Pillar of Yita

Because he was so shocked, he even started stuttering and his tone got all jumbled.

”You should know Atira only left the Hall of the Holy Tree because of her younger brother, but so much time has passed now, and everything that needed investigating has already come to light.” The big Catfolk narrowed his eyes and spoke as if he didn’t really care, but his paw kept rubbing his pipe, betraying what he felt inside.

After adventuring together for so long, it was finally time to part ways. It might not be right now, but it was coming soon enough—how could that not make people sentimental?

”Actually back in Orlenze, we already received notice from the Holy Sanctuary, but Atira couldn’t set her mind at ease about you, so she planned to stay a bit longer. Once you all head to Scepter Coast, it’ll pretty much be time for us to say goodbye.”

Fang Hong opened his mouth and stared wide-eyed at the towering Lion People in front of him, but for a moment he couldn’t get any words out: ”B–but...”

He’d thought the Seven Seas Travel Group would never split up no matter what. Yet in the blink of an eye, the Catfolk and Elf Miss, who’d adventured with them the longest, were about to bid them farewell.

And he couldn’t find any excuse to keep them, either. Yeah, just like the Catfolk said, he and Miss Atira both came from the Hall of the Holy Tree—they couldn’t just never go back, could they?

Reed looked at his dumbfounded expression and couldn’t help laughing: ”Relax, it’s not like we’re never coming back. We’re just going back to report in. Atira has already decided to apply to travel the world on behalf of Lady Ameya. Just like there are Saintesses guarding the Holy Sanctuary, of course there are Ascetic Monks who shepherd the Goddess’s borders.”

”So that means,” Fang Hong hurriedly asked, ”you two will come back?”

”Probably,” the Catfolk nodded, ”but it’s hard to say. It depends on when the Elders in the Hall of the Holy Tree give us the go-ahead. Anyway, you don’t need to worry too much—just trust that Miss Atira can always get things done.”

He tapped those Crystal Bottles with his paw. ”You keep these potions for now. We’re returning to the Holy Sanctuary, but you still have to keep adventuring. If you run into trouble, use them first. If you don’t have to use them, you can give them back to us when we return. No rush.”

Only then did Fang Hong let out a tiny breath of relief. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the Catfolk would leave, he just hadn’t wanted to think about it, wishing the Catfolk and Miss Atira could stay forever.

But now that it had come to this, all he could do was believe that Miss Atira and the others would be back soon.

He pressed his lips together before answering: ”Anyway, if you can’t make it back for a while, I’ll just lead everyone to come find you. Besides, Parker still owes Sanxiak money, and we can’t keep lying to Miss Mei forever.”

The Catfolk nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing: ”You’re the Captain. What you say goes.”

So Fang Hong set the matter aside for the time being. He didn’t tell everyone, only a handful of people got to hear the news.

Elisa, Hilveld and Luo Yu were all able to accept it, but Parker just sat there in a daze for quite a while, looking like all the air had gone out of him.

As for Tianlan and the others, Fang Hong chose not to say anything yet.

He knew how close Tianlan was to Miss Atira in private; if she learned Atira and the Catfolk were leaving, she’d probably sob her heart out.

Ai Xiaoxiao and Gita were in about the same situation. Since there was still time, he decided to let them ease into the news slowly.

In the end, once the potions were distributed one by one, their effects showed up quickly. Ai Xiaoxiao, who’d received the most potions, shot up 5 Levels at once, leaping straight to Level 18.

Tang Xin and Tianlan each went up 3 Levels, though Tang Xin had already gained a Level in the underground of Mount Pieriad, so right now she happened to be Level 17.

Tianlan, on the other hand, was Level 19, almost at Level 20.

Luo Hao reached Level 20 and had now closed in on Gita, who was a front-line Member—though she herself had only just hit Level 22.

With that, all the Invoker Members of the Seven Seas Travel Group had cleared that Level 16 hurdle; they’d officially stepped out of the rookie phase and into the mid-to-high-level Invoker Domain.

Of course, that was only in terms of the First World.

On the front-line Member side, recently only Xiangzi had gained a Level in the last Combat, reaching Level 23, now on par with Luo Yu.

As for the Natives, the effect of using Experience Potions couldn’t be seen as directly. Fang Hong only knew that Hilveld had been around Level 16 or 17 before, and now was probably about Level 18.

For someone like Bakins, whose Level had already been high, it was hard to judge. According to him, he did feel some of his strength returning, but how much exactly was unclear.

Xiesta had simply handed her own potion to her young lady. What puzzled Fang Hong was that Hilveld didn’t refuse and just accepted it.

In his view, Miss Ship’s Officer wasn’t the selfish type at all, but when he asked about it, Hilveld only smiled and winked at him:

”Xiesta doesn’t need it.”

Hearing that, Fang Hong couldn’t resist looking over at Miss Maid, unsure whether it was arrogance or overconfidence. But Xiesta’s strength really was exceptional, practically on par with the Catfolk.

The last one to use an Experience Potion without any visible improvement was probably Pasha—mostly because he had no idea what that little boy’s strength tier even counted as. Ever since Pasha started learning Alchemy from him, though, the kid had been growing incredibly fast.