Death... and me

Without anything better to do, Rean and Triwe simply took a few Divine Stones out of their spatial rings and began to cultivate. Well, Rean was just pretending, though. As mentioned by Celis before, they were already at the Peak Stage of the Transition Realm, so all that remained for them was to break through.

Instead, Rean spent most of his time talking with Havek and the other Formation Masters about the Circuitry Formations. They had implemented so many things in the Free Continent that they obtained much more to improve and fix. Bugs in the system, as well as problems with communication, were a daily thing for them. And right now, they had time to work on the problems.

Every now and then, Triwe or Nisso would strike up a conversation, but as nothing else happened, they ended not too long after. For the two, cultivation was really pretty much what they could do. Triwe tried to get a little more information about forging from Rean, but Rean never revealed anything. He always said that he would only help him after they got to the Azure Lilibel Spirit Race.

And just like that, over four months went by as they passed a few continents through the Stream. Everything was going smoothly when suddenly, Nisso felt like his body was pulled away. Before he could do anything, he was already out of the Spirit Stream in freefall.

"Nisso, what is happening?" Naturally, Rean and Triwe noticed the change as they had barely felt anything during the last four months. However, they were still two months away from their destination.

"I don't know!" answered Nisso as he immediately tried to stabilize himself. He was also in the Transition Realm, so he could obviously fly. However, it didn't work as he continued to be pulled downwards. "Something is attracting us away from the Spirit Stream."

"Open your mouth and let us out!" Rean and Triwe obviously wouldn't stay there and simply wait.

Nisso nodded and let the duo out of his mouth. Unfortunately for Rean and Triwe, they also noticed that they couldn't fly at all. No, it wasn't that they couldn't fly, but that the force pulling them away was stronger than the force they could exert with their current flying capabilities.

'Sister Orb, how's the space around us? Can I use the Circuitry Teleport Formation?' Rean immediately called Sister Orb, having a bad feeling about this situation.

[No,] Sister Orb, obviously, knew what was happening. [The space around you has been disrupted. It's not because of the Stream, though. It's something else. If you try to use it now, chances are you are going to die. Even if you don't, you will end up somewhere far away. It can be anywhere in this entire half of the universe.]

Rean already knew that, so he immediately gave up on the idea. At the very least, he wouldn't do it right now.

Rean couldn't help but think after that, 'Could it be that we were found?'

Roan was also watching the events through their Soul Connection, so he answered, 'Most likely. You didn't get on the bad side of anyone with your new appearance, after all. Then again, let's see what happens first. Don't forget that the Destiny Avoidance mode of the System ended a long time ago, so we're prone to be attracted to weird situations now and then.'

It was then that Rean's group stopped in mid-air. It was not like they wanted to, but instead, their body was locked in place by Spatial Powers. However, both Rean and Nisso showed shocked expressions when they did so. In Nisso's case, he was also a spirit, so he could see the spirit in front of him even if it was trying to stay hidden. As for Rean, his Natural Spatial Perception was the reason why he could tell a spirit was right there.

The spirit seemed surprised that Rean was looking straight at him before he used his Divine Sense to check Rean. However, there was no need to do so. That's because, although small, he also noticed Rean's Spatial Powers. He was close enough to perceive that. 'Transition Realm and can use Spatial Powers... could this be the guy the humans are looking for nonstop? Then again... both his appearance and internal body structure don't look anything like the part. As for his Elemental Affinity, I can only feel the Fire Element interacting with him. No Light or Dark Element at all. A coincidence? Oh well, whatever.'

The spirit then shook his head and finally decided to show himself. However, he completely ignored Rean and Nisso. Instead, his attention fell on Triwe, saying, "Finally got you. Brat, you sure are hard to find!"

Triwe felt a chill on his back as he looked at the spirit in front of him. The spirit had a humanoid form, although its arms were covered in transparent feathers. In place of its hair, there was a crown of even bigger feathers, which was also transparent, that pointed backward. "U-Uncle Fran!"

Rean and Nisso looked back at Triwe. It was obvious just how powerful the spirit in front of them was. Yet, Triwe, who was supposed to be a low member of the Drugo Organization, seemed to know the guy quite well. "A spirit is your uncle?"

Triwe ignored the question from Rean and Triwe and quickly continued to talk with the spirit. "Uncle Fran, I already told you everything! I have nothing to do with any of you! First, how did you even find me?"

"You're not the one who decides that, Jakar," Fran didn't answer the question. "You should know that the cultivation world outside the race will only weaken you as time passes. Stop this bullshit, and let's go back to the race."

"No!" Triwe, or Jakar maybe, immediately refused. "I'm not going back! There's nothing for me back there, and you know that."

"Ahem..." Rean couldn't help but intervene. "Since you two have some family issues, how about letting us go? Neither Nisso nor I have known Triwe... Jakar for long. Whatever the decision you two reach, it doesn't really have anything to do with the two of us, right?" In the end, the guy really didn't come for Rean.

Nisso quickly nodded in agreement. "That's true, that's true! I'm only doing my job as a Spirit Stream Guide."

However... "Tian, how could you say that? After everything we've gone through!" said Triwe without a shred of shame.

Rean almost vomited blood after hearing that. "Like hell we did!"