Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

"Do you seriously plan to go and pick that stranger up?" Claudy asked the very moment I returned back to the hovercraft.

"No, not really?" I replied without even a moment of hesitation, leaning my head over my shoulder while looking at Claudy as if he was somewhat weird.

While it was just a feeling, I could somewhat tell that only a supreme would be able to reach as close to the barrier as we did. There was a reason why our entire adventure consisted of only three people, after all.

And what good would do to us inviting a fourth, unknown supreme on board the hovercraft when it was a vehicle that even Makary or Leon couldn't easily get their hands on?

'Even if we only ever bothered to send her over to a new camp, not only would it invite too much danger for us to bother but also elevate Etaria's position, given how she and Madam would be the only ones capable of handling a fellow supreme.'

I took a deep breath before sighing it away.

'And then, there's no telling whether or not they could even face someone who managed to reach the barrier.'

Sure, it was a tall order for anyone to make it through the treacherous lands of the starlight plain, all the more so if they had nothing but luck to rely on when it came to avoiding the zones of the direct light of the stars. But at the same time, anyone who managed to cross that far went through the process of refining their aura just like the three of us!

'Well, that's all assuming the situation on the other end of the barrier is exactly the same as it is here,' I thought, only to put the whole topic to the back of my head.

I was too busy pressing the button to have the entry ramp of the hovercraft raise up and close the entrance to bother thinking about a random stranger all that much.

"If so, why even bother acknowledging that person?" Claudy asked, forcing my thoughts back to the topic I was already trying to forget. He raised one of his eyebrows and even crossed his arms on his chest, showing just the slightest hint of curiosity… or dissatisfaction.

"Assuming things are the same on the other side as they are here, wouldn't they be locked from returning home?" Claudy pointed out a valid point.

After all, the only reason why the trap of this starlight plain and the shenanigans it created by bending the space around whoever tried to gain distance to the barrier didn't apply to us solely thanks to my ability to open portals.

Without that kind of a crutch, one's only choice to leave… would be to cross the barrier or somehow scale the mountains past the point where the barrier ended. This was exactly what we were about to do, just with the help of not our hands and feet but a super-modern piece of technology that I, for the sake of preserving my own sanity, simply refused to even try to understand how it works.

"And if they do, then don't you think what you did was quite cruel?" Claudy finally revealed what didn't sit right with him in how I reacted to the sight of another person on the other side of the barrier.

My first instinct was to deny any responsibility, refusing to get off the high moral ground. But before I even opened my mouth, I've already forced myself to consider what he said as opposed to treating it as an attack…

And no matter how much I thought about it, the man was right.

"I did it just in case we would need to find someone on the other side, for whatever reason we might have. In other words, I saved the option of picking them up in the future, something that would be far harder if they went off somewhere," I explained my stance… Only to approach Claudy's seat and actually lower my head.

"It is also true that I went with my gut feeling, not paying enough attention to the issue to realize what you pointed out. It is honestly my bad," I admitted. "That's why, while we don't owe that person anything, as long as we won't deem it dangerous or an obstruction to our mission, we will make a small detour to pick them up."

In fact, the moment I thought about it and the situation on the other side, I've already noticed one hell of an advantage of picking that person up. After all, if I were to extend the situation on this side of the barrier and mirror it on the other side…

Then wouldn't we face the exact same problem of returning the way we came from upon any attempt at crossing the other part of the starlight plain? If the bending of space always worked in relation to the very center of the barrier, then we pretty much would be unable to take a single step away from the barrier.

On this side, this barred us from returning home the way we came. But on the other side? Without the path marked within the hovercraft's registry that allowed me to focus on just the task of looking out for zones of direct starlight that shifted since the time we passed by them?

'Having someone who crossed the plain and reached the barrier from the other end of the plain might prove crucial, after all,' I thought, moving to my seat and strapping myself in.

"All good?" Fay asked, a look of slight worry blemishing her otherwise perfect face.

"Yeah, just realized a problem that we might encounter down the line," I admitted before shaking my head to remove all the thoughts that didn't pertain to right here and now. "There's no point worrying about it now when most of my worries are based on nothing more but empty assumptions," I added as I started to flip the switches and prepare the craft for the virgin part of our journey.

With the necessary supplies moved over from the logistic carriages to the hovercraft and strapped to netting at its back, there was no further need for us to dawdle in this place, maybe with the exception of the slight sense of nostalgia connected to leaving behind the buggy we spent a bit over a week of our lives in.

"We came back here in less than half of a day," I muttered while actually focusing on the numbers on the display while my hand hovered over the power supply lever. "Let's cross the mountains and take some rest then, how about it?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Pulling the lever up, I looked first at Fay before moving my eyes over to Claudy.

"You are the leader here, I'm just an observer and support for whatever you decide on," the young, dignified man only shrugged his shoulders.

"You know that's not helping?" I muttered in response while feeling the maglev slowly respond to the changes I implemented through the set of a total of five switches, one stick, and one lever.

"I'm here to support the mission, not help you decide on the best course of action," Claudy countered right as the maglev's hypermangets started to push against something in the ground of the plain, effectively forcing the vehicle to float upwards.

"Fair point," I shortly replied, before flicking one of the switches and tilting the control stick while simultaneously bringing the power throttle just a little bit higher. "Let's cross the mountains and follow it up with some well-deserved rest, then."