Two beady red eyes stared directly at him. He couldn"t move. This was the first time Marcellus had ever seen a ranked beast so he did not know it"s rank but he knew that he should be scared. No matter how powerful a normal lion was, it could not compare to the Ironhide Lion that was now in front of him.The time that it took for him to turn around and run was far more than the time the Ironhide Lion needed to jump on him. Marcellus was easily pinned down by the claw of the beast which was made of pure iron along with the rest of its fur.
Although the lion had extremely strong fur, the skin underneath was not very hard. Under the iron, even a simple dagger could kill it. However, to kill such a beast one would need an enchanted weapon to penetrate the iron. Marcellus could not dream of such a weapon as some were even more valuable than beast cores depending on the attributes that the weapon possessed.
As Marcellus could do nothing under the pressure of the lion, he simply laid there as a single iron nail from the beast"s claw went through his abdomen slicing his organs inside. He felt serious pain but then it started to get cold, very cold. He was struggling to keep his consciousness from fading.
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10 Hours Earlier
Marcellus closed the door behind him looking up towards the midday sun which was too bright to look at directly. "It"s around one" he thought "I have quite a bit of time to finish what I need to do." A few moments ago he had decided to go to the Mercenary a.s.sociation to get stronger and learn how to fight. He needed to get stronger in order to protect himself and earn the respect of others.
Although his injuries hurt slightly that was only because he was sore and not because he was severely injured. He walked to the commoner"s section of the city and headed right towards the a.s.sociation. He walked into the tall stone building with a sign outside that read "Mercenary a.s.sociation."
He walked quickly to the reception desk to which there was a long line. The line was extremely slow and only inched its way forward. Marcellus found himself getting more and more impatient. In order to ease his nerves he went and picked up a book that was on a bookshelf next to the reception desk.
"Brief Explanation of Beasts and Cultivation" was scrawled hastily on the front cover of the book. He began reading
"Cultivation is the increase of mana inside a person"s body. Mana is a magical force that is in all things which can be broken down into auras. The auras are "Earth, Wood, Fire, Lightning, Water, Healing, Wind, Mind, Time and s.p.a.ce ." Although mana is a magical force, how it is cultivated depends on the user.
If the auras are refined to improve the body one could become stronger. On the other hand, if mana is used to refine one"s magic circuit then their magical control over an aura would increase. The body and magical circuits can both be refined but that would take a great deal of time so usually, a person chooses one or the other.
There are major differences between cultivating the body and the soul. If someone cultivated earth in the body then they would gain stronger defensive abilities and with water, it would boost their energy and strength. However, specifics are unknown as each one grants a different gift to every person.
On the other hand, if someone chose to cultivate the soul they would use Ice as an external force that is expelled from their body. These cultivators can create ice walls or earth spikes. The more complicated auras such as Mind, time, and s.p.a.ce are unpredictable and no one that we know of has cultivated these auras to level 10.
If one wants to improve the speed of the cultivation of auras then they need a higher understanding of them. The higher the understanding the faster one can cultivate. Unfortunately, it is very hard to increase one"s understanding of an aura. The most efficient is with the core of an elemental. The core would not increase your cultivation but instead your understanding of an aura.
Elementals are extremely dangerous and live in places with dense mana flowing through the terrain. Due to the fact that such dense mana of a certain type is needed for them to generate, it is extremely difficult to come across one of them."
Marcellus read as he went closer and closer to the desk. "How can I help you sir?" she said but looking down at him her smiling expression changed to one of boredom. She immediately followed up with "The fee for registering as a mercenary is 10 silvers, and you must be older than 12 to register as a gatherer and 14 to register as a hunter. Do you have that type of money kid? I bet you"re not even 12 yet."
Marcellus frowned at the woman"s att.i.tude towards him, but he had no choice but to accept it. "I have 10 silvers prepared and I am 13 years old, please register me as a gatherer." He said, handing her the coins. She picked them up and handed him a sheet of parchment.
"Name
Date of birth
Date of registration
Current occupation
Hunter or gatherer"
He quickly filled out the information on the parchment and handed it back to the lady. He had just wasted 10 silvers and his entire life he had gathered one gold coin"s worth of silvers with a bit more. Leaving him with 97 silvers, he was not happy with the price but it was acceptable, he still had to buy proper gear so the money would soon be gone.
He left the counter and placed the book back on the shelf. He walked up to the second desk right next to the one he registered at. He walked up to the lady and asked, "Excuse me I would like to complete a quest." The lady in front of him smiled kindly and replied, "Just pick up that book there and then write your name next to the quest you are taking."
He picked up the book and looked at the blank cover. He flipped open the first page and it read, "Gatherer"s basic quests." Other than that the rest of the page had no words written on it. The lady let out a gentle laugh and asked him, "This your first time choosing a quest?" "Yes," he replied timidly. "Look, the book works like this," she explained, "You have to tell it what you want." "Herb gathering," she spoke into the book. With a slight glow, words filled the page in.
Marcellus looked at the page again and this time there was a list of quests, in fact, the whole book was filled with quests. He noticed that many of them had names written next to them so he tried something. "Show only available quests," he said to the book. Once again the page changed and this time not even half the book was filled. Marcellus was amazed at how useful magic could be.
He chose a basic quest to pick three flowers known as the "Shattered Song." The quest seemed easy enough to only pick three flowers wasn"t that hard and it was just a basic quest so "it should be a good choice" he thought. He wrote his name next to the quest with his basic writing skill. He wasn"t happy with how terrible his writing was but it was the least of his problems.
He walked towards the doors pushing one open and exiting the building. Leaving the a.s.sociation behind, he walked in the street looking around him at the stone buildings and wooden homes. He was used to them as he came here every day to make a living, but this time it was different almost like he belonged somewhat.
He reached his destination in about 10 minutes and walked inside looking around. The shop was neatly organized with swords, knives, daggers, bows, shields, maces, staffs and a lot more items to the left and on the right were armor, rings, necklaces. Marcellus a.s.sumed that all of these had to be enchanted items and incredibly expensive. In the front was a large a.s.sortment of cores and fangs along with other monster parts that were well cleaned.
"Excuse me, sir, I would like to buy a cheap set of armor my size." Said Marcellus looking at the man sitting at the desk behind the cores. The man looked up slightly and then back down at the parchment he was writing on before scribbling a few more words down. Without speaking he went and got another parchment from the shelf behind him. "Would you like to become a member of our establishment the "Golden Forger"?
The man asked without looking up from the parchment. His voice was hoa.r.s.e and deep, he sounded like an experienced man. "In order to become a member there is a one gold fee and then you can gain rewards depending on how much you spend."
Marcellus thought that the man was either crazy or blind. "Do I look like I can afford that?" Marcellus thought to himself and sighed. "No that"s alright, I just want the armor, sir." "Alright go down into the bas.e.m.e.nt and you will find what you need." Replied the man pointing and the stairs to his right.
Marcellus walked down the stairs, and when he reached the bottom he noticed that it was exactly like the shop upstairs but with less expensive-looking items. At the other end of the room was another man at a desk. The man immediately got up and said, "Follow me." Marcellus did as he was told. He was taken to a room to the side and was thrown inside with a suit of leather armor, a shortsword, and a small knife.
He put them on over his old clothes and walked back out of the room. They fit him surprisingly well and the material was breathable with high mobility. He was happy with the armor the man picked for him. He grabbed the sword on his waist and swung it a few times. It had a nice balance and was slightly heavy but not too much.
"How much will this cost me?" Asked Marcellus after realizing he didn"t have a chance to check the prices before the man threw him inside the dressing room. The man replied "97 silvers." Marcellus was shocked as that was the exact amount he had leftover from the Mercenary a.s.sociation. He didn"t question the man and just handed him the silvers.
He stared at the man for a moment after handing them to him. "Well you can be on your way then," he said. Marcellus turned around and walked up the stairs. "That was really weird," he muttered to himself. The man at the more elaborate counter chuckled as Marcellus muttered.
Having bought all that he needed he was ready to complete the quest he had picked up earlier. He wanted the armor just in case he encountered any low ranked beasts along the way. He walked to the city wall which was extremely tall. It was about 15 meters tall and had sentry guards posted every few meters along the wall"s top.
He stood in front of one of the four guards guarding the giant iron door which led to the outside world. The guards looked at him before the one standing in front asked, "What do you want?" "I want to exit the city to complete a quest I received from the Mercenary a.s.sociation," Marcellus told him with a stern look. "Alright," he said then shouted "Let him through," to his fellow guards.
Marcellus looked up at the sun which was previously halfway in the sky and noticed it had moved significantly. "It looks like it"s been three hours or maybe four so that leaves me about four to five hours before sunset, it should be enough time to pick some flowers and come back. I think it will take about an hour to get to the section of the forest the flowers grow in and then another hour to find the flowers," he said to himself. His face harshened and he looked seriously into the forest thinking "This is the best way to get stronger, I have to succeed."