Journey to Kaley City

After spending a long time trying to convince Krune never to do that again, Yusa headed back to her room. Although she was successful in stopping Krune at the very moment he was just about to take his underpants, for a second, she still got a glimpse of that hidden rainbow-colored dragon inside. Unsurprisingly, that image would haunt her for life.

Back at Krune's room, he was considering his next step. The Mercenary Guild's Ranked Teams sounded very good as it would bring him combat experience and resources. The other thing he was thinking of was whether he should join a sect, a clan, or some other organization. The Mercenary Guild was very broad in this aspect. It wasn't a sect, nor was it a clan. Even an organization formed by a government was not any close to the truth! The mercenaries were only together for one purpose, mutual benefits! Because of this, the guild did not care if one joined any other organization, sect, or clan, as long as one didn't forget that one was a mercenary, of course.

Though, after some time, Krune decided that there was no point in thinking about it for now. He was still in the village beside Katiu Forest. Before leaving the danger zone, he wouldn't be able to acquire much information. Even if he asked for it at the Mercenary Guild, it would be better to witness it with his own two eyes when he arrived at Kaley City. Not to mention that his two 'good friends' were there as well.

With that, he decided to just spend the rest of the day cultivating. Krune had to reinforce his Universe Foundation for the breakthrough, and time was limited. So, the faster he reinforced it, the better.

The next day, Krune left his room with his hood up, trying to hide from others while waiting for Yusa to come. Unfortunately for him, everyone had already memorized his robe with a hood, as well as its color. Not to mention that the hood couldn't completely hide his hair, so it didn't take long for a bunch of people to get closer to him. Krune then used his Wind Movement to get away as fast as possible as he headed straight to the Mercenary Guild. Although everyone knew him there as well, it was forbidden for people to cause ruckus inside.

Sometime later, Yusa arrived, spotting Krune easily. She just had to look in the direction that the majority was looking at. She couldn't help but laugh as Krune had an ugly face while looking around. It was evident that he wanted people to look somewhere else. She then approached him.

"Well, well, it seems like you're really famous. I'm sorry to stop you from basking even more in the limelight, but we need to go."

Krune heard that and felt even more helpless. He could already see that this Yusa girl loved to put salt on one's wounds, so he simply decided that he would ignore those comments from now on.

"So, should we join a group here in the Mercenary Guild and leave? I don't think it'll be very difficult considering our combat power."

Yusa then shook her head as she responded, "Quite the opposite. It'll be harder to find a group to join here. You're too famous, and you'll definitely become a target as soon as you leave the village. I was thinking, and I believe it'll be better for us to go alone. That way, we can leave the city without anyone noticing and then join a group along the way to Kaley City. As long as everyone doesn't know that we left, we shouldn't have a problem."

Krune looked around and couldn't help but ask, "How exactly do you expect me to leave without anyone noticing? Look around..."

Yusa let out a light chuckle in response and soon brought him to the salesroom. The building had quite a few of those rooms. With that, people and demon beasts could buy and sell things without anyone noticing. She then accessed the list of items and pointed at one of the items on the list. The item she pointed at cost 150 low-quality Rank Two Spirit Stones.

"Buy this one. It's a Runestone inscribed with a very simple teleportation formation. It might be of subpar quality, but it's just what we need at the moment. Also, make sure to not let people see that you bought it."

Krune was impressed! To think that things that allowed one to teleport were sold this easily. Wasn't this minor teleportation formation as good as a second life? Yusa knew what he was thinking and crushed his fantasies straight away.

"Don't think of using it as a way to escape from others. This Runestone needs a long time to charge, and it has nothing to do with your cultivation level. It's just that the amount of Spiritual Energy that it can receive at once is very small. If you try to infuse more than what it can take at once, it'll break apart. On top of that, you need at least thirty minutes to charge it to use it, and during that time, you can't move either. That's because the formation needs a starting point to initiate the teleportation from. If you keep moving around, it won't be able to affix its position."

"Simply put, if you're thinking of using it to flee, then you might as well run faster."

Krune's dreams were crushed just like that. He then asked if there was anything better that would allow one to teleport away earlier or maybe even instantly.

Yusa nodded as she said, "There is, but that will need a higher level Runestone. The problem is that the higher the level of the rune, the harder it is to inscribe a formation inside, which means the price skyrockets with each level. This teleportation rune is nothing but the lowest grade, a One-Star teleportation formation runestone. You can already guess how expensive the higher levels are. Just this one already costs 150 low-quality Rank Two Spirit Stones. It's very expensive."

She then moved the list of items for sale and pointed at the Rank Two teleportation formation runestone. This rune could be charged 10 minutes earlier than the previous one and could teleport a little further away. Though, it still wasn't very suitable for fleeing. Not to mention that it cost 1150 high-quality Rank Three Spirit Stones. Krune saw the price, and his jaw instantly dropped!

"This is daylight robbery!"

Yusa laughed but disagreed as she said, "That's because you have no idea how hard it is to inscribe those runes. The quality of the formation inside is also higher. If I could, I would show you the higher rank ones. Unfortunately, this outer branch doesn't have them. People and demon beasts that stay here wouldn't have the necessary spirit stones to buy those anyway."

Krune nodded. Maybe in the future, he could try and make those runes for sale.

After getting a 25% discount from the guild, Krune acquired the teleportation runestone. He couldn't help but think that being famous really wasn't good at all. Low-key was definitely the way to go.

"Wouldn't it work if I put on a mask or painted my hair black or something?"

Yusa shook her head as she replied, "Everyone has already marked your presence. You should know that every person or demon beast has a distinctive aura that belongs only to them. They just need to pay attention to that."

Krune only sighed after that. Yusa then said, "When we head out of the room, just pretend that you helped me buy something. Otherwise, people might guess that we're a duo."

Krune just nodded in response.

Leaving the room, Yusa then grabbed Krune's arm and looked at him as if he was her lover.

"Brother Krune, thank you very much for helping me buy it. My rank wasn't big enough to have access to this item."

Krune wasn't expecting her to act like 'that,' so he immediately turned as red as a tomato and kept nodding his head. Fortunately, it made the act even more realistic, with some people in the area even commenting.

"Seems like he has already fallen for the old trick."

"Obvious. Did you forget that this is Krune's first time leaving the forest? He still doesn't know how big the world is, that Four Star Badge...sigh."

Yusa heard the comments in the surroundings and was very satisfied. After acting a little more, she then parted ways with him. Krune then went to eat breakfast in the hotel's restaurant before heading back to his room. Yusa was the one who asked him to go and eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant first for people to see that he was back. Krune, of course, was very happy to do that. He didn't even need to act when food was involved.

Back in his room, Krune waited for an hour. They decided to leave during the day instead of the night because no one would think they would do that. They agreed on a meeting point as well. The runestone could teleport someone 20 kilometers away from the starting point at most. But the further one teleported, the less accurate it would be, so they decided to meet 10 kilometers away from the village to be safe.

Sure enough, one hour had passed, and he teleported close to the meeting point. A minute later, Yusa also appeared nearby. Their teleportation runestone broke after that.

"Let's not follow the road for now. It's better to get farther away from the village first. Katiu Forest's danger zone is enormous, and it'll take us a long time to arrive at Kaley City. When nighttime comes, we can head back to the main road. If everything goes well, we should arrive in Kaley City in a week."

Krune nodded as he understood. He already had a map of the region, so he knew that it wouldn't be a simple one or two-day travel.

Nighttime soon came, with Yusa becoming a little tired. Although all cultivators could use all five elements, they usually specialized in one. Yusa was a Water-type cultivator, not very suited for speed, so she has a hard time keeping up with Krune. As for Krune? He didn't think he had any specialty. Krune simply used what he thought was convenient, and it could be said that he was good at all elements.

Krune soon stopped and opted for them to rest. It wasn't because he was a gentleman. In fact, he was a very realistic wisp! He simply thought that if they continued like that and got into a fight in the middle of the way, Yusa would drag him down if she wasn't in her best condition.

Yusa accepted the offer since she was exhausted.

They found an inconspicuous place and decided to stay there for the night. After that, Yusa then took out a runestone and activated it.

"This is a simple concealing runestone formation. It will hide us for the time being. Unlike the teleportation formation, low-level concealing formations are very easy to scribe. I believe even I would be able to make some of the lowest quality, so they're quite cheap and convenient."

She then put it down, and not long after, it looked like they disappeared from the surroundings. This low-level formation would only work for five to six hours, which was enough sleeping time for her. She then took a few blankets and placed them on the ground. Though, just when she was about to go sleep, she noticed that Krune was as awake as ever.

"Aren't you going to sleep as well? You don't need to worry, this formation might be of low level, but unless it's someone at the late stages of Foundation Establishment or higher, they wouldn't be able to see through it."

She then let out a chuckle as she said, "Or could it be that you think I would do something to you during the night?"

Krune heard that but just shook his head. Although they've just interacted a few times, he didn't think Yusa was this type of person.

"That's not it. I simply can't sleep, and I've never slept in my life to start with."

That was to be expected. Krune was, after all, a wisp. Even though he had obtained a human body, the body itself was created through his Spiritual Energy. He now had the senses of a human body. Even having a child was possible as well, though some other things never change. The fact that he didn't need to sleep was one of them. 

Yusa looked at him with surprise. How many races out there had no need for sleep? Not many, that's for sure. Of course, she didn't pry into the issue since asking a demon beast which race they were was taboo. No demon beast would show their real appearance in case some people have some ideas regarding their bloodlines or the materials that can be made from their bodies.

She then turned around and went to sleep, but before she could even close her eyes, Krune asked her.

"Aren't you afraid that I could do something to you during the night instead?"

She then let out laughter as she replied, "Nope! I've seen you battle at the Mercenary Exam, and I have a feeling that that wasn't your full power. Simply put, I think I would have no chance against you in a one-on-one battle. So if you really wanted to, you could have done anything to me on our way out."

Krune was amazed by her answer. He then laughed in response to her words, though he declined to comment if her intuition was right or wrong.

As for Yusa, although she didn't lie, she wasn't 100% sure either. So without Krune noticing, she used a perception technique that would alarm her if he got close to her while she was sleeping. Though, it was useless since Krune wasn't that type of wisp to start with. For him, all types of relationships were to be cherished, except those regarding enmity, of course.

The night passed, with Krune using this time to cultivate. He took out quite a few Rank One and Two Spirit Stones and placed them around him. He also made sure to restrict his Spiritual Energy absorption inside the area that the spirit stones covered, so he wouldn't disrupt the outside or the concealing formation. 

Fortunately, the night passed without any mishaps. When Yusa woke up and saw Krune still sitting on the other side cultivating, she let out a sigh of relief. At least it didn't seem like she was wrong about Krune.

Krune noticed that she woke up and then put the spirit stones that could still be used away.

"Ready?"

Yusa nodded, but she didn't take the concealing formation back. Every time a formation runestone was used, it would break apart after that. There was no use in bringing it back with her since she had a few more of the runestones anyway. Not to mention that they were quite cheap.

"We should head back to the road. Even if people have already noticed that we left, it's already too late."

She then took a hat from her spatial ring.

"Here, instead of using the hood, use this hat. Just comb your hair back and cover it with the hat. It should completely conceal the hair."

Krune nodded and did as he was told. Sure enough, his hair wasn't visible anymore.

"We should go and join a group. We moved really fast yesterday, so we've definitely caught up with the groups that don't know what happened in the Mercenary Guild. As long as we show our mercenary badges, they would gladly take us in."

Krune agreed with her, and soon, they set off.

One hour later, they eventually found a group with three Foundation Establishment and quite a few Qi Condensation cultivators. After showing their badges, the leader of the group also took his own mercenary badge out. He was happy to bring the two together along for the journey. There was safety in numbers, after all.

---

Back at the village beside Katiu Forest, two men were discussing in the hotel restaurant that Krune was in before. One of them asked, "Have you checked already?"

The other one nodded as he said, "Yes, I went there and knocked several times, but he simply didn't answer. I couldn't use my Divine Sense to pry inside because of the formations blocking it. Nevertheless, I found a way in and found out that there was no one inside the room. No one saw him either, so he probably used a teleportation runestone to leave the village."

His partner then nodded as he said, "Send the signal. This Four Star guy with a Universe Foundation is a gold mine. We have to bring him back to the clan. As long as we convince him to sign a blood contract, everything will be fine. It has to be before they arrive at Kaley City, though."

The other man accepted the order and soon headed out.