163 Chapter 163 – Ryuu

Aston has the ability to project his presence into different time periods, slightly altering the course of history.

His appearance can also cause some effects.

For instance, the visions of the future that Alise and the others experienced in their minds were due to the impact of Aston traveling through time.

The Astraea Familia was doomed not to survive in this time period. Even if Aston saved them, at the point and time of their destined deaths, they would die due to various reasons.

After Aston kills Juggernaut, a more powerful destroyer might appear and kill the Astraea Familia after Aston leaves.

In essence, time itself would repair this piece of history.

However, Aston's ability to project through time can slightly fluctuate this timeline, changing their fated deaths.

The consequence of this is that Alise and the others cannot appear at the point in time of their fated deaths.

However, if the Astraea Familia cannot survive at the time of their destined deaths, then Aston can bring them back to his own time.

This is why Aston traveled back to save Alise and the others, yet news of their deaths still emerged.

Before traveling, Aston knew that this was the only way to save Alise and the others.

In a vast forest, Ryuu's emotions have now calmed down, quietly staring at the spot one meter in front of her.

That's where Aston stood before disappearing.

Initially angry, having annihilated the Rudra Familia in a self-destructive manner, Ryuu eventually calmed down and began to reflect on everything that had happened.

At first, Ryuu harbored intense hatred for Aston. However, after calming down and carefully pondering everything that had happened, Ryuu gradually understood the key points of those events and what had actually occurred.

As a result, Ryuu began to be profoundly grateful for Aston's existence from that moment on.

Ryuu was well aware that those visions weren't random but their future—a future without Aston's intervention.

Without Aston's intervention, the Astraea Familia would have been decimated by that unknown monster, leaving only Ryuu alive—thanks to Alise and the others' efforts to secure her a chance to survive.

However, everything changed with Aston's arrival.

Alise and the others disappeared along with Aston, but it seemed not to be death but for some other reason.

After much speculation and combining everything that happened with what Aston said at the time, Ryuu gathered a crucial piece of information.

Aston must be an adventurer from the future; otherwise, he wouldn't have asked her to find him and help him grow.

Given Aston's ability to instantly kill that fearsome monster, it's impossible he would need her help to grow unless they met when Aston was still weak. That Aston needed her help could only have occurred in the future; no other explanation was possible.

This realization kindled hope in Ryuu's heart, preventing her from despairing. She continued to adventure in the dungeon, enhancing her strength.

She was determined to increase her strength to avoid the tragedies showed in those brutal visions.

When she meets Alise and Kaguya again, she must have the strength to protect them.

While improving her strength, Ryuu also searched for Aston.

This search lasted several years until she finally encountered Aston again weeks ago.

Aston's condition matched her predictions: he was weak, a novice adventurer who needed a strong adventurer to lead his leveling.

This perfectly aligned with her hypothesis.

Without hesitation, following Aston's initial advice, she approached Aston, took him under her wing, and helped him level up.

She even heeded Aston's advice that having more first-class adventurers was better, reminding Aston not to abandon the commission from the Loki Familia and continue to ask the first-class adventurers of the Loki Familia to level him up together.

Ryuu had initially prepared herself for the long haul, ready to spend over a decade leveling up Aston. Given Aston's previously demonstrated strength, which easily surpassed Level 5 and reached Level 6, it would typically take at least a dozen years for a novice adventurer to achieve such a feat. This timeline was already considered rapid progress.

However, once she actually started adventuring with Aston in the lower floors of the dungeon, Aston's rapid progress took her by surprise. In just half a month, Aston had already reached the combat strength of a first-class adventurer. His eyes had changed too, not exactly to the pattern she remembered, but enough to convince her further of the truth of the matter.

Afterward, she waited for Aston's eyes to change again.

But after a long wait without any change, she grew anxious, fearing it might take a long time for another transformation. To her delight, the change she had been waiting for suddenly occurred. Aston's eyes transformed into the pattern she remembered.

Unable to hold back any longer, she embraced this moment of hope she had waited five years for.

Yet, before she could even make her request, Aston seemed to preemptively understand her thoughts and desires, as if he had foreseen them.

Not willing to wait any longer, she eagerly took Aston to the place where Alise and the others had disappeared.

"Please, save them!" Ryuu murmured, staring at the spot where Aston had vanished, her eyes slightly unfocused with desperation.

She couldn't bear any more misery. If Aston returned with bad news, she doubted she could find the courage to go on.

As time slowly passed, filled with Ryuu's anxious anticipation, after half an hour, specks of light began to appear before her, gradually taking on human forms.

Seeing this, Ryuu's eyes lit up, and she involuntarily started counting the light points.

"One, two, three, ten!"

As she counted, tears of joy began to stream down her face.

"Alise, Kaguya, Lyra, Noin, Neze, Asta, Ryana, Celty, Iska, Maryuu, I've missed you so much!"

She cried out, overwhelmed with emotion.