Chapter 130: Let’s Go All Out!
Finally, the day of departure arrived. Right at dawn, Priam, Shione, Flaris, and Lumiere had one last meal with everyone from the clan. After that, they moved to the central teleport inscription of the Pyrix clan.
Already inside that inscription, there was a flying boat a few dozen meters in diameter, with a black prow and its entire hull covered in glowing runes. When he arrived, Priam lightly analyzed that flying boat.
This was a basic and efficient model of flying boat, sold by a sect specialized in forgers from the Divine Plane. Its price was quite affordable, and most clans from the Mortal Plane could buy one, and then use it for the same purpose: going to the Divine Plane.
Priam clenched his fists. In them, there was a golden crystal with complex runic marks.
That crystal was like an invitation from the sects. Without it, it was almost impossible for Mages from the Mortal Plane to cross the universe and go to the Divine Plane.
That was because, at the border between the two planes, there was an extremely high-level natural energy barrier. Only a spatial power far above what low-level Mages could use would be able to pierce through that thing.
If that thing didn’t exist, obviously, everyone from the Mortal Plane would move to the Divine Plane without caring about anything else. After all, there were infinite planets, and some of them were empty enough to live on.
The sects of the Divine Plane couldn’t rely only on the young people born in that place. Because the more powerful a Mage was, the harder it was to have children. So, the native population of that region was very small.
In all sects, at least 70% of the young people who were accepted came from the Mortal Plane. To help those young people reach that place, all sects had connections with clans from the Mortal Plane that they considered acceptable.
So, years before the recruitment date, representatives from those sects would visit the clans and deliver that invitation crystal.
Using it was simple: all one needed was a flying boat with a minimum level of power and to place that crystal as its power core. That would allow them to use enough spatial power to reach the place.
Besides that, the crystal had the coordinates of a safe route to the recruitment planet.
After all... there were many terrible dangers in space.
Even Mages from the Divine Plane had to be very careful. So, fixed and safe routes to each of the sects were established, and everyone going to them used those routes.
The Ylisse clan got lucky because the invitation crystal for the Thunderhead divine sect had been stored in a different place from the other treasures. So, it was saved, and now it could be used.
As for the flying boat, it was a courtesy provided by the Pyrix clan for the young people of the Ylisse clan to use.
"Son, good luck. Remember that your two siblings need to meet you, so don’t take too long to visit us." Seien’s voice sounded soft.
Priam turned and nodded lightly.
At that moment, both his father and his mother, as well as Orlaith, sighed.
Priam had an absolutely empty expression on his face.
Before, he had been an arrogant young man who sometimes smiled and mocked others without hesitation. But now... sometimes he even faked a smile, but it was clearly very forced. It was as if all his joy and youthful energy had been drained from his body.
Shione spoke excitedly. "Mother! We’ll make you proud!"
"Yes, just wait a few years. We’ll come back and take everyone from the clan to the Divine Plane," Lumiere added.
Orlaith nodded lightly.
"Be careful. In the Divine Plane, even the smallest mistake can cost you your life. Even in the test to enter the sects, it isn’t abnormal for there to be many deaths."
After the farewells, Priam gave one last look at his father and mother. He said nothing, only took a deep breath, giving a slight wave of his hand in farewell.
Everything that needed to be said had already been said over the last few days.
The young people entered the flying boat. At that moment, Priam looked into Flaris’s eyes.
"Are you sure this will be necessary?" she asked.
"The chances are high, so there’s no harm in being careful. Just follow the plan if necessary," Priam replied, while moving to the center of the flying boat.
He calmly placed the invitation crystal into its core.
When he turned toward the outside, the Elder of the Pyrix clan met his gaze and nodded. Immediately, he activated the teleport inscription.
The entire flying boat lit up.
The space around them began to distort little by little, gathering a lot, a lot of energy before shooting off.
Lumiere and Shione looked at their mother from afar, both clenching their fists, anxious. Meanwhile, Priam and Flaris were focused and alert.
**BUZZ!**
In just a few seconds, all the space in front of the flying boat bent.
A burst of intense power erupted, and they disappeared from the planet like a bolt of lightning.
...
The group of youths found themselves in a dark void, moving at a terrifying speed.
The flying boat had a white barrier of protection around it. Everyone inside could stand, watching everything around them.
The trip should take about a day. In twelve hours, they would cross the barrier to the Mortal Plane. So, everyone could relax and enjoy the trip.
As for the invitation crystal in the core, it had a limited amount of energy, since it wasn’t cheap for the sects to manufacture and send them to countless clans in the Mortal Plane.
But the initial energy was already enough to reach the sect with the defensive barrier raised. And, in case something unexpected happened, it could absorb a minimal amount of damage and ignore the obstacle once.
This was already a very safe trip, and it even had a redundancy to make them feel more at ease. Rarely did the youths going to the sects fail to reach their destination.
As for the route, the boat moved on its own using the coordinates inside the crystal.
...
In less than five hours, the environment around them began to change.
"Look! We’ve reached the official route!" Lumiere pointed toward a distant place.
In that direction, everyone could see a white dot moving, with a large tail right behind it.
It was another flying boat. That meant they were officially on the route to the Thunderhead divine sect. That was another group going to the same place.
At that moment, Priam turned to Flaris, and she nodded, moving to the center of the boat.
She was ready to take command.
The flying boat moved on its own, but if something happened, someone would have to give commands.
...
The minutes passed slowly, until...
**CRACK!!**
Suddenly, their flying boat shook violently. An explosive sound came from the tail.
The tail had been violently hit by another flying boat!
Their protective barrier trembled... then practically all the extra defensive energy it had was drained.
At that moment, their flying boat drastically slowed down.
It wasn’t a problem; they would still reach the location as planned at that speed.
"You bastards!"
Shione roared furiously. The flying boat that had hit them belonged to a group of half-demon humanoids, from an unknown clan.
"Sorry, we had a slip-up with the controls. That changed our route by mistake."
The lazy voice of a figure rang out. His voice didn’t contain the slightest hint of apology, but rather an extremely provocative tone.
"They damaged us to slow us down," Flaris’s dry voice sounded, making Shione and Lumiere widen their eyes.
Why did they want that? The two were confused and stunned.
Suddenly...
Other flying boats appeared from every direction, approaching.
They quickly got very close to their flying boat.
That definitely couldn’t be a coincidence, since the automatic mechanism should keep them at a much greater safe distance. In other words, they had been manually commanded to do this.
"!"
In just a few seconds, a dozen flying boats formed an encirclement around them.
All of them had full energy and an even greater speed.
Flaris clenched her fists, growing tense, but keeping her focus.
Shione and Lumiere broke out in cold sweat, but when they turned to Priam...
They saw him smiling faintly.
That was definitely a dark smile, something they had never seen on him until then.
"Flaris, burn all the energy to gain more speed. Let’s go all out!"
Upon hearing that, Shione and Lumiere froze. Doing that was the same as making it impossible for them to reach the destination!