<Well, it certainly does look like one>

Yeah, but...aren’t dinosaurs supposed to have feathers? This one looks a lot more...Jurassic Park-esque. Actually, it looks exactly like a JP T-Rex.

More importantly...holy fucking shit, I’m looking at a real dinosaur! This is...this is so fucking cool! I’m seriously geeking out over here, I can’t believe I’m face to face with a T-Rex right now!

"<Command: Don’t Move>," I swiftly chanted as the dino began to back away as I stared at it, freezing in its tracks with a muffled snarl, its head trembling as it strained against the effect of Command.

<Are you going to kill it?>

What? No!

Of course I’m not going to kill it, it’s a freaking dinosaur! Look at it, look how magnificent it is!

<If you say so...>

"Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you. Just need you to stay put for a little bit," I smiled, as I walked over and patted its snout.

This is awesome, I’m petting a T-Rex!

And I can’t let it run away before showing the others. I don’t know how common or rare these things are in this world, it wouldn’t be cool to hog this moment for myself.

I quickly opened the Pocket Dimension, as I continued petting the Tyrannosaur.

"Yo, that was fast, are we in the Demon-...woah, holy shit, is that a T-Rex?!" Exclaimed Jaden giddily, rushing out.

The others were quick to follow in curiosity, before staring with stunned looks on their faces.

"<Woah, no way>," Muttered Rex, his eyes wide with a bright gleam in them.

Heh, guess even he has things that get him hyped up. To be fair, I can’t imagine there are a lot of people from Earth who wouldn’t be starstruck by coming face to face with a real life dinosaur. Especially a T-Rex, arguably the most iconic dino to ever exist.

Well, I guess normal people would also be equal parts terrified, but I’d say anyone above the level of an upper-end J-Rank Combatant probably wouldn’t be in any real danger.

"Oh, do you not have dinosaurs in your world?" Chimed in Zelmira in surprise.

"No, they went extinct, like, millions of years ago, so this is our first time seeing real living ones," Ciel informed her.

The T-Rex let out a snarl and backed away as the effect of Command reached its time limit, the large creature growling at us as it eyed us warily.

"Hey, we should totally take some dinos back to our world, you can fit them in the Pocket Dimension, can’t you?" Suggested Jaden with a grin.

"Yeah, tempting, but I’m not sure that’s the best idea," I replied with a wry smile, as the T-Rex took the opportunity to run away.

"Most ecosystems outside the Sanctuaries have been devastated, remember? While it has started to heal and improve, it’s still in pretty bad shape...not to mentioned the evolved creatures we’ve identified. We shouldn’t take these dinos to our world just to cage them up in a zoo or something," Added Aria in agreement.

"Well, I did hear that there are plans to release several species back out into the wild, with the Mana concentration in the world stabilizing and a lot of ecosystems recovering as a result. Also, all those evolved creatures are only in the oceans, none have been identified on land," Pointed out Ciel.

"I mean, there could be some species that live underground that have evolved. When the Dungeons appeared, between the rampaging Monsters and failing to adapt to the introduction of Mana into the environment, a lot of species died out.

Although, we did manage to save a fair number of species from extinction by preserving them in zoos and nature reserves inside the Sanctuaries. Still, there are a few species that adapted and survived outside the Sanctuaries, mostly bugs, but also a handful of birds, mammals and reptiles. To say nothing of sealife, of course," Remarked Jaden thoughtfully.

Huh, he’s surprisingly well-informed about that, I’d have figured he wouldn’t really care about this subject.

"Ahem...I don’t mean to interrupt your discussion, but shouldn’t we start heading for the Demon Lord’s castle now? Based on the map, it will likely take us around five days to reach the city it’s located in," Chimed in Zelmira with an apologetic smile.

"That’s if we travel using horse-drawn carts or carriages, right? What’s the exact distance?" Inquired Jaden, as he glanced at the map Zelmira had taken out.

Ai? 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

<Well, assuming everything’s been scaled correctly...>

<Around two hundred and fifty kilometers from our current location>

Huh, that’s it?

"If Aria and I take turns traveling at full speed, we’ll be there in no time. Once we’re close, we can take some time to rest up and refresh our cooldowns, we can take as long as we want thanks to the time dilation," I surmised.

"Oh. That’s convenient. My plan was to find a nearby settlement and steal a cart and a pair of horses, but it sounds like we won’t need to bother with that," Responded Zelmira in bemusement.

"<Yeah, no, that sounds like way too much effort. Kai’s plan is better>," Chimed in Rex warily.

"Mhm, just point us in the right direction and we’ll cover the distance real quick," Smiled Aria with a thumbs up, before adding, "And since you crossed the border, Kai, I’ll take over."

"You sure? That barely took a minute, I’m good to keep going."

"It’s fine, I kinda want to fly around and take in the sights anyway, so yeah," She grinned in response.

"Alright, then, we’ll leave it to you. I’ll take over once you hit your cooldowns," I replied with a nod.

"Cool, sounds good."

"Hey, so, if we can get there quickly, what’s the rush? Let’s go find more dinos," Suggested Jaden eagerly.

"<I wouldn’t be opposed to that>," Rex nodded in agreement.

"Not gonna lie, that does sound pretty appealing," I replied with a wry smile.

"Heh, same, that T-Rex left pretty fast, I wanna see another dino before we head out," Grinned Ciel.

"You’re all certainly lacking urgency, aren’t you?" Responded Zelmira in bemusement, before adding with a wistful smile, "Well, I suppose there’s no harm in a brief detour."