Picnic in Tengah Island

"Good morning Mays."

A morning greeting with a light kiss on his cheek. Ria who was by his side grinned widely as her hand caressed Mays's well-toned body. Ever since Mays agreed on taking her as a bride once they go back to their original world, Ria had been more daring each passing day.

They cuddled and flirted most of the time especially when there were only the two of them present. Mays was quite awkward at first but he gave in to Ria's persistence act. Mays was not that good with girls in real life, let alone a headstrong girl like Ria.

"Yeah, morning."

"Hehe."

Ria chuckled as she tightly hugged Mays after she heard Mays's reply. She was just really happy at the moment.

"Mays."

"Yea?"

"I love you. I really really really love you. I love you so much."

"I know. Me too."

Another five minutes passed by with Mays playing with Ria's smooth and silky hair. Even though they seemed like newlywed on their honeymoon, they actually haven't gone all the way yet. Mays's insisted on waiting until marriage before doing it was one reason but another legit reason which both Mays and Ria had to consider was the fact that there were no contraption in this world.

Since birth rate of humans in this world were low to begin with, the people here had no reason to invent such items. There were a few players who accidentally made babies after spending five years in this world and regretted their action later. With a baby, they obviously couldn't proceed with their adventurous daily life. As of now, both Mays and Ria had no plan to have babies yet, especially not in this harsh world.

"Well then, let's prepare ourselves. I promised San that we will be there at noon."

"Ah, okay."

Reluctantly getting up from the bed, Ria was the first to move out and walked out from the room. At the same time when Ria walked out, Syaitona who was waiting on the other side of the room's door entered.

"Master, everyone is ready and waiting."

Kneeling before Mays, Syaitona reported.

"Good. Let them know that we will depart in an hour."

"Right away, master."

It was literally noon with the sun at its brightest when Mays and Ria finally arrived at The Alliance's headquarters. San promised to take them to the portal gate which connect the empire to Tengah Island. This portal gate was heavily guarded by players from The Alliance making it the one and only portal gate under humanity's direct control.

"It won't hurt if you get here a little bit earlier bro."

"Our promised time was at noon am I wrong?"

"Tch fine. Such punctuality. I bet nobody would believe the fact that yer a malay."

"Can't refute that for sure hahaha."

Not just San and Jace, Leet, Rose and King Edward were all present in their usual meeting room. Mays arrived there with Ria riding Ria's large dragon, Rosa the Blood Rose Dragon. Flamence was useless at the moment considering the limit of people who could ride on it.

"You're going right away bro?"

"Yep. I hate delaying things anyways."

Both San and Mays didn't have to explain things loud and clear for them to understand each other's intention. With just those casual chatter, they ended their conversation.

"Err Jace, can you please look after Neverrrain Mountain while I'm away?"

"Aaa… okay."

Ria who was tugging at Mays's side asked Jace for a favor. Jace was about to refuse at first but he decided not to when he saw Ria's wicked smile. He just knew that this person would never take no for an answer.

The other three big shot were there just for show. They were not that close with both Mays and Ria but they still need to show their face regardless. Both King Edward and Rose was indifferent but Leet appeared restless. Speaking out of their turn might outstepped their bound so they decided to just keep their silence.

Holy Cloud Empire was large. It was at least four times the size of Mercia Kingdom. The number of cities in the empire easily surpassed one hundred. Even the portal gate where Mays and Ria was led to was located inside one of the big city.

Black Iron City. A city surrounded by a black iron wall. The sturdy wall was not built on a whim. It was built to guard the city from the inside rather than the outside. Reasons was, the existence of the so called portal gate.

There was a case decades ago where demonic being came out from the other side of the gate and terrorize the surrounding city. Since the attack was from the inside of the city, everyone were caught off-guard until it was too late. Since that time, the city wall had been changed into black iron and the security for this city was tighten to rival those at the capital city of the empire.

There were also no resident inside the city anymore. It now functioned fully as a training barrack for new army cadets, a fully army based city. The reason was partly to reduce casualties just in case demonic beings managed to slip through the portal gate.

Right now, everyone were already in front of the portal gate. Mays with all eight spirits of his while Ria with fifteen of her elite spirits. Following the assumption made by San, Mays formed the most balanced party he could by combining all his spirits and those personally selected spirits of Ria.

"You sure you don't need anything else Mays?"

This time it was Jace who asked. He was obviously concerned about Mays. In case of Ria, he glanced at her a few times but when their eyes met he immediately retracted his gaze. He wanted to wish her well too but he was conflicted. He was bullied by that demon in human skin god knew how many time so he couldn't help being traumatized by it.

"Don't worry Jace, I'm with Ria. Do you think there is anything out there who could beat her? Ouch!"

Mays was obviously joking but Ria who was at his side pinched him real hard. If it was someone else, that person might had been beaten into a pulp right now. As for Jace, he was sweating nonstop when he noticed that Ria was glaring at him menacingly.

"Well then, safe journey on you bro."

"Urm. You too, stay well."

Just like that, Mays and Ria walked through the portal gate without turning back. They were both motivated by what lies ahead, a journey they would never experience in earth for sure. At that time, they were just so happy that they would finally be able to explore a world full of magical wonders. Human continent barely had any of those after all.

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The portal from Holy Cloud Empire was connected to the grassland zone of Tengah Island. Surrounding the portal gate was a towering wall of at least five meters tall, guarding the area from anything which ported from the other side.

The moment when Mays and the rest arrived at Tengah Island, the portal gate shone brightly signalling a successful spatial transportation. Soon enough, a dozen of fully armed soldiers came out from the hardened steel gate, surrounding Mays and his companions.

In front of this dozen soldiers were three people with casual wear. Rather than casual wear, it was better to say that they wore the stylish and easy to move leather armor and cloth armor from HeavensTale. It was obvious that the three of them were HeavensTale players.

A scholar looking Asian guy in the middle of his twenties followed by a bald middle aged man in a rowdy leather armor and a women with a revealing clothes.

"For real? Red Wargod and Pink Demon?"

"Wowowowow both of you are legends maaaaaaaaaaan…. Living legends!"

"Can I have an autographs please? I'm so gonna frame and showcase it later."

There was nothing like a mobile phones in this world. There were also no magical skills to talk to others who was far away either. Because of that, the information flow in this world was quite delayed. These three knew that the Red Wargod had arrived at this world from the weekly messenger but they never knew that this legendary figure would actually came to Tengah Island together with another legendary figure, the Pink Demon.

Apparently the three of them were those kind of players who revered legendary names. They were just ordinary gamers after all. At the very least, they were easy to get along with. After just talking to each other for several minutes, Mays managed to get lots of information from them.

The most important information was about Tengah Island's portal gate. Apparently, Tengah Island was separated into six different zone magically. Their current zone was the grassland zone governed by humans. In fact, this was the only zone where humans had full authority over.

The other five zones were either too dangerous for humans or complete out of their reach. Deep water zone, sky piercing mountain zone, hell desert zone and underground zone were area where humanity couldn't live at while the forest zone was too dangerous for normal human to venture into.

As for going to demon continent, the easiest way to do so was through forest zone's portal gate. The other two portal gate connected to demon continent was the hell desert and underground area which obviously had more danger elements hidden within.

"Well then, thank you for guiding us all the way here."

Mays thanked the trio after they arrived at the city gate. The trio's job was always to guide people and explained the circumstances of this island to newcomers, especially players from The Alliance who wanted to explore the island by themselves.

Mays was not stingy with gratitude for people who deserved it. They never met even once but the hospitality they showed was commendable. They were also friendly and frank to everyone in the city.

"Don't sweat it. It's our pleasure to meet you two."

"I'll treasure this signature for sure hehe."

"Thanks a lot. You guys are really helpful."

Not just Mays, even Ria was thanking them with a big smile on her face. Anyone who saw her smiling face would fall for her without a doubt. Ria was a real looker even back on earth. Led by Mays, the party of twenty five left the town by foot. They planned to enter demon continent before dusk.

"Psst, is that the real Pink Demon? Ouch!"

"Of course duh."

The scholar looking Asian guy who doubted Ria got smacked by the woman who stood beside him. The rumors about how tyrannical Ria was had long ago traveled all over even to this island. Nobody dared to look at her in the eyes unless they were prepared to get reprimanded by her.

"So when did she turned into a goddess?"

"Since last week, noob. You need to be more up to date."

"Yeah, since Red Wargod arrived at the empire."

"See? Even baldie knows it. You're lame hahaha."

"Who is a baldie damnit?"

Looking at the map in his hand, Mays was thinking of the best path to take for them to arrive at forest zone's portal gate. So far, their journey had been dull with nothing obstructing their path at all. The only thing they saw all the way was the empty grassland with a large crevice at both ends.

Tengah Island was not that huge to begin with. It was just around three hundred square miles. Because of that, Mays decided to just walk on foot instead of riding their dragons. He also wanted to observe the island thoroughly.

"Mira is bored. Syaitona, entertain Mira please."

"Why should I?"

Syaitona was obviously not planning to do so. She had no reason to do so anyways.

"Because Mira asked nicely. The others ain't talkative like you."

"Not happening. Go entertain yourself."

Syaitona walked faster leaving Mira behind. She knew why Mira who always bickered with her suddenly approached her nicely. The reason was obvious, Ria. Ever since Ria met their master, she never left his side. This make it awkward for not just Mira, but also Syaitona. The both of them were the one who was always by Mays's side prior to this.

"So, this is the crevice they told us to follow."

Syaitona who saw the crevice further ahead commented. She knew that this crevice was used as a reference points in the map.

"Sususu~ susu~ sususu~"

Ria was humming happily while clinging to Mays like a magnet. She grinned all the time while walking beside Mays. She didn't care about anything as long as Mays was together with her. Her spirits formed a group as they walked behind Mays's group of spirits. Apparently none of them had any intention of mingling with each other.

"Well then, let's stop here and prepare for lunch."

"Okay master. Mira will make the campfire!"

"I… I'll prepare the food."

Both Mira and Aloha offered their help when Mays decided to take a break. Mays nodded in agreement at both of them. These spirits were always adorable and helpful. They did cause trouble sometimes though. With how calm and breezy the weather was, Mays felt that it was a must for them to have a picnic right away.

Mays decided to set up a camp not too far from the crevice. They need to walk along the crevice to go to the center of the island. This island was separated into six different region by these large crevice. As if the island was specially made by gods themselves, the size of each zone was unexpectedly the same with the center of the island connecting every zone.

"Should I do anything Mays?"

Since Mays was busy taking out ingredients from his space belt one after another, Ria who was doing nothing felt like she need to do something.

"Nah, no need to."

"But…"

"It's okay. You don't need to do anything you're not used to."

With a smile on his face, Mays assured Ria that everything was fine. Even without being ordered to, Damia and Aloha already grabbed everything Mays took out from his space belt and prepared them accordingly. From the ingredient Mays brought out, they knew what Mays was planning to make and proceed to it.

Carrot, potatoes and onions were cut into small pieces by Aloha while Damia was sorting the tools and wares which Mays took out one after another. The last ingredient Mays took out from his space belt was the tri-horned sheep's meat. It was a meat from a level ninety monster, a luxury items one might say.

Ria and her spirits were sitting all around doing nothing. With all the task occupied by Mays and his spirits, Ria could only observed them doing their job patiently. At the very least, Ria already took out several mattress and asked her spirits to spread them at the area for now.

"Master! The campfire all set!"

"Ah, nice. Here, put this pot up there carefully. And Aloha, you can start pouring the ingredients in it after the water started boiling. I'm not helping today, so recall what I teach you last time."

"Yes master."

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The big pot of stew had been emptied without leaving anything inside. Everyone present had at least two serving of the stew. Some even wanted more but there were none left.

"Fuh, that tastes great. Good job Aloha."

"Ehehe."

As usual, Aloha grinned happily every time Mays patted her head. Even though there were no cooking skills in HeavensTale, some spirits were gifted with it. In case of Mays's spirits, that lucky one was Aloha.

She had keen senses when it came to cooking. Mays always cook by himself and these spirits of his always imitated him and tried to cook on their own. Most of them failed at it though. As for Aloha, she was unexpectedly good at it. After learning from Mays himself, she could make something even better than Mays who personally taught her everything.

"That tastes real good. Can you be my personal cook please?"

Even Ria was captivated by the stew cooked by Aloha. In the past five years, she only ate the food cooked by several spirits of her who knew how to cook. The meal she ate everyday were not bad but it could not be called great either. It was just normal. It couldn't be helped since the cook she had were all fourth tier spirits.

As for the time after Mays started living with them, she joined Mays several times on their outdoor meals. Most of the time, Aloha was the one cooking their meals while Mays stood by her side, teaching her.

"I… I… I can't. Sorry!"

Aloha stuttered as always. She refused Ria while stealing a glance at Mays. She was not sure what she should say because Ria was someone important to Mays.

"Meh, I know. If only one of my four general had cooking skills. God is always unfair!"

Lamenting the fact that not even one of his four second tier spirits had talent in cooking, Ria sighed. It was a well-known fact that these spirits were all gifted with random talents. Some might be good in cooking, while others might be good in sewing or any other non-combat related stuff.

However, all these talents corresponded to the spirits tier. An elite spirits obviously would be a better cook compared to a fourth tier spirits who had the same talent in cooking. The same also applied on other talents.

"No need for that Ria. You will be having meal together with us all the time isn't it? Together forever."

"Fo… fo… forever you say?"

Mays who was laying on the mattress with both his hand under his head nonchalantly commented. He didn't even gaze at Ria to know that she was flushed red from embarrassment. She wouldn't be that embarrassed if there were only the two of them but currently they were surrounded by dozen of spirits. Her reaction when being embarrassed was also too cute.

"Let's just stay like this for a while. It's not every day we can enjoy doing nothing while gazing the clear sky."

"Erm."