King Of Limbo

It didn't take long for them to make their way back to the cliff face, and they got there just as Jin and Jagu were wrapping up another round of sparring.

"Hm?"

Although it was an unusual sight to see Aron emerge from the woods nude, nobody appeared to mind too much.

Screech~

Soon, the sound of dragging metal filled everyone's ears. When they swiftly turned to look at the source, they noticed Evanora bringing Aron's armor with her.

"Evanora took care of it." She remarked proudly as she came to a stop close to Aron.

The fact that she was even able to move it, given its weight, amazed him more. "Can she also augment herself?"

He questioned.

Aron wore the clothing and armor without saying a word.

"So how did it go?"

In order to find out what happened, Jin and Jagu put their sparring on hold and waited for Aron to finish getting dressed.

He turned to them stoically after donning the most of his armor and letting the helm hang off his waist belt.

"I'd say it was quite successful, how are you finding the instructions I gave you?" He was interested in their development, much as they were in his intrusion.

Although Jagu initially appeared ashamed to respond, he eventually spoke.

"I can feel myself getting stronger but only by bits, it will take some time to see real results…"

Aron listened without responding right away; instead, he turned to face Jin. "And yourself?"

Jin chuckled and carelessly shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm slowly getting the hang of it, just like Jagu I'm finding it a bit tricky. Now that you're here thought things will be much easier."

Aron nodded but soon turned away since he didn't think Jin was telling the truth.

The task he had offered wasn't really difficult; if Aron himself could do it well, then anyone could, let alone Jin.

Aron didn't know why Jin decided to lie. Aron could only guess as to why, either because of Jagu or because he didn't want his gift to be known.

'Time will tell.' Aron wasn't worried nor was he overly cautious, the Jin right now wasn't a threat.

Despite being uncommon, many people have artistic and technical talent. In the event that he proved to be troublesome, it wasn't impossible for him to find a replacement; nonetheless, for the time being, Aron would concentrate on drastically boosting his own strength.

"Look, Evanora also got better." She handed Aron a piece of parchment that was hanging from her belt while maintaining a neutral tone.

When Aron opened it, he discovered a landscape painting of the locale that had been colored with fruit, soil, and insect blood.

Even if it was far from perfect and had a strange appearance, the fact that he could comprehend what he was seeing was already pretty impressive by the criteria he had set for Evanora.

"You've truly improved, good work."

For the simple-minded Evanora, who spent almost all of her leisure time honing her drawing skills, those complimentary remarks were plenty.

She had been practicing diligently ever since she had watched Aron sketch in the Komi Islands in the hopes that one day she might be able to assist when necessary.

…

Later, the group decided to meet inside the man-made cave within the cliff face. Aron reasoned that the Panthera might patrol the area after such an incident.

Aron talked about what he had discovered within the cave, where Evanora's "artwork" was now affixed to one of the walls.

"Hmm, it's not much but at least we have a general overview. However you won't be needing to return to copy the map, while you've been away I've used my scouters to map out much of the territory within an eighty kilometer radius."

"I've also recorded notes about the plants, wildlife, races, and climate that I've observed. I doubt their information will be as recent or as detailed as mine." She continued, her comments fully supported by her unwavering confidence.

Rose's labor spared Aron the difficulty while being far more precise; earlier, Aron had described the need to return to the settlement in order to steal a map.

He could only speculate as to why he hadn't considered asking her to complete that prior to the intrusion.

Regardless, the outcomes were the same, and he felt satisfied inside.

"Can I look at what you've put together?" Aron questioned directly.

Rose then casually handed him her notebook and described how she organized her notes. It doesn't take long for this knowledge to dominate the entire debate.

Despite this, neither Jagu nor Jin appeared to be mentally exhausted; instead, they attentively listened while occasionally asking questions.

Rose gathered a lot of data, and while some of it wasn't entirely right, it was close enough to dismiss the forecast.

While Jin was more interested in what she didn't find, Jagu's interest was peaked when she talked about the several Komi-like races she examined.

"So no one from Pesia? Despite searching an eighty kilometer radius." Jin questioned as he scratched the beard hair he hadn't shaved off since arriving in Limbo.

"The vast expanses of Limbo are only divided by extreme mana manifestations. The possibility exists that the others were despatched altogether in a different direction. However I still think they should be present somewhere in this vast region." After Aron shared his ideas, Jin was less apprehensive.

"Why did you stop after eighty kilometers, Evanora wonders."

To everyone's astonishment, Evanora also participated in the conversation by posing an unexpected yet worthwhile query.

"Well, after exploring eighty kilometers in the north western direction I stumbled across a vast ocean. So I settled on using that value in all directions, understood?"

"Fascinating."

Evanora remained silent after receiving the response and appeared content.

"Putting the vastness of the current region we're in aside, we need to explore the section we are in at the moment. Starting with mana beast dens and lairs…"

….

A group of Panthera could be seen around the region where Aron's combat had taken place at the same time back in the wide valley that he had just left.

The few women brought along had started scattering dry leaves and twigs around the pile of bodies while many were scooping up the dead and piling them upon one another.

"All bodies were found except one, a warrior named Tlaloc. It's possible the thing ate him." A Panthera with mediocre looks hurriedly reported to a bigger, bulkier one.

The larger one was attempting to make sense of what had happened at the scene using his keen senses, but this approach could only produce unreliable results.

"That seems unlikely. Track his scent, even if he is injured we must how he defeated this Actja." The enormous Panthera barked.

…

Unfortunately for it, as soon as Aron and the group finished discussing the way forward, they had started off.

Their direction? The north western side.

They had decided to approach the dens and lairs in a clockwise direction, beginning with the ones in the north west that led to the sea.

The majority of the journey turned out to be pretty calm, with minimal risk being encountered.

The majority of leisure time was spent working on oneself; Evanora enjoyed drawing, while Jagu and Jin concentrated on the guidance Aron had given them.

Aron spent his time either talking to Rose or doing meditation to comprehend his own wills.

This was the norm as they steadily moved toward the northwest, but it ended once they had traveled forty kilometers.

…

They set up camp in an open area of the vast forests every five kilometers as they had done for the entire voyage a little after reaching the forty-kilometer mark.

This was done so Rose could utilize her scouters to confirm and make fresh observations.