Early morning the next day the first two to arrive were Alara and Vera. They were waiting outside a fairly busy building known as the Hall of Travels.
"I'm curious how did you find someone like Alrin he wasn't exactly the most social?" Vera asked Alara.
"I was put in charge of the trials remember but its not like its been easy trying to befriend him." Alara replied.
"Even if you were just trying to befriend him that's already amazing enough but too me it looks like you are try to do a little more no?" She questioned Alara with a smirk.
"What? Its not like that." She said crossing her arms into an X, "It was my intuition it told me I needed to keep him around me that's why I've been trying so hard but even then it's been hard to befriend him."
"Well he looks like he has been through a lot his eyes were quite lifeless although they did look better when he was talking to you so you have that going for you." She said continuing try to get a reaction out of her.
"Anyways are you gonna be participating in the upcoming trial." Alara said trying to change the subject.
"Of course not I'm an alchemist I'll be avoiding that at all cost. I wouldn't even be here if I wasn't forced to take on this mission." She said lamenting her current situation.
"You say forced like you did nothing wrong aren't most of the alchemists still out of commission." Alara said with a laugh.
"Ugh that wasn't my fault I was just experimenting and it just happened to wrong…"
"Yes, I normally go experimenting with some of the most poisonous plants in the sect."
"…At least no one died." She said struggling to find a better argument.
"If someone did you wouldn't just be forced to take a mission as punishment."
A few moments later Alrin and Edwards arrived in silence as neither were talkative types and Kor was nowhere to be seen.
"Still in disguise?" Alrin asked seeing Alara still donning hers.
"You don't know?" Edward and Vera said in shock to which Alrin only turned to look at Alara confused.
"I'm just too famous to the point where I have to be careful when I leave the sects territory." Alara explained not embarrassed to bask in her own glory.
The last to arrive was Rex who ended up being a few minutes late matching Vera's usual expectations for him.
"Welcome seniors, where would you like to go." Entering the building they were greeted by an older looking disciple with a red badge like Alrin but unlike Alrin he was working to earn contribution points.
"We need to go to the moon branch for a mission." Vera said as the leader of this mission.
"Of course just follow me." The man said leading them past many other disciples who were still waiting as they had the privilege of having a core disciple with them not including Alara disguised as an inner disciple.
The five of them were lead to an empty room that had a formation covering the entire wall. Nowadays portals required operation from both sides to be opened due to an incident in the past where a sect fell overnight from the use of an unsecured portal into the sect.
After entering the room the outer disciple took out a obsidian slip that would allow him to communicate with the disciples of the moon branch. After about a minute the outer disciple walked up to the formation on the wall and placed his hand on it. Once he did the formation began to glow and shift causing a portal a large portal to open up.
Due to the countless different types of cultivation methods teleportation is almost never used as the energy used to teleport someone is often rejected by the teleportation process. This made it so almost everyone uses portals with the exception of clans that typically practice the same cultivation.
"You may now enter and head to the moon branch." The outer disciple said.
"Finally I've been so bored staying in the sect." Rex said being the first to enter.
The others naturally followed after and ended up in another similar looking room as the portal closed behind them.
"Seniors welcome to the moon branch!" Spoke an inner disciple managing the other side of the portal.
Since they were still on a mission the five of them quickly left the branch. With none of them having a personal mount they would have to make the journey by foot which even at their speed would take them an entire day to arrive at their destination.
Despite it being the middle of winter they quickly crossed the terrain as if they were never there not even leaving a footprint in the snow.
"Alara couldn't you have got us a mount?" Rex suddenly asked.
"I got told I should act as mortal." Alara lied thinking about how she wanted to use this time to continue getting closer to Alrin.
They ran until night fell and found a place to set up camp for the night. Since they were still just mortals it was still important that they ate and rested to maintain their top condition.
"This is a good spot. I can easily setup a formation using the land's energy here." Rex said
"Alright we will rest here until daybreak then." Vera said.
While she said that Alara was taking out a small cabin from her ring.
"I'm really glad you came with us." Vera said to Alara in envy since her ring only held the space of a room not even comparable to Alara's. Rex and Edwards were also envious of Alara as their rings were even smaller than Vera's.
Entering the cabin Rex was incredibly shocked by the formations it contained.
"Alara where did you get this?" Rex asked
"It was a gift from my master why?" Alara said.
"Are they looking for a new disciple?" He asked.
"Your master would kill you if she heard you." Edward said to Rex.
"You don't understand since all you care about is marrying your swords but the formations here are beyond anything I've ever seen. I can't even imagine how much it would cost to construct this." Rex said.
"I've returned for food!" Kor shouted suddenly popping up on Alrin's head.
"I have plenty stored in my ring what would you like?" Alara asked.
"Food tastes best when it is freshly made." Kor said looking at her with pity because she wasn't able to understand such a simple thing.
"Does this place have a working kitchen?" Alrin asked.
"It does it's just a bit small."
"Then I'll prepare food for everyone." He said looking at them.
"That's fine by me." Edwards said.
"Yup that's better than eating stored food theirs always something off about it." Vera said.
"I didn't picture you as someone who would care about what they eat." Alara said.
"I'm not, he is." He said pointing at Kor.
"And you should be grateful for that. You used to eat such bland food half the time it was even raw but I'm glad I went through the effort of teaching you the art of cooking." Kor said
Alrin shook his head as he thought about the past. Kor didn't teach him anything all he did was whine until Alrin provided him something good to eat eventually forcing him to learn to cook. If he didn't even if Alrin put Kor into his ring he could escape at any time he pleased and their was nothing he could do to stop him and thus began his cooking journey.
Around 30 minutes later Rex entered the cabin having spent the time setting up a formation around the cabin.
"Smells good never thought I'm surprised you can cook. Thought you were like Edward." Rex said unconcerned about being rude.
Alrin ignored him and kept cooking giving Vera who has Kor on her shoulder the chance to speak.
"Rex this is why your always getting punished think before you speak." Vera said
"What I said he wasn't like Edward that was a compliment." Rex replied to Vera's dismay.
"Now I know why Elder Elaine let me take you, it's because she needed a break especially after last time." Vera said while Alara laughed off to the side.
"I was just trying a new string formation so I could get a mount how was I supposed to know it would make them shit everywhere."
"Food's ready." Alrin said interrupting their ill fit conversation.
Alrin made a simple stew using the meat of a wind rabbit and other ingredients he kept in his ring.
"Alrin this is really good." Alara said digging in.
"I'm glad your enjoying it." He replied with a small smile.