“There’re a lot of demonic beasts down there.” Nyla’s spiritual sense was the most developed after Delia and May’s, which gave her a clear sense of the layout below as well as the different sorts of life forms that dwelt beneath the needled upper canopy that was virtually invisible to everyone present. “Almost too many. It’s just like the island where that spirit of the lake was living, but they’re a lot stronger here.”

Delia suddenly swerved to the left in timing with an unexpected gale of unrelenting wind.

“What was that?” asked Nolan, who had sensed a disturbance in the air but had been unable to determine exactly what had caused it.

“A warning,” came a levelled response.

When their white-haired escort didn’t elaborate, May offered a succinct explanation.

“There’s an odd demonic beast down there that’s covered in quills. It just shot one of them at us to make sure that we didn’t fly over its nest.”

A porcupine, maybe? Just a single needle had caused so much turbulence, not to mention that it had covered several hundred metres in an instant.

Nolan wondered how strong an animal had to be to make Delia back off without making any sort of fuss. With her temperament, if she could defeat the creature in question without much difficulty then she would definitely have made a momentary detour in order to take its life.

The incident acted as just another of the ever-present reminders that this world was far more dangerous than the one that Nolan had left behind, a world where he had lived a completely different life as an entirely different person. Was there any place on Venara that was safe for an average human? It was no wonder that Otherworlders that had suffered from the Interspatial Migration had such a low rate of survival. Including all of the time that he’d spent on Nia, it had been several years since he’d been an ordinary high school student skipping classes to wander around the local suburbs on the outskirts of Collinsville, which oddly enough was still the largest city that he had ever visited despite having been relocated to a much larger world that was populated by many more people.

Rather than think about how long his loved ones and acquaintances had survived after the terrible and inexplicable tragedy that saw them transported from one world to another, Nolan spent much of the following hours marvelling at how lucky he had been to have happened upon the Millennial Ring, and with it the Divine Spirit Fountain and the inheritance of the Ancestral Body Technique. In the years leading up to the end of human life on Earth, he had considered himself fairly unlucky. He had constantly been filled with anger at his father for abandoning his family, had dwelt in self-pity for having to become a de facto parent for his younger siblings while his mom had fucked off in every way possible, and suffered a lingering sense of shame for abandoning his star-like ascendance in the community of academic youth in his country. There was a bitter sort of humour in reflecting on the fact that he’d once been the sort of person to spend 40 to 50 hours of his leisure time buried in books and extracurricular research while only being in his early teens. Attending and winning competitions in the sciences and mathematics, representing his school in similar contests; nowadays he hardly ever opened a book, and was more likely to solve a conflict with strength rather than his knowledge of the sciences.

Such a trip that I used to be that guy, he sighed to himself.

Now he found himself in the unique position of being one of the only people on the planet who had visited three worlds in his life time, someone who had ready access to the dead world of Nia as well as all of the amenities offered by the glade where his ghostly teacher resided. He had travelled tens of thousands of kilometres, met hundreds of people—many of them prominent individuals in their regions, or even on a continental scale—and amassed an impressive amount of wealth. Setting aside his incredible finances as well as his personal connections with clans and kings, as an individual he was one of the most powerful people around. Sure, he was far from the strongest, but he couldn’t imagine there being more than a few hundred cultivators that could best him in a fight.

“Why does it always have to be my barrels,” Ian was grumbling. “One for one is only fair!”

“Sating my thirst is the least you can do,” reasoned his sister, the conversation drawing Nolan from his reverie. “You were there for Liv all that time, while I was out in the world wandering through wolves and rain…”

“I came to find you, didn’t I?” As usual, the proud but easygoing youth deflated the moment that she brought up their family’s situation. “This is the last one I’ll provide.” He took out a fresh barrel and willed it to float in the middle of the group. “I’m serious. I only have three left.”

Lyra clapped him on the back with a beautiful smile on her mischievous face. “You’re always so good to me. This is why you’re my favourite sibling.”

Sean gave Esteban a playful smack on the arm. “Just bring out one of yours already. You shouldn’t have any anyway, you’re like ten.”

“I’m thirteen!”

“Well, you look ten.”

Lyra nodded along. “On second thought, put yours away Ian. Esteban’s gonna be supplying us for the rest of the trip.”

“I never said I would—”

“Stop whining and do it already.”

“You’re not my dad.”

“Closest thing you’ll get to one in this world.”

While everyone readied up for round two, Nolan smiled to himself and turned to look at the distant sunrise, which was easy to see from so high up and in such a flat-landed region. He might not have been the strongest guy out there, but he wasn’t alone in this world. He’d made some good friends that he could rely on in times of trouble, so despite the fact that he now had a ridiculous amount of enemies, he found himself feeling happy and at ease.

Nyla proffered a cup of ale in his direction, smiling as she gave him a ‘when in Rome’ sort of shrug while remarking that the others were a bad influence on her. May was quick to offer him one as well, and an awkward moment ensued as he hesitated over which one to accept. Pulling a larger flagon out of his spatial bag, he relied on his spiritual sense to pour the contents of both cups into the larger container and then thanked the two girls for their consideration. They seemed a bit annoyed with him, but he didn’t care much about their unspoken squabble. For now, he was happy just to enjoy the feeling of flying a kilometre above the ground while in the company of good friends, thinking to himself that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to have two beautiful girls fighting for his affections.

***

Tallgate came into sight around midmorning, a great fortified city with high walls and an intimidating central keep, all of which were entirely constructed of dark blue stone. As with most cities in forested areas, a great swath of the surrounding woodlands had been cleared away during an earlier era, most of those in the immediate vicinity being broad oaks and towering aspens with golden foliage.

As a pivotal city of a wealthy superpower, Nolan wasn’t surprised to see that the thousands of homes that lay beyond the heavily guarded gates were separated by a carefully designed grid of well-ordered streets. Everything from the many buildings and broad roads, to the floral parks and immaculate plazas that dotted the city at orchestrated intervals were well kempt and appeared recently constructed. The closer that he and his friends drew to the impressive settlement, the easier it became for Nolan to distinguish some of the citizens as public servants, the people in question all drabbed in blue tabards that they wore over matching tunics and trousers. Many people were busy sweeping, dusting, or polishing all sides and surfaces of the infrastructure while others raked leaves, trimmed hedges, or wiped at windows, with some carefully replacing the spirit stones that powered the arrayment-operated street lamps that lined each road, street and pathway.

“Now that’s a neat-looking city.” Sean pointed out that the streets were cobbled with either grey or white stone, which created a stark contrast with the blue mineral that most of the buildings were made of. “There’s gotta be at least 100,000 people here.”

The city looked quite dazzling under the unhindered morning sunlight, its many fountains and artificial ponds catching and reflecting the light in a glorious show of glittering refractions.