Captain Valen didn’t immediately dismiss the claim as out of hand.
Instead, her sharp eyes narrowed, the faint presence pressing down on Soren before it disappeared, her emotions stabilizing.
“A Transcendent hiding as a common scavenger,” Valen mused softly, gripping the hilt of her sword.
“How exciting.”
Soren narrowed his eyes.
The reality of his best friend secretly being one of the elite powers of Atheo was staggering, but one fact stood above the rest—the Dream Sword hadn’t shown the corpse.
“He isn’t dead,” Soren whispered, grabbing the hilt of the Dream Sword and letting it shrink back down into a longsword.
As he grabbed the longsword and pulled it out of the crack created in the ground, the Dream Sword grew iron-hot and shone a brilliant white radiance.
He quickly let go of the burning Dream Sword, throwing it on the ground.
The white stone hanging from his necklace gleamed the same radiance as the longsword.
The Dream Sword clattered on the floor, the white light slowly ebbing until only the edge of the sword glowed white.
Within the mirror-like surface of the blade, a blurry and frantic image formed.
It showed a ruined cathedral.
Inside its stained-glass windows, a familiar figure with long golden hair was leaning against one of the pews, breathing heavily as black blood stained his entire body.
It was Shindo.
Surrounding him were the bodies of a couple of wolves, seemingly crushed by an unstoppable force.
Soren stared at the image with furrowed eyebrows.
Of course, he was happy that his friend was safe, but it still bothered him that he found out that Shindo was a Transcendent this way.
Captain Valen stepped closer, crouching beside the glowing sword.
She stared at the reflection, her sharp eyes taking in the architecture of the cathedral and the surrounding area with narrowed eyes.
“That’s the Cathedral of The Heavenly Angel.
That’s on the island west of us,” she analyzed calmly, getting up from her crouching position.
“How did you find him?”
Soren was thinking too, his mind racing.
He could be wrong that Shindo was a Transcendent—that Shindo was a normal scavenger he always thought he was.
However, given his crude experiment and the events that just transpired, he doubted that.
“I don’t know but I have to save him,” he said, looking away from the Dream Sword.
Soren clenched his fist, his jaw set as he breathed out a sigh.
He looked at Captain Valen with determination burning in his eyes, resigning himself to fate.
“You asked me to join you squad, Captain,” Soren said, his voice steady.
“I’m accepting your offer but first, we have to save Shindo.”
Valen searched his eyes before she seemed to find something she liked—a faint, approving smirk touching her lips.
“Abyssal Walkers!” she called, her voice echoing sharply across the entire inn.
Within moments, the sound of heavy footsteps thundered outside before the others filed in, saluting perfectly.
She turned to the rest of the team and gestured to the sword.
“We are going on a mission to save his friend, Shindo.
Does anyone disagree with this?”
They turned to each other, confused, before Caligo finally stood forward to speak.
“Yes.
Why are we going to risk our lives to brave the Abyss for some normal scavenger?
No offense, Soren.
This is… quite possibly suicidal.”
Soren agreed.
This was one of the more suicidal things he’s ever done—quite possibly the most suicidal—but he had survived the many horrors the Abyss had to offer in just today alone.
He was hopeful that if he had the help of these powerful Ascenders, Shindo’s life would not be forfeit.
Captain Valen opened her palm up and, without any prompt, the sword teleported directly to her hand.
‘A Transcendent’s ability…’
Every person that became an Awakened unlocked two abilities that correspond with their Pathway.
When someone becomes a Transcendent, they unlock two more abilities and become immensely stronger in all other aspects.
The difference between an Awakened and a Transcendent was like night and day, with each higher rank widening the gap.
“We’re risking our lives because their potential is…” Captain Valen paused before continuing.
“Awe-inspring.”
Rivor stepped forward, indignation obvious all over his face.
“How ‘awe-inspiring’ is their potential that we would consider risking our lives for them?”
“I predict that he is at least a Transcendent,” she replied, gesturing to Soren.
“Although we haven’t seen his Transcendence in action, Soren did some experiments that pointed to it.”
Rivor and the others remained silent, thinking it over.
“Although I would never do something like this,” she said before gesturing to her heart.
“Something in my soul is telling me to go and save Shindo.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
The men nodded, agreeing that something was also compelling them to consider it.
“So anyone in disagreement with saving Soren’s friend, Shindo?
They’d make one hell of a contribution to Vulcanis.”
The room stayed silent as Soren’s heart started beating fast in anticipation.
“Good.
Then let’s save Shindo.”
The men nodded seriously, starting to ready themselves for the journey to save Shindo.
“Hold it,” the Captain said, holding her palm up.
“Two people need to stay behind and protect the Anchor and the people here.
If you don’t feel up to the task of traveling across the Abyss to the next island, speak now.”
There was silence at her inquiry.
“Caligo and Standhaf,” she said, pointing at the two.
“You guys stay behind.
Caligo, you mask the building’s presence.
Standhaf, kill any stragglers that stumble their way into the base.”
There was no arguing at the commands, a testament to how much they trusted their captain.
They simply saluted again and rushed to get ready.
Soren felt a sense of awe at how cohesive their teamwork was.
The scavengers were a ragtag organization without the ‘organize’.
They simply did whatever they wanted within the bounds of their code as long as they listened to the boss.
He took the dream sword back from the Captain and took a deeper look at it, trying to glean anything he could from its reflection.
The dim white glow surrounding the Dream Sword already faded, leaving the connection to Shindo severed.
Soren sighed, closing his eyes and leaned against the wall in an effort to meditate before they went out.
This was something he frequently did to calm down before doing something dumb and this… this was dumb.
After a couple of minutes, everyone was ready.
“Come over here, everyone,” Captain Valen said, beckoning everyone.
Rivor, Meric, and Soren gathered while the other two stood back and listened from afar.
“This is us,” she said as she drew a crude circle and an X, indicating where they were.
“And this is the island where I believe Shindo is.”
She drew another crude circle to the left of the island where they currently were.
Soren looked at the map and grimaced.
She had labeled each island as around half a mile wide in diameter while the distance from each other was around a mile.
It was impossible to cross the abyssal void without magical means.
However, he started feeling hopeful when he remembered Captain Valen was a Space pathway Transcendent.
“When we get to the western edge of the island, I will use my Awakened ability so that we can traverse the void.”
Captain Valen stood up and took a couple steps back before taking a step.
And another.
And another.
She started stepping up stairs in thin air, producing slight ripples beneath her feet.
“Come try,” she said to Soren, pointing at the stairs as she stepped out of the way.
By stepped out of the way, she stepped sideways, rotating 90 degrees to the side in a very bizarre fashion.
What was stranger was that her hair also remained fixed in a normal fashion, almost as if she wasn’t completely sideways.
“What in The Divinity…” Soren said, staring at the floating, sideways woman.
He walked forward to the invisible stairs and poked at it pensively.
Standhaf, done with waiting, clapped his back and pushed him forward.
“Go!
You won’t get anything done with all that indecision!”
Soren tripped and stepped forward, stepping on thin air.
“Woah,” he said, walking up the stairs the Captain made.
“This is incredible!
Is this the power of a Transcendent?”
“Yes,” the captain replied, hanging upside down directly in front of him.
“And this is the power we will use to cross the void to the other island.”
Soren looked at the others below him and excitedly asked:
“What are your abilities?” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
The room went silent before Meric sighed.
“You don’t ask an Ascender that.
That is the most sensitive question you could ask an Awakened.
You never ask someone that.
They have to tell you.
Remember that.”
Soren, wincing at the blunder, nodded at the lesson Meric taught him.
“But,” Meric said, smiling gently at Soren.
“I will tell you mine since we are crossing the Abyss together.
As you know, I’m an Awakened of the Divine Life Pathway.”
Meric raised his hands and showed a faint, green glow.
“In short, I heal others and restore vitality,” Meric said before pointing at the barricade which consisted of the standard barricade mixed with some thick plant fibers.
“I can also force plants to bloom rapidly and harden.
“And I deal with energy,” Rivor said next, hand buzzing with lightning.
“As a Transcendent of the Energy Pathway, I deal with a specialized path of lightning.”
He clapped and everyone’s hair fuzzed up due to the static shock he generated just then.
“BAH!
I guess I’ll go next,” Standhaf said, bumbling over to Soren in front of him.
“Push me!”
Standhaf proudly pounded his chest with a great smile.
Soren, without hesitating, pushed him as hard as he could.
Of course he would!
It’s not everyday someone lets Soren push them over.
Soren pushed Standhaf as hard as he could and realized he couldn’t budge the short but stoic man at all.
“BAHAHA!” Standhaf laughed as he clapped Soren’s shoulder multiple times.
“My abilities make me as heavy as a mountain and hit as hard as a mountain.
That’s all you need to know!”
Soren grinned at the man’s infectious laughter, feeling better about the prospects of saving Shindo even if Standhaf wasn’t participating in it.
“And I deal with people’s emotions and desires.”
Soren jumped at the voice right next to him.
It was Caligo who was slightly bowing next to him as Caligo whispered into his ears.
“What the hell!”
Everyone laughed at Soren’s misery while Caligo gently smiled, giving a small bow in apology.
“Sorry, Soren.
I have to do that to the new guys,” Caligo said before he disappeared.
No, it wasn’t like he disappeared but Soren just started ignoring him.
“I can make people lack the ability to perceive me among other things.”
‘That… is a scary power.
Thank the Angels he’s a good person and not one who uses it for evil.’
Soren was immensely impressed by the versatility of the team.
No area wasn’t covered except for scouting which Soren, with his dream sword, covered.
Although Caligo and Standhaf weren’t coming, severely decreasing their stealth and offense, he wasn’t worried.
Afterall, the mission was to do a quick in-and-out extraction mission and when they managed to save Shindo, they would have one more Transcendent to brave the Abyss with.
The world flipped as he saw everyone upside down.
Actually, it was more like he was upside down and everyone was right-side up.
‘Uhhhh…’
Soren saw Captain Valen standing where he had just been, looking at him.
“And my abilities allow me to swap the location of two things or places.”
Suddenly, he was back on the floor, looking at Captain Valen while Standhaf was upside down in the air.
Then he fell, probably due to Captain Valen releasing the air steps.
“And change the momentum of anything I want.”
Just when Standhaf was about to fall on top of Captain Valen, he was launched sideways straight into the wall.
Standhaf crashed into the wall almost as if he had been launched into it, but in actuality, he simply fell on the wall.
Soren’s mouth was agape, stunned by the sheer versatility of Captain Valen’s abilities.
If he thought that the team without Captain Valen was versatile and adaptable, then the team with her was simply unbeatable.
“Oh, and nothing can hit me.”
Okay, nevermind.
They were invincible.