The train dropped me off at my destination a few hours later. That said, there wasn’t a way to stop so I had to use magic to descend from the speeding train. I used Lightborn to secure my landing since jumping from a speeding train would’ve killed me.

It was a weird way to use a world altering technique, though.

By the time I got off, it was already dark so I waited until early morning to set off on my journey.

The fire was still burning as bright as it was last night. I didn’t make anything to eat. All I did was stare at the fire all night. I was a little preoccupied with my thoughts.

“Are you nervous, my king?” Undine’s voice came from beside me as I was packing my stuff up.

“No…” I answered with my head lowered. I silently continued packing away my supplies.

“You’re going to meet a stranger who is also your sister. I won’t blame you if you are nervous. I think it’s a little unfair that you have to go alone. Why did your parents leave without saying goodbye?”

I stopped my hands.

“….I don’t know. Maybe they had other business to attend to.”

“But still. They didn’t talk to you much after they heard that you wanted to see your sister. Perhaps they’re scared to face her—?”

“Undine…” I looked towards her.

She lowered her head. “Pardon me. It is not my business. I cannot understand human emotions very well so I am just curious.”

I finally finished up with packing all my stuff so I closed the bag and stood up.

“Tell me something: does any religion on the continent worship Yeltena?” I asked.

“Hm? Why the sudden interest in the Goddess of Fate?”

“It’s nothing. I was just curious.”

This was the first time I had heard of her. There was never a mention of a god named Yeltena. Maybe she was from another dimension?

Whatever the case may be, I was still suspicious of her. How could a god simply make a mistake? And it seemed that there were no consequences either.

One move would’ve caused me to forever swim in the river of souls. I might’ve never been born either.

“As far as she is concerned, no. There are no religions worshipping her.” Undine answered.

“What about Artemis?”

“The Holy Kingdom is a believer of goddess Artemis. In addition, the Holy Temple worships her name. Although she is no longer a god of this world, she is still a god many love.” Undine said. “Are you thinking of visiting one of her churches?”

I nodded.

“She told me that if I need help then all I need to do is call her. But since nothing is bothering me at the moment, I can at least go and offer a prayer.”

Undine smiled. “I never knew you were the religious kind.”

Well, I wasn’t. But that didn’t mean I was an atheist.

“So, where are we headed?” Undine asked when I began walking the path through the forest.

“I’m following the rest of Devil’s Path until I reach Salvesteer.” I showed her on the map.

“Hmm…These areas are said to be very cold during the winter so do be careful when camping out at night.” Undine stood up.

“Wait, you’re not staying?”

She shook her head. “I can’t remain manifested for long. Although you cannot feel it right now, I am still using your spirit energy to stay manifested. Your vessel is large so I can only maintain my form for half a day at a time.”

“That explains why you’re always in your spirit form most of the time. Even manifesting wastes my power.”

I activated Spirit Sense and saw the large amount of spirits circling around Undine. It was so thick that I had to shut my eyes from the blue lights alone.

“I will only come out when there is trouble, okay? Although it’s not necessary since there shouldn’t be a lot of monsters that can threaten you.”

We came to a river. Undine lifted her hands which made the water rise as well. A clear path opened up for us.

“You’re not even breaking a sweat. I can’t even do half of what you’re doing.” I grumbled.

My water magic was one of the only two elements which I was good at and yet I couldn’t hold a candle to Undine.

“I am the Elemental Monarch of Water after all. Isn’t it obvious that this should be something I’m better at than my king?” Undine puffed out her large chest in pride. There was a confident smirk on her face.

Undine wandered off a few minutes later which left me to walk the path alone. I wasn’t much of an adventurous person so it was a first going on such a long journey.

Two days had already passed. This journey was expected to last at least less than two weeks.

‘Maybe I should set up camp near a lake.’

That way I didn’t have to travel very far for water. Besides, I wanted to hunt for some food as well. Since I was going to be on foot most of the time, I had to hunt my own food.

I kept my dimensional storage ring empty so it was perfect for storing meat and other foods.

“Huh? It’s snowing?” Snow began falling from the sky. By nighttime the forest would be covered in it.

◇

-Master, I found a lake.

I heard Undine’s voice as I slid down a steep cliff. It felt like she was nearby.

‘Where?’

-Just follow my essence.

‘Wait, I can track using the spirits? I wish I knew that earlier.’

-We are connected by spirits so it works either way.

‘How long is the range?’

-Approximately a hundred kilometers. This is why I couldn’t track you when you were on that other side of the continent. I had to use the footprint that the spirits leave behind when they disappear.

‘Oh, right.’

I just remembered that Undine didn’t answer to my calls back the anymore. I was partly worried that she broke the spirit contract we had. If I lost her then that was equal to losing an entire army’s worth of people.

I used Spirit Sense to follow her essence. It was ginormous so it wasn’t hard finding her. The huge wall of blue mana was coming from a clearing in the forest.

“I think I hear water…” I could faintly hear the waves of the lake. The wind was blowing stronger than usual so the surface of the water must’ve been disturbed.

‘There she is.’

I could see Undine sitting by the lake. It looked like she was sleeping since her eyes were closed. Do spirits even need sleep?

Her head turned in my direction.

“We must hurry with setting up the tent, otherwise you will freeze.”

I took off my backpack and pulled down my robe’s hoodie. After opening up the bag, I took out the expandable tent. It was a small piece of cloth when folded but a full-sized one person tent when opened.

“How far along are we now…” I said and took out the map. I looked for a lake symbol on the map. “Here it is.”

Undine looked over my shoulder “It seems that we’ll be in Salvesteer in about four days. If we’re talking about walking.”

“Well, I don’t want to be chased by a dragon.” I shivered at the thought of it.

The Draconic Kingdom and the Holy Kingdom were very close to one another. So much so that they were right next to each other. Colchis laid west from here so I needed to head northeast to reach the Holy Kingdom. It was a straight walk if I choose to take the forest instead of taking the Devil’s Path highway.

As the Draconic Kingdom wasn’t far from these mountains, dragons were commonly found here. They wouldn’t bother you unless you were to invade their territory. Like the sky.

Plus,《 Flight》 didn’t gave a way to increase the amount of speed you fly at. It already wasted a large amount of mana every second. Imagine the spell if it were modified.

Even I would struggle to maintain it for long.

“Seem like walking is the only way.” Undine said with a wry smile. “We have to worry about what’s lurking below as well since this is a place you haven’t been to yet.”

I nodded my head in agreement. Although I was an A rank adventurer in name, that didn’t mean I had lots of experience. I only knew a bit about monsters from reading my mother’s monster encyclopedia.

“It’s getting really chilly. I need to hurry it up and find some monsters to eat.” I took out my wand from the side pocket of the backpack. I left Redheart at home since it would be extra luggage to carry. Plus, I couldn’t just walk around with it all the time. I had to be battle ready when the time arose for it.

That was why a wand was the perfect item for that. I bought about four since they were expandable items that broke after a few spells anyway. I was terrible at holding back so a wand was my best bet.

“You’re hunting?” Undine asked while nibbling on one of the snacks I brought.

“Yeah. I figured that it is better to hunt my own food than bring some on the trip.” I stood up and tightened the strap on my robe. “What about you?”

“I’m staying around for a while to scout the area before going back. There are some monsters that attack people during the night. Like Creepers.” She dusted off her hands. “Anyway, I will see master tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

She headed back to the forest. The spirits gathered around her and followed her. The blue light disappeared between the thick forest trees.

I suspired deeply. Cold air came out of my mouth.

“I’m almost there, big sis.” I cast a barrier around my camp so intruders couldn’t steal my stuff.

After that was done, I headed for the lake. The moon was full tonight so its light shined on the surface of the lake. It created an ethereal glow since it was combined with the natural mana in the air.

It was a refreshing feeling seeing nature like this.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

I flicked my wand and chanted a spell. A green light beam came out of the manifested magic circle.

I pushed the light over the water using wind magic. It drifted slowly.

After casting 《Flight》 I slowly lifted myself and ascended above the lake. A disturbance in the water happened in that moment.

‘It’s working.’ I could see a large shadow coming from down below. Since the moon was right above me, I could see fairly well.

I used the surrounding water to make ice spears so I could attack the monster. The second the water surface broke, I threw all ten spears at once.

!!!!!

“Damn. That’s loud.”

The giant monster fish screamed in pain when the spears hit their mark. Its entire body remained floating on the surface. I landed on it and inspected the flesh.

“Hmm…I hope I didn’t break its core too.” I had at least five gold on me but that wouldn’t last so I had to find a way to secure some funds. A core from a C rank monster wouldn’t be a lot but it’d be enough for food and stuff.

I infused mana into its body and tried to locate the core.

“Thank goodness.” A spear barely missed the small black core. I used Mana Bending to pull the core out of its body. Since the thin film of mana that usually protects a monster or person’s core was gone, I could pull it out easily.

A popping sound came from the hole when I pulled it out with my mana.

“Haa…” I sighed in disappointment. It wasn’t that big even though the monster was C rank.

“Maybe I should take on a dragon after all.” A dragon’s entire body was literally a treasure trove. As with the Red Dragon, a dragon’s scales could be used for armor and the teeth and claws for weapons.

I chuckled at my stupid thought. “There’s that arrogance again. There’s no way I can take on a dragon on my own. Just because I’m strong doesn’t mean there isn’t someone or something stronger than me.”

Undine might be able to help but I quickly stopped myself from asking her.

‘Maybe I should train when I get the chance.’ I haven’t checked how far I had gone from the me from two years ago. Surely, I was able to grow somewhat, right?

!!!

“Hm?” When I was about to pull the fish to the shore using water magic, I heard a scream. It was coming from the direction of the forest.

“That’s odd. Who would randomly walk in a forest like this?” I left the monster and flew to the shore.

‘Maybe it’s nothing…’

You ignored the ones who died even though you had the power to protect them.

When I was about to turn around in an attempt to ignore whatever or whoever it was, I remembered Yeltena’s words.

So many people died. Yet I had the power to save them.

“….” I silently took out my wand and went into a battle stance.

Thump, thump.

My heartbeat increased rapidly. My legs trembled even though I steeled my will.

“Come on!!”

The moment after I shouted, I heard the combined loud cry of a bird and a beast. A large brown monster appeared out of the forest.

“HELP!!”