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"Alright, Emery. I also need to increase my rank." The red-haired said with a smile. "I'll probably see you tomorrow then. Or not…"

Even though the girl had given him a lot of headaches throughout their interaction so far, it was also an undeniable fact that she had been helpful and contributed a lot in certain situations. Hence, Emery sincerely expressed his gratitude to the girl for all the help.

In response, Annara had a smirk on her face, before saying, "Alright then. If you don't have anything else to say, I'm going back to my cave now. Don't bother me if it's not important."

"Wait, cave?" Emery asked, clearly surprised by the word the red-haired girl used.

Annara narrowed her eyes at Emery, as she thought he was just playing fool. However, when she realized Emery's reaction was genuine, she was completely taken aback.

"How long have you been in the privileged class again? Where have you lived all this time?"

Hearing that question, Emery scratched his head in embarrassment while grinning. After all, ever since he came to Hyperion, he stayed in the body tempering facility, where he underwent the procedure. Then, the medical station in the privileged center after he got heavily wounded in the arena. Right after he was summoned and sent on the mission.

On the other hand, Emery also had no designated grand magus to guide him and from the not-so-good guide designated to him - Magus Ramona - who had immediately gone missing after a very brief explanation, Emery was as lost as a lamb separated from its herd.

Thankfully, Annara once again helped. She told things about the matter, then after making sure he understood everything she was saying, she went off to her own business.

After analyzing the situation and learning about the map of Hyperion geography, Emery took out the [Orbiter] he possessed and boarded it before flying into the air and going to find his own place.

There were about three dozen islands floating above the gas giant planet, with roughly half of them being marked classified and prohibited from entering. However, among the twenty or so floating islands to choose from, only eight of them were elemental islands leaving the rest as savage islands, where many ferocious beasts lived and roamed around.

The planet where the privileged class resided, Hyperion, was said to be created by 8 primordial beings as a home that used the mysterious god-level energy of the gas giant planet as its entire foundation, making it one of a kind place perfect and completely suitable for cultivation.

Thus, Hyperion was never about the state-of-the-art and impressive facilities, but the entire planet itself. With this in mind, finding the right place to settle was something of great importance.

One of the important pieces of advice Annara told Emery in choosing his own place was to find one that would help cultivate his core better.

This led to Emery's current situation, where he was roaming around the planet with the flying artifact on his feet. He eventually realized the floating islands had their various and respective types of elemental energy in abundance.

There were roughly five thousand magus and acolytes residing on this planet and over 100,000 places were known to give off various unique energy signatures. Therefore, the only thing Emery had to do was to find one that suited him.

When it came to his cultivation, his options were naturally nature or darkness element islands. However, since he was looking for a place to stay for a long time, he preferred to have a place that made him comfortable above all else.

With that consideration in mind, Emery flew towards the part of the dozens of islands that were full of natural energy.

There were a total of three islands Emery could consider, all of which had vibrant trees and rushing water filling their entire landscape. However, each island had its own distinct feeling from one another: water, plant and earth, but Emery found all to be sufficient for his purposes.

Now, he just needed to decide which of the three was more suitable than the other.

After several hours of flying around, Emery finally found a place that satisfied him. It was a unique-looking range of stone hills, filled with lush greenery in abundance and had water pouring from above, almost like a waterfall.

It was a perfect place that had the balanced energy of the three elements of nature.

Emery checked on his bracelets and found that one spot was marked as an option that could be claimed. In the short description that the bracelet gave, it was said the place was a cave flowing with natural energy all year around.

Emery made his way to the cave and found the place to be quite decent. It was honestly quite a simple-looking cave, with clear flowing water and a few plants on its ground and ceiling that lightly lit up the place.

It didn't have a comfortable bed or any exemplary amenities like the elite class provided for its acolytes, but it gave off a strong yet constant energy that for a moment reminded Emery of Gaia's Shrine.

Since he liked the place and decided to stay here, Emery quickly followed the procedure and used the bracelets to claim the place for his own use.

[You have successfully claimed the Spirit Cave]

Going through proper procedure and given formal registration assured Emery that no other people beside him would come to enter and bother him, while he was inside the cave. Moreover, living in a cave without claiming it would bring serious consequences.

After he was given permission, the cave would be his until he switched to a different one or his privileged class' status was revoked.

Emery walked around the cave for a while, appreciating his new home before quickly returning to his training and sitting in the lotus position.

The first thing that came into his mind was to eat the [Spirit Foundation Pills] he had acquired in order to achieve breakthrough. However, knowing he didn't have enough time, as he still had a duel to attend tomorrow, Emery decided to do something else.

Being in a lush place filled with natural energy, Emery quickly opened his Spatial Space and took out the two items he had obtained during his visit to Alfa City.

A book titled [Metamorphosis Theory] and a sapling - [Flora Colossi].

Looking at the sapling in his right hand, Emery's eyes shone as he muttered.

"Let's see if I can successfully grow you now."

To be continued