Rio had felt this weird sense of foreboding before when he went to the dragon valley and found the prototype spire buried in the valley.
He ended up getting involved with Alverto right after, and the real Spire of Ascension was summoned.
Until now, he has no idea why there is a prototype version of that weird building buried in the dragon valley or who placed it there.
’Well, I had to go and find the origins of my sword anyway; I might as well just go there...’
"So, are you coming with me? Who else will be on the rescue team?"
Hearing Rio’s question, Ashtel scratched the back of his neck with an awkward look on his face.
"Err... I kind of have a bad relationship with the dwarves; I once entered the spirit realm forcefully through the weak node located in their kingdom..."
"I kind of beat the living daylights out of their higher-ups back then so they have banned me from entering their kingdom..."
Ashtel sighed and explained,
"I was chasing a traitor back then and the guy had decided to escape to the spirit realm. I was still a young, newly ascended SS-ranker back then, so obviously I wasn’t going to let him go..."
"I was reckless; I charged right into the spirit realm and got entangled with dozens of SS-rank evil spirits..."
"Although I killed the traitor, I also ended up getting injured; that was the day I learned that being reckless could be dangerous..."
Talking about the past, a nostalgic look appeared on Ashtel’s face as if he still wanted to rush head-on into the spirit realm and wreak havoc everywhere.
"Sigh, after that I was also banned from the spirit realm; every time I enter, all-powerful beings group up to chase after me, so if I go with you, the mission will fail..."
"We will keep getting pestered by all the evil spirits swarming over us and might not even be able to stay there for too long due to their interference..."
Evil spirits are not like ordinary creatures; they do not know fear or panic, they won’t back off even if the opponent is a peak SS-ranker like Ashtel Rex, and they will keep swarming him over and over.
It’s better not to stick your hand in a hornet’s nest.
"I can’t go either... I am in fact the most vulnerable to miasmic corruption..."
Raji, who had just recovered from her grief-stricken state, also denied immediately.
She knows her own temper very well, she’s very prone to emotional situations, and she can easily get affected by miasmic corruption in a place that is filled with miasma to the brim.
"Without an SS-ranker present the operation will have to be done in covert mode so as not to alert any SS-rank evil spirits..."
Hearing Rio’s words, Link and Riya both wanted to go with Rio, but Ashtel shook his head and stopped them both from doing so.
"No, you two can’t go either... As I said, the dwarf people hate me; they will surely target Link as they have already banned my entire bloodline from going to their nation..."
"Ugh... don’t look at me with such suspicious looks... Okay, I am might have gone a bit too far when I slapped their cherished princess back then when she tried to seduce me but the rest was not my fault, in my opinion..."
Everyone was dumbfounded by Ashtel’s words, and even Link shook his head in defeat.
"No wonder they have placed a ban on everyone related to you... You even slapped their cherished princess? ... that’s going too far..."
Ashtel shrugged his shoulders at those words.
"I am a happily married man, okay; I had loving wife back then waiting for me at home... Obviously I won’t accept some random woman over my wife!"
"I loved my wife, you know!"
Hearing Ashtel’s words, which were filled with pride and confidence, Link and Rio felt ashamed for doubting him.
’Yeah, I would have likely rejected her too as I have Lia...’
Rio nodded his head in understanding as the face of his cute girlfriend appeared in his mind.
"Let’s put my matter aside for now; what about Riya then? She’s the best person to go to the spirit realm; she’s got the ability to purify miasmic corruption!"
Link still wanted to argue, but this time Raji shook her head.
"No... I know about this matter too; I have heard that the spirit realm hates ’Healers’ the most... if a healer enters the ’Spirit Realm,’ they get targeted by every evil spirit inside it..."
Ashtel nodded his head at Raji’s words.
"Yes... the main reason for this goes back to era of King Allen... as you know he was the biggest enemy of the demon race and miasma hated him tremendously..."
"The one person who kept healing him over and over whenever miasma succeeded in injuring him was ’Astra,’ the greatest healer in the world..."
"She even helped King Allen purify the Spirit realm in various places! It’s said that the independent pockets in the spirit realm that are unaffected by miasma and are used by normal spirits to live were created with her power!"
Astra was capable of purifying miasmic corruption, and she was the reason why the spirit realm ended up getting divided and broken in many places.
Miasma hated her for that; whenever a healer enters the spirit realm, a massive monster tide will happen and will target the healer endlessly until either they leave or die.
"Errr... Doesn’t that just leave me? Does that mean I have to go by myself on this ’mission’ then?"
Hearing Rio’s question, Raji nodded her head and replied in calm voice,
"In fact, this is a good chance... you have been in the spotlight for too long; many powerful people have started to target you, as they all noticed what you have accomplished in past few months..."
"You are already world famous by now... it might be counterproductive to stay in the spotlight anymore before you reach rank SS..."
"By leaving on this secret mission, you can avoid the public eye for a long while and by the time you return, most of the nation would have stabilized..."
Ashtel was already back, and it won’t be long before everything goes back to normal; it will take him a few more months to recover back to his full power, but he’s already good enough to deter most dangers.
Rio also nodded his head at those words, and thought to himself,
’Yeah, with Link’s father here, most criminals will run away or hide and I won’t get anymore chances to experiment and train if I stay here...’
’This mission is actually a perfect chance for me... I can just go and torture... ahem, experiment on those evil spirits and no one will even stop me, as there will be no legal consequences to killing those evil spirits...’
Rio’s ’hunting’ missions have already irked many people, and many think that by doing such horrible things to those criminals, he’s offending the laws and orders of the nation.
It’s much more effective to do such things on monsters and evil spirits to avoid public gaze.
’Lia might not come back for a while so I might as well just go on this mission first...’
"Okay then, prepare a secret channel for me to reach the dwarf kingdom; my next mission will be ’Rescue the distressed maiden Liam from the spirit realm’..."
Ashtel nodded his head at Rio’s words and complimented,
"That’s the spirit! I knew I could count on you. don’t worry, I will prepare everything for you; you just have to take care of whatever unfinished business you still have before going on the mission..."
"The spirit realm is a dangerous place; you might as well fulfill all your last wishes before going there. Who knows what might happen there? AHAHAHAHA!!"
Rio rolled his eyes at Ashtel’s joke.
"Don’t jinx me like that; I don’t have that good of a luck to begin with..."
...
With all things planned, the meeting finally came to an end, and Raji, Riya, and Ashtel went off to deal with Anna and Jin.
Riya needed to check Jin’s condition, while Raji and Ashtel needed to ask Jin important questions, such as whether he will retire or will continue to serve the nation.
They also needed to arrange a proper reward ceremony for Jin, as he had achieved great merits in the ’Chronos Incident’; he had helped save the world after all, and he deserved a lot.
Rio and Link, on the other hand, stood on the balcony and stared at the horizon.
"I didn’t expect Liam’s father to be such a person... I used to think that no matter how bad someone father can be, they must have at least a bottom line; at least they will protect their children..."
Rio shook his head at Link’s words.
"You are lucky that you got such a good father; others aren’t that lucky. stop evaluating others according to your standards; you always end up forgetting that you come from one of the most privileged backgrounds in this nation..."
Link also nodded his head at Rio’s words.
"Sigh... I am not even able to go with you to save my friend... am I even qualified to call myself his friend if I can’t even help him in times of need?..."
Rio smirked at Link’s words and jabbed his lightly in his side before saying,
"Don’t be so dispirited, dude; I will bring that bast*rd back for all of us... in the meantime, practice your skills and help stabilizing the nation..."
"I hope you are strong enough to go toe-to-toe with me by the time I come back..."
Link nodded his head at those words of encouragement after taking a deep breath.
"Yeah! I will wait for you! I will surely defeat you the next time, ’Dark Star’ Rio!"