Once Richard had made this decision in his mind, there was no hesitation in his mind.

Richard knew this was an important decision, and not one to meander on.

He wasn't planning to leave immediately, but plan to leave he did.

When then, would he leave?

That depended on the paladins of course. He had agreed to work with them so that they could begin measurements upon which to regard players.

So he approached them and asked.

"Oh, you wanna leave already? Well, no worries. We're already almost done anyway. And we plan to head deeper into the ranges anyway."

"Deeper?" Richard asked, feeling slightly anxious as Galileo was going to follow this group into the mountain range, leaving him worried about the young man's fate.

"Don't worry, it's a normal cleansing. We do it every few years or so, coming here to purge the monsters to make sure it doesn't result in a monster wave. Ask the thunder monarch. We leave the reasonable monsters alone for the most part, because they're less likely to cause trouble and are the most dangerous type lurking around here. And with three paladins, the chances of Galileo being severely injured is basically nill." Scave added in.

Looking at sister Alexandria, she nodded in agreement, showing that what the two paladins had said was true.

"Okay, so you're leaving in a few days?" Richard accepted it and decided to move on from the issue to his main objective.

"Yup. We just wanted to hang around a little bit before heading deeper in to the forest. " He turned to look at Richard. "I'm surprised that you've decided so quickly. Earlier yu seemed uncertain. "

Richard responded. "I still am, but I also can't stay here forever. There are people out there waiting for me. One cannot remain certain forever, and I'm already reasonably prepared.."

Richard already had a shapeshifting spell, and could easily take human form and blend in. He wasn't sure if sister Alexandria and Achil would be coming with him, and how they would disguise themselves if they did plan to come with him. But considering sister Alexandria's age, he was sure she had a trick or two up her sleeve.

Copernicus nodded in approval. "Good, I'm glad to see you finally see you take some initiative. Remember, life cannot be put on hold forever. Things have a way of coming to find you eventually. Best you meet it on your own terms."

Richard nodded in understanding before adding. "By the way, I'll talk to Galileo later about the way he's acting."

Copernicus responded hurriedly. "No need, It's fine. I'll get him to acknowledge me yet!" he said, not wanting Richard to go scold Galileo, lest it reflect onto him and get him into trouble.

Richard shook his head. "No, I do have to talk to im about this. Regardless of what he thinks, you are his teacher, and he is to teach you with respect. You deserve the appropriate level of respect."

Copernicus:... Nevermind.

Copernicus quietly consoled himself, Sure that Galileo would give him the cold shoulder after this, the teacher merely resigning himself to this fate"

Scave walked over to Richard, asking him a question out of the blue.

"By the way, you said the system responds to the questions you ask, right?"

"Some of them, yes." Richard said cautiously.

"Can you ask him about the marquis Earl?" he said casually, yet the words had an anxious undercurrent..

"Sure." said Richard, as he turned the question over to the system.

[Earl is doing fine currently. I am currently unable to disclose the location of the player Earl, but rest assured, the only knowledge I cannot disclose regarding players is where they are if they're alive.]

RIchard turned around and shared this to Scave, who sighed in relief.

Assuming that Earl is someone is chosen by anubis, why wouldn't Scave know?

Scave clearly saw where this was going. "The Gods work in mysterious ways, and often keep things close to their chest. Even Anubis, as open as he can be, rarely communes his intentions to us directly." The second part of the sentence was said with some annoyance, hinting at the paladins displeasure with his lord. It is said the paladins of Anubis are rather close to their lord, close enough to even openly be annoyed with their God apparently.

Ah, Gods. They do work in mysterious ways, Guess that makes this a personal interest rather than a professional interest then.

Scave added something else, perhaps in gratitude for the info he had provided. "When you head back into the empire, I advise you either head to a temple of Isis or the sub temples of minor deities under her command first, or head to the adventurer's guild."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Why?

"I'm sure you realize this, but you currently have no identity within the empire. Normally, you'd receive no trouble as long as you pay the entrance fee to get into town, but sometimes guards like to be difficult about that kind of stuff. And you know, some things require an id. Any temple of Isis would likely be willing to help you, someone who is under Isis' protection, and the guild hands out free identities. And many temples of Isis have entrances outside of the gates for the poor and abandoned, so it's an optimal route to take, depending on your situation."

"Really?" Richard asked, surprised. He had to admit, he'd forgotten about the problem of identity, a rather major problem. So finding out you could just get one at the adventurer's guild was surprisingly helpful.

"Yeah, it's common knowledge. Though, you should understand those with higher ranks as adventurers are .treated with greater legitimacy at banks and certain centers that rely on credit."

Of course, anyone can apply for an adventurer's card, so it makes sense that those with higher ranks are treated with more legitimacy.

"Thank you." Richard said gratefully, and Scave shrugged as he walked off, and Richard did the same, planning to begin his preparations.

----------------------------------------

Packing was something finished within moments, in part thanks to the fact that he had not much to take with him.

And anything he needed to take with him was already within his storage.

He also needed to discuss his plans with Sister Alexandria. He owed her that much.

Announcing his plans to sister Alexandria, she simply responded.

"Alright. When are we leaving?" the wyrm asked, filling Richard with a sense of relief. Despite having prepared himself for the expectation that he might have to say goodbye to sister Alexandria here, he came to realize with this strong sense of relief that he wasn't ready to say goodbye yet.

He was surprised by the next statement however.

"You didn't think I'd just let my little hatchling just wander off alone, did you? Karkinos won't be coming unfortunately." This tacked on second sentence surprised Richard.

Mostly because he had forgotten about the crab altogether.

"Why isn't he? Isn't he teaching Krackle?"

The young dragon was genuinely curious. Although it was a serious loss when it came to support, Richard wasn't too worried, with a wyrm of sister Alexandria's level being his supervisor.

Rather, he was curious why Karkinos would stay, when he was still teaching Krackle.

She responded amused. "Cultivators have a very different view of teaching than most do. Or the strong in general. He expects her to return alive. If she fails and dies, though he'll avange her death, he'll also merely accept it and move on."

That's.... harsh. The change in sentence too... Did sister Alexandria suffer a situation once?

Ultimately it meant naught to him, but it was an important thing to know.

"But what about Achil?"

"He's obviously coming with us." she said definitively, leaving no room to argue. "He's too young to be left alone, and would be helpless without us."

Richard was unsure how to respond to the latter part, yet when he looked in hindsight, she wasn't wrong.

Behemoth, the paladins, being a stone carted off to his father...

No matter what it felt like Achil got into danger most of the time. Even so, Richard felt a weird sense of discrepancy at saying that.

There was something clearly wrong with the sentence, yet it all lined up.

Too young to be left alone? For sure. The young black dragon was merely months old.

But how would he come with them?

"How will we hide him? Achil doesn't know how to shapeshift."

Sister Alexandria chuckled. "Don't you worry about it. He's a dragon. No other monster is better adapted to shift than we are. Give me a few days, and I'll have him ready for the journey."

Having received his assurances, Richard was left to consider how he would approach his familiars as well.

Hiding in a human form would mean nothing if he stood out too much.

Three familiars stands out.

Atlas was easy enough. He found that Atlas could shift his size, and watched as Atlas shrunk on the front of his chest.

From being a large, bold emblem to a tiny trinket, akin to a human's bracelet, and a dragon's ring.

Since Atlas held onto Richard form his legs, he could be repurposed as a bracelet.

Pandemonium would not be hiding, since he could easily blend in.

Large he was for a squirrel, but he was ultimately a screecher squirrel with the blood of a god. And just as Richard could conceal his bloodline, so could Panda.He would appear as a mere auxiliary familiar, meant to help scout out areas and assist Richard in combat. Rare, but not rare enough to warrant huge amounts of attention.

Krackle was the most difficult amongst his three familiars.

If Atlas could disguise as an artifact, and Panda as a normal familiar, Krackle was just too unique.

They were an octopus, something that could not so easily conceal their own existence.

Could Krackle turn invisible? Sure, and it could even hide under Richard's clothes, but then Krackle would only be hiding, unable to take an active role in battle, and essentially meant poor Krackle would be idle for a long while, for Isis knows how long.

Krackle was the one who provided the answer, surprising Richard with their answer.

'Krackle can become staff.!'

"Pardon?"

Using their rockshaping powers, Krackle curled up, and before his very eyes, began to cover themselves in a layer of crystal.

Krackle became a ball of quartz, as a staff made out of rock soon followed, as Krackle became a staff, fit for the hands of a human.

Octopuses and their ability to compress was terrifying, Richard thought.

Holding up the staff, he studied the adornment on the top, where Krackle was hiding themself. Frankly, he could see krackle, but this was due to his superior observation as a dragon, with eyes better than the average adventurer.

This could work.

Krackle was capable of launching attacks from within the staff, with energy attacks being conducted through the crystal.

When he was in combat, it would appear that he was using spells, when in reality, he was mentally commanding Krackle to attack, allowing Krackle to gather experience for their own evolution, and to be active whenever they were out without being seen.

Even better, they would always have a card up their sleeve in the form of Krackle, and the ability to trick enemies in regards to his own mana usage.

It did come with it's drawbacks, as krackle would still be easily identifiable by someone who was able to use mana sight, but the same could be said of any way he chose to hide Krackle, except using the contrat and mental space, but that solution ultimately left Krackle inactive, something neither would want.

This would be the best solution.

And that was it. Richard's preparations were all done for the most part.

Sure there was a few more things he could finish up, a few extra precautions, but ultimately he was finished. All he had to do now was prepare some goodbyes.

And talk to Leo about his behavior. Considering how much help Mr. Copernicus had been up to this point, it was only right.