"Ginn!" Dinna came running desperately.

Inside the room, Ginn met with Emma Goldspear and Louis Krat while discussing post-war issues.

"What now?"

"Holy molly, you look terrible." Dinna was surprised by her friend's tired appearance.

"Not this. Spill the beans."

"Ben disappeared."

"How? Not this again! What happened?"

"I don't know. Ben came to visit us earlier and gave Volcano's book to Matt. But then Matt mentioned that he found his act too gloomy, so I went to look for him. But we can't find him anywhere. He also left no message. And the last thing we know is that he went to get Syd from Mirana and talked with her about melting the Hedril he got at that action back then."

"To someone who doesn't like to act, he's quite the sly motherfucker."

"Sorry. We talked about this before, but I couldn't notice Ben wanted to act like this again."

"He might kill himself. He is too careless."

"But what can we do?"

"Nothing. We can only wait. It's not like we can track that guy. I'm not at that level yet. And you know, while my power is going up uncontrollably, I'm having a hard time. Back then, finding him was a fluke too. If he comes again, we should clarify how much we can help and that he doesn't need to struggle alone."

"That..."

"I know it's a bitter take. But you know it as much I do. How unusual Ben's mastery of deception is. If he wants to stay hidden, we won't be able to find him. Even Matt noticing something was because he's an instinctual beast."

Dinna sighed.

"I guess he thought he already gave us enough to do. And if he chose to move now, the situation should be way direr than what I can read. Contact Eloise so she can inform aunty. We can only hope she can talk with Volcano's hidden defender. And we should inform everyone that would listen, even if they don't believe us. Even if we sound insane, we can deal with the consequences later. Once I stabilized, I can use might to clean the air."

"But will they even listen if we don't give details about Ben's situation?"

"Only alert those that would at least consider it, even if the message is vague. Warning anyone else might get into Ben's way. I'm not sure what he wants. But since he left no warning, we should act like we usually do. He shouldn't be surprised since he must know disappearing like this have huge implications. We're talking about world refinement here and not some random walk in the park."

"Is the world falling apart?" Louis asked.

"If it wasn't, would Ben ever act?" Emma remarked.

After dealing with so many people in their business, she knew well what type of person Ben was.

"Hopefully, it isn't as complicated as those times in history where the world had to throw all its fighting force at the problem. We would be talking about 2/3 of every cultivator dying at that point, including most at the apex. If the situation is that bad, I don't know if we'll survive. The world is not that unified anymore."

---

Ben Higgs and Syd traveled on foot through the continent. They stay at the shore while going south.

The whole time, the duo didn't interact with anyone.

They got food and slept in the wild until they eventually arrived at a place where Ben hid something hundreds of years ago.

"It's taking a bit long, but it's here. Do you think it's funny, Syd?"

Ben was still in pain, but this company made this leg of the journey easier.

"Got it!" After digging around, Ben finally exposed a piece of wood.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"See, it might have taken a while, but I hid a dinghy here!"

Syd happily squeaked, talking with Ben.

"It might take a while, but we should have enough food."

The work was slow, as Ben reserved his energy for the travel, but he eventually dragged a small boat into the sea.

After getting into the dinghy, the duo finally left the Kingdom of Latwelia.

The dinghy had a motor array set up, which Ben could feed energy. Unfortunately, he had to avoid leaving any fuel at this place out of fear of people finding the boat.

...

The sea was unforgiving like always, but Ben showed a vast experience while motoring toward his hometown.

Traveling west, they arrived at a middle-sized island twelve days later.

The place looked taken by the wildlife, but the duo arrived at a natural bay.

"Let me hide the dinghy, and we can get some fruits to eat."

As soon as they touched the shore, Syd jumped from the boat and began running around.

"It's not safe around, so stay close."

Understanding the danger, Syd came closer and stayed at Ben's side.

After the dinghy was safe, they ventured inside the island.

There was no sign of a road, so the travel was slow.

But they could easily find food around, as Ben was very used to this place and knew the vegetation.

"I was born here. There was a mine, but it was already running dry by then, so it was only a question of time until everyone left. The organization did not destroy the island in the process, though. And despite settling here, they left a big part of the island in its wild form and had hunting be a part of the lifestyle. And because of that, once humans left, those creatures soon took over the rest of the island."

Syd squeaked, confused.

"The city was managed and protected by cultivators. The mining was very profitable, as Hedril was and still is quite expensive. It's the same material from that funny thing I showed you before."

Pointing randomly around, Syd called for an adventure.

"Nah, there is nothing around anymore. I looked into it. The only thing left was the water wells that suck water from deep below. And those may extract enough to maintain the island now, but when I was young, it was barely enough, so I remember that we had to use them sparingly."

Syd replied with sad noises.

"It's still expensive wells, but removing it isn't worth it. Not much to salvage. And that's why they left it."

After walking non-stop through the rest of the night, they arrived at one of those wells Ben mentioned.

"We can drink from this. It's safe. Your peers should be up ahead if their lineage survived. Hopefully, it did. But if not, I can bring you back with me."

The well was overflowing.

Syd stopped by it and began drinking.

At this familiar place, Ben found himself nostalgic.

Fortunately, he could still see the excess water flowing down a slope, which means that the only modification done to the well by him held well so far. However, he could barely see the small lake to his left because of the dense vegetation, so he couldn't judge if the project was a success long-term.

---

"Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben! Let's play hide and seek!"

"Shut up, kid!"

"YOU'RE A KID TOO!!! But what are ya looking at?"

The boy came closer to the well.

"It's dreadfully low." The young Ben whispered.

"Dread full? Is it low or full?"

"The adults should be scared for a while."

"I don't care. Let's play! Anne is waiting for us with everyone."

"Alright, but try not to cause too much worry to your parents. They must be troubled."

"They're fine. But dad told me not to leave you alone. So you're the kid here."

---

Feeling the overwhelming nostalgia, Ben sighed.

"Does it taste fine?" Ben asked.

Syd only nodded positively.

Ben walked closer and took some to drink too.

After gulping a whole jar down, Ben sighed again.

"The taste of youth." He whispered.

"Let's go, Syd. They noticed us."

Ben walked towards where he remembered the village to be.

Ben couldn't see much since the surrounding plants hid the sight. But after he arrived in the village, he began noticing more signs of the ruins.

Some walls remained, but nature covered them.

While he calmly observed what remained, Ben could hear some creature running around up ahead.

He could also hear the sound of nature that took over, as there were no signs of the kids running around or the adults working and talking.

After he took in enough, Ben focused on walking ahead while he tried to bury his nostalgia deep inside his heart.

This time it didn't take long until he found a small clearance.

In the center of this less dense area, a tree stood tall.

As he walked into it, he found inside many eyes looking at him, confused.

Those squirrels kept looking at Ben. But despite seeing a new creature they had never seen before, they showed no fear, just a bit of curiosity and caution.

"Long time no see," Ben said out loud. Although, it was ambiguous if he was talking to the squirrels, the tree, or just his memories.

"See, Syd, is it as good as I sold it to you?"

However, in the middle of the sentence, Syd already began running ahead. Stopping middle-way, he looked back, squeaking and pointing around.

"Told ya." Ben smiled.

The tree was from Syd's favorite food. Its trunk was wide and had a small cottage attached.

The house was simple and bare, but it was still in shape.

Ben walked ahead and caught up with Syd.

After going to his knees, he held Syd up and focused.

Confused, Syd looked at Ben while feeling the surrounding change.

Ben calmly marked Syd, so the tree would know he was now a resident of this area.

"It's nothing miraculous, but you should find it very comfortable to live around here. It should feel just like home."

Syd curiously touched himself after feeling the change, but he couldn't understand it.

"Go ahead, and introduce yourself to them. I need to retrieve something, and it'll take a while." Ben said as he placed Syd back on the floor.

The squirrel looked around before glimpsing at Ben. After seeing the encouraging motions from his friend again, Syd finally went ahead to meet his future family.