Chapter 69: Travel

Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):

“What?” I asked, confused. Somebody raided her lab? How did that happen? Only she had the key and anyone Skilled enough to get in despite that wouldn’t have any need for her supplies to begin with.

“Someone went and took most of my rarer reagents,” she said. She was frowning, anger clear on her face, and I was sure that if she’d had a tail, that it would be lashing behind her right now. She was thoroughly pissed. “Made a mess of the room too. Fucking bastard.”

Alex put a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down, and tell us from the beginning,” he said.

She took a deep breath and nodded, though her frown stayed put. “Alright. I was packing my bag this morning and realized I totally forgot one of my traps in my lab the previous day, so I went to go get it. Once there, I found a mess. Somebody had gone through my shelves, cupboards, and everything like they were possessed. I guess they found what they were looking for since a ton of my more expensive reagents are missing. I’m glad I inventoried them last week, or I would’ve never noticed.”

“Was it your brother?” I asked. “He was begging for some of your stuff, right?”

She sighed, sitting down on the ground and rubbing her forehead. We sat down opposite of her. “I think so, yeah. But I can’t prove it. I’ve already reported it and it’s being investigated, but I won’t know who actually did it until I come back. Not that I think there’s much room for doubt.”

Alex put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry that happened. If you want, you can stay with Felix and I during the trip. I know you had originally planned to stay with your brother and other friends.”

I nodded in agreement. “You’re more than welcome,” I said.

I hadn’t agreed with her staying somewhere else in the first place. Her brother had convinced her to stay with him and their noble friends. Something about foreign relations and keeping up appearances. And while I wouldn’t stop her—she was her own person—I hadn’t liked it and thought it was a poor choice. Her brother was awful and there wasn’t anything good to be gained from spending time with him.

She smiled at us gratefully. “I think I’ll take you up on that, thanks,” she said, then clenched her hands. “It really sucks, you know? I know my brother can be awful, but I hadn’t thought he’d steal from me. Did he really think I was so stupid that I wouldn’t notice? Or did he just not care? I thought he had some basic respect for me, but I guess I was wrong.”

“I’m not sure what to say. But I’m not surprised. He’s just not a good person,” I said. “And if it’s any consolation, I don't think you’re missing out on much.”

I nodded towards the small group where her brother, Alfred, was. He was arguing with another member of his group and it looked heated. I hoped they would kick him out. I really hated the asshole. Especially after that first day of class. I wasn’t a beast, and I wouldn’t let anyone call me that. Fucking prick.

Turning back to Tiki, she looked like she was hesitating to go help. She’d stood up and was glancing between us and them. I sighed. “You can go help them if you want. I know the relations between you and the nobles are important.”

She looked back at them one last time, then shook her head. “No. I’m done with him. With them. The effort isn't worth it when Alfred goes ahead and undoes it immediately after. He can solve his own problems for once.”

I nodded in agreement. “I think you made the right choice.”

Alex nodded, too.

Tiki looked at Alfred and his group of nobles. “I hope so.”

After that, we talked about our backpacks and what we took with us. It soon became clear that we should’ve packed as a group, since it would’ve meant Tiki could’ve taken a lot more of her traps and alchemy stuff with her by having me carry it, while also leaving behind some basic necessities we already brought along. A thing to remember for the future.

She still had quite a few traps and ingredients for them with her, but she’d have to be careful with her use of them or she’d run out. Then again, that would likely serve as a good exercise.

Soon, it was time to leave. Professor Scott gathered everyone together, and we started walking as a group to the main teleportation complex. From there, we would go to Almar, a small-ish province way up to the north. We’d land in a town and would walk the rest of the morning until we got to the caves. Luckily the area was relatively monster-free, so we didn’t have to worry about that too much. It helped that we’d walk in one large group, and no monsters there would risk attacking us. And if they did… well, there was a reason we had so many teachers and assistants with us.

About an hour of walking later, we arrived at the teleportation complex. It was a large square-ish building where sharp corners and flat surfaces were the defining features. The main complex rose high in the sky, and smaller cubes jotted out of the walls all over—offices and other facilities. It was built with practicality in mind, rather than beauty. That didn’t mean it was an ugly building, though. The flat walls were painted with beautiful, vibrant murals. Swirls and strange patterns, paintings of stories and people, and paintings of landscapes covered the walls. It was a chaotic mess that nonetheless was a sight to behold. You could spend hours just walking around the building, looking at the pretty pictures.

I should know, because I’d done exactly that.

“When we’re back, we’re going on a date here,” Alex whispered to me. I chuckled and pulled him close with a wing, giving an awkward walking hug.

“Sounds like a plan.”

We walked inside through one of the side entrances reserved for large groups like ours. The teleporter personnel guided us to one of the large transporting platforms. It was a large, plain disk. On the outside, at least. The inside was where the magic happened, and it was filled with the most complex rune-work you’d ever see. The outside did have one defining feature, though. A large groove ran along the outer brim of the disk. Perfect for something large to slot into and lift the disk up. Which is exactly what happened.

A large grabbing arm crawled along tracks in the wall. When it got to us, it used its large circular grip to grab hold of the disk and lifted it, and everyone on it, up. After it had lifted us to a safe height, it started moving sideways, heading for a large passage way up on the wall. Behind us, where we had just been, a new disk rose from the ground, ready for the next group—who were already waiting.

The arm carried us through the large door, the motion so smooth it was hardly noticeable. Not that anyone could have fallen off. A barrier protected the edge from anyone taking a tumble.

It carried us through a passageway, past large open windows. Behind the windows stood a ton of mages. They were using Skills and reading read-outs on panels, checking the platform for readiness. We were given the green light, so the arm carried us forward to the main hall. Here a large magic circle covered the ground. It was almost two hundred meters in diameter and was a marvel of magical engineering.

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We were put down in the middle of the circle, and pillars started rising from the ground all around us, the formation activating. Crystals hummed, and the ambient mana buzzed with the spatial element. It tasted strange, like the feeling of space warping. There were literally no words to describe it. A countdown started.

The lines of the circle lit up with vibrant purple light as lavender lighting arced between the pillars, all of it culminating on the platform. The world turned bright with shades of purple and the humming reached an ear-piercing crescendo as the countdown reached zero, then with a crack like shattering glass, the world twisted and warped and we moved.

For a moment, everything felt wrong. The world tasted of nothing but spatial mana and there was the feeling of being watched. Then with a mighty thwump, we arrived.

Around me, people retched and gagged. They fell to their knees, gasping for air. I tilted my head at them and was confused. It wasn’t that bad, was it? I knew some people reacted badly to teleporting, but most of the class? It was weird. At least Alex seemed entirely unbothered, though Tiki looked a touch green.

“That won’t ever not be weird,” Alex said with a shudder.

I nodded in agreement as I made sure Tiki didn’t fall over.

A few minutes later, after most everyone had recovered, we were hurried off the platform so it could be cleaned and stored away for our return. We’d use it to get back as well. It was why the magic circle had been so large. It imprinted the capability to return to the campus on the disk. Truly a great feat of magical engineering.

Once we were outside, the professors gave us half an hour to eat our breakfast and recover before we had to leave. Our group of three sat down beside a tree in the park that surrounded the teleportation building in this town. No one wanted to live close to such powerful magics. The mana pressure made the average person uncomfortable all day. It didn’t help that spatial magic inherently felt unsettling.

After breakfast, everyone gathered together again while professor Scott explained some of the rules we needed to keep in mind while we traveled through the forest. It basically came down to: shout if you see a monster, stay with the group, use your common sense.

We left towards the north, traveling down the path at a brisk pace. We walked six hours, only taking two breaks. One at the two-hour mark, and one at the four-hour mark. Pretty much nobody liked it. Especially not the nobles who weren’t used to walking such long distances. At least they were all wearing proper footwear. One person had come to the gathering place on heels this morning and was sent right back home to change.

Alex and I were mostly fine. He had high Attributes, and I wouldn’t get tired by something like this. In fact, we quite enjoyed the walk. We talked about everything and anything, so long as it didn’t relate to us dating. We talked more about furniture, books, his experiences climbing with Sekara, my stories about doing dumb shit while flying, and so forth. It was nice.

Tiki didn’t participate in our conversation and only listened. She had participated at first, but her stamina simply wasn’t that good and she was struggling with the pace, so now she was just listening. She’d improved a lot since we first met, but not nearly enough. We’d have to work on that when we got back.

Finally, we reached our destination. We hadn’t run into any monsters on our way here, so we actually arrived a little earlier than expected. We didn’t get a chance to rest, though. First, the instructors had to explain the rules about the camping grounds.

“Now, the rules are simple,” professor Scott said. ”Don’t start a fire outside of designated fireplaces. Don’t shit in the forest, use the provided facilities. Stay within the perimeter unless you have permission otherwise. And don’t go into the caves without a professor. Now then, let me explain how the camping grounds work.”

Professor Scott went on to explain where we could and couldn’t camp, things to watch out for while camping, stuff like that. Basically, we could only camp around the pre-built firepits. There were a lot of these, though, and they were quite spread out, so we’d have some privacy.

After that, professor Scott finally told us to set up camp and rest for the next two hours. We discussed what we were going to do and what kind of spot we were looking for, then Alex and I went to explore the campgrounds while Tiki rested.

Sadly, we couldn’t yet see it from above, because of all the stuff still bound to my back. I couldn’t fly with it still there, and neither of us wanted to take it off before deciding on a spot. Getting it back on would be such a hassle. There was a map, though, and it showed the lay-out of the camping grounds.

It was large and circular, almost two kilometers in diameter, with the caves at the center. Trees were everywhere, with little to no clearings. A river passed through the terrain, almost perfectly cutting the grounds in two. We immediately decided we’d camp close to it, so we could swim, wash up, and get fresh water without too many problems.

Since the map wasn’t too detailed, we walked down the banks of the river until we found a nice secluded spot. Alex didn’t care too much about privacy at first, but quickly changed his tune when I reminded him of the reason why we would want it with a kiss on the top of his head. The spot was surrounded by large rocks, thick bushes, and a lot of trees. It was almost certainly artificial, but we didn’t care about that.

It was quite far out of the way, almost near the edge of the perimeter, which was just another hundred meters upstream. It made Alex nervous about the monsters, so we went to visit the perimeter to put his mind at ease.

The perimeter was a tall, reinforced fence made of a fine mesh. Barbed wire and spikes covered the top, and the whole thing sparked with lightning and wind mana. There were quite a few monster tracks outside the fence, but none dared to come within two meters. We walked along it for a while and even saw a monster try to get past the fence by digging. It had started digging outside the two meter line none of the monsters went past. It turned out that they didn’t go past that line because that’s where the enchantments activated. The fox-like mole that had been digging turned into ash in a second and was promptly whisked away by the wind, scattered throughout the forest.

Alex was satisfied with the safety of the perimeter, so we went back to the spot we’d found and put our stuff down. After we’d taken everything off my back, I went to the river—the only place clear of trees—and jumped into the air. I flew back to where we’d entered the grounds and picked Tiki up.

Flying didn’t agree with her, and she threw up over the side. Luckily none of it landed on my scales or wings. I hoped it wouldn’t hit anyone on the ground either, no matter how funny it would be.

When we got back to the campsite, Alex was already busy unpacking our tarp and other supplies. Tiki went to set up her own tent while I helped Alex. The tarp was really large and required quite a lot of work to properly set up. In the end, we had to use several thick branches to attach the ropes that kept the center aloft, while the edges were kept taut by lines tied to trees or anchored into the ground.

The tarp covered pretty much the entire camping spot and would keep all of our stuff dry. But more importantly, it kept Alex and I dry, since we weren’t sleeping in a tent. The tarp also had a hole in the middle for smoke to escape through, so we could still make fires under it. It was a pretty great set-up.

“Isn’t it a bit overkill?” Tiki asked, pointing at the tarp. “Also, we really need to pack our bags together next time. If I’d known you’d take this… monstrosity with you, I would’ve left my tent behind and saved some weight and space in my pack.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I agree. Next time we’ll do it together. And it probably is a little overkill, but I could take it with me, so why not use it? Others are going to be jealous when it rains and they’re stuck in their tiny tents while we can sit out in the open playing whatever games we want to play.”

“It is pretty nice, I guess,” she said, then looked at her watch. “We’ll need to get back to the professors soon. I don’t want to miss the lecture.”

“I could fly us back, if you want, give you a little more time to rest.”

I’d have to fly twice, but that was no problem. Alex nodded in agreement.

Tiki paled. “I’d prefer it if we walked.”

I shrugged. “Alright, then. Your loss. Shall we go, then?”

“Let me just pack these things away again and I’ll be ready to go,” Alex said.

I helped him clean up our packs a bit, and then we left. I was curious what the first lecture was going to be about.