Chapter 60

Yara leaned her head on Keith's shoulder. They spent a few moments taking in the scenery before Yara asked, “Well, what do you think? How do you feel?”

Keith withdrew his gaze from the loggers chopping down the jungle in the distance and hesitantly answered, “To be honest, I’m a little underwhelmed… I mean, it all feels familiar. I had this image in my head of the Grandsky Realm being some foreign and exotic land, yet it has trees and lakes all the same.”

“That’s reasonable,” Yara nodded thoughtfully.

Keith paused, then added, “Of course, that’s just my initial reaction based on the geography. I’m still looking forward to getting new skills and seeing what the Grandsky Realm has to offer.”

“You won’t have to wait too long,” Yara abruptly smiled. “Come, I have something to show you.”

Yara hugged Keith’s arm and prepared to leave. Mariane, who had been sitting on a nearby couch while the two talked, stood up. “Wait, where’s Markus?”

Yara stopped and heaved a sigh. “He’s recovering from the fight this morning.”

“Is he okay?” Keith quickly asked.

“Yes, his health has recovered, though I’m afraid killing Elaine left him mentally unsettled. I think….” Yara’s voice trailed off.

Mariane furrowed her brows. “You think Markus considers you and Elaine as the same person?”

“Probably not,” Yara denied. “But I think he felt she was redeemable.”

“Do you think she was?” Mariane asked.

Yara looked at Mariane as the atmosphere suddenly grew tense. A few moments passed, and in the end, Yara glanced away. “If we had time, it might be possible.”

Mariane sneered, “For some reason, I feel you wouldn’t like that, would you?”

“Mom!” Keith reprimanded with a gasp. He could feel the hand Yara had wrapped around his arm clench.

“It’s okay,” Yara gave Keith a weak smile before turning to Mariane. She took a deep breath and said, “You’re right. A part of me didn’t want her to recover as I did.”

“Why?” Mariane pressed, for Markus’s sake.

Yara shook her head. “I’m not ready to talk about it.”

Mariane glared at Yara before relenting with a huff. “Fine, then.”

Yara closed her eyes and followed the karmic thread connecting her with Markus. When she found his location, she opened her eyes and revealed, “He’s on top of the dome covering the gateway. Happy?”

“Yes, thank you so very much,” Mariane replied with a roll of her eyes.

After the group left the building, Mariane separated from Yara and headed toward Markus while Yara dragged Keith through the ever-expanding town. Keith’s curiosity was piqued, and he asked, “Where are we going?”

“To Zeidrick,” Yara replied cheerfully now that Mariane was gone.

“He’s here?” Keith exclaimed. He hadn’t spoken with Zeidrick since the orb project went kaput.

Yara smirked. “Of course, I’ve invested so much in that weirdo. It's time for him to pay up.”

Yara brought Keith to a large warehouse filled to the brim with stacks of high-end metals and other materials. By habit, Keith cast Inspect, and his eyes widened in surprise. The alloy metal beside him reached a grade that only the Grandsky Realm allowed: Ancient grade!

Keith sucked in a breath when he saw the other stacks of items.

Were they also Ancient grade?

Yara’s laughter reached Keith’s ears before he could verify his guess. “Don’t bother. Everything here is Ancient-grade.”

Keith’s mind shook. “Were they synthesized?”

“Yes,” Yara nodded. “Unfortunately, nobody besides me has enough mana to synthesize materials to Divine grade, so Ancient grade is the best we can mass produce for now.”

Keith was confused. “It takes so much mana? I remember synthesizing to Mythic grade doesn’t take that much, right?”

“The Grandsky Realm is exceptionally stingy when it comes to higher grade skills and items compared to the Dimensions,” Yara explained with some helplessness.

“Huh,” Keith remarked. “I guess that just makes everything more valuable.”

Yara led Keith deeper into the warehouse until they came across a small workshop. It had everything an artisan would need, a forge, anvil, whetstone, etc. There were even more advanced constructions that combined mechanical contraptions with arrays.

Hand-held tools floated around the workshop, working on one thing or another, while a ball of liquid metal hovered in the air. In the middle of all this, Zeidrick sat slouched over on a stool, his brows furrowed in concentration. He was using the Telekinesis skill to work on multiple things at once.

“Zeidrick!” Yara suddenly shouted.

“Ack!” Zeidrick nearly fumbled off his stool in surprise. Turning around angrily, he saw Yara smiling at him and immediately turned meek. “Ah, Yara, um, hello.”

Yara cocked an eyebrow. “Well? Any results?”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Zeidrick bowed his head submissively, afraid to make eye contact with Yara. “I’ve made 103 pieces of equipment so far, all Ancient grade. My skill level has risen a few points, too.”

“How many sets?” Yara’s tone was flat, clearly displeased.

Zeidrick rubbed his cheek. “Um, 7, 7 sets.”

“Hmph!” Yara raised her chin and said, “I want you working day and night until you have 1,000 sets of Ancient grade equipment. Do you understand?”

Tears formed in Zeidrick’s eyes as he pleaded, “B-Boss, mercy. I alone can’t outfit an entire army.”

Yara chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll supply you with some special potions to keep you active.”

“Oh,” Zeidrick sighed helplessly and gave up.

Keith’s mouth twitched upon seeing Zeidrick’s defeated appearance. As he was about to speak up, Yara turned serious. “Okay, enough playing around. You know how important your role is. The better equipped our people are, the higher their chance of survival. How well things develop largely depends on you.”

After Yara finished speaking, Zeidrick sat up straight with confidence. “Don’t worry. I know my duty.”

Seeing Zeidrick’s resolve, Keith suddenly felt useless. Zeidrick was only a few years older, yet he had such a heavy responsibility placed on his shoulders. In these turbulent times where everyone was working together to face the dangers of the Grandsky Realm, what was Keith doing?

Keith had met many people in the military and government since he started living with his father and grandmother, and his vision expanded as a result. All those people had great aspirations and dreams and spent every day striving to make them a reality.

Meanwhile, Keith spent three years improving his strength so he wouldn’t implicate his family. Maybe he could be doing something more. Something greater. But what?