New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 1038: Escaping The Authorities

 n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Flying over the Jeju Straight was not unpleasant, given the temperate climate, but the wet wind assailing them on the constant made the trip a far cry from enjoyable.

They had to fly at a certain altitude to stay under the radar if they wanted to reach the mainland without getting caught, and that meant getting sprayed by the occasional blast of water from wind and waves.

But it was better than suddenly having people chasing them over the open waters. With nowhere to hide, they would be forced to engage in a fight they didn't want to take.

Alex refused to make the people with him into wanted criminals. And that went without saying about the possibility that someone died trying to catch them.

Even if he wasn't always in his right mind, killing an innocent was never something he wanted to do.

His ear buzzed as he received a notification.

*I'm in the air. Heading to Yeosu Airport.*

Alex grinned.

They were already almost over the Korean mainland, and the Major had barely lifted off.

Of course, given her speed versus theirs, he knew she would probably arrive at the landing strip before they did. But he was still happy with their time.

Looking at the time, he chuckled.

'She said half an hour, but it only took her twenty minutes. I wonder who she called to expedite her flight plan,' he wondered.

Kary flew closer to him, seeing the giant grin on his face.

"Why the sudden good mood?" she shouted over the wind.

Alex turned his head to his burning girlfriend.

"Our ride will be at the airport when we arrive. She should be flying over us as we fly over the mainland. Leaving the country shouldn't be too complicated after that."

Kary looked at him, her expression unwavering in her flaming form, and she nodded.

Of course, once they reached the mainland, flying at the speed they had been maintaining would be a lot more complicated.

They had been maintaining an average speed of three hundred miles an hour, which was fine over the open sea. But once they reached over land, they would need to slow down or fly much higher up.

And since they couldn't afford to be caught by radars, slowing down would be their only option.

Leading their flight formation, Alex slowed down to put himself next to the others.

"We'll be slowing down once we reach over land. I don't want us to risk hitting anything, and we can't fly higher up. Get ready to fly close to the tree line," he ordered.

He knew Shegror would already be following his orders, but he needed to tell David so he could command his drake, as well as warn Jonathan.

He could see on the latter's face that he was getting tired. Jonathan may have gotten his mana lobe, but the amount of mana present in the air also affected the mana regeneration.

And there just wasn't that much over the sea.

Alex had already surmised that besides places that spewed out monsters, the only other mana leakage points had been the gaming pods EG had supplied.

And with those points suddenly closed, the world was back to being barren of it again.

He knew there would be more monsters spawning soon, though, and the world would get massive influxes of mana from everywhere, all at once. Soon enough, the air would have the same mana density as in New Eden.

In the meantime, however, the boy needed to rest for his mana to regenerate.

"Jonathan. Take a spot on Shegror's back; you need to rest."

The boy shook his head, refusing the order.

"I'm fine. I've been refining my control all the way here and can already feel my mana reserves stabilizing. Now, I'm barely using any mana currently. I just need time for it to regenerate," he defended himself.

Alex shook his head in disappointment.

"If you start feeling dizzy, at least tell someone before you crash into the forest below us..." Jonathan nodded, keeping his focus on his flying. He hadn't lied to Alexander.

He had been focusing less on his flying speed and more on his control this entire time, trying to make the surrounding air obey him as he travelled at high speed. With enough practice, he managed to reduce the friction of his body by bending the air away from him and minimizing drag by forming a comet's tail of air behind him.

The control required more focus, but significantly reduced his mana consumption. Such were the advantages of a high affinity to wind magic.

Unfortunately, the time it took him to gain that control had practically drained his entire mana reserves. He was already falling into mana deprivation, and his vision sometimes clouded.

But he refused to give up. If he could hold his flight until they landed on the mainland, then he could recover on his own without worrying the others.

Soon enough, their altitude lowered as they followed Alexander and started flying over trees instead of never-ending water. This didn't last too long, as they flew past the first swath of land on the southern end of Korea, only to end back over a large bay.

Only this time, they could see the other side of the bay and knew they were about to reach their destination.

Alex sighed in relief as he thought about their trip across the Jeju straight ending. But he knew the danger wasn't entirely over yet.

They still needed to reach the airport, board the plane, bring Aapo back home, and then return to China to infiltrate the country.

And that task alone, he knew, wouldn't be easy. If there was a country that cared about their borders as much as the Americans, it was the Chinese.

Alex had nothing against tight security on one's borders, usually. But with the task he

promised to complete, it was now a hindrance.

'I wish we had someone on the inside who could ease this step for us,' he mused.

Then a thought occurred to him.

'Wait... I may not know someone on the inside, but I do know someone who should be able to

slip me in,' he grinned.

Alex pulled up the contacts menu on his phone and scrolled down to a number he had never called yet. One he wasn't even sure he would ever call, to be fair.

As he initiated the call, the line rang a few times before answering with complete silence.

It was almost awkward, as Alex was used to people answering and saying hello. But he pushed through the awkwardness and spoke.

"I know you probably meant in New Eden, but I need your help. You told me to call you if that happened. Can I count on you, Blue Peacock? Or should I call you Aoi Kujaku?"