The three had to hurry because they had some more to do on their way. While the other teams would directly move to the Guardian gate tree using the setup System Church, the freshly married triple, Pip, and a group of Oathguards were going to make a detour on their way to the rift.
Pip had come of age, and it was time for Seth to fulfill his promise. He would help her return to the place she once called home and set it straight. Well, not personally. This was about giving Pip the opportunity to do it herself.
The little girl was already equipped to the teeth and spent the past week throwing herself into dungeons. Right after receiving her class at the system church, he had started raising her level like crazy.
Not only did she have a set of legendary and relic-rated items, but she had also gained a unique class called Emerald Walker, which was a mix of a druid and a ranger. It mostly augmented her already existing powers, but also added the aspect of a ranger to her nature magic.
Pip was able to move at great speed and become almost invisible in a forest. Her ranged damage, magical or not, was also raised. With her hard work and perfect mix of class and equipment, she had quickly risen to level 47. She was comparable to a level 70-80 adventurer with all the equipment and already close to being able to choose a secondary class. She was ready for this.
The three had a quick breakfast, packed a couple of things, and then left the Tower Master's quarters to port to the entrance hall, where the rest of the team was already waiting for them. Apart from Mina, Fin, and Seth, there were Pip, Asterion, Idyllin Mo, and a group of Oathguards.
Following the same route as the advance team, they would stop by the Sigmaen Sea with Mo's teleport and then move south toward New Hope. The space wizard and the Oathguards would help Pip in New Hope.
Once they reached New Hope, they would be able to set up a System Church there, just like the one at the Gate Guardian. Then the city lost in the No Man's Land would finally have a proper connection to the districts. Not only could they receive support from the district, but it would also act midway base of Minas Mar.
Minas Mar, connecting Delta, Ypselon, was pretty much in the center of the continent. It was hard for higher-level adventurers to venture far into the wilderness to explore without a base to stay and rest.
New Hope would make a fine base, situated roughly at the midway point between the Gate Guardian and Delta. People would be able to explore all the way to Gamma in the west, Sigma in the north, the rift in the east, and the sea of trees in the south.
Almost a century ago, the people of Urth had restricted themselves to the districts and declared the rest of the world No Man's Land, to allow the planet to recover. In the end, it had only bought time, but didn't save them from the inevitable. Their ancestors had acted too late.
Now this decision held no value anymore. They had to venture out into the No Man's Land and reclaim it. They had to claim the resources brought with this new age and grow before someone else did. Out here, many players would be able to grow.
New Hope would allow them the first step to claim the untapped potential of their world, which made it so alluring to the cultivators from the Voracious Cloud Continent. Interestingly enough, the opposite was what made the Cloud Continent so interesting to Seth.
Urth was a diamond in the rough. Their world was massive and mostly unexplored at this point. Their planet had even been expanding since the magical tide and was full of resources, but they didn't have the people and the system to extract them efficiently.
They needed more people to venture out and explore, to harvest and bring the resources back into their society. Only then could Seth truly benefit from being the head honcho of Minas Mar. But it would take time to grow this society on Urth.
The Voracious Cloud continent, on the other hand, was already a perfectly cut gem. It was over-saturated with a vast body of cultivators, combing every inch of the continent for resources and opportunities, often selling what they found to get what they really needed.
They created a vast supply of resources. Still not enough to satisfy everyone, but their infrastructure allowed the rich and wealthy to benefit the most. Mr. Moneybags counted himself among the rich and wealthy, even if he currently had not even an ounce of cultivator currency.
It would come to him once they stepped into those foreign lands. The best resources of the land are usually concentrated in certain places, which made it easy not only to find what one was searching for, but even to find things they didn't know. He would sell the cursed weapon and buy whatever caught his fancy.
That wasn't all. Having listened to Yu stories about his home and their power system, the Voracious Cloud Continent also promised incredibly powerful monsters. Sources for relic, or even legendary materials, massive souls, or potentially powerful golems.
Just for the blacksmith, the continent already held a great allure. But for Seth, there were also many things to discover. He wanted to explore foreign cities with Fin and Mina, taste exotic foods, and enjoy landscapes and entertainment during their honeymoon.
There was a lot he wanted to do, and the first step was reaching New Hope.
"Everyone ready?" the space wizard asked one last time, once the team had assembled. With everyone's affirmation, the wizard cast mass teleport, and the group vanished, only to appear at a shore Seth was familiar with. The Sigmaen Sea was the place he had caught the Water Stag, which became the mount for one of his four Horsemen.
Dark blue water with unknown darkness in its depths stretched to the horizon, and behind them towered the Northern Mountains that reached into the body of water. In the distance, they could see the swarms of flying beasts that lived on the cliffs above the water. Pip looked at them with determination.
"Are you prepared?" Seth asked her, and she nodded grimly.
Although they had no time to waste, they had something to do in this place. Since Pip was close to level 50, they decided to take a moment and power level her at the shores of the inland sea. And the way to do it was-
"I will draw their aggro, you finish them off, when they get close," Seth said with a smile, already drawing the Heart Seeker, Mind Reaper Bow. A thick arrow of light grew in the place of a physical one. When he loosened the bowstring, 300 Arrows of Light shot into the sky, seeking their targets with malice.
In the distance, roughly 300 random flying beasts above level 60 suffered a surprise attack by
However, the other half was now heading straight for them. 150 flying beasts of various species were charging toward the shore. They were all already weakened by the gangrenous wound growing right at their vitals.
By the time they reached the shore, they finally found mercy. Pip, who had been using these seconds to rapidly chant a spell, struck her legendary staff into the sandy shore, and a forest of roots shot into the sky.
The closest beasts were instantly impaled, and the ones further away suffered barrages of thorns that were grown and shot from the roots. Pip was reaping a great harvest, and her level soared. Despite some of the beasts managing to escape, Pip had reached level 51 in one go and would be able to choose a secondary class during her next visit to the system church.
"Congratz," Fin congratulated her.
"Well done," Seth also praised her, since he didn't expect to get so many on the first wave.
"Good game," one of the Oathguards joined in, and the whole party congratulated her on her level-up.
Seth had not expected Pip to finish this quickly, but it came in handy, since that meant they didn't have to waste a lot of time in this place. Since Pip's business here was done, they could continue to New Hope.
Their current party didn't have anyone from Epsilon's Fleet with them. The reason was simple: Seth had a better flying vessel. The blacksmith was happily surprised to find that the maximum speed of the silver flying ship was actually above that of most of the fleet's ships.
It was not better than all of them, but it was a much more comfortable vehicle in comparison, even if the speed was not better than the best ship. They would take roughly a day to get to New Hope, no matter what, so they chose the more comfortable vessel.
Once they dealt with business in New Hope, the Space Wizard would take them straight to the Gate Guardian.