"Hyu Faye is famous for her portals. She can't teleport things directly, but the number of portals she can use is insanity level," Eran said. If she makes portals, then she's a materializer. Ayuki did remember hearing about them. According to Dedroy, materializers are known to have the highest Fes usage, meaning they need to spend the most Fes compared to the other Fes type users, to use their ability. "How can she make a lot of them if she's a materializer?" "We've debated about it before," Eran said, "but we actually think she's a manipulator instead of a materializer. Sure, she can make portals, but we've never seen her make any big ones or change a portal during the materialization itself. Her control over the portals, on the other hand, is extraordinary. It's her manipulation that allows her to increase the size of the portals, move it around, and turn it in different directions." Aisha raised her eyebrows. "We don't know much about her, only that she's among the best. We've seen her move portals around at a great speed and rotate them in different angles. Theoretically speaking, with her control she could throw a spear through a portal and change the direction of the spear multiple times; even accelerate it if she wants." Even acceleration?! How's that's possible? Ah, wait, if she let the spear fall down vertically from a high altitude, gravity will do the rest. She sounds pretty dangerous. Eran, looking ready to go, stood up again. "I'm not looking forward to her working against us." "How do you know she'll be working against us?" Ayuki asked. "She might support us instead, right?" Let's not think too negative here. The coordinators have supported us so far. "You said it yourself—she's moving her arms—that means she's making portals right now," Eran said, he was now trying to confirm it himself, looking far in the distance. "Damn it. My eye-sight isn't that good." While they kept looking ahead, Ayuki looked left and right to see what they could find for more information. They were on higher ground, but they still couldn't see too much because of the large forest. For some reason it also started to become a bit misty. With Faye straight ahead of them, yet very far away, she was probably going to be their next mission point. On the left, Ayuki eventually spotted another information panel. "There's another panel over there. I'll go and see what the next mission is," Ayuki said to them, she wanted to confirm the reality of their fate. "Got it," Aisha said. "We'll go and have a talk with that group. Is that okay with you?" She pointed at the group of people that just crossed the rope bridge. They consisted of four people. The man in front was a muscular man covered in mud. On his right was a bald man in his fifties, behind him a woman with long black hair, and on his left a young girl holding a short staff. I don't mind extra people in the team, as long as they don't behave like a bunch of assholes. Giving Aisha and Eran a thumbs up, Ayuki walked to the information panel and touched the TAG attached to it to receive the next information. Cross the next bridge ahead. That was all it said. Great. Well, at least we know that there's another bridge somewhere ahead... What with this crappy mission? Cross the next bridge ahead...I've found the bridge already, it's freaking broken! I've been running to get there for apparently no reason. There goes the big lead I had from the rope bridges. Out of disappointment, Ryuzo looked up to the sky; one of his habits when he's frustrated. Well, it wasn't completely a frustrating day. The fact that his Fes output lasted that long compared to the rest was quite a discovery. Hey, isn't that—a portal? It was floating high in the air. Not even the trees could reach that height. He has seen portals before. People of the Order would sometimes use them, but those portals were always positioned on the ground by gates with TAG's attached to it. Why would there be a portal in the air? No way anyone could reach that. Even more strange was the size of it, it didn't look like a person would be able to go through it. Looking around at the sky, Ryuzo spotted a couple more portals floating there. These seemed rather big enough, but their positioning was even odder. Two portals stood vertical aligned to each other, and another portal kept moving around in circles. I guess I have to look for more portals. It's quite misty now; something must be happening soon. Ryuzo kept walking until he heard a loud noise. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!! HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP ME!" A woman voice came screaming from the sky. Ryuzo immediately looked up and saw a woman falling and shortly disappeared into a portal below her. The screaming stopped, and it went silent again. "What the hell?" Looking at the portals again, this time more attentively, he understood what just happened. So, the woman came from the upper portal and fell in the portal below. The portal moving in circles will be aligned, at certain points, between the two fixed portals. The goal must be to fall into the moving portal which will bring you to the next place, hopefully, the other side of the broken bridge. What a crazy idea. Who thought of this mission? So I need to find a way to go up there...if I dare that is...it seriously looks high. So far, Ryuzo walked outside of the forest to spot all the bridges on the left side. He found the broken bridge on the rear side of the forest. Since there didn't seem to be any on the right side, he planned to walk back through the forest this time in search for more clues. This forest isn't a human-made one; it's a natural one. There are more animals living here, more plants too, and it even has a lake. It's actually the first lake I have seen. Why is the Order keeping this area to themselves? Just for training purposes? At that point, Ryuzo heard multiple voices coming to his direction. So far, he didn't like to have any attention at all, never did him much good. He had a few options now: ignore them and keep walking, hide from them to avoid contact, or confront them and share information. For the sake of clearing this mission quickly, he decided to at least go for the first option: ignore them. A bunch of seven people appeared. A man and a woman walking in front, the rest followed them. The man in front, number thirty-three on his badge, started to talk when he saw Ryuzo. "Hey, if it isn't Yano focus-man." "Don't call him that," the blond-haired woman said, standing next to thirty-three. She had the number thirty-four. Ryuzo stopped and looked at them with an annoyed face. "What?" Focus-man, is that supposed to be me? "I saw you in the concentration challenge," Thirty-three said. "You're good. Your Fes output was even more incredible in that last mission. What's your secret?" "Beats me," Ryuzo responded, "I rarely use it." I was rather shocked myself. To think that all the other contestants couldn't make it. How did they all make it here then? Thirty-three looked stunned. "You're kidding me? Rarely used and already that developed?" The rest of the group looked surprised as well. Things started to remind Ryuzo of his childhood memories now. People looked at him as if he were a monster, a freak. Is it going to happen again? Screw this. Ryuzo started to walk away. He didn't want to rise his negative mood. This guy is pissing me off too. I'm not even allowed to punch him... "Hey, wai—" Thirty-four interrupted him. "Stop it, Eran. You're bothering him now. Sorry for the—" Ryuzo also saw it, the reason why thirty-four stopped talking. An abnormal light blue butterfly was flying there. There was a certain glow around it, was it made from Fes? Is it just me, or is it looking at us? "What's Ellyia doing here?" Thirty-four whispered to someone. "I don't know." The annoying thirty-three whispered back. In front of them, a portal presented itself. For a moment everyone stepped back, thinking something dangerous was about to appear out of it, but nothing did happen after that. It was only just a portal that emerged out of nowhere. Did the butterfly do that? Ryuzo never saw the butterfly before, but he was certain it was somehow related to that portal. "I will check it out," the tough-looking man said, number twenty-five. He slowly approached the portal, turned his right hand into a fist and activated his Fes. Did something happen? Ryuzo couldn't tell for sure, but the Fes was visible around twenty-five's body so he must have changed his body or something. Twenty-five punched his fist into the portal first, after nothing happened, he grabbed the edge of the portal, which was apparently possible, and stuck his head into the portal. "Wow, holy crap!" His voice came from above. He pulled his head back and fell to the ground. His reaction surprised everyone. After he regained his posture, people anxiously awaited his response to what he just saw. "Sorry there, I just didn't see that coming." "What? What did you see?" A young girl said. Everyone must have wanted to ask that same question. They were all so quiet now. Ryuzo already had an idea what he might have seen. Twenty-five pointed his finger upwards. "I saw everything from above. My head was suddenly upside-down, so I thought I was falling. Well, I did fall, but luckily here instead of the sky," he said with a laugh. Everyone looked up. "I don't see anything," a brunette said, number sixty-one. "You can't see it from here," Ryuzo said. "If you go to the direction from where I came from, you can see a couple of portals in the air." Twenty-five nodded. "Yeah. I also briefly saw two other portals below me in the air. One was b—" He stopped himself for a moment. "Ah, that explains why we heard that screaming voice from the sky earlier. It must have been someone who fully entered the portal and fell." "Fell?! What the hell?! That's murder!" The black long-haired woman, number seventeen, was freaking out. "No, no, no," Twenty-five said, he spread his opened hands in front of her, gesturing her to calm down. "There was a big portal right below me. The fall wasn't that much, and that portal at the bottom will bring you somewhere else." "Oh, then we just have to follow that," thirty-three said who started to sound more enthusiastic, walked to the portal, and stuck his head in it. "Alright, here I go!" His voice was now coming from the sky, and sure enough, he fully stepped into the portal. "Woooaaaaaa—" "That idiot!" Thirty-four said, she moved quickly and stuck her head into the portal this time. The noise from above abruptly stopped so he must have reached the other portal by now. Thirty-four pulled her head back out. "Okay, I've confirmed it. He went into the other portal below," she said. "Is Eran always like that, Aisha? What now?" Sixty-one asked. "Yeah, pretty much. There's a reason I punch him from time to time," Thirty-four replied. "Uhm, let's see...I think it's best if we stay together." She pointed at number fifty-eight now, the bald man. "What do you think? Uhm, what was your name again?" "Glen," is what fifty-eight said. "Hmm, how about if I mark this location with a smokescreen? If Eran sees it, then he'll know it's from me, and he can easily find us again." Aisha smiled now. "Oh-ho, that's a great idea!" "Okay, got it covered." Glen stretched his right arm in the air. A black smokescreen directly formed from his hand as it ascended high into the sky. Anyone should now be able to see it. Ryuzo tried not be envious. It took him less than a minute to do this. Even he can do something useful with the Fes. What does that make me? Never mind...don't think of useless stuff. "Awesome," Aisha said. "This will mark our location. Ayuki, can you join with me and look into the portal?" "Certainly." They both stuck their head briefly into the portal, before pulling it back out. "Alright, we know where we are now and the location of the bridge too," Aisha said. "Problem is, the bridge appears to be broken, right Ayuki?" "Yeah, it is." Ayuki nodded. "That is why, Aisha and I, think we need to use these portals instead if we want to proceed." Ryuzo had the same idea. At least these two aren't stupid, compared to that thirty-three guy. "Really? We have to do what that Eran just did?" Seventeen didn't like the idea; she was looking concerned the whole time. "Sounds okay to me." Twenty-five looked motivated and ready to jump. "So, think we will end up where Eran is now?" Aisha waved her hand. "Who knows. Don't mind him though, just focus on finding our next goal. Hmm, who wants to go next?" Ryuzo raised his hand. "I'll go. There's no telling how long this portal will stay. No time to waste." Without awaiting the response of the rest, he stepped inside the portal and prepared himself for the fall.