Chapter 84: Cht 84: World Of Ecstasy
Dawn broke not with clarity but with thick mist curling between the trunks of tall boned trees, their leaves heavy with dew. Gin stirred first. The world smelled the same damp bark, loamy earth and fading traces of energy friction from the night before but something else lingered. A faint dissonance. Not energy, not scent. Something more elusive.
The others rose slowly. Mira emerged from beneath a canopy of vines, her eyes calm, her gait smooth. Lucy followed, stretching her limbs without a word, hair a little tousled but steps light despite the absence of any core strength. Across the makeshift camp, Xingning and Jean surfaced, slightly delayed, their shared aura unusually harmonious. Alice, as always stepped out last, perfectly composed, her pale eyes unreadable.
They began walking soon after, no one bothering to speak. And slowly increased their speed picking up the usual pace.
Gin kept a steady pace near the front, sometimes pausing to scan ahead or double back briefly to monitor the terrain. The forest shifted subtly the further they went more light pierced through the canopy and the ground no longer felt like layered roots and decayed leaves. Instead, it became firmer, warmer as if group of beats ran just beneath the topsoil and warming up the area in process.
They were heading east. That much was clear. The direction was correct. But something else...
His paws crunched down over a scattering of quartz-like fragments nestled under moss. A bird like creature startled nearby, wings flapping once before gliding off. Its energy pulse was light Tier 1 at most, no threat. Yet Gin barely registered it. His eyes narrowed.
’Why is the distance still so great?’
He could feel it in his bones now. Something was wrong.
The cave, their intended destination was near the coastal line, just near sea. Gin remembered the sharp descent of terrain, the crashing resonance of ocean breath, and the pale trees growing along the salt-licked ridges. When he had first teleported, he’d emerged near that area and traveled deeper within the wilderness. He was certain. That journey had taken less than an hour at full speed in his true body fast, fluid, unencumbered.
Yet now they had walked two full days. And even considering their group’s pace. Slower because of Lucy, this should not have taken this long.
He glanced back at Lucy again.