Chapter 590: Heading Home and Spies

High above in the sky, a dark purple ship sliced through the wind leisurely. Even at one kilometer long, it still looked tiny among the clouds. Looking closer, on the forward deck, there was an open area where several people were chatting casually.

Lein and the others were relaxing on plush sofas, surrounded by a spread of food. The journey to the EON Gate would take a few days, so they were spending their time training while enjoying a leisurely trip aboard the ship.

"Laras, where did you get these fruits?" Lein asked curiously, munching on a grape-like fruit with a flavor he had never experienced before.

"Fresh... not too sweet," he commented lightly. The flavor made him miss the grapes from Earth.

Laras, dressed in casual clothes, stopped sipping her fruit soup and looked at Lein. "I knew you’d like them. I got them from the market near the Invictus Sect earlier," she said excitedly.

"Try this one." She pointed to a fruit shaped like a mangosteen but with broad leaves. "And this one here is a bit spicy, but just as fresh," she added, pointing to a fruit the size of a coconut.

Lein observed them all. There were many fruits on the table. With a relaxed movement, he tried them all.

Clack... clack...

While they were enjoying the fresh fruits, the sound of footsteps approached. Lein saw a small figure coming from the inside of the ship toward them.

Laras turned and said, "Hurry, let Brother Lein try it!" She even stood up.

Lyra, wearing a maid costume, picked up her pace. "Coming, Miss... Master," she said, almost running.

"Here you go, Miss, Master..." Lyra held the tray with her left hand and served the plates of soup with her right, handling them gently.

The soup was still steaming, looking incredibly tempting.

"Who made this?" Lein asked, curious, as the aroma teased his nose.

"Mr. Deren made it, Master. He is from the Fuku race and is very skilled at preparing mushrooms," Lyra replied.

Lein raised an eyebrow at Laras, silently asking who that was.

"Ahaha... he’s one of the slaves you bought from the slave market," Laras replied. "Some of them are quite talented, including at cooking."

Lein nodded lightly; he had just remembered that he had indeed bought slaves to manage his elder residence.

Lein took a bite. The warm mushroom entered his mouth, a savory taste coating his tongue before it went down his throat.

"Hmm... delicious," he said.

Laras smiled from nearby, laughing softly. "Haha... it seems you spend too much time just training, Brother Lein," she said casually.

Lein shook his head. Indeed, he had been training quite hard, but in his current position, he should be enjoying himself once in a while.

Lein continued to sample the food, tasting a little bit of everything. Meanwhile, Laras said to Lyra, "Lyra... make some more for Brother Efan and Master Dragnar over there," she said, pointing to the side area of the ship.

There were two people over there making quite a commotion.

"Pull it... don’t pull too hard!" Dragnar stood behind Efan.

Efan, with his oddly-shaped face, pulled the line with all his might, almost channeling his energy into it, wrapping his hands around the line.

Sret...

The reel kept spinning, holding back the weight of the catch that was also pulling hard.

"Master Dragnar, what is this? What kind of creature is this strong?" Efan asked. This wasn’t a normal catch.

"Stop talking, just pull! If you’re lucky, you’ll get a Fefu fish," Dragnar said hopefully.

"What fish is that?" Efan asked, still trying to pull the fish up. In his mind, a Fefu fish should be a top-tier material.

"Just pull... you’ll eat your fill," Dragnar replied.

Efan pulled with all his might until, finally, a large fish was pulled up. Efan stood and picked it up. His eyes sparkled seeing the size of the fish he had caught, and he showed it to Dragnar.

"Look... is this a Fefu fish?"

Dragnar wore a flat expression, like someone who had lost interest. "No... that one isn’t edible, it’s poisonous," he replied, then looked back up at the sky; the flying fish were very hard to catch.

Huft... Efan let out a long sigh, then tried again.

Such was life aboard Lein’s Obsidian ship. The massive vessel moved quickly toward the EON Gate. Basically, they could have used teleportation to arrive faster—even in one day—and despite the exorbitant price of teleportation, it wouldn’t have been a big problem for Lein.

However, he chose to use the Obsidian ship, wanting to enjoy a moment of relaxation before finally leaving the Dominion of the Nova Consortium behind.

Not far from the position of Lein’s ship, a small vessel in transparent mode was tailing them from behind. The ship was small, but very fast and agile. Inside the ship’s control room, several people were discussing.

"Are you sure about following them?" asked a man in a black suit, a large sword on his back providing a real sense of intimidation.

"I have a bad feeling if we get too close and get caught by him," said the woman in the red dress.

They all looked at each other and agreed with that assessment. Then they all stared at a short old man, only as tall as an adult’s waist. The old man was holding a compass, the needle pointing straight ahead, toward the path taken by Lein’s Obsidian ship.

"What’s wrong? Is the money I paid not enough?" he said with disgust, as if he felt these people were just greedy wolves who kept extorting him.

"It’s not like that, old man... we’re just offering an alternative with a higher success rate. If you don’t want it, that’s up to you," the other man said, not taking it to heart; as long as he was paid, it was enough.

The old man ignored them all and left the room, his gaze still fixed on the compass that kept moving.

On the front deck of their ship, the cool wind brushed against his short robe, and a small smile appeared on his face. "An extraordinary artifact," he said.

"As long as I can get it, that’s enough..." he muttered, hoping he could catch up to Lein’s ship.

But suddenly, his eyes widened. The woman in the red dress had appeared in front of him. A remarkably bright fire radiated from her body, and with a wave of her hand, a large magic circle formed, blasting outward.

"Ahhh... what’s happening!? What’s going on?" The short old man stumbled back, falling... confused by what was happening.

In front of them, five people were already hovering, weapons drawn. The man in the suit with the greatsword looked into the distance.

His gaze fell upon transparent circles that had suddenly appeared in front of their ship.

One of them tried to get closer and touch a nearby bubble, but the woman in the red dress stopped him. "Don’t touch it..." she said.

She waved her hand, and fire engulfed the bubble, which slowly shrank and vanished.

"What’s wrong? What is this bubble?" asked the man who had approached earlier.

"I don’t know, but I can feel a fairly strong dream element from that bubble," said the woman in the red dress. As a King-tier figure specializing in dream elements, she could certainly sense other dream elements.

"Old man... didn’t you misjudge the target? How could an early-stage King have a dream element this strong?" asked the man in the black suit.

The old man was stunned. "No... I’m 100% sure he’s only an early-stage King," he said, not believing it.

The man in the suit nodded lightly; there was no lie in the old man’s words.

"Master Mevos, what did you find?" asked the woman in the red dress.

"I think we’ve been discovered," he said. "We must stop and regroup," he added, then returned to the ship.