Mystical Journey

Crack…

Garen's leather boots sank into the sand as he stood in the distance, staring at Yuria and the Root Doctor Jiatai in the midst of battle. Both of them have already reached the point of exhaustion.

"Now as soon as I join in, the battle will end immediately."

Garen spoke casually. Sensing there were people behind him, he could tell it was Nine-Tailed Fox and the other's footsteps.

"Then why don't you?" Nine-Tailed Fox and a group of her men dressed in black swiftly walked toward Garen's side and stood still, also staring at the battle that was happening on the beach far away.

"Why should I? From the beginning to the end, Vulture had never shown malice s any of us, no?" Garen asked in return, slowly keeping his saber into its sheath. "I've already let the rascal go, I just wanted to probe them."

"So now they know our capabilities then, right?" Nine-Tailed Fox stood beside him with her arms crossed around her chest, she seemed to agree with his method.

Garen was unsure of her thoughts. Her active participation this time around probably had something to do with other intentions.

He already knew now, even if it was among the transmigrators, nobody had the same talent attributes as him in terms of abilities, so the only thing in each world that could make himself stronger was to grasp the familiar plot and obtain benefits that he needed from it.

Garen did not know what the others want, if it was the same as what he wanted, something related to Soul Seeds or Soul Powers, perhaps the final hostile list would be even longer…

At this moment, it was clear who was the winner and loser of the battle on the beach. After Jiatai continuously threatened Yuria verbally, he decided to retreat.

A submarine emerged from the sea, bringing him away from the beach and disappeared quickly into the waters.

It was only then Garen and the others walked over slowly. Nine-Tailed Fox quickly brought people over to treat the wounded. This was the best opportunity to build relationships. After all, a savior's friendship would be one of the greatest advantages of the plot.

Garen stood far away as Nine-Tailed Fox brought people over. Li Hua and the other transmigrators were still nowhere to be seen, even Kong Xinxue had disappeared.

"I don't know why, martial power grades in this world clearly exceeded my expectations, but I still don't get any sense of crisis at all. What is this?" He fondled his chin, thinking that he must have been too relaxed and slacking too much recently.

*******************

Nine-Tailed Fox looked on as Yuria and his sister were taken away when Li Hua suddenly appeared beside her.

"How was it? What's the situation?" Li Hua whispered.

"Something is not right," Nine-Tailed Fox frowned slightly. "The plot is a bit out of control, I feel that something is really wrong!"

"Does it have anything to do with Yuria? Or is it that newbie, Garen?" Li Hua frowned too. She knew Nine-Tailed Fox's hunch had always been extremely accurate.

"It seems that… No." Nine-Tailed Fox walked further away to prevent eavesdropping, the sea breeze ruffled up her hair but she was not bothered at all.

"I just feel that something's wrong and it's not the way as it is before, yet I can't tell what exactly."

"Perhaps it's a misconception?" Li Hua asked.

"No…" Nine-Tailed Fox shook her head. "Nevermind, I'm not going to think about it anymore. We will take one step at a time for now. All we need to do is stay close to Yuria, the Savior will naturally lead the main line. Right or wrong, there will be clues sooner or later, we just need to be more prepared, that's all."

"Yeah."

********************

Garen, overcome with boredom, tended to Yuria's injury. Determined that Yuria was just asleep due to over-exhaustion, he too went back to sleep. He was currently in his state of relaxation as he knew that the threats in this world were not exactly a lot. With his Sword Master-Level powers, he was basically invincible on land, not to mention if he used his Soul Ring to rank up his Saber Art realm. Soul Energy nourished his body all the time.

Yuria and his sister, Kong Xinxue, Nine-Tailed Fox, the transmigrators… These people seemed to be evolving along with the plot all the time, whereas he was the only one at leisure.

Ever since the battle at the beach, Yuria seemed to be somewhat triggered and started to train every day to strengthen himself.

On the other hand, Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue got together every day for discussion.

As for Garen, he just did not bother with any of those things. He would go to the restaurant every day and ordered some small dishes, enjoyed the hot springs, do saunas, and occasionally show up for classes to reminiscence the memorable, high school era.

Life was unrestrained.

As for money? There was no need to worry about it. With his capabilities, it was nothing for him to earn a little cash. There was this one night when the National Security Agency came visiting him and they spoke all night long. After that, Garen received money that an average person could never get in a lifetime. It was more than enough for his casuals spendings.

All he had to do was to lend a hand in urgent times. He became the so-called Chief Instructor of some Special Forces Team, or maybe it was some military coach or some other title.

As for what team exactly, he himself had forgotten already. It was enough for him to lead a better life anyway.

Of course, news of the other party's identity soon came to Nine-Tailed Fox. It turned out to be Vulture's men. Seemed like Vulture and homeland security have always come hand in hand.

This, however, was confusing for Garen and the others. Why did Vulture's men kill a large number of maritime police at the sea then? It made no sense.

But Garen was too lazy to think about all these things.

Anyway, his only mission on-hand was to stay behind for garrison duty and just wait for news from Nine-Tailed Fox and the others.

This kind of boring yet comfortable life lasted for more than two months when there was finally new updates.

********************

Lying in the huge bathtub by the French windows, Garen soaked in the milk bath scattered with rose petals. With a towel over his neck, he relaxed lazily with his eyes half shut.

The city night was extraordinarily fascinating. Helicopters occasionally flew across the sky, the city's traffic and sweeping lights set off against the night background.

"Is there a new situation?" Garen looked at Kong Xinxue idly. She was sitting not far away watching the television. "Otherwise, how would you be so free to drop by my place?"

Kong Xinxue had the remote control in her hands and rolled her eyes at him. After switching channels a few times, she finally muted the television.

"Look at you, which part of you actually look like a student? How long have you not return home? Father almost believed that you're missing."

"It doesn't matter anymore." Garen shrugged. "We're all just passersby of this world, too much nostalgia wouldn't be good for everyone."

Speechless, Kong Xinxue stood up and walked over.

"The situation has changed. Yuria received news that the Vulture's strongest man will be showing up soon."

"So what?" Garen did not move at all.

"What do you think?" Kong Xinxue retorted, "I came all the way here, anxious to tell you this news, why do you think I'm doing this?"

She combed her hair.

"Root Doctor from the previous time, Jiatai, is ranked sixth in Vulture, there are five stronger ones above him. Earlier on when Yuria knew about this, he decided to leave to find his mother, a formal top bounty hunter. Do you want to tag along?"

"What? You are all preparing to go out to sea?" Garen reluctantly opened an eye and glanced at her.

"At least you know that. We don't have much manpower up for combat. So, are you up for it?" Kong Xinxue was getting impatient.

Garen did not respond immediately, he just turned and leaned into the tub.

"Why don't you all just go straight into the main subject? Go after Slayer, get rid of him or maybe initiate a good relationship with the opponent and warm up a bit? Why must we only follow Savior?"

Kong Xinxue frowned slightly. "What are you thinking? Why did you ask such a question? Isn't Savior the plot's mainline? Why do we follow if not him? Or perhaps you think you are capable of defeating Slayer? Why not you go off alone and take care of him, that would save us a whole lot of trouble. We'll just do what we're doing and what we want to do."

"No, I'm just living my own life. I don't want anything to do with this kind of hard work. The Four Great Cornerstones cannot be killed, they'll resurrect after a year, so what's the point of killing them in the first place?" Garen said in a serious tone. "What I care is, what are your true motives in all this? Perhaps you guys are able to take advantage of the Four Great Cornerstones and obtain some benefits out of them?"

He added with a yawn.

"I just don't want to waste my efforts."

Kong Xinxue did not reply immediately but started to ponder. It looked like she was contemplating whether to tell Garen the truth.

Garen was not in a hurry. After all, searching for the Soul Energy Force Field was his secondary objective when he came to this world. He mainly wanted to fix his own state of mind, his rigid mind was incompatible with the art of relaxation. Even if he did not find any clues that directed him to Soul Energy, it did not matter to him. Instead, his interest toward the Lighthouse further increased.

In the fifty-story high-rise hotel, both of them did not speak for some time. One was pondering while the other was waiting.

"You do know the original plot, don't you?" Kong Xinxue asked suddenly.

"I know a bit but I'm not exactly familiar." Garen nodded in response.

Kong Xinxue turned around a few times with her hands behind her. She sorted out her mind carefully before speaking once again.

"In the original plot, the main focus was the story of how Vulture helps Savior, supports him and fight against Slayer. Everything revolves around the grievances between the three generations of Slayer and Yuria. The first generation of Slayer was killed by Yuria alone. That was the first generation. After the second generation of Slayer resurrected, he started to seek revenge but he was killed by Yuria and Vulture together. That was the second generation. As for the third generation, Slayer came to life once again and killed Yurijie. By this time, Vulture had fallen apart and there were numerous internal contradictions so they were unable to help Yuria, leaving Yuria alone in the battle. This time, there will be two endings, one is Yuria will be killed along with everyone who is with him, and the other ending would be him perishing together with Slayer."

Kong Xinxue explained briefly.

"In the entire plot, the constant focus is always the battle between three generations of Slayer and Yuria. The two other Cornerstones would appear somewhere in the middle, Mind Reader and Illusionist. They will also deal with Slayer in different positions."

"Well then, which generation are we at now?" Garen asked.

"The first generation, which is also the first time Savior and Slayer came into contact. Vulture is just by the side helping Yuria but did not officially join in the battlefield. In this generation, Yuria basically dealt with Slayer alone. This is also the most peaceful generation," Kong Xinxue lamented. "That's why we dare to follow Yuria's whereabouts everywhere. If it's the second or third generation, the age of bloody chaos, we wouldn't have dared to do it so obviously."

"So what is your main intention?" Garen pestered. "If you all had no benefits from this, you wouldn't have done everything so out in the air already."