this, she was well suited to be the team's 'barrier' mage.

No one in the world had Cecil's Mana Eyes, so being able to manipulate mana to this degree was a talent. Cecil was rather fortunate to stumble upon these twins just as he was picking some disciples out of the family's reserve and in-training forces.

Their family wasn't directly affiliated with the main family but was close acquaintances with one of his uncles' families. After being tossed into this world, the Silvaria family naturally gathered any people loyal to them and took them under their wing for training and protection.

The same went for Ian and the team's vice-captain, Medel.

"Big bro, should I send my babies to scout ahead?" Angelia asked as she began petting the dog-sized cat next to her feet and the white crane perched on her shoulders.

"No need. Ian and I will lead the way while Kira will slowly start mapping out the area around us. Keep in mind that we don't want to attract too much attention to ourselves. Having your 'babies' go out would no doubt attract the attention of not only the NWR's soldiers but maybe even the native monsters of this forest," Gabriel replied.

"Hm, alright," Angelia shrugged in response. Honestly, she was hoping to attract some monsters over to see if she could find any to tame.

Wrapped around her waist was a rather unique looking belt, but if one took a closer look at it, they could see that it wasn't a belt at all. The 'belt' had multiple sets of golden eyes and heads coiling and dangling around Angelia's waist.

This was the 'pocket' version of her monster, Nessie. Cecil had Angelia bring the nearly ancient-grade monster with her for this mission. Obviously, it was for her protection and the team's safety.

Nobody would mind having a high-tiered monster watching over them now would they?

"Ian, take point. Everyone, keep your wits about you. Pay attention to your surroundings and keep up with the team, we'll be moving out now."

"Yes sir!"

As per the captain's orders, Ian quickly took the lead and began moving in the direction that Gabriel instructed them to move towards.

They didn't move slowly into the forest. Everyone was dashing through the place while keeping their attention on the surroundings. Any monster that suddenly popped up was quickly engaged and swiftly brought down by the team.

The monsters were indeed strong, but with the team coordinating their attacks, it was quite easy taking out a lone monster. The only problem would be if they accidentally stumbled upon a horde or a nest of monsters.

In that sort of situation, Gabriel could only give his team the order to probe out the monsters and test their strengths or to quickly retreat if he felt that they were way out of their league, to the point where they couldn't even try out any sort of probe against the monsters.

Of course, if they just pulled out Angelia's Nessie things might just quickly resolve itself but then they'd attract too much attention by pulling out their trump card so early.

The scouting mission continued unhindered and after a few weeks, the scouting party was able to create a map of the monster distributions and terrains surrounding their main objective, the ancient ruins.