Kyle imagined what it would be like if any beast he came across chased him until the end of the world.
He would barely be able to leave his Guild!
Traveling would be insanely dangerous!
“Is there a fourth level?” Kyle asked.
“Most likely, but there are no reports of any Transcendent ever getting there,” Theodor said. “The second level is already dissuading them, and reaching the third level makes it even more difficult to live your life.”
‘Oh boy,’ Kyle thought. ‘If I become the Overseer, Magic Lady is probably going to force me to go all the way.’
‘Either I die, or they run out of atrocities they want me to commit.’
‘It’s fucking ironic. In the past, I didn’t see my employment contract with Magic Lady as a big danger. I was way too focused on Boss’ deal. I mean, he will blow my brain up if I don’t do what he says.’
‘But now, this employment thing seems to be just as bad as Boss’ deal. At least, I only need to become powerful and kill a couple of people to fulfill my end of the bargain. There’s a chance I can survive.’
‘Yet, this fucking employment thing has no way out. I’ll just have to eat it up and do whatever they say.’
‘This sucks so much dick.’
Theodor thought that Kyle would feel betrayed or angry that he didn’t tell him about Karma earlier.
Yet, Kyle acted like it wasn’t a big deal.
However, if it truly were no big deal, why did Kyle look so worried?
Was Kyle just acting like it wasn’t a big deal?
“Well, guess I should get back,” Kyle said after a while.
“If you have any more questions, you are free to ask,” Theodor said.
Kyle heard what Theodor said, but he was too busy thinking about the entire employment thing.
He didn’t even have the brain capacity to be shocked by Theodor’s friendly offer.
Kyle jumped to the next peak.
When he landed, he quickly shook his head a couple of times.
“Alright! Gotta be chipper for the team! Can’t make them worried!” he said to himself.
‘Just forget the entire employment thing. That’s a future-you problem!’
After jumping across a couple more peaks, Kyle got back to his team.
“Yeah, so, I talked to the Champion of Skysand,” he said as soon as he got back. “Cool guy!”
The others looked at him with curiosity.
“How was he?” Falk asked.
“Like I said, cool,” Kyle said. “Listen, talking about others while they are present is weird.”
“He’s here?!” Falk asked, looking around the peak they were on.
“No, but he can probably still hear all of us,” Kyle said. “Imagine someone comes up to me and asks me if you’re doing a good job while you’re literally there. It’s weird.”
“Anyway, let’s get going,” Kyle said with a smirk. “We got some mining to do!”
Naturally, the team still had questions, but they also realized that Kyle was right.
The team continued jumping from peak to peak until Kyle told them that they were no longer in the Slicing Mantis’ territory.
By now, they were only 40 kilometers away from the Ether Essence.
As they looked forward, they saw taller and taller mountains.
The mountains they were currently traveling across were already five kilometers high, but the mountains in front of them were even bigger.
The temperatures up here were quite low.
At least, they didn’t have to deal with the Skysand.
According to the Captain, the dense Metal and Earth Ether of the World Peak was repelling the Skysand.
The team slowed down again since they were no longer in safe territory.
Some minutes later, they were only 30 kilometers away.
By now, the mountains were eight kilometers tall, on average.
The temperatures were already below freezing, but surprisingly, there was no snow.
‘Actually, that makes sense,’ Kyle thought. ‘The snow of this world and the snow of Earth are different. This one is made with Ether, and different kinds of Elemental Ether tend to cancel each other out.’
‘The dense Metal and Earth Ether probably also destroys the Ice and Water Ether.’
‘Still kinda weird. It’s super cold, but there’s just no snow anywhere.’
Kyle glanced at the sun.
‘Looks like a summer day, but it’s fucking cold as balls. I mean, it should be. Kinda hard to feel when you’ve got such a strong body.’
The team continued going forward.
Several minutes later, they were only 20 kilometers away from the Ether Essence.
From time to time, Kyle saw other people jumping from peak to peak.
“Alright, think we’re relatively safe now,” Kyle said. “According to the map, a distance of 10km to 20km from the Ether Source is where most of our soldiers stay.”
The others nodded, and everyone continued forward.
This time, they were also jumping from peak to peak.
Just as expected, there were no issues for the next ten kilometers.
“Identify yourselves!” someone shouted from a different peak.
“Hello, sir!” Kyle shouted back, holding up his emblem. “We’re here under orders!”
A moment later, a couple of people approached Kyle and scanned his emblem.
“You may pass,” the person from earlier shouted. “Thanks!”
Team Sandstorm continued traveling forward.
They jumped onto the tallest mountain they could find.
Yet, as soon as they got there, their eyes widened.
There were no more mountains in front of them!
The mountain they stood on was at least ten kilometers tall, and they could see for a long distance.
“Idiots! Get down!” someone shouted at them.
The team decided to believe the rude man and hid behind the mountain again.
A second later, a young man with a huge crossbow approached them with a frown.
Based on the Ether he was exuding, he was a Peak Knight.
“This your first time?” the man asked with a bit of annoyance.
“Eh, yeah,” Kyle said.
“Don’t just jump onto tall mountains,” the man said. “You saw the Ether Crater, right?”
Kyle nodded.
“In the middle of the crater is the Ether Essence. It’s at a depth of around two kilometers. Keep in mind that you are currently at an elevation of about eleven kilometers. From this height, you can see all the edges of the crater, and guess what everyone’s doing.”
The man shook his crossbow.
“Oh,” Kyle said.
“Yeah,” the man said. “The edge of the crater is filled with people just waiting to unleash a bolt, arrow, or Spell at any enemy they can find.”
“Anyone entering the crater will receive an avalanche of enemy attacks, and there are almost no obstacles to hide behind on your way down.”
“You see everyone else?” the man asked, pointing to the other peaks.
Kyle looked over and saw five people peeking around different peaks with bows.
“Yeah, it looks like that all around the crater,” the man said. “And if it looks like that here, guess how it looks on the other side, where all of those Winter Babies are.”
Kyle nodded.
“I can see your point.”
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