Suddenly, Aezaleon sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. Giving all of them a look.

"All three of you have an elemental power—she has Varkyros, you have yours, and little Aphryne here also has one—[Nytherion]," he complained with a look of mock bitterness. "Even though I don’t know what an elemental power is, now even I want one."

He gave all his girls an envious look. Clementine smiled brightly at his display.

"Having an elemental power is a rare thing, you know. Even rarer than encountering a Sovereign. It is a completely different system of authority and power, after all, with its own unique ranks," she commented in a reassuring tone, attempting to soothe his wounded pride.

"Are you for real, big sis? What about..."

"Let me finish, Auguszta," Clementine interrupted, her tone firm yet melodic. She refocused on Aezaleon.

"Also, these two only got theirs because of three major factors working simultaneously. First was their evolutions. Two major ones—one from being a non-sentient entity to awakening it and second the reconstruction of their bodies after death. Second was an even rarer unique ability working as a catalyst to initiate the first evolution, then an absolute initiating the second, and the last—the third factor was the conjurer of the unique ability having not just one but two ruler-type abilities of Cosmic Laws as high as Utmost rank."

"Now you understand how these two got their elemental powers," Clementine finished, her eyes gleaming with pride. "Every factor played a major role. The rarity of one having all three capabilities—I don’t even know what to tell you for you to feel the magnitude of the event." The alignment of these forces was as improbable as a constellation of stars falling into a perfect line upon a single command.

Aezaleon shook his head, a faint smirk returning to his face.

"Since, according to your words, it is clear that I won’t be getting my elemental power any time sooner, then there is no point in mulling over this pointless subject. Let us get a move on instead," he voiced with a resolute sigh, putting the matter to the back of his mind completely.

... ... ... ... ...

Five males, clad in plated armor over sleek white-black uniforms, navigated the dense forest with calculated caution.

Their expressions remained taut with tension, their steps tentative, yet their pace was remarkably swift—covering forty meters every second. They moved through the undergrowth like silent shadows darting between the ancient trunks of a forgotten world.

"Hey, we have come so deep inside the Arkanthos Primeval Expanse, Vorak," Keal voiced with a hint of mounting concern. "Are you sure that the Pyreveil you talked about is really somewhere near here?"

"Indeed, brother Keal," Vorak Thal—an individual possessing deep black eyes that stood in stark contrast to his snowy white hair—responded in a composed and confident manner.

Nodding his head, he continued, focusing his gaze on Keal.

"It is a Special Grade job I was personally assigned by Sir Radiant-Venom himself from the Adventurers Guild. A high-risk, high-reward mission; therefore, I’m quite certain that the map is accurate and we are on the right track."

On the other side, "Why are you chickening out now, Keal?" Mvar interjected, appearing quite annoyed. "Didn’t Vorak inform us all beforehand about the perilous nature of this task? You still accepted it. At that time you were so elated, beaming with confidence, but now look at you—sweating like a scared shit."

"You misunderstand me, Mvar," Keal countered, shaking his head slowly. "Don’t you know that I have mastered the rank 4 ability—[Premonitory Perception]? It is a power capable of providing the user warnings about incoming dangers beforehand. The greater the uneasiness, the higher the threat!"

His pupils constricted as his attention focused intensely on his companions. "You guys haven’t forgotten about this, have you?!"

At his words, all four came to a screeching halt. Their eyes went wide with sudden realization. The silence that followed was as heavy as a tombstone settling into the earth.

"What...!?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So you guys have," Keal noted, nodding grimly. There was no more explanation required; their shocked and stunned countenances spoke volumes for themselves. Exhaling a weary breath, he added, "Just how nervous are you four to make such a rookie mistake?"

He gave each of them a searching glance. "Can you check how far we are from Varion and how close we are to our destination, Vorak?" Setting the pointless subject aside, Keal requested.

"Let me do it," Yirion voiced suddenly. "You four just don’t lower your guards. We don’t know what might happen with Keal feeling so uneasy." His words were solemn and heavy with portents of danger.

The four nodded, mirroring his serious expression. Subsequently, Yirion immediately tapped the bracelet on his wrist, causing a blurred, blue-colored holographic screen to materialize above his hand. He performed a few more precise clicks and swipes.

HMM!

In under a minute, he confirmed their current coordinates.

"We are far to the east of the City of Varion," Yirion reported in a clinical tone. "Current Coordinates... Distance—739 Km/459.193 Miles. Exact Location... Distance to our destination—397 Km/246.684 Miles. Time since we departed... Time before we arrive... Current Danger—Mid... Nearby calamities detected... seventeen rank 3... seven rank 4... Normalblood... Pureblooded—thirteen... None Void Monarch, Monarch, or Void..."

He provided a bit more detail regarding a variety of other factors.

"Nonetheless, we shouldn’t be complacent. If we encounter a hazard we cannot handle, it would be nearly impossible for us to survive so deep into the Arkanthos Primeval Expanse; this woodland is still treacherous even for us. We don’t know what might happen and when it might occur," Ofmond offered his opinion.

"Hm," Vorak nodded in agreement. "Let’s swiftly retrieve the Pyreveil. We don’t know what we might encounter if we linger here any longer."

"Yeah, it is better safe than sorry!"

Afterwards, all five advanced toward their destination, their velocity reaching the 55 meters/second mark. Yet, they did not lose their vigilance either. Seconds passed. Minutes ticked by. Soon, three more hours had elapsed, during which they had traveled a total distance of 594,000 meters—though not in a straight line.

Considering their trajectory was never linear and had shifted multiple times, their displacement was far lesser compared to the total distance they had covered (Actual Traveled Distance: ~186.411 Miles/300 Km).

Their path through the woods was as twisted as the gnarled roots of the Arkanthos trees themselves.

At this instance...

They came to a stop as they noticed a visible change in the environment. However, before anything else, the five consumed some [Endurance and Energy Recovery Potions] to combat their accumulated exhaustion.

It wasn’t easy to maintain acceleration at such a high speed for so long, after all.

No matter what, everything had its own limitations—even their resilient bodies and superior energy capacity as Ascension rank 3 Material and Ascension rank 1 Spiritual Ascendants.

"Haaah, we are finally here," Vorak echoed, exhaling contently upon feeling the fading fatigue and the subsequent overflow of energy.

"But what is this place?" Mvar remarked from the side. "So peculiar...!" His gaze focused, scrutinizing their immediate surroundings.

Some time ago, they had entered this misty and hazy environment—the reason they realized they had reached their goal.