Time slowly passed as everyone continued doing their own thing.
Old woman Gaani focused on learning the potions and even started taking students to teach them.
Helena slowly learned from Ning and also got incredibly talented in the ways of Aether. In just 10 years, she went from being an Aether Master to an Aether Emperor.
And that was simply because Ning held her back from breaking through.
She also learned potions from Ning's books as well as her grandma, and in just a few years helped her grandma manage the potion shop.
With the Emperor's permission, the Gaani potion shop opened up to become one of the major shops in all of Damir city.
Back in the Peak of Afterlife, where Ning had created the tower, The group of 20 or so had increased to become 50 now.
Ning wasn't sure when they hired, but from the looks of it, the captains and squad members had used their connections to rope in more people.
Ning taught them all as best as he could.
After getting some bottles of Aether, Merasi had ranked up to the Underlord rank.
Heera and Rachel were both at the Saint rank now, and would soon make it to the Supreme rank, which a few of the captains as well as Alekor had reached.
Ning made sure to teach him the most, alongside Rachel. Rachel's skill to absorb Aether made her an incredible Hand-to-Hand fighter.
After learning that she didn't need to process the Aether she stole and directly absorbed it, Ning had begun training her as best he could.
Alekor on the other hand was already an incredible Aether user. Ning simply helped enhance his abilities.
At the same time, Ning also taught them potions, just so they could save themselves if they ever needed it.
"I'm giving these for you to handle," Ning said as he gave Alekor a storage gem that he had created himself.
Creating a storage gem was tricky, but easy. All one had to do was take an Aether ore that looked more like a crystal than stone, and carve it until only the crystal part remained.
Then, you needed to create a black hole at the center of the crystal that directly dragged in the space from outside.
Once enough space was dragged in, you stopped the black hole, and at the same time made the outer area push in the space to keep it intact inside the gem.
After a while of keeping the space inside, the Aether in the gem would take upon the task of containing the space itself, which would replenish on its own too.
And now, Ning had given such a gem to Alekor, who couldn't help but ask, "What's in here?"
Alekor put a little Aether onto the gem and his vision transported to the inside of it as he checked what was there.
All he could see were millions upon millions of glass spheres.
"Are these?" he asked with nothing but shock on his face.
"Yes," Ning said.
That only increased Alekor's shock. "Why are you giving me this?" he asked.
"So you can use it when necessary. I trust your judgment," Ning said.
Alekor still couldn't help but fear. He had become a supreme, yes, but there were Underlords in the team now. 2 at that.
"Why give this to me, and not captain or old man Darian?" Alekor asked.
"I… don't know if Merasi would be up for the task. All she wants to do is fight. As for old man Darian, I don't think he cares about these things," Ning said.
"I see," Alekor said. Ning's words made sense to him. "Alright, I will do it."
"Good," Ning said. "Here's a reward for you then."
Ning brought out a glass bottle with almost pitch black liquid that only shone purple on the edges.
When the bottle came out, Alekor felt the Aether in his body try to leave it.
"This is for me?" Alekor asked with surprise.
"Yes," Ning said. "With this, you should be able to reach Underlord. Drink it tonight and absorb it. Shouldn't take more than a day."
"Oh right, make sure to dilute it first. Even as it goes inside you, it will be hard to absorb, and instead, it will steal the aether in your body," Ning said. "Had to learn it the hard way."
"I see," Alekor said with shaky hands that threatened to drop the bottle. "I will."
Then, he looked back at Ning and asked, "Are you leaving?"
Ning had mentioned having to leave some time in the future to everyone, so it was only natural for Alekor to ask that.
"Yes," Ning said with a tinge of sadness. "I would love to stay around, but I have my own thing to do. So, this is goodbye."
Alekor felt his eyes moisten a bit. "I see," he said, showing no inflection on his voice. "Thank you for all you have done."
"Alright, I will leave now," Ning said. "I have a few more people to say goodbye to."
Ning went on to find Rachel and let her know he was leaving. Same with Heera and Darian.
Merasi gave him a grand goodbye by asking him to fight her one last time. Ning fought for as long as he could, but Merasi didn't manage to land a single hit on him.
All she managed to do was show her how strong he had become now.
"An Overlord?" she asked in surprise.
"Yes," Ning said. "You will reach there one day too. I have left some gifts for you to help with that."
"Thank you, Ning," Merasi said. Mercy and Silvers thanked him too.
After saying farewell to everyone there, Ning left for Damir city to meet up with Helena and the others.
"Mrs. Gaani, how are you doing?" he asked as he walked through the many disciples of the old woman Gaani.
"Oh, Ning. Come, come. Look at this new potion I made. This is amazing," She said as she showed him a creation of her.
Ning walked forward to see with a smile.
