Gwen and Reggy stared at slightly warped space that marked the boundary of the closed portal. They stood in silent contemplation for only a moment, each lost in their thoughts. Had they done the right thing? Maybe if they pushed themselves, they could have kept Jonah alive long enough to get him some help.

The Mana concentration he needed was rare and difficult to produce, but it wasn't impossible. The Association's Formation Masters weren't that powerful yet, but it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility that they could build something capable of sustaining him, at least in the short term.

Gwen knew how hard Billy had been searching for his Brothers and Nephew. It was the entire reason that he'd taken the position of Association Master in the first place, with the hope that his family might hear of it and find him. But so far, nothing had come of it. They'd heard rumors of Bob in what remained of Asia, but their leads hadn't lead anywhere. As for Bo and Jonah? They seemed to have both fallen off the face of the Earth.

Until now, that was.

How would he respond? Knowing that they'd found Jonah? Knowing that they'd been forced to leave him, probably to his doom? For a moment, she contemplated keeping the information to herself.

[Reggy] - "He'll be fine. You said it yourself, he's made it this far alone."

Reggy's voice dragged Gwen out of her contemplation, however. Though Gwen noticed his eyes linger on the portal site for a moment longer than even her own. Before she could respond, however, the old man in the night blue robe, standing beside her, cut her off.

[Markos] - "*nod nod* Agreed! Agreed! That boy is tough. I'm sure he'll find a fish to beat them with or something. Actually, that makes me hungry. When's Dinner?"

Gwen places her face in her palm and sighed, her voice a little straind

[Gwen] - "We've not even left yet, we still have to decide where to head to. Going straight back to HQ would be best, but we don't even know where we are at the moment. If Jonah managed to put the Titan back to sleep, we'll need to know more about its location.

[Markús]- "Bah! Always the stick in the mud, you two are. You need to learn to liven up! Live in the moment one in a while!

Reggy humphed while Gwen only shook her head. Then with a resigned sigh, she picked up her travel bag and turned away from the portal sigh. She was silent for a moment as she looked into the distance, before asking

[Gwen] - "Well, what next? Do we head straight for HQ? or do we scout the area a bit?

[Reggy] - "I say we head home. I need a shower after all that, and we have a report to file. The scouting can be left to the field teams. "

[Morkus] - "NORTHWARD!! "

Gwen, looked at the eccentric old man as he pointed dramatically in a random direction. She stared for a moment, silent, before addressing him

[Gwen] - "..... Fine. I'll bite. Why north? An how do you even know that's north?"

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[Marrkis] - "Because, my dear girl! I'm never wrong! and as for why, ADVENTURE OF COURSE!!!"

[Reggy] - "We're not here for bloody Adventure!!! Remind me again why we can't just leave this old fool in the woods and be done with him?"

[Markus III, King of Dolphins] - "Because Reggy, you would miss me too much! Besides, as they say; Fortune favor's the Bold!"

Reggy simply growled in frustration and glared at the old man

[Reggy] - "Or the Recklessly Insane..."

The old man in a gaudy orange suit gasped dramatically as if Reggy had just insulted his entire family, and replied with mock offense

[Ben-Cha'yil] - "How dare you, good sir! I'll have you know, I have never been reckless once in my life! Humph!"

Gwen made sure to intervene before the Smith started seriously contemplating burying their companion in a hole somewhere.

[Gwen] - "Forget it! It's not like we have anywhere else in mind. We might as well check out what we can. The more information we have on the area, the less work it'll be for everyone in the end. Let's head out, I want to at least find somewhere decent to make camp for the night.

The old man laughed in triumph, raising his leather-bound travel case and grabbing a wide-brimmed hat from the nearby hat rack.

[Markko] - "Great! I always loved a good Adventure! Onward!"

Gwen and Reggy could only sigh, as the pair started to walk down the packed dirt path in front of them, leaving behind the empty field.

The two continued on at a steady pace, paying no mind to anyone that might be following.

Why would they? It had only ever been just the two of them there to start with.

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

Two robed figured stood on the edge of the field and watched the two "Heroes" depart. After a moment, the younger of the two looked over at his companion and asked, his deep voice strangely quiet, as if coming from a long distance away.

[First Disciple] - "Are you sure about this, Master? What possible interest is there in a baby World like this?

[Markie] - Bah! Have you learned nothing from what I've taught you? Stop looking with your head, boy! Value isn't always simply what you can get from something now. But what it might add to later. Besides... I was bored..."

[First Disciple] - "You're always bored..."

[Marc] - "I DENY NOTHING! Hahahahahaha!"

The younger man sighed and shook his head. Why did he put up with this crazy old man? How many centuries had it been already?

[First Disciple] - "Fine. Then what about the Seed? I thought you said you'd never stick your hand in THAT mess again. Not after last time."

[Sucram] - "Ahh, my cute Disciple. In all of the 100,000 Galaxies, how many people ever managed to raise my [Arcanic Regeneration] past level 10?"

The first Disciple squinted his eyes and glared at the old man, but did the mental calculations anyway.

[First Disciple] - "Of the 7,423,526,234 stupid enough to actually take that skill within the last 300 years? roughly 6,000..."

The old man folded him arms and nodding knowingly.

[Maleko] - "And of those, how many DIDN'T die a horrible, Eldritch death or mutate into some amorphous blob that could only be damaged by Steak Sauce for some reason?"

[First Disciple] -"..... I see... and what makes you think THIS one will be any different?"

The old man unfolded his arms and placed his hands on his hips, lifing his nose up with a smug look.

[Just Mark] - "As I said before! 'Because my dear girl! I am never wrong!'"

[First Disciple] - "*sigh* I can't help but feel like this whole thing is going to turn into one big mess... again... Also, I'm not a girl.

[Marquis] - "I reject your reality, and Substitute my own! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

First Disciple placed her head in her hands and sighed. Could someone please just kill her now?

As the First Disciple contemplated her life choices, the old man by her side continued to fill the small clearing with the sound of his laughter.