Ning sat in front of a man in his late twenties that had great flowing green hair, a great beard and mustache on his face, and a 3-year-old girl playing with some sort of metallic toy in her arm.
Ning gave a sympathetic smile and said, "So it really is a no, huh?"
The man shook his head at what a shame it all was. "Yes, it is a no."
"This is quite a surprise to me, I must say. But I suppose it was more of a surprise to you than anything," he said.
"If you had asked me this very question 4 years ago, I would've said yes, but now, I can't," the man said as he played with the child on his lap. "I can't leave them, and taking them away from here would be a crime in my eyes because I know what harsh life they would have to live there."
Ning smiled a little and looked at the little girl. He thought of something and created something using the system.
A small bottle appeared in his hands, one that was filled with some sort of silver liquid.
"Hello," Ning crouched next to the little girl and spoke. "What's your name?"
"My name is Freina," the girl said, almost as if she had rehearsed it multiple times.
"Ooh… Freina, that's a nice name," Ning said. "Isn't it?"
"Yes, it's very nice," Saphandra said from the side. She had been floating next to him, looking at everything with a fond smile on her face.
"Are you a spirit?" the little girl asked.
"Yes, I am," Saphandra said.
"Here, since I met you for the first time today, this is my gift to you," Ning said and handed over the bottle to the girl.
The girl took it and looked curiously. "What is it, papa?" she asked.
"I… don't know," the man said. He looked at it for a few seconds before he was given an answer and his eyes went wide.
"Are you…?" he looked at Ning.
Ning smiled and looked at the child. "Drink it, it's tasty," he said.
The girl didn't immediately drink it and instead looked toward her father for approval. There was no way the man was ever going to be opposed to this at all.
"Drink it, Freina," the man said and the girl finally did as told. She gulped down the liquid, which Ning had made rather tasty for her.
A bit of the silver liquid spilled down from the side of his mouth, but it quickly moved back into her mouth and disappeared.
"Tasty!" the girl said after she had finished drinking it.
"Time to test," Ning said. Suddenly, something moved inside the little girl as things started spilling out of her skin.
It was the same silver liquid, only this time it formed some sort of suit around the little girl, with only her face not covered.
"Wow, papa look!" she showed the suit to her father and his eyes went wide with shock.
Taron could have never thought that Ning would gift his 3-year-old daughter a suit just like his own. No, even better.
"That's amazing, Freina. Thank uncle Ning for it," he said.
"Thank you," the girl said.
"You're so cute," Ning pinched her cheeks a little. As his hands left, the suit went back into her body.
"Go play with your mommy, okay? Papa has some things to talk to Uncle Ning with," Taron said and sent away his kid.
"I've locked the suit for now, and it will only be active after her 15th birthday. You can activate it using Wendy whenever you want to. I suggest you do that and train her when you can."
"Aside from that, it will automatically activate whenever she's in danger, and the autopilot will take over. Have your daughter give it a name herself," Ning said.
"Thank you," Taron said.
"Don't mention it," Ning said. "I'm just a little saddened that you didn't get to go to the island with us. I couldn't help you get a spirit there. Although, you haven't done badly for yourself."
"Yes, I did quite well once I was able to gather spiritual energy," Taron said.
The two of them talked for a while, with Saphandra speaking in between the two from time to time.
"Alright, I will have to leave now," Ning said. "The guys are gathered for my farewell, and the spaceship will be coming any minute now."
"It's funny really," Ning continued. "When I first came here, I thought it would be Saphandra that would have a family here, and you would instead leave with me to the inner reaches of the galaxy. Oh, how wrong I was."
"I am a little sad that I couldn't go, I won't lie," Taron said. "But that has nothing on the happiness I have for me right here."
Ning smiled. "I'm happy that you're happy. Goodbye Taron, live a good life."
Taron smiled back. "Goodbye Ning. I will hope that I meet you again in another life."
Ning teleported away, and Taron remained there with a melancholic feeling in his heart. His one hope of seeing an advanced society was leaving him today.
"Papa, it won't work. I want to show it to mommy," Freina ran back to him.
The smile returned back onto Taron's face. "Is that so? Let me help you then," he said. Wendy activated the suit inside Freina's body and the suit appeared around her.
"Aaaaah! Mommy, look," she started shouting from outside, as the smiling Taron took his daughter back into the house, where his wife Pamella was working on their supper.
* * * * *
Ning appeared on an empty island near the Darius kingdom from where he had first sent out the signal out to the galaxy to call for help.
On the island were 6 people gathered. 4 females, and 2 males.
"You're late, teacher," a teenage girl with fiery red hair talked loudly to Ning as soon as he appeared. Behind her, Fifi floated around the 5 other spirits, speaking to them, while the rest made jingling noises.
"So, you guys are already here, huh?" Ning said.
"We've been here for a while, Ning," Ori, who was wearing clothes with metallic bits all over it, spoke. Silver wasn't far away from her, together with the group of spirits behind her.
"I can't believe it. You really haven't aged a day, do you?" another girl wearing light blue clothes asked. Tessa's hair was now bright blue, contrasting well with the uniform she was wearing. Sylph was with the spirits too.
"Right? Here I thought he was awesome because he was so talented at such a young age. Makes me wonder what his age really is," Trevain said. He had grown a rather dense beard and looked like a lord of some land from the way he was dressed.
His spirit, Ray, was also together with the other spirits.
"Hello, Ning," the violet-haired Aimee spoke. Mary floated behind her mingling with the rest of the spirits, making jingling sounds all around.
Finally, there was a young man that looked like he was 15 years old at most. There wasn't any defining feature on him aside from the fact that he had light blue hair. If not for Frost being amongst the spirit behind him, no one would recognize that this kid was the slime that went by his name Milo now.
"So, your friend's not coming?" Milo asked.
"I'm afraid not," Ning said. "He's with his family now."
The 6 of them walked forward and sat down on a desk they had prepared beforehand and brought out some dishes they had prepared for this exact farewell.
Ning let Gray, Terra, and Void go out and have fun with the rest of the spirits, and the rest couldn't help but be jealous at the fact that he had four spirits and had barely used them at all.
Ning had used the spirits' powers many times, but of course, he didn't have to use them more than he had to. As such, the group never really saw him use the powers.
They had fun together as they ate and talked, and soon some of them started tearing up at the thought of Ning leaving.
Janice, the little princess that was 16 years old now was the first to tear up. She stood from her place and went up to Ning and hugged him with her face dripping with tears.
"I don't want you to go, teacher," she cried. "Please stay."
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Janice. I need to go find my wife as I mentioned to you before. She's been alone for a long time, and I need to return as soon as I can," Ning said.
"But I won't see you again," she said.
Ning didn't have an excuse for that. That was the truth. Given the speed at which the two worlds ran, just a year in Kumia would end up being something like 13 years in this world.
Not to mention, if he had to spend even a single year in the next galaxy, which he most definitely would have to, over 600 years would have passed in this world.
That was just too long of a time that even Aimee couldn't survive with her delayed aging.
"I will most likely never see you again, any of you," Ning said. "That's why I want you to remember this moment, our final moments together, and cherish them for as long as you live."
The words only served to evoke more tears from everyone around, including Ning.
The farewell talks lasted as long as it took for the spaceship to arrive. They all felt it land even though they couldn't see it because of the camouflage.
Ning walked off from the group and introduced himself. "I am Ning Ruogong. I'm the one that sent you the message from ZSS Unity III," he said.
"Your message was well received," the captain of the ship spoke from inside the ship. "Please clear the memories of the ones beside you, and we can leave."
"Not going to happen," Ning said and instantly teleported inside the ship. Many of them scrambled to find a way to defend themselves, but Ning was very fast.
He could move, think, and perceive everything 5 times faster than everyone. So, he moved around the room, grabbing anyone's head he could and dominated them.
Once he was done, he stopped and went back outside.
"Drop the camo," he said, and the camouflage disappeared. The group saw the gigantic ship that was much bigger than the one Ning had.
The door opened and readied for Ning to enter.
Ning walked back into the group for one last goodbye. He wiped the tears off Janice's face and patted her head.
He then looked to the rest of them and said, "live a long life, and hopefully I will meet you all in your next one. Goodbye."
He turned around and left them as his spirits flowed back to him.
"Goodbye teacher!" Janice shouted as he left.
"Goodbye Ning! Goodbye Saphandra" the other followed.
"And thank you for everything you've done for us," they all spoke in unison.
Tears flowed down Ning's face as a smile appeared on it. Even Saphandra was in tears at this point and couldn't help but sob into her hands as she sat on Ning's shoulder.
Ning turned one last time to look at them and waved his hands before turning back and going into the ship.
He didn't look at them after that and ordered the captain to take off.
The ship started flying, and before anyone could think of anything, it flew off into space.
Janice fell to her knees as she cried, and the rest of them were also crying with their tears refusing to stop.
However, a while later, they understood that he was gone, and so they decided to leave as well.
Their ships were by the side of the island, so Janice and Slime got onto one ship full of soldiers, Ori and Trevain got onto a giant fishing vessel that belonged to Trevain's new company.
Tessa didn't need any ships as she could freely fly away using the wind as her support, and Aimee ran away so fast that no one even saw when she left.
They would meet each other from time to time, but they were mostly concerned with their own things.
Janice practiced being the best princess she could be. Being the only child of the king, she knew she would have to become a queen one day.
However, about 7 years later when she was 23, a giant empire from the north would push its borders and come attack the Darius kingdom.
That would be the day the world learned the legend of the Flame Princess who could fight battalions on her own.
The Flame princess of the Darius Kingdom was a strong force to slow down the empire's pushing, but not nearly strong enough.
However, when aid came to the princess in the form of 3000 strong beasts, the war was all but over.
The young man that appeared next to the princess alone was a terror that not many would forget to the end of their lives.
The millions of different attacks he used, each of which was strong enough to kill anything in their way, along with the many beasts he controlled was why the people started calling him the Devil of the Beasts.
Together, the Flame Princess and the Devil not only destroyed the empire but also created an empire of their own where humans and beasts could live in peace.
On the other side of the planet, Tessa would become the headmaster of the First Bond school after the headmaster died of a heart attack.
She would win the position after revealing the fact that she had a spirit with her. She would go on to be the headmaster for nearly 40 years before another person came to take her place.
Trevain lived a slow life in Ranadar with his wife and 3 children, doing nothing but fishing all day long. He had bought back his business from the friends he had sold it to, and continued expanding it.
He was now the biggest and best fishing business in the entirety of the Taminghall empire, and he was happy with that.
Aimee had become a member of the Summoning Circle, so she would slowly climb her way up to the top, and even become an executive in it.
She would break records after records in the number of quests done by a single person, and none would ever come close to her. She would live a great life with her partner and even give birth to two daughters of her own.
Ori, in order to keep her promise to Silver, would become a traveler that went around the world.
At first, her travels were random and without rhyme or reason. However, once she realized the potential of the powers she had acquired, she started traveling to places with a lot of mountains, and potential ore deposits.
When she found a place with a lot of metals on the ground, she would start a mining company there.
Soon, she became one of the richest people in the whole world and would continue to be so for a long time.
Everyone's life was a unique experience, everyone's life was different, and their life barely intersected together.
However, as if to fulfill their final promise to Ning, they did the best they could and lived a very long and happy life.
[End of Volume 4: Nulwurn]
