After half an hour, Max and Eliana sat inside a restaurant facing each other.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Max asked, looking at her with interest which caused Eliana's face to redden slightly.
Bam!
She slapped the table between them and angrily said, "Would you please stop looking at me like that?"
"What do you mean? I'm looking at you normally." Max raised his brows.
He still couldn't understand why she would react so exaggeratedly when facing him.
'Have I offended her somehow before?' He couldn't help but think like that. However, he knew he had never met her before the small episode with Karon in front of his dorm room.
"I..." Eliana was speechless. It was right. He was looking at her with a normal gaze. 'It seems I'm overreacting.'
She took a few breaths before saying, "I apologize for that."
"If I'm not wrong, you must be going in the southwestern direction to complete some academy mission, right?" She asked right after, not giving Max any chance to speak.
"That's right." Max nodded. Although he wanted to ask about the reason why she seemed to treat him differently, it was clear that she didn't want to talk about that. So he could only answer her question.
"I'm also going in the same direction to complete a gold-ranked mission." She puffed out her chest proudly and looked at him smugly.
"So?" Max asked. Since she was already a three-star mage, it was normal for her to go on gold-ranked missions. Was there something to be proud of?
Her expression faltered hearing this, and she said, "Although it's a solo mission, I realized that I need someone to help me with some things, but I didn't bring anyone with me. So, I want to hire you. If you agree to help me, I'll pay you 200 Mana stones."
"No thanks." Max shook his head and rejected.
"What?" She didn't expect him to reject her offer and asked, "Are 200 Mana stones too low? I can raise them if that's the case."
"No, it's not that." Max shook his head.
"Then what it is?" She asked, exasperated. Because she didn't have enough Mana stones, she couldn't hire anyone other since they would want the payment first. However, if he agreed, she could pay him later.
"Because I need to travel quite far away to complete my mission, and if I were to help you, the deadline for my mission would be over."
He wanted to complete his mission as soon as possible and return to the academy to grind more LPs from Jasmine and others and enhance the rest of his Mana.
So, he couldn't afford to waste his time to earn a few hundred Mana stones.
"Oh? Where do you need to go?" Eliana asked.
"Sun feather city," Max replied.
"Good!" She exclaimed and quickly said, "I also need to go somewhere near the sun feather city, and I can take you there in under one day since I have a flying pet with me."
"If that's the case, I don't have any problem helping you. However, what exactly would I need to do?" He agreed since that would be quicker, and maybe he could work things out with her.
"I'll tell you after we go there." Eliana smiled and stood up. Max followed behind her as they walked out of the town.
After exiting the southwestern gate, Eliana opened her pet storage bag.
Whoosh!
A purple sparrow with a wingspan of eight meters appeared in front of them. On its forehead was a strange red mark.
Chu! Chu!
It happily flew around them before landing in front of Eliana. It then rubbed its head at her chest with a happy expression. Eliana also happily caressed its head.
"Is it a male?" Max asked instinctively.
"Huh? No, it's a female. Why do you ask?" She looked at him in puzzlement while the sparrow glared as if displeased by his question.
"No, it's nothing." Max shook his head.
"Okay then, let's go." She didn't bother with what he meant and climbed on the sparrow.
Whoosh! Thud!
Max also tried to climb up, but the sparrow shook its wing, causing him to fall. However, he landed safely on his feet due to his fast reaction.
"Hehe, little purple. Why are you being rude?" Eliana laughed and acted as if she was rebuking it.
Max looked at the duo with raised eyebrows. He could see that they did this on purpose.
Chu! Chu!
The sparrow glanced at him and chirped a few times which caused Eliana to burst out in laughter.
"Hehe, although what you are saying is right, he is my helper in this mission, so let him up, okay." Eliana gently stroked its neck while giggling like a child.
Chu!
The Sparrow chirped again and opened its wings, ready to fly.
"You can come up now. She won't misbehave now." Eliana said, trying to suppress her laughter.
Max was speechless seeing her childish antics. However, he had to say that she looked very enchanting while laughing.
Whoosh!
After Max climbed up, the sparrow flapped its wings and shot into the air. In an instant, it was more than 500 meters above the ground.
Because Max couldn't stabilize himself when it took off so suddenly, Max grabbed Eliana's waist so that he wouldn't fall off.
"Ahh ~~ What are you doing?" Eliana jumped up in fright and yelled in anger.
"Holding onto you." Max awkwardly said.
"Don't touch me if you don't want to die." She gave him a death glare, and her three-star Mana started to radiate from her.
"Sigh! I didn't do this on purpose. Your bird took off before I could stabilize myself on it. I had no choice but to grab whatever was near me." Max explained with a helpless expression.
After Max said this, the aura stopped radiating from her, but her expression remained the same. "No matter the reason, it would be best if you didn't touch me."
'The fuck! What's your problem, woman?' Max wanted to shout this out loud. He had just praised her, but she immediately made him regret it. He suppressed his anger and felt it would've been better if he hadn't agreed to her request.
Noticing that his expression had become ugly, Eliana realized she had gone overboard again. However, she didn't apologize this time.
...
When it was evening, they could see a city in the distance. Rocky hills surrounded it on three sides, and on the fourth side was the forest.
"Is that the sun feather city?" Max asked.
"Mm. That's right." Eliana nodded.
However, the sparrow didn't stop and flew past the city.
Seeing this, Max realized something and asked, "Are we going to the kingdom's border?"
"Yes." Eliana nodded.
"Shouldn't you have told me that beforehand?" Max said in displeasure.
The southern border was a dangerous area because the Green leaf kingdom was on bad terms with the neighboring Red Moon Kingdom.
It was on par with the Green leaf kingdom in terms of strength. However, it was very ambitious and wanted to extend its territories in the Green leaf kingdom, which caused both kingdoms to become hostile.
The Green leaf kingdom's border aligned with the Red moon kingdom's from south to northeast. However, because the Royal capital was near the northern border, it was safe, but the southern border was constantly under attack.
The Red moon forces would have already conquered the southern border if it weren't for the Cloud academy's support, which was situated near it.
"What? Are you scared?" Eliana mockingly asked.
Max looked at her speechlessly. Why wouldn't he be scared? Even though he was a tier stronger than other two-star mages, he was still a two-star mage, and at the chaotic border, a two-star mage wouldn't even know when he died. Even early-stage three-star mages couldn't confidently say that they would survive there.
"Hehe, don't worry. We won't be going too near to the battlefield." Eliana laughed after seeing his expression.
By nightfall, they arrived above the stretch of a desolate region. There was nothing in sight but endless sand.
"Little purple, land there." Eliana patted the sparrow and pointed toward a small hill.
Chu!
The sparrow chirped in exhaustion and landed above the hill.
"Good job, Little purple. Here eat these." After they climbed down, Eliana patted the sparrow, took out a few fist-sized fruits, and gave them to the bird.
Chu! Chu!
The purple bird chirped happily and nibbled on the fruits. After the sparrow was done eating them, Eliana put it in the pet storage bag.
She then turned toward Max and said, "Someone had accidentally found a colony of black beetles. That colony has at least a few dozen two-star and two early-stage three-star black beetles."
Eliana took a deep breath and said, "I need you to stall two-star ones while I kill two three-star ones."
Max's expression became solemn hearing this. He had read about black beetles. They were infamous for their sharp teeth that could cut through almost anything, including Mana attacks and turtle-like defense.
Max was sure that he could kill them one by one without much problem, thanks to his enhanced Mana. However, there was no hope if he had to fight a few dozen simultaneously.
