Micro was surprised by how smoothly the rest of the journey through the dark forest was. Tae had explained to him that most monsters wouldn’t approach a group of cultivators brandishing their auras, but it was still important never to let one’s guard down. When morning came, Micro was pleased to see the sun beaming through the treetops without a cloud in sight. He was even more excited when they finally came to the edge of the dense forest and stood before a vast field of long grass and flowers.

“The old man would love it here!” Micro shouted as he ran into the grass gleefully.

“Was your master fond of fields?” Kel probed.

“He likes wide open spaces.” Micro answered as he ran his hands over the grass and flowers.

“He has trouble walking up the hills around his house these days…”

“So even your master is not immune to the passing of time.” Kel commented.

“I’m sorry to hear of his deteriorating health.”

“That’s okay.” Micro answered as he quickened his pace into the vast field.

The other cultivators could only shrug and speed up after him, hesitant to question his enthusiasm and not daring to ask him to slow down despite their fatigue. Kel sped up and ran alongside Micro as he enjoyed himself in the tall grass.

“It’s uneven, but it’s soft!” He shouted at Kel excitedly.

“I’m glad you’ve found a surface worthy of your feet, master!” Kel shouted back.

“Do you have roads where you’re from?” Micro asked while quickening his pace.

“We do, master!” Kel replied, still managing to keep up.

“I hope you enjoy them! Do you see those three mountains in the distance there?”

Kel pointed across the plain to the horizon where three distinct peaks rose out of the ground like waves frozen in time. Micro nodded as he tried to focus on them.

“My sect is near the top of the tallest mountain!” Kel explained proudly.

“We’ll be passing through a few villages on the way up. I was thinking we could find some more comfortable clothing for you, master.”

Micro’s old leather clothes were worn thin and full of holes, and the plate armour was barely recognizable through the rust. Micro looked down at it and nodded.

“I’ve been wet, stinky, and rusty for a while now…” He replied.

“I’d like a wash and a fresh coat of paint!”

“We- we’ll see about the paint…” Kel stuttered.

“But there are hot springs.”

“Young master!” Tae interrupted from behind with urgency in her voice, causing the group to slow to a stop.

“There’s a new dungeon opening between us and the nearest village. It doesn’t look familiar. How shall we proceed?”

“Another dungeon?” Micro asked.

“We should go get some more Core Cards! I need to get them all so I can find a way home.”

“I see…” Kel said kindly to Micro, ignoring most of what he’d said.

“That close to the village, we should probably investigate it. It may be nothing to worry about, but there’s no guarantees.”

“Let’s go!” Micro exclaimed as he began running again.

“Wait!” Kel cried out, but all he could do was chase after Micro.

The cultivators were fast to begin with, and faster now that they were applying their auras to their legs to try and quicken their pace, but catching up with Micro as he flew across the grasslands on his old boots proved impossible to their dismay. It wasn’t until the terrain became a little rocky that Micro finally slowed down, and it wasn’t long before he tripped on a rock and reintroduced his face to the ground. However, he hadn’t fallen far from a glowing hole in the ground.

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He made sure his passengers were still safely secured in his pockets, then stood up to take a long look at the shimmering yellow portal. He thought he saw the shape of a feather emerge in the ripples of the fluid material of the gate, but it didn’t concern him what sort of gate it was. He would have to acquire every type of card eventually anyway. He stepped up on the stone frame of the gate, then hopped into the portal.

“No!”

THUD

As Micro was falling down into the gate, Kel flew toward him from the side, making contact just before Micro’s feet could touch the shimmering yellow portal, and the two flew into the tall grass next to the gate with a crash that sent chunks of Micro’s rusty plate armour flying in every direction. For a moment, Micro wasn’t sure what had hit him as he struggled to catch his breath, but Kel quickly scrambled off of him and knelt beside him with a terrible expression.

“Master…” He gasped through ragged breaths.

“Please… Home first… Adventure later…”

“But the dungeon-”

“Will still be there tomorrow…” Kel pleaded with his hands together in front of him.

“And the next day… For now…”

Tae was the next to catch up with the two sitting in the grass covered in scratches and dirt.

“Young master, you’re safe…” She breathed a sigh of relief.

“And master… Please be patient… We have a destination already, don’t we?”

“Ah…” Micro replied gloomily.

“No detours… I’m sorry.”

“No need for apologies, master. We understand your enthusiasm, but we should return home and alert the sect of our findings.” Kel said, trying to ease Micro’s sorry expression.

“And even for you, tackling a dungeon one level above your own core in such a state… It might be difficult…”

“Perhaps you would agree that stabilizing your core is a priority at the moment…” Tae spoke slowly while placing herself between Micro and the dungeon gate. She waited tentatively for an answer, ready to defend the gate should Micro suddenly make a run for it, but she was relieved when he nodded in agreement.

“You’re right.” He said with an apologetic smile.

“Lead the way!”

“Thank you for your patience, master.” Tae said as the tension left her body.

“Kas, Den! Mind the portal until we send someone back to relieve you!”

“Understood!” The two replied in unison when they finally caught up.

Micro and Kel walked the rest of the way across the plains together, with Tae nearby at all times. Bol-En and Sung continued to patrol the area as the mountains in the distance seemed to grow taller and taller. Micro had enjoyed running on a relatively flat surface for the first time since he had acquired human legs, but walking alongside Kel through the tall grass proved enjoyable in its own way.

“I’d like to learn more about your world in time, master.” Kel began, ready to converse after recovering from his earlier sprint.

“I’m sure many people would be interested to learn more about the martial arts you have studied.”

“Martial arts?” Micro asked while playing with a blade of grass in his hands.

“Yes, the techniques you were trained in.” Kel explained.

“Everything about you, from the way you walk to the way you think, is so foreign to us. And I can’t even fathom the world you have described to me.”

“The techniques I used…?” Micro thought about the question for a while.

“Well, the old man’s driving skills definitely improved over time. It was five years before he built up the confidence to take us to full speed.”

“Full speed?” Kel asked.”

“So speed was of importance to your art… I see… But how fast were you?”

“My top speed was about one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour.” Micro replied fluidly.

“A tiny bit more downhill.”

“I’m not certain how fast that is…” Kel replied with an awkward frown.

“Kilometers?”

“Umm, do you remember how fast we ran to the yellow dungeon a while ago?”

“Yes, that was impressive for someone who only recently learned to harness their internal energies. Was that the speed at which you moved?”

“About three times faster, give or take.”

“Three…” Kel’s eyes widened.

“You’re very fast for a turtle though!” Micro laughed as Kel fell into a stupor.

“For a turtle…?” Kel whispered with a mixture of reverence and shame.

“What of your offensive techniques? What is your weapon of choice?”

“Offensive tactics?” Micro sounded slightly offended.

“I’m as safe as I am efficient and reliable!”

“I meant no disrespect, master.” Kel pursed his lips, trying to read Micro’s sudden mood shift.

“So you practice empty handed arts, training the body?”

“I’ve only been using hands for a few days, but my body was made of steel.” Micro shrugged.

“I miss it almost as much as I miss tires…”

“So you reached a level of body reconstruction… and at the level of steel…” Kel replied in awe.

“But how would you do against someone like us?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you were to run into one of us, would we even stand a chance?” Kel looked at Micro with a childlike expression, excited to hear his reply.

“If I ran into you?” Micro frowned at the thought, but he remembered his last moments with his driver.

“Well, I’ve only hit somebody once… about your size… It was an accident, of course, but he flew across the street…”

“You sent a man flying across the street by accident, despite never having fought before?”

“I’d rather not think about it, now that I can think about it…”

“Your vessel is truly unworthy of one as great as you, master.”

“Thanks, Kel…”

They walked quietly for the rest of the day.