CHAPTER 73: BACK TO THE IMMORTAL REALM

"Well, the kid’s like a walking magnet for disaster, and yet somehow, he is still alive, I doubt the main quest will make him die" shrugging off these thoughts in his mind as he recalls just how much freshly harvested materials the young man brought him within the days, proving his ability, the middle-aged store owner said to himself before he returns to organizing the things in his establishment.

Little did he know that the young man whose safety he is quite concerned with will definitely receive attacks that will kill him before it even hits him in this long trip that he is going to take, only it won’t actually kill him, and more of just incapacitate him for a while.

Said young man is already planning to head home, planning to just take some time and eat before he rests early for the night, intending to capitalize on this little time of rest to improve his Immortal Energy even further in order to prepare himself for the trip he is going to take even more.

"I’m back!!" opening the door of his humble abode, Azrael then announces his return as he heads directly to the kitchen of his apartment, cooking a good meal for himself with the herbs, as well as some meat that he got while hunting, said perishable goods stored in his spatial ring, where time won’t affect them for as much as they would be affected when brought outside.

Still fresh taken out from the spatial ring, the young man smiles as he starts chopping up the meat from an avian monster that he felled previously, dicing them into cubes before throwing it directly to the water in a container, making sure the water is still cold before turning the heat to make a broth, leaving it for now as he starts humming to an old tune while cutting, slicing and chopping the crops he picked up from his hunt as well, not forgetting to prepare the herbs and other ingredients, finishing his preparation before the broth even starts to boil.

Smelling the rich aroma from the broth as it starts to absorb the flavor of the meat thrown into it, Azrael couldn’t help but sigh in satisfaction before, in an extremely lazy fashion, he starts throwing on the container all the other ingredients that he chopped up, placing the herbs last before throwing in some sort of leaves and other greens to it as well, turning the broth even more fragrant than before.

Now lowering the heat even more to let the flavor improve, he decided to wait for a while, leaving the still cooking food in the kitchen as he grabs the remote on the low table he always places it on, turning the television to see if there’s any notable news that he should know off, not really expecting too much given the current stagnancy of the ascenders in the tenth floor of the tower.

And what he expects truly happens as there really wasn’t any noteworthy news occurring, the headlines once again mainly about ’rising stars’ ascenders who has yet to reach the tenth floor yet observed to possess high potentials, and their ascension to different floors, most of these rising stars being people who has a fairly good looking appearance and a unique charm to them, bringing them an extremely great fame to Earth’s populace, becoming people similar to the idols of old times in this era of ascenders.

"And now we have one of the most well-known rising stars, Ha Lee—" feeling bored as there’s just nothing about the tenth floor or any progress happening there, Azrael then decided to turn the television off as he starts smelling the fragrant, rich aroma coming out of the soup still boiling on the kitchen, the smell prompting him to get up in anticipation as he starts looking forward to his dish’s taste.

"Hahaha, this is some good stuff~" he thought joyously to himself as he took a mouthful of the broth now turned into a soup, the warmth running all the way to his stomach, making him feel satisfied.

Confirming that it is already good for consumption, he turned the fire off and poured the contents of the massive container into a massive bowl with servings large enough to satisfy a dozen normal people, as for ascenders, particularly ones with a good appetite like him.

"Hah... damn that was good! Thanks for the meal!" after just less than half an hour of savoring the flavor of this meal, Azrael then smiles in satisfaction as he brings the massive bowl down to the table, standing up as he plans to wash this once again before he cleans himself and falls back to sleep.

With everything else proceeding how he envisioned it, it doesn’t take him too long to prepare himself for bed, already on the embrace of his comfortable mattress, lying there as he stares in the ceiling, wondering if he can still enter the Immortal Realm, worried that there might just be a problem that would prevent him from doing so despite the words of that enigmatic beauty that he will return there in his sleep.

’No need to overthink it too much, I’ll find out when I sleep’ shrugging these thoughts off his mind, Azrael then closes his eyes and starts breathing in a rhythmic, consistent pattern, falling asleep in record speed to find out whether he can return to that Immortal Realm or not.

"Hoh? You’re back already, ready to improve your Immortal Energy again?" with his conscious still a bit cloudy, as if he is in the middle of reality and dreamland, Azrael was snapped awake as he heard a familiar, melodious voice that has this clear hint of charm and alluringness to it, hearing this voice making him smile as he can now confirm that he returned to his mysterious land.

"There’s no more thing to do outside, so I thought it would be a good idea to meditate" he replied as he stood up from his position, looking at this ethereal beauty with a smile on his face, seemingly even less affected by the absurd effects of her charms now.