Path to Transcendence

"Do you have everything you need?" Richard asked.

"I think so, I made sure to pack plenty of yummy food," he said proudly.

Rebecca, who was off to the side gave him a small flick to the back of the head. "That's not what he meant and you know it. How come all you ever think of is food or training?"

Julius shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I am a simple man," he said happily.

The older woman frowned at him and was about to flick him again but held herself back with extreme patience that only a mother could have.

"Did you at least pack the potions that I got for you?"

He was about to say yes, but restrained himself at the last moment and took the time to make sure he actually did pack them.

He looked inward into his storage ring and sensed the package Rebecca had given him a week ago lying right where he left it. Then he smiled at the woman and nodded.

"I do. You really think I am going to need them though?" He asked.

He has shared a lot about his skills with them so far. However, he hasn't exactly told them how effective his healing skill was. They knew he had some sort of regeneration skill, but they probably thought it was some normal healing skill. One that a lot of close combat fighters had to increase their stamina or health regeneration.

If they had seen what the skill could really do, he believed they would be much less worried about his safety. Actually, he suspected they would have been worried regardless of his skill.

"It is better to have them than to not have them," Richard interjected.

"Yeah, don't worry about saving them. Make sure to use them whenever you think necessary. While they might normally be expensive, we have our own alchemists and ingredients to make the cost pretty low," Rebecca added.

"I promise I will consume them like they are tasty desserts," he told them with a wide grin.

"Well, don't do that. We don't need you dying to potion overdose before you can actually act as bait," Richard said.

"Richard," Rebecca scolded.

"What? You have seen him devour sweets. If he does that with these potions, he might actually implode," he pointed out.

"Yes, but you don't need to say such things before he heads out. You know it's bad luck to say stuff like that."

"Bah, you and your superstitions!"

While the two of them got into another scuffle, he turned to Reinera who was looking quite nervous despite that she wasn't even going along with him.

"I will only be gone for a couple of weeks. Marquis Easten has arranged for me a teleportation slot to come back after I finish," he said to her.

"I know, but I still can't help but feel nervous. We don't know for sure what they are going to do. We don't even know if they are going to show up."

"They will. Marquis Easten made sure that we're transporting enough materials that the Conclave can't help but try and attack us."

"That's not exactly reassuring," she grumbled.

He gave her a pat on her downtrodden head. "It's going to be fine. If something really goes wrong, I will just run the other way."

"You promise?" She asked, a little more brightly.

"Of course. The moment I see someone too strong, I am going to sprint in the opposite direction," he said confidently.

However, he was displeased when he saw the doubtful look she made at him. A look he gladly ignored.

"So where exactly am I supposed to meet the caravan?" He asked the two bickering spouses.

Richard was the first to turn to him. "You are going to meet them at the square where most of the caravans leave Blumand. It will be easy to find, just look for the big House Easten symbol on the the wagons and then go search for a man named Rolus. He is the leader of the expedition and one of the only ones who knows why you are really there."

"What does this Rolus look like?" He asked.

"Oh trust me, you can't miss him. You will know exactly when you see him," Rebecca said with a laugh.

He didn't know what that meant. But it didn't seem like he was getting a better description of the man. So he left it be and got ready to leave to meet the caravan.

He couldn't wait.

***

Stephanie POV

Stephanie and her friends were long-time workers of House Easten. Officially they were adventurers, but they always had the first crack at escort contracts for House Easten.

This was perfect for their group for many reasons.

The pay was amazing, for a job that required minimal work, it paid quite lucratively. The other main benefit was the fact that they were able to get closer to the ruling House of Blumand.

This allowed them all to gain some valuable opportunities and opened many doors that otherwise would be closed to people like them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Jeez, are we going to sit here all day?" Beck, their tank grumbled from his spot on the back of a wagon.

"You're always so impatient, man. We still have some time before the official departure," Matt, their leader said to the man, trying to keep their tank calm.

"Yeah, but if we leave now, we could get to our destination sooner," Beck argued.

"Yes, but if we forget something and have to come back to get it, then we would be wasting even more time," Stephanie pointed out for the tenth time.

The man couldn't stand still, no matter the occasion.

She looked around at the rest of their team. There was Beck and Matt, but just behind them were George and Pamela.

George was their resident scout/assassin. The man was quite good at his job. He rarely made mistakes and the ones he did, were always within expectations. He communicated well and had the skills to help the team's effectiveness.

The only thing that she wished he would change was his 'leisurely' activities.

For some reason, the man could not keep it in his pants. If they weren't delving or on a job, the man would be hitting on women left and right. He wasn't picky, as long as they were relatively attractive and not a male, he would go after them like a dog in heat.

She had to admit, she could see why he would do it though. If she was that attractive, she might be doing the same thing. Furthermore, it wasn't even just his looks that helped him, it was his 'mysterious' vibe that he loved to accentuate for the ladies. And unfortunately for her and her team, these women gobbled it up like naive idiots.

Pamela on the other hand was the total opposite. The woman never had a boyfriend in her life. It wasn't because she was ugly either. She was very cute and had a wonderful personality. It was just too bad that the woman was shy around new people.

Regardless, the woman was a terrifying mage. She had an uncommon acid affinity, something that didn't suit such a timid woman.

There have been times when people underestimated Pamela only to watch the woman's acid attacks eat through everything in its way. Unsurprisingly. once they saw her acid rain kill an entire horde of monsters their opinions changed quite quickly.

Stephanie was their healer and support mage. Her responsibility was to make sure everyone was in the right place at the right time as well as making sure they were all in their best shape.

She could still hear Beck complaining to Matt once more but before she could cut the man off, she noticed something in the corner of her eye.

Approaching their caravan was a young boy who could not have been much older than fifteen. The boy seemed lost as his head kept on swiveling back and forth. The large crowds that were frantically trying to get the caravan ready to go were brushing past him in a hurry. Almost everyone had something in their hands that they were taking to a wagon.

The boy managed to dodge most of them but he was still looking around, obviously looking for something.

"I wonder what a kid is doing here," George spoke up, all of a sudden right next to her. It would seem that the man had also noticed the boy.

She gave George a quick glance and was given a brilliant smile in return, the man had been pining after her for a long time. Fortunately, he respected her refusal but still threw out the occasional advance.

"I have no idea. He might have gotten separated from his family or something and is lost," she said hypothetically.

"Perhaps. Are you going to help him?" George asked with a knowing look.

She gave him a frown. "Why not? We have nothing better to do at the moment. We are just sitting around, waiting to leave."

George thought about her response and it must have convinced him because he shrugged his shoulders and headed straight for the boy. With her right on his heels.

The boy must have noticed them heading toward him because he stopped and gave them a friendly smile as they approached.

She was the first one to say something.

"Are you trying to find something? You seem kind of lost," she said to him with a soft tone.

The boy awkwardly scratched his head. "Is it that obvious?"

She shook her head and laughed. "It's not a big deal. I know better than most about how chaotic it can be to find something around here when it's this busy. So what are you trying to find?" She asked with a smile.

"I am actually trying to find a person. His name is Rolus, I am supposed to go find him," the boy said with a laugh of his own.

She paused for a little bit. Why was this boy looking for Rolus? Maybe, he was delivering a message or something to man.

She shook her head. It didn't matter, it wasn't like it was her business and it wasn't like Rolus couldn't handle a boy himself.

She pointed over the left shoulder of the boy. "Rolus should be somewhere by the main wagon just over there. Just follow those light poles all the way up and you should see eventually find him."

"What does he look like?" The boy asked curiously.

George chuckled at her side. "Trust me, you won't have any problems finding him. Just look for a man with a massive sword strapped across his back and that will be him."

The boy scratched his face a little bit but eventually nodded his head. "Okay, I think I understand. Well, thank you for all of your help!" He said sincerely before turning around and walking toward the direction of the main wagon.

Once the boy was out of sight, once again swarmed by people running around, she turned to George with a smile.

"Don't you feel better now? You did your good deed for the day," she said while giving him a patronizing pat on the back.

However, George didn't seem to react like he normally did. Instead, he was staring off where the boy had walked off to.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

He finally turned to her with an odd look on his face.

"Did you sense his aura?" He asked her.

"Of course, why?" She was confused as to why he was acting this way, but he was very skilled in aura, so perhaps he noticed something that she didn't.

"I don't know. I just thought it was weird that someone his age would be Tier 3," he noted.

"He was Tier 3?" She asked in surprise.

She hadn't noticed he was Tier 3 at all. From her initial assessment, she thought he was TIer 2 or something. His aura was pretty weak, thus Tier 2 would make sense.

If George believed that the boy was Tier 3, then she was inclined to take him for his word. But it was weird that the boy would have such a diminutive aura for a Tier 3.

"He must have rushed through Tier 2 or something," she said while shaking her head. It was sad to see but it wasn't exactly uncommon either. Children who didn't have the proper guidance often tried to advance through the tiers as fast as they could without building their foundation.

It would seem like that poor boy was one of those children.

"What? You feel bad for him too?" She asked George.

"Something like that," he said distractedly.

She thought he was acting weird and was about to ask about it but she heard Matt call out to her through her communication skill, signaling to her and George that they needed to head back toward the wagon.

"Come on, Matt is calling for us," she nudged George who stopped spacing out and nodded in acknowledgment.

All thoughts about that interaction were put on hold as they maneuvered their way back to their team.