Chapter 1068: Changed Man

On a beautiful island of ancient trees and emerald grass, a lone figure suddenly appeared out of thin air. It was a young man with alabaster skin, wearing a simple tunic of fine black silk. He remained motionless for a few moments, then walked to the edge of the island and froze there, looking down. If not for the wind playing with the young man's black hair, he would have looked like an exquisite statue.

The Ivory Island had changed a bit in the past few months. The great pagoda itself was the same, of course, but the comely wooden buildings created by the Fire Keepers now resembled a small, peaceful village that blended harmoniously into the landscape. The ancient trees of the grove now had fruit hanging from their branches, each looking ripe and delicious.

The white bones of the ancient dragon were still bathed in sunlight, and a graceful ship was still swaying on the placid surface of the clear lake.

There was one big change that startled Sunny a lot, though, pulling him out of his reverie. 'What the hell...'

Looking down, he did not see the familiar abyssal darkness of the Sky Below. Instead, he saw a mosaic of flying islands, all connected by colossal chains, slowly floating by.

The Ivory Island was moving.

Although the movement was very slow, it had already left the empty expanse of the Tear behind, and was now drifting through the clouds toward the southern border of the Chained Isles.

Sunny blinked a couple of times. 'Since when can this thing move?'

He lingered for a while, studying the landscape below, then walked along the edge of the Ivory Island.The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

It seemed that many things had changed while he was in Antarctica.

Soon, Sunny reached the waters of the clear lake, which glinted and shone with the reflected sunlight. There was a stone bench near the shore, and a familiar figure sitting on it with a fishing rod in her hand.

Tall, attractive, brimming with vitality... Effie was relaxing in the sun and watching the lake.

She stared at him for a moment, then grinned, wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and pulled him toward the tower.

"I see! So, the usual. Don't think that you're getting out of really telling us what happened, though... we've been worried sick, you know! Kai almost had a heart attack right before we disembarked in East Antarctica, when the news of what happened in Falcon Scott reached us! Even Princess seemed a bit shaken... I swear to the dead gods, I almost saw her having a facial expression. Come, let's find the rest of the guys..."

Sunny estimated his chances of struggling free of Effie's hold as moderate, but then just relaxed and allowed himself to be led toward the Ivory Tower. That was why he had come here, after all, to speak with the other members of the cohort. He needed to share a lot of practical knowledge with Kai and Effie, as well as speak with Nephis and Cassie about the great clans...

But more than that, he simply wanted to see them. There was a lot of darkness and confusion in his heart, but his friends... his cohort... despite all the complicated matters between them, they were like a small island of stability in the chaotic, unpredictable, deadly world they were all living in.

He had missed them all.

Even though, perhaps, he shouldn't have.

The four months Sunny had spent in Antarctica changed a lot of things, making some seem unimportant, and some more significant than they used to be.

He shook his head. "Fine, fine... I'm coming. Can you let me go now?"

Sunny sighed. 'At least she did not joke about the Graceless Dusk...'

At that moment, Effie gave him a mischievous look.

"Doofus, I couldn't help but notice... what a nice dress you have..."

He gritted his teeth. "Tunic. It's a tunic. A Transcendent armor-type Memory which is not a dress, but a tunic. Are you blind or what?!"