Gina had been so confused and desperate for any way to get away from that Beast that she had done something that she couldn’t really describe, so now she was finding it difficult to put the feeling that came over her back then into words. Gina decided that the best way to handle this would be to try to replicate it. If Gina could do that again, then she could figure out how it works, and maybe she could even begin to improve on it.
"Hello, do you want something to drink?"
Gina blinked and looked down in surprise when she heard a voice coming from there, and she saw that one of the three little children who lived in this house with their mother was holding a tray with two cups of water on it. Gina saw the little girl staring up at her with wide innocent eyes, and she smiled at the child before thanking her and taking the tray. The child smiled gladly before running back towards her other siblings, who were hiding behind the door, and Gina chuckled lightly when they all waved at her happily before running away. Gina glanced over at Jason’s sleeping face again, and she felt her smile widen into a loving look as she gently parted his hair. Gina would die for this man if she had to, but she knew that dying for him was the last thing he wanted her to do. Jason had gone through hell to make sure Gina lived, and Gina would be insulting his effort if she didn’t protect the life that he had given her. So rather than dying, Gina swore that she would do everything she could to make sure she survived with Jason. Gina was never going to let anyone take him away from her.
Time passed rather quickly as Jason slept soundly and Gina spent the time that she was awake watching over Jason and meditating to try to recreate the feeling of sagehood that had come over her before. It wasn’t easy, but Gina could tell that she was getting closer. After a while of this, Gina eventually fell asleep, and Jason woke up to see her leaning her head on his chest. It was already late at night, so the two lovers spent the next few hours trying to gain back as much energy as possible, and by the time the sun was rising the next day, they were already ready to leave.
"Please, take this. It’s not much, but I’m sure it will help your family."
Jason handed a small, heavy bag to the woman who housed him and Gina, and the woman had a confused look on her face as she collected it, but the moment she opened it, she flinched in shock when she saw that it was filled with Gold Coins! The woman looked at Jason with wide eyes and quickly told him that she couldn’t take this!
"This is so much money!"
The woman was a widow whose husband had passed away a few years ago, and she and her children had been surviving on the measly salary she was earning from her job as a cleaner. The woman knew that she couldn’t make a single gold coin even if she worked for an entire year! The money in this bag would be enough to feed them for decades, so she couldn’t imagine anyone just giving away so much money! But Jason just smiled and wrapped his hand around Gina’s waist as he said it was alright. The woman still looked like she wanted to argue, but Gina spoke kindly.
"You’ve given us a place to sleep and protected us when you didn’t even know us, and that means a lot. Use it for your family, and please take care of yourself. If we ever pass through this world again, we’ll be sure to come say hello."
The widow felt tears coming to her eyes as she got to her knees and bowed her head to the floor in gratitude! Gina was shocked, and she quickly told the woman not to do that, but the woman was adamant about it, and she remained there for a few seconds before she finally knelt up and hugged the bag to her chest while bowing her head to them!
"Thank you! Thank you so much! This means everything to me!"
Doon!
A dimensional tear opened up beside them as Jason unleashed enough mana, and he smiled at the woman and told her that she was very welcome before he pulled Gina through for them to leave. Once they were gone, the widow pulled her children close, and they tried their best to console their mother as she cried into their chests!
....
Jason and Gina continued their long pilgrimage across the Primordial Expanse without much incident. After leaving Treva’an, they crossed five more Rank II worlds that didn’t have any significant dominant species within them. There were a few exotic animals in those worlds that seemed very interesting to watch, but neither of them could really pay much attention to the indigenous animals since they were trying to get across the worlds as quickly as possible. It wasn’t until Jason and Gina reached a Rank III world known as Nantra that they finally had their next major encounter. This world was very different from the ones that they had encountered previously.
Most of the worlds that Jason and Gina had been in were filled with clear skies and beautiful horizons that allowed them to cross over the worlds using Ragnar or any of the other beasts in Jason’s Legion, but Nantra didn’t allow them to do that at all. Instead, Nantra’s air was filled with a thick, dense cloud of toxic, poisonous gas that prevented any flying creature from even trying to make their way across the world through the air. And below that dense cloud of poisonous gas was a forest so thick that it could rival the Amazon Forest just by the sheer number of vegetative life in it!
This forest was what made up a vast majority of the world of Nantra and from what Jason learned through the system, the forest was known as the Great Forest of Death.
’Sounds fucking welcoming.’
Gina couldn’t help but chuckle when she heard Jason say this through their mental link, and she had to admit that the name was a bit too ominous to be anything good. The system told Jason that the most dominant species in this world were woodland creatures and carnivorous beasts that hunted them, but there were also various Magical Beasts of Nature that filled this forest, and wandering into the territory of any of these beasts would immediately make them target you.
[From the information within my database, the most dangerous magical creature within this forest is known as the Serpentine Mandrake. It is a Nature-Based Magical Creature that can possess strength anywhere between A-Rank and SSS-Rank. The creature is known to control great regions of vines and roots and survives by entrapping and sucking nutrients from its prey until the prey withers and dies.]
’Holy shit, that sounds fucking crazy. I’d love to have something like that in my Legion.’
Jason couldn’t help but be impressed by the description that the system just gave to the Mandrake, and he decided that if he found any Mandrake that was in the S-Rank or higher, he would take it into his Legion! Beside Jason, Gina was frowning up at the sky calmly, and Jason knew that she was thinking of possible ways to clear out the toxic gas so that they could fly, but Jason knew that it wouldn’t be possible. There was just way too much of the gas, and clearing it out would take too long, so the best thing they could do right now was to just use the shadows to pass through the forest as quickly as possible. Besides, the location of the next Dimensional Tear was just about a couple hundred kilometres away, so they should reach it in a few hours at maximum.