As the duo effortlessly climbed the perpendicular cliff, Ethan noticed that once in a while, they were looking up. Following their gaze, he quickly found out what was going on. About 20 yards above the climbers, a white puppy was struggling hard to jump on a big rock but failing every time. Since there was little space between the rock and the edge of the cliff, every attempt was a close call for the little cutie.

Ethan stored his wingsuit back and appeared next to the puppy with a single [Blink]. He grabbed it with both hands and pulled it toward his chest. The stunned dog got stiff for a moment but it was already licking his face the next second.

‘’Hey! What are you doing?!’’ the girl yelled from below, staring at him with wide eyes.

‘’Just helping out,’’ Ethan yelled back. ‘’We’ll be waiting at the bottom.’’

With his cloak, he wrapped the puppy and made a bundle. Another [Blink] carried them to the foothill next to Beet. ‘’Sorry, bud. We have to delay our next flight,’’ he said and opened his bundle. ‘’Look. I got you a new friend.’’

Getting out of the cloak, the puppy looked around curiously and got excited when it saw Beet, starting to run around him and trying to get close hesitantly. Beet got annoyed quickly and summoned a shade, giving the order to send the puppy away.

Ethan chuckled and warned Beet as he sat on the rock next to them. ‘’Be gentle, it's not even tier-1.’’

In about five minutes, the climbers got down from the cliff and walked near them. The tier-4 was a dark elf girl. She had short curly white hair, an oval face, and a button nose. Combined with her exotic robe and dark skin, she had a quite striking appearance. Currently, she was staring at Ethan with an unduly serious face, which just made her even cuter.

The other was a young guy at the peak of tier-3. He had sandy blond hair, a well-toned body, and a handsome face. Other than his ragged pants, he was practically naked, making Ethan remember his days in the Ivory Woodland. His walking posture seemed laid back, but there was also an air of confidence in it, and in contrast to the girl, he was watching Ethan with a curious and questioning gaze. Hold on. Isn’t this–

‘’The Voidwalker!’’ the guy exclaimed, hitting his thighs exaggeratedly. ‘’I knew you looked familiar! Would you look at that, what are the chances?’’

‘’Shut up, Liam,’’ the girl snapped while looking at Ethan. ‘’What do you want? We can talk about it. Don’t hurt Yoyo.’’

Ethan was surprised by the genuine tone and turned to look at Yoyo before coming to a realization. The puppy was trying to get near Beet, but a terrifying-looking wendigo shade was blocking its path, pushing it away gently and rolling the dog on the ground. Though, Yoyo seemed to enjoy it as it was charging the shade right after while wagging its tail.

‘’No worries. They are just… playing? I guess?’’ Ethan replied with a clumsy smile and whistled to call the dog. When yoyo came to him excitedly, he grabbed it with a hand and walked toward the dark elf before passing the puppy. ‘’Here. It was dangerous up there, so I just wanna help out.’’

Liam piped in as the girl quickly grabbed the dog. ‘’Oh, she misunderstood since she doesn’t know you.’’ He walked next to Ethan and patted his shoulder, introducing him with a smile, ‘’Fraeya, this is the famous Voidwalker. He chased Councillor Travis from Niamaris to Ehrendil and when the McGregor’s patriarch showed up to save his son, he slapped the man and said, ‘you better teach your son properly! I won’t be showing mercy next time!’. Then, he vanished into thin air.’’

Fraeya looked at Liam like watching an idiot. ‘’No tier-4 can slap a tier-9 and live to tell the tale.’’

‘’But what if they are made of void?’’ Liam asked in a deep tone, wiggling his fingers in the air.

‘’Not possible.’’

‘’What do you mean not possible? There are countless wit–’’

‘’Why should the patriarch teach his son properly, though?’’ Ethan asked with an odd look. ‘’What did Travis do in the first place?’’

‘’Oh, that’s because you guys met in a long line for the massive secret orgy party, but Travis tried to cut the line by using his connections. Big mistake! If there is one thing the Voidwalker hates, that’s the people who take advantage of their positions and suppress the common folk,’’ Liam explained, gesturing animatedly. ‘’Suddenly, the mana density increased 10-fold as the time and space became still for a second before rejoicing for the call and heeding it immediately. The next second, Travis found himself at the back of the line and a seething voice resonated through the void, ‘We’re waiting here for hours! What makes you–’’

‘’I call bullshit,’’ Fraeya said with a bored expression as she petted Yoyo. ‘’How is it that a massive orgy party with a long line is also a secret?’’

‘’Of course,’’ Ethan murmured. ‘’That’s what makes you unconvinced.’’

‘’It’s an open secret, okay?’’ Liam said, gritting his teeth. ‘’What do you know about nobles and their parties? Do you think they would hang a banner in downtown?’’

‘’If there was such a long line, they might as well invite everyone in downtown.’’

Liam started to twitch before turning to Ethan and pointing at him. ‘’There. The man himself is here. Why don’t you ask him?’’

‘’What makes you think that I’m the Voidwalker? I was still at tier-3 at the time of the tournament. Wasn’t that guy mid tier-4?’’ Ethan asked curiously.

‘’There was a big debate about that. You’d [Blink]ed to the arena and killed that guy by stabbing him through the void. And once you’d threatened that tier-5 judge, the word of Voidwalker started to spread. In the end, people are divided in two. The ones who say it’s a coincidence and the ones who say that you’re hiding your cultivation via skill or artifact.’’

‘’So, even if I show you that I recently advanced to early tier-4, you’d say that I’m still hiding the truth.’’

Liam nodded happily.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Ethan shrugged and turned to Fraeya. ‘’It’s all true. I can slap tier-9s because I’m made of void,’’ he confessed with narrowed eyes, wiggling his fingers.

Fraeya rolled her eyes and turned to walk away while grumbling, ‘’Like one nutcase wasn’t enough.’’

Liam laughed aloud and put his arm around Ethan’s shoulder. ‘’I knew it! What are you doing here, anyway? Come, join us for dinner. It should be ready in an hour or so.’’

Ethan removed the arm with a wry smile. ‘’I just ate, but I’d like to join you guys for a short chat.’’

‘’No problem.’’ Liam agreed readily. ‘’I have a lot of questions for you as well.’’

Ethan motioned Beet to follow and started walking behind Fraeya. When Beet summoned the shade back into his shadow, Liam’s eyes widened.

‘’T-That wasn’t your skill?’’

‘’Nope,’’ he replied before tilting his head. ‘’What happened at the tournament after I left? Who won?’’

Liam patted his chest with a grin. ‘’I did. It was damn hard though. You should’ve seen the last ten. Everyone was hiding trump cards, I almost died in the quarterfinals.’’

Ethan raised an eyebrow. ‘’You beat that earth elemental girl?’’

‘’Nah, never had a chance. She got eliminated before the last ten. It turned out she had no defense whatsoever. Became unconscious with a single punch.’’

‘’Huh… What about the swordsman with the wind affinity?’’

‘’Second place,’’ Liam said, pursing his lips. ‘’Our battle was epic. We also made a promise to fight again in Meteora, but I’m not sure if I could breakthrough to tier-5 in a year and a half.’’

‘’Yeah, I feel you,’’ Ethan said with a sympathetic look. ‘’Who knows when we could advance our skills?’’

Liam shook his head. ‘’Advancing them isn’t the problem. I already have two different ideas for a rank-1 skill of mine, but without something really good, I would rather delay it and wait.’’

Ethan stumbled and sharply turned his head, surpassing his urges to strangle the guy. ‘’Like solid ideas? You can advance the same skill into two different rank-2 skills anytime, but you don’t like them and wait for a third one?’’

‘’Uh-huh. If I could combine all three of them, that would be perfect. At worst, I’ll just pick the best one.’’

‘’Do you know that you have an effect on people to make them wanna give you a good beating?’’

‘’He does,’’ Fraeya confirmed, turning behind. ‘’I remind him often, and since he insists on staying as a tier-3, I also beat him whenever lately.’’

Ethan’s eyes shone with understanding. ‘’Hence the clothes.’’

Liam nodded. ‘’Hence the clothes.’’

They kept chatting as they walked for a few more miles and Ethan got to know more about the weird duo. Back in the tournament, Liam was one of the five he’d favored, and after seeing his battle with the fire-immuned monster-blood, he was pretty sure that the guy was hiding a lot more. It wasn’t too surprising for him to get first place.

Apparently, Fraeya was also on par with Liam when it came to fighting, and that was a bit surprising because they claimed to have met in the adventurer’s guild and went on a few missions together. Since the day of the tournament she was at tier-4, she’d chosen to go on a solo mission, and she was insisting that if she was at peak tier-3 at that time, Liam would’ve no chance.

The possibility of these two monsters finding each other so casually felt a little off to Ethan. Though, after spending just an hour with them, he found them sincere and even started to like their antics.

They led him behind a small hill through the barren lands. As he got close, his domain started to cover more and more people until he stopped with a stunned expression. ‘’This is your camp?’’

‘’Yeah. We’ll be here for a day and continue the journey tomorrow,’’ Liam said. ‘’It’s a shabby place, but we’re in the Dead Plains. Everywhere is the same around here.’’

‘’That’s not why he’s surprised,’’ Fraeya noted. ‘’You didn’t even once mention that we’re with a caravan. He was probably expecting a few more people in the camp, not a hundred-something people with all kinds of ages and tiers.’’

‘’A caravan to Mirasatra?’’ Ethan asked, inspecting the place with [Mana Sense].

‘’Yep. We've been on the road for more than a month, but only a few weeks of the journey left now.’’

The camping area was bustling with people. Little kids were running around while the grownups stayed in small groups, some playing cards, some just chatting, and some preparing food. There were many big and colorful tents near the caravans, as well as all kinds of horse-like animals, making Ethan suspect whether they were still in the Dead Plains.

‘’You are going to Mirasatra as well, right?’’ Liam asked. ‘’Why not join us?’’

Ethan hummed as he watched the crowd. ‘’Maybe.’’ I’d save a few days with the ship, but this seems fun, and I’m not in much of a hurry either.

Many people noticed them as they got close, and two men in thick armor came to welcome them. Their eyes were following Ethan with wariness.

The bald man with a scar smiled and nodded. ‘’I see that you guys found Yoyo and even brought someone else.’’

‘’Hey, Malik,’’ Liam greeted. ‘’This is Voi-’’

‘’Ethan.’’

‘’This is Ethan. He might join us for the rest of the journey. Hope that’s okay.’’

Malik turned Ethan to size him once again. ‘’I know there isn’t much left until Mirasatra, but food and accommodation will still cost you a mana stone.’’

‘’That’s okay,’’ Ethan replied. ‘’I’ll let you know tonight if I’m coming with you or not. I can still hang around in the camping area, right?’’

‘’You can,’’ Malik said before turning to Liam hesitatingly. ‘’Just… just keep an eye on him. He is your responsibility for now.’’

‘’Sure thing.’’

When Malik and the other guard left, Ethan leaned toward Liam. ‘’What was that about?’’

Liam waved his hand dismissively. ‘’It’s nothing. There is a skilled thief among us and he robbed pretty much everyone in the last month. There wasn’t anything too valuable but everyone is walking on shells these days.’’

Ethan raised an eyebrow. ‘’You couldn’t catch him for more than a month?’’

‘’Well, we didn’t really try, but yeah, there is no evidence at all. He’s good.’’

They walked to the center of the crowd and many turned to greet them. Everyone was nodding before returning to their business, except one little girl. She was sitting on a chair in front of a tent and looking around blankly with swollen eyes. Though, the moment she noticed them, she jumped to her feet and started running.

‘’Yoyo!’’

Fraeya put the puppy on the ground, and it immediately charged at the little girl.

The girl hugged the dog and started crying while trying to say something to them. It took a bit to finally uttered the words, ‘’T-Thank you Flayaa!’’ Then, she resumed her crying even louder.

Fraeya went forward to pat her head gently. ‘’It’s alright. Stop crying now.’’

Liam smirked and pulled Ethan by the arm. ‘’Come, let me introduce you to others. Pretty much everyone here knows each other by now, but we have three others that we became bonded even more on this trip.’’

In a short walk, they arrived at the back of the crowd, where a boy and two girls were sitting under the shade of a big tent.

‘’Yo! Meet Vo–’’

Ethan’s hand slapped the back of Liam’s head.

‘’Ethan, yeah, meet Ethan,’’ Liam said, rubbing his head as he gave a silly smile. ‘’He is also going to Mirasatra and might join our caravan.’’

Ethan quickly got to know others. An archeologist who was a stunning beauty, a young caravan guard who was way too lazy, and a herbalist who was overly arrogant. Oh, I’m definitely in. That’s just too much fun.