Chapter 18 – Geola

Her injury wasn't deep. The arrow only left a few centimeters long wound on the surface without penetrating her skull. As expected of an earth sorceress, well-known for their toughness. Since the opponents were rank 1, that was the best they could do to a rank 2 who constantly strengthened her body with sel. She twitched a little when my finger passed over the injury but stayed very stoic otherwise.

"Here you go. You should have someone look at it again when we're in the city."

"Hm… Thanks."

"So… Do these kinds of attacks happen a lot here?"

She glanced at the corpses before wincing and looking away again.

"Coyotes. Probably deserters from Taifau."

"Taifau?"

"A bad country. Let's move on now."

She didn't seem in the mood for small talk anymore, which was understandable. I followed her in silence and we moved forward at a fast pace. She left the bodies behind without giving them another glance and tried to get away from the scene as quickly as possible. However, I carefully memorized the coordinates of this place. It was only natural to loot your enemies once they were dead. It was my right as the winner. Plus, whatever I could get from them would be a great help in this unknown world since I didn't have anything to my name here. I hoped beasts wouldn't eat their bodies and take their belonging before I came back to collect them.

For the next several hours, there was no discussion between Selva and me. I used that time to reflect on the previous encounter. It was true that I was careless, even though I never was in danger at any time. Just like Selva had her tough reinforced skin to protect her, I had my means of defense. The reason why the arrows never hit me was because of my fourth and final spell, personal dimensional vectorial alteration, more commonly known as spatial shield. It was a spell that I had constantly on me and altered the path of any attack that reached me at a speed that exceeded a threshold. Basically, it deflected the arrows that came at me, sending them to a tree behind Selva.

Just like for most specializations, it was the first spell I was told to learn. This made sense since mastering a defensive spell first allowed people to survive longer, giving them enough time to learn other spells and get stronger.

Spatial shield was considered one of the most powerful defensive spells amongst all specializations. Because of its nature of not blocking damage but simply redirecting it, it was able to handle attacks from people ranked higher than the one being shielded. On top of that, it was invisible, didn't weigh anything, and I could maintain it forever. It used a portion of my sel but was well worth it.

A couple of hours later, we started to hear some slightly watery noise in front of us. I was a city person but even I could recognize what this sound meant. As expected, after a few more minutes, a river came into our view. Yes, not a stream, not a brook, but a river.

'Bingo. I'm rich.'

"Let's take a break here."

"S-sure."

Selva went to the river, crouched in front of it, and drank directly from it. I had to force myself to stop trembling and contain my excitement. Not just a river, but unpolluted, directly drinkable water! If the forest was money, this was no different from an inexhaustible gold mine! With this simple discovery, I was set for life. I might even have a more prosperous future than in my other world. Life was truly full of surprises, bad and good combined.

Many thoughts crossed my mind. I could repay Suuru much faster than expected. I could start a water business inside the dome. I could become the trader I always wanted to be.

But first, I ran to the river and drank like crazy. It was only now that I realized how I missed having an infinite supply of water. I drank, drank again, and drank some more. The water was fresh, pure, and delicious. It felt like heaven.

When I was so full of water I could burst, I sat on my butt and let a sigh of satisfaction out. I could see Selva looking at me weirdly but I couldn't care less right now. What this the emotion gold rushers felt when they discovered enough of the metal to justify all their efforts? I could understand their feelings right at this moment. I even started to giggle by myself while thinking about my future.

"Why are you laughing creepily like this? Stop that and let's get going again."

We didn't even stop for five minutes and she wanted to leave again. She truly was impatient. When I looked up, she was staring at the horizon, in the direction of the river's meanders. Following her gaze, I noticed something there, far away. I was able to discern some buildings and fields, a few kilometers away from us.

"That's Geola?"

"Right. We're almost there. Let's go."

I nodded and we resumed our walk, following the riverside this time. Geola seemed to have been built there due to this river, which made sense since water was always precious for civilizations. The fields that were visible from here probably used its water to get irrigated whenever rain wasn't enough.

After around one more hour, we were finally in front of the city itself. If the city in dome 82 was made of several kinds of building materials while retaining a certain harmony in architecture, this one was yet another marvelous sight. To put it in one world, it was absolute chaos. There were buildings of all sizes, forms, and colors, made from any materials one could imagine. Some were as small as my height, created out of wood or resin. Others were as big as castles, made from stone and iron. But even those high-rise buildings weren't towering over the city.

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