A new destination

"Alright, I'll catch up. I'll surpass my world. Just you wait!"

Noora said after whipping hear tears away.

"And I'll wait."

I said remaining calm.

I had a few questions but didn't bother asking. After all, I would be leaving soon.

"Alright, one last question. Do you have a plan on where to go?"

I briefly thought about this question before answering.

"I don't know right now. Maybe to wherever Alius was before coming here. But my goal is to be able to reunite with my friends. And I'll have to figure out a way to do that. I think I know something that could help me reach that goal."

I tapped the ring on my finger lightly.

[Item: Marked ring(EX)]

Description: A ring given to people who reject the corruption and are willing to fight it. 

Effect: [Unavailable] [Unavailable] [Trial access(SSS+)(Recommended rank: SS+)]

Extra: This ring will be upgraded when the trial is passed.

'The trial. I feel like I will be able to get more information if I complete it.'

Noora looked at the ring for a bit.

"Are you married?"

I looked at Noora completely caught off guard and shook my head.

"Nope, nope, nope, definitely not. I'm going to sleep."

I quickly stood up and got ready to go to sleep.

I heard Noora laughing in the background as I went back to the village.

[Switching avatars....]

******

Weird.

He's not the same but it's fine. I thought it would be worse.

'He did lie to me though.'

Even though the place I thought of as home changed, it was still home.

"Hahaha, Tuuli."

*"Yes?"*

I turned to the wind spirit beside me. 

"Let's become stronger. Strong enough to break the world!"

*"Break the world? Isn't that bad?!"*

My friend looked at me worried. I was probably speaking nonsense, but it was fine.

After all I had a goal. 

I wasn't lost, I wasn't scared and I wanted to become stronger.

******

I woke up once again, now with a migraine.

'Why did I decide to go to that mine?'

It seemed the rocks that fell on me earlier were having an effect on me.

I cursed myself internally but decided to carry on.

*Knock knock.*

I lightly knocked on the door and Laura opened it.

"Ah, you're going now right?"

I nodded looking at her with respect.

'She went through quite a bit but never complained and took care of both Noora and Jacob.'

I dangled a newly acquired necklace beside my head.

"Huh?"

Laura looked surprised and her eyes unfocused quickly.

"W-where did you get that?"

'Is she scared? This necklace isn't good news.'

I read the description silently.

[Item: Necklace of intimidation filled with fear(B+)]

Description: A necklace that exudes power which intimidates weak individuals. It was made to intimidate lesser beings to force them to work. 

Active effect: intimidate(C+)

Active effect 2: Fear(B)

Passive effect: Disturb(C-)

[Active skill: Intimidate(C+)]

Effect: intimidates the target.

[Active skill: Fear(B-)]

Effect: Induces the fear others have experienced.

[Passive skill: Disturb(C-)]

Effect: Exudes a "disturbing" feeling making people wary.

'Lesser beings....'

I really didn't like the wording but but decided to let it go for now. Because there was something more important to figure out right now.

"What do you know about this necklace?"

I asked silently looking at Laura.

"Let's talk inside."

I didn't say anything and followed her inside.

We sat down on the nearby table.

*Woosh.*

'I guess they heard.'

A light breeze entered through the window and she started explaining.

"It was a necklace used by those in charge of the mine."

The atmosphere around her became gloomy as she talked.

"They used these necklaces to overpower everyone working there. They did whatever they wanted, took whatever they wanted."

I nodded silently.

"No one could properly resist, and eventually the mine was shut down after multiple casualties."

I nodded.

'Earth worms are attracted to mana and vibrations. It was probably due to these necklaces though.'

"By the way, do you know what they were digging for?"

Laura's eyes widened slightly and she sighed.

"Now that I think about it, no I don't know. I just assumed it was for materials or metals."

"Alright, don't worry about it. Now then, I guess I'll be going."

I said standing up.

Laura looked a little surprised.

"Ah, yeah. Do you have everything ready? Do you have plenty of supplies?"

I nodded listing off a few.

"Food, sleeping bags, fire starters and more. I think I'll be fine."

'I'm not forgetting anything right?'

Then after a few chats and some goodbyes, I left the village with Alius.

"So, Raijin you're going to?"

"Xamia, to the east."

Raijin said while looking towards the rising sun.

I was quite curious and looked at Alius.

He shook his head indicating he didn't know anything.

'I heard he was planning to meet a scout next.'

I heard his general plan a few days ago and remembered most of it.

'First was Noora, he said that her trustworthiness was enough for him.'

His goal was to eradicate corruption, it couldn't be done alone so having someone trustworthy close was always good.

'I forgot the names of the others but.'

Next was finding a scout, then after a mage, healer and lastly tank.

'That was the main plan if I remember correctly.'

I stopped thinking about that when a strong wind pushed my hair.

[Activating skill: Mana sensing(A-)]

'Yeah, this spirit was spying on us right?'

Noora's spirit appeared, soon after Noora and Jacob followed suit.

"I heard you were leaving. You can't just leave without telling me!"

We all chuckled lightly and I explained.

"I tried to wake you up but you just didn't. And Jacob, you look like you just woke up."

Jacob's hair was messy and Noora yawned, meanwhile a clump of mana was swirling around her.

'I guess her spirit was preoccupied with something.'

The mana suddenly shook a little bit and quickly went behind Noora.

"Huh? Is something wrong Tuuli?"

Jacob seemed confused, supposedly not aware of her spirit.

"No, everything's fine. Anyway we've talked long enough. It's time for us to go."

'Hopefully that sp- Tuuli explains.'

I didn't want to bother with explanations.

"Anyway, it's time for us to go."

Then I remembered something I wanted to do. 

[Equipping: Threaded sword(A+)]

"One last thing, here's your sword back."

I handed Jacob his sword back.

"Huh?"

Jacob seemed confused.

"Why are you giving this back to me? Y-you can have it you 'know."

I shook my head grinning.

I got closer looking into Jacob's eyes.

"Just give it to your future girlfriend. I'm sure she would find more use than me. And if she doesn't use a sword just give it to someone else."

*Pfft.*

Raijin laughed lightly and Alius barely kept his composure.

Jacob looked dumbfounded and Noora didn't seem interested.

"W-what? I- yo- w- n-."

It seems I've broken him.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just teasing you."

I laughed internally though. 

'It's especially effective because I'm a pretty girl.'

Over time I had become more aware of what to do and not as Sira Katsumi, and this was successful.

"Anyway we'll get going now. Goodbye!"

We walked our separate ways and I noticed Noora followed Raijin.

'I wonder what they'll look like in the future.'

How different would they be? How strong would they be? What would they encounter?

It was fun thinking about it but I also needed to move forward.

"So we're going through the forest again?"

Alius asked while looking bored. 

I nodded because it was obvious.

"Yes, we need to go through it if we want to reach Acton."

I heard from Clint the former blacksmith who created the Threaded sword. So it was reliable information.

"Alright, I'll race you."

*Whoosh!*

Before I could properly comprehend what he said he started running.

'He's fast.'

"That's an unfair head start."

But I felt like I could catch up with him.

[Activating skill: Mana breathing(C-)]

[Activating skill: Physical enhancement(C)]

*Whoosh!*

To focus on every step. To focus on every breath. To be efficient.

'The base of God's footwork(SSS+) I may have been rewarded the skill but I can still replicate it to a certain degree.'

An undeserved skills, that was what three of my past skills were called.

'War aura(SS), Absolute attack(SSS) and God's footwork(SSS+). But I still made them work. But I could never call them mine.'

[Developing skill....]

We quickly entered the forest which seemed to have recovered slightly.

'There are more trees.'

I swiftly dodged them retaining my momentum.

[Re-awakened skill: Quick steps(C)!]

'It has to be faster!'

One step, two steps, five steps, sixteen, seventy three.

More and more.

I kept running finally catching up to Alius.

Alius grinned and went a little faster.

I couldn't reach him for some reason.

What was he doing differently?

'Weird, why was he so weak on the first day?'

It was a question I should probably ask out loud eventually.

Before we knew it we arrived at Westray.

Then I realized something.

"Ah, I can't slow down?"

If I slowed down instantly my legs would probably shatter, so I had to think of a way.

'Crap!'

[Activating skill: Physical enhancement(C)]

I quickly covered myself in mana and tried to slow down but fell instantly.

***Crash!***

*Thud.*

'Oh, that worked?'

"Ugh."

I felt like my body was ready to shut off due to the pain but I endured it.

[Re-awakened skill: Pain resistance(C-)!]

[Quick steps(C) has changed into acceleration(B)!]

"What the? Hey are you alright? I didn't think you would slow down with a method like that!"

Alius quickly approached me looking worried.

"What else was I supposed to do?"

I asked on the ground. 

Alius seemed to think for a while before shaking his head.

"You're gonna die if you continue being this reckless."

"As if, I've dealt with worse. And didn't you start the race?"

I said, still on the ground while in pain. 

"Anyway, I'll be switching avatars."

I said, still on the ground.

"Alright."

Alius looked blankly at me.

"Do you wanna say anything?"

Alius shook his head.

"No."

[Switching avatars...]

[Sira Katsumi(Lv 61)]

From blue to black to blue again. It was the sky.

"Strange."

Alius seemed to be contemplating something.

"What is it?"

"Whenever you switch avatars your body blurs and then you change. It's not a transformation. It's quite frankly weird."

Now I was curious as to what it looked like when someone changes avatars.

Not that it mattered right now.

We were pretty close to Westray. I could see the city wall.

'Hmm, I feel like I've seen this place before.'

It looked awfully generic, but it worked well enough.

'Now that I think about it. Are the magic towers in this world?'

I haven't thought much about it but now I was curious.

Magic obviously existed, so were there organizations of magicians?

'What would they be called?'

There were of course some lame names like magic organization or just magic guild.

Luckily I didn't have to worry about that.

"Are you done thinking? Ah, do you have money? There's an entrance fee."

Alius asked taking out a few coins out of thin air.

"So that's what I forgot about."

'It didn't cross my mind because of the things I got from Raijin.'

I got quite a few items from Raijin but now wasn't the time to use them.

I sighed lightly and Alius handed me some coins.

"Alright, let's go."