–Adrian Hale's Pov–
The savory aroma of broth filled my nose as the restaurant waiter began placing bowls of still-steaming spicy noodles one by one on the long table surrounding the five of us.
Yeah, we were at a spicy noodle restaurant recommended by Sierra!
"Whoah..." My eyes sparkled as I stared at the spicy noodles. I just remembered something—this is the first time I'll be eating spicy noodles in this world; the last time was back on Earth!
Then I slurped the noodles with chopsticks.
'Sierra was right, the noodles here are delicious. Good thing we came here.' Actually, before we came here, Azrael suggested we just have a farewell drink at a bar that also served food.
Oh, of course, I didn't agree with that. Not just me, Emily didn't agree either. Emily answered Azrael with her usual flat expression: "I don't like wine." Meanwhile, I gave the answer, "I'm afraid my little sister will get mad."
And the result is us being here at a restaurant…
"Let's eat, everyone." Sierra clapped her hands, a sign to start eating. But unfortunately, I had already started eating earlier.
Aaron beside me immediately grabbed his bowl of noodles with sparkling eyes, while Azrael, whose face is usually stiff, now softened as he began to slurp his noodles. And Emily… No need to ask, she was still her usual self with her expression.
"You're unusually ordering spicy noodles. Don't you not like spicy food?" Sierra looked at me with slightly curious eyes.
"I'm in the mood for something spicy," I answered.
"Ah, Azrael, you're already at Vanguard-Rank, right? Oh yeah, Emily too. That means you'll be recruited to Shernity City? Have you received a letter or notification about that?" Aaron asked Azrael, who was eating while casually lifting one leg.
"I don't know about that… I haven't received anything so far. You haven't either, right, Emy?" Seeing Emily nod, Azrael continued, "Yeah, maybe that notification will come when I reach the next rank. Besides, I still don't want to leave this city yet because my younger sibling is still small."
I listened to that explanation. In this Safe Zone, when a student reaches the ranks of Vanguard, Wizard, or Curate, they are usually recruited to Shernity City to help investigate the outside world alongside other hunters from various cities.
Yes, that's also one of my reasons for leaving. Actually, this party would sooner or later disband because Emy and Azrael would leave, so I'm just leaving earlier before that.
"Damn, so I'm gonna be left behind again, huh?" Aaron clicked his tongue and went back to eating.
"Aaron, you're forgetting me. I'm not leaving," Sierra said in a sweet tone.
"Yeah, yeah," Aaron nodded.
"Hmm, maybe after Azrael and Emy leave, we can form a new party and recruit Adrian. That is, if he's ranked up by then," Sierra looked at me with a hopeful and challenging gaze.
"Of course, we'll meet again. I'll rank up quickly," I answered casually.
"How will you do that?" Aaron said without looking up, eating the noodles from his bowl.
"I have my ways… The point is, I know. Just don't you guys get too strong too fast. That's all," I said it in a joking tone.
Aaron suddenly punched my arm, causing some of my broth to spill. He did it with a smile playing on his face but without turning his head.
"Damn you, Aaron," I just smiled while wiping my table, which was wet with broth, with a tissue. Then Aaron chuckled, which eventually spread to Sierra and then Azrael, but not to Emily.
…
We had finished our meal, and now the five of us were standing outside the restaurant, with me standing alone while they lined up looking at me. They planned to return to the Academy to report that their mission was completed, but I said I wouldn't join because I had other business.
I scratched the back of my neck and put on a smile that I thought felt stiff. "Well, so this is where we part ways? But, before that, I want to thank you all for accepting me as a member of this party…. Azrael, Emy, Sierra, and Aaron, thank you…"
'Thank you also for making me feel like I have sincere friends for the first time.'
"You're being so dramatic, like we're parting forever? Thank you too for helping me this far, Adrian. Without a trustworthy mage like you, maybe I couldn't have reached this point. Haha, maybe one day we should have a reunion." Azrael clenched his fist towards me, inviting a fist bump.
'One day? Will that day ever come?' I froze for a moment thinking about that, then snapped back and fist-bumped him. Then I said:
"Of course." Then my eyes searched for the others standing behind Azrael. I looked at each of them one by one and nodded.
Then I took a step back to leave. I waved my hand. "Bye… you guys be careful, take care of yourselves without me."
Sierra waved back, while the others just nodded, perhaps because there was nothing else to say. Not wanting to linger in a situation like this, I finally turned around and walked away, my back to them, who were probably also turning to leave now.
For some reason, a smile couldn't leave my face.
'Alright, that's enough.' I clapped my hands softly to forget this bitter farewell and focus on what I need to do now.
Of course, my plan now is to gather members.
But before that, I want to check something…
…
I am now standing beside the Safe Zone wall, which is fifty meters high. Seen up close, this wall is mossy and overgrown with several roots crawling upwards. This place also looks deserted because it's quite far from civilization, as building houses next to the wall is very risky for monster attacks.
I intend to climb to the top of the wall just to check if it's safe or not before I try going outside later.
The way to climb is by using my Wind Magic to lift my body.
It's called Wind Riding.
By the way, I have used this before when I first woke up in this world to fight the Dungeon Boss at that time, but after that I fell unconscious from running out of mana.
So, maybe I will be able to do it again, especially since my magic control is now better than before.
I snapped my fingers several times, but after two minutes, nothing happened, only a small, gentle breeze I could create.
'What is this? Couldn't I use it right away when I arrived here? Or could I do it back then because of adrenaline?' I thought about it for a moment. Then decided to refocus and clear my mind.
–Swoosh!
Finally, a small tornado began to circle my body. At first, it was just a gentle breeze, then it grew stronger, lifting my body.
'I can do it.'
Adding more mana to the tornado, I began to ascend very, very slowly because I had to focus on controlling this wind to keep it stable and mana-efficient.
If I fall once, I'm dead.
"Finally, I made it…" I dropped my hands to my knees, panting heavily, when I finally reached the top of the wall, which probably took about three or four minutes.
Then I lifted my gaze.
Instantly, my fatigue vanished when my eyes were greeted by a view of greenery. I saw a row of large mountains merging together not far from here, and as far as I could see, all I saw were green trees.
Then I stepped closer to look down. I crouched; below me now were many large, tall trees with very dense leaves that covered the ground beneath them. The wall on this side also had roots that had crawled all the way to the top, but they were only small roots and not a problem.
I stood up again and stepped back to a safe distance.
"Hmm, it should be fine if I go out tomorrow, right?" I touched my chin and paced back and forth as I considered the risks and what equipment to bring.
Currently, there are two risks. The first is monsters… However, as far as I can see, I don't see a single monster.
This is strange, monsters of the outside world are usually very attracted to human mana because human mana is fresher, not contaminated with 'evil mana' like theirs. As a result, they want to eat it to fulfill their need for pure mana and to evolve.
Yeah, that's why monsters are so vicious towards humans…
I infused wind magic into the palm of my hand with considerable strength for a Caster-Rank. Then I aimed it downward, right at the very dense trees.
–Swoosh!
Branches cracked as my wind magic hit the tree, and then a flock of small birds started flying away.
But besides that, there were no other signs of movement, and when I used my Mana Sensing, I also didn't sense any other mana here.
A smile immediately spread across my face as I reached a conclusion.
'It seems there are no monsters here. Even if there were, I should have felt the Murderous Intent like when the dragon in the Black Market looked at me'
But I'm still confused why there aren't any here?
Okay, let's try thinking as a monster starving for pure human mana.
Hmm, then I would go to the place with the highest intensity of human mana. And of course, I would choose to go to Shernity City, right? Because many high-rank hunters gather there.
I nodded in agreement with myself. 'Alright, risk one is settled. Even if there are small monsters here, I can escape using my Wind Riding, or if possible, I'll fight them for practice. As long as it's not a First Generation Monster, I'm safe.
Now the second risk, which is the atmosphere outside here that could make me unable to breathe.
But this seems like a trivial problem, besides, I won't go far. Just around here, specifically to the mountain I saw, so maybe the mana intensity is still tolerable.
I will also use an air-filtering mask, I saw plenty at the university yesterday. I'll borrow one…
'Alright, done scouting. Time to prepare.'