NOVPUB"What? Of course not!" Reluun denied it right off the bat.
But that just confused Alex even further.
"So why then?" He asked.
"I don't have a death wish! If I'd known this fracture led to a realm in the Warring sector, I wouldn't have entered it in the first place! In fact, I would have reported it to be sectioned off and barred from entry!" Reluun replied, quite exasperated.
'Ahhh.'
Alex understood why Reluun was so eager to return back to his own realm now.
He was simply not willing to put his life at risk by staying in this realm any longer.
In fact, now that he thought about it, Reluun was rather lucky to have encountered someone like Alex as his first encounter. If this fracture opened up somewhere much less remote, the chances of him encountering someone much more sinister was infinitely more likely.
After everything that had happened with the Red Demon race, and now with the Federation's recent expedition into the Andromeda Galaxy they once occupied, practically every Awakened from the outside universe would just kill any foreign race they see on sight.
"I get what you mean now…" Alex spoke, sounding rather despondent.
To know that his own race was so hostile to other races made him feel depressed.
They had essentially become the very thing they despised.
They'd become just like the Red Demons…
Kill first, ask questions later.
It all left a rather sour taste in his mouth.
But there was nothing he could do about it. Nor would he if given the chance, either.
They were merely victims of their circumstances. If he remembered correctly, then the Federation acted rather welcoming and neutral towards other races upon first discovery of the Red Demon race.
It was only after being attacked by them, and finding out the truth of the System's rules about absorbing soul cores of other races, that the Federation and the citizens living there started acting this way.
It would take a monumental effort and a heck of a lot of time to rectify something like this on a galactic scale.
'However, maybe this is the opportunity we need to change things! If the Federation learned that our territory actually resides in one of the most dangerous and perilous places in the universe, and that there are actually peaceful sectors elsewhere, they might start to change their mindset.'
Alex knew this was probably wishful thinking, but the 1% chance that it might actually work kept him pushing forward with the idea.
'If I can somehow work out an alliance with the Solari race through Reluun, then we might actually have a chance of changing our situation!'
Alex's goals were rather lofty, but he could already start to see them forming in his mind.
Just from his conversation with Reluun, the Solari seemed to be quite an old and advanced race. He spoke as if they had already encountered and dealt with countless other races both in and out of the Primordial Expanse, so they already had skill in that department.
If he could work out a trade deal with them for some of their more advanced technologies or information about the Primordial Expanse, the System, or some potential allied race also in the Warring sector, then this would be a humongous boon to the Federation.
With enough assistance, they might even be able to claim the whole Andromeda galaxy for themselves…
"Okay, I'm coming with you!" Alex spoke with conviction to Reluun.
He was already planning on heading through the fracture to find out whether Mikhail's forge was situated over there, so he may as well add a little side quest to his goals as well.
…However, the fact that according to Reluun, this was a newly opened fracture, didn't leave him with much confidence that Mikhail's forge was in the Solari's realm.
But this didn't hinder his ideals at all.
If anything, it actually bolstered them.
Sure, Mikhail's forge was most likely not in the Solari's realm, but he could use them as a sort of hub to search other realms.
They had already established contact with many other realms from what he'd heard from Reluun, and with how they had a system set up to send exhibitionists through to newly opened ones, this might just be standard procedure to them.
Alex's job of searching through the realms until he found something even remotely related to Mikhail was like searching for a needle in a universe sized haystack.
But if he started his search with the Solari's realm, then it would at least be a much more organised and well documented haystack…
Their fractures were already discovered and documented, whereas the one leading to their realm was the only one that Alex knew of in the Federation's realm, so that saved him quite a lot of time.
However, Alex didn't know what the customs of the Solari were.
Would they just let someone from a completely unknown race into their realm?
Reluun nodded enthusiastically. "A wise choice! Though, I must warn you, if we're going to continue talking or travelling together, I may be prone to spontaneous commentary. And I do narrate my own thoughts aloud."
Alex sighed again, already starting to regret his decision, but a tiny grin did start to form at the corner of his lips.
"...I have a feeling I'm going to regret this decision. You're going to be a nightmare, aren't you?"
"I'm already your problem now!" Reluun replied brightly, walking up to Alex and patting him on the shoulder like an old friend, though the scene looked rather comical with how much taller Reluun was than Alex.
"Come, my new reluctant human companion. I believe we have much to talk about, and probably many things to run away from, very, very quickly."
Alex looked with confusion at Reluun, who had already started making a dash towards the fracture with haste.
A little concerned, he turned to look behind him, only to find a relatively weak B tier Ordinary class beast making a sprint in their direction.
No longer concerned, Alex let out a small chuckle before following behind Reluun into the fracture, urging Brontes along with him.
