"Ach—choo!"
Fors huddled against a rime-covered tree trunk, shivering uncontrollably.
I actually caught a cold! This is my first time getting sick since becoming a Beyonder! Why is the weather in the book world so harsh? Shouldn't it be sunny and pleasant?
Her Spirit had a sudden premonition, and she looked up ahead. Two somewhat blurry figures suddenly appeared and quickly became clearer.
Snap!
Leyton snapped his right fingers, and the surrounding starlight brightened suddenly, becoming dazzling, like countless tiny, scorching light bulbs flickering around.
"So warm!" Fors exclaimed, then walked out from under the tree and joined the group.
Leyton looked at Fors with some confusion and asked curiously, "Why didn't you create a warm area? With the Beyonder abilities you possess, you should be able to easily dispel the wind and snow and create fire, right?"
Fors froze for a second, then realized, "Oh, right! Why am I just sitting here in the cold?"
After two seconds of self-reflection, she ultimately attributed it all to her lack of wilderness survival experience.
Is this really an exploration of the book world, or just a picnic? Leonard silently watched this scene from the side, already starting to grumble inwardly.
"With a Sequence 3 demigod present, this so-called exploration is no different from a picnic."
Pallez's somewhat aged voice directly echoed in Leonard's mind.
He's already Sequence 3? Is this a normal advancement speed? Is this the special nature of a Blessed?
While surprised inwardly, Leonard tilted his head slightly, adopting a listening posture, awaiting Pallez's reply.
After a while, there was still no sound from Pallez in his mind. Leonard pouted, "This old man is as temperamental as a child."
Leyton's eyes, standing nearby, suddenly deepened, then quickly returned to normal. He said calmly, "They've already met up. Let's go straight there."
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding starlight suddenly condensed, once again enveloping the three and entering the Spirit World.
Klein, maintaining his Gehrman Sparrow persona, continuously tossed and twirled the cane in his hand, searching for the scattered Tarot Club members through divination.
On the collar of his double-breasted long coat, he wore a dark golden sunbird-shaped brooch. The negative effect of this Mystical Item made him completely oblivious to the severe cold here; in fact, he even felt a bit hot inside.
I need to meet up with them as soon as possible. The heat from this brooch will make my body mistakenly believe it's midsummer. Emitting heat for a long time in a place like this, even a Beyonder could be in danger.
Thinking of this, Klein tightened his clothes and quickened his pace.
Following the cane's guidance, he quickly arrived at a sheltered cliffside, where he saw a cave that didn't look entirely natural, and an exaggeratedly large giant.
A giant with gray-blue skin, his chest, abdomen, and waist covered in thick beast fur, dragged a greatsword the size of a door in his hand, his gaze fixed on Klein's direction.
Their gazes met in the air, and Klein unconsciously swallowed. The giant's oppressive presence was simply too strong.
I originally thought Father Utravsky was already tall, but I didn't expect a true giant to actually be as tall as a small mountain, Klein sighed inwardly, a layer of fine dark-gold scales emerging on his left hand behind his back, and his pupils also became vertical.
"Groselle, are there really other people who entered this book world?"
A beautiful female voice came from the cave behind the gray-blue giant.
Groselle? Is he the giant who entered this book first? Klein's gaze passed over the giant called Groselle and landed behind him.
It was a woman wearing a brown ancient Hunter's coat and trousers. She had lustrous black hair tied into a high ponytail, very soft facial features, and slightly pointed ears, completely different from the races of the Northern and Southern continents. She looked more like people from East Asia on Earth, with distinct Oriental features.
Beside her, there was also a man in his thirties. His attire gave off a very uncomfortable feeling, neither coordinated nor symmetrical.
He wore a pointed, stiff black hat, and his leather boots curled upwards, somewhat resembling a Clown from a circus.
Behind him, Audrey followed out, still enveloped in a layer of night, making her appearance somewhat indistinct.
The moment she saw Klein, Audrey's eyes lit up, and she explained to the man, woman, and the exaggeratedly large giant beside her with great pleasure, "This is my companion. We entered this book world together, but we got separated when we came in."
After explaining, she hurried a few steps forward, jogging out of the cave's range, and said to Klein, "Mr. World, they are also people who entered this book world from the real world, just like us. However, they entered the book world much earlier than us."
"I understand."
Klein nodded slightly. The fine scales on his left hand behind his back quickly disappeared, and his pupils were no longer vertical.
With a "snap..." he casually snapped his fingers, and as the crisp sound rang out, a ball of flame suddenly shot up beside him, rapidly expanding and engulfing his figure.
Outside the cave, a dead branch simultaneously burst into flames, expanding and twisting, and Klein's figure quickly leaped out of it, landing beside Audrey.
Audrey watched this scene in surprise, and just as she was about to speak, her Spirit was suddenly touched. Following the sensation, she turned her head to look at the entrance of the cave.
Under the wary gazes of the man, woman, and giant, shimmering starlight surged, tearing open the barrier between the Spirit World and reality, bringing three familiar figures to this place.
"Good evening, everyone~"
Leyton was the first to break the silence.
"Clearly, they don't think it's very good."
Leonard chuckled as he chimed in.
As he spoke, he subtly retreated two steps, maintaining a safe distance from these people of the book world.
Fors noticed the Nightmare's actions and also retreated two steps, though she moved more in the direction away from Groselle—that gray-blue giant was simply too oppressive, I'm not even as tall as his calf!
The man whose attire was neither coordinated nor symmetrical spoke with the posture of a high-ranking noble, maintaining a polite smile, "So many of you? Are you here for a picnic in this book world?"
"One could say that. Although this is a book world, it is also a real world. Who wouldn't be interested?"
Leyton took the opportunity to appraise this Fourth Epoch noble, replying in an unhurried tone.
Beside the noble gentleman, the elven lady eagerly asked, "You know how to enter the book world? Then do you know how to leave?"
"Siatas, there's no need to be so anxious. Since they came in, they must surely want to leave."
The man in the uncoordinated attire had just begun to dissuade her when Siatas glared him back into silence.
Audrey, who had arrived here earlier than Leyton and the others and had already understood some of the situation, stepped forward at the opportune moment and said, "Let me introduce you to each other."
She then proceeded to introduce everyone in turn:
"This is the giant Groselle, also the first person to enter the book world; this lady is Siatas, she is an elf who lived during the second epoch of the Twin Era; this is Mobet Zoroast, he was a Viscount of the former Solomon Empire."
After introducing the distinctive giant, elf, and human, Audrey then turned to introduce the other two who had just emerged from inside the cave:
"This is the ascetic Snowman, a follower of the Ancient Sun God from the Third Epoch."
"This is Frunziar Edward, a former Loen soldier, but not from the current Loen, rather from the time of its founding, over a hundred years ago."