9 September Year 574 of the New Kaledonian calendar. It was a sunny warm day on an otherwise bleak day. None of us felt like talking. Gregory made a memorial stone for Ted. We tried to hold a funeral but each of us had conflicting ideas stemming from how our races treat this so we just decided to make a memorial stone and that we would think of the good times we had with him, but this just made us more depressed and we were just sitting in the hut not doing anything. It has been a day since we got here and it had been almost half a day since anyone said something.


    I was killing time outside by throwing jellyfish teargas seeds at animals and monsters that attempted to mess with us. Raishin was sitting depressed in a corner and Gregory was distracting himself by making an obscene amount of potions. I enabled him by dropping ingredients in a corner. Gregory and I were still recovering and Gregory was leaving potions behind to help us speed up our recovery. I tried to check out what was going on at the prison now I can use Elgards eyes again but it was quite far and extremely tiring, and the ancient technology made it impossible to see anything past the 9th layer so I stopped trying. We spent our days like this till Raishin’s 15th birthday during which we did a small celebration. It was also the first time we said more than a couple of sentences to each other. All this time I was thinking.


    Was there nothing I could’ve done? If I was more mana efficient in my fights against Cygnus would I have been able to prevent this? What if I never used [Elgard Overload]? My brain kept telling me that I most certainly would have died if I had played it safer but I didn’t want to buy it. There must have been something I could’ve done to prevent Ted from dying. I just… I don’t think I can do this… not at my current state or alone. I need to get stronger. It was very hard but I tried to focus on what I still had left to prevent something like this would happen again. I was wondering if I wasn’t turning into a sociopath. Is this how I should think and act after my friend, my brother died? I didn’t cry, I wanted to but I didn’t manage to. I replayed the scene in my head countless times, trying to find where I could’ve done better but I couldn’t find anything. The problem started too far back for me to be able to be able to do anything there…


    <hr>


    8 October year 574 of the New Kaledonian calendar, a month after Ted passed away. Gregory spoke up. We need to make sure something like this never happens again. How?


    Our teamwork needs more work, we need to expand our move pool and you need more lives. Yeah, 1 isn’t enough.


    Besides improving our teamwork… I think we are also too reliant on each other. I know I sound like I’m contradicting myself. But each of us relies on someone else for something, It is similar to what Paula told us. But I don''t think we’re independent enough. If we were, it wouldn''t have mattered who we sent to distract Cygnus, if we were, Agnis and I wouldn''t have had our mana constantly drained to fight time dilation and gravity. We wouldn''t have to rely on Raishin to land decisive finishing blows. We wouldn''t have to rely on Ted to deal with physical threats if we were. Our team crumbles if one of us is absent. We also need to fill the hole that Ted left… Although I hate the idea of replacing him, not filling that role will get us killed sooner or later… I know… I know! But it still feels wrong, Ted isn''t replaceable…


    He would want us to survive at any cost, If Ted was here, he’d tell us to fill the gap. This is going to be hard… We can''t just find a random human to do this… something similar might happen.


    I... I hadn''t even thought about that. This sounds impossible… Maybe Raishin and I should just get some more methods for defence, will be a good compromise, not finding someone to fill that spot won''t be a big problem then.


    Raishin stood up. Let’s do that! I’m getting sick at being unable to do something during defensive maneuvers. How about we start polishing our teamwork tomorrow and decide on improving our individual skills later on? We will have to adjust to our new team size… I think that’s a good idea.


    I miss Ted, even his stupid puns. A brief silence fell, a heavy uncomfortable silence.


    We ended up talking about how shit we were for the rest of the day and started working on our teamwork the day after.


    We stayed and trained in Cnidaria forest for more than a year. I took some trips outside the forest to locate some dynamo beans for Raishin.


    I found some after almost a year of searching and he got to 14 lives.


    Raishin had 14 lives, I had 9 and Greg had 31. I kept dumping shadow liquid vodka on him. So much that it slightly cured him of his alcoholic tendencies. Raishin got better at hunting because of our environment and he became more aware of his surroundings. I Improved my agility due to the countless obstacles in the forest. We became closer and needed less and less Teleroad communication to get things done. We had decided we would split up and gain individual experience shortly after my 16th birthday. We would train for over 3 years to reduce our reliance on each other and to round out our move pool. We would meet back up here at the hut for Ted’s 5th death anniversary.


    So, what are you going to focus on Raishin? My defence, intuition, and safer and more accurate attack skills!


    Sounds good on paper but do you have a plan on how to do this? Hunting small and big animals that need to be caught alive! I think I’m going to continue being a hunter and learn these. For defense uhm I have no idea, I will just ask some people I meet for advice.


    That sounds good enough, how about you Agnis? Firstly, I want to move away from my reliance on magic because this nausea is annoying, I want to also take the assassin and sneaky role more seriously and I want to improve my skill with the blade and create better weapons with blacksmithing. Nothing defensive?


    I will focus on mastering this leyline energy and create defensive skills. Taking up a lot of things as usual, I hope you are successful, Me myself I will focus more on offensive techniques and a wider variety of potions.


    Also, try to fix that speed of yours if you can. I will do my best! Let''s focus on these things and get back together stronger than before!


    Yeah! Yes!


    It was August so we had till December to give each other tips.


    <hr>


    We went to Ainahs city for my birthday. In disguise of course. We went to the sushi restaurant Ted introduced me to more than 2 years ago. We picked another hotel to stay at afterward.


    I wonder how the Adventurer’s Association is doing. Hey, I actually have an idea! Why don''t we form an adventurer group before we split up? We can be like be mysterious make a team, then disappear for 3 years, then come back after 3 years and turn the world upside down with our awesomeness! That is a terrible idea.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Hmm, so what are we going to name our group then? What? How about Raishin’s Hero party?


    That is a terrible name, I think this idea is stupid. I think it’s one of Raishin’s brightest ideas! Only his party name sucks, rejected! Oh, then why don''t you come up with a cool name?


    Sashimi warriors! You and your food, rejected! How about team Hourai?


    Eh? I know it''s where we came from but it''s also my last name it''s a bit meh. Yes, let''s go with that! Raishin seemed to like that name.


    Wait what? If I’m getting dragged into this idea, I at least want our team to have a good name! And I will be the leader!


    Oh, hell no! Greg will be the leader! Oh hell, no Agnis will be the leader! Deal! Agnis be the leader!


    Why me?! Greg is a better leader! You might become a bit more responsible if you have the leader role, Raishin agrees. Oh uh, yeah that but I also rather have Agnis as leader over Greg!


    That’s fine that means it’s your responsibility to deal with Raishin when he does something dumb hehe, good luck. Nooo!


    See it as your birthday gift! I reject this birthday gift!


    We appeared at the Adventurer’s Association the day after. Wow, it’s still the same. We want to register as a team!


    “How many members?” 4! We fell silent.


    Uhm sorry, that was a mistake we’re with 3.


    “Can I see your adventurer''s ID and the name of your group?” The group name is Hourai and I am the group leader. The clerk finished the procedures.


    “Alright, it might take 2 days for it to get approved, please stay in the city till then.” Gregory visited the shop where he used to work. Raishin went into the city to pick up chicks and I went upstairs to look at the spars and duels the adventurers were having. I saw a familiar face. The healer chick had a duel and she was considerately more skilled in attacking with water magic. She had an enormous male fanbase cheering her on.


    I left the building and walked around the city to reminisce. It all started here and one mistake led to us losing our friend and brother. I hopped on a colored floating platform and rode it to near the shop where I could buy supplies for blacksmithing. I decided to go on a shopping spree and get as much stuff as possible so that I wouldn''t have to shop much during my training period. I arrived at my hotel room exhausted. Why can I fight for hours on end but a simple 2-hour shopping spree wears me out? I was content with the results though, I got everything I needed. I sat on my bed and brushed my tails. I just needed one more tail to be complete. I made a frost mirror and looked at my ears which were black because of my cosmetic illusion. I lifted it and they turned silver. These would turn blue after I get my 9th tail. I stored the fur that stuck to the brush and went to sleep.


    I had a wonderful sleep and went to the Adventurers Association the next day.


    <hr>


    A familiar face approached me. “Oh, I haven''t seen you in over 2 years, How are you Agnis?” Oh hey, Da…Vice president. What are you doing here?


    “I saw the request you put up to create a party and I wanted to personally notify you that it’s approved.” Oh thanks, but why go through all this trouble?


    “Well, you are still our strongest water user so I think it’s important to show some respect.”


    “Vice President that’s called favoritism…”


    Vice Daddy looked at his lackey quite annoyed. “I don’t pay you to be a smartass!”


    “Yes, sir!” The lackey backed off.


    “So have you met up with Tania yet?” Who?


    The vice president sighed. “My daughter, you surely remember her, right?” Didn’t you have a son?


    “It’s no use vice president, his bad memory is notorious.” Vice Daddy looked at his lackey with a face that told him ''I don''t pay you to be a smartass.''


    “Anyways, she will be glad to see you, she got quite bored since you disappeared, nobody around her age can rival her, she already reached A-rank. I really hope her ego won’t grow with each rank she gains…” Do you need me to kick her ass? The vice president made a difficult face.


    “You know what? Maybe that’s what she needs but please don''t go looking for a fight.” Don’t worry, I will get to it, somewhere in the next 3-4 years…


    “What?” Ah right, so I know we just made a group but we may or may not disappear for a good 3-4 years. Just so you know.


    “Ah, well we have branches in almost every big city so when you’re in need of adventure or gold just hop by one and you will always be welcome wherever you are." Such kindness, thanks. I spent the rest of the day looking at adventurers duelling again and met up with Greg and Raishin at the hotel.


    Our group got approved, we can safely disappear now! So where are you guys heading to? I will go to the wilderness of Lopahz which is more to the southeast.


    I will go to the country of Zanyr to the west of Hjuva, it has a lot of dungeons and an interesting and wide variety of biomes. Where are you going, Greg? I’m going to Hjuva, I will probably stick close to Gittrian. So, we will all be separated with a lot of distance in between and nobody is staying in Igrini.


    Igrini sucks. We talked about what we would expect to see and went to bed. Raishin and I would leave early in the morning and Greg would stay in Ainahs for a while since he didn''t need to travel as far as us.


    <hr>


    I woke up at 5:30 and paid for Raishin and my room. I didn''t see Raishin anywhere. I looked around and it seemed he was still asleep. It seems I would be leaving first. I walked through the deserted streets of Ainahs. I took in the morning air and reached the outside of the city. I looked around and covered myself in illusions when I noticed that there was nobody. This would hide my presence. I took my shoes off and started running. I circulated nature energy through my body and kept using [Accel step]. I would be going for a speed of Mach 3 and at that speed it would take me a total of 50 minutes to reach the border between Zanyr and Hjuva and I would walk from there.


    I had to make some slight detours to not run through settlements and the like. It feels so weird. I left the hotel a bit over an hour ago. I spent longer walking through the city than actually getting here. My first step into Zanyr felt like freedom. I walked toward a close by settlement to ask what places would be best to be around nature and train. This area looked a bit like a desert but it wasn''t. I don''t know what this is called maybe my knowledge about deserts is limited. To me it’s an area of just sand but I''m aware that things like an oasis exist. I entered a village and started asking around. After talking to some people, I met a traveler. He stated that there was some kind of wilderness to the northwest about a 2-week walk. He warned me to prepare because the heat might kill me before I get far.


    He suggested visiting a bigger city to the southwest first. I thanked him. I was wondering if I should dash to my destination or visit that city. I had a lot to do so I didn''t feel like wasting time going to that city. I’m quite resistant to heat anyways. I located my destination with my eyes. I could be there in an instant and teleported to the southern part of the jungle. I was close to a water basin and an enormous waterfall. This place was gorgeous.


    This jungle was enormous and there was hardly any civilization here only some native tribes. I lifted my cosmetic illusion and got all my 8 tails out. I could completely be myself here and decided to create a hideout near the waterfall and I would start training the day after tomorrow. I spent the rest of the day exploring the area which would become my new neighbourhood. I spotted some animals that I''d never seen before. There were a lot of fierce animals but some fled after seeing my tails and others showed respect which was something I had never experienced before. There were only a few that actually attacked me and they got shown their place quite fast. I decided to not kill them but to just give them a scare. I need them later on. I will stop using magic for my training so I need them as training dummies.


    I rested for the whole of the next day and woke up early on day 3 in my new home. Let the training begin!