"…"
Varian fell silent. He could say it wasn't life-threatening, but that would be a lie.
Even if he had a ghost ship, if a Sovereign attacked, he'd be killed Boo teleported to him.
Until now, Varian had a teleportation formation that could get him out of any dangerous situation. But that was useless in front of a Sovereign.
He snapped his fingers and a couch appeared behind them. Gently sitting her down, he answered. "There is a certain risk, yes. But mostly, I'll be alright."
"…Mostly?" Sarah smiled bitterly and turned her head away.
An awkward silence filled the room.
Finally, Varian leaned down and said. "Hey."
Sarah was facing the other side and mumbled. "What?"
"I really missed you." Varian hugged her softy body from behind and whispered in her ear. "You know what happened in Valos…I was really invested in there…trying to stop what seemed like another human-abyss war."
"You What?" Sarah turned around with a yelp and she stiffened.
She was still in her embrace and because she turned around, their faces were dangerously close to each other.
Just a bit more and…
"I sort of spoiled the abyssals' plan," Varian said with a serious expression, not minding their distance.
"…how?" Sarah asked in genuine confusion, forgetting their proximity either consciously or unconsciously.
Except for the Sovereigns, no one knew that Dreamer was the one who provided the critical information.
Even the top military officials only learned that the conspiracy was discovered by a special agent.
There was no information at all about Dreamer.
Naturally, Sarah too was in the dark.
She knew he joined Shadow Guardians and went to Valos. After Evander told her that war was looming, she was initially worried. But since he had ghost ship, she believed he'd be alright.
But that didn't mean she thought he did such crazy stuff.
"…I bombed the secret realms and killed Prince Abrax. Oh and that is the same guy who tried to assassinate me when we went shopping..." When he uttered the word shopping, sweat poured down Varian's forehead.
Thankfully, Sarah wasn't holding onto it anymore. Not after knowing that Varian was neck-deep in Valos' crisis.
"Haa~" She sighed deeply. "I don't know what to feel."
"Feel proud, I guess?" Varian whispered in her ear.
Feeling his hot breath, Sarah blushed and glared at him. "Y-You."
Varian saw her red face and thought it was too cute. He caressed her face lightly, causing Sarah to stiffen.
"I wish things just get better by themselves…" He said in a soft tone.
"Yeah..." Sarah closed her eyes and enjoyed his soft caress. His warm hand moved from her cheek to her hair and as he lightly patted her, her smile deepened.
"But I have to do things that only I can."
"Yeah~" Sarah nodded involuntarily.
"And now, I really need your help. I can't do it without you, so will you help?"
"Yeah~" Sarah muttered before suddenly opening her eyes. "Y-You! Using this to cajole me! You liar." She accused him in a weak voice.
Varian chuckled. "When I said I missed you, it wasn't a lie."
"…" Sarah looked at his innocent expression and gritted her teeth. Even though she knew he was putting on that expression deliberately, she couldn't be angry at him anymore.
"Fine, fine, Mr. Hero in the Shadows." She waved her hand and looked at him. "Now you need me to assist you in training your water…wait, since when did you have a Water path?"
Varian laughed at her incredulous expression, while not forgetting to snap a shot. "Exactly. I don't have it now. I will awaken in that path. But I need you to speed up the whole process."
Saying so, Varian explained a bit of how he progressed through fighting with awakeners of the same path.
Sarah gaped at his words and looked like she saw the world end. If it was anyone else, they'd have looked at him like he was a monster. But her gaze didn't change much, except for the wild surprise.
After a while, she nodded. "It can't be helped then. But when you're free, we should go on a d-date…"
"Leave it to me. I'll never forget." Varian patted his chest in reassurance.
In his mind, he said. 'Boo, set a remainder.'
You know, just in case.
Sarah got out of his embrace and tapped her comm. A few files popped up and she started going through them.
Varian could see that it was her journal…she took notes of her Divine Path progress.
"Um…Sarah, aren't you going to ask what I need this water path for?" He scratched his cheek.
Sarah kept her gaze on the comm and shrugged. "No. You will tell me if you can, right? But please be silent for a few minutes, we'll need to get you to level 4 at all costs."
"I…" Varian wanted to say something, but in the end, he could smile softly.
He felt lucky.
'Boo, remove the remainder. I won't forget.'
"…" Boo rolled its eyes and did what it was told. 'Stupid Master. Even if you forgot, Boo won't forget.'
At the same time, the ghost ship dived down and entered an ocean.
After diving around a mile deep, they found a special region.
Water was barred from entering what looked like a small town. In the center of the town was a large gate with intricate carvings.
Dungeon Gate.
It was a low water dungeon called 'Wet'.
Varian swore that the irony in the title was too much.
Whoosh!
The soldiers guarding the dungeon didn't notice the ghostship entering the gate.
"Woah!" Varian widened his eyes as he saw a world full of rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and every water-related thing.
There was only a bit of land here and there.
Splash!
Fishes longer than a human with sharp teeth jumped out from one pond to another from time to time.
There was even a long snake that climbed up the waterfall.
A huge turtle inhaled and drank up nearly half of a pond's water.
In the water bodies and all around, there were plants of various colors—blue, green, violet, and pink.
Varian saw a few plants manipulate water and turn it into ice killing a few small fish.
He also saw fish strangling other fishes through the manipulation of water and devouring them.
"Wow."