The party found themselves backtracking to go around the nature spirit’s inner domain. There was a small chance they might have convinced the spirit to let them through her land, making their journey slightly faster. However, that would require them to owe it a favor or for it to have liked Jalil enough to show them the most private areas of its domain.

  They were in the outer areas of the spirit's domain, the forest having reverted to its usual travel difficulty. Thankfully, the domain of the creature wasn’t that large, and it wouldn’t be long before they passed it on the way to the cliff cave. During their travel, and having still been deep in the nature spirits forest, Tesilim had held off asking a burning question he had thought of ever since Lili’s conversation.

  “Guys, what do you think it meant by Jalil gifting it with his favor?” They heard Tesilim say in their minds.

  “Yeah, I have been wondering that as well. That’s not something you learn in the academy,” Rose said.

  “I thought it was maybe reverence. But I didn’t think nature spirits cared about that too much,” Jasmine wondered.

  “Any ideas Lili? I did some research on nature spirits for my soul work, but I also didn’t think they cared much for being worshipped. Though I guess it could be that this one is different due to its type or whatever other reason,” Their research gnome pondered, not having many answers himself.

  “Honestly, I am not sure myself. Nothing I have heard of it suggests she takes gifts. My best guess is that maybe Jalil has some sort of deal with it, and he brings her things from outside her domain.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Tesilim agreed, and they continued their travel.

  Travel to the ocean would take the longest, and they wouldn’t arrive in the general area of the cave they were meant to look for until after noon. It wasn’t much of an issue for the team, especially Tesilim, who enjoyed their run through the forest. A run that took them past a few streams and even a small lake, where he saw the whirling form of an elemental. Apparently, their type came in a wide variety as well, and the one he saw was likely mixed with a wind elemental.

  As always, during their travel time, the team talked about random things they saw in the forests or things they had experienced in the city. All of them kept away from sensitive topics, not wanting to share too much of their past. There were two exceptions to this rule, mainly Alyx and Tesilim. The party enjoyed asking the gnome about the empire and his experiences dealing with soul-traumatized people. Everyone also enjoyed hearing Tesilim's recollections of his old world and the technology it had developed, even if they really doubted that most of it was built without magic.

  Of course, the party spent almost as much, if not more, time quietly thinking to themselves. For Drex, his thoughts went to various points in his life so far, but mainly, the drake thought about a sexy forest drake he had been introduced to by Jolly, or wondering about how a variety of creatures tasted. The drake was a simple creature; even if he had sapiency, he enjoyed keeping to himself and eating.

  Tesilim spent his time thinking about Lili, initially focusing on what they had done last night, until he stopped when he almost ran into a tree. However, he also thought about their relationship; he was still thinking in terms of his girlfriends from Earth, who were completely opposite to the white-haired elf. Lili was a free spirit and clearly not the most jealous of types, though he wasn’t too sure just yet. If anything, it wasn’t that she wasn’t jealous but more like she knew what she had and wasn’t worried about him looking at some other elf’s ass.

  It was obvious now that she was rather kinky; he just hadn’t thought about it. Thinking about it, there was the whole part of her wanting to join Jolly and her cheering when the elf's bust came out in the open at the arena. Also, the fact that she didn’t wear underwear and wore such short or skimpy clothes should have given it away. Seriously, she wasn’t wearing any, even as they ran through the forest. Speaking of, he stared hard at her ass, remembering her putting her armor on early in the morning, which caused him to run straight into a branch.

  Lili could feel Tesilim staring at her, and it made her happy. As much as she seemed to understand the elf’s personality, at least so far, she still knew he was from another planet. And like with the Jolly and the kids situation, there were bound to be things he was stuck on from his culture and experiences. Things that didn’t apply to her or his new world. To that end, she was slowly looking to bring him over completely. Those thoughts, however, led her to reflect on her past and what that would mean for him. Still, she pushed that away and turned her attention back to her surroundings. After all, the future didn’t matter if they didn’t make it there first.

  For Rose, there were only two things that mattered as they moved through the forest. It was pretty much what was always on her mind when they were out and about, at least outside of the city. The first thing was keeping Jasmine safe. The second was constantly watching her surroundings to ensure she completed the first task. Sadly, as much as she disliked it, there were times when her mind wandered to other things. Things related to whatever mission she was on, or Tesilim. Thankfully, it was mostly the first, since the purple and yellow-haired elf was best not to think about, otherwise she would get a headache thinking about his power and everything surrounding him. As such, what she was thinking about was how exactly this werewolf mission they were doing would end. Was the brother still alive? Could they have possibly missed each other on their way to and from the city? If not, then what happened to him? What creature or fate was waiting for them?

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  Jasmine spent the time that she wasn’t talking to her party members talking to her brother. He had been watching since they left the city and had been running a commentary about this and that, at least when not in combat. It wasn’t bad, and though he could get annoying at times, she figured that she was experiencing what it was like to have a brother. With her, he did things he didn’t often do, like tell jokes and actually enjoy life. Most of the time, the jokes were about her, but sometimes they were about their party or random things in general.

  Alyx’s mind was a well-oiled machine, and it wasn’t too hard to put his body on autopilot as he made his way through the forest. He had done it many times previously, and it helped him think about other things. Of course, it was only something he did when he felt relatively safe, and with Rose and Lili on watch, he felt he could relax a bit. Plus, with his level of mana regeneration, having his will-infused Presence out while also running a low-power enhancement wasn’t a problem. So, Alyx ran through ways to restart his no-magic world experiment. It had run into more issues with every passing day, and it seemed he was going to have to start from scratch again. Mainly, it was the fact that he was trying to replicate something that took a whole world to produce.

  The party was making good progress through the forest. It was one of those times when they talked about something random, everyone giving their opinions on a particular food item.

  “Look, it looked like a vegetable called lettuce from Earth; I was just not expecting it to taste like chicken.”

  “Everyone knows it tastes like that; I just don’t like that it's so sweet,” Rose added.

  “Seriously? I love that it's sweet. It leaves a nice aftertaste. I thought you liked sweets?” Jasmine responded.

  “I do, but I just don’t like this very specific combination of sweet and meat flavors, especially with how crunchy it is.”

  “I like that it's crunchy,” Alyx finally said, giving his two coppers on the issue.

  “Yeah, I like that it's crunchy too. I mean, after the shock, I enjoyed it. It was just a surprise, you know?” Tesilim stated.

  “Personally, I always like to add some extra berry sauce to it, gives it a different-” Lili began, but abruptly cut off in their mental link. Noticing this, the team threw glances her way before looking around. Finding nothing wrong, Tesilim spoke up first.

  “You okay? What happened?”

  “I am pretty sure we just ran by an aberration. I think it was a drone of some type.” Lili quickly responded, and everyone tensed up at her words but kept moving.

  “Where!?” Jasmine came through first, anger in her usual sweet voice.

  “What should we do?” Tesilim asked, unsure how to proceed.

  “Honestly, it depends,” Alyx said.

  “Depends on what?” Tesilim asked, annoyed.

  “Depends on how many there actually are. If there is just one, we can probably get rid of it, but-” Rose started, and Tesilim cut her off, already knowing what she was going to say.

  “If there is one, there is a chance there are many, and if there are many, there is something nearby that is strong enough to maneuver them and probably more of their kind.”

  Hearing the elf’s serious tone, Rose was reminded that he had probably killed more aberrations than her so far, and she sent a wave of approval through their connection.

  “So, with that in mind, I am going to act like I am scouting ahead, go into stealth, and see if it leads me anywhere or if I find any more,” Lili told them, already increasing her speed.

  “Don’t go out further than the ring’s telepathic distance,” Alyx pointed out.

  “I won’t, for now, stop and pretend to take a break, maybe pop out your door for a bit. This could be nothing, an issue, or a problem, hopefully one of the first two,” His girlfriend replied, the team already having lost sight of her.

  “What’s the difference?” Tesilim asked.

  “Nothing, would just be a couple of weak ones that happened to land here. An issue would be a full party of them, and a problem means going back to the city for reinforcements,” Jasmine answered before anyone could.

  “I see,” The elf said as they all stopped to rest, still on high alert.

  Lili doubled back, annoyed that the aberration had moved. So, she spent a few minutes looking around the nearby area before deciding to head back to her party members. On the way there, she made sure to refuel any mana she had spent so far while also keeping herself topped up. Of course, imagine her surprise when she felt another aberration some distance away from her team. It was the same small bird she had noticed, and it was watching Alyx’s door.

  Currently, Tesilim and Drex were outside. Lili imagined the other three had gone in, and, for whatever reason, Tesilim and the drake had stayed out. However, with the aberration now within reach, it was time to find out what kind of problem they were dealing with.

  Lili made her way to the weak creature and easily killed it without it even knowing what had happened. With the thing dead, two things would happen: either no more of them would show up, and it was really a one-off, or a new one would replace the old one.

  She spent ten minutes waiting and running around the area where they had placed the door. During this time, she kept in contact with the team, letting them know what was going on. And just as she was about to call it all off and place the encounter under nothing, she felt one drone, then two, and then three.