"Where have you guys been?" Taron asked while chewing on a chicken leg inside the tavern.
"Some small trouble arose, so we had to take care of things. It's all fine now," Ning said.
"Well, good. I don't like trouble," Taron said. "Right, how many more days are we staying in this town? I heard around the area that this is a backwater place in terms of spiritual energy amount and the talents that appear."
"Yeah, that might actually be the case," Ning said. "If I'm not wrong, the Origin of this planet should be somewhere in the Southwest."
"Yeah, let's leave this place. I'm kind of bored already," Saphandra said.
"Well, if that is the case then let's go get some tickets for the ship. We will sail tomorrow," Ning said.
Taron nodded, while Saphandra hesitated a bit. "Ship?" she asked.
"It's a water world. Ships are the primary forms of transportation," Ning said.
"Sigh, yeah I knew that," Saphandra said. "Fine, let's go get some tickets for the ship but a little later. I'm kinda tired right now."
"Well, you guys hand around then, I have a little task I need to complete before I leave," Ning said and left the two.
He went out and went towards an alleyway. Once inside, he teleported away and appeared around a massive forest.
'Is this where the cub is?' he wondered as he looked around the place. The other quest he had taken from the Summoning Circle was about capturing and returning a Rank 2 cub that the academy was rearing.
He tapped into his spiritual energy and soon found himself in the darkness again.
"I need help finding a cub. Whoever can find the cub and deliver it to me without harm can get 20 percent of my spiritual energy," Ning said.
Suddenly a whole bunch of lights gravitated towards him. The lights ranged from all levels of intensity and while searching for one to accept, Ning noticed a familiar light.
'That emerald snake,' he thought and grabbed a light.
A bond formed instantly as the massive snake was summoned in front of him.
'Thank you for summoning me again,' the snake's vague thoughts reached Ning, which was still surprising to him. However, after having been with 3 beasts, whose thoughts he could constantly feel, Ning wasn't fazed much by the thoughts.
"Go and bring me a cub of the Teal Tiger," Ning said. "Make sure to not hurt it at all."
The snake wiggled its tail and moved its tongue to agree with him and moved away. The antennae in its head would help it find the beast very easily.
Ning wondered if he should have just used the system to find the cub, but he knew he wanted to practice summoning so he didn't think much of it.
After 5 minutes, the snake came back with a greenish cub of a tiger that would grow to become teal in color.
"Finally," Ning said and grabbed the cub from the snake's mouth. "Good job. You can go back now."
The snake seemed a little disappointed, but a summoning circle appeared below it and it was suddenly gone.
'Did it want me to summon it again?' Ning wondered as he felt the last vague feeling left behind by the beast.
Ning then teleported close to the city and made his way towards the Summoning Circle with the little cub on his arm.
People around the city looked at him curiously, but Ning walked to the building without much care for what people looked at.
"Here," he showed the cub to the clerk who was working today. It wasn't the same clerk as the one he was used to meeting, but they were easily informed after he showed the quest papers.
"Thank you for finding this cub. The academy has been really worried about the cub," the clerk said.
"It's no problem," Ning said. "Can I get paid in dull Pearls?"
"Sure," the man said and paid him in Pearls that were devoid of spiritual energy.
Once he was done, Ning left the Summoning Circle, but this time he didn't take another quest as he would be leaving the next day.
Ning made his way back to the tavern and took the two of them to the dock area.
"What exactly are we looking for again?" Taron asked as he walked around.
"Find out about boats that are leaving for the Darius kingdom. That will be our next destination," Ning said.
"Darius, huh? Got it," Taron said and looked around.
Saphandra had an annoyed face that neither Ning nor Taron could ignore.
"Do you really hate boats all that much?" Ning asked.
"Not hate," Saphandra said. "I'm more scared of them. I only nearly drowned and I have a trauma from that."
Ning looked at her weirdly. "Can't you fly? Why would you be worried about drowning?" he asked.
Saphandra gave an embarrassed look and said, "I was so scared when I fell into the water that I forgot what I could and couldn't do."
"Was this before or after the people in your world died?" Ning asked curiously.
"After," Saphandra said.
"How did you survive?" Ning asked.
"I involuntarily pushed away all the water in the area and could finally breathe again. I don't even remember doing that, but I survived thanks to it," Saphandra said.
"Well, don't worry about drowning then. We're here to save you," Ning said. "Besides, you should start trying to swim now if you are going to live on this planet full of water."
Saphandra nodded.
"Hey! I found one," Taron shouted and Ning walked towards him. They quickly found the boat that was going to leave and started searching for the staff.
Once they found the staff, they quickly found the location from where they could buy their tickets.
Each ticket cost them about 10 Full pearls, which was cheap for them since Ning could just make as many of them as he wanted to.
"Alright, so tomorrow morning at 7:30," Ning told Saphandra and Taron. "We will have to board the ship by then."
