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The next morning...

When Avan and shortly followed by Jen arrived downstairs in the tavern, Patris grinned knowingly in Avan's direction with a mouthful of ale foam and even gave him a thumbs-up as unnoticed as possible. Avan himself grinned only slightly embarrassed and scratched his head, while Jen, red as a tomato, quickly slid next to Dani at the table and held her hands in front of her face, only to devour the breakfast as soon as the barmaid put it down for the two stragglers.

Dani herself only looked skeptical and eyed Avan with a warning look that said everything there could be to say, and then slapped Patris on the back of the head with the palm of his hand. "Ouch! What was that for?" He mumbled as he stroked the back of his head and looked at his girlfriend with a pout.

"You know exactly what it was for. Idiot." Was the only answer he got, and Dani bit into her buttered bread again while taking some fruit with her other hand between each bite.

Avan himself yawned heartily with the hand in front of his mouth, and then devoted himself to his breakfast as well, while Jen gave him furtive glances and blushed every time he flashed her a smile.

The breakfast consisted of freshly baked and still farmhouse bread, a good portion of butter on the wooden plate, tomatoes and apples next to it, and a few slices of a hot roast. And in addition a shallow and almost alcohol-free much sweeter ale.

Dani, who was the first to finish breakfast, since her boyfriend had ordered a second portion and had already finished his first course, was also the first to speak. "So, how long do you think it will take for an answer from your parents to get here from Haipu, Jen?" She turned to Jen, while Avan listened intently, knowing that Jen had sent a messenger to Haipu to inform her family of the situation.

Jen herself swallowed her bite and thought about it for a moment, blushing again as she felt Avan's attention on her. "Hmmm... Since it's an express messenger using one of the magic-bred horses, no more than four or five days until someone is here to pick me up.... It will take the messenger three days to reach Haipu, and it won't be a day or two before someone shows up here then."

At the numbers and dates Jen mentioned here, Avan wrinkled her head in confusion, which didn't go unnoticed by her and she immediately explained what she meant. "As soon as the messenger arrives at my parents' house and reports everything, they will send guards with at least one mage who specializes in fast travel to bring me to safety.... The messenger himself will take the longest, but with preparations and everything, and depending on which of the mages is available to my parents at the moment, it will probably only take them a day to get here, if not faster."

Avan looked at her somewhat dumbfounded, as he remembered his own hardships on the way from Haipu to Tria and how long it had taken him to make the journey on foot. Even with all his stats, which he had always assumed were much higher than everyone else. But when Dani and Patris had joined him at the end of the previous evening's drinking, Avan had asked a few more things when everyone was finally a little drunker.

The information he had received about stats and how they worked on Aorus had put a damper on things, but also explained a lot. Above all, he had wondered why no one had ever told him about it before, until it occurred to him that he had simply never asked anyone about it so as not to reveal his ignorance.

According to the explanations of the others, each child started with an average of 10 points in each category, but these points could vary slightly depending on the talent and direction of the children. An adult, on the other hand, at some point in his life reached the limit of 100 in the areas in which he tried hard and which suited him best. Physical workers and fighters often had a vitality and strength of 100 as adults around the age of 20, while the other stats lagged somewhat behind. Whereas fighters and all those who actively hunted and killed monsters could balance their stats through their much higher level or even reach the 200 points at the age of 20.

And after this eye-opening explanation the night before, Avan finally knew why he felt a lot stronger with his stats, but at the same time why bandits and monsters were still so strong and had not just been defeated in the past. Every 100 points represented an adult person, so Avan's stats were only twice as strong as others, but he could still be defeated by muscle-bound thugs and fighters if they had invested more in those stats than he had. It also explained why he was physically fit and strong, but his magic in particular, with its extremely high wisdom, intelligence and spirit stats, caused so much damage.

Avan was torn from his thoughts by the next developments when Dani heard the answer and briefly thought about it himself. "Then we only have 3 days, or 4 at the most, together, right? I'm asking because the guild here seems to be calling for a collection campaign again, which they do every few seasons. A few hours to the southeast of the city, there is a gigantic plain full of mana storms and dangerous phenomena, on which teams of adventurers are always sent out to collect mana crystals. You get paid for these crystals depending on their purity, size and element."

"And tomorrow morning, one hour after sunrise, the people who participate in it will gather again. Patris and I would go along, since it's probably pretty good and quick money. How about you two?"

Avan listened with interest, nodding in thought as he thought back to how he had fought the crystal lizards in Akkalon's dungeon many weeks ago and still had those pure mana crystals in his inventory. *By the way... That's right, I can now also process magical materials!* He remembered at that moment that he had broken through the gold rank and that as a dungeon he could now also decompose magical things and rebuild them from mana.

Without hesitation, various objects disappeared from his celestial storage and were added to the knowledge for him to create as a dungeon. Among them were a [Golden Meaple], which surprisingly could now also be created by him from mana, and [Lymia Herbs], as well as the various [Purple Mana Crystals].

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At that very moment, just as Avan finished decomposing the last crystal in his storage, Jen replied. "I - I'm not sure my parents would approve of me running around without protection.... But at the same time, I'd like to do something instead of sitting around and thinking about.... deceased people."

With a deep sigh, Jen continued. "So I'd like to come with you, if that's okay with all of you. Provided we can be back in 3 days at the latest?"

"That shouldn't be a problem Jen!" Dani answered her and put a friendly arm around her shoulders to pull Jen close and give her a quick cuddle. "Then we still have time to organize ourselves today, and tomorrow morning we continue. And I know it may seem fast after we just escaped from the dungeon.... And after Linob died there, Jen.... But also Patris and I need distraction, as well as you, I guess. And what better way than to just dive into the next quest, right?" Smiled the young huntress a bit sadly.

Soon everyone was done, and only Jen and Avan stayed behind, while Patris and Dani took care of their equipment, bought new and generally had to restock everything after the vampires had taken everything from them.

Jen, on the other hand, had booked the room at the inn for several weeks, surprisingly for Avan, and thus had no problems with clothes and equipment, since she fortunately had a spare in the room.

*Which is not surprising now, if she really is the princess.... Money should then be no problem to pay the room for so long in advance as a precaution.* Avan thought about it. He had also given her Linob's body and possessions the previous evening, which she had immediately stowed away in an inconspicuous spatial ring on her finger.

He turned to Jen, who was watching him absentmindedly, and blushed slightly again when she felt his gaze on her. "What do you say we look around the market a bit, and then maybe ask around to see if there's a local library where we can better prepare ourselves for this magical plane."

The young healer at his side kneaded her hands slightly nervously, in stark contrast to the night before when the alcohol had made her so much looser, and answered murmuring softly. " Alright!"

Avan suddenly chuckled when he saw her shy reaction, and startled her by putting his arm around her and pulling her close. He patted her lightly on the head and brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ears, and simply pulled her with him to the market.

*And I don't even want to know what others would think if they knew the princess had spent the night with me! Argh!* A thought came to him as he reached the marketplace, nestled so close to her.

Jen herself seemed comfortable, though, and had also put her arm around him as she walked and snuggled even closer. Her cheeks glowed pink, but she looked around again, fascinated, while Avan bought all kinds of snacks and sweets for them both. Dani had divided the reward for completing the guild quest among the four of them, and there was even a huge driving bonus on top, specifically for the extra information the group had acquired and passed on.

So Avan had no worries, after he was almost 4 gold richer than before and could buy here at the market for only a few bronze coins many delicacies and eat them together with Jen.

As the two meandered through the marketplace and the stalls, they noticed a small gathering of people further ahead in the middle, where a man in a purple robe stood on a small wooden platform and spoke to the people. Avan himself had noticed this for a long time, but actively faded out, because this seemed to be just a religious fanatic who was babbling something about salvation and trying to convince others that the doom was near.

As they got closer, the expression on Jen's face changed to disgust and revulsion, which made Avan raise his eyebrows when he noticed her looking through his sphere of influence. "Are you okay, Jen?" He whispered in her ear. And unlike the previous reaction where she would have always blushed, she was now so fixated on this man and annoyed that she showed no reaction and only answered with an annoyed voice.

"Yes, these fanatics have also been around in Haipu for a few years now, becoming more and more powerful and aggressive.... In the last year they have even slowly put pressure on the royal house, and they are said to be collaborating with a huge organization that has its foot in many or even the all continents."

"And now I see these dangerous nutcases even this far away? This is more than dangerous..." She looked up at Avan and chewed on the inside of her cheek. "They recruit people in forgiving situations and give them hope, something to believe in, something to cling to. People who have nothing to velvet then were the beginning, but by now they have grown to the point that their followers are descending on all villages and small towns like hungry locusts. And Tria is so far south that I'm surprised to see them even here now!"

"They preach of a deity who wants to conjure up a new beginning for all worlds. Something about monsters, animals and even people being afflicted by something evil, and only their deity can stop the total destruction. And the most curious thing is that there are rumors that it is this religion and the organization behind it, which in truth has its handles inside everywhere where these outbreaks of madness occurred! Living beings who have been corrupted and twisted."

Avan, listening to the preacher with one ear and Jen's narrative with the other, frowned even more. *This all sounds far too much like the corruption that the dungeon of Haipu has gone through. Coincidence? I'm starting to not believe it... And the founder of the Order of Akkalon had said the same thing. What the bloody hell is going on?* Avan thought as he added another piece to the puzzle of miasma and corruption.

The man himself, however, repeated himself after some time and there was nothing new, except that he always spoke of redemption and the end of days.

Lost in and each with his own thoughts, the two strolled on and had soon reached a small city library, which they had found by asking around merchants and city guards.

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