For the next few days, Arima just candidly answered to the questions of his students and gave them considerably more details. He wasn't really a scientist back in the other world, but given his thirst for knowledge, he had accumulated a lot of it.
Incidentally, for three days, he hadn't stopped picking talented students that he would put in the class to win the raking competition.
*******************************************
Meanwhile, on another continent, a huge serpent-like creature was sleeping at the bottom of a calm lake. The beast suddenly opened its eyes and put its head out of the water.
On the shore, the serpent spotted an elven girl looking at him with a small black cat on her shoulder.
The huge serpent yawned, "What do you want, Lifa?"
"Good morning, Master Jorga," She responded and smiled. "Lady Seria is requesting your presence."
Jorga frowned. "Seria? What does she want?"
Lifa shook her head. "I don't know. She just mentioned that it was pressing."
Jorga sighed and his body flashed with a blue light. His figure shrunk and landed on Lifa's shoulder. The now small snake glanced at his right and the black cat on the opposite side meowed at him.
"What is wrong with that cat? He's aberrantly strong."
"Oh, it's a pseudo-soul beast Arima gave me," Lifa patted the cat and said. "But, it's true that lately, he seems to have grown stronger for some reason."
"You bet," Jorga jested and grinned. "That cat is already stronger than your own father. He must be directly connected to Arima's soul. His strength doesn't depend on yours."
"Huh?" Lifa stiffened and stared at the small cat in shock. She lifted him up and squinted her eyes. "Deki, is it true?"
The cat tilted his head and wagged his tail. Then he meowed cutely like it was saying 'what are you talking about?'.
Lifa instantly lost against the cuteness and started petting him. Jorga chuckled and laid his head to sleep. "Let's go, take me to Seria. I'll take a nap, wake me up when you arrive."
Lifa sighed and immediately left. She jumped very swiftly from a tree to another and arrived, a few tens of minutes after, at the center of the Great Forest.
It was a very radiant and 'green' place. Almost identical to Evergreen's territory. Lifa quickly approached the Mother Tree in the middle of it. That tree was also a lot bigger than the one Arima visited before. Lifa stopped in front of it and gently touched it.
"Lady Seria, I brought master Jorga," She whispered and the trunk opened to form a sort of gate. Lifa entered with a smile.
Her vision blacked out for a second but when she was able to see again, she found herself in an endless meadow with tall grass growing everywhere. There were absolutely no variations on the ground, not even a small mound. When Lifa looked at the sky, she saw a perfectly blue sky and a relatively small sun.
There was just a small hut in front of her amid the vast and infinite plain. She entered the hut and spotted a mature looking woman sitting on a couch. She had dark green long hair and eyes. She also had pointed ears and wore a green dress decorated with some magnificent runes.
"Lifa," She smiled and said with a calm and relaxing voice. "Where is Jorga?"
"Here," Lifa pointed at her shoulder. There was a gray snake, nonchalantly sleeping there.
Seria smiled once again. She flicked her finger and the spoon that was on a table beside her flew and hit the snake on the head.
"Ow!" The snake interjected and fell on the ground. He obviously woke up and stared at the woman. "Seria! Respect people's resting time a bit!"
"Did you just say something?" Seria asked with a chilly smile.
"…Nah, nothing," Jorga instantly calmed down and slowly made his way toward another couch and climbed on it. "So, why did you call me?"
Seria grabbed a cup that was on the table and took a sip of the content. "I'm sure you realized 'he' is moving, right?"
Jorga scowled at her. "Of course, I noticed."
"When I asked him why he was moving, he said that a human had requested him to do so."
Jorga snickered. "I guess it's Arima. And? What do you want?"
"Arima, yes… that human who passed here not long ago. He was only around the eighth level at that time. I heard he met Evergreen not too long ago as well. The reason I called you here is actually to talk about him. You said to me that he owed you a favor. I want you to call him"
"Why?" The snake squinted his eyes. "I don't want to waste a favor from someone like him."
Seria sighed. "As I said, we're moving right now, and during the previous reunion of the dryads, we sighted another planet that was approaching us."
"Huh?" Jorga exclaimed and dropped his jaw and Lifa didn't react. She wasn't following the conversation and just kept drinking her tea while feeding Deki.
"Are you serious?" Jorga asked and Seria nodded. "…Is that planet deliberately coming toward ours?"
"Apparently," Seria shrugged. "That planet seems to be in dire conditions. Perhaps they're lacking resources and are seeking some from us."
Jorga grunted. "Well, you're probably correct about the fact that Arima can help us. I don't want to call him though."
Seria stared at him with a 'smiling' expression and he cowered. "Fine… I'll do it right away," He complied and closed his eyes.
********************************************
Back at the Main Land. Arima was leading a class when he suddenly received a telepathic message. He frowned and closed a book he was reading. He was actually supervising a test he had given to his students. To see how well they had studied what he imparted them.
He stood up in the middle of that test and every student looked at him. "I'll be out for a moment; I don't really know how long. But even if I don't come back for the rest of the day, I want you to continue doing the test. Lanya will pass them to the next people coming," He instructed and everyone resumed their work.
"Night, I'll call you if it's needed," Arima added and teleported.
******************************************
"Done," Jorga sighed. "You're happy? He said he'll come right away."
Seria smiled and clapped, "Then it's good. I need to prepare for his arriving." She stood up and prepared to leave.
"You don't need to do that. I don't like welcome parties," A voice resounded in the room and made her stop her movements. She slowly turned around to find a man sitting on one of her couches.
"I don't have that much time. Tell me what you want?" Arima stared at Seria. He thoroughly understood that it was her who told Jorga to call him.
"Unbelievable…" Seria muttered and Jorga smirked. "How did you get through my array so easily? Without me noticing? And how could you transfer here so quickly? Even for someone in the Earthen realm, it's too much. Considering you reached this realm barely a few weeks ago."
Arima grabbed a cake on the table and snacked on it. "To be exact, it's been more than a few months.
"Pardon?"
"I needed time to finish some of my magics, you see," Arima replied meaningfully and Jorga's eyes widened at the hidden connotation. 'Time!' he thought but didn't say anything out loud.
"Don't mind about the details," Arima followed and glanced at Jorga with a smile. "It's been a while big one. But you turned to be very small right now," He jested.
Jorga laughed. "Yeah, it's been while little one. Although you're quite big right now," He responded. This simple exchange carried a lot.
In one sentence, Arima greeted Jorga, commented on his actual size and used a double sense to denounce how 'small' he was in front of that dryad.
Meanwhile, when Jorga answered, he returned the greeting, mentioned the difference in size, but also the disparity in power that had been set between them.
Seria gazed at the two and sat down, almost sulking.
"Hello, Arima," Lifa cheerfully waved her had at Arima.
"Ah, we meet again, Lifa," Arima smiled and then focused on Seria. "So, who are you?"
"…I'm Seria, the dryad of this continent. It is me who demanded to call you," The dryad calmly introduced herself.
"Now that you say it, there was indeed a dryad on this continent…" Arima rubbed his chin in wonder. "What's your business with me then?"
Seria inhaled. "I'll go straight to the point. Because you made the planet move, another noticed us and now had its eyes on us. I want you to help us."
"Mm…" Arima mused. "Sure. If it's really my responsibility, it's a matter of fact that I should resolve the problem. How do you want me to help?"
"Eh?" Seria was taken off guard by how simple it was to get an agreement. She coughed and awkwardly smiled. "To be fair, I don't know. I thought that maybe someone like you would have an idea."
Arima blankly stared at her. "…Tell me one thing before I make my decision."
"Yes?" Seria raised her head and looked at him.
"That planet; is it acting on its own? And are there people remaining on its surface? You dryads should have inspected that already, right?"
"The planet, no, the Earthen God is acting on its own. To survive. There are survivors on the planet's surface, but they have long lost their reason and purely act on instinct to survive. If they ever reach this planet, it would be a disaster. Some of them are extremely strong. Stronger than me or Jorga."
"I see… I'll resolve this for you," Arima declared and stood up.
******************************************
Night sighed and stood up as well. He beckoned Lanya, "Make sure to give the tests for the next period. This is Arima's message for you."
Lanya wryly smiled as Night disappeared from the classroom. She helplessly shrugged and shot a sharp glare at the students who had stopped writing.
"Don't get distracted. Don't even think to try to slack off with me," She warned and it seemed pretty effective as everyone resumed their exam while sweating.
Arister observed curiously but didn't care much as he casually filled the questions and diagrams on the paper in front of him. When he had finished, he prepared to lie back when Lanya abruptly placed a new paper on his desk.
His expression twitched and Lanya chuckled.
*****************************************
Night quietly appeared on Arima's shoulder.
"Let's go, [Resonance]," They chanted simultaneously and a dark light shrouded the two of them. A strong wind blew inside the hut but nothing was damaged as the dryad maintained the furniture's integrity with neutral magic.
After the dark light faded, Arima emerged with black, thin, but strong-looking, scales all over his body, especially his arms. His hair grew longer and he deployed his wings while waving his tail. He looked at Seria with his crimson eyes.
"Give me the location. Take this planet as the origin point, zero if you will, and create a three-dimension grid. Horizontally X, vertically Y, and depth will be Z. Of course, with a map directed by north, south, east, and west. Tell me the location of the approaching planet based on that. 1 grade on the scale is equal to a thousand miles."
Seria was baffled by the sudden resonance and demand but she was intelligent and promptly converted everything into coordinates.
"… X: 326 Y: 405 Z: -556."
"It's closer than I thought," Arima muttered said and noiselessly disappeared.
Seria was left dumbfounded. She turned toward Jorga, "What does he plan to do?"
"Who knows. But if I had to guess, I'd say the problem now is as good as it never existed."
**************************************
Arima reappeared in space. His wings generated a sort of red light as he flapped them although there any air. He left an afterimage behind him and lightning traced his itinerary.
"That's funnier than I thought; not having any gravity or air resistance to deal with," Arima commented and accelerated. His usual speed was already unimaginable for a human but now he was in a friction-less space. His speed had already surpassed a hundred miles per second.
"{That's very true,}" Night agreed. "{But you still didn't tell me what the hell is going on. You didn't explain anything to me.}"
"You'll shortly understand."
After a few minutes, Arima, who had already bypassed a few planets and asteroids, had finally arrived at a point where he could clearly see the threatening ashen planet.
"{So, basically, you need to take care of that thing, huh? How?}"
"Well, there's no need to overthink it. Didn't I make a lecture about it not so long ago?" Arima smirked and his eyes flashed with a silver light.
For the next few days, Arima just candidly answered to the questions of his students and gave them considerably more details. He wasn't really a scientist back in the other world, but given his thirst for knowledge, he had accumulated a lot of it.
Incidentally, for three days, he hadn't stopped picking talented students that he would put in the class to win the raking competition.
*******************************************
Meanwhile, on another continent, a huge serpent-like creature was sleeping at the bottom of a calm lake. The beast suddenly opened its eyes and put its head out of the water.
On the shore, the serpent spotted an elven girl looking at him with a small black cat on her shoulder.
The huge serpent yawned, "What do you want, Lifa?"
"Good morning, Master Jorga," She responded and smiled. "Lady Seria is requesting your presence."
Jorga frowned. "Seria? What does she want?"
Lifa shook her head. "I don't know. She just mentioned that it was pressing."
Jorga sighed and his body flashed with a blue light. His figure shrunk and landed on Lifa's shoulder. The now small snake glanced at his right and the black cat on the opposite side meowed at him.
"What is wrong with that cat? He's aberrantly strong."
"Oh, it's a pseudo-soul beast Arima gave me," Lifa patted the cat and said. "But, it's true that lately, he seems to have grown stronger for some reason."
"You bet," Jorga jested and grinned. "That cat is already stronger than your own father. He must be directly connected to Arima's soul. His strength doesn't depend on yours."
"Huh?" Lifa stiffened and stared at the small cat in shock. She lifted him up and squinted her eyes. "Deki, is it true?"
The cat tilted his head and wagged his tail. Then he meowed cutely like it was saying 'what are you talking about?'.
Lifa instantly lost against the cuteness and started petting him. Jorga chuckled and laid his head to sleep. "Let's go, take me to Seria. I'll take a nap, wake me up when you arrive."
Lifa sighed and immediately left. She jumped very swiftly from a tree to another and arrived, a few tens of minutes after, at the center of the Great Forest.
It was a very radiant and 'green' place. Almost identical to Evergreen's territory. Lifa quickly approached the Mother Tree in the middle of it. That tree was also a lot bigger than the one Arima visited before. Lifa stopped in front of it and gently touched it.
"Lady Seria, I brought master Jorga," She whispered and the trunk opened to form a sort of gate. Lifa entered with a smile.
Her vision blacked out for a second but when she was able to see again, she found herself in an endless meadow with tall grass growing everywhere. There were absolutely no variations on the ground, not even a small mound. When Lifa looked at the sky, she saw a perfectly blue sky and a relatively small sun.
There was just a small hut in front of her amid the vast and infinite plain. She entered the hut and spotted a mature looking woman sitting on a couch. She had dark green long hair and eyes. She also had pointed ears and wore a green dress decorated with some magnificent runes.
"Lifa," She smiled and said with a calm and relaxing voice. "Where is Jorga?"
"Here," Lifa pointed at her shoulder. There was a gray snake, nonchalantly sleeping there.
Seria smiled once again. She flicked her finger and the spoon that was on a table beside her flew and hit the snake on the head.
"Ow!" The snake interjected and fell on the ground. He obviously woke up and stared at the woman. "Seria! Respect people's resting time a bit!"
"Did you just say something?" Seria asked with a chilly smile.
"…Nah, nothing," Jorga instantly calmed down and slowly made his way toward another couch and climbed on it. "So, why did you call me?"
Seria grabbed a cup that was on the table and took a sip of the content. "I'm sure you realized 'he' is moving, right?"
Jorga scowled at her. "Of course, I noticed."
"When I asked him why he was moving, he said that a human had requested him to do so."
Jorga snickered. "I guess it's Arima. And? What do you want?"
"Arima, yes… that human who passed here not long ago. He was only around the eighth level at that time. I heard he met Evergreen not too long ago as well. The reason I called you here is actually to talk about him. You said to me that he owed you a favor. I want you to call him"
"Why?" The snake squinted his eyes. "I don't want to waste a favor from someone like him."
Seria sighed. "As I said, we're moving right now, and during the previous reunion of the dryads, we sighted another planet that was approaching us."
"Huh?" Jorga exclaimed and dropped his jaw and Lifa didn't react. She wasn't following the conversation and just kept drinking her tea while feeding Deki.
"Are you serious?" Jorga asked and Seria nodded. "…Is that planet deliberately coming toward ours?"
"Apparently," Seria shrugged. "That planet seems to be in dire conditions. Perhaps they're lacking resources and are seeking some from us."
Jorga grunted. "Well, you're probably correct about the fact that Arima can help us. I don't want to call him though."
Seria stared at him with a 'smiling' expression and he cowered. "Fine… I'll do it right away," He complied and closed his eyes.
********************************************
Back at the Main Land. Arima was leading a class when he suddenly received a telepathic message. He frowned and closed a book he was reading. He was actually supervising a test he had given to his students. To see how well they had studied what he imparted them.
He stood up in the middle of that test and every student looked at him. "I'll be out for a moment; I don't really know how long. But even if I don't come back for the rest of the day, I want you to continue doing the test. Lanya will pass them to the next people coming," He instructed and everyone resumed their work.
"Night, I'll call you if it's needed," Arima added and teleported.
******************************************
"Done," Jorga sighed. "You're happy? He said he'll come right away."
Seria smiled and clapped, "Then it's good. I need to prepare for his arriving." She stood up and prepared to leave.
"You don't need to do that. I don't like welcome parties," A voice resounded in the room and made her stop her movements. She slowly turned around to find a man sitting on one of her couches.
"I don't have that much time. Tell me what you want?" Arima stared at Seria. He thoroughly understood that it was her who told Jorga to call him.
"Unbelievable…" Seria muttered and Jorga smirked. "How did you get through my array so easily? Without me noticing? And how could you transfer here so quickly? Even for someone in the Earthen realm, it's too much. Considering you reached this realm barely a few weeks ago."
Arima grabbed a cake on the table and snacked on it. "To be exact, it's been more than a few months.
"Pardon?"
"I needed time to finish some of my magics, you see," Arima replied meaningfully and Jorga's eyes widened at the hidden connotation. 'Time!' he thought but didn't say anything out loud.
"Don't mind about the details," Arima followed and glanced at Jorga with a smile. "It's been a while big one. But you turned to be very small right now," He jested.
Jorga laughed. "Yeah, it's been while little one. Although you're quite big right now," He responded. This simple exchange carried a lot.
In one sentence, Arima greeted Jorga, commented on his actual size and used a double sense to denounce how 'small' he was in front of that dryad.
Meanwhile, when Jorga answered, he returned the greeting, mentioned the difference in size, but also the disparity in power that had been set between them.
Seria gazed at the two and sat down, almost sulking.
"Hello, Arima," Lifa cheerfully waved her had at Arima.
"Ah, we meet again, Lifa," Arima smiled and then focused on Seria. "So, who are you?"
"…I'm Seria, the dryad of this continent. It is me who demanded to call you," The dryad calmly introduced herself.
"Now that you say it, there was indeed a dryad on this continent…" Arima rubbed his chin in wonder. "What's your business with me then?"
Seria inhaled. "I'll go straight to the point. Because you made the planet move, another noticed us and now had its eyes on us. I want you to help us."
"Mm…" Arima mused. "Sure. If it's really my responsibility, it's a matter of fact that I should resolve the problem. How do you want me to help?"
"Eh?" Seria was taken off guard by how simple it was to get an agreement. She coughed and awkwardly smiled. "To be fair, I don't know. I thought that maybe someone like you would have an idea."
Arima blankly stared at her. "…Tell me one thing before I make my decision."
"Yes?" Seria raised her head and looked at him.
"That planet; is it acting on its own? And are there people remaining on its surface? You dryads should have inspected that already, right?"
"The planet, no, the Earthen God is acting on its own. To survive. There are survivors on the planet's surface, but they have long lost their reason and purely act on instinct to survive. If they ever reach this planet, it would be a disaster. Some of them are extremely strong. Stronger than me or Jorga."
"I see… I'll resolve this for you," Arima declared and stood up.
******************************************
Night sighed and stood up as well. He beckoned Lanya, "Make sure to give the tests for the next period. This is Arima's message for you."
Lanya wryly smiled as Night disappeared from the classroom. She helplessly shrugged and shot a sharp glare at the students who had stopped writing.
"Don't get distracted. Don't even think to try to slack off with me," She warned and it seemed pretty effective as everyone resumed their exam while sweating.
Arister observed curiously but didn't care much as he casually filled the questions and diagrams on the paper in front of him. When he had finished, he prepared to lie back when Lanya abruptly placed a new paper on his desk.
His expression twitched and Lanya chuckled.
*****************************************
Night quietly appeared on Arima's shoulder.
"Let's go, [Resonance]," They chanted simultaneously and a dark light shrouded the two of them. A strong wind blew inside the hut but nothing was damaged as the dryad maintained the furniture's integrity with neutral magic.
After the dark light faded, Arima emerged with black, thin, but strong-looking, scales all over his body, especially his arms. His hair grew longer and he deployed his wings while waving his tail. He looked at Seria with his crimson eyes.
"Give me the location. Take this planet as the origin point, zero if you will, and create a three-dimension grid. Horizontally X, vertically Y, and depth will be Z. Of course, with a map directed by north, south, east, and west. Tell me the location of the approaching planet based on that. 1 grade on the scale is equal to a thousand miles."
Seria was baffled by the sudden resonance and demand but she was intelligent and promptly converted everything into coordinates.
"… X: 326 Y: 405 Z: -556."
"It's closer than I thought," Arima muttered said and noiselessly disappeared.
Seria was left dumbfounded. She turned toward Jorga, "What does he plan to do?"
"Who knows. But if I had to guess, I'd say the problem now is as good as it never existed."
**************************************
Arima reappeared in space. His wings generated a sort of red light as he flapped them although there any air. He left an afterimage behind him and lightning traced his itinerary.
"That's funnier than I thought; not having any gravity or air resistance to deal with," Arima commented and accelerated. His usual speed was already unimaginable for a human but now he was in a friction-less space. His speed had already surpassed a hundred miles per second.
"{That's very true,}" Night agreed. "{But you still didn't tell me what the hell is going on. You didn't explain anything to me.}"
"You'll shortly understand."
After a few minutes, Arima, who had already bypassed a few planets and asteroids, had finally arrived at a point where he could clearly see the threatening ashen planet.
"{So, basically, you need to take care of that thing, huh? How?}"
"Well, there's no need to overthink it. Didn't I make a lecture about it not so long ago?" Arima smirked and his eyes flashed with a silver light.
