Affinity:Chaos

"I have to say, this place is nice," Reynolds commented while looking around the cave.

The rumbling sound of water crashing to the ground was resonating in the cave. The cave was well hidden behind a waterfall.

"Yeah, quite nice. Hopefully, other people won't find it." Grey said.

"I'm less concerned about people, and more concerned about magical beasts. Just imagine appearing here all of a sudden and an eight-foot Water Bear pounces on you. That wouldn't be nice, in any way," Reynolds said, a little annoyed.

"Come on, it was only a small hit. And besides, you were the one who said you didn't need any help," Grey laughed when he looked at Reynolds' sour expression.

When they found the cave, it was occupied by a Water Bear. The Bear was in the Sixth stage of the Origin Plane.

Grey initially wanted to scare it away with an attack, but Reynolds said he wanted to test out his strength. After advancing, he hadn't seen a worthy opponent. He couldn't say he wanted to fight with Grey given how overpowered Grey was, so on seeing the Bear, he was excited.

The cave was quite spacious, around one hundred to one hundred and twenty meters wide.

When the battle first started, the Bear was quite conservative since it was wary of Grey sneak attacking it. But as time went on, it noticed Grey didn't even have any plans of fighting, he went to the side and watched.

It immediately exploded out with raw strength which stunned Reynolds. The sudden change caught Reynolds by surprise which allowed the Bear to land a swiping strike at him. It sent him flying, slamming into the side of the cave.

Although he defeated the Bear at the end, the pain he felt all over wasn't something to joke about. The Bear truly planned on killing him with that strike.

He didn't kill the Bear in the end, letting it go with a small wound. The wound wouldn't really affect its daily life, so he counted it as being lenient with it.

"It's lucky I let it live," Reynolds snorted.

"Come on, you were invading its home, it's bound to attack. You don't expect it to just sit there and watch you take it, right?" Grey chuckled.

"*Sigh* I guess it was right to attack, but damn! That hit was ferocious," Reynolds massaged his left arm as he responded.

Grey laughed before he got to work, he would be the only one using the array. Reynolds only accompanied him so he would know where the array was, and because he wanted to spend a little more time with his friend.

Even though they would be able to communicate more frequently, he doubted Grey would be that free given how much of a training freak he was.

Some minutes later, Grey completed the array, looking at it intensely.

'There should be a way to link all arrays together, given how this one is only connected to that particular coordinates, it would be difficult to use it to get to another place. I'd have to modify the array when I next plan to use it.' Grey thought.

"I guess you'll be leaving now?" Reynolds said while looking at the array.

He still couldn't figure out how these weird lines could move someone from one part of the empire to another in a short time. Arrays had always stumped him, especially how they worked.

'No need to think about it, my brain might explode if I think about it too much.' He said to himself.

"Yeah, we'll see sooner than expected, hopefully," Grey said.

"Try to stay alive," Reynolds advised.

"Of course, who do you think can stop me if I want to escape?" Grey said confidently.

"An extremely strong, and fast Peak Overlord Plane expert," Reynolds replied after thinking for a while.

"You're no fun, it's a rhetorical question, you weren't supposed to answer that," Grey almost facepalmed.

He knew a Wind or even Lightning Overlord Plane expert at the peak of the Plane could catch up to his speed even in the Fusion State, but he didn't think the emperor would really send someone that strong after him.

"I'm just stating facts," Reynolds replied with a shrug.

"Haha, it's nice being with you again. We'll soon be able to meet up freely again, soon," Grey punched Reynolds on his shoulder lightly.

"Yeah, I hope so," Reynolds replied as he watched Grey step into the array.

His eyes almost shot out when he saw the number of essence stones Grey brought out.

Essence stones were divided into three grades, low, medium, and high. And currently sprawling on the ground were over fifty medium-grade essence stones, which was a lot, given how rare essence stones were in the Azure continent.

There were very few essence stone mines in the continent, and it was greatly fought over by not only the empires but the big families as well.

Now he understood why Grey said the consumption was insane. He wasn't lying, it truly was insane.

"Where did you get so many essence stones?" Reynolds couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, this? I took it from Alice's dad," Grey replied.

"There's no way he'd give you that much. You stole it," Reynolds immediately concluded.

"It's not stealing if Alice was the one who gave me permission," Grey smiled.

"Damn, her dad would probably be crying after finding out so many essence stones are gone, and he doesn't even have any idea where they went,"

"It's not like he doesn't deserve it," Grey muttered quietly.

"Alright Rey, I'll be going now. I suppose you already know how to use the array?" Grey asked.

He remembered telling Reynolds how to use the array, but he didn't know if he would be able to.

"Yeah, I think. You know what, show me again just to be sure," Reynolds said calmly.

"You're not even embarrassed you couldn't get it the first time?" Grey rolled his eyes, before going all over again on how to use the array.

It was a very simple process, all he had to do is strike two spots after placing the stones in the right positions.

After showing Reynolds how to use it, he activated the array.

"Goodbye, Rey,"