After their vacation, it was time for the group to actually begin seriously planning their next move.
They had just been in a fire attribute plane, so all planes of the same or similar attributes were struck off the list. Considering they were in the Firebelt Kingdom, that drastically decreased the number of alternatives they had. But that wasn't everything. Since several of them were at or nearing the third level, going to a low level plane would be pretty useless as well, so all the low level planes were also no longer options.
However, the group was far from having the required strength to visit high level planes if they wanted to explore and adventure, so that only left medium level planes of all attributes except fire. Since Toz, Nil, and Lucy had just come from a metal attribute plane, they were reluctant to go to one like that unless it seemed especially interesting.
Although the Firebelt Kingdom was famous more for its gathering of fire attribute mages and how it was mainly composed of fire attribute planes, there were still several dozens of planes available for the group to choose from for their next destination.
None of them wanted to visit a relatively boring plane, so they divided the task of finding out more information about their possible alternatives.
Although Mindle could speak the universal language currently popular in most places in the universe, and it had been commonly used for as long as most people knew history, she couldn't read the text made for it. So Toz took the opportunity to begin teaching her the alphabet and how to read and write. Even without opposable thumbs, Mindle could use mana to write.
They used the documents relating to the different planes as study material and progressed through them slower than Nil and Lucy did. Lucy was especially fast since he skimmed through everything that didn't catch his interest, but what did capture his attention had him reading it thoroughly at least a couple of times until he started daydreaming about what it would be like to visit that place. Those documents ended up in a separate pile for the rest of the group to also go through so they could voice their opinion.
Nil also put the ones he found interesting in a pile in the middle. Toz and Mindle, despite being significantly slower than the other two, also found a few planes that sounded pretty exciting and added them to the pile.
Lucy, who finished first, started going through the pile, and unlike the first stack of papers he went through, where a bunch of planes' most attractive feature was sightseeing or an over-the-top fancy restaurant, they had all agreed that the exciting planes were the ones with an element of danger mixed in. So while Lucy read the pile the group had gathered together, Nil caught up to him and also went through the second round, where they further sorted through the more interesting and the less interesting destinations.
Although the ones deemed less interesting weren't completely removed like the other planes were during the first round of selection, it was obvious that they wouldn't be chosen in the end.
Since Nil and Lucy were going through the documents detailing the more interesting and adventurous planes, more suitable for those who were seeking a thrill or looking to explore and discover previously unknown territory, they were too busy to notice the smiles and hushed whispers of Toz and Mindle.
Toz and Mindle had been talking in a low volume the entire time, so even if Nil and Lucy had noticed a difference, they would have at most assumed it was a joke or something funny written and then paid the two no further attention. Lucy might have wanted to see it or join in on the joke if it seemed more interesting than what he was currently going through, but Toz was prepared to divert him so he and Mindle could do the final reveal later when they couldn't find anything that really stood out.
Although if they found another plane or rather a destination that could rival what Toz and Mindle had found, it might be a little difficult to choose only one place to go to.
After Toz and Mindle had finished going through their pile and Mindle had started getting a grasp of the written language, they started looking through what Lucy and Nil had deemed relatively interesting. Although, Toz hid the information regarding what he thought the best place was, behind his back.
The group continued going through everything a couple of times, looking for something that really stood out, and if nothing did, at least gather the most exciting places and then decide between them.
They had spent almost an entire day going through the papers and documents they had gathered in the morning, and they were getting hungry, so they decided to take a quick break before continuing with their search.
They had a quick dinner and a walk around the block to get some fresh air before they returned to the room in the inn where all the papers lay.
Lucy was the first into the room since he had begun liking reading about all the different things in the world that seemed interesting or exciting. Although he couldn't personally experience it, some of the papers were based on other people's experiences of the plane and how they felt about it. After the dinner, he was looking forward to finding more interesting destinations to read and visualize about.
But when Lucy walked back into the room and was about to jump onto the bed where he had been reading the papers, he noticed that a lot of the papers had been turned upside down. In fact, everything but one document had been turned upside down or moved so that there was only one paper with visible text on it.
Lucy's curiosity forced him to read it, and the more he read, the more stuck he got as his eyes were transfixed to the paper. The paper was relatively short, so he read through it pretty quickly, but he didn't stop there as he read it again and again, his jaw dropping lower each time.
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