Chapter 40: Arrival

***Author's Note***

My worst fear has become reality.

Our department head dumped a butt load of work on us. That is the reason why I wasn't able to publish a chapter these last few days. I am sorry about that.

Damn it, and this month is supposed to be our vacation. T_T

To outset the missing chapters, I will work on weekend instead.

Anyways. Enjoy!

- M3gusta

I was jolted awake as I felt a strong presence, but as soon as I felt it, it suddenly vanished.

Awaken by my sudden movement, Kurt quickly jumped to his feet. Ready to fight. Right behind him was Philip who drew his weapon. He then kicked Ortho who was still sleeping after all the commotion.

"What did ye kick me for ye bastard! I was havin a good dream." Ortho slowly gets up, rubbing his bruised side.

"Get ready you lazy bum. Kurt has felt something." Philip scolded the dwarf.

"Not me actually. It was Cloud who sensed something." The bald man said.

Shit. I will get scolded again if I was wrong. "Yeah, I felt something in that direction. It vanished as soon as I felt it." I reported.

"Hmmm. Are you sure? You've been saying that all day but we keep finding nothing and it still probably nothing. If you are nervous about the mission, keep it to yourself. There are others who want to rest." Philip looks annoyed as he puts his weapons down and settled to his bedroll.

"I am afraid I am with Philip with this one. Wake me up when yer sure about something lad. I am sleepy. Goin back to sleep. Night!" He then went back to his bed and snored loudly.

Hmph. I am sure I felt something. I am not nervous or paranoid. As I keep thinking those thoughts, I see Kurt look at me intently.

"Why? You also think it is just in my head?" I asked the monk.

He looks at me calmly before answering. "No. I do believe you did sensed something. While the Philip and the others may not trust it, I find your senses to be sharp if not the sharpest among us. I will stand guard. You can go back to sleep."

Before he could finish what he was saying, a rustling sound can be heard from the direction I felt the presence from. Also hearing the sound, the other also spring into action. We wait for the figure to come to our sight and when we finally saw who the figure is, we were finally able to relax.

Alora, the one who has just came back from her patrol put her bow and quiver by the tree as if nothing has happened. She looked at our defensive posture with curiosity. "Hmmm? You guys are still awake. What are you doing? Did something happen?" She asked.

"Nothing. Cloud just felt a presence earlier and we thought we are about to be attacked. Ridiculous I know since you are the one patrolling the camp. I said we don't have anything to be worried of, but they wouldn't listen." Man, way to go to suck up to a girl Philip.

"Oh. You said you felt a presence that is why you went on alert? Hmmm. I apologize if I troubled you, but that was me. I was surprised when I came across a Lightning Ape while patrolling and let my presence slip by accident." She explained as she sits against a tree "Don't worry. Everything is clear for miles. We won't need to worry of any ambush. I am going to sleep now. I am tired. Wake me up when it is time for us to go." Without waiting for a reply, she closed her eyes and dozed off.

"Well, I guess you were right. I do apologize for doubting you this time. But that doesn't prove that you were right about the presence you felt earlier today. I am going back to sleep. I would suggest you do the same. We need to be fresh for tomorrow's mission. Good night everyone!" Philip declared before going back to sleep. Ortho quickly followed after him.

What Alora said was kind of suspicious. For a person who hides her presence even with her companions and even while fighting, it is highly unlikely that she makes a mistake and slips on her control that I was able to feel her presence. It is kind of unnerving really. Looking at someone who felt that she isn't even there. Like looking at a ghost. If what she said is indeed true, then I wonder what a Lightning Ape is that it was able to surprise her so much to let her presence slip.

Haaahhhh. No point in thinking about things that I don't have the answer to. I will just sleep and recover from the exhausting Ki training from earlier. Maybe this time I will find myself in the Void again. That way I can practice more on Amplify that I may be able to use it in battle. Seeing Kurt also going back to sleep, I followed his lead and sleep.

---------------------------

I wake up at the smell of food cooking. Damn it, I wasn't able to enter the Void. How the fuck does that work? I could've used the atmosphere there that allows me to work nonstop without feeling fatigued to finally master Amplify. Oh well. I guess I will master it the old way. Hard work and lots of time of practice.

I sat up, yawned and stretched my arms. I see Kurt and Ortho already eating while Philip was polishing his sword and chatting with Alora.

Noticing that I woke up, Kurt called me over to have breakfast. "Come, have some breakfast. We are moving out soon so you need all the energy you can get." He said after offering me a bowl of stew with a piece of venison.

"Good thing ye wake up when ye did. Else ye wouldn't be able to partake on this wonderful meal." Ortho then put another piece of venison on his mouth and chewed with gusto. "Thank the Gods for such delicious meat! Now we only need beer and this breakfast would be complete. How unfortunate that I ran out already." He lamented as he drinks a cup of water.

"I think it is better that you don't have any more alcohol right now. We need to be focused at all time. Alcohol will only slow you down." Kurt told him after he finished his food and proceeded to wash the bowl.

"Hah! You may not understand this, but don't compare us dwarves with you humans. We work better when drunk." He boasted.

"Yeah right. You work so much better when drunk that you almost blew us up while making your Mananite bomb while inebriated." Philip chimed in, while Alora just nods in agreement.

Flustered from Philip revealing his past blunder, Ortho tries to argue. "Well, that was just an accident. I just tightened a screw to much which caused the Mananite bomb to activate. It was an honest mistake. Besides, nobody is perfect. Tell em Kurt." He looks pleadingly with Kurt.

Kurt just shakes his head disapprovingly and replied. "No can do. I am with Philip with this one. We almost died back then. Better be sober when operating on delicate equipment from now on."

"Bah, teaming up against a lone dwarf are we? Fine. I will work mostly while sober from now on. Now let's get this show on the road. Otherwise this might become an intervention." Ortho sighed and quickly gathers his belongings and put them in the cart. "Eat yer food quickly lad. Once yer done, we can go."

I quickly ate my food and helped the others with loading their equipment in the cart. Once we were finished, we started to march towards where the Orb is pointing once more. As we continue with our journey, I still couldn't shake the feeling that we are being watched and the presence I feel every once in a while doesn't help curb my suspicions. While it is a lot fainter than yesterday and appears more rarely and disappears quicker once noticed than before.

Bastard. Is he playing with me?

Noticing that I was glancing in a specific direction, Alora walk towards me. "Are you still sensing a presence following us?" She asked.

"Yes. It is a lot fainter than yesterday and also disappears as soon as I feel its presence, but I am sure that it is definitely there." I answered.

"You still harping on that? We already told you that there's nothing there. Alora already checked on it." Philip is his usual annoyed self.

"Then why am I here if not to sense Ki and Mana? Isn't that my job? If it is, you should at least go and check it out. My abilities are useless if you don't trust it.�� I answered.

"Cloud is right. I should at least check on it. We are heading towards the enemy's stronghold. It is only right that we check the perimeter so that we are sure that no one has discovered our presence here or Gods forbid, laying a trap for us." Alora stated and she readies to go towards the direction where I felt a presence.

"Let me go with you. If they have indeed found us, you will need backup." Philip offered his assistance.

Alora shakes her head in refusal. "No. As per your plan, we are not here to fight. If someone indeed found us, I will try to deal with them silently. If that is not possible, then I will try to lead them away from our location, then I will return and we will find another way to approach their base. For that to succeed, it have to be just me. None of you can match my speed in the forest and will just hamper our chances to escape if we are indeed discovered. No offense."

"None taken. Just… Just be careful ok?" Philip said. His face full of concern.

"I will. Don't worry. Just keep heading to the direction the Orb is pointing. I will find you once I checked whether someone has indeed found us. Best of luck to all of us." As soon as she finished talking, she ran towards the forest and vanished in a blink of an eye.

"It never fails to amaze me how she could move like that. She is absolutely better than the Masters in the Monastery when it comes to stealth and reconnaissance. Not to mention her fighting abilities. She is the only one in the party that could win against me if she tries." Kurt said as he continued to pull the cart beside me.

"She is better than you in a fight?" I was surprised. I was led to believe that the monk is the strongest one here.

"Of course. If it is unarmed then I will win more than I lose. But if she uses her weapon and magic, I don't think I have a chance. Only, she doesn't really use her magic to the fullest. She only uses ordinary Ranger spells, not the ones the Elves are infamous for. I don���t really know why, but it is not my place to ask." Kurt admitted.

"It doesn't really matter. Focus instead of the mission. We will proceed in following the direction where the Orb is pointing. Kurt, you're on point since Alora is on patrol." Philip commanded.

"Got it." Kurt answered. "Sorry Cloud. I'll leave pulling the cart to you. Duty calls." He said before going towards the front, probably to protect Ortho if an enemy does attack.

With Kurt gone and I alone is pulling the cart did I find how heavy it truly is.

Damn it. It weighs at least 200 kilos easily! When Kurt was with me pulling the cart, I felt that I was only pulling 50. That means Kurt was pulling most of the load.

After 20 minutes, I am already tired of pulling the cart. Normally I wouldn't tire this fast, but the uneven road and roots that snag the cart wheels makes it much harder.

"Hey, pull the cart faster. You are lagging behind." Philip urged me.

"Sorry. It is heavy. I will try harder." I strained my muscles and pull the cart harder. Shit it is heavy. I haven't done much muscle training other than fighting for months so I lack the strength needed to pull this heavy ass cart. Oh I know what to do!

Shell/ Reinforcement! I gathered my Ki and let it envelop my body. It increases my strength and defense, but not by much. Still, it helps me pull the cart much easier than before. All I need is to maintain my Shell for the period of todays' journey. I will just have to consider this as training. After 30 minutes of strained but a lot faster travel, I begin to feel the strain not on my body, but my mind. Maintaining Shell while moving is harder than I thought. While I was able to do it in a fight, I never had to maintain it more than 10 minutes. This must be what Kurt is telling me about. That I must be able to maintain my Aura at all times during a fight. I guess I could just treat pulling this cart as training instead of a pain in the ass.

Minutes goes by until it is almost an hour after Alora left to scout the perimeter, I am about to pass out from exhaustion due to expending much of my Ki to maintain Shell. As I feel that I am about to lose consciousness, Alora finally came back from her scouting mission. Philip ordered for us to stop and I quickly collapse on the ground from exhaustion.

"Welcome back! How was the patrol? Did you find something?" Philip greeted Alora.

"I'm back. I scoured 2 kilometers around the direction of the presence you reported earlier. I found a lot of wildlife and even magical beasts. But I did not find anyone. We are in the clear." She reported. "In my opinion, it was the magical beasts that you have detected. They do emit Aura that can be detected by Energy Sense."

"So, it was the magical beasts eh? I guess I have to apologize to Cloud. He did sense a presence." Philip said before apologizing "Sorry I doubted your ability." So he could admit his mistakes. He must not be as big a douchebag as I have thought.

"No worries. It is only natural to doubt someone who you haven't been with for a long time. Especially when even I don't have a clue how I got the ability to sense energy. I kinda just did." True, even when I was in the Void, fighting Kaizer, I was able to tell where his spell is coming from. That is the only way I was able to dodge them. I guess being trapped in a place devoid of all types of energy made me sensitive to energy.

"True, but we will rely more on your senses from now on. Now let's go!" Philip yelled and we get ready to march once more.

Kurt walked towards me as Alora took over his position at the head of the formation. "Need help?" He asked.

I put up my hand to decline. "No need. Your advice about Ki made me realize something. That my control of Ki and Aura is not as good as I thought it would be. As I pull this cart using Shell, I already felt fatigued after half an hour. I don't have stamina and my Aura control is not perfect that some of my Ki still slips away while using Shell. That is why I am pulling this cart using Shell for practice. I need to be ready, to be able to maintain my Aura at all times during battle. This mission requires me to do as much." I told him while pulling the cart.

"I see. I am glad that you wish to train even at a time like this, but if it would mean that you run your body to the ground to do so then it will instead do more harm than good to your progress towards the Path. Besides, we need to be ready in case we get into a fight so go climb on the back of the cart and meditate a bit to recover your Ki. I will pull the cart while you rest and switch with you after 30 minutes. Then you will continue your training until you get exhausted and I will switch with you again. How does that sound to you?" Kurt offered. He is really concerned about my training so it would be rude to decline.

"Okay. I will rest a bit. But not for a few more minutes. I feel I am about to have a break through." I told him. I can feel it. The sensation of Ki flowing inside me, bursting out to cover my entire body as Aura, enhancing my body's strength and durability. The more exhausted I get, the more I become sensitive to its flow. The tiny leaks that used to be imperceptible to me becomes clearer. I increase my focus and stop the leaks, one by one until none remains. This time, my Aura is complete. My Shell is now stronger and would last longer. I just need to---

As I collapse due to exhaustion, I felt an arm support me. "Good job." A voice said. I assume this is Kurt but I am not sure, I am too exhausted that I find it hard to open my eyes. "Your Shell is now complete. You only need to meditate and recover your Ki. We will try to increase the duration you can use Shell when you have enough rest." He said before carrying me to the back of the cart.

I forced myself to sit on a box at the back of the cart. I closed my eyes, controlled my breathing and started to meditate. After 30 minutes, Kurt called my attention and I switched with him to pull the cart while he walks beside me. This continued for 3 hours where I pulled the cart for 30 minutes and rested for 30 minutes. Although the amount of time I pulled the cart was the same, I began to fell less exhausted every shift, so there is at least a bit of improvement on that end.

By the fourth shift, the sun is about to set and we still haven't caught even a peek of where they took Mark. Just how far do we have to go? How many days until---

As I take another step suddenly a strong energy can be felt at a distant. The direction where it came from is directly where the Orb was pointing. "Wait!" I alerted the others.

"What is it? Did you feel something?" Philip who was behind me, asked.

"Yes. A tremendous amount of Energy can be felt at that direction." I pointed at the direction we are heading to.

Is this it? Have we finally found their hideout? If so, how will our mission to rescue Mark fare? I guess we are about to find out.