Julian stepped back, and then kicked off with a running start. He leapt off the side of the raised Land of Churches and began hurtling toward the ground.
As the wind brushed against his skin, Julian closed his eyes, momentarily relaxing.
But when he reopened his eyes, he was only a few meters off the ground, about to splatter.
Yet before that could happen, Julian's ring began to glow as a burst of Spiritual Essence covered him. Just like that, he halted mid-air, only arm's length away from the ground.
Telekinesis was convenient for more than moving objects, so he used it on himself to stop.
He had wanted to use it to escape last time, but he had not been nearly as confident in surviving as he was now.
'Even after using so much Spiritual Essence to stop myself, I have plenty left. Huh... Is it possible that alongside my new Soul Artifact, the ring also has the ability to passively increase its Spiritual Essence storage?'
He had heard of artifacts like that before, but just like exoskeletons, they were far and between.
Still, as he let go of the telekinesis, Julian glanced back up at the Land of Churches. It was an interesting place, and definitely something he would return to very soon. After all, his intent was to grow stronger, and if he could reach the den of evil spirits by entering a tunnel, then it was all the more worth it.
With those thoughts, however, Julian began sprinting toward the forest, already thinking about how he was going to explain the fact that he was naked and why he had been away for nearly a day.
But as he skimmed past the familiar forest, he saw some strange markings. There were sword marks etched into trees, the grass, and even nearby rock formations. A fight had definitely happened here.
Judging by how the environment looked, it was likely a fight between two swordsmen. Julian's guess was that one of the swordsmen was Adam.
'I wonder who he fought?'
Yet, as he neared the outskirts of their camp, his steps slowed to a halt.
The wooden barricade was destroyed, and the bonfire that had been lit was now completely extinguished. As he slowly stepped into what remained of the camp, he spotted dozens of decomposed corpses.
Some of them he recognized from the Daemon camp, while others had strange robes. Looking closer, he saw tidbits of sand.
'That's...' Julian narrowed his eyes. 'Aliyah mentioned the west of the Land of Churches, right before the desert. Is that where these people are from?'
He inspected the corpses closely. Oh, and God rest their souls; he borrowed their clothes, which were pretty comfy.
None of them carried crossbows or anything of the sort, so Julian simply grabbed a bow from the Daemons and two sabers from the desert people.
With that, he was geared up and ready to fight. However, he continued looking around the camp just in case, since he was certain such a fight could not have happened in a day.
And he was right, since after thorough searching, Julian found a piece of parchment hidden under the ash of the bonfire. When he read it, Julian froze.
—
I'm not sure if you betrayed me and disclosed my location to the Saharans and the Daemons, or what happened. However, I've waited nearly three months for you to return. My guess is that you are either dead, or in someone else's hands. Either way, if you do somehow see this, don't mind the mess. I'll probably clean it up in a year or two.
—
"..."
'This definitely sounds like Adam.'
But...
'Three months...?' Julian crumpled the parchment. 'It didn't feel longer than three hours for me. How could I have been out for so long?'
Then again, maybe rising from the dead was a good enough excuse for it taking so long. Still, if this was written at least three months after he was gone, then there was no guarantee he was not out for longer.
It just really sucked that Adam did not know how to communicate. A simple 'hey, I'm going here. If you're still alive, come find me' would have sufficed.
In that regard, Aliyah was the only lead he had.
"Well..." Julian glanced around. "I would burn you all, but I don't really like messing with fires and whatnot. May your souls rest in pieces."
With those parting words, Julian looked for any leftover goodies in the camp, and after not finding any, he finally left. He headed back to the Land of Churches, and from the way he saw it, he was currently on the western side.
'That means I need to trek for a while if I want to reach the desert.' Julian sighed. 'But oh well, it's not like I have anything better to do other than to go back inside the Land of Churches and kill evil spirits.'
Of course, he would not do that just yet. And so, after setting his mind to it, Julian finally started making his way to the west.
It had been two days now since he began his journey to the west, and frankly, he was not expecting it would take this long.
The west side of the Land of Churches consisted of the plains. There were little to no trees, but there were quite a lot of evil spirits. There were just as many normal animals. Rabbits in particular caught his eye.
'So when I first saw Adam, I likely caught him on his way from the west to the Daemon camp. That's why he had a rabbit, huh? What a coincidence.'
He would love to catch a rabbit and eat it, but he had no way to cook it. Even if his body could digest it, he drew the line at eating raw meat.
So he stuck to berries, leaves, and the occasional apple.
But just as he thought this journey would continue for at least several more days, a warm gust of wind reached Julian. A distinct dry smell accompanied it.
He had never been to a desert in reality, but he had read more than enough books about it.
Yet if that smell was here, then...
"Found it."