Chapter 371: Flying Ship

If there was anything that Julius had learned, it was that he should not underestimate the wonder and unpredictable nature of magic. He should never have doubted whether or not the boat fit all of them. The interior of the flying ship was more than large enough to accommodate everyone and still had room for twice the number of people.

While he and the others were sitting around, away from the more condensed crowd, he felt Ashton approaching.

“I am glad to see that you made it,” Ashton said to Julius with a bright smile.

“Of course, thanks for extending the invitation. It was quite generous of you,” he said with a grateful nod. From the guild’s perspective, Julius was merely a newly fledged bronze adventurer who had recently ranked up to D-rank. Thus, it was somewhat of a surprise that he was offered such a chance.

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t a big deal. We only limited how people could participate because if we didn’t, we would have half of the town signing up. This was just an easier way to control the chaos,” Ashton explained.

Julius nodded in understanding. “Still, I know you didn’t have to offer it to me.”

“No, but it’s never bad to help out promising kids like yourself,” Ashton said with a good-natured grin.

Julius shook his head and talked with Ashton for a couple of minutes before the man excused himself. When the man left, he turned to Lily and gave her a questioning look.

“So?” He asked her.

“I wasn’t able to sense anything other than goodwill and some curiosity toward you,” she said with a little tightening of her lips.

“So you don’t think he has any bad intentions?”

“Not that I could tell,” she said confidently.

That made Julius release a sigh of relief. While he hadn’t caught any whiff of wrongness from the man’s aura, it was always nice to have Lily double-check for him. She was very good at feeling who was a good person and who was a bad person.

“So why did he offer Julius to come along?” Aubrey asked. “Was it just because he was curious and nice? That seems a bit weird. Are you sure this isn’t another complicated plan someone is setting up to kill Julius?”

“You know, not everyone I meet is out to kill me, Aubrey,” he said to her.

“Of course not, but you can’t lie. The number of people who tried to kill you is extraordinarily high. Therefore, we can’t be too sure anymore,” Aubrey argued.

Derek sighed. “It is likely that the man feels that Julius is someone important or strong and wants to build a relationship with him early.”

“Yeah, there’s that too,” Aubrey said with a stiff nod.

Some time goes by as they make their way to where the rift is located. Along the way, he spotted a powerful flying monster approaching the aircraft. It was a bit of a surprise since the boat had some powerful stealth magic placed on it. It must have been a creature with a powerful perception skill of its own. Luckily, a man intercepted it before it got too close.

He wore a guild uniform, but other than that, he carried no weapons. Julius watched as he surrounded himself in mana and launched himself into the air toward the monster.

He didn’t move as fast as Syla, but Julius was still impressed at how well controlled the man’s flight was. He suspected that he had some wind magic or something similar to accomplish it.

Julius didn’t feel worried. This man seemed very calm and confidently headed straight toward the monster who was hesitantly floating around the boat. It noticed the flying mage and it was only then that it decided to attack.

Julius saw the monster covered in glowing white mana, and in a burst of speed that rivaled Syla’s own speed, it speared itself toward the mage. However, it wasn’t enough. The man constructed a thick barrier in front of himself, blocking the monster’s attack with ease.

The impact from hitting the barrier didn’t seem to deter the monster, but the man didn’t look bothered by this. Before the monster could attack once again, a barrage of mana bolts smashed into it. The force of the attacks had the monster floundering backwards.

It only took a couple more liberal blasts of mana to make the monster realize that the boat wasn’t something it should mess with, and the man had it fleeing pretty quickly. Unlike what Julius expected, the man didn’t go after it and simply came back to the boat. Upon closer inspection, Julius was able to sense that the man was a powerful Tier 4.

He wasn’t the only Tier 4 on this expedition either. There were multiple other Tier 4s along with a powerful Tier 5 aura on board. He also wouldn’t be shocked to learn that there was another Tier 5 on board, but was hiding from his senses. While his skill was powerful, he had already learned that a powerful person still had ways to hide from him if they really wanted to.

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Eventually, they arrived at the rift and he could feel the ship start to float down toward the ground. When they all got off he was surprised at how well the guild had organized things. He had been expecting a rift in the middle of a forest with nothing else around. However, he spotted an entire encampment with many other people around.