However, Roan quickly recovered.
"I won't even waste time answering this question. In any case, let's talk about what really matters. We need to go to Fhanzen City in Gorea Country. That's where the Rank Four Bloodline Trial is located."
Of course, the others didn't like his sudden change of topic.
"Hey, hey, hey! You can't simply leave Calina without an answer like that!"
"Rean's right! Look at her. She's almost crying already!"
"That's not a good thing, Roan."
Roan didn't care, though.
"Say whatever you want. I don't want to get involved in your antics."
Calina then quickly rubbed her eyes before getting up. The surprising thing was that she didn't seem to be sad anymore.
"Alright, let's discuss our program to go to Fhanzen City. Should we separate into two teams as we've planned before?"
Rean and the others were taken aback. She should have been the one most interested in not changing the topic, no? How come she followed Roan's wishes and gave up?
"Ahem... Calina, aren't you interested in knowing what Roan feels about you?"
Roan narrowed his eyes as he replied.
"Can you stop with it already?"
Calina agreed with Roan, saying.
"Exactly. Let's forget it for now."
Malaka, Rean, Agis, and Qia looked at each other, not understanding Calina's sudden change. However, since the person mainly involved didn't want to talk anymore, they couldn't force the issue either.
"Err... I guess we can continue with the two team thing once again?"
As unwilling as Rean and the others were, they moved into the travel topic as well.
Roan mentally sighed in relief while he kept his stern expression.
"That would be the plan. Fortunately, this planet's cities are very far from each other. So it is unlikely that we will find anyone capable of causing us problems along the way. We can fight against the demon beasts in the demon beast regions while we make our way there."
While Roan discussed the next steps with Rean and the others, Malaka still couldn't hold her curiosity. With that in mind, she decided to send Calina a Spiritual Sense message.
'Why did you let him escape like that? Just a little more, and I believe we could force him to wield.'
Calina glanced at Malaka before answering.
'Because there's no need anymore. As far as I can see, the answer is already obvious.'
'How come?'
Calina faintly smiled before asking.
'You and Rean had been together with Roan for so long, so you should know why.'
Malaka was taken aback for a moment and then pondered about the issue. Sure enough, she quickly understood what Calina was talking about and smiled as well.
'Hahaha! That's true. The answer was right in front of me. It's just that I was so focused on making Roan talk that I missed it.'
Malaka wasn't the only one who noticed it. Rean was also puzzled by that outcome, so although he was talking about the travel plans, he also thought about what just happened.
'I see... To think that Calina would notice it before Malaka or me.'
Qia then asked him through a Spiritual Sense message.
'What are you talking about?'
Rean explained right after.
'It's simple. When Calina asked Roan if he considered her feelings bullshit, he avoided the question. Not only that, but he went silent for a moment before giving an excuse.'
Qia narrowed her eyes.
'So...?'
Rean continued.
'It's simple. You don't know Roan as much as Malaka and I do. Simply put, Roan would NEVER avoid a question. If he truly thought that Calina's feelings for him were bullshit, he would have answered straight away while keeping an ice-cold expression. However, he didn't. I wonder if that ice block that's far denser than a rock even noticed this problem. In the end, he gave Calina the answer she wanted. He simply didn't know it. At the very least, he liked her enough to not deny that.'
Qia was taken aback. However, she quickly pondered about the time she spent with Roan recently. Sure enough, Roan never meddled with words. He was always straightforward with his answer and didn't give a damn whether it could offend you or not. Even Rean and Malaka were no exception.
Well... Rean definitely was the one Roan would absolutely not care about feelings...
'I see... So without knowing, he already admitted that he considered her important.'
Rean nodded.
'That's why Calina suddenly became happy. She deserves the title of the one who loves the ice block for being able to notice it before anyone else. The only question is how long will it take for Roan to notice it himself.'
Qia nodded. Qia noticed that Agis was still more or less puzzled, so she also sent him a Spiritual Sense message explaining everything. All that conversation through Spiritual Sense occurred in just a few seconds, but the mood of the cave quickly shifted.
Soon, Roan noticed Rean, Malaka, Qia, and Agis grinning at him, which he found creepy.
"What the hell are you smiling about?"
Rean shook his head.
"Nothing much, We're just thinking that this Soul Power plan might be very good for us, so we're happy. Am I right, everyone?"
The others immediately nodded, with the others responding along the lines of...
"Yes. We're also thinking about the Soul Power."
Roan's mouth twitched in response. There was no way in hell that he believed what they said. However, he didn't care, so he let it go.
"Whatever. These are the two routes we will take to go to Gorea Country. Fortunately, Gorea Country is also on the road to Tuvaro Empire, so we won't deviate from our main target."
Rean nodded as he kept his bright smile.
"Good. From what I can see, Fhanzen City is massive. It's even bigger than Kastran City, so they should have auction houses and other businesses. That should be a good place to sell my equipment."
Malaka then asked.
"Is the Bloodline Trial located inside the city?"
Roan shook his head.
"No. It's outside the city. However, the city is used as the entrance to the trial grounds. From what I found out, you can't enter it from any other place. Well, we still have the Circuitry Teleport Formation, so it matters little whatever kind of protection they put in place. Still, I would prefer to go to Fhanzen City first so I can gather some extra information. We can use the Circuitry Teleport Formation after that."
Calina nodded.
"Alright, then. When are we departing?"
Roan looked at Calina, who seemed to have completely given up on the love matter. He was somewhat puzzled why that was the case, but he was satisfied that she did.
"There's a snowstorm outside at the moment, so let's wait for it to subside before we leave."
"Aren't we too close to Kastran? I think we should separate after we open some distance from it."
Roan didn't mind.
"That's fine. After the snowstorm stops, let's move as a group for the next thousand kilometers or so. We can go through the two routes I pointed out from there."
With that said, everyone went to their own corners and sat down to cultivate. At the same time, back in Kastran City, Jamil prepared everything for his departure. In the end, he didn't even wait for the snowstorm to finish before leaving with Falin and a few of his subordinates. Not a single one in his group was below the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. They immediately took flight in the middle of the storm and went in the direction of Gorea Country.
The cold energy of the snowstorm would be a problem in normal circumstances. However, Jamil was using his own Spiritual Energy to help others keep it in control. From the looks of it, he was quite in a hurry to leave in such conditions.
One day and a half later, the snowstorm was finally gone, which allow Rean's group to start their travel to the Gorea Country as well. As they discussed before, they went as a single group for the first thousand kilometers before separating. However, this time, Frandin went with Rean, Agis, and Calina's group, leaving Roan with Qia and Malaka.
Roan had planned the route to avoid the cities along the way while keeping his and Rean's connection inside the 3000-kilometer range. Because they were already used to this kind of travel, everything went smoother than before. They passed through a few Demon Beast Regions, where they got quite a few fierce battles. There were even times that they had to flee due to the demon beasts' numbers or strength. Nonetheless, that was the reason for their on-foot travel.
And just like that, another month and a half passed in a flash. Finally, Rean and Roan agreed to meet once again since they were getting close to Fhanzen City.
"Rean!"
Qia was happy to see Rean again after over a month, so she quickly ran in his direction, much to his helplessness.
"Don't you ever give up?"
Qia shook her head.
"Never!"
Malaka, on the other hand, went straight to the demon bird.
"Kentucky!"
*Chick!*
The girl and bird hugged each other as if they had been separated during their entire lives.
The reason for so much emotion was that Roan prohibited them from using the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm to meet each other. His reasoning was that they would get too comfortable, so that would be bad for their training. Of course, there was an orb which was sad from that as well.
[I couldn't see any of them even once. Don't you feel guilty leaving your Sister Orb alone for so long?]
Roan shook his head.
'Nope.'
Poor Sister Orb wanted to cry... too bad she couldn't shed tears.
