Chapter 233: Start
"Okay, now everyone pick a horse," Asher said to the people standing there.
The people took a look at the identical horses which all seemed to have a little bit of aura. They were all still pretty tame, but no one knew how long that would last. Thankfully, Asher explained it to them.
"This is a Magical Beast called the Iron Horse. They are one and a half times as fast as normal horses and have a lot more stamina. However, they are harder to ride because they are Magical Beasts.
So to stay on their back, you first get on, and then release your aura to intimidate the beast. If you can show that you are many times stronger than it, then it won"t budge. For now, they are under the control of the Head Master. But he will stop releasing his magic once you get on the horse."
Once he told them how it would work, he got on one of the horses and demonstrated. The minute he got on the horse, the magic that Leo could detect from the Head Master diminished a little.
At that time, the horse suddenly became incredibly violent and started bucking around for around ten seconds. As it started to do that, Asher let it be violent for ten seconds before finally releasing a little bit of his aura.
The minute the horse noticed the aura, it quickly calmed down and came to a still. Asher showed everyone that it rode like a normal horse from there.
"As you could see, the horse will behave normally once you exert your aura. Don"t use too much since using too much aura would make you exhausted."
Everyone picked a horse, as did Leo. Even Lucius had to. He was given a healing potion that fixed him very quickly so that he could still compete in the Phoenix Trials. After his defeat to Leo, he didn"t look at him another time.
Once they did, they all got onto their respective Magical Beasts. A loud neigh erupted from each horse once the Head Master released his magical presence that kept them under control. free(w)ebnov(e)l
The horses tried to throw their pa.s.sengers and run away, but they didn"t have the strength to. Meanwhile, everyone started to release their aura to control their beasts. First, it was the seniors who did it, keeping their horses at bay constantly.
Leo looked around and saw that even the freshmen were able to do it instantly. Then he looked at his own beast and exerted his aura. He had hidden it again after the fight, so he had to exert it again to control the horse.
He only let a little bit of aura seep from his body and showcase his power. However, that little strand of aura that exited his body seemed to stop the horse from making a sound. It dropped to the ground immediately and started shivering.
It seemed as if it was in fear because of the aura. Asher noticed the weird phenomena that happened with Leo"s horse and frowned. He had never seen anything like this happen in his entire experience of dealing with Magical Beasts.
The Head Master also noticed this and rode his own horse to where Leo was. As he got closer, Leo got off the kneeling horse and went to the side, confused about what to do.
"Well, it seems that your aura is too strong for the horse. How about this? Keep in all of your aura and let me control your horse. As for why this is happening, we can figure it out at a later time. Maybe during the journey when we have time." He said.
Leo did as instructed and brought back all of his aura into his body, allowing the horse to behave normally again. He got on it again and it didn"t have any problems anymore.
Once they all got on their horses, they started moving on the road to the Capital. It was in the same direction as the city of Phoenix Greens. As they moved through the city, the odd sight of 12 Magical Beasts being ridden attracted many eyes.
The cloth draped over the horses had the emblem of the academy, which explained this occurrence but it only managed to increase the number of onlookers. Until they exited the city, all of the students were a little uncomfortable. Once they did, they all became a little relaxed.
Soon after they left the city, Leo was approached by the two seniors who were very intrigued about his strength. These were the two people he had already met.
"h.e.l.lo, Leo was it?" The red-headed girl said.
"Yes, Leo. You are?" He asked both of them.
"This is Ria, and I am Elysia," Elysia said. They turned to the second years who were beside him. Once they introduced themselves, they turned back to Leo.
"So, what is your trick to being this strong?" Ria asked immediately.
Leo chuckled in response. "Do you tell the rest of the world how you became strong, Ria?"
Her expression soured. "How about if I pay? For your Aura Manual?"
"How much would you be willing to pay?" Leo asked, intrigued. He didn"t need the money but wanted to see how much she thought he was worth.
"3 million Starcoins?" Ria asked him. Elysia palmed her face while Leo"s chuckle grew louder.
"I am sorry but 3 million Starcoins isn"t even getting you information about where I found this manual, much less the manual itself," he said.
Ria was a little angry at his statement but knew he was right. If there were indeed a secret behind his ascension to the 3rd Circle, it would be worth more than ten million Starcoins. And that was just the information.
"Let us put that aside. We just hope that we can work together during the trials. That is all," Elysia said and dragged Ria to the side, leaving Leo with his friends.
"Isn"t that weird?" Marcus asked. "Why did they come to buy off how you became a 3rd Circle Aura Knight?"
"Because she is a n.o.ble. Her name is Ria Goldberg and her father is a Viscount. If there is a trick to become a 3rd Circle Aura Knight, then it would be worth more than a hundred million Starcoins to them." Lyra answered the question.
"It doesn"t matter. I will need them for the Phoenix Trials anyway," Leo said. "Let"s just get there and we"ll sort it out. You have to worry about the reserve trial that you have to get past."
"We do. They are right though. The chances that we do get past the reserve stage are very low."
"Doesn"t mean you don"t try," he responded.
The journey to the Capital was very smooth. They started off very slowly to get the hang of riding the Magical Beast. This continued for the entire day without any breaks for food.
Everyone there was at least a 2nd Circle Aura Knight, so they didn"t have any need to eat food. Since they didn"t require breaks, they kept riding until it started to become dark. At that point, they slowed down until they came to an opening.
"We will take a break in around five minutes. There is a break-point on this path where we can spend the night," Maria said to the students.
After a few minutes, they did come to an opening. However, the opening they came to was already occupied. They could see this from a distance since there was a fire that showed someone else"s presence.
As they got near, they saw that it was a caravan that was on the way to the Capital as well.
"What do we do now?" Asher asked the Head Master.
"We can join them. This is a public s.p.a.ce that everyone can use. Who said that we cannot share the s.p.a.ce?" The Head Master said without seeming bothered by the situation at all.
The freshmen didn"t think anything at all, but the seniors did. Ria was very angry when she noticed that the camp was occupied.
"We should just kick them out. They will gladly go if we offer them some money," she said to Elysia.
"Don"t think that anything can be solved with money. This is the nearest break-point to Eldridge, so it is the safest place to rest during the night. Why would they be willing to give this up?" Elysia asked.
"Then what do we do? I don"t want to be sharing this place with those many people. They have a bunch of commoners and mercenaries who probably don"t even know what civilization means," she said.
Leo overheard this and smiled. This was typical of a n.o.ble, but the efforts of Elysia trying to educate her friend were more interesting to him.
"Don"t try to a.s.sume. And also, we will probably be using tents so we won"t need to encounter the people there anyway," she said.
Meanwhile, they finally got to the opening. As they got near, the members of the caravan noticed their presence. One of the people in charge came out to see who was approaching them.
As the light shone on the horses, the emblem of the Eldridge Academy, the crest of the Eldridge family, shone brightly. The person who was going to speak to them recognized the emblem and frowned.
"I greet the Eldridge family," he said as they got near him.
The Head Master got off his horse and stepped forward.
"We are not from the Eldridge Family, only the Eldridge Academy. We are here to stay the night alongside you. I hope that is fine."