The Author's POV

"There's nothing here."

Smallsnake shouted as he stabbed the head of one of the wolves on the ground.

"I've also got nothing."

"Nothing here too."

Disappointment flashed Ava and Hein's faces as they also found nothing on the corpses of the wolves.

"Nothing on my side as well."

Leopold also added.

"..."

Looking at them from a distance, sitting on a rock and leaning forward, I fell in thought.

With over thirty wolves dying at my hands, everyone was now trying to see if they could find a core.

The process was relatively slow and tedious; however, the rewards more than made up for it as each core was precious.

Unfortunately, lady luck was not on our side as no one found anything.

This was a given, though.

The chances of finding a core were the same as winning the lottery. Miniscule.

"Huaam."

When I struggled to hold my yawn back, someone sat down next to me and tapped on my shoulder.

"What do we do now?"

Without the need to look back, I could tell who it was by his voice.

It was Smallsnake.

Still sitting on the rock, I turned my head and looked up at smallsnake.

His expression was severe, and with his hand on his chin, he had a pensive look on his face.

"If the chip has indeed started tracking our moves, we should probably not waste time here."

Smallsnake suddenly turned his head and looked at me.

"I think we should stop wasting time over here, and we should get going. According to my estimates, if they send someone to track you, within a week or month, they'll soon catch up to us."

Listening to Smallsnake and patting my pants, I silently stood up.

Scratching the side of my neck and staring towards the direction of where Dromeda city was, my brows furrowed tightly.

"You're not necessarily wrong."

"...Yes, that's why I'm suggesting for us to immediately go right now. The more distance we cover, the harder it is for them to find us."

Closing my eyes slightly, for the next few seconds, I didn't speak.

Then, opening my mouth, I said.

"We proceed at our own pace."

"What?!"

His eyes widened. Standing up, he walked to me.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"...I heard what you said loud and clear."

"Then why did you say that we should go at our own pace?"

"Haa.."

Without answering Smallsnake, I brushed my hair to the side and let out a troubled sigh.

What Smallsnake said wasn't necessarily wrong.

Now that the tracking device was on, the Monolith and possibly even the Union would start hunting me.

On a good note, we weren't in the human domain, which made it harder for them to track me down directly.

Even then, it would only delay their search by at most a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

Still.

Putting my sword back into my dimensional space, I turned my head and looked towards the distance.

"We're going to continue going at our own pace."

My current goal was to travel to the dwarven domain.

The road was a treacherous one. One that was riddled with dangers.

Not only did I have to watch out for dangerous beasts, but I also had to watch out for demons.

Although not exactly close, the demon domain was not that far.

the best way to

Plus.

eyes,

when we can just as well be

"h..huh?"

what if they

said that they were supposed to

***

the same time, Ashton

the time Amanda had completed her day's work, the sky was already beginning

driving through the busy streets of Ashton city, Amanda calmly looked at the

"Au.."

that her eyelids were becoming

She was tired.

spent most of the day working and working out, Amanda

minutes, her

miss, we're

"Mhm."

Amanda faintly nodded.

right cheek, Amanda tried to wake herself up. Right now, she couldn't afford to

head and looking at

long till we get

"We're already here."

with a

car soon stopped in front of a familiar building that Amanda had seen multiple

moved towards Amanda's side and suavely opened the door for

"Youg miss."

"Thank you."

Amanda got

tucked in between her skinny dark pants, Amanda looked stunning. Holding onto a small black handbag in her right hand, Amanda walked towards the building

walked, she attracted

promptly ignored the stares and walked towards the building entrance where a relatively older

was the

"Good Evening."

Amanda greeted.

a familiar figure, the care lady

Amanda. It's you

"Mhm."

at

Amanda got along with her quite

both comfortable making small talk with each other at this

you

walked into the

you last

to fit a bit of

wonderful. Nola will be quite excited to see

brighten up and

scene had become a common occurrence

two ladies together looked

you don't look older than twenty. Working so much at your age

"...I hope so."

tired smile appeared on

possible, she also wanted to work less; however, Amanda couldn't afford to take it easy with her responsibilities

about her father's absence have slowly started circulating the

she was able to keep those rumours in check, but she knew that

she was forced to push herself even harder than

couldn't

this hence why she cleared up her schedule

"We're here."

particular classroom where a young girl with glossy black hair and deep blue

and wearing a white and blue one-piece

is

head, the moment Nola spotted Amanda, her complexion instantly became brighter as she ran up to

"Sister!"

"Nola."

into her

"Sister!"

see

"Um!"

Amanda lifted her head and looked at

Nola

at the two with a smile,

that gentleman came to pick her up last time, she has

"Gentleman?"

Amanda titled her head.

up not too long ago.

that day, but she had to cancel a week prior due

say, ever since that gentleman came, Nola seemed to have

"...Is that so?"

"Yes."

The care lady replied.

Her

made Nola so much more

how did he look

"The gentleman?"

"Yes."

be in his forties or something? He seemed to be someone who worked for

"I see."

lady's words, the edges of Amanda's

as long as Nola was happy, so didn't

to Nola, who was in her arms,