"I-I shall take the crystal," Ume murmured, her gaze fixed on the ground from shyness.

"Good baby," I chuckled, gently patting her as I moved the crystal towards her.

We left the cave, and once we reached the upper surface, Vyrion's group waited for us at the exit.

"Sir Morningstar, since we have completed the task you have assigned us, may we go to Dreadspire City and check on our fifth member?" Vyrion asked.

Before I could even say anything, the blonde man continued, "We will come wherever you want after that. We have been away from Su Yan for more than two months. Please let us bring her along with us."

After completely hearing his part, I ordered, "Stay in Dreadspire. I will reach the place in a few days, then we will decide where you all would stay."

The group's nervous visages were washed over by bright smiles as soon as I agreed to let them go.

"Thank you so much, Sir Morningstar," the group greeted, and as they were about to leave—

"Here, take this," I said, throwing a space ring towards them.

Feralin, being the cat she was, caught the ring mid-air as her instincts kicked in.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she scanned the ring. "S-sir... this is—"

"Just take it," I said, cutting her mid-sentence.

Her eyes brimmed with tears and she suddenly lunged at me, giving a hug to my arm. "Thank you so much, nya!"

Pow!

"Brat, behave yourself!" Vyrion muttered, hitting Feralin's head and dragging her by the back collar.

"Nyaa! How dare you hit me!!" Feralin hissed, her tail straightening like a pole.

And just like that, the group slowly faded from view—Feralin and Vyrion still bickering, Armin struggling to keep the peace, while Gajendra walked on, lost in his own thoughts.

"Haha! They are like a bunch of walking clowns," I chuckled.

I turned and found Ume standing behind me, her arms folded and her glare sharp.

"You could move faster than lightning, so why did you let her embrace your arm?"

"Huh! She was only showing gratitude. It would be disrespectful if I suddenly moved away when she only grabbed my arm," I explained.

She stamped the ground with her foot, her hands resting on her waist as she repeated my statement, mimicking me. "Hoho! It would be disrespectful if I suddenly moved away, so I would accept all the women coming my way with open arms."

"Pffft... hahaha..." I laughed out loud. "Ume, that was hilarious. Once more, once more."

"Nghhh!" Her face turned into an adorable pout, seeing me making fun of her.

"I won't talk to you! I hate you!" she announced, squinting her eyes and aggressively turning her face sideways.

"Ume..."

"Hmph!"

"Ume sweety..."

"Hmph!"

"Ume baby..."

"Hmph!"

Since she didn't talk after calling her multiple times, I cleared my throat and sang in a low voice,

"O my lady~ my breath flows because of you~ tell me, how will I live without you~

Don't leave this space between us wide,

You're the only place where my hopes collide~ tell me, how will I live without you~"

Ume slowly turned her face towards me, her expressions changing from angry to smiling.

"It's unfair," she sulked. "How am I supposed to stay angry when you coax me like that with your singing?"

I pulled her close to me, gave her a soft hug, and said, kissing her head, "I wasn't coaxing. I was merely stating the fact."

This time she didn't reply but buried her face in my chest, overwhelmed with embarrassment.

After having our little romantic moment, we turned our focus towards the broken city.

Ashenfall was in even more mess than Dreadspire City—broken houses, starving citizens, and completely defenceless.

So, following the same procedure we used in Dreadspire City, the next twenty days slipped in a blur as we established order in the city.

I also mined all the Mid-Tier Grade 1 crystals from the cave beyond the gate, and left the work of mining the Low-Tier and lower-grade Mid-Tier stones to the mine workers.

Since I had removed the essence, no more Soul Stones would grow in Ashenfall. Hence, once all the Soul Stones were completely mined, the workers would have to find a different occupation. But it wasn't my headache. It was something the Mayor of these cities would have to solve themselves.

On the 21st day, we left Ashenfall and reached Hollowreach using the teleportation portal.

It didn't take us more than an hour to take care of the guards and knights in the city.

Ume and Jambavan guided the slaves out from the tunnels; meanwhile, I entered the cave beyond the gate of the Rank 3 key.

Unsurprisingly, the tiger-sized rat beast inside also died with a single slash of my aura sword.

The crystal here had similar quality as in Ashenfall, so I only claimed the broken shard and lotus-shaped High-Tier crystal while I let Jambavan take all the Mid-Tier crystals inside the cave.

Since I had already done it twice before, the establishment of a new force in Hollowreach only took a week.

On the 38th day since we left Forlorn City, we three reached Dreadspire City again.

"Hash! I had never been this busy in my life before," I said, stretching my arms on the teleportation array outside Dreadspire.

"Ay... blegh... absolutely hate this... blegh... damn array," Jambavan muttered between his teeth, vomiting beside a tree.

"You still haven't gotten used to it?" I asked, pitying the poor bear.

"Ay... blegh... could never... blegh..."

Once Jambavan finished his business, Ume teleported us right before the metallic gate to avoid the chaos our sudden presence would have caused in the city.

"Ume, Jambavan, I have a surprise for you two," I said, putting the key into the hole.

"Brace yourself. Be sure not to faint."

"Hahaha, Raj, there's nothing in this world that could surprise us," Jambavan replied, his face tugged with smugness.

"Hehehe! You will be soon eating your own words," I snickered inwardly as the gate slowly opened, revealing the overwhelming energy of thousands of High-Tier Soul Stone crystals.

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