Chapter 78: Sebastian cooking.
David decided to slow down, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath.
"Thank you, Manager," Sebastian said gratefully once David eased the pace. He knew that if it weren't for him, David wouldn't have had to slow down.
Smoke was rising from Sebastian's body, dissipating into the sky.
"No problem, Sebastian, just take your time," David replied, scanning the area for a suitable spot to rest.
Mary walked up beside him, frowning as she studied his face. "Darling, are you a jinx?" she asked seriously.
Ruby, who had been standing quietly off to the side, suddenly perked up her ears at Mary's words.
David shot Mary a deadpan look, questioning the absurdity of her question with his eyes. Was she serious?
"Don't look at me like that," Mary continued, undeterred by his expression. "Everywhere you go, destruction follows. First the Blackthorn Empire, now the Rising Sun Empire. At this point, I'm worried about our next destination."
"Mrs. Mary, you're being optimistic. I'm worried about the world itself," Sebastian chimed in, his energy returning enough for him to joke.
"You two must be joking," David countered with a smile. "I was fine on my own. Things only started going sideways when you showed up."
David's words instantly silenced them. Mary glanced up at the cloud-filled sky and muttered, "The weather sure is nice today."
David just rolled his eyes at her words and said nothing nothing more. After finding a good spot, he pulled a chair out of his storage ring and sat down. It was time for a cup of coffee!
In the next moment, a cup of coffee appeared in his one hand, and a yellowish egg in the other. He hadn't forgotten about this little guy. As he sipped his coffee, he began pouring mana into the egg. The egg was already one-sixth black; it wouldn't be long before it turned completely black.
"Please be a super-strong dragon," David prayed silently as he continued to pour mana. Although the chances were slim, a man could dream, Right?
Time passed quickly, and soon ten days had gone by in a blink. David and his group were now near the border of the Rising Sun Empire.
During those ten days, David had continued to experience the strange wave each morning. Thankfully, the waves were weak, and he only lost one year of lifespan each time. Now his total lifespan had dropped to 179 years.
At this point, most of the population of the Crimson Wall Settlement might have already disappeared. It was more fitting to call this empire the Setting Sun Empire now.
Currently, David and his group were resting peacefully beside a small hill, not too far from each other. The two girls, dressed in white gowns embroidered with motifs, were meditating with their eyes closed. Sebastian, on the other hand, was concocting pills, a small red flame gently burning in front of him.
Two days ago, he had started this process, claiming his cultivation was too slow and that he needed something to supplement it.
Meanwhile, ten days ago, that damn anomaly Ryan reincarnated again. How lucky was this guy? Ryan managed to live almost a century this time. He could have lived even longer if he hadn't been ruthlessly killed by his fiancée for a weirdly shaped key. Even as she pierced his heart with a sword, he still looked at her lovingly.
"What a simp!" David scoffed inwardly, shaking his head in disappointment. He should have chosen the third option to see what he could have gotten, but he wasn't too worried. David was sure he'd get the option to choose again.
While David was lost in thought, Mary occasionally glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
"Darling must be thinking about me with such a serious face," Mary shyly thought to herself.
The ring David had given her held great significance. In her homeland, a boy would give a ring to the girl he wanted to marry. Once the girl accepted the ring, from that day onwards, she was his. It was just a tradition, supported only by moral backing.
Contrary to Sebastian's assumptions, Mary didn't just chase after power. She wanted to live normally, like everyone else. In her pursuit of power, she had lost everything. When she finally needed help and support, there was no one there for her. Now that she had another chance, Mary wanted to live a normal life.
She felt thankful to the masked man for giving her another chance.
"Anyway, what should I name my first child?" Mary happily muttered.
Although she spoke in a low voice, David still heard her and looked at her oddly. He decided to ignore her for now—he had more pressing problems at hand.
Unlike the Rising Sun Empire and Blackthorn, which shared a common land border, the situation was different with the Rising Sun Empire and Nether Empire. Both empires were separated by a huge forest filled with ferocious monsters: the Endless Forest.
Contrary to its name, the forest wasn't endless; it was merely a hundred kilometers long, not a vast distance for cultivators to cross. However, it was called "Endless" because most cultivators who entered never made it out alive.
No matter how dangerous it was, David and his group had no other choice but to cross it.
Booom! Suddenly the sound of something exploding filled th air followed by pungent smell.
"Ahh! Not again." Sebastian slowly said as he looked at the completely burnt pill in front of him.
This might be the first time that he had failed after thousands of years.
"Ok let's review the ingredients once more and try again."
This time he had not taken the instability in the worldly laws into consideration, that's why he had failed.
"This ingrident also need to change, the fire law in this place is too strong so therefore I don't need a fire a catalyst."
Sebastian waved his hand and the burnt pill disappeared and a new set of ingridients appeared in front of him.
"Ok first let's create a nice base for the pill." With those words the ingridients in front of him started to rotate.
David also looked at scene without commenting, he was interested in seeing what Sebastian was trying to make.