Chapter 139: The Calm Before The Storm
Seeing the complete confidence in Jason’s eyes as he did something so selfless and kind for her made Riyala’s heart explode with emotion, and she didn’t know when tears began to gather in her eyes! Riyala sniffled desperately as she tried to hold back her tears, but there was no way she could stop them from falling freely!
Riyala bowed her head and spoke between her sobs as she tried to clean her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Thank you, sniff~! Thank you so much! I’ll repay you for this kindness one day, I promise. I’ll definitely repay you for everything you’ve done."
Gina smiled at the crying girl and moved away from Jason’s hold before gently hugging Riyala to try and calm her down. Jason just watched with a small smile as Riyala let out all her tears. They still had a lot of things to figure out, but for now, he would treat Riyala like one of his own.
...
[Sunday]
[Newark, New Jersey]
The city was buzzing with excitement as people all around turned on their televisions to listen to reporters announcing the emergence of a new Orange Gate! New Jersey was a very quiet city in this new age. Even though it was only a few miles away from New York, it was seen as one of the least magically dense areas due to the lack of superhumans or Gates in the city! In the ten years since Gates first appeared in the world, there had only been twenty-five Gates that appeared in New Jersey! That was just over two Gates a year, and more than two-thirds of them had been Red Gates with only one-third being Orange Gates. There hadn’t even been a single Yellow or Green Gate in the last ten years, and no one ever expected one to appear in the city!
So now that they were finally getting another Orange Gate, it was obvious that the entire city would be buzzing with excitement as they wondered who would go inside the Gate! The SMD branch in New Jersey was already working on getting the documents sorted out and it wouldn’t be long before a guild in another city was given the contract. Due to the low frequency of Gate appearances in New Jersey, most of the guilds that formed there had moved their headquarters to other cities that had a higher Gate appearance rate.
So the only guilds left in the city were mainly low-ranking C or D rank guilds that weren’t strong enough to handle an Orange Gate. Even if all the guilds in New Jersey were to combine their guild members to try and dive into the Orange Gate, it still wouldn’t be enough, so they had to source for Guilds from outside the city!
Reporters around the Gate were giving spirited announcements and there were many cameras flashing as people flocked around the Gate to try and get a better look. No one dared to go close since they knew that the Gate’s suction could drag them inside, but they were still trying to get as close as possible!
But as the city marveled at the appearance of a new Gate on one side of the city, no one noticed as a Dimensional Tear cracked open in a dark alleyway on the other side of the city. The Dimensional Tear pulsed with magic as a shadow emerged from within it, and the shadow slowly grew into the shape of a man clad in the black attire of the Phantoms. The man had a long tail behind him that swished around randomly and his yellow lizard-like eyes glanced from left to right curiously as he tried to get a full picture of where he was. Behind him, another figure emerged from the Dimensional Tear, and the man turned to hold the chain of the Mana Hound tightly.
The Mana Hound sniffed the air with its large snout before it turned in a particular direction and released a low growl. The Phantoms had been searching for the Princess using her mana signature for the past few days now, and the Mana Hounds had led them to this world known as Earth. From the information they were able to gather, this was a technologically advanced world that had only discovered magic a few years ago. It was a Rank II world and there were many inhabitants who still didn’t possess the ability to use any form of magic.
"Weaklings. They don’t even have enough power to stand up to the might of Radagan."
Radagan was a Rank III world, so the Phantom knew that if a battle broke out, then Earth would be easily defeated by the might of Radagan.
The informant also told them that the magic wielders in this world were treated like celebrities and that the strongest member of this race would be somewhere around SS or SSS Rank, but they didn’t have to worry about that person since this world’s continents were separated by large oceans and the strongest lived on a separate continent. Even if they attacked this continent to find the Princess, it would take a long time for the strongest to come and help them. By the time the strongest arrived, they would have already vanished into the Primordial Expanse.
The lizard-based Phantom allowed his eyes to scan the region calmly as he slowly rose from his crouched position. His vision was different from that of other races because it allowed him to view the world in infrared which revealed the density of mana in any region easily! And not only could he view the mana in any area, he could also pinpoint a specific mana signature as long as he had seen it once before.
The lizard-based Phantom had already memorized the princess’ mana signature from the garments that the Mana Hounds used to track her, so now all he had to do was move through this world and find the mana signature that matched what he was looking for! He made sure that there were no people around to see him before he and his Mana Hound slowly melted into the shadows and began to make their way through the city.
...
[Riverdale]
[Jason’s Apartment]
"Hey babe, could you pick up some ice cream on your way back? There isn’t anymore in the fridge."
Gina spoke to Jason with a small frown on her face while looking at the empty ice cream bucket in the fridge. Gina had finished the last of it and had completely forgotten to get some more! Jason’s voice came through the phone.
[Sure thing, babe.]
Gina smiled and thanked him before she grabbed some soda cans and began to head back to the living room to meet with Riyala. The TV was on in the living room and there was a soap opera that Gina enjoyed playing over the sound of someone eating popcorn. Gina stopped at the door and she couldn’t help but laugh slightly when she saw Riyala sitting on the floor in front of the TV with a large bucket of popcorn in her lap. Riyala was leaning back against one of the large, Pawn Rank II wolves that Jason had left there to protect them, and she was transfixed as she watched the television!
Riyala had never seen anything like this before! Radagan’s technology was nothing compared to what Earth had, so the most advanced technological product they had was the windmill for farming and food processing!
The first time Riyala saw people moving inside of a thin box, she had almost lost her mind and it took Jason explaining what a TV was for her to finally get used to it! And after Gina introduced Riyala to a soap opera that she was always watching, Riyala was hooked!