Noelle took out the bag from her shoulder and opened it, taking out a mana potion from it.
She walked towards Erik, passing him the mana potion. "Have a safe journey," she added in a calm tone.
Erik stretched his arm, taking the mana potion in his hand. He removed the luminarian pouch from his pants pocket and brought the mana potion near its mouth. The mana potions bottle seemingly vanished and was placed inside the pouch's space.
"I will be cautious, thanks for the potion though," Erik added with a smile, looking at Noelle. He then simply turned his head to look at Amelie and simply nodded, which she returned as well.
"Quick step," Erik spoke, vanishing from their position and moving to the stairs of the 15th floor in an instant.
"It's sure going to be tiring to use quick steps repeatedly to reach the mainland," Erik mumbled as he let out a small sigh.
Erik's journey back took something about 2 hours due to all of the small and mid-sized monsters coming in his way. He avoided most of the battles, only taking the fights he couldn't avoid. Using quick steps to enhance his speed for prolonged time after fighting aron, nightwolves, healing Amelie and her teammate, and fighting other monsters on the way up had caused Erik to have a burnout.
Erik was finally standing outside of the dungeon, panting repeatedly, trying to catch his breath. A tired look was evident on his face.
"I would have to use the potion, huh? I thought I might manage without it," he mumbled with an irritated look on his face.
Erik moved aside from the dungeon's entrance, taking support on the wall of the dungeon's rocky exterior. He placed his wand against the wall as well.
He placed his hand in his pocket, taking out the luminarian pouch from his pocket. Holding it in his left hand, he opened the rope that covered its mouth, throwing that thin rope on the floor as he opened it.
"Why do I have to close this dumb pouch," he shouted mentally, getting angrier every moment. Erik put his hand inside the pouch, imagining the mana potion bottle in his mind. With that, he pulled his hand outside with the bottle.
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Erik removed the cork cap from the bottle and quickly chugged down the mana potion almost instantly.
As he did that, he tightly closed his eyes shut, they were burning from tiredness. Erik kept his eyes shut, only tightening the force further. He then bent slightly forward, standing without the support of the wall, and stretched his arm as he opened his eyes.
Erik stumbled a bit and regained his composure in the next moment itself.
"It was tiring, i am not gonna help anyone again," Erik added in a low voice with a frustrated look.
Erik picked up the rope he had thrown down and placed the empty bottle inside the luminarian pouch, tying it afterward. He then placed the pouch in his pocket and took his wand that was supported by the wall.
Erik began his walk towards the main city of Duxelle. He kept his pace moderate, taking sufficient time to think about what his next actions should be.
"Telling the guildmaster about this monster sighting would surely pay good," Erik thought to himself with a serious expression, which quickly changed to a huge grin.
"How much will he pay, though?" Erik wondered. "Killing or defeating a monster is one thing, but information? That's priceless, isn't it?" he thought as he walked on the forest's pathway.
Erik looked up at the sky, noticing the full moon covered with clouds.
"It's getting cold," Erik said as he noticed his right hand twitching with coldness.
Erik used a burst of two quick steps in succession, stopping in front of the city's entrance.
Erik let out a sigh. "Mana potions aren't that good. Feeling tired after two quick steps? That's practically water," he added with a disappointed look on his face.
Erik walked towards the city entrance gate. The knight from the morning was sitting inside a small, room-like post, which had a large window as an opening and a stone platform attached to the lower side of the post's opening. Another knight stood in front of the large gate of Duxelle, holding a sword in his hand. His job was simple, to stop anyone from entering without permission.
Erik looked at the knight sitting in the post. He was the same man from the morning, the one whose name Erik was curious to find out.
Erik moved towards the post, stretching his arm with his adventurer card.
"Oh, it's you, Erik. You can go in, It's not needed," the knight said as he pushed Erik's hand back.
Erik looked at the knight and began to speak.
"Sir, have I ever properly introduced myself?" Erik questioned the knight with a curious expression and a polite tone. He placed his adventurer card on the platform and stretched his hand for a handshake.
The knight's facial expression changed from confused to a small smile. He took Erik's hand in his.
"It's Albert Williams," the knight said in his deep voice.
"It's Erik wales for me, sir. I study in Celera and work as an adventurer part-time," Erik said with a tiny smile as he shook Albert's hand.
"I knew you were young and don't work daily, but you're a student at Celera too?" he added with a surprised tone.