Chapter 506: What a strange place
Meanwhile, in the midst of the elven crowd watching and loudly cheering at the massive flying ship that soared in the sky, a man clad in a hoodie that hid his facial features stared at the same ship with a pair of curious yet uninterested eyes as it sailed beyond the planet's borders and vanished into the distant horizon.
The man considered directly teleporting inside the massive ship but chose not to when he felt a powerful presence of a supreme rank individual inside.
He accepted the fact that he was a bit late to arrive... just a bit though.
He thought if he followed one of the two faint presences he could sense in the vast universe, he would encounter someone familiar but... what a pity the nearest person he sensed left before he could even catch a glimpse of their face.
The man furrowed his brows as a branch of the Tree of Fate attempted to approach him with enthusiasm. He raised his hand and roughly swatted the branch away, causing it to emit a regretful and pained sound as if expressing how it had welcomed him only to be treated this way in return.
"What a strange place..."
Due to the sudden movement, his hoodie was lifted to reveal a bit of his face.
He shook his head, thinking what a waste of time, and turned to leave, but then his gaze met a pair of eyes in the crowd, and he swore those eyes looked quite familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.
Elli's eyes dilated in shock when she saw the familiar green eyes staring at her as if she were a stranger. Iva noticed her pause in the middle of their conversation. That is why the older elven woman followed Elli's stunned gaze and also spotted the familiar man standing across from them.
The silver hair that peeked out from the man's hoodie and those green eyes... Iva opened her mouth and let out a loud gasp.
"Kyle...?"
Kyle blinked and tilted his head as he observed the two unfamiliar faces that seemed somewhat familiar, yet he had no knowledge of them. He let out an amused 'oh' and quickly changed his expression to mimic someone who had just reunited with his long-lost relatives, even though he felt no connection to the two women.
'It seems they know me.'
.....
A while ago, inside the No Mana Land, Kyle hovered in the air with his upper body exposed, revealing his chiseled and toned muscles, each sinew defined and entirely enveloped in a glistening layer of ice.
His physique alone exuded a sense of strength and power, and he could easily be mistaken for an ice sculpture of a deity frozen in time within the manaless land, if not for the subtle rise and fall of his chest, showing he was breathing.
Kyle's shoulder-length silver hair was tied up and cascaded to cover his neck. The luminous silver strands, combined with the vast spiritual energy surrounding his body, enhanced the ethereal sight, as if an otherworldly being had graced the colorless grey trees with his presence, cloaked in a radiant aura of spirituality.
A sleek and elegant spear, with a stunning shade of grey that exudes sophistication and charm, floated behind him. The spear's metallic tip glistened with a powerful force as Kyle snapped open his eyes and grabbed the shaft to block the golden sword aimed at his right shoulder. Instantly, a loud clicking sound echoed in the forest, and a chilling aura spread out from Kyle's body to cover everything around him in a blanket of ice.
He breathed out a wisp of cold smoke when he noticed the hand holding the sword trembled slightly.
Hubert let go of the sword and lunged to snatch the grey spear from Kyle's grasp, but he let out a frustrated groan when the silver-haired man moved back in mid-air with a speed that was even faster than lightning and easily avoided him.
In an instant, a vein bulged on the old dragon's forehead, and he let out a angry laugh as he watched his hand that had grasped nothing but empty air.
"You scoundrel!"
"Give me back my spear! I gave you such a powerful sword, and you want to steal my spear!? No way! I regret the time when I decided to teach you my spear Art!"
Kyle blinked innocently and swiftly stashed the spear in his mind space before the old man could try to snatch it again. He was able to access his mind space after his body started to naturally absorb spiritual energy, and now, for him, using spiritual energy was even easier than mana.
"Second master... you don't even use it. So is not it better if you give it to me?"
Hubert's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. What if he no longer used his weapon? How dare this bastard steal his cherished weapon just because Kyle liked its shape and size in his hand after practicing with it once!
Kyle saw the old man's expression and realized things were escalating, so he changed the conversation while discreetly creating a small portal behind him in mid-air using spiritual energy to also take the golden sword that had fallen to the ground after their little clash.
"Old man... it's time for me to leave this place. You should just give me the spear as a parting gift."
Hubert took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and recalled the time when he led Kyle to his armory. Then he asked the young man to choose a weapon because Kyle didn't have a proper one. But who would have thought the silver-haired man's eyes would fixate on his precious spear. He did let Kyle use the spear once, but he never thought this day would come when the rascal would steal his spear while he was sleeping.
"I should have stored my spear in my mind space, but after living inside the No Mana Land for so many years, I have become accustomed to managing things without energy. Otherwise, I would never have left my spear so openly! Kyle, you are the first person ever to squander spiritual energy like mana. I'm not even sure if I should be proud of this or not."
After grumbling for a few minutes, Hubert sighed and approached Kyle.
He gave the silver-haired man's shoulder a rough pat but winced at the coldness that spread to his fingers and quickly withdrew his hand to rub away the icy sensation.
"I can never understand why your body is always freezing, and it's getting colder as time goes by. But are you really ready to go? Don't you want to stay a few more years since you are near another breakthrough in terms of your physique?"