Six months later.

Falyn Elway’s P.O.V

Wooden roots lashed and whipped towards me, but each one I dodged created a creator of earth that shook the ground. The speed at which they were coming was expeditious, and each menacing root carried a malice that could only be felt through mana.

I waited for a root to attempt to strike again, and when it did, I grabbed it with my ice-clad hand, freezing it, and squeezed until it shattered. Sparkles of glistening ice flew everywhere.

The horrid mana beast reeked in pain. The giant beast's slithering branches contracted back to its body, going back to sharp jagged fingers. Its entire body was made up of wood, and with every step it took, it rooted itself to the ground, making it impossible to knock it over.

Hannah charged up her mana orb, and a giant ball of fire appeared and shot toward the beast. Over the six months we had been there, she had tried out all of the caster's weapons but ended up liking the orb the most, and I had to say, it was very useful in battle.

The beast was engulfed in flames. At the sight of struggle, Chark and Richard charged.

The sheer force of Chark’s hammer blew its wooden legs apart, and bark, along with debris, flew everywhere throughout the dungeon. Richards went for its head, throwing a large earthen spear at its head and piercing through.

As the beast fell back, the sound of tree branches snapping reverberated throughout the cave, followed by a loud thumping noise as the beast hit the ground.

I put out the ongoing flames, confirming the beast was dead.

“Great fight, guys!” Richard yelled as he walked over to collect the shards from the beast. “Hannah, your spell casting has gotten even better.”

She smiled, “Well, I’m up day and night training, so if it didn't, I would be worried.”

“I barely got to do anything this fight.” Lizzy pouted.

Carrollton patted her head, “It's fine, Lizzy. I didn't either. Next time will be our time to shine, though.”

Melian let out a light laugh at this as she went around healing everyone's slight injuries, “I’m starting to think we should be searching for stronger beasts; it's getting too easy. We don't even need the full team to fight anymore.”

Over these past six months, the team's power, along with our dynamic, had improved drastically, so slaying beasts like this one, a silver class, was like child's play.

We had come across our fair share of double-silver and gold classes, but not every day. When we did, though, our team was enough to take them down, injuries were given, but it all worked out in the end.

Everyone in the party’s adventuring ranks went up as well.

Richard and Melian bought hit gold rank. Richards hit tier two, and Melian hit tier three.

Chark went from silver-tier three to one, and Lizzy and Carrollton went from bronze-tier one to silver-tier two. There seemed to be a little rivalry going on between the two as well.

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Hannah was the one who improved the least, only going from silver-tier three to tier two. This was one of the main reasons she began trying to find different weapons and fighting styles, and she eventually adopted the orb, which even I had to say, was much better suited for her.

Lastly was me. I had gone from bronze-tier one to silver-tier one, being the one in the party who improved the most. I didn't doubt that if I ever went full out on the assessments, I would be ranked highest in the party, but I still refused to. I only intended to use my power for training or in case of an emergency. I didn't care about the rank of adventurers.

After gathering all the prizes from slaying the beasts in the dungeon, we made our way back to the city. Walking in from the East Gates, we finally arrived at the inn where we had been staying for the past six months.

Once everyone got cleaned up, we met in the dining hall for a farewell feast. As we sat down at the table, each of us was handed a wooden mug filled to the top with a foaming liquid. Richards lifted his mug and exclaimed, "Cheers to Walker and all he's done for us. It's sad to see him go, but we won't forget the memories we've shared while we were here. He was a great member and will always be a teammate in our hearts." His gaze then turned to me, and he added, "And if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call on us."

Everyone raised their mugs and clinked them together. "Our outings will be much harder without Walker here," Richard continued. "We'll need all of you to step it up."

Chark spoke up, "Who the hell is going to have our backs on the front lines now?" as he gulped down his drink in one go.

Lizzy, who was also a martial mage, stood up with a fist full of anger. "Did you forget about me, you big lump?" she said as she punched Chark's arm. "I'm a martial mage too, you know."

Everyone laughed, and Melian chimed in, "Yeah, but your skill sets are much different than Walker's." Lizzy sat back down and replied, "That makes sense."

"I have faith in all of you," I said. "I've seen each of your strengths and weaknesses, and you're all strong individually and even stronger as a team."

Looking at my companions, I realized how odd it was that I had spent six months with them without showing my face once. Yet, they treated me as a partner, teammate, and friend.

"You heard it from the man himself," Richard said. "If he believes so, then so do I, plain and simple."

Hannah smiled in agreement. Even Hannah, who had been reserved when we first met, had warmed up to me and treated me as a friend.

After the feast, we returned to our rooms. I was set to leave at dawn and had enough money to use the warp gate, so I didn't need to pack for a long trip. It felt strange to actually stay in bed. During our stay in Ara, I would sneak out and journey by myself to practice with Rye and work on my own strength fighting beasts.

Rye and I had made significant progress. We were able to use soul enhancement much longer than before, and he didn't have to take a long reprieve as he did last time. My mana core had also broken through to the dark blue stage from being at light purple before. This made all my spells and enhancements more potent and caused a jump in my abilities.

I sat up in bed, unable to sleep, and began meditating as I had done many times before. Mana surged around me, and the calm ambiance caused me to lose track of time.

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It was still dark outside, and the sun had yet to rise when I left the inn. I made my way to the warp gate station and got my ticket. As I waited in line, my thoughts drifted back to the journey and the time I spent in Ara. It was exhilarating to see how things were for adventurers and to test my skills, but I couldn't help feeling like I was missing something. Knowing Zeph, it was hard to say.

When it was time for the warp gate to activate, I was jolted out of my thoughts, and I stepped onto it. As the gate glowed and began charging up for transport, I took off my cloak and put it in my dimension ring. 'You ready, buddy?' I asked Rye.

Rye let out a yawn. 'Yeah, but you've got to stop waking me up at this hour. It's not good for my health.'

As the light of the warp gate faded away, I felt like a different person. The persona I had maintained during my journey was gone, and I was back to being just Falyn. Following the other travelers who were exiting, I left the warp gate station.

It was still dark outside, but since I was on the other side of the kingdom now, I could see the sun rising over the beautiful ocean view in the distance. I took my first step and began my search for a particular residence.