Taking an international airship, something that only recently returned as a result of an entire island in the archipelago being dedicated to it being built, Logan was able to charter a much longer trip over what remains of Odriacia.

As for permits or some form of identification, there was no need, at least in Iteno. The reason being that countries that have been at war are very cautious so they impose quite a strict control of enemy nations.

Of course, sea travel also works because Odriacia’s navy was completely destroyed in the final takeover meaning they had little means to fight back and likely won’t for many years before the population is able to grow.

The real ones wary of Eshen are the southern neighbors who kidnapped people. Anyways, the only really important method of free travel is the adventurers guild identification. Every nation might have their own nexus but every nation is connected to the empire’s system because the adventurers guild on Nuntip originated from them and the guild is also what helped them spread the Tip coin throughout the continent.

Still, the number of Eshen adventurers actually leaving aren’t many, there is more than enough trouble in the nation that needs to be dealt with that can keep many of them busy for years, particularly the strongest B and A ranks who were helping to deal with the biggest problems.

Those who left were generally the weakest members who couldn’t make any extremely serious help to the reconstruction.

Despite the airship being close to 30,000 meters in the air, it wasn’t hard to breath and the wind wasn’t heavy thanks to magic that countered both.

Logan sat on one of the deck seats under the shade of an umbrella and was reading about wind magic. In his hand was the reduced Arashi and as he read, he gently moved wind and made tiny flicks to see the results.

Of course, the flicks weren’t casual, they were trained movements that generally lead to an attack if taken through completely.

“Hmm, as I expected, simple manipulation isn’t exactly strong but it has a great effect for improving speed. Air also seems to be the sharpest.” he muttered.

Slowly wind gathered and rose gently along the spine of the blade but as it reached the top, it came back down forming a very sharp wind like a downdraft but meets at the edge extended and sharpening the blade.

Coating mana like lightning clad, he saw the flow of wind slowly produce a wind cover. He looked at the coating and smiled that it had worked. The difference between innate skills and trained magic is that trained magic is very technical but more often than not, this is created based on the original and developing such magic actually helps enhance the original.

Sadly, wind clad only worked on the sword and he hadn’t figured out how to infuse the same into his body. It felt redundant to do the same for his brain all the more. Lightning and electricity is already a part of the biological function so enhancing that is obvious but wind makes no sense.

Until now, the only infusion that makes sense is his lungs alongside his heart and veins.

Wind mana in the lungs would increase the amount and purity of the air his body receives and it would actually allow him to stay underwater as he was supplying his own air through magic.

After that he extended Arashi and as a katana he tried to do the same and there was no change in how wind gathered and coated. It just took a little longer.

He thought a bit and lightly cast wind blade upwards through the barrier.

He blinked when the entire cladding surged along the spell and left.

“Woah… so the clad ability coats and enhances spells as well.” he muttered and smiled as he used the innate lightning clad on Arashi.

The wild lightning coated it and he honestly felt no flow so he tried to control this force and guided the lightning up and instantly the wild cracking reduced but the internal chaos increased. When it came down just like how wind did, different from wind, the edge of the blade formed a zapping like a taser.

It was much harder to control this but with some trial and error, he eventually spread the wild lightning like a web along the entire blade going back and forth forming a glowing edge.

He could feel that the power was much more intense but he sighed. “It takes so much mana to control the normal low output release rate compared to the gentle wind that is let out.” he muttered.

“Oh, a promising swords mage, what are you doing here?” a voice said.

Turning around, Logan saw a much older passenger.

“Just training, I was born with high lightning affinity but never learned in depth. I'm learning wind magic to compliment it.” He said.

“Oh? Talent but never trained? What kind of father doesn’t send you to the mage’s academy if you are talented?” the man said and took the seat next to Logan’s.

"I was much more talented in sword. The minor conflict of warriors and mages would have prevented me from learning the sword. My adopted father is also an ex B rank mercenary and he taught us the sword art he developed his whole life. Now it is mine and my sister's job to grow as we want. He just gave us a foundation to walk on.” He said.

The man nodded and smiled, “Your father must have been a caring but hard man. The spell you used before seems to be a sort of coating spell?” He asked.

“It's an innate ability I had the luck among misfortune to unlock due to my high affinity. It’s called Lightning Clad and it can use offensive, defensive and support buffs. The problem is that it is basically just wild magic and energy attacking and I was trying to control this force.” he said.

“Why not weaken the output?” the man said.

Logan chuckled weakly, “This is a magic sword my father got me. This is the original form…” he said and Arashi reached full length, “It is a Wind and Lightning Magic sword so even a weak output gets greatly amplified. I don’t have any other blade to train with and since this is my blade, I need to learn to control my power through it.” He said.

“Ah, I see. Still, should you not train in it’s full form instead of shrinking it?” the man asked.

"I learned many weapons should the need arise that I lose or don’t have it on me. I know best the longest and middle sizes. The smallest is for convenience more than actual combat since it is one of the least trained styles.” he said.

"I see, it is good that you are not cocky. You need that for the harsh world we live in. Now if you wish to control it, just like a living being, magic swords possess magic channels within them. You might not know this but if magic swords become famous enough, they are likely to become legendary swords. These are living beings coating the surface is good and all but control comes from internal control. The same can be said about your own body in defensive and buffing forms.” he said.

“Internal…” He said.

He had not heard about internal movement. Maxwell never told him about internal mana movement much less this kind of control. That said, it made sense why he was not going to give them everything and likely wanted them to learn it themselves.

He began to channel mana but there seemed to be a resistance within the sword.

It slowly coated and using this he kept searching before he finally sighed. "I can’t get it inside the sword.” he said.

The man smiled and laughed, “Of course, if it was easy it wouldn’t be a hard to do technique. The entrance is along the tang of the blade. It closes up if you fully cloak the blade.” He said.

Logan was shocked and slowly withdrew his mana and then from his hands, the mana penetrated through the wooden handle into the tang and shockingly, it penetrated into the metal.

It slowly spread with one rising and returning flow and it finally gathered at the spot where the guard should be.

Suddenly the sword hummed a moment and he felt like a stronger connection between him and Arashi had formed. It was like they had become one and he activated lightning clad and instead of channelling outside, it suddenly rushed inside and swept the flow chaotically.

Logan instantly growled as the lightning started to break out but he increased the pressure while sweating until the lightning fell into the flow.

When the last bit of lightning stopped sparking and followed the natural flow, a shocking change happened.

The edge instantly shined forming a glow. It didn’t even seem like lightning but he clearly felt the stable power that was a moment from bursting.

It was the calm before the storm for real.

“This is even more consuming but the power is amazing.” Logan said in awe before pulling out a bone from an E rank lightning wolf and passed the glowing blade.

It shockingly cut through it like a hot knife through butter.

“Amazing.” he said.

“Good job, this is a good ability that can sustain you for a long while.” the man said.

“Thank you for teaching me this. I never got your name, I'm Logan Holt McEwen.” he said.

“Huh? Is Holt a middle name?” he asked

"I was adopted by my father Maxwell McEwen while my original family name is Holt. My grandfather was a pretty well known adventurer I think. He reached B rank before retiring when he hunted a thunder dragon. His name was Ivon Holt, he was killed when raiders from the other nations came to kidnap our people. I'm the only member left that wasn’t taken.” He said solemn.

"I see, I knew your grandfather, good man and strong. I'm Ulias Brush, I was once a party member with your grandfather but we were much younger. Eventually we went our way, it is good to see his bloodline didn’t die off.” he said.

Logan nodded, “My mother and sister likely got captured… I'm going to get strong and even if I have to storm every house from those Shiarus scum. I will burn them down to find my mother and sister.” He said growling.

Ulias looked at him and sighed, “Vengeance is not a good motivator. When you finally obtain it, you always feel empty and at a lost.” He said

“Yeah but I will succeed. I don’t care what the political world says about protecting war criminals and slaves. If they are so happy about it then they had best be ready to face the same retribution if I find my family dead.” He said.

“Child, what are your goals beyond saving your family?” Ulias asked.

Logan calmed down and looked out at the sky and clouds around them. "I want to see the world for myself, maybe look for someone special and build a new home with her alongside those I can save.” He said.

“That is mighty simple for someone who thinks with the ambition of attacking a nation alone. The power you need is nearly A rank or maybe even higher to succeed.” He said.

“Does it? In my eyes, I just need to wait for Eshen to regain its glory. There are many ways to deal with the magical anomaly and dungeons sucking it all up is the best. Even the land taken from Odriacia is likely to get dungeons which will pump the intense mana in the atmosphere into the earth and enrich it. If the others who attacked us don’t fight within a short time when we are still weak, they will feel revenge. There are more than a few people of my generation joining the army now and many more who had families killed or captured. There is no way they would permit this to continue.” Logan said.

Ulias smiled, “You are quite an intelligent boy. Indeed, it is true that Eshen might likely usher a great rise and expand from a small country to a powerful empire but you have to remember that many surrounding nations have financial and development problems.” He said.

“Their problems is that their leaders are incompetent and don’t think about sending others to more prosperous nations to learn. Instead they think to steal as if it would resolve their problems. Oblistan is the biggest joke of these as they thought our people possessed magic to enhance fertility when all we use is proper agriculture. They are just a bunch of deadbeats.” He said coldly.

“You should keep these opinions to yourself when outside of Eshen, child. Especially Iteno where many Odriacians migrated after the destruction of their land in Eshen’s revenge.” he said.

Logan snorted and slowly the lightning clad vanished but starting the flow once more, he channeled wind and it was much easier but needed much more wind mana to eventually achieve the same result but the edge just as sharp.

He compressed it back into a Tanto and tried in all sizes and even the channels would compress but the flow still worked.

Finally putting it away, he sighed, “Thank you for teaching me that technique. I'm going to get some rest since I used so much mana.” He said.

“Good. One thing, I suggest you try and learn proper meditation for magic users. Doing so will teach you how to gather and develop your mana channels and mana pool and expand your maximum capacity. This is very important as more mana helps enhance strength.” He said.

Logan nodded and thanked him for the advice before he went back to his room.

Ulias just sat there and looked out over the front and far off he could see far off cities.

His eyes slightly closed and remained half opened as he looked out while mana started to gather under his command in a weak flow that betrayed his maximum ability.

***

Several hours later, the airship carefully landed and the doors on the lower deck opened as large stairs were wheeled to the side and the passengers walked out.

There were a lot of people who had gone to visit the Eshen Islands. It was a very good place to settle and was constantly in development so when the ship port was finished, it attracted a lot of people from other countries. Not to mention tourists.

Naturally Eshen was in a much higher level of security since it had just come out of war and was surrounded by unfriendly forces.

Walking out, Logan only had a small magic pouch he had purchased to disguise his inventory box but most of the important items were in there.

Arashi was at his waist like a small dagger but there was no lack of people on the ship with the same or even larger.

In a world like their own, any common item might actually be a powerful item as demonstrated in Logan’s early life by the fishermen whose fishing line was threads of a B rank spider monster magically treated.

As such, the passengers were led to a security checkpoint where their items were searched in case of dangerous items. Naturally weapons had to be identified but for adventurers, it was far more lax.

When it was Logan’s turn, he handed his ID.

The man took it and sneered before scoffing before just tossing it back. “All item storages.” he said.

Logan frowned at the sudden change in mannerisms. The man had been pretty casual but only to him it suddenly changed.

Still he took out the pouch but not the inventory. As you would expect from something that can affect time itself, Elas naturally installed measures for it to not be found through even the most modern search magic.

He took it and injected mana and sensed the content and frowned before taking out some bones, “What the hell is with these bones?” he asked.

“Monster bones, what about it?” Logan asked.

“What do you pretend to do with them?” He asked.

"I don’t know, I've been lacking armor, maybe sell them since Lightning wolves are a new breed in Thunder forest. I doubt it won’t go for a high price away from the main source they are harvested.” he said.

“So you plan to traffic items!” He said.

Instantly Logan frowned, “No, I'm an adventurer. Where and to whom I choose to sell my hunted goods is my choice. Also, what would you do if it was a commissioned item that I was delivering?” Logan said.

BANG!

“Watch your tongue, Eshenian scum!” he said.

Instantly the noise level lowered and Logan narrowed his eyes, “Iteno has no beef with Eshen, in fact we have great sea trade. That means you're an Odraician.” Logan replied.

"I said shut your mouth! You dirty fuckers shouldn’t even be allowed to leave that cave you call a nation! You pieces of shit! It would have been better if you fuckers had been completely enslaved!” he shouted.

Logan didn’t even hesitate and no one could even move to stop him.

His body instantly burst with lightning and his fist connected into the man’s chin and actually sent him flying upwards.

He instantly grabbed Arashi but didn’t draw her, the blade and the sheath instantly extended and he burst up and turned while his feet planted on the ceiling before he rushed down and with the sheath covering the blade, he mashed the man across his body and buried him into the ground cracking the hard stone floor.

Many people cried out and opened a wide space as Logan landed. The man was breathing heavily and in serious pain.

Logan clearly knew the man was either equal or stronger but that didn’t matter, he had crossed his bottom line and the man seemed to assume there would be no consequences and was instantly beat before he could even mobilize his mana as defense.

Logan picked up the bag and stored the bone before walking over to the man and grabbed his face, “If, at any point, we meet again and you talk shit like that again, I won't hold back from unsheathing my sword.” He said and pushed his head to hit the ground.

After that he just walked over clear from the crowd and remained against the wall.

As expected, the airport security instantly swarmed over as soon as screaming and shouts were heard. Several cleared people and held guns pointed down while others went to help the man who, after getting help to get up, pointed at Logan, “He… he is a trafficker! After I confronted him about it he suddenly beat me up!” he shouted.

The security chief frowned and with his hand against his sword he walked over.

“Is that true?” he asked.

“No, that racist piece of Odriacian shit began to talk trash about me and my nation before saying it would have been better if we had all been enslaved. He got what he was asking for. His injuries shouldn’t even be that bad and only some soreness at best. If you wish to check, most of the items I have are monster bones, meat, wilderness equipment and clothing.” He said and presented his bag to the chief without any fear.

He took it and began to examine it in depth while the other securities began to calm the public and start to get the flow of people moving.

Eventually he called Logan to the side.

“Your bag is clear but this is a warning, the Odriacian population here has increased a lot this last year and are trying to rebuild their lives because of what the Eshen army did.” He said.

“And what do you think about the Eshen who lost half of our land on the continent because of their petty envy without them trying to improve their own land? Not only that but a huge number of people were killed and kidnapped because of their petty war and they still think they have the right to feel like the victims. They are just sore losers of a war they couldn’t win in the first place.” He said.

"I know that but it doesn’t change that a lot of people hate your nation's people and it will be trouble if you beat up every person who talks bad about it.” he said.

“Okay, I won’t attack if they don’t attack first but I'm not going to take insults quietly.” Logan said and took his magic bag back.

Finally cleared, he entered the main section of the airport and looked for the adventurer guild branch here and updated his maps with the maps of Iteno.

The nation was a sort of rising slope. The northern area near the ocean has high lands with some mountains and is generally humid and cold. Near the coasts, the highlands drop rapidly into rocky coasts but this is a very thriving area with abundant deep sea fishing.

The central and southern areas are warmer and sometimes dryer but are much more fertile compared to the rockier north because this area borders nearly a third of the forest that makes up most of Tosmana, the south western forest nation which has a strong presence of mana.

Part of the forest has already been deforested by Iteno and turned into different pasture and farm land which thrives well, much to the displeasure of their neighbors who have high levels of magic developed but low technology development because technology and nature are hard to grow together.

Naturally Iteno is among the nations who put money into improving their internal development before thinking of external affairs though similar to the other nations, it has a strong army to protect itself.

With the map updated, he learned where the actual adventurer guild branch was in the city. Called for transport and headed over to access the Nexus and obtain more detailed information.

He looked at the missions and raised his brows because there was so much less work to do here.

“After seeing how much trouble there was, it feels strange that there isn’t much work.” He muttered and controlled the system pulling up specific regions and other things which contained monsters and missions related to anything.

Eventually he scratched his head awkwardly because it almost felt like he was looking at chores compared to the trouble he had to face in Eshen.

“Seems the only choice is the southern forest which means I need to find transportation to this city…” he muttered and pulled up information and with a nod he went to find the transport to the nearest city and from there he would figure out his next steps.