Distance

"What the hell is that?"

Cecilia, who had been humming softly while walking, turned around to look at what Kai was looking at, she was a little confused as to what-

Her face paled instantly.

"I- I don't know what that is, I've never seen it before. It must have been attracted by the destruction."

Kai mentally cursed.

They had gotten lucky, if they had gone through with the plan of waiting there until someone came to repair the portal, they probably would have been inside that beast's stomach, or even crushed beneath its feet.

The worst part was, Kai couldn't even make out what it was. Its entire body was hidden above the clouds, all they could make out was the gargantuan legs of the beast, and that was enough to terrify Kai.

"At least it's far behind us..."

Still, Kai wasn't sure about the beast. He had been passed out the last few days so it was only normal that he hadn't noticed it.

But he had literally looked backwards at the city when he got out of the tent and there had been no gargantuan legs surrounding it.

So where had the ginormous beast come from?

Kai sighed softly.

"Let's pick up the pace a little."

The six of them continued to travel towards the base of the peak, two sets of footprints being left behind in the process.

Petunia played with Umbra's fur, tying it in small knots or braiding little bits of it. She styled it all sorts of ways, but the wolf didn't seem to mind, in fact, Kai felt that she was enjoying it.

Still, Kai was just happy that Petunia didn't put any curls in it, he had seen enough of those to last him a lifetime.

By now, the young girl's blonde hair had basically returned to normal. It was a little wavy, compliments to the absurd amount of curls that had once been in it, but it was nearly straight again.

Cecilia would speak now and again, trying to keep the young girl entertained, but Petunia was more interested in Umbra's fur so she resorted to chatting with Kai.

Remy slept most of the time, only waking up to look around, see they were still surrounded by snow, and fall back asleep again.

Umbra didn't mind being used as a mode of transport, in fact, Kai felt that she probably didn't even feel the extra weight. She was about the size of a young horse after all.

Kai felt that it wouldn't be long before his furry familiar was taller than him, and he was dreading that day as she was already able to pin him to the ground extremely easily, he didn't even want to imagine what it would be like under her when she got even bigger.

But Esurient... Kai had a different plan for them.

Kai knew that Esurient was smart. He knew that they were also brave and strong, so that's why he let the Ruby blade fly freely in front of them.

At the same time, Kai set up a telepathic commotion with the levitating blade. This would be a good way to kill two birds with one stone after all.

One, he would be able to test how far Esurient would be able to fly away from him if they were to act like a scout.

And two, he would be able to test the max distance his Telepathy could reach.

"So, buddy, how do you feel flying?"

Kai could faintly make out Esurient in the distance, a blip of red in the light blizzard. The Ruby blade flying so freely he nearly mistook them for a bird.

Well, not really, but he could still see the blade flip and somersault, like it thought Kai wouldn't be able to see it.

"It feels good. I like flying. It's freeing."

Kai smiled softly.

"That's good to hear, just don't forget your mission."

It wasn't actually two birds with one stone Kai was aiming to kill, it was more like three stones.

He would be testing the limits of Esurient and Telepathy, but he would also have his trusty Ruby sidekick hunt some monsters, giving Kai a little more XP.

Of course, Kai wasn't reckless, not at all. The only beasts he knew that roamed the blizzard were those rhino bears, so that was all Esurient was allowed to hunt until Kai was able to use Soul Sense again and gauge the strength of some other beasts.

Although he wasn't actually sure if there was other beasts, considering that he hadn't seen any bar the gargantuan eight legged terror behind him.

However, he was sure that would change the closer they got to the base of the Royal Peak.

Kai kept the telepathic connection up, only he didn't speak into it, he was focusing on something else now.

While he was riding Umbra, Kai was simultaneously repairing the cracks in his soul using Soulcery. The quicker he got his soul back to normal, the better. It meant he would be able to use his some of his skills again, keep the whole team warm, scout the levels of any monsters they would see and be ready to defend them if anything attacked them.

Of course, it was still another week until his stats returned to normal, but Soul Flame could handle the loss for now, and if he made use of Mana Surge it wouldn't be too much of a difference.

Of course, he would much rather have his stats return to normal now, but he couldn't have everything.

But at the same time as Kai was repairing his soul, he was also doing something else.

He was circulating his Mana internally.

If before he could move a ball of Mana around his Mana Veins in 27 seconds, now he could do it in about 22 seconds. 5 seconds didn't really seem like much of a difference, but a 5 second decrease from a Rare Skill, who knew what it what it would he like when it reached Epic or even Legendary rarity?

Of course, there was also the fact that Kai was repairing his soul at the same time, which could have been slowing him down a little. Kai was near certain that he would he able to reach 21 seconds if he only focused on his Mana, but repairing his soul took priority.

It was strenuous work, doing both of those things at the same time, but Kai took pride in it. If it was hard work it was good work, that was his father's motto.

... Obviously, Kai hadn't believed in the same philosophy back on Earth, he was an avid believer of no work was good work.

But now that his life was relying on him to work, he found it a little more enjoyable, strangely.

Crack after crack was repaired, lap after lap of his Mana Veins was completed, Kai felt strangely peaceful.

It was probably that he was too tired to think straight, but it was sort of nice.

And the thing is, Kai mainly felt mentally tired, not so much physically tired. If he had to hazard a guess, he would assume that like how someone aged, his physical body would change with the leveling process.

And he didn't just mean he would grow stronger and all that, he meant he would have to sleep as much, eat as much, drink as much.

Although Kai was sure to do all of those things, he just loved them too much to give them up.

As they continued traveling, the odd notification would go off in Kai's head, courtesy of Esurient killing something.

In the six or so hours they spent getting closer to the Royal Peak today, Esurient killed three rhino bears.

Sadly, Kai did not gain any levels, which he had sort of expected considering that even at level thirty he was able to kill the bears with little to no difficulty.

One good thing about the harsh cold was that no matter how hard Kai pushed himself, he did not sweat. He wasn't sure if that was normal or not, but it was a good thing nonetheless.

Deciding to set up camp on one of the many patches of snow for the night, Cecilia summoned the tent and opened it up, letting everyone in.

Kai sighed softly as he sat down.

He had found out two things today.

Esurient was able to go about two and half kilometers away from Kai, that was their max limit.

And Telepathy was able to go even further than that, as Kai was still able to use it by the time Esurient reached their limit.

It was a good distance, one that Kai was happy with. The next thing he wanted to test was the limit of Soul Sense, but he had to wait for his soul to be repaired to do that.

Now, it was time to do his final thing for the day.

"Put out your hand."

Cecilia glanced at Kai, slightly confused.

"Sir?"

Still, she extended her hand.

Sighing softly about what he was about to do, Kai held it and transferred ownership of one of his items to her.

Something under his lustrous steel armour stirred.

Cecilia's eyes widened as she glanced at the description of the item.

"Sir! I cannot."

"It's fine." Kai sighed. "If we get in a fight or anything I'll take it back, so just wear it for now, I'm sure that it's warmer than your dress.

Cecilia hesitated, but smiled softly.

"Thank you... Sir."

Kai had already given Petunia his tunic, that was what had been keeping the young girl warm, so he had to give something else to Cecilia.

A moment later, a dark white bodysuit appeared around the ex-Queen's body under her dress. It had two red lines run up either side of her body, like the legs of a spider.

Kai couldn't help but see the excitement in Cecilia's eyes as she took off the dress she had been wearing and stored it in her spatial storage.

He also couldn't help but notice that it looked much nicer on her than it did him, the way it clung to her-

Kai blushed softly. Where had he been looking?

But the next moment, Kai's blush disappeared as he noticed Cecilia glaring at him.

Shit! Did she-

Thinking that he had been caught looking where he shouldn't have been, Kai was just about to defend himself, but then was confused by Cecilia's words.

"Sir... This item has the ability to transform itself?"

Kai blinked.

"... Yeah?"

Cecilia's jaw dropped.

"Then why do you always keep it in the form of the bodysuit! Think of all the possibilities? All the fabulous outfits you could have been wearing! The suits, the designer brands, the... the... everything!

I am disappointed in you!"

Kai blinked, staring at Cecilia blankly.

Was she... a massive clothes gal?

It was a second after what she said did Cecilia comprehend what she had said. She blushed profusely, lifting her hands up to hide her face.

"I-I'm sorry, Sir! I didn't mean it like that, I was just-

She was cut off by the sound of Kai bursting out laughing.