Chapter 240: Old Friends (b)

The man with a blindfold on his eyes placed his hand on John and said, "I told you not to rush at them like that, or else you would startle them. Look at what you did."

He had prepared a step-by-step guide to help Elliot and the others understand the situation and get used to this place, but thanks to John, all his efforts and preparation had gone to waste!

"Come on; you can't blame me for doing that. Do you know how hard and boring it was for me to live with you for seven years in this place? You're no fun, and even your expression barely changes once a week. The total amount of time you've talked to me in the past 2492 amounts to less than 500. I nearly thought that your head had gone haywire because of all the training, and you'd forgotten how to talk. You're like a grumpy man with a carrot up his arse who does nothing but train. With just the two of us in this godforsaken place and not another soul, how can you tell me to stay seated and not welcome the newly arrived guests? Not to mention the fact that if they hadn't appeared today, I would've seriously gone crazy. Ah, it's too good to see new faces. Guys, come on and live with me in my house; we have a lot to talk about today."

John blabbered on and on, complaining to the man, and as a result, he got on the man's nerve.

"Off you go."

While saying those words in a pissed-off voice, the man tapped on John's shoulder, causing intricate designs to appear on his black cloak. They spread out, covering him entirely in the blink of an eye. John was able to tell what these seals were, and, seeing them, he couldn't help but curse out loudly.

"You damn bastard!"

John only got to say these three words before his figure vanished.

"Good riddance, Theo," Elliot said while looking at the man. Theo now had a sturdy and majestic build. The silver robe he wore was lined up with golden threads. A symbol representing the moon was drawn on the back of the robe. All in all, it was a piece of work, and since Theo was a fine young man, it looked even better on him.

Theo was surprised that Elliot recognized him, but he didn't let it show on his face.

"Isn't that right?" Theo smirked.

John wasn't only getting on his nerves but also the others. They had never seen such a talkative man in their life. It seemed as if John was so lonely that he would kidnap a group of humans to chat with for three years straight. Thankfully, Theo sent him away by using his superpowers. Theo had grown a lot stronger, and now he could also teleport others to any place he had seen in his life! It was just that he couldn't do that without coming in physical contact with them or if they didn't trust him—both conditions needed to meet before he could teleport others.

"Yeah, he had become annoying as fuck." Elliot whispered so that Lucy wouldn't be able to hear his words.

Theo gave him a nod and said, "That aside, I am glad to see you alive and well."

Just like John said, they were able to see whatever was happening in the spirit beast forest. And when Theo saw Elliot fighting the serpentine devil, he was gripped with anxiousness and fear of losing his young friend. That day, he even stopped training and sat down to watch the entire recording of the battle.

"The same goes for me."

Elliot was also worried about them, but as he saw they looked fine and dandy, not to mention that they had become more powerful than ever, he was happy.

The two of them fist-bumped under the bright artificial sun, which was shining brightly above the crystal clear skies. Afterward, they took the bridge and reached the city square. There were building around them. Further away from here, they could also see the hovering stone. All of them had buildings, but they weren't for residential purposes. Each building had a sign highlighting whether it was a shop or a place where one could learn alchemy, the way of cooking, the art of explosion, talisman creation, sword techniques, artifact creation, and so on!

"Amazing! This place is the haven of endless knowledge! Each of these subjects is something we magicians are extremely curious about, and we only have managed to unearth several records about alchemy and the other stuff. We are severely lacking in these fields. If we can take the knowledge about these subjects back to our world, we might even get a badge of honor or win a noble prize." Lucy was awed by her surrounding. Back home, alchemy and so on was a subject many people would like to learn. But not only was it costly, but what one could know was also very limited. Yet, here there might be more advanced alchemical, cooking, and so on techniques that would allow humanity to advance if used on a significant proportion.

"Calm down, lol."

Theo signaled towards them and said, "Follow me."

After that, he started walking towards his place of residence, and the others followed him.

"Just what is this place, and what had you guys gone through to become so old?" Elliot asked after a while of walking.

"Let's talk after sitting down at the table and grabbing a meal," Theo said.

In the middle of their walk, they came across John. It took a couple of minutes before they reached Theo's house. He prepared a hot meal for them.

They sat around the table, which Theo decorated with many types of food, one Elliot and Lucy had never seen before in their entire life.

Although they looked weird and even somewhat gross, they still smelled nice. Theo and John were also eating them without a problem, so Elliot and others scooped up a mouthful of gooey meat and brought it close to their mouth.

"Thanks for the meal."