Chapter 21: The Journey (1)

Shortly after the meeting was concluded, Caleb and his father returned to the main estate while the knight commanders returned to their duties. After separating from his father, Caleb moved to the section of the estate where the artisans and other workers resided.

Caleb had employed a bit of the fashion from Earth. He had personally drawn and designed his combat suit and day-to-day clothing. The clothing ranged from formal suits, leather jackets, turtlenecks, and long formal coats; all in black or blue-black. He liked the colour black a tad bit more. Although he had other clothing in different colours, his favourites were in the black region of the spectrum.

Making his way to the tailor's shop, he knocked on the door before entering. Like any other tailor's workspace, what greeted him was a collection of different materials for clothing all arranged in fabric cabinets. A couple of people worked under the main tailor in the large hall. They all stopped what they were doing and stood up to greet Caleb. He acknowledged their greetings and moved towards the inner room.

"Ah... Lord Caleb. Welcome." Turning around to look at the person at the door was the main tailor. He was a middle-aged man in his fifties wearing a formal shirt with a waistcoat and a measuring tape around his neck.

After a short exchange of greetings, Caleb went ahead to inquire about the suit and clothing he commissioned. The tailor, named Ishmael Asher, moved to one of the benches with a row of finished items.

"Just as you requested, Lord Caleb, your combat suit was made using a combination of leather and metal alloys personally crafted by the best blacksmiths in the estate and enchanted with all the elemental resistance you listed. I simply added the finishing touches." Ishmael said and proceeded to open the chest with the combat suit. He also opened the chest with the other normal clothes Caleb requested.

Looking inside the chest containing the suit and clothes, a wide grin was expressed on his lips. "Wonderful, Ishmael. This is even better than I thought. Thank you, Ishmael." Caleb expressed his gratitude and stored items in his space ring. The combat suit however went into his inventory.

"I only performed my duties, Lord Caleb." he replied humbly with a small bow. Nodding, Caleb acknowledged and made his way out. "See you later, Ishmael."

...

Two days later

Morning

Caleb dressed in a black formal shirt with a long formal coat and black trousers, stood with Elina and Sean. The duke, Selina, Renita, Alex and Frederick stood with them to see them off.

"Make sure to take care of yourself and sister, okay?" Selina said to Caleb before giving him a short hug. "Of course, mother. You can count on me." He said in reply.

Selina went on and did the same for Elina while the duke and Caleb exchanged nods of understanding. "Don't push yourself too much if you don't find anything significant." Said the duke. While this was an investigative mission to discover the strange happenings, Caleb never intended to do anything dramatic. He also had to return early and make his way to the capital.

'I'll make sure to get the story of what mission Caleb took.' He made a mental note. Since he would be returning to the capital, he had to get all the info about the force Caleb was part of.

The group then made their way to the caravan. Caleb and Elina entered the main carriage with Elina's escorts entered the other carriages. The knights and Sean would follow along on horseback throughout the journey. Since the journey was going to take three days, breaks would be taken at night.

The route taken by the party was a common route taken by the masses that connected the city and towns in the region to the border city. The land was rich in vegetation with grass fields and trees along the path. Mini forests could also be seen. These forests in particular were normal kind people and hunters can venture into without being exposed to great dangers. Additionally, a small party was sent ahead to scout for any dangers that they might encounter en route.

Caleb and Elina engaged in small talk on the way for most of the ride. "Tell me brother, can you impact the flight spell you designed on me?" Elina asked the question she was most curious about. The speed she had seen her brother got her excited to experience the small. She was not at the level where she could fly as a pure mage and wondered if she could skip to the flying part

"Of course, I can make it happen. But I'd have to also do some other spells to strengthen your body. And I have to say, it's going to be painful. Are you up for it?" 

A chance at flight magic before getting to the required mana level; not to mention the low mana requirements overshadowed any temporary pain she might go through. As a mage, she understood that real strength came at a price.

"What do you take me for? Some damsel?" Elina scoffed at her brother's attempt to scare her. She may be the youngest, but she didn't need sheltering. As the brother and sister duo continued their conversation, time slowly ticked away.

Caleb had wondered along the way if there would encounter any trouble. He was already itching for a fight and was hoping they would encounter some bandits already. But the chances of encountering bandits were extremely low. After all, who in their right mind would attack a party as large as theirs; not to mention being a noble caravan?

By evening the group had covered a third of the distance. "Lord Caleb, we would be camping here." Sean moved close to the main carriage and informed Caleb. Not wanting to stay in the carriage any longer, Caleb stepped out to take a look around.

'Mmm...not bad.'

The area chosen for camping was a large clearing with good visibility. The guards proceeded to set up camp while Caleb decided to look around. The scouts had already made their way back by then and some of the guards spread out to look in the vicinity. 

"Sean, I'm taking a look around. I'll be back shortly." Caleb said before taking off into the sky. He didn't doubt the capabilities of his men, but he could cover more grounds with his new skill.

Rising to a distance of about 33,000 feet (10.1 km), Caleb cast a glance at the evening sun in the distance and admired the view. "The view up here sure is nice." He muttered and then looked down. From his position in the sky, the people down looked tiny. Caleb released a small smile and zoomed in on them.

With his augmented reality display system, everything he saw was labelled and recorded. His system also had the default function of mapping out everything he saw. One of the amazing things he also discovered was that the system used his brain as the storage unit. The massive storage capacity of the brain served as the perfect storage unit for his collected data.

"Let's see what we have in the vicinity." He muttered softly before calling out, "Domain"

Instantly, an invisible sphere was projected out of him and expanded to a radius of 34 km all around. Surprisingly, this wasn't the limit of the domain. The amount of mana he needed to refine exponentially increased as he grew stronger. He had noticed this phenomenon when he reached a certain level; the mana stones became inefficient.

[No potential hostile lifeforms detective]

Within the domain that only he could sense and maybe people extremely sensitive to minute changes in the mana around them, everything was in his sight. The collected information is then presented on his display.

"Mmm... the coast is clear, save for a few wild animals." He recalled his domain and descended to the ground. It was time for dinner.