Despite Kaelen's persistent arguments against their current plan, they ended up traveling for four days until they arrived at Lushfort.
Everyone saw some improvement during the trip too.
Aiden finally managed to get down the rhythm and pacing of his training well enough to unlock Basic Spearmanship.
Jax ranked up his Lifeforce Control skill to D.
Thalia improved her strings, mostly from using them to tie up Kaelen every time he tried to run away.
Kaelen upgraded his flames trying to burn said strings.
Selene trained her claws to become sharper.
The only person who seemed a bit stagnant was Liora, who still seemed to be struggling with how best to apply the skill she had taken at level 10.
Glancing at his own system, Aiden looked over the skill he had selected.
Advanced Brewing (E)
Passive
Your knowledge of potions has grown, allowing you to mix their effects.
You are able to merge up to three different potions together to make a fusion of all three.
The stability of this potion will make it last only for a short time, however.
While it would not do much in a basic situation, Aiden had grabbed the skill because of something he realized about his spear.
One of the abilities it had been granted due to the scorpion parts was the ability to store and inject venoms from a small compartment.
So while Aiden did not have any poisons, he did have Vials of Nausea, Irritation, and Firestarter.
If they were in a pinch, he could definitely make something that would help everyone escape.
Nevertheless, he had also been reading over the Accel Spearmanship book, most importantly studying its first technique.
Piercing Hail (D)
A technique that had the user spend mana to build up power before releasing a barrage of attacks.
The only problem was that Aiden still needed to develop his spearmanship more.
At the moment, he had Basic Spearmanship (E), Combo Star (E), and Accel Thought (E), but Piercing Hail (D) required Accel Spearmanship (D).
So he needed to train with his spear more before he could use it properly.
As Aiden drove, a bit lost in thought while he and Will discussed the logistics of their detour, Liora opened the window from the back.
"Take a look at the skyline," she said. "I think that big rock is part of the town."
Sure enough, when Aiden looked toward the horizon, he saw a massive monolith of stone looming in the distance.
It was artificial, a rectangular pillar leading up to a sharp point at the top.
Several glowing blue runes sat along the stone.
"T-That would be the teleport gate," Selene said. "The rock acts as a tuning rod of sorts. That's how people teleport from one gate to another."
Her arm shot out as she spoke, grabbing Kaelen by the back of his shirt collar as he attempted to jump out of the vehicle for the fourth time that day.
As they drove into town, they were stopped by the guards.
They showed their paperwork, parked outside the city, and made their way in.
"We really have to name our vehicle something," Kaelen said, looking around with a hopeful expression. "Just calling it the vehicle is getting stale, you know."
Aiden sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Kaelen, stop trying to distract us. We are trying not to be beheaded just because we know you."
"To be fair, he does have a bit of a point," Will said with a shrug. "It does need a name."
They continued into town as Kaelen kept pointing out different interesting stores around them.
Liora and Aiden stayed strong despite several tempting options, including potion recipe vendors and a magic store.
Surprisingly, Selene seemed the most susceptible.
She kept wanting to look at different shops before they had to direct her back toward the teleportation gate.
In a way, it felt like she was sorry for Kaelen's situation and wanted to help him delay, even if only for a few minutes.
Jax was also falling for it, mainly because Kaelen kept saying Jax's two favorite words.
Beer and nap.
Even Thalia fell for it once.
She did not start wandering off, but she did stare at a small children's toy store with a bunch of carved toys in the window as she kept walking with them.
When they approached the teleport gate, the structure at its base was massive.
At minimum, it had to be five hundred feet from one corner to another.
Several guards stood around its base, and groups of merchants and travelers lined up as if waiting for others to come through.
Making their way to the gate, Selene flashed her noble status.
The guards uncrossed their halberds and let them walk inside.
The interior was rather luxurious, with marble floors and golden trim all over the place.
A well-dressed elven woman sat behind a counter, writing something down as they approached.
"Welcome to the Lushfort City Teleportation Gate," the woman said. "My name is Lysithia, and I will be assisting you in arriving at your destination. Where will you be traveling today?"
She picked up her pages and tapped them against the counter to straighten them before looking up at the group.
"H-Hi," Selene said. "We are headed for Kambuldar today. We're visiting the family of a friend."
She once again slid her verification as a noble across the counter.
Lysithia took it and began looking through a file behind her before turning back to them.
"It looks like you all became an adventuring party just a month ago, yes? Is this trip for mortuary reasons?"
Everyone glanced between each other.
Liora crossed her arms.
"What exactly does that mean?"
Lysithia looked up with a solemn expression.
"Are you traveling to report a death or deliver a casket?"
"No," Kaelen said from behind Selene as he walked to the counter. "I'm very much alive here."
The clerk's eyes widened for a moment.
She put a hand to her mouth.
"Mr. Therindor, is that you? My goodness, your parents have been so worried. What made you decide to return?"
Kaelen looked uncomfortable as he scratched the back of his head.
"My friends here said I should go home so my mother and father at least know I'm okay."
"That, and the bounty they put out makes each of us a lottery ticket," Liora added unhelpfully.
The woman behind the desk nodded.
"To be fair, the bounty was made when the assumption was that Kaelen had been kidnapped, so it was meant to put a bounty on the kidnappers' heads instead of his rescuers. But I can see how the quest probably did not mention that."
She stamped a page and slid it across the table.
At the top sat six small rectangles of paper.
"These are your tickets. When you are ready to leave, present them to the guards, and they will send you through."
She picked up another page.
"I am sending a message to Duke Therindor now, so you should all have an armed escort waiting for you when you arrive. That way, nobody tries to swoop in and claim the bounty by grabbing Mr. Therindor."
The party made their way back to a seating area and looked over their tickets.
Kaelen scowled at a nearby wall with his arms crossed and his legs stretched out in an obnoxious way.
The rest of them sat and waited for their turn.
Liora, trying to improve the mood, turned to Kaelen.
"Soooooo, what's your family like?"
Kaelen scoffed and shrugged.
"Dad's a warrior who loves muscles more than anything. So, as you can totally see, I'm his favorite."
He held up one arm, then wrapped his other hand around it to show how thin it was.
Then he turned to look at the skylight and continued.
"Mom has always wanted to climb higher socially. She started as a merchant's daughter and married my dad to gain nobility, so the marriage was mostly her idea. Dad didn't say a word to stop her, though."
"They sound…" Aiden said, trying not to let the confusion seep into his voice. "Interesting?"
"They sound like a bunch of damn lunatics," Will said unhelpfully in Aiden's head.
Kaelen turned as if to retort, but before he could, their numbers were called.
He looked at the rest of them.
"Last chance," he said. "We can just walk away and not deal with all of this."
Everyone stared him down.
Kaelen sighed and dejectedly walked toward the glowing magic circle in the middle of the room.
Once they all stood on the platform, someone checked their tickets and made sure they were in the right spots.
A minute later, the magic circle began to spin around them.
Parts of the circle rose up and rotated.
Then there was a flash like waking up with the sun in one's eyes.
Suddenly, the air was much colder than it had been before.
Aiden glanced around.
Small details about the room were different now, and they were quickly ushered off the platform and led toward the desk.
Instead of the elven woman from before, a flamingo halfblood worked the counter this time, their bill chewing something like a snack as they scribbled down the party's details.
As everyone stood there waiting for them to finish, the sound of rushing footsteps echoed through the room.
They all turned.
The man charging toward them was an elven man with shoulders the size of Aiden's torso and deep tanned skin.
A large scar ran over his nose and under his eyes, and his deep blond hair was tied in a ponytail behind his head.
He wore a white undershirt beneath a formal black overshirt, along with a set of fancy dress pants.
A longsword sat at his side, seeming more ceremonial than anything.
None of that was the most striking part.
The most striking part was that the man was flying through the air vertically at a terrifying speed.
Before anyone could do anything, Kaelen was tackled around the waist.
The two rolled across the floor before the man sprang to his feet, holding Kaelen under the arms like a child.
"Kaelen!" the man bellowed. "You're finally back! You had your mother and I worried sick!"
Everyone stared at the man they now knew was Duke Alvin Therindor.
"Would," Liora said quietly.
Everyone turned to her with matching looks of confusion.
Liora gestured toward him.
"Seriously? Look at those shoulders. The man has a triangle back, for crying out loud."
Before anyone could process that, the duke walked over to them, still carrying Kaelen.
"I hear I have all of you to thank for convincing my son to come back home for a visit."
"I-It was no trouble, sir," Selene said, holding up her hands. Her left arm looked normal due to her hiding skill. "We saw the poster and figured you were worried sick."
"It's been almost a hundred years since he left," Duke Therindor said. "Rewards are in order. Please, follow me back to my estate."
Without another word, the duke started walking, Kaelen sitting on his shoulders like he was a child again.
Kaelen's face was bright red with embarrassment.
The rest of the party glanced between each other.
Then they all shrugged and followed.