Much later, Raid’s group arrived in the Second World without much incident. They emerged from the cavity between the World Tree’s roots and were greeted by a burst of warm sunlight and fresh air.
“Weather’s looking great,” Raid mused as he raised a hand to shield his eyes. Smiling, he turned around to the rest of his companions. “Norn, Ariel, Valtos—take a look. The skies here are as clear as can—”
“Ugh... F-Finally here... We made it...” Ariel grumbled.
“The ground... My feet are touching the ground!” Valtos cried.
“I thought I came here for a fun trip... Wh-Why did I see my life flash before my eyes before we even got here...?” Norn whimpered.
Alas, the three Raid thought would be the most moved by this sight were slumped lifelessly over the ground.
“Ariel...” Valtos glared. “Did you not flaunt to me on the ship about how cool and levelheaded you are thanks to your wealth of experience? What happened, hmm?”
A dry laugh spilled from Ariel’s lips. “All I can say is that jumping from steep cliffs is a very different experience from being thrown at the cliffs, then pulled toward the sky...”
“I thought I was going to become a shooting star,” Norn mumbled darkly.
Raid sighed. “Look, we didn’t have much of a choice. The dimensional gap’s coordinates were all the way up there.” He recalled how he and his friends had arrived at the First World at the start of their expedition: by falling from the sky. To go back the way they came, then, they naturally had to jump to that height—specifically, Raid had to jump to it with everybody else tied to him with a rope. “Not to worry, though. Eluria said she can adjust the coordinates once she grasps the mana wavelength of intertimeline travel. Besides, we’ve got the World Tree as a foundation on this side, with stairs heading to the dimensional gap. It’ll be a much safer trip back there than it was coming here.”
“Oh, thank the heavens... I never want to feel my insides floating ever again,” Ariel grumbled. Valtos and Norn nodded vehemently behind her.
After some time, Millis finally emerged from the cavity and stepped out with them. “Whew. Home sweet home!”
Raid raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’re looking just peachy, Millis. Guess your experiences in the other world have toughened you up, huh?”
“Of course! I stayed behind in the dark—while everyone else was out here in the sun—so that I could hurl up my guts to my heart’s content. So now I’m A-okay, with not a single blemish to my dignity to boot!”
“Uh-huh... Yeah, you’ve definitely grown, all right,” Raid deadpanned.
“Anyway!” Millis cleared her throat. “Shall I contact Headmaster Elise?”
Raid nodded. “Yeah, please. We Heroes can’t use magic devices. She should have a communicator for urgent messages—contact her there to tell her we’re back.”
Their first order of business after returning from the First World was to contact Elise, but none of the Heroes could do that because of the unique mana they possessed, and Norn wasn’t very familiar with magic devices. As it turned out, it was great that Millis had tagged along after all.
“Huh...?”
Raid raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“The headmaster isn’t picking up... She should have the device on her, and she should know it’s me based on the mana wavelength, so why...?”
“Maybe she’s in the middle of a meeting?”
“Perhaps. Shall we go to her office and leave a note?”
“Can you teleport us to Vegalta all the way from here?” Raid asked.
“Lady Eluria told me that I could just use the mana stored in the World Tree to cast a teleportation spell the same way I’d use one of the teleportation devices at the Institute...” Millis trailed off, frowning. “Wait, you didn’t know? How were you planning to return to Vegalta?”
“By running,” Raid answered plainly.
“Oh, yes, how could I forget... With you crazy superhumans, anything is possible.”
“Hang on a second!” Ariel interjected. “Why are you looking at us too?! Heroes have enhanced physical capabilities, yes, but running from Palmare to Vegalta is out of the question!”
“I’ve never stepped foot out of the capital until now, so I have no confidence in my stamina!” Valtos eagerly added.
“Ah. I stand corrected, then,” said Millis, nodding. “It seems Raid is still the only superhuman.”
Raid looked at them with an arched brow. “Dian was pretty tough. Aren’t you two the same?”
Alas, he was met with two identical grimaces—a very loud and resounding no.
Ariel cleared her throat. “I suppose the difference lies in the fact that you, Lord Raid, have inherited the true Hero’s power. It is just like how, with magicians, more mana directly translates to more power and more versatility.”
“Oh... Come to think of it, Dian was using some strange ability,” Raid recalled. “Was he using the Hero’s mana as magic or something?”
“Indeed. His ability is ‘distortion’—he can freely control the direction and momentum of his powers. You could see it as a sort of spell, but it hardly fits within the parameters of any known laws of magic, so we generally refer to them as ‘abilities.’”
“Does that mean you two have your own abilities too?”
“Yes. Mine is ‘transfiguration’—I can materialize mana into whatever form I wish. This works not only on my own mana but even polluted mana, so it was exceedingly useful for setting up temporary camps and defensive fronts out on the front lines. As for Valtos...”
“My ability is ‘metalization’! With my ironlike flesh, I can take a hit from a Calamity and escape unscathed. I can also transform anything I wish into a weapon!”