Chapter 38: Arrival

We went inside the outskirts of the forests of beasts.

While I let Harry do the walking as he carried me on his back, I saw a lot of magical beasts watch us from afar. They were observing us. Many of them were strong, might be as strong as a soul detachment and nascent soul cultivator. But Alexander told us that all of them are under the sect's control, and they cannot attack people that are connected to the sect.

Harry was panting, and said, "Can you walk on your own now? I'm tired."

"No, you're not tired," I said.

"But—"

"No buts, continue walking! Or I'll take your storage ring in your sleep and destroy all of your chocolate bars!" I threatened him.

"Nooo!! Anything but that!!"

"Now, fasten your pace."

Soon, the entire group reached the entrance to the inner parts of the forest, and a man in a butler's uniform greeted us with hospitality in the only opened land of the forest.

He is a tall man with long blonde hair and blue shimmering eyes. A face that's so perfect that I can't even find anything wrong with it. He stood straight and proper, like a servant waiting for his master.

"I reckon that all of you had a sweet adventure, no?" He said with elegance as he bowed to Alexander.

Alexander replied with, "Hmm, our adventure was quite a spectacle, Laystine. I apologize if you had to wait for us."

The blonde man smiled, and said, "I didn't wait that long, Alexander. I only arrived a few minutes before all of you entered the outskirts. And I told you to call me by my first name, not my last name."

My father-figure chuckled, and said, "Hmm, I'll think about it, Laystine."

Laystine also chuckled a bit, and said, "Anyway, I presume you have given the children the storage rings she gave you?"

"Yeah, for that, I'm thankful. It must've cost the sect so many resources to make 41 storage rings! I can't even believe that they agreed to my request!" He said.

Laystine narrowed his eyes a bit, and said, "But the resources used to make those storage rings have also cost you, Alexander."

A weird atmosphere appeared around them, and it felt pretty uncomfortable.

"Oh, don't worry about that, I will get that done soon." He said with a smile.

*Clap*

Laystine clapped his hands, and brought out a teleportation talisman, then said, "Now, let us enter the sect with this talisman!" I was instantly alarmed, as that thing could kill us, but he continued "I know that all of you know the consequences from using these, but that only works if you're thousands of kilometers away from your destination. In our current case, the sect is only a few kilometers underground. So it's completely safe to use this!"

So that's why.

"Please gather around me." He said.

Soon, with all of us huddled together, he activated the talisman and a bright light engulfed all of us.

I closed my eyes as the light almost blinded me, and after a few seconds, I heard noises.

I slowly opened my eyes, and I saw a metal gate right in front of me with two people guarding it.

All of us were shocked to see a wall that extended as far as the eyes can see and tall buildings behind the walls. We heard people chatting behind the walls, making us all a bit excited about the prospect of entering those metal gates.

Laystine surveyed everyone, and was about to be finished when he noticed 1 tiny detail; an old man was present with us.

"Uh, who are you, if I may ask?" He asked, confused as he didn't see this old man earlier.

"Ohohoho, such a respectful youngster. I am Christopher, the greatest mage on the silver continent! You should be bowing to me just for being in my presence." Christopher said boldly.

I saw that Laystine was confused, so I just said as I was still being carried by Harry, "Don't mind him, mister butler. He's just a senile old man."

'God, dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the cultivators!' I said in my thoughts.

"You ungrateful brat! I am your master, and you're my apprentice, so respect me!" He said, still going on with his joke.

Laystine then chuckled, and turned to Alexander, "Who is he?"

"A friend Auguste made." He replied.

Laystine just nodded and continued what he was doing.

He saw the 7 women I rescued a few months ago, and said, "You have maids? I didn't know that."

Alexander chuckled a bit, "Auguste was the one who brought them in since he felt sorry for them."

"Oh, Auguste sounds like a great kid. Where is he?" He asked.

I raised my hand but he couldn't see it because everyone was just way taller than me.

Alexander pointed at me, and said, "That's Auguste, he's 3 years old at the moment."

I saw Laystine space out for a moment, and when he returned, he said, "I beg your pardon?"

He chuckled again since it is indeed surprising for a 3-year-old to do the things he's said.

"Auguste is 3 years old, and he has done far more amazing things than most of our disciples. He once stormed into a goblin village and killed an ogre! Even a foundation establishment will find a hard time fighting an ogre!"

Right now, Alexander sounds like a parent who's bragging about his child to other parents. For some reason… it feels good to be praised so much, especially because it comes from him.

I smiled, happy to be looked highly upon by Alexander.

"I can hardly believe that because that sounds so ridiculous, Alexander!" Laystine said.

"Well, you'll have to believe that from now on. Anyhow, this has gone long enough, can we enter the sect now?" Alexander replied.

After saying that, Laystine went to the gate and the guards greeted him, then opened the giant metal gate for us.

What we saw inside the walls was beautiful

A Bustling City with so many people chatting with each other. Each person here is a cultivator, I noticed. I even saw children jumping around the roofs of the houses and buildings, playing a game of tag.

Even though we are under the earth, I only saw a clear sky above me, complete with a sun and clouds, too!

'Illusion magic? How did they manage to cast this throughout this underground land? And in such an extensive way at that!' I asked in my thoughts, more curious than ever.