Chapter 23 - Finally Some Free Time

Tick tick tick,

With every day passing, Luan felt like giving up from the over exhaustion. At this point in time, not only was his mind a complete mess but as well as his body was also giving up.

Staying in one position for more than 2 years was anything but simple. But he didn't let loose for even a second and another month passed like that...

Ding,

「The individual has successfully completed his Elemental Ice Core. Total time time taken is 20 days 3 hours.

「The speed of formation of a Core has been increased to 4.62%.」

「The system congratulates him on this feat.」

"...Finally. It's over." Luan opened his eyes for the first time in a long time.

"This finished sooner than I expected. I can go to the outer world now." He said with tiredness on his eyes. Dark spots had appeared Below them and he couldn't completely open them because they weren't adjusted to the light yet. He ordered system to let him go outside.

Whoosh~

Once he held on to his consciousness outside he felt a small headache and pain in the muscles.

"...Ouch"

Luan tightened his muscles in the legs and tried standing up.

His sore muscles were once again filled with strength they had some weeks ago.

He looked at the front and saw Angela sleeping on the ground. Luan went towards her and shook her awake.

"Hmm?"

She opened her eyes and saw him giving a slight smile towards her.

"Have you rested well?" He asked.

Without giving it a second thought, she jumped on him.

"Whoa!"

"You're finally here!" Angela embraced him for a long time.

"You didn't meet me even once." She said in a low pitched voice.

'I had forgotten how good her caring felt.' He Said. "Now, now, I'm here, aren't I? I won't leave you for a while."

"Really...?" She asked him with anticipation in her eyes.

"Yep"

"Yeepee!"

"Haha, just like a kid." He murmured.

"Ok, you can calm down now, I smell really bad." He smelled himself and made a disgusted face. He smelled like rotten fish.

Cough

"Blah"

Hearing him Angela smelled herself as well and coughed, almost throwing up.

Luan chuckled and gestured his hand forward. All of the food over there disappeared.

"It's morning we should go now. Have you decided where do you want to go?" He asked her and waited for response.

"Yeah! It's a place I want to see." She answered excitedly.

"That's good."

They could store their stuff in dimensional storage so they didn't bring any bag. So it didn't take them long to get ready for the trip down.

"Thank you for taking care of us."

"Why are you thanking it...?" Angela asked him.

"Well, the cave gave us a shelter and ."

"Ahh, understood."

"So, shall we start going?"

"Yes!" She replied.

When luan and Angela went to the edge of the cave, he felt terrifyingly cold winds in the surrounding. The storm was as violent as it was previously and the fog wasn't any better.

Whoosh!

But this time around, he didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest.. Although he could still feel the winds and snow just as he did before making the Core, but now it was as if the snow and ice calmed him down. It was pleasing to be around it. And it didn't harm his body even a little as it did before.

Luan took his jacket off that he had been wearing this whole time and breathed in the fresh air.

The two started going down. It was a little harder than climbing up as they couldn't see where they were going. So they had to stay cautious about it. Luan took the lead and Angela followed behind him within 5 meters.

It took them less time to climb down than reaching up. After an hour, they were already done the Ice mountain safely.

Angela also took her ice coat off now that it was somewhat of a normal temperature.

"So we have 9 months until the sect's outer tournament." He said.

They went to the nearest town they had encountered and asked people for directions.

•••

After a few days of traveling west, they reached a big city. Like many cities, it had thick walls covering it. and many clear roads went inside the city and guards every few hundred meters stayed there. It was also very big and they couldn't see the end of it.

They went ahead of the road and a guard stopped them.

"Halt! Please pay a toll of 200 gold for both of you to pass." He said.

'Deja vu' Luan thought.

Luan gave him the money and the guy got out of his way. They passed the guard and entered the city.