1889 Thousands of Miles (Part 1)

"What an odd measuring unit." Lith said with sarcasm. "Did you clean the place? And I mean deep cleaning?"

"Of course. Origin Flames and everything." Her answer made the couple sweat at the thought of the nights of passion that had taken place inside those walls to require such a drastic measure.

"The house is right beside a mana geyser so if you stand on it while focusing on the tower, you can call upon Solus at any moment." Salaark nonchalantly continued the tour. "If you want some company, this compass always points at my palace."

She handed Lith a small device the size of a penny.

"Also, two hundred kilometers in that direction there is the coastal city of Yrma. Excellent seafood and hospitable people, especially if you show them my seal." She handed to each one of them a silver coin embossed with Salaark's human and Phoenix form.

"Is there anything you need to know?" She asked, receiving a no for a reply. "Great, then I'll get out of your hair. Bye!"

Kamila stored the seal in her dimensional amulet and took another tour of the house on her own to familiarize herself with the place.

"Fine, show me those damn swimsuits." She said after noticing that Lith's gaze followed her like an abandoned puppy.

"Your wish is my command. I prepared several of them to give you plenty of choices." A wave of his hand made them appear on their bed.

The first was a one-piece swimsuit with no neckline that only left the legs and arms exposed. Then there was a bikini that covered the same amount of skin as comfortable underwear.

After that, they became risqué. One was partially see-through like lingerie, another was comprised of just three triangles with thin laces that covered solely the important parts, and the last one looked like suspenders joined at one end.

"Who in their right mind would ever wear this thing? I'd rather go around naked!" She said in outrage.

"Be my guest. We are married after all." Lith replied.

"No. I've come here for a honeymoon, not for a sex marathon." Kamila took the one-piece swimsuit and saw Lith's face turn dark as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in despair just to be suddenly silenced.

"Fine!" She took the underwear-like bikini and a smile returned on her husband's face. "I should have known that this would happen the moment I proposed to the offspring of a perverted lizard."

***

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in the Gorgon Empire.

"I resent that." Leegaain grumbled, his colossal body coiled around the Magic Empress' desk.

She was revising the dossiers from the seven great academies of the Empire while the Father of all Dragons conducted dozens of experiments at the same time. Over half of them were aimed at finding a way to give his daughter Zoreth a fully human body.

Flasks filled with undead, Abomination, and living tissues floated in mid-air as he mixed them with different proportions. He used Body Sculpting to force them to mix and a steady flow of life force to keep the hunger from the dead tissues from harming the living during the process.

He had managed to replicate the Master's procedure, but he had been stuck at that point as well, incapable of making the fusion take the last crucial step. Upon Faluel's request, Leegaain had even taken a look at Glemos' Harmonizer, deeming it a failure.

The device fixed the wearer's life forces by brute force, causing unpredictable long-term consequences and offering no hints for a permanent and stable solution.

"What do you resent, exactly?" Milea raised her eyes from the dozens of holograms in front of her.

Paper was too precious to waste it on paperwork so she had the clerks of the Empire fill out solely digital copies of regular documents. Only the secret files and magical records that needed a physical copy to avoid tampering were still printed.

"There is this woman who called me a perverted lizard!" Leegaain replied.

"Seems an accurate estimate to me." The Empress lost interest and browsed the documents again. "Besides, since when do you listen to everyone who badmouths you? Is she one of your too many children?"

"No, she isn't and I wouldn't even care for her if it wasn't for some special circumstances." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated." Leegaain replied with a sigh.

"Fine, if you want to play mysterious, suit yourself. I don't care who your girlfriend of the week is." Every year, Milea had his most trusted retainers check the profiles of the academies' students and report the most talented kids to her.

Then, she would personally go and meet them to check if they were Awakened. The Empire was the greatest magical force on Garlen, but the lack of fake Awakened like the Corpse or the Feathers crippled its military force.

The War of the Griffons and Thrud's forces wiping out the Empire's soldiers on the border made that reality even more painful. As long as the Empire lacked its own squad of loyal Awakened, invading the Desert or the Kingdom would cost her people way more blood than it was worth.

The Magic Empress hoped to build a small force of true Awakened and with their help, to turn the tables. So far, however, she had failed to meet a single one.

'Either they are too smart to stand out or they have a bloodline legacy and no need for the academies.' She inwardly sighed.

Then, a name caught her attention. A young girl named Kelia Sunbry had enrolled late as a first year. She was already thirteen years old, but her examiners had marked her as an S rank talent.

On top of that, the girl's potential seemed limitless. Strategy, combat, theoretical classes, she outshined her peers in every subject and her Professors praised her talent.

'Interesting. According to the papers, she's the daughter of a merchant from a small village yet it's quite odd that I never heard anything about such a talented girl. My recruiters scout even the most backwater communities once per year, I was supposed to have heard at least some rumors about her.' Milea thought.

'I'll wait for the first exam. If this Kelia gets ranked S again, I'll run a deep background check on her, and then I'll go meet her. Before asking her questions, I need answers.'

***

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in Jiera.

Roghar the Fenrir couldn't believe his luck.

'Every piece on the chessboard is aligned to perfection. I knew that Mogar would not let me down and pull one of their tricks for the sake of my research.' The Guardian thought.

Ever since Lith had activated the Call of the Void for the first time, revealing to possess the full powers of a natural undead, Roghar had stalked his prey.

The young Awakened was the first case of a natural undead returning back to life, conquering the black core and gaining powers that no Guardian had ever seen before.

What had stopped his hand until that moment wasn't the cold shoulder that his fellow Guardians of Garlen had offered him nor the threats they had made. It had all been a matter of timing and opportunity.