Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Upon their return to the vessel, Rain's group and Isa's group and the others who had stayed behind had a meeting to share the outcomes of their respective missions. The atmosphere in the meeting room held a blend of curiosity, anticipation, and a lingering sense of concern after the recent experiences.

Both groups relayed their findings, revealing a common thread in their discoveries—the absence of any signs of the dragons they had encountered previously. However, what they did find were traces of destruction left behind by the ice dragons that had been dealt with earlier.

The ravaged areas served as grim reminders of the chaos that had ensued due to the dragons' arrival and subsequent confrontation.

Furthermore, various teams that ventured into different parts of the world during their absence returned with limited success in their explorations. Despite their efforts, they hadn't find any substantial leads or notable discoveries related to the dragons or the relics.

The meeting held an air of shared frustration as the gathered members exchanged their accounts, each team's efforts yielding little in terms of progress towards understanding the ongoing mysteries. Still, as one would expect, everyone was quite curious about the teleport guy.

"This figure is certainly interesting," Isa said. "He must be someone of importance, just like the dragon god and they found something odd about Rain."

"Do you have any idea why they only took interest on you?" Regis asked.

"The relics is the main factor… aside from that, is the fact that I believe on the relics regarding their knowledge on how the dragons arrived in this world and how the world started, or ended fifty thousand years ago," Rain said.

As one would expect, the people in the room still had a hard time believing all that and those were his family and friends. As for those who heard that history for the first time, they couldn't help but question Rain's sanity.

"So… you say that before the world came to be as it is right now, only humans existed in this world," Regis said while trying to hold back a smile on his face. "They belonged to an ancient civilization that had advanced technology but couldn't use magic, until the first dragons appeared and destroyed everything… and you believed in them, even though you don't trust them on many other aspects."

"That is right," Rain said.

"Forgive me for having a hard time believing in all of this," Regis said.

"Not at all, it is completely comprehensible that you feel this way," Rain shrugged. "Anyway, I am collecting the relics to confirm all of that. Besides, I am pretty sure that the sixth relic that we can find will be on the layer below, you all will have the chance to see things by yourselves."

Upon hearing Rain's revelation about the potential location of the sixth relic, a wave of surprise swept through the room. Rain's claim that the relic might be found on the layer below surprised everyone, showing expressions of astonishment and curiosity among those present.

His nonchalant remark about his journey across the layer, something widely perceived as near-impossible, added to the intrigue. Instead of doubt, a newfound sense of excitement and curiosity began to take over the atmosphere.

The mere idea of exploring beyond their known world, venturing into the cosmos and searching through the world beneath theirs, ignited a spark of wonder and enthusiasm among Rain's companions. The concept that a single individual could expand their lives and perceptions to such an extent filled the room with a feeling that couldn't be described with words alone.

The prospect of venturing into uncharted territories and uncovering the mysteries beyond their current boundaries fueled their curiosity, turning an ordinary gathering into a moment of collective fascination and excitement.

"I wonder if things were like that back in the day when our parents were young," Annie whispered to Danny.

"I am still pretty young," Terra said.

"I am also quite fresh too, don't treat me like a relic from the past," Seara added.

"I don't mind assuming that I am old, I am rickety all over," Rain shrugged.

"Putting that aside… there are still plenty of places that we can investigate before taking this next big step," Esmeralda said. "Shall we talk about that and plan ahead. Everyone must be tired, but I will handle this with Regis."

Everyone nodded and then left the building of meeting. It was a place that everyone could enter and watch the leaders talk about all kinds of important things. In any case, Rain looked around while he was stretching and confirmed that the place truly looked like a city now… at least the part at the top of the vessel. Esmeralda made things proceed quite fast in that week.

"I wonder how things will change as the vessel keep expanding," Rain thought. "I guess I will have to do that slowly and see what happens.

Logic would say that as the vessel expanded, the distance between buildings would increase at the same rate… most people would feel weird out and realize that one day that their neighbors lived twenty meters away instead of ten, but that was for the best considering how much time they might live in there.

While Rain was thinking about that, he saw his kids walking together somewhere else… he wanted to invite them to drink something for a while, but it seemed that they had other business… Rain felt like sighing since they didn't even feel the need to tell him that.

Still, Rain eventually confirmed the reason for that were his wives… they dragged him together to their residence that was basically a replica of the old one that they had at the capital. Rain ignored that since he thought that he would score that night, two times at the same time… but unfortunately, Terra and Seara only wanted to use him as a pillow.

Rain thought that you win some and then you lose some. Such was life.