"And that's about it." Jack finished his explanation as he sat in his throne like chair in front of Seline, Nivi standing just slightly behind him in full attention. He had spent the last few minutes explaining that he would be absent from the Cradle for some time as he was about to depart to search for the key holder he had promised Selin, and that Nivi would be the only one of his maids to follow him. Jack supposed he could have not bothered with a proper explanation, only giving Selin the bare minimum, but since he was taking Nivi along with him, Selin would have to make some arrangements to assign a temporary healer to Jack's maids so they could continue training in the dungeon.

  Thankfully, due to Jack's earlier plans, that particular task was a simple one to solve for Selin, Healers were the one role her tribe now had an overabundance of, and thus could adjust rather well. The remaining maids were already in the know, resting in their home and awaiting the arrival of their temporary replacement member.

  "Understood." Selin nodded her head, already making mental calculations about the better choices for said temporary healer, though she could not help but ask "We should not expect any overly large activity from the beastmen in your absence then?"

  "Heh." Jack smirked at the question, raising his brow as he replied with a question of his own "And just what kind of force would they have to send for that to be the case?"

  "Of course, silly me. It just still feels so surreal to be in a position that we are in right now. For generations we have been nomads, always in fear that the next season of conflict might just be the one that would plunge our lives into chaos and despair. Enslaving us and our close ones. And now, here we are- stronger than ever before. Stronger than we have ever even dared to dream."

  "Fair enough." Jack just shrugged.

  "Safe travels and may you ever be successful in your endeavors." Selin rose from her own seat and bowing towards Jack.

  "Mhm. See you soon." Jack replied and rose from his chairm, stored away his favourite portable throne/chair, turned and left Selin's home and office behind. Nivi bowed towards Selin in much the same way the other woman had and then quickly rushed after Jack, always doing her best to stick right behind him. Close enough that Jack could easily sense her presence, yet far enough for it not to become irritating or undesirable.

  Jack had to admit, Selin was quite a capable leader, acting with decisiveness and purpose once she made up her mind. Doubly so if she was sure that whatever she had decided on was most definitely a boon to her tribe. Case in point Zena and her plus several. The moment Selin heard the details surrounding them, she had little to no reason to refuse them and send them away- something that happened on the regular these days.

  It seemed that there were a lot of tribes that came to seek aid from the people Cradle, most of which came in the form of requests for asylum. Selin was smarter than that though, and refused them all. One might find it heartless, cruel even, but in a world that was ruled by the laws of the jungle that was the only way to ensure your own survival. What a large number of modern people grown up in the lap of luxury- at least that would be what Selin and her kind would call the modern earth conditions of living- would fail to understand was just how envious and greedy people could be.

  Each tribe saw their own people as the most important, always seeking ways to enrich them. So far so good, right? Such thoughts were only normal, commendable even one might say. Until the moment that said tribe became a guest to a different one. The end result would always be the same. The guest would seek more and more ways, subtle as they most often were, to expand the influence and power they wield within the hosts tribe, slowly cannibalizing it from inside. While the host would try and integrate their guest within their own. The end result would always the end of one of the parties.

  That in and of itself would not be too much of a problem. The end result would be a unified group that was now a combination of the two before. Unfortunately, more often than not such merger's would culminate in quite the bloody carnage if the guest was cannibalizing its host too fast. And in Selin's tribes case, they were not all that large. Accepting other tribes within their own numbers would inevitably lead to a coup of sorts. And one that would be extremely bloody. Her tribe's people were advancing too fast and would eventually all become second awakening.

  Taking in Zena and her group was different however. Not only were there no men among their numbers, save for a small number of young boys nowhere near the age where bravado and ego has spoiled them, but they also came from several different, now wiped out tribes. It would be easy enough to integrate them into Selin's tribe, allowing them to grow without the aforementioned dangers. And, as an additional bonus, the influx of fresh blood in the shape of feminine would no doubt push the men of Selin's tribe to work all that much harder. There was no better motivation for a man than the safety of their own family or the chance to impress and draw the attention of a potential partner.

  Not that there would be no oversight however. Selin was smarter than that, even with the likelihood of anything going wrong quite low. not only would she have a couple of the better scouts keeping an eye on these new arrivals, but so would Spartacus. The man was, after all, supposed to lead the rebellion against the beastmen, thus it was only to be expected that he also keep his future forces united and strong. Plus, Jack's maids were encouraged to do a bit of observation themselves.

  With all of the necessary prerequisites solved, Jack could depart with an ease of mind, and so he did precisely that. Together with Nivi the two found a decently empty plot of land where Jack deployed his new and improved wings. The sight was quite the spectacle as from his back burst forth an ink like black mass that shot outwards for a moment before a split second later unfurling into four, undulating energy based wings.

  With the wings deployed, he beckoned Nivi closer, wrapping one of his arms around her waist and pulling her closer still once she was within arms reach, her body pressed tightly against his own. Then, with the free hand he offered her a small, unassuming gray ring.

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  "Put it on. It will maintain our current relative position and ensure you do not get taxed by either the wind, pressure of time spent during flight. We would have to take too many stops otherwise."

  "Y-yes master." Nivi ducked hear head shyly, hiding her eyes from Jack's almost soul piercing gaze, but still did as told, taking the ring and putting it on.

  Then, once Jack was sure everything was in order, he slightly crouched at the same time as his wings wound up, and then pushed himself up with both his leg strength and the massive wings, propelling the duo skyward. With impressive speed the wings swung up and down again and again, lifting the duo further and further skywards, only stopping the ascent when they reached close to a kilometer high.

  From up there, a breathtaking sight took Nivi's breath away for a long while, her mouth agape in wonder and eyes sparkling with excitement. As far as eye could see, the steppe stretched, littered with differently sized patches of woods here and there. Or an occasional lake took up a decent spot within it.

  "Beautiful." Nivi could not resist but half whisper, her head turning as far as it could while she drank in the sight.

  "Heh. Just so so." Jack smiled at the captivated elven girl, his own mind momentarily taking him to the sights he himself had witnessed. The divine realm heavily lacked in conflict and whatnot, but it had some of the most breathtaking places one could imagine. Was it any wonder then that Jack was quite jaded in that regard. "But it does have its own charm I suppose." he added, understanding the difference all too well and deciding there was no need to discourage his elven maid.

  "Let's find that former home of yours and deliver some well deserved justice, shall we?" he grinned and produced the formation plate he had made with Nivi present.

  "Take this and show me." he handed the inscribed formation plate to Nivi with a light smile on his face. She took it without hesitation and turned it towards Jack a second later, revealing to him the two arrow compass pointing in the same direction just as it had before. Then, with the direction clear, his wings suddenly lost the relaxed pace they were flapping at and keeping the pair's altitude, propelling them forward with quite considerable speed. Thanks to the ring Jack had provided Nivi with, the young elven maid experienced no adverse effects, thus she could enjoy the full wonder that is flying.

  The world slid by at an incredible speed once Jack picked up the pace, leaving nothing but blurry mess beneath them. It was all good though, as far as Nivi was concerned- she had been given a fair few minutes to gaze at the magnificent sight below before her master picked up speed. And besides, she had two other, more pressing matters that occupied her mind. First, it was their destination. Her eyes darted towards the formation plate turned compass every now and then, the realization that she was on her way to see the supposed family who abandoned and discarded her over false allegations clear in her mind. The triumphant smile her sister had given her when she thought no one was watching flashing before her eyes and igniting anger and loathing deep within Nivi's heart. The cold, dismissive stares of her parents shortly before she was bound and her memory taken. She remembered it all now, and cold fury was all she felt towards them and the city that had turned against her.

  And then there were thoughts of her master. The powerful and admittedly odd man that was Jack. For all intent and purposes, she was his property. He could do with her as he willed and no one would make a single complaint. And yet, he had been nothing but kind towards her and her fellow sisters in fate- at least as far as been enslaved could be classified as equal fate. Nivi knew well enough by now just how lucky she had been in her misfortune. And now, as they flew across the sky to resolve a knot in her heart, she could not help but press closer to him. As close as she could, hiding her face in his broad and feeling a sense of peace and calm there. Jack might be her master, their lives bound through magical contract with her as the property, but Nivi couldn't but feel safe where she was.

  'is this how those crazed worshipers feel towards their patron entity?' a stray thought slipped in Nivi's mind, a memory of stories about several groups blinded by their faith damn near rushing to their deaths in supposed service. 'Or am I just like one of those lovesick maidens, yearning for love where it could never bloom?' another, more perverse thought flashed through her mind, a passionate joining between her and her master flashing through her mind.

  'Impossible.' she mentally shook herself awake, deeming her latter 'fantasy' as too unrealistic, until she remembered her training. Her supposed purpose, and her cheeks flushed red once more. Sure, she might have all the knowledge but that did not make it any less embarrassing. Especially when you seemed to have a crush of sorts on your master/target for said actions. Regardless, all she could do was to bury herself in Jack's chest and chase the stray thoughts away.

  Both fortunately and unfortunately for Nivi however, the best way she could chase said stray thoughts away was focusing on something else that haunted her mind- namely the betrayal of her blood family for a single, simple fact. It was Jack who was going to play an enormous part in that too, going full circle back to the very steamy and stray thoughts. Woe was her indeed.

  Jack saw Nivi's internal turmoil from the corner of his eye as he flew, though he reasonably decided to let her deal with it on her own. Nivi was no master poker player, her inner thoughts easily surfacing on her face and thus served as a form of entertainment for Jack, and since it was nothing too threatening, Jack allowed the girl to experience some self development, all while he focused on both their surroundings and the inscribed formation plate that was their compass. Jack had their direction, yes, but he did not know how close or far their destination truly was. he would find out one way or another soon enough.

  It was important to note however, that the path did not take Jack deeper into the outer regions of the outer steppe. if anything, their path seemed to lead them parallel to the inner steppe's border. As parallel as it could be that is. And so Jack flew, his mind slipping into something of a trance as their forms blurred high above in the sky, unnoticed by the occasional beastmen raid group that stalked deeper in the outer steppe in search for more prey, or the beast packs that lived their lives far below.

  Most of the first day was spent flying, with only a couple short breaks taken to stretch or take care of business. The pair did land properly to rest for the night however. Overly large haste would do Jack no good, and Nivi was more than happy to spend more time alone with her master. Who knew, he might just call upon her to service him before they finally arrived in their destination.

  No such luck came for Nivi on the first night. Did not stop the elven girl from having more steamy thoughts and fantasies, resulting in a wishful sigh in the morning, replaced by a mighty blush as she herself realized the reason. She was having it bad, though thankfully not bad enough as to interfere with her duties. At least she so hoped, for she had no real duties for the time being. A quick breakfast later, she found her place- pressed against Jack's side and face hidden against his quite muscular chest- and they departed once more as the master and servant flew in the sky and towards their destination. The formation plate turned compass remained steady as it pointed towards their destination.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 50

  Class- Greater twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)

  Stats unassigned: +14

  Attributes:

  Strength- 39 (14+12+13(gear))

  Vitality- 38 (12+18+8(gear))

  Dexterity- 34 (15+11+8(gear))

  Intelligence-30(15+10+5(gear)

  Spirit- Spirit- 35 (20+15)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX+), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX+), Origin of matter(EX+), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX+), The end made manifest(EX+). Destroyers presence(unique legendary), It's all the same, really.(EX), Domain of Destruction(EX).

  Spells- Whatever the heck he needs.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster, Eldritch garbage disposal(legendary).

  Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.