Soon, both of them completely learned the 5-star spell, Astral Veil.

As they snapped out of their daze, their eyes flickered with silvery-golden light, their intent melting into the magic as it activated.

A veil of silver-golden sparks wrapped over both of them, and then they vanished.

Isalyn blinked, her eyes glinting as she used her best ocular spell for detection.

And she couldn’t detect Rudrean or Aelira at all.

No bodily aura, no magical aura, no visual trace.

In fact, even the grass where they stood didn’t bend. In reality, it was under their feet, but five meters around them was completely within the Astral Veil’s effects.

This was an illusion plus a stealth spell.

No senses or detection could discover them, unless, of course, someone used a 6-star detection spell that could see through the workings of the Astral Veil.

"It’s perfect. Now, there is only one powerhouse outside who can discover you, but that is only if he has locked onto your aura beforehand, which he hasn’t. That bastard is the only reason I was chased for so long and far."

"However, he is not a problem now. You two will make a simple and quiet escape off the planet and head back to your planet."

"Let’s do it," Rudrean said, and purchased another thing.

Talent: Heavenfall Wind.

Both Aelira and Rudrean acquired it.

"Woohoo, I can fly so easily. I already have such fine control over wind. Much better than flying with Super Pyrodrive Wings." Aelira began flying around using the Heavenfall Wind.

"It’s nice. Combining this wind to fuel and influence the Super Pyrodrive Wings is even better."

Isalyn chuckled. "That’s natural. Wind can fuel fire and make it stronger."

"Anyway, get down here. It’s time for the handover." Isalyn smiled as her eyes glimmered briefly, and an ancient golden-silver pot with an eccentric and aesthetically pleasing design appeared.

"This is called the Pot of Aruao. An ancient artifact obtained from a secret realm. This pocket dimension is anchored to this artifact."

"Rudrean." Isalyn smiled. "Take this artifact’s ownership. Then you two can leave, and I’ll stay inside and watch you two and guide you."

"Alright!" Aelira cheered. "Let’s get off this planet and return home."

Both of them had successfully reached the true peak of the Foundation stage by acquiring golden bones, and also learned the 5-star spell, and Isalyn’s talent.

On top of that, they still had 1.3✢ LP for emergency use.

They were prepared and ready to head out.

...

Rudrean and Aelira appeared out of the pocket dimension, their Astral Veil already activated, masking them completely from any detection systems and scanners.

’Oh? We are not far from the city.’ Rudrean relayed to Aelira with a magic whisper.

[Isalyn: That’s good. You are already luckier with this artifact. One time when I did a random exit, I appeared right in the enemy camp.]

’That sounds so unfortunate. Well, glad you made it out of there and met with us.’ Aelira cheekily said.

’The sky... it seems they really put a planet-wide barrier.’ Rudrean frowned.

[Isalyn: Tsk. I had a feeling they would do this. Anyway, it’s time to do plan B then. Head towards the city.]

Rudrean and Aelira began flying.

Even the magic they used while being in the Astral Veil was completely hidden, though it only applied to magic that was directly connected to them and within five meters of them.

They shrank the size of Super Pyrodrive Wings, so they were safe.

Soon, they arrived at the city, but entering didn’t seem easy.

’Damn, what’s with those devices? They can’t detect us, right?’

Isalyn was watching everything from inside and frowned.

[Isalyn: Devices aren’t a problem, but I see some new faces who are at the Soul Tree stage. Let’s not take any risk now. Move one kilometer away from the city’s borders, and then get into the ground. Dig one kilometer deep, and then travel via underground towards the city. It’s going to take some time, but that’s the only way to safely enter the city.]

Rudrean and Aelira nodded and flew back until they were a kilometer away from the city.

[Isalyn: Find a thick bush and dig from it. Make sure you bury the dirt as you go in. Rudrean, you construct a pair of scooping claws using Heavenfall Wind and dig with that. Aelira will bury the hole from behind while following. We can’t let them discover the hole.]

The spaceships and devices were constantly scanning the planet, so if they saw a suspicious hole like this, they would investigate and lock down the city and flights completely. The enemy would be able to narrow the search, and they would get close to catching you. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Since the planet had a barrier, only commercial spaceships were taking off, and that too through strict scanning.

’Let’s start.’

Rudrean and Aelira started making their way down.

It was a bit awkward at first, but they soon found the rhythm of digging and burying as they sped up.

Soon, they were a kilometer below the surface and began making their way towards the city.

Half a minute later, Rudrean’s card rang.

’Oh? I got a call.’ Rudrean blinked and took out his Adventure Card. ’It’s Cloud Warrior Harga!’

The Academy card had merged with the Adventure Card, so contacts from the Academy were already in the Adventure Card.

’Wait, if he connected to you, that means he is on this planet!’ Aelira exclaimed. ’He must be here for us.’

[Isalyn: That’s wonderful. Let’s ask for his help.]

Rudrean accepted the call connection.

[Harga: Rudrean?! Are you okay?!]

[Rudrean: I am fine, senior. But we are not fully safe. We need your help.]

[Harga: What do I have to do?]

[Rudrean: Aelira and I need a safe spot in the city to emerge from the ground. We are underground right now because if we get discovered by the people who have locked down this planet, they would kill us.]

[Harga: Kill you?! Why?]

[Rudrean: I mean, they won’t kill us just by seeing us, but if some of their powerhouses extensively search us, we’d be doomed. That’s why we had to skip the strict scanning of the city entrance and plan to appear directly inside from underground.]

[Harga: I don’t know what’s going on, but escaping from this planet is a priority, right? Let’s do that. I’ll search for a spot with no eyes and send a magic construct one kilometer deep. Find it and come up from there.]

[Rudrean: Perfect.]

...

"Did you find the aura matching the blood drops we collected?"

"Nothing on that. The blood also doesn’t match anyone from our database. The scan also concluded they were merely Foundation-stage kids who got caught in the bombardment."

"But she took them away. And she might be planning to use them to escape. Make sure all four cities on this planet are under complete and constant monitoring and scanning. It’s been five days, and her artifact will only keep her hidden for two more days at most, but we can’t rule out the possibility that she may try to escape before that."