It is the 4th day since Nouma started his journey. Nouma is energetic as ever as he sets to continue to travel towards Group Eclipso along with Rita. However, she is still sleepy.

Rita yawns, "How are you so fresh? Can't we start again after a 1 hour delay? I want to sleep more if possible."

"I have been sleeping 8 hours a day for 14 years now! It is a part of my schedule. I can't change it all of a sudden. My body won't accept it."

Rita is baffled as she questions further, "14 years? You slept only 8 hours daily without taking a day off? Why would someone even do that!"

"I had no choice. Had I skipped the routine for even one day, my grandfather would have stopped training me. There is no way I could let that happen."

Oh, so he was trained by someone. It is almost impossible to train yourself and end up being so good.

"If you don't mind, what is your grandfather like?"

"I don't like the way he has been treating me for the past 14 years. He is more of a teacher than a grandfather. He is always harsh on me. But he is the reason I am what I am, I'm grateful for that."

"Not to mention he appreciated me 4 days ago. That has pretty much made up for what he had done for the last 14 years."

"So do you hate him?"

Nouma oscillates his head left to right, "Not at all. I actually admire him a lot. I haven't met many people, but he is the strongest person that I've seen in my entire life. 

Excluding me, that is.

"Oddly enough, he's my role model. I look up to him even today. Whenever I am in crisis, I can hear his voice in my head guiding me towards the right path."

"Spiritual connection."

"What?"

"When you spend a long time with a particular person, the spirits of you and the person connect and become transparent to one another."

A disgusted look appears on Nouma's face as he thinks to himself, "I call that bullshit! That has to be one of the cringiest statements I've ever heard. You need some serious mental help."

He continues, "That aside, you said that you live in Group 12, right? Don't you know anything about Group 7? My grandpa told me that people in Group 12 might know about it."

"Yes, I do live in Dorom. But I live near the southern borders."

"We maintain distance with Ceprad City and prevent any kind of communication. Those people treat us like we aren't numan. My mother says that they don't respect us, they look down on us."

"Really? That's messed up and it might be a huge issue. Why do you think it is the way it is?"

"I think I have a pretty good grasp of the situation. It's just a theory, but I think it's solid. Groups 12-15 don't have to pay taxes. We are underdeveloped, but we are not greedy for money. We are content with what we have and since we aren't official Groups, the rules of other Groups don't apply to us.

That's one shitty theory.

Nouma questions, "So even though they look down on us, they envy us? That is why they treat us badly? I think there is more to it than just that!"

"That might be the case. It is just my thought process, I might be totally wrong. However, Eclipso is not the same. It is the most developed group amongst Groups 12-15, but they are still not included in the pact. They are doing everything they can to become a member of the pact. However, they are yet to be included. I doubt they will ever be included. So they accept reality as it is! I haven't been there, so I'm very excited!"

Nouma speaks with a smile on his face, "Same here! I can't wait to get there. We can finally board a ship to go to NorkYew! You will come with me, right?"

"Umm, I'll say yes for now. It will be good to deliver the packages in person. I can't commit to whether I'll continue with you after that. By the way, we are getting close to our destination."

Nouma looks around as far as he can, "I can't see anything! How can you tell?"

"Look at the trees, most of the trees we came across had green leaves. Now, the majority of the trees have purple leaves.

"Woah, good eyes! I totally missed it! That doesn't resolve my query though."

"My dad left behind a book before he left on the long journey 3 years ago. I wasn't home at that time, so I couldn't meet him. But he told my mom to give this book to me. I wanted him to hand it to me personally, but at least he left behind something that I could cherish!"

Rita pulls out a book from her bag. On the cover page, it reads "To Rita".

She places her hand on the book cover, "My father has left clues regarding finding all the Groups in this book. I think he knew what I was going to do! I'll do my best to find all of them."

Now I have one more reason to convince her to continue her journey with me! Play it cool Nouma! 

"That's fantastic! I also intend to visit all the groups."

Don't be too pushy, Nouma. Quick! Change the topic!

"How long do you think it will take for us to reach Eclipso from here?"

Rita answers, "My estimation is that it will take another 6 hours. But we will sleep in an hour, that means another 14 hours. We can skip tonight's sleep to get there faster."

"Negative. Disturbing the schedule once encourages you to disturb it once more. I won't take that risk just to reach there a little bit earlier."

"I saw this answer coming. One thing that I have understood after spending time with you is that you don't change your mind that easily. You have a strong will and extreme confidence in your skills. Your decision making is absolute."

However, I can't deny that I think that this trait of yours may lead to your downfall.

The next day, Nouma wakes up at the usual time and walks faster than usual. Rita is barely keeping up with him. 3 hours later, they could hear the hustle and bustle of ships.

He is extremely excited as he speaks, "Whoa!! Do you hear what I'm hearing? We are finally here. My first destination as an aspiring explorer."

"Pull yourself together. Don't act like a child. Do you forget that I am accompanying you? Walk a little bit slower. I'm not as extraordinary as you!"

"Sorry for that. My surroundings got blurry and I could only see the path I had to follow. I should have considered it. Why didn't you tell me all this time though?"

"And what if I had asked? You wouldn't have listened to me anyways!"

Nouma and Rita have reached the borders of Eclipso. They see a wall 10 m high surrounding the group.

Nouma points his index finger towards the wall, "Grandpa told me about these walls. But I did not expect them to be this tall. I also did not expect Eclipso to have a border in the first place! It isn't a member of the pact, why go to these extents to become one!"

"As I said earlier, Eclipso is the most developed in groups 12-15. It is the most likely to become a member of the pact, and the Group Leader is well aware of it."

Nouma points towards one of the guarded entrances and asks Rita, "What about these entrances?"

"In the book, it is written that Eclipso has 3 entrances. Two of them are on land and one of them is a port."

She turns over to the next page in the book, "Look at this:"

"These entrances are guarded by some of their best Knights."

Nouma and Rita head towards the East entrance of Eclipso. One of the Knights comes outside. He kindly asks Nouma to cooperate for a security check and Rita to wait for a Women Knight to arrive. Eventually, the check is completed. Both are declared clean and are allowed to enter.

Nouma has finally reached his first destination. He has taken his first step towards taking the Explorer Exam. He is about to experience a Group other than GeMEMEba for the first time!

TO BE CONTINUED

NOTEARTH VOCABULARY #5

GROUP BORDERS: Borders that surround Groups 1-11 and 15. The borders surrounding NorkYew are 20 m tall. The borders surrounding other groups are 10 m tall.

KNIGHTS: The main purpose of Knights is to maintain peace in the Group. The most skilled ones are stationed at the Group entrances.

ELITE KNIGHT: The best knight from each group is the Elite Knight of that group. Every year, a new one is declared. They are sent to NorkYew. All the knights in NorkYew are Elite Knights of other groups. NorkYew sends its weakest Knights to the Groups in return.

FEDERATION KNIGHTS: These Knights are under the command of the Explorer Federation. The first requirement to become one is to be prepared to give your life on command. In return, the family of the Knight is allowed to live in the old Royal Palace in NorkYew. Only one knight is recruited every year. An Explorer with rank Norcium and above can request to be accompanied by a Federation Knight.

FUN FACTS #4

When a Pro Explorer requests to be accompanied by a Federation Knight, the explorer is not rewarded for his/her explorations.

FUN FACTS #5

Weeks are ten days long in NotEarth. A month consists of 3 weeks and 12 months make a year. The date is written in the format:
Day/Week/Month/Year
Days are numbered 1 to 10. Weeks are denoted by numbers 1 to 3. Months and Years are also numbered in the same pattern.

FUN FACTS #6

At present, 18 Federation Knights are alive. Out of those, 4 of them are on duty.