2 weeks passed just like that.
After everything was said and done, the world had indeed come to unify together and be a better place to live in.
Only around 20 or so people returned back to the tower, not intending to work for anyone else.
Ning was surprised to see both Alekor and Rachel there.
Alekor was a son of a Duke. Ning was sure that after the tower no longer existed in name, he would leave.
However, it seemed that he liked doing what he did, and since he had an older brother, he didn't have to worry about the dukedom.
Rachel on the other hand was even more surprising. With how bad their relationship had been, even as a friend after she revealed him to the tower as a 'spy', he was sure now that his identity had been revealed again, she would leave for sure.
However, she had somehow approached him on her own and requested that she be taught directly by him.
'She must've seen my fight with the old man,' Ning thought.
Other than that, there was one more person whose existence surprised Ning.
Darian Canon, the rightful heir of the Serian Empire had decided to join the tower as well.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay back? Come up with a coup idea or something," Ning said.
Darian suddenly glared at him.
"Geez, it's a joke," Ning said. "If you want to come with me, I won't say no. I am always happy to have as much help as I can get."
Ning looked at the others gathered around him. Merasi, Mercy, Silvers, Heera, and a few captains as well as squad members,
In total, no more than 20.
"Alright, let's leave," he said and with a simple gesture, opened a portal.
A cold wind blew out of the portal toward everyone standing in front of it. In fact, it was so cold that some of the girls even started to shiver a little.
"Um… you never mentioned where exactly we were going, did you?" Merasi asked with a little fear on her face.
Her whole life, she had lived under the hot sun, training until her body was tanned to the point that she looked like she didn't belong there.
However, now feeling this cold air, she couldn't help but be a little apprehensive about what was coming for her.
"Go on, you will find out soon," Ning said with a light smile on his face.
"You won't tell us, will you?" Heera asked from the side.
"Well, it's a surprise, so no," Ning said.
"Fine," she said and directly jumped into the portal.
"I'm gathering people to kick your butt if I don't like the place," Merasi said as she went in as well.
Mercy glared at him, Silvers shook his head, and Alekor simply laughed. Darian showed a curious expression, while Rachel seemed to know where they were headed.
The rest of them were on either side of the fence, but they all walked through the portal in the end.
Finally, once everyone was gone, Ning walked through as well, leaving the place where the Aether Tower originated to go to the place where the tower's creator came from.
Ning arrived at the south pole of the planet.
Frigid ice filled the landscape as extremely cold air blew past everyone's faces.
Merasi and some of the other people were already wearing thick clothes that they had created as soon as they arrived, and were handing out more to the others that walked through.
"Hey, that's not necessary," Ning said as he pointed towards a tower that stood at the peak of the mountain.
"We are staying up there," he said.
Everyone looked at the place and was shocked. "We're staying in this cold?" Merasi shouted with audible anger in her voice.
"You'll see," Ning said as he made a grabbing motion and suddenly everyone felt weightless. Then, in the next moment, Ning created another portal and tossed it.
When Ning entered and appeared out of the portal, he was immediately confronted with the warm air of the tower.
"Woah! It's not cold at all," someone said with a surprised look.
Some of them even started taking off the jackets that they had just worn.
"You guys like this place?" Ning asked.
"Yeah, yeah, it's pretty good," Merasi said. "How did a tower appear here?"
"Oh, I made it of course," Ning said. "Took me a week and a half."
"You did this in a week?" Merasi said with shock written on her face.
"Yeah, it's pretty easy once you know how," Ning said.
"Did you make this with Aether too?" Merasi asked.
"No," Ning said. "I used rocks from around the world to make this place. Honestly, it was quite hard."
"Still, it came out looking nice," he said.
Alekor looked at the black walls and empty rooms. "Seems like you based it on the tower, so it looks familiar," he said.
"Yes," Ning said. "Well, not everything. For one, I didn't make any doors."
"What?" a few of the people shouted at once.
"What?" Ning asked. "You guys want to go to the frigid cold?"
"But how are we going to leave?" someone complained.
"By opening a portal," Ning said.
Some of the people looked troubled. "Ning," Rachel said. "We… we don't know how to open portals. In fact, we don't have the aether to do so even if we did."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Ning said and took out some things from his storage.
In a coordinated motion, many items flew out to different people.
Most of the people got vials of Aether, a few potions with correct labels, and some scrolls to teach them the best absorption method.
"Learn that technique, and absorb that Aether," Ning ordered them. "Once you do that, you will surely reach Aether Emperor at the very least. After that, you will reach Saint in a few days."
"For those that are already saint and above, I will have to get some more aether for you. Until then, just learn the technique," Ning said.
"Go explore the tower for now," Ning said. "I have some things to do, so I will see you soon."
