1350 Leavetaking

Ning arrived outside the gates of the now-rebuilt Grazer family manor and had one of the guards inform Lady Clara of his presence. A few minutes later, he was made to follow a young lady to a massive hall in the manor.

As soon as Ning arrived, he felt something attack him. His Essence core switched in an instant and tendrils of darkness grew out from underneath him to grab onto the spikes of shadow that were going for his head.

“Are you trying to kill me, Clara?” Ning asked.

The fair-skinned woman revealed herself from the shadow. “The Ning I know would never die to that,” she said.

“I suppose you are correct,” Ning said and smiled. “Congratulations on becoming one of the few divinities on this planet. That is not an easy task at all.”

Hadden, behind Ning, looked at the lady in surprise. ‘A Divinity,’ he thought. Someone who had entered the Divine realm. How many such people exist in this world? Just her and Ning?

He wondered if more had become Divinities in the time he had spent in the Origin alone.

“How have you been doing, Clara?” Ning asked the woman.

“Pretty good,” Clara said with a hint of a smile on her face. “I never thought you would come back so soon.”

“It’s been what, 22 years since I last saw you?” Ning asked. “That’s not soon.”

“For me, it is,” she said. “Come on, sit down. I want to hear what you’ve been up to. And who this person behind you is.”

Ning sat opposite Clara and explained everything. Clara was first surprised to hear Ning had a disciple, and then she was surprised again to hear he had established a franchise in the other continent that dominated the artifact market.

Those artifacts and converters had been making it to the other continents too, and Clara had heard of them by now. After Ning’s talk, Clara told her side of the story.

After staying alone for a long time, trying to bring back what her family had lost, she finally rekindled her lost love with Emperor Damien, who had passed along his throne to his nephew before coming to her.

After a few years of deliberation, Clara had decided that she still loved him and married him. They now had a daughter named Aysel, who was only just 6 years old.

Ning met up with the young girl and Damien and gave them each some gifts that he had carried around. After talking for a while to the woman, he was happy to learn that Clara’s life was back to normal. She no longer had to run away, hide from people, and constantly be alone by herself.

She had a family and lived a rather stressful life now. Ning left her many hours into the night, right around the time when morning was just coming along on the other continent.

Hadden arrived on an empty ground in the morning with the sun barely peeking into the land, the houses around him mostly still recognizable. It was the massive field behind Miss Laila’s house.

Laila’s house no longer looked as decrepit as it used to and was now a massive building with many floors to it.

“Come on, everyone should be waiting for you,” Ning said and walked on ahead.

Hadden followed behind, walking up the stairs, and arrived upon a closed door that Ning didn’t open. Instead, Ning seemed to want him to open it.

Hadden felt confused, but he did as he was told and opened the door.

“WELCOME BACK!”

Numerous cheers sprung out at the same time from inside the house, the room all decorated with balloons and candles for his return.

Inside the room were so many people that he found it hard to count them all. There was Emma, Umbra, Lory, Lyra, Rova, and Juna whom he was somewhat close to, with the old woman Laila far in the behind. There was also Randal and his 3 wives, Bayona, Gallena, and Sheriya, as well as Emma’s friend Betty who seemed to have matured a lot more in the 12 years that Hadden was absent.

There were also several other close friends and workers from the shop that Hadden had met before he left but wasn’t close enough to remember their names.

Everyone else had aged too, albeit slowly, but Emma seemed to have not aged a single day. She looked so much younger than everyone else now that it was hard to believe she was in her 20s.

Although, if he understood the random tidbits Ning threw around about her were true, then she was much older than that.

Lory jumped first to hug Hadden and then everyone followed suit. The women started talking about how handsome and grown-up he had become, while Randal and the other men told him how strong he must have become.

Hadden was indeed strong, not just because of the 8 cores, each filled with incredible Essences, but also his right hand. After years of use, he had found it to have become nigh indestructible.

He wasn’t sure why that was, and each time he asked Ning about it, Ning told him not to worry about it.

“Seriously,” Emma said. “You should have brought him back right away yesterday.”

“I told you I was going to visit the others,” Ning said. “Anyway, now is not the time to argue, is it?”

Emma sighed and let the matter drop. They threw a massive party for Hadden’s return, which most of the invited didn’t understand why that was so important.

The party lasted nearly 3 days and at the end of it, everyone prepared to leave.

Betty had just started working at a small government job, hoping to be sent on an expedition to many of the wild forests and islands all over the world to study the diverse fauna of the world.

Rova needed to return to the capital, where she dealt with all the shops from that one location. Also, she seemed to have become romantically involved with Randal, whose wives seemed to not like it at all.

As a high lord of the nation, Randal too needed to move back to the capital along with his wives.

Juna was an in-house legal expert for Heeran’s Love, for the branch in Ulharis City, and a consultant for all the rest of the branches. Laila, now one of the richest women in all of the continent, needed to do nothing but just stay and enjoy her life. Thanks to Ning and his help, what remained of her life was also going to be a long one.

In a few days, Umbra was going to be returning to her home in the Springfield continent as well, where she would spend her time with the beasts there for a few long years.

Her children had grown up and no longer needed her care. In fact, her absence could benefit them even more to grow to become their own beasts.

What the children were going to do, however, they hadn’t planned for now. As far as they were aware, they were going to spend some time with Hadden, maybe go on adventures with him. That sounded like a great idea to Hadden too.

Then, the time came for the last 2 to leave as well.

Ning and Emma had said their goodbyes, but old Laila, Juna, and Betty still came to see them off. Hadden and the beasts stood by their side, watching the two ready to leave.

“Are you really going away?” old Laila asked in a somber tone.

“We are,” Ning said. “Thank you for everything until now.”

“No, we should be the ones thanking you,” the old woman said and the rest of them nodded.

“Wait,” Betty quickly said. “Before you leave, Emma can you please tell me why you haven’t aged until now? You constantly dodge this question when asked, but it is clear that you don’t age, or age very slowly. Does it have to do with you having 4 cores?”

Emma looked to her father with inquiring eyes, who just shrugged back. She thought for a bit and shrugged as well. “I don’t see any point in keeping it a secret now that I’m about to leave.”

All 3 girls got closer, hoping to find the secret.

Emma smiled. “The truth is… this is not my real face. I’m putting on an illusion over myself,” she said.

The girls seemed stunned. “What?” one of them asked, unbelieving. “This is not your real face?” Betty asked.

“Nope,” Emma said.

“Then what is?” Betty wanted to know badly.

“Well… this is.”

Emma snapped her fingers and a veil of light lifted from her, revealing her real face. Her real face was not much different when it came to the details of it all, but it did make her look a lot younger, and it was a lot more mesmerizing.

The group of humans remained stunned at her beauty, unable to comprehend how someone this magnificent could exist. They were in absolute awe of her and knew that they would do anything for her if she just asked.

“See?” Emma whined. “This is why I hide my face.”

“So beautiful,” Old Laila said.

“Can my skin be that perfect?” Juna asked.

“I must look like a hag when compared to you,” Betty said slowly.

The men were simply unable to form any words to describe her beauty.

Emma looked at them all and sighed. “Papa, I’m ready to leave,” she said.

Ning nodded. “Go! Your mother is waiting for you.” In a flash of light, Emma disappeared into Ning’s inner world, returning back to Earth. Ning gave a small sigh in return. He had realized that Emma was going to have a hard time leaving these people who she had created a connection with, so she had to leave suddenly, or else she couldn’t leave at all.

Emma’s sudden departure took the others off guard. Then, tears started flowing from the women knowing that this was the last time they were going to see each other.

“Are you going to leave next?” Laila asked Ning.

“Yes,” Ning replied.

“Are you going to the stars, as you said you would,” she asked.

Ning nodded. “I have somewhere to be first, because of a promise, but I will right after I’m done with that,” he said.

“Oh, so this is goodbye then,” Laila said.

Ning nodded.

Laila walked up front and gave Ning a small hug before silently thanking him for all that he did for her.

“Goodbye, sir Ning,” Betty said while failing to withhold her tears.

“Farewell,” Juna said simply.

Umbra walked forward with her two children who gave him a long hug. They had already said their goodbyes, so there wasn’t much left to say anymore.

Finally, Hadden walked forward and took Ning into a tight embrace. “I’ll miss you, teacher,” he said softly.

04:21

Ning ruffled his head full of long hair. “I’ll miss you all too,” he said. “I hope you will all remember me.”

“We will,” Hadden said. “Don’t worry, teacher. With all that you have done, it is unlikely anyone will ever forget you.”

Ning doubted he would be remembered in a few centuries or millennia. Maybe all that would remain behind would be his name. But as long as the people he cared for here remembered, nothing else would matter to him.

“This is where we part ways,” Ning finally said out loud to everyone. “I hope you will all live an excellent life. Goodbye.”

Ning teleported away.

He arrived in one of the islands to the north, feeling a pang of sadness for having to leave the people he had spent years with, knowing he would not see them again.

How many more times was he going to have to do this? To go to another place and leave behind the friends he made. He could only sigh at what the future held for him.

“Sometimes, this does feel more like a curse than anything,” Ning murmured, before shaking his head slowly. “Let’s get this over with.”

He took a deep breath and flew up into the sky, looking down at the cluster of islands below him that was the remnant of the Stonefall Continent.

“System, make the preparation,” Ning said.

Ning nodded. “Do it!”

A ripple escaped through Ning, passing in front of him to cover a large area. Mass teleportation sprung up from every location where something living was sent away to another location.

At the same time, a barrier formed around the remnants of the continent, stopping anything else from entering. The spatial barrier also stopped everything from escaping.

Once the preparations were done, Ning brought out the Continental sword.

“Time for you to return to what you were,” Ning said and snapped the sword in half.

The broken fragments of the continental sword glowed and suddenly changed their form to what they were initially. They became massive pieces of land that were once the continent of Stonefall.

Each piece that appeared was large enough to be a country of its own, and it all fell down into the islands before.

Ning only watched it happen. He didn’t have to do anything.

The System worked on its own to quickly move around the massive masses to stop them from causing massive impacts. However, even when landed gently, they created shocks and quakes that could be felt all over the world.

The sudden appearance of the land caused the water level to rise as well, which would then cause a tsunami to go across the world. That was where the barrier came in.

The barrier stopped the water as if trapped in glass. It rose dozens of meters high, and would absolutely wreck the coastlines in all continents if not stopped beforehand.

Ning watched the islands submerge under the water while they found their place. He watched it for a while and then teleported away.

He appeared on a tropical island that was on the back of the divine realm turtle.

“I’ve fulfilled my promise,” Ning said loudly. “You must have felt it earlier. The continent that was taken away to form a sword, I have brought it back.”

Once the land there was settled and no longer moving, the barrier would slowly loosen while letting out trickles of water to not suddenly create the tsunami it was made to stop.

The island shook and the turtle rose its giant head to look back at Ning on his back. “My friend will come back now?” he asked.

Ning thought for a moment and shook his head. “I’ve introduced the energy that was lost from this world when the previous Will took away the island. With its reappearance, the planet should have enough energy to cross the threshold of Will required.”

“Sooner or later, another Will will be born to this world. I’m afraid he won’t be the same friend you lost all those years ago, but he will be A friend. Talk to him when he appears again.”

The turtle said nothing for a while before speaking again. “Thank you. It will be good to have a friend.”

“Don’t worry,” Ning said. “I have told others about you. If you are lacking company, just wait for them to come to you. They will sooner or later.”

“More friends?” the turtle asked. “I’m happy to hear that. I will wait for them.”

Ning grinned. “Goodbye, big guy. I hope you make many friends in the future.”

“Goodbye,” the turtle roared loudly with a happy smile. “And once again, thank you.”

Ning waves and flew into the sky. He watched down as he flew, watching the giant turtle quickly become tiny until it was nothing more than a speck. He continued flying and saw many other islands around the turtle slowly grow to a speck too.

The entire planet was in his eyes now, half of it glowing brightly, and the other half darkened by the night.

Ning kept flying away, soon outside of the planet’s atmosphere, and still continued. He flew past one of the planet’s moons, while the other moon was on the other side. The planet grew smaller and smaller as Ning flew until the planet itself was nothing more than a speck.

Then he stopped and looked at the planet one last time.

The planet was called Astoria, a name not many of its denizens knew. It was a planet that Ning would never return to, but not one he would ever forget.

Ning smiled at its sight one last time, its fond memories flooding his mind. Then, he turned around and flew into outer space to the many more adventures that awaited him.

End of Volume 8 – Astoria