The Beginning of the Journey

Chapter 47 - The Beginning of the Journey

Rosaline left many letters, but on the scale of time, the intervals between them would always grow longer.

In her unchanging life, Ivette's days became increasingly monotonous and flavorless.

She regularly went out to sea to hunt, devouring Aberrations of stage two or higher. She often read at home, studying professional texts as well as various miscellaneous books. She found solace in sleeping during the rain, believing it could make her forget all her troubles. Occasionally, she would visit beneath a certain overpass to check on the wild chickens her students were so fond of.

In this life, day after day, year after year, every time a key year arrived and she could open the next letter, her tranquil eyes would show only slight emotional fluctuations.

But similarly, during these long waits, a rather sad answer seemed to be taking root in her heart.

A hundred years, then another hundred years.

There were no auroras, nor that familiar voice.

Until one clear morning after a rain, after reading the letter representing the 200th year, and the last one, Ivette turned her head and stared out the window for a long time. Finally, she picked up a pen and paper, deciding to start writing.

This was a letter to her student, and also a message before a long journey.

She thought that if Rosaline were still alive and had indeed returned to the Land of Finale, then compared to Ish Island, it was more likely that due to the uncertainty of the Remnant Abyss's landing points, Rosaline would appear on one of the world's three major continents.

Therefore, instead of waiting, embarking on a long journey, traveling across the three continents, and looking around, the probability of meeting her student again would actually be much greater.

Of course, she knew this was self-consolation.

According to research by Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, the impact of magic cultivation on lifespan extension was very small and was limited by life form. Under the condition of unchanged genes, living to 180 years old was the limit. Considering Black Tower Pharmaceuticals' leap in lifespan extension technology, these statements should be considered quite authoritative.

But the Radiant Continent was, after all, a world with moderate to high magic, a world where true gods existed.

Who knew about things in other worlds?

In any case, until she saw Rosaline's tombstone with her own eyes, she would continue to hold onto hope.

That was why she was writing the letter here, so that if she embarked on her journey, and her student suddenly returned, they wouldn't find their teacher missing.

She would tell her student in the letter what her travel route was, in which city ruins she would visit and leave information, and if her student saw it, they could travel backward from the final destination, allowing the two to meet sooner.

Leaving the letter.

Sealing the doors and windows.

Putting all important items in the basement.

After completing all preparations, Ivette, wearing a black dress and with an Alloy Combat Blade strapped to her back, sat in the driver's seat of the Magitech Motorcycle, ready to begin her first journey, a tour of the apocalypse.

Compared to the broken scrap metal she used two hundred years ago, the silver-white Magitech Motorcycle she was using now possessed greater mechanical aesthetic appeal and was much larger, essentially a camper.

This was, of course, the result of modifications. After all, she was about to embark on a life of wandering, so she needed a place to shelter from the wind and rain. Otherwise, sleeping outdoors all the time would not only be unsafe but also easily soil her clothes or attract small insects.

Of course, she could also forgo sleep entirely, but she would get very sleepy. She had more tolerance for hunger than for sleepiness; as long as the conditions allowed, she still really liked to sleep.

Half an hour later, driving the large Magitech Motorcycle, which resembled a truck in size, Ivette saw everything outside the car window gradually being swallowed by the vast, endless azure sea.

Ish Island became a small, receding dot behind her, while on the distant horizon, waves rolled wantonly under the sunlight, like schools of golden fish.

This ocean was called the "Abyssal Current Sea," the ocean west of the Black Tide Continent.

If one were to look at a square map, the distribution of the three continents of the Origin Civilization actually resembled a straight line slanted from the upper left to the lower right.

That is, the Black Tide Continent was in the upper left, the Emerald Continent was in the middle, and the Silver Mirror Continent was in the lower right.

This way, planning the trip would be easy; it was just a matter of heading diagonally downwards.

Soon, after leaving the waters around Ish Island, underwater monsters began to occasionally dart out and attack the passing camper. However, they were immediately pierced through by silvery-white strands of hair, turning into fleeting desiccated corpses.

This was another major reason Ivette chose to embark on her journey: she had already cleared out the high-level Aberrations in the waters around Ish Island.

Although she wouldn't bother with stage one Aberrations due to unfavorable returns, the mana increase provided by stage two Aberrations was better than nothing.

Therefore, for this long journey, she eagerly anticipated encountering more stage three Aberrations, as only at this stage could she gain more significant benefits.

However, the total amount of Aberration Magic was still difficult to calculate. If measured in units of stage one Aberrations, her current Aberration Magic was around 40,000 points, while her current Mana Points were only just over 2,000.

But comparing them like this was definitely problematic; Aberration Magic decreased with use, whereas Mana Points could be quickly restored through meditation.

So, under normal circumstances, as long as conditions allowed, she would first cripple her prey with spells before devouring it with tentacles, which could save a lot of Aberration Magic expenditure.

The sea voyage lasted for about a week.

In reality, with the camper's flight speed, two to three days would have been enough to reach the west coast of the Black Tide Continent.

But unfortunately, she encountered a monster battle halfway, forcing her to take a considerable detour.

One of the parties in the monster battle was the "Steel Sea Dragon Beast" that Ivette had witnessed before.

The other was a purplish-red jellyfish as large as a mountain, its umbrella-shaped body covered with outlines of pained human faces. It mainly attacked with tentacles and was named "Nightmare Tentacle Spirit" by Ivette.

While observing from a distance, Ivette had once guessed that these two giant Aberrations were just large in size and not highly evolved.

But after seeing them clash and begin to exchange various unresolvable mysterious spells, Ivette became certain that these two giant Aberrations must have been highly evolved, at least beyond stage three.

Especially the pulse beam shot from the Steel Sea Dragon Beast's mouth, she suspected it could blast apart a mountain peak.

In short, it was far beyond what she could contend with at the moment, so she very straightforwardly chose to take a detour. It wasn't until a week later, after getting hopelessly lost, that she found the west coast of the Black Tide Continent and managed to land with great difficulty.

On the first day of arrival, the sky was already approaching dusk.

Ivette parked the RV on the beach. She slept for a night, and by the next morning, she headed towards the nearest large metropolis belonging to the New Eden Commonwealth, using a pre-apocalypse map she held.

The target city was named "Agasha." Before the apocalypse, it was a major city no less impressive than Ish City, and its level of development ranked among the top within the entire New Eden Commonwealth.

She planned to stroll around this city, sightsee, pick up some junk, and then leave a small mark in the city center.

Since the energy consumption of flight mode was five to six times that of normal mode, to conserve energy and to make the journey feel more like a trip, she drove on the ground with her four wheels. Wherever she went, the wheels kicked up billowing dust, and earth and stones flew.

After several hours passed, she saw the ruined buildings ahead gradually increasing, indicating she was nearing the city ruins. Suddenly, she spotted a figure emerge from a ruined building by the roadside, standing by the abandoned road in the distance, waiting for her to drive closer.

Ivette was taken aback. Although she had imagined whether she might encounter other living people on the continent, whether survivors or travelers, she didn't mind.

But to meet someone on the second day of arrival seemed far too soon.

Then, through the glass, she clearly saw the other person's appearance.

At first glance, it was a human girl dressed in adventuring gear, holding a flashlight, with a distinct adventurer's style. However, upon closer inspection, she noticed subtle differences in her eyes compared to a human, obvious circular seams at key points on her arms, and her skin's luster was also not quite like human skin.

—It was actually a Mechanical Puppet.

"Hello, kind young lady."

After Ivette stopped the car, the puppet girl spoke in a tone devoid of much emotion but very polite: "I am a traveler from the Silver Mirror Continent. My vehicle has run out of energy and cannot be started. Could I trouble you to give me a ride to the nearest Sanctuary?"