Old Hank smacked his lips, "Not gonna lie, thinking about it now, it's pretty interesting."
Asher hesitated to speak.
Asher thought for a moment, then sincerely nodded, "Alright, it really does sound pretty interesting."
'Fighting the robbers.'
'Fighting people.'
'Endless fun, huh.'
'This Old Hank's a man of fun.'
"Hahaha!", Old Hank laughed heartily, looking quite satisfied with Asher's response, "Alright, alright, no more reminiscing, come this way, we're almost there."
Old Hank turned into a small path, and after walking a short distance, pointed to an entrance that looked only half the height of an adult.
Before the youngsters could complain, Old Hank bent down and went in first.
Prince followed without any objection.
First-time visitor Felter had a face full of unspeakable disdain and contempt.
But seeing Asher decisively follow in, and Freya taking a deep breath before entering as well, Felter sighed and followed too.
Unexpectedly, after crawling for a short distance in a crouched position, the path ahead suddenly opened up.
Not only did the sides become more spacious, even the height became normal.
Those 1.8 meters tall still had to duck their heads.
But those around 1.7 meters could walk upright inside.
So...
The only one suffering on site became Prince with his flamboyant "killing Matt" hairstyle.
"Ahem," Asher swore, he definitely didn't laugh, really didn't laugh out loud, was he that kind of person?
"Pfft," Old Hank, who was leading, turned around and looked back, chuckled first, and then everyone couldn't help but start laughing one after another.
It really was quite a sight.
"Alright, alright, let's keep going, it's just ahead," Old Hank held back his grin and continued.
As Old Hank said, just ahead.
Although along the way, they twisted and turned countless times, if they had been dropped in on their own, there was no way they could have navigated this winding cave so smoothly.
Finally, a light appeared ahead.
It was the exit.
The exit cave was also only about half normal height.
They bent down to exit.
Asher looked up and saw a small-to-moderate sized lake and trees.
For a moment, Asher felt like he had just experienced a real-life Peach Blossom Spring.
He quickly came back to his senses.
"This should be part of the inner mountain range. Fossil excavation hasn't reached this area yet," Otherwise, it couldn't be preserved this well.
Old Hank nodded and gave Asher an approving look, "Not just that. This area happens to be near the Lanstone Mountains and forms a special angle with them."
"If it weren't for a chance discovery, I wouldn't have found this place."
"So when I discovered a fold space here... how should I put it? I felt a bit complicated," Old Hank said with genuine sincerity.
Of course he felt complicated.
If he hadn't known about this place, would the fold space here have ever been discovered? Absolutely not.
But fold spaces aren't harmless just because you ignore them, like the previous joint event in Red Soil City and Crimson City.
Other fold spaces might also cause such events. And if you don't know about fold spaces, it's hard to even identify the source.
But through a string of coincidences, Old Hank just happened to know about this place, recognized the faint spatial fluctuations, and without causing any accidents, smoothly waited for Asher's team to prepare and explore.
"I'll stay here and keep watch, there's signal here too," Old Hank said, taking out his prepped supplies, clearly ready for a long-term post.
"No need to worry about me. I've already coordinated with my old pals, they'll bring me meals and supplies every few days. I'll live better than you guys inside."
"You all just focus on the exploration," After explaining everything, Old Hank waved them off.
"Then we'll trouble you, Uncle Hank," Asher said as he looked at Old Hank.
Freya also chimed in, "Thanks, Uncle Hank!"
Old Hank smiled. Then he glanced at his two sons, and almost twitched from anger.
Gratitude? Not a word.
Both sons looked like debt collectors, one more impatient than the other, like they couldn't wait to rush in.
Old Hank: "..."
'Sons!'
'These are my biological sons?'
'Can't hit them, or my wife would really kick me out.'
After mentally comforting himself several times, Old Hank finally didn't get pissed off by his two sons.
"Alright, go."
Asher and the others waved at Old Hank, four people together, holding hands.
The order was Freya, Asher, Felter, Prince.
They held hands in a circle.
"Gross."
"+1"
"Heh."
Except for Asher, the other three had varying degrees of disgust on their faces.
Old Hank watched them from the side, nearly dying of laughter, barely holding back from slapping his thigh, and filming their pose.
"Don't let go! Or else you might be teleported to different places," Old Hank said as he teased his sons who looked like they had just eaten a fly.
What? The sons feel uncomfortable? Perfectly great.
Disgust was one thing. Departure was another.
The four, hand-in-hand, gradually approached the spot with fold space fluctuations.
Because it was invisible to the eye and only perceptible through faint fluctuations, they had to approach slowly and carefully.
But maybe because Asher had encountered one before, Asher felt like... he could actually sense the exact position of the fold space.
Asher tested leading the group's steps toward that direction.
There was a slight deviation from where they sensed it visually.
But the other three didn't resist, and cooperated fully in moving with Asher.
Old Hank quickly noticed this. Old Hank raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Asher being able to sense the fold space's position... Old Hank wasn't too shocked.
He'd long experienced the unreasonable innate skills of beast tamers. If it was due to an innate skill, it wasn't that strange.
But the others cooperating without any clear communication, that was interesting.
Looking at the other three, his older son didn't need to be mentioned. Stubborn as a mule. Didn't expect that when it came to Asher, the older son was respectful, the younger one trusting.
Talk about wonders of the world.
Then there was Freya. A young Tier 7 beast tamer.
Background? Prestige? No problems there. And her older brother was even an Tier 8 Ace-tier beast tamer. It wouldn't be strange if she was proud.
But facing Asher, she wasn't like that at all. Her attitude was outstanding.
That was remarkable. Asher's ability was one thing, just because someone is powerful doesn't mean they earn others' trust.
Prime example: Prince. Tier 8 beast tamer. Ace beast tamer.
And yet his interpersonal relationships?
Old Hank didn't even want to talk about it.
No one would believe he was Old Hank's son. Absolutely ridiculous.
The younger son wasn't much better. But Asher, about the same age as the younger one, showed leadership that earned trust and cooperation from everyone.
Seeing this, Old Hank couldn't help but sigh inside, he wanted to swap his two sons for a kid like this.
'Sigh! Just thinking.'
Of course that wasn't possible.
"Don't tell me my genes mutated?", Old Hank muttered while stroking his chin. His gaze grew more heated as he watched Asher's next move.
But as he watched...
"Why does this feel... kinda familiar?", Old Hank mumbled uncertainly.
An illusion?
Didn't seem like it.
But he couldn't recall what looked familiar.
Someone he knew...? Unlikely.
Old Hank prided himself on one skill, making friends.
Anyone he'd met or chatted with once, he'd remember their face, their name, and what they talked about, no matter how many years passed, he could reconnect instantly.
"Maybe I just saw him too many times on trending searches?", In the end, Old Hank gave up on recalling, shook his head, and chalked it up to too much exposure to Asher on the trending page.
The next second, Asher and the others entered the fold space.
Whoosh!
They vanished before Old Hank's eyes.
"Time to get to work," At the cave's exit, Old Hank quickly set up a tent, pulled out his equipment, and decided to guard this place well during this time.
Ensure absolutely no accidents.
———
A strong feeling of weightlessness appeared. Different from last time, when Asher had landed on solid ground.
This time Asher realized—
"Holy crap! holy crap! holy crap!"
"AHHHHH—"
By the time he realized what was happening, Felter's scream had already echoed across the sky.
They were thousands of meters above ground, rapidly falling at high speed.
Asher didn't scream, but the sensation was still awful. He shouted quickly, "SUMMON PETS!"
"Dragon ride!"
"Jaeger!"
Prince and Freya reacted almost simultaneously, quickly releasing their pets.
Asher didn't even have to think, he flipped up and sat behind Freya on Flame Dragon Jaeger.
Felter, by the time he realized, was already scooped up by his brother onto the Lightyear Dragon Rider.
Felter: "..."
Despair filled Felter's eyes as he reached toward Asher and Freya, trying to escape to the back of the Flame Dragon.
Unfortunately...
"Wahoo—"
"Awesome!"
Prince's eyes lit up as he commanded the Lightyear Dragon Rider to do a 360-degree aerial spin, clearly eager to relive that falling, weightless thrill.
He was very happy.
"Thank goodness."
"Thank goodness."
Asher and Freya exchanged looks, both seeing the same relief in each other's eyes.
Thank goodness they didn't have to experience flight with Prince this time.
As for Felter?
Sigh, they're real brothers, no need to divide things so clearly, right?
Felter: "..."
'Absolutely must divide!'
Having escaped the "door-opening death trap," Asher and Freya sat on Flame Dragon Jaeger's back, finally able to observe their surroundings.
"This is... the ocean?", Looking down, Asher saw a vast expanse of ocean. Endless. No shore in sight.
As Jaeger flew lower, Asher could barely make out tiny black dots.
Probably islands.
"This is really...", Asher showed a headache-filled expression.
This was even more complicated than the Red Soil Secret Realm.
At least that was based around a mountain.
There was a clear structure.
But this?
Survive at sea?
Asher looked at Freya. Freya looked at Asher. The same confusion showed in their eyes.
Don't ask, they had no clue.
Both simultaneously looked toward their strongest fighter nearby.
And then—
"Wahoo!"
"One more time!"
"Why didn't I think of playing this way before?"
Having overcome the trauma of falling, Prince was now joyfully playing real-life extreme sky-diving.
Without ropes, felter was forced to join, his entire body pale gray.
One breeze and he might shatter.
Even Freya, who didn't have a good impression of Prince, couldn't help but cast Felter a sympathetic glance.
"Stop playing already," Freya decided it was time to act.
"Hurry up and figure out what we're doing next," Freya shouted at Prince, hands on her hips.
Unfortunately, Prince was too high on fun to hear a word.
"Don't worry," Asher, seeing Freya seething, gestured to calm down.
"Little Raven, go."
Asher released Little Raven, pointed at Prince on the Lightyear Dragon Rider, and waved grandly.
"Chirp!"
'Copy that!'
Little Raven flapped its wings and turned into a streak of sunlight, flying straight at Prince.
Lightyear Dragon Rider?
No, that's not the bird's target.
The bird knew it couldn't win.
So the bird chose not to fight.
The Little Raven chased Prince and gave him a furious pecking.
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