"Teacher Ning, are you coming too?" Reya asked.
"Halfway through, I guess. I'm going somewhere else though," Ning said as he showed up to the gathering of the students in the fields behind the academy.
A year had gone by, and it was time for the Decennial Competition.
The students were all happy and excited to be going on this small adventure. Not only that, the Alchemy students were particularly jumpy due to what was at stake in this Decennial Competition.
"Wow, so many people," Ning said as he looked around.
"Why are you here? I thought you said you weren't coming," Ely asked from the side.
"That was just because Anya said she wouldn't be coming, so I didn't really care about it, but then I recently remembered something I heard a long time ago and thought that it would be a good time to visit that place," Ning said.
"Oh, ok. Will you be flying with the Alchemy wing? I have to take care of the artifact wing's students," Ely said.
"Nah, the students don't really know me. I'm sure the Old man will hog all of their attention. So, I will fly with you. Besides, I want to see how that artifact came out," Ning said a little too excitedly.
"You really do get childish when you remember about Earth, don't you?" Ely said with a chuckle.
"What's wrong with that?" Ning asked.
Yola brought out a massive ship that Ely had made for them and all the students started boarding it.
A few of the teachers remained behind who took out their own boats. Ely brought out her own too.
This boat was very… weird. It was nothing but a 1 by 2-meter block of metal that was about 20 centimeters thick. The only thing separating it from a normal block of metal was the numerous holes in it.
The metal boat started floating in mid-air and both Ely and Ning got on it. The boat suddenly started releasing steam that stuck around them.
The steam then condensed and gathered around the boat like mist.
Yola's boat flew off, and so did everyone. Ely moved her boat as well, as soon she was leaving behind a trail a mist as she flew.
Ning looked around him and sighed, "So, my blueprints failed, huh?" he said.
"I told you. We should use leather instead of metal," Ely said. "You should leave coming up with ideas to me."
She looked at him and said, "Hey, be cheerful. Even if it doesn't feel like one, it sure looks it,"
Ning saw the students looking at him in awe. More accurately, they were looking at the flying cloud he was riding on.
"Haha, it does indeed look like it, doesn't it?" Ning got a little happy.
The group of them flew over the vast forest behind the academy towards the sun empire.
It would take the lot of them about 5 days to reach the Bright Red academy that was located towards the eastern portion of the continent.
Stronger teachers got cautious and started looking out for beast attacks from down below. The forest surrounding the Sun Empire was massive and lasted for tens of thousands of kilometers.
They didn't have to worry, however. Ning already had Night fly down below lookout for such attacks. Night was roaming around checking for dangers before they actually arrived.
So, the lot of them had nothing to do but wait. Ning conversed with Ely about the different things and told her where he was going.
Ely didn't really show any reaction as Ning himself wasn't expecting to find anything there. He was in fact worried he was going there for nothing.
"Why didn't you teleport there?" Ely asked.
"Eh? What's the hurry? Besides, I'm getting to spend some time with you by staying here," Ning said.
Ely chuckled.
Days turned into night, and night turned into day again. The cycle repeated for one more time before the day started to turn into the night again.
They had safely left the forest and were now fully in the desert.
"Oh," Ning said when he saw a mountain range in the desert. He looked around for a bit and shook his head.
"It seems we are a little off course from where I need to go. So, I will leave now. I will come to see you later," Ning said.
"Alright, bye. Good luck on whatever you may find there," Ely said.
Ning smiled and stood. Then lightly jumped from the flying cloud boat and the wind pushed him back so that he stayed where he was in mid-air.
He waved his hands and said his goodbye. He waited for a bit so that the group of people flew off into the horizon where they could no longer make him out.
"Get in," Ning said as Night finally came out of the shadows too. "Alright, let's go."
Ning teleported from where he stood and appeared on top of a massive lake. He was really high in the air, so the people down below didn't notice him at all.
"Ok, so the map doesn't tell me about the buildings. I will have to find those on my own," Ning thought and flew down to the top of a dune and started walking down.
There was a small city where normal people lived. When they saw Ning, they acted with a sense of apprehension.
Ning smiled and didn't bother with the people. 'I guess they are the same as Hyesi and the others. They rarely see white skinned people, so they are a little scared,' Ning thought.
However, these people seemed more used to different people, so they didn't come to attack him.
The small town was built with mostly bricks and cement. It seemed that with the sands in the desert the people here didn't need to worry about housing.
The people were either fully clothes from top to bottom hiding every part of their skin from the sun, or mostly naked since coldness wasn't a problem here.
Ning walked up to one of such men and asked, "Hello, I am looking for a tomb around here. Do you happen to know where it is?"
