The airship was literally like a yacht. Or rather a cruise ship. There were rooms situated all along the middle parts of the ship. Some people shared, but to his excitement, he got his own room. Probably another privilege of being an honored guest of the sect.

Unfortunately, it didn’t mean he was completely separated from the other disciples. In fact, he had a few run-ins with them, and almost every one of the inner disciples had given him a weird look when he walked past them.

He didn’t know the reason for that, but he could only assume that there were some rumors spreading around about him. That, and he wasn't meant to be on this mission. Most of the inner disciples here had specific roles and orders. But he didn’t really have any.

He was technically there as support and to work as a healer. But that was more of a formality than anything else. If he didn’t want to heal anyone, nobody could really force him. Perhaps Elder Huan could force him, but Julius doubted the man would. He was one of the few people who already knew of Julius’s relationship with Cassandra. And had treated Julius accordingly.

On another note, he had spotted Aaron aboard the ship. It would seem the young man had come along too, and apparently, he must have felt pretty awkward about leaving Julius behind, because he had done his very best to avoid him.

Each time he spotted Julius, he would run away in the opposite direction.

Honestly, Julius didn’t even blame the young healer. He had been one of the few people who had actually contemplated helping him and tried to stay behind. But with nobody else to help him, it wasn’t really a fair choice.

That said, he was still definitely planning to tease Aaron when he saw him again. Just because he had forgiven him didn’t mean he had forgotten. And it would be very amusing to watch Aaron squirm as he tried to awkwardly apologize.

***

During the flight, he spent most of his time on two things. His life and ruin technique, or his new cube thingy. He was tempted to rename it to the “brain melter” because every time he used it, his brain felt like it had just been melted into a puddle.

That might explain the warning not to use it for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Of course, he ignored the warning and continued using it for hours at a time.

He didn’t completely shut himself away either. He forced himself to leave his room for a few hours every day. Even if it means just walking the ship's deck. Which, to be fair, was an amazing view. There was something magical about flying with the clouds in a giant ship that didn’t look like it should be flying in the first place.

He was sitting on the railing of the ship, kicking his feet off the side as he watched Elder Leon race off into the distance on his flying sword.

Yes, flying sword. Apparently, it was a real thing, and while not the most common, it was used by a good number of Tier 5s. Not everyone could fly on their own, but with enough practice, a number of flying devices were available.

Of course, this wasn’t as simple as it sounded. There were some very strict requirements for using them. For one, the mana requirement alone was ridiculous. Even a Tier 5 wasn’t able to use them for long before their mana ran dry.

The other was a pure skill issue. Not everyone had such fine control of their mana. It wasn’t just mana control either. It demanded a strong understanding of authority to use it properly. People trained for years before they were able to use such devices with any measure of skill.

Despite hearing all of those reasons, he still wanted one. Perhaps he might ask Cassandra for one when he got back. She might have an idea of where he could get one. While he could fly on his own, there was something alluring and cool about flying on a sword.

He had already asked her about a new axe, but to his surprise, she denied him. Stating that if he wanted a weapon, he should wait until he explored a few rifts in the wastelands. Apparently, custom-made weapons were a pretty common reward there. If you were lucky, he might even get a growth type. So he was stuck with one he got from the sect's warehouse. It was pretty good, but it lacked the "specialness" he was looking for.

Maybe he would confiscate one from a bandit if he came across a good one.

Elder Leon wasn’t the only one who was out scouting. The elders joining them on this trip had several responsibilities. The first task was to scout the area and ensure the airship was protected. Another was to keep an eye out for the disciples to make sure they didn’t cause any trouble and that they stayed focused on their missions.

Of course, this was easier said than done. The nature of the sect led to intense competition. Even more so than the outer court. Several fights had already broken out.

Julius tried to stay away, but sometimes that wasn’t so simple.

He was enjoying the view at the moment. The clouds were gently illuminated by the setting sun, and weather-regulating enchantments made it comfortable. Drasil was beside him, sitting on his shoulder and swinging his tiny legs. The adorable spirit was licking an orb of life mana, trying out a new concoction Julius had made, using his new life technique as inspiration.

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However, as they enjoyed their moment together, he sensed someone approaching. It was a girl who looked quite young. And she was so beautiful, it was almost aggravating. He had seen quite a few pretty girls since he got to this world, but this girl was stunning even compared to others.

She couldn’t have been much older than him and wasn’t wearing anything impressive. Her robes were the normal robes an inner disciple would wear, but they were a little worn. As if they had been washed over and over.

Her hair wasn’t done up; it was placed in a rough ponytail. She didn’t have any makeup or jewelry either. She looked like she had just rolled out of bed, yet she was so pretty that he felt a little uncomfortable in her presence. Like he was dirtying her just by being near her.

Realizing that something was off, he quickly channeled some aura into his body and mind.

Almost immediately, that guilty feeling vanished, and while he was still feeling ugly in her presence, it no longer felt like he was a smelly fart, muddying up her beauty. He couldn’t help but wonder if this sensation was due to her authority or a special kind of aura.

“You know there aren’t any enchantments that will save you if you fall,” she commented when she got close.

“It’s okay, I will be careful," he replied evenly.

She nodded and pointed at Drasil. “Is that little fellow your familiar?”

“He is very handsome,” she complimented with a bright smile.

Drasil seemed to appreciate that and let out a pleased whistle. His little crown of leaves ruffled as he waved to her.

She crouched down and extended her finger to him. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Kora.” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Drasil reached out and grabbed hold of her finger, giving it a firm shake.

“Oh! Quite a strong grip you have. You must be pretty strong, huh?” She said with a raised eyebrow. Drasil replied by nodding and proudly placing his hands on his hips.

Julius, on the other hand, simply stared at the girl with a confused expression. “Um, is there something I can do for you?”

She didn’t answer his question right away; instead, she tilted her head and looked at him curiously. “Hmm. Thera was right about you.”

He frowned. “You know Thera?”

“Yeah, she’s someone I help train from time to time. A little too serious, but a really kind girl with a good heart. But I heard you have been helping her with her willpower training.”

Now that he was thinking about it, he had heard about her before. If he recalled, the other disciples often talked about someone named Kora. She was supposedly one of the sect's promising new talents and basically a guaranteed core disciple. He wouldn’t have thought that she knew Thera, though.

He nodded and looked out at the setting sun. “Yeah, she’s been one of the people who’ve been coming to my lessons.” He turned to her. “What did you mean by she was right about me?”

“She mentioned that I should meet you and that I won’t have to worry about you acting funny because of my aura. I didn’t quite believe her, but it's obvious that I was wrong.”

“Ohh, so that feeling was your aura.”

She smiled sadly. “Yeah, it's an unfortunate side effect of my concepts and authority. It also means that it's hard for people to be around me. Even Thera finds it hard to deal with, and she has her own skill that protects her.”

“You can’t turn it off?”

She laughed despondently. “I wish.”

“That sounds awful,” he said bluntly.

This made her laugh a little more genuinely. It sounded like magical bells ringing in his ears. “Yeah, it really is. But it's always nice to meet someone who doesn’t try to throw themselves off an airship because they can’t stand being in my presence.”

He grimaced. “Does that happen a lot?” he asked while glancing at his current position. Wondering if her approaching him while he dangled off the edge of a flying ship was a good idea.

A panicked expression bloomed on her face, and she threw her hands up. “No! I was just kidding.”

But she frowned. “Although there was one time when someone threw themselves out of a three-story window to get away from me.”

He chuckled nervously. “I promise I won’t do something like that.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” she said, smiling warmly and hopping on the edge beside him without any invitation.

They ended up talking for the next hour or so. They didn’t even discuss anything of importance; it was mostly small talk and stuff about the Scorched Wastelands. They even shared a meal together while sitting on the guardrails.

He offered her some food from his lunchbox, and she offered him some kind of fancy drink. It was sort of like wine, but it wasn’t alcoholic. Still, it was delicious and went really well with the sandwiches from his lunchbox.

“These sandwiches are seriously amazing!” she exclaimed with a mouth full of food. “I’m so jealous you got an item like that. The last thing I got from a rift was a crusty old amulet that gave me poison resistance.”

He was going to ask if he could see this amulet, but before he could, someone approached them. It was a handsome young man with a very bright red saber sheathed at his hip. He was tall and had black hair, mixed with streaks of red.

“Hey, Kora. We have a meeting with Elder Huan in a little bit. You coming?” He asked expressionlessly.

Kora huffed. “Do I really need to come, Zev?”

The guy didn’t so much as flinch at her reluctance. “He said it had something to do with the scouting mission you and your group will be in charge of. He wants to brief you about your duties and what we need to prioritize when we get there.”

She sighed but hopped off the railing, quickly shoving the rest of her sandwich into her mouth. “Fine, but let’s make it quick.”

She turned to him with a broad smile full of food. “Let’s do this again. It’s not often I can talk with people my age. Zev and Thera are the only ones, and as you can see, Zev isn’t exactly the most interesting conversationalist.”

“Yeah, it was good to meet you,” he said with a smirk.

She waved at him as she followed Zev away. “Thanks for the sandwich, I’m going to be back to get another one from you!”

He laughed, but then he noticed the other guy looking at him with a cautious expression. He ignored it for now, but did make note of it.