“What the fuck…” There was not much Jessica could add. There was still a faint ringing in her ears. In front of her, most of the debris had fallen. There were bits of dirt and grass on her clothes, as well as leaves scattered across the ground.

In the spot of the explosion, was the elf. Now, as she was seeing it. The elf had gone missing. Though that wasn’t the most accurate description. A little sickening, her remains were scattered on many of the leaves. Being the center of the small crater, it was not much of a surprise.

Sticking out of the ground was a sword with a number of cracks. Jessica was left not knowing what to say. If his entire purpose for leaving was to fix himself, and continue to grow, it appeared he both succeeded and failed. In a rather grandiose manner.

Having missed the sight, Jessica watched as a nearly invisible presence exited the sword as a person came to appear in front of her. Unlike before, his appearance had changed slightly. Seemingly a bit older. Surprisingly unlike his body’s state, his appearance was undamaged.

Reaching for the simple handle, Jessica watched as Leo took hold and pulled the sword from the ground. With a bit of surprise, she watched as mana pulled itself from the confines of the sword and started to mend the cracks that had appeared.

“That’s different.” Not sure how to react. In her heart, she finally felt as if a rock had been lifted. She had missed his existence greatly.

“Yeah.” A cheeky smile appeared on his face. Turning towards the result of his collision he cursed softly, “Fucking psycho. He threw me so far and fast I couldn’t even tell what was going on. As I started to slow down, I felt the connection. It was then I saw you fighting.”

His face had paled considerably after mending the cracks that had just appeared. Tossing the sword, he seemed to feel much better once he let go.

Catching the blade, Jessica was looking at it, “Are you okay?”

Everything looked normal again. She had seen the slight changes when she was brought to him. While she hadn’t seen his new aged spirit body. The sword itself hadn’t changed very much from that time. Her worry was more to do with the way he appeared, and the result of it.

“Better than you.” Pausing for a moment before turning towards the deeper sections of the forbidden zone. “We should leave.”

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With some hesitation, Jessica couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”

Letting out a sigh, “That elf and human are here. It is too dangerous. There is nothing to gain from getting involved in things that are above us.”

“I can’t leave just yet?” Jessica thought about it, before deliberating. “There is something, I need to find.”

After listening to Jessica’s quick footnotes of her recent endeavors. Leo was bewildered before he spoke with a bit of confidence, “From what you said and what he said. It appears you already did what you were supposed to.”

Knowing who he was talking about, she couldn’t help but ask, “What is going on?”

“War. The very start of one. In this situation we should leave before we get dragged in. If it wasn’t for the fact that Izic spoke about it as a means to encourage you to leave. All so he doesn’t have to get involved. Thought he is also correct in my opinion. In a war, the individual is too small.”

Thinking over what he said, she could sort of understand what he was talking about. Humans had never stopped fighting with the goblins. Every few decades a new war would break out.

If the humans and elves were working together. The scale of this war was going to be far larger than it had ever been in recent centuries.

That begged the question, “Why would Mercury City get involved in a war between humans and goblins. Even if it involves the elves. Mercury City never involved itself in any wars.”

With a bit of a thought, Jessica thought of something, while Leo seemed to have the same idea, “I can only think about Saleh. He was supposed to be from the animal kingdom. It wouldn’t make sense for Mercury City to get involved for a single individual. So I can only guess, it has something to do with them.”

Jessica couldn’t help but agree, “Saleh is from the Blue Wolf Tribe, that is very near the elven forest. Though we could also be wrong. Though something serious is going on. But how does this relate to me?”

“You said your teacher told you to come to a location and find something. After arriving the only thing you found was a group of humans and elves. The fact that you started a commotion is the only thing you seem capable of doing. If she went into the deeper sections like you said. Your job was likely a distraction. Now that you had conflict with them, it will draw attention. Especially since it's you.”

Jessica didn’t believe that to be it. However, she kept thinking back to some of the lessons, how Cassie always told her to forfeit everything to ensure her own life. Going so far to have said that even exposing her identity was something she could use to get herself out of danger.

While such things was against Jessica’s character, as Cassie had treated her well. With what Leo had said. She was a bit hesitant but couldn’t make up her mind. With a final look at the deeper layers. She couldn’t help but ask, “Do you trust what he said?”

Without hesitation Leo spat, “Hell no. But this isn’t about his trustworthiness. He wants you to leave because he clearly thinks you will get involved in something that would require him to get involved. Which is to say that you will fight someone you shouldn’t or get attack by people that are under those two. Thus, forcing him to make a move. He is not trustworthy, but he is strangely not willing to let go of things he has decided to do.”