"My brother… is alive?" Ely couldn't believe it. "You don't mean my brother from Earth, right? That can't be true. It's been so many years."
"As I said, it has only been 6 years or so since you died. 7 years since I died. You must've died before the portals started appearing," Ning said.
"Portals?" Ely asked.
"I'll explain everything later. I still have my experience back on earth to share with you."
"YOU'VE BEEN TO EARTH?" Ely shouted in surprise, catching the attention of the other passengers, who showed dissatisfied faces.
"Sorry," Ely said meekly before trying to hide her face. "Is it really true?"
"Yes, it's true. Would I ever lie to you?" he asked.
"No…" she said, but she still found it hard to believe.
"If you don't believe me, we can go back right now," Ning said. "Although I would like to stay here for a while. Once I go back, there will be responsibilities thrust upon me that I won't be able to ignore."
"This is the only time I can ignore them without having to worry," he said.
"So you plan on staying here for a while?" Ely asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "A single day on Earth is something like 420 days anyway now, so I can spend years here and only a month or two would have passed back on earth."
Ely was still shocked about it all. "Tell me about it. We have time now," she said. "Wait no, actually, tell me everything from the start. Since the day you left, what happened?"
"Sure," Ning said and started explaining everything about his journey after he had gone through the portal in Kumia.
He told her about Vilmore, Alexis, the zombie planet, Genesis, Nulwurn and the little princess, the slime, Saphandra, about the games he played, and finally Earth.
Ely leaned on his shoulder as she listened to Ning say about all of it. "You must have cared about all of them," said.
"I… do," Ning said.
"Do you want to go back and see how they are doing soon?" she asked.
Ning shook his head. "I can't," he said. "By now, they are all dead. The only one of them that is possibly still alive is the red dragon. She is nigh immortal, but I don't think she really cares if I go back to visit her or not. I might go back to see how she's doing, but the others have already died by now, so I don't really want to go back if I can."
"I see," Ely said. "Well, you can decide if you want to or not later. For now, you don't have to."
Ning smiled and put his arm around her as he rubbed her shoulders. Ely immediately moved away from him. "What the hell is up with your body anyway? It's so hard that it doesn't even feel good to lean on," she said.
"Haha, is that so? My body is super strong right now, you know," Ning said. "But if you want, I can make it feel soft."
"Yes, do that, please. I want to hold you without it hurting me back," she said.
"Sure," Ning made his body feel a little softer than it really was. He added a bit of fat between his muscles to make it feel not as strong.
Ely tried leaning back and smiled. "This is so much better," she said. "Speaking of which, can you also age yourself a little."
"Huh? Why?" Ning asked.
"I… I don't want to look older than you," she said meekly. "It feels weird since I've aged so much, but you haven't even aged a day."
Ning chuckled. "If its any consolation, you don't look a day older than 25 to me," he said.
"And you look 18, so you should change," she said.
"Sure, sure," Ning said and quickly aged up his body. He didn't look that much different, but he stopped looking like someone who had been a child until a few years ago.
They talked for a few hours more and the flying boat landed. They left the boat and walked into the city.
"Where are we going now?" Ely asked.
"To the teleportation formation. It will take us to the Blackspire continent from here," Ning said.
"Can't you just take me there?" she asked.
"Nope," Ning said. "You have to learn to appreciate the adventure, Ely. You will never make it as a good adventurer if all you can think of is the destination."
"Yeah, yeah, like I'm ever going to be one," she said.
"Why not?" Ning asked. "You and I will be together forever, and you will roam the stars with me. Or do you not want to?"
"Of course, I want to," Ely said. "What else can I do with my long life anyway? Just cultivate and live."
Ning smiled. "Well, I for one am glad you can cultivate. Qi is the only energy that gives someone immortality and I'm thankful for that," Ning said. "I suppose mana does that too, but it's really hard to get to that level with mana, unlike Qi."
"Hmm, I should bring grandmother and the rest here too someday after we've returned. Your brother can come too," Ning said.
"If it's that easy then we should," Ely said.
They arrived outside of a massively barricaded landmark with very few people going in and out of it.
"Do you guys have some sort of ticket system or something?" Ning asked.
"Right there," one of the guards said, that stood outside the only gate that led inside.
Ning walked over to the building the guard pointed to which was where the payment was done for the teleportation. He bought two tickets for himself and Ely, spending a few thousand Immortal spirit stones.
"How are you so rich? I thought you couldn't make spirit stones," Ely asked.
"Hehe, I stole it off of that Gallow guy after I beat him up. Turns out, he has a few nice things in his storage bag," Ning said. "Now, let's go. I can't wait to go over to the other continent."
