Then on Monday, it was time for Ivan to leave, since he was planning to go out and find some new battle pets.

The farewell was kept simple and he soon found himself on the train towards the outpost, from where he had entered the gra.s.slands last time. This time he was planning to use Vlada to fly over the gra.s.slands since he found them annoying and not suitable for training.

He was then planning to cross the forest on foot while training against the bears and snakes inhibiting it. After entering the mountains he would then proceed deeper, where the terrain would get rockier and more dangerous. According to the available information these parts were inhabited by the lizards he was looking for. But not only did the lizards live there but also the more dangerous griffins, which would stop anyone from flying around.

These griffins were also the main reason for the low exploration rate of these mountains. It was too dangerous and unrewarding to try to explore the mountains. According to the few explorers who had wandered deep into the mountains, the terrain would get more dangerous with steep cliffs and only small paths. Not only that, but there was also the constant threat of being attacked by the griffins which seemed to be everywhere.

But of course, there were some who defied all these dangers and finally arrived at the other side of the mountains, only to be greeted by extremely dangerous wilderness. Some described having arrived at a swamp that was filled with miasma while others arrived at a desert that seemed to only contain sand and elemental beasts. And then there were those who arrived in the jungle.

When arriving back none of them were willing to describe their experience but none of them would ever set their foot into the wilderness again. It was guessed that there was something that had tortured them mentally until they had a deep-seated fear of the wilderness.

Of course, most never appeared again, vanis.h.i.+ng in the mountains.

He was only planning to enter the beginning part of the mountains so he didn't have to fear what came beyond.

After arriving at the outpost he left it directly, just as he had planned. He then summoned Vlada, who as usual appeared in her small form. She then flew onto his shoulder and rubbed her head at his cheek, showing him her affection.

He petted her for a bit while looking out at the endless gra.s.slands, remembering the last time he had crossed it. It had been so annoying to do so since it seemed to look the same, wherever he had directed his view.

"Let's go.", he told Vlada who in response flew up and then landed on the ground before him, while changing into her largest form.

He just wanted to climb on top of her, when someone called him from behind, "Hey, could you please wait a bit?"

Surprised that someone would call him here, he turned around and saw someone running towards him. The person was clad in black leather armor and he was unable to differentiate the gender. From his looks, it could be either a man or a woman. The voice also didn't give any indication.

Since the person had called him in a polite way, he saw no reason to be rude. So he waited for him to approach and then asked, "Can I help you?"

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The person arrived in front of him and asked him in a hurried tone of voice, "Are you planning to fly over the gra.s.sland? Can you take me with you? I'm looking for my little aunt."

The sentences were fired in fast succession, seemingly very important to the person. Although he hadn't made it clear why he wanted to hitch a ride with Vlada, his last sentence gave a hint. It seemed like his little aunt, which should be much younger than him, had run away and he was now looking for her.

"Your aunt ran away?", Ivan asked to make sure that his guess was correct.

"Yes.", the other person nodded, "She is only ten but already much stronger than most, so she always runs away to go on an adventure. And I always have to go and catch her."

What he told about his aunt reminded Ivan of his own daughter. She too was stronger than other children of her age. Luckily she had never tried to run away.

"Do you have something to trace her? I can take you to look for her.", he didn't mind helping. Especially since it was on the way.

Seeing that he agreed to help the other person expressed his happiness by smiling widely, "Of course, Of course.", he hurriedly pulled out an instrument that looked like a compa.s.s, just that the needle wasn't pointing north but somewhere in the direction away from the outpost.

Ivan took a look at it and then got onto Vlada, "Get on."

"Thank you so much.", the person thanked him while jumping up behind him. The movement was effortless and demonstrated good control and power. It seemed that he was more powerful than Ivan.

Ivan had already communicated with Vlada about letting him ride with them, so she didn't have a reaction when someone strange landed on her back. There was no saddle or anything like these, but for neither of them, balancing on her back posed a problem. They sat down on her wide back and started to talk, while Vlada started flying in the direction the compa.s.s had pointed.

"So tell me how come you are in such a hurry to chase after your aunt? She should have done things like this before and everything went well, right?", Ivan asked his new companion.

"You guessed it. My aunt is really a handful. She has already maxed out her stats, although she is only ten, so everything that others of her age do seems boring to her. She instead loves to read about adventuring. First, it was only reading and then she started to actively pursuit it. Forcing some of our servants to take her with them until going out alone.", it seemed the other person was very willing to tell the story, making Ivan see the grievances he had suffered from his little aunt's behavior.

"While it was fine as long as she went with our servants, going alone is too dangerous for her."

Ivan nodded. If he thought about Jane going out on an adventure at her age and alone to boot, then he couldn't help but feel scared.

"So after the first time she did that, we tried everything to stop her from going out alone. We even let her go out with some servants to have fun. But all of that didn't stop her from slipping out again and again. And do you know what the worst thing is?"

"No."

"We can't even stop her from escaping.", he exclaimed, "Anything short of imprisonment and putting chains on her is unable to stop that little beast.", it seemed like he had talked himself into a rage since his face became red and the description he found for his aunt became much more colorful as well.

He started to tell Ivan about how his aunt had run away and how his grandfather had send him to catch her and bring her back. And each and every time it had become harder to do so since his aunt had started to see it as a compet.i.tion and she had taken every measure possible to escape his pursuit. Of course, with the blood compa.s.s in his hands, the most she could do was delay him, but that was enough to get herself into trouble.

One time he had to save her from a pack of angry wolves. She had stolen one of their pups and had intended to make it her pet. It wasn't hard to guess that they hadn't been happy about it and what their intended punishment was going to be.

When he had arrived, she was already in a desperate strait. Honestly, after that, he had thought that she would calm down and understand how dangerous it was to run off alone. But who would have guessed that this false feeling of safety had been made use of by her to once again run away? And this time she had managed to delay him for nearly a week. Who knows how far she had managed to go during this time.

If everything went well she had only wandered around in the gra.s.sland but more likely was that she had already entered the forests.

"So, do you think she is currently in danger?", Ivan asked worriedly.

"I don't think so. Nothing in the forest should pose that much of a problem for her. But somehow she always finds a way to get into problems."