Affinity:Chaos

Azure Empire.

In a cave in the forest.

Grey could be seen making a meal while Reynolds had his eyes closed, trying to recover with the help of the healing tonic Grey gave to him. He forgot Grey's instructions and drank it all, to the dismay of Grey.

Over the months, he had used a lot, and like all consumables, it would naturally run out. If not for Ellis telling him that a small amount will be enough, he would've almost finished it by now given how much he had been hurt.

The smell of the meat he was cooking wafted through the cave, drawing the attention of Reynolds who couldn't help but take a peek. He had been resting for a while now, so he was pretty much almost healed up thanks to the healing tonic.

"I've missed your cooking so much," Reynolds commented as he walked towards Grey.

"Oh, I got something for you," Grey recalled he had a gift for his friends before taking out a ring.

When they were looting the bandits, he made sure to take at least ten storage rings. He would give them to his friends, his Teacher, and his parents when he finds them. Now that he was with Reynolds, he wanted to give him his own.

"Wow! You made one for me?" Reynolds exclaimed.

"Well, not exactly. I took one from someone for you," Grey corrected his statement.

"Oh, well, I've always wanted one. Thanks to whoever gave you this," Reynolds said while taking the ring happily.

"You should probably wash that before putting it on," Void commented from the side.

"Huh? Why?" Reynolds asked, confused.

"It was taken from a dead guy," Void said bluntly.

"Oh, not bad. Is there anything inside? I mean the loot inside," Reynolds asked.

"Forget what I said, just put it on," Void said before trying to steal a piece of meat.

Grey caught him, smacking his paw away before using the water element to wash the ring, "There, you can put it on now,"

Reynolds sighed at the thought of not being able to get the loot inside the ring, but still wore the ring anyway. He had always wanted one since he knew about it, so getting one was better than not having any.

Grey taught him how to use the ring and within a couple of tries he was already good with it. The first thing he did was to contact Klaus with the communication device, to show off, of course.

Unfortunately, Klaus was unable to reply immediately.

"So, what's the plan for now?" Reynolds asked after not being able to reach Klaus.

"We'll find the others, I heard you guys have been having it tough since I left," Grey passed a piece of meat to Reynolds.

Void rushed over to grab a piece of meat that was at least two times his size before running away with it on his hindlegs.

Grey couldn't help but chuckle when he saw this. Even though food wasn't too useful to them given their current strength, they still enjoyed eating, Void in particular loved it. There had been occasions where he would give Grey a shiny object so Grey could cook for them to eat.

"Yeah, it's been quite rough. Luckily, we have this so we've been in contact with each other. Unlike you who ghosted us for months," Reynolds said after chewing down a big portion of meat.

"If I recall correctly, I told you guys I'd be leaving for six months," Grey defended.

"Well, it doesn't mean we weren't worried. Especially after the order to apprehend us became known by everyone. We were literally hiding," Reynolds said as he bit onto the meat angrily, "We thought you were captured when we tried to contact you,"

Reynolds spoke with meat in his mouth, and bits flew out.

Grey quickly created what seemed like a force field that stopped the bits of meat from getting close to him. Once they were around three inches, they would stop as if they hit something before falling to the ground.

"Hmm, I'm sorry for my prolonged absence, but I assure you, it was for our good," Grey finally agreed to apologize for leaving his friends.

"I'm not angry, I was just worried. Seeing you now, I'm happy you're okay, and better," Reynolds said quietly.

Grey rarely got to see this emotional side of Reynolds, so he knew he was truly worried about him.

"I can see you've broken through to the Overlord Plane," He said.

"Of course, what do you take me for?" Reynolds said proudly.

For someone to break through to the Overlord Plane before reaching twenty was something that rarely happened in the Azure Continent. The number of geniuses who have done this in the history of the continent could be counted by hand. But in this generation, almost that same amount has been recorded.

Grey's friends took up half of the number, with three others being recorded.

"A clown?" Grey answered Reynolds' question with a question.

"Haha, not funny," Reynolds said sarcastically.

He suddenly thought of something before looking at Grey, " Oh bud,"

"Hmm," Grey raised his head to look at Reynolds.

"Do you remember that guy that came from the same city as you. What's his name again… uhmm… J… Jo…" Reynolds paused, trying to recall the name.

"Jonas?" Grey asked.

"Yeah, that one. He was the first person amongst those who left the trial land to break through to the Overlord Plane," Reynolds replied.

"Oh, it's not unexpected," Grey shrugged, not surprised by the news.

The others still didn't know that he was the one who inherited the expert's legacy in the trial land.

"Why are you so calm about it?" Reynolds asked, surprised by Grey's reaction.

Grey went on to tell him about how he saw him receiving the expert's legacy back at the trial land.

Reynolds was shocked when he found out that Grey actually encountered the legacy, but left it to someone he wasn't even friends with.

"You're a weird one," Reynolds replied.

To be honest, if he were the one in that position, he would definitely take the power, especially from someone in the Starlight Academy, given the conflict between both Academies at that time.