A large wave rippled out from tree’s trunk as Kyte surfaced from the lake. He carefully slipped through the spirals and flew toward the group gathered at the water’s edge. Kyte approximated the time he spent inside the lake to be about an hour. He moved at his fastest speed when he exited mostly because the darkness still gave him the chills. Even if he knew there was nothing there, his mind couldn’t help but conjure imaginative horrors in his mind.

The group warmly welcomed Kyte back once he was within yelling distance. He cut through the air as his armor sliced through the space surrounding him. He put on his hood when he left the lake after taking the water out of it, mostly because he likes the feeling of hoods and he thinks he looks cool. He may or may not, who knows. Imagination is a powerful thing.

“Did you find anything down there?” One of the Gifted asked.

“...No. There’s nothing down there from what I could see.”

“I’m so glad there wasn’t a giant monster…”

Another Gifted spoke up and everyone mumbled in agreement. Kyte just innocently smiled when he heard that comment. He took a step forward and spoke:

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’d like to get out here. I can fly us all above the forest now that we have an opening. I take it all of you don’t want to trek through the forest for weeks on end again, right?”

Everyone agreed. Kyte sneakily looked over at the Gifted whose memories were still sealed. He wondered if they would go through the same process once they left the forest.

Maybe I’ll have to somehow take care of it myself? It would be nice experience but...hmmm. Maybe it would be better to witness the unsealing process? Would that pose a danger to me? I don’t think it would. Huh. I’ll have to experiment with that.

“You all have enough water?” Kyte asked.

“We filled all the water bottles we have.” One of the A rankers spoke up.

“Good. You all ready?”

“”Yes!””

“Alright then. Don’t resist this when you feel it. Let’s go!”

Kyte surrounded all of them in his Internal Energy. Immediately after, he jumped into the air with such force that cracks spread out across the ground. He shot out into the open air above the treeline, feeling the fresh breeze flow around his head. The brilliant sun shone down, creating a blanket of yellow light that covered the entire forest and beyond. The other Gifted appeared afterward and the weaker ones seemed to be in a daze about the sudden increase in height.

Flying really is a rarity then. As far as the Outer Sectors go.

The distance to the edge of the forest was still incredibly large so it would take a long time to travel that far, even while flying. Plus, it wasn’t just Kyte flying this time. He had to use energy for multiple other people, which would increase his energy usage tremendously. After flying for a bit to reduce the distance, Kyte decided to fly toward the train track. It was the most logical decision, mostly because the track naturally repelled most of the creatures around it. Not only that, but Kyte didn’t feel safe landing on top of the trees. He’d rather play it safe than create unnecessary problems for himself, especially with other people which were his reluctant responsibility.

He wondered why the sealed Gifted forgot about the track. It’s within the forest, so why would they forget? Maybe the effects of the memory sealing is only present within the white mist region? Kyte pondered these questions as he flew closer to the track. He looked down and noticed they were flying over the region of mist so he looked back at the sealed Gifted.

It didn’t seem like any symptoms were occurring, however, Kyte kept his Spirit energy around them just in-case. If there were any noticeable changes, Kyte would just have to hold on until they reached the train track. Due to this potential event, Kyte decided to fly the shortest distance to the track. It forced the group to increase the time they would spend leaving the forest, however, Kyte felt it was a necessary action to take. He really didn’t any more mess-ups after everything that had happened up till that point.

After flying for about an hour, the group finally passed the mist region. Fortunately there were no avian creatures, otherwise they would’ve had a rough time traveling through the air. Kyte had already began to feel tired as his energy reserve was continually being drained. He didn’t know how much longer he could go for. They were quite close to the tracks, about half an hour's distance away. He concluded he would have to force himself to waste some life force.

Unfortunately, there were no flying devices in the storage necklace. No matter how much he wanted one, and no matter how many times he looked through the necklace, there were no flying machines. It would’ve been significantly easier to fly multiple people with a flying device. Kyte wondered if there was an easier way to carry people across distances. Otherwise, he would have to create his own flying equipment. That would grant him some experience in other types of crafting and give him a flying device, which would vastly increase his flying efficiency.

Half an hour later, the group finally reached the track. Kyte used his last spurt of strength to create a careful landing for the others while he himself smashed into the ground. Fortunately there wasn’t too much force behind his impact, otherwise the ground would’ve been destroyed rather than his body.

The few unsealed Gifted quickly ran over to Kyte and helped him sit up. This was one of the rare times that he overexerted himself and completely exhausted his energy supply. He could forcefully recover by using up life force, however, he’d rather not do that. He needs every last bit of life force because it greatly increases his physical recovery ability as well as his life span. By now, the amount of energy given by life force is practically insignificant so the previous two reasons are the only ones that Kyte had concluded to be enough.

“You ok?” One of the Gifted asked.

“Yea, just exhausted. Haah, we’ll rest here for a few hours. I can barely move.” Kyte replied while taking deep breaths.

Kyte reached up and motioned for the unsealed Gifted to move closer.

“Watch the sealed ones carefully. I don’t know whether or not any unsealing symptoms will emerge.”

“Understood.”

They helped Kyte to his feet before he gave them directions for where he wanted to be placed. He’d much rather have moved himself, however, he wouldn’t say no to someone’s help. Especially when he can barely move, like before. After Kyte found a comfortable position, he looked up at the three Gifted that helped him.

“Hey.” Kyte said.

“Hm?” The three Gifted looked back at Kyte.

“What’re your names?”

“Our...names?”

The Gifted were quite surprised with Kyte’s question. Usually Kyte would be silent; not even a thanks would leave his mouth. However, this time, instead of a thanks, he asked for their names? They couldn’t understand this behavior. They didn’t want to question it either, mostly because Kyte is an entire rank higher than them. Usually lower ranks would completely respect higher ranks. Exceptions to this would be if the higher ranker was a family member. However, they would still have to give respect in public.

“What are you guys just standing there for? Answer me.”

“R-right, sorry. I’ll go first. My name is Syrus, Silver A ranker.” The left-most Gifted spoke up first.

“My name is Gaister, Bronze A ranker.”

Kyte looked at the last A ranker and said:

“Laken Blake, Silver A ranker. I guess I should tell you now. You were the one that I experimented with first during the unsealing process. I know your name, rank, and I also took a few memories pertaining to combat. I discarded the others ones so I can’t remember anything about your life.”

“Ah...That’s a bit scary…” Laken said.

“Don’t worry. I paid a price for doing so at first but now I’m fairly certain I have a countermeasure for memories. I plan on experimenting with the sealed ones during our breaks so I would prefer you three to keep an eye out on the surroundings during that time. I will have my trap set up so I doubt anything will get through. For right now, I don’t have enough strength to even stand, so it’s up to you three to keep watch. I want you three to separate into three different areas surrounding our camp.”

“”Understood.””

The three of them agreed before walking back toward the group. They drank some water before creating a plan if anything went wrong. Afterward they split up and remained vigilant throughout the hours that Kyte rested. Kyte had wanted to only take a light nap to rid himself of some unneeded drowsiness, however, he underestimated the amount of stress within his body. He hadn’t slept for who knows how long AND he had been researching formations the entire time. It was a miracle he even made it to the track carrying a group of people with him in the first place. Now that he had finally laid down to rest, he almost instantly fell under the spell of sleep.

~~~

--Twenty hours later--

Kyte’s eyes snapped open before he bolted upright. It was dark out but he didn’t know whether it was dusk or dawn. He looked around and found that all of the Gifted were sleeping with the exception of the three A rankers. They still cautiously observed the surroundings whenever they heard a sound or saw movement within the forest.

Kyte spoke with a whisper to the A rankers:

“Hey, come over here.”

At first they were startled to hear that voice. When they looked over, they saw Kyte standing up from his original position. The three of them immediately moved toward Kyte, curious as to what he wanted to tell them. When they eventually reached Kyte, he began to speak:

“How long was I asleep for?”

“About twenty hours or so, sir.” Syrus stated.

“I see...Were there any complications with creatures or the other Gifted?”

“No sir. No creatures traveled closely to us and none of the Gifted seemed to be showing signs of unsealing.”

“That’s a good thing about the creatures but unfortunate for the Gifted.”

“Uh, why is that, sir?”

“I wanted to experiment with them during the unsealing process. I can’t do anything while they’re sealed because I don’t have the ability to manipulate the mist. I need to observe the white mist in the unsealing state in order to gain some knowledge on how to manipulate it.”

“Oh…”

Kyte decided he should stop there after seeing their confused expressions. Otherwise, he would’ve continued on with his boring theories pertaining to his analysis of the mist. He lightly sighed before he changed the subject.

“So, is it morning at night right now?”

“It is currently morning, sir.”

“Alright. Anything new with the crazy Gifted?”

“No, sir. They are still behaving normally for their condition.”

“Good. You three will rest the next time we stop. Wake up the others, let’s start our journey once again.”

Shorter chapter this time.

Fear not! I will not hold off on writing for too long. I plan on only rewriting the prologue, 1st and 2nd chapters. Maybe the third I dunno haven't looked at it yet. Anyway, due to IRL stuff I have about an hour less of time to complete these things so hopefully I'll be able to not procrastinate. No promises haha.

Cya next time.