Smooth Travels

In a desperate attempt to distract themselves away from Elsa's almost too agreeable attitude, Reese and Kylee focused back on Asher.

Kylee suddenly thought of the preparation Asher promised before and then asked, "Ah, Asher. Sooo….what are we going to wear? I hope it's something good for all of us."

Asher turned his attention back over to Kylee and nodded at her. "Oh, I'm sure you guys will love this."

Asher had then reached into his pocket, taking out his spatial ring. A brief blue flash lit up the ring, and he brought out their Origin Cloaks.

"Oh??" Both Reese and Kylee immediately reacted to the Origin Cloaks.

Despite looking like any regular black cloaks, they could sense unfathomable energy radiating off from the cloaks. This energy….Reese and Kylee felt like it's higher than even Spirit Mana energy!

Their eyes increasingly widened in surprise, already massively impressed by the first thing Asher took out.

"Here, catch. Don't take it off ever during the mission." Right then, Asher tossed an Origin Cloak for Elsa, Reese, and Kylee.

After doing so, Asher began to put on his Origin Cloak while explaining, "What we're wearing are Origin Cloaks. With these, any one of us can easily tank any attack below the Origin Tier realm. Moreover, we can even tank several blows from powerful Origin Tier cultivators as well."

"It's that powerful?!" Both Reese and Kylee loudly exclaimed at the same time.

Their surprise reaction wasn't exaggerated in the slightest. After all, the Origin Tier realm is what thousands across Pearlcrest City can only hope to achieve.

And anyone at the Origin Tier realm wields insane power that can effortlessly crush any Spirit Tier warrior.

With all this in mind, Reese and Kylee felt incredibly lighter wearing the Origin Cloak. They could just feel its unfathomable energy wrap around their bodies, ready to protect them at a moment's notice.

"Maaan….with this….we don't have to worry about defense at all! This-this must've cost a fortune!" Reese breathlessly said.

"Indeed….but thinking about it, this is the wealth of the noble High Class we're talking about here, Reese," Kylee spoke up next.

Of course, in their minds, they can't believe that Asher had the resources to attain a tremendous treasure like this. As far as they know, Asher still only has a common amount of wealth like their own families.

Both Elsa and Asher knew what Reese and Kylee were thinking.

And Elsa, of course, stayed silent, though her mind felt slightly mixed. She experienced what they had to do to achieve these Origin Cloaks, and it still brought up unpleasant feelings for her.

Asher also didn't have a change in reaction and then told the duo, "Now then, you two only have to worry about these Cloaks, Elsa and I will take care of the rest. Also, while these Cloaks are helpful, do not get lax. Be prepared for anything unexpected."

"Right."

Reese and Kylee seriously nodded at the same time. Their determination for this mission was immensely raised after receiving these Origin Cloaks. With it, their chance of tremendously changing their lives can be realized!

"To get to the mission point, we will closely stick behind you, right?" Elsa spoke up next, keeping her attention square on Asher.

Asher readily nodded. "My Aura Sense will lead us directly to the point. And I hope your endurance is good, Reese, Kylee. We will have to run the whole way there, and the spot may be a bit far away."

"Don't worry about us, man. Even we can run for a long time." Reese confidently spoke.

"Mnh! Just lead the way, Asher!" Kylee had a fiery, energetic spirit mixed within her tone.

Elsa remains silent, only giving Asher a slight incline of her head to showcase her agreement.

After everything was said and done, Asher briefly closed his eyes. Then, like previous times, he poured his Aura Sense into his System Soul to detect the Mission Point.

Almost immediately, Asher's Aura Sense detected where he needed to go.

And this time, Asher felt like it was much clearer to perceive where he should go. He could feel out the general distance and detected that it shouldn't take too long to arrive at the Mission Point.

With the destination implanted inside his Aura Sense, Asher flung his eyes back open. He swiftly turned around in a specific direction while telling the others,

"Reese, Kylee, you two stick to my back. Elsa, you will be at my rear just in case anything tries to attack us."

"Ok!" Reese, Kylee, and even Elsa gave their agreement.

Without any more delay, Reese, Kylee, and Elsa followed Asher's direction, settling into their formation instantly.

With everyone finally in place, Asher had then sprinted off deeper into the Decrypted Woods. And closely flanking his behind was Reese, Kylee, and Elsa.

The four of them split apart the air as they dashed directly towards Asher's mission point.

….

Asher, Reese, Kylee, and Elsa didn't stop for a second as they sprinted through the Decrypted Woods. They fearlessly ran through the haunting darkness of the woods, entirely unaffected by the chilling atmosphere permeating the whole area.

For Asher and Elsa, they were completely used to the terrors of the Decrypted Woods. Their nerves have already been steel this much to keep up a calm stride while also expecting any sudden danger.

While normally, Reese and Kylee would've actually felt anxiety, dread, and fear all at once from venturing further in the Decrypted Woods.

In fact, both of them could count on their fingers the amount of time they've been to the Woods.

Like any other common student or the average resident, Reese and Kylee had that natural instinctive fear towards the danger lurking within the Decrypted Woods.

However, all that has now changed.

With Asher, Elsa, and the Origin Cloaks protecting them, Reese and Kylee felt like they could actually get through this. The fact that they can dependently rely on all of this gave Reese and Kylee the confidence to never look back.

'Hm?'

Suddenly then, as they traversed the woods, Asher perceived a hostile presence rapidly approaching them.

Because he and Elsa needed to adjust to Reese and Kylee's speed, they weren't going as fast as they could be.

But throughout the entire time they were running, Asher didn't sense any Mana Monster attempting to come at them. With this hostile presence rapidly approaching them, Asher guessed their luck had finally run out.

Despite detecting a monster closing in on them, Asher actually had no plans on stopping. He continued to lead his group even as they all soon felt slight tremors quaking the ground.

"Eh? Do you guys feel that?" Reese suddenly asked after feeling the tremors.

His Aura Sense wasn't anywhere near as good as Asher, so he could only rely on the vibrations from the ground. Although, Reese didn't stop running even after feeling the tremors.

"A monster! Should we stop?" Kylee spoke up next, though she didn't stop running as well.

"Oh, this? Just some Mid-Stage Spirit Tier beast. None of our concerns." Asher dismissively spoke.

Honestly, if he was alone, Asher wouldn't even feel fear about facing a Mid-Stage Spirit Tier monster. At this point, he was more than sure he could face off against any Mid-Stage Spirit Tier being.

But Asher knew there wasn't any need for him to lift a single finger.

At the back of their group, Elsa briefly crossed her gaze in the direction of where that Mana monster was coming from.

Without stopping her run, Elsa raised a single finger, coating it in chilling Ice energy, and spewed out a meter-long icicle from the tip. Immediately after creating the Icicle, Elsa casually flicked it towards the direction of the Mana monster.

A couple of seconds later, Reese and Kylee felt the slight tremors on the ground abruptly stop. When the tremors stopped, the duo had then heard a loud thump echo in their general area.

'S-so powerful!' Both Reese and Kylee felt utter awe.

Without even having to see the beast, Elsa had so casually killed it like she was stomping a mere bug!

Furthermore, neither Reese nor Kylee sensed any dramatic rise of power spewed out from Elsa to kill that beast.

Just from that small display of power, Reese and Kylee felt their decision to come to this mission was absolutely right. The exaggerated tales of Elsa's immense prowess weren't false in the slightest!

On the other hand, Asher never lost his stride. He simply treated Elsa's kill as a regular occurrence and kept on running.

From behind him, Reese and Kylee felt a bit odd seeing Asher so calmly take in Elsa's kill. But they didn't focus on it for long, refocusing their mind back on maintaining a decent running speed.

With Elsa instantly annihilating any hostile beast daring enough to come close to them, Asher had smooth travels leading his group towards the mission point.

….

After a half-hour of nonstop running, Asher had finally sensed they had arrived at their mission point.

Right then, Asher stopped running, prompting Reese, Kylee, and Elsa to also stop at the same time.

"Eh? Are we finally here?"

Kylee asked as she gazed around their current area. She felt slight confusion since this area looked nearly identical to everything else they had seen so far.

It was all just a variety of large trees, bushes, and the occasional cave that plagued the Decrypted Woods.

Reese and Elsa were similarly gazing around the area, attempting to find anything that looked suspicious.

While they did so, Asher closed his eyes for a moment. Then, he concentrated on his Aura Sense, and in just a second, he detected precisely where their mission point lay.

Flinging his eyes back open, Asher had then pointed to a specific spot, causing Elsa, Reese, and Kylee's gaze to shift over to this spot.

In a calm tone, Asher explained to them, "Right there. Believe it or not, that cave holds our mission point."