Black Mist Basin

Not long after a new discovery, Glin felt his stomach suddenly complaining; he didn't eat a decent meal this morning, only the usual bread baked from the main Valarian kitchen. So he jumped down the tree and took a shortcut to the front of the family residence, planning to head out of the gates and enjoy a lunch at the food house.

Unluckily, when he reached the front yard, he stumbled to a few youngsters whom he naturally has resentment to. They were the arrogant young bullies of the Valarians, Dennis and friends! It just also happened that the front yard lacked a crowd. Glin face immediately darkened when those people came to his sight; his malevolent self instantly awakened and took over his body.

At the same time, Dennis and his friends glared at Glin, hoping for revenge. They all approached Glin together.

"What do you want this time?" asked Glin solemnly while he suppressed his hatred.

"Kneel and ask for forgiveness," sneered Dennis with a tone of an authoritarian. It seemed that he has already recovered from his ignominy from a few days ago.

"Budge off," Glin immediately frowned.

"No one's going to save you now. Marco is not in Stonewill. Your father is also busy so he can't help you either." Dennis grinned and made a head gesture to his friends.

The three people behind Dennis immediately stepped forward, and rushed towards Glin. However, Glin was prepared this time. He immediately evaded the hands trying to get him one after another, then jumped backwards.

When their first attempt failed, the three boys didn't stop while Dennis remained an audience. Two continued to charge towards Glin but the latter was quite quick and experienced when it comes to evasion; his eight months of hunting and fighting wild animals and beasts had developed his reaction speed.

The fat guy couldn't bother running after Glin so while the other two keep the latter busy, he quickly used magic to trap him. Suddenly, a yellow magic circle appeared on the ground where the fat guy crouched.

"Earth Magic: Rock Wall!"

A second later, the ground behind Glin suddenly rose more than two meters, blocking Glin's path of retreat. Glin wasn't aware when the rock wall appeared behind him, he just found out when his back hit it. Shortly, he realized he had nowhere else to run; the two boys in front were very aggressive.

The two buys didn't rush at him immediately. They've already seen how tricky it is to catch Glin when the guy is prepared so they became careful, especially when they saw Glin hold the hilt of his sword.

"Just gave up and don't let yourself suffer much worse. This time, if you kneel and eat a mouthful of dirt, we'll let you off," Dennis ridiculed and smirked.

"No, you kneel and eat dirt so I'll let you off," Glin sneered. He tightly held the hilt of the Ember Sword.

"Beat him!" Dennis was angered and ordered the three boys. However, just after his words, another voice was heard from behind.

"Dennis, that's enough!" said a man loudly. The voice was very familiar to Dennis so he immediately stopped and glanced at the direction of the voice. A blond man was there.

"Father," Dennis immediately recognized the man. At the same time, the three boys also stopped.

Lord Darius walked towards Dennis as he glanced and smiled at Glin. Glin frowned. Shortly, Lord Darius switched his glance to his son.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lord Darius said loudly, as if angry. "Are you planning to directly provoke the Fourth Elder?"

Hearing him, Dennis was a little surprised. He immediately lowered his head, "sorry father, it's my fault."

Shortly, the Elders of the House came and wondered what happened when they were gone. When Theian saw Glin, Dennis, and the three boys, he couldn't help but sigh helplessly.

Lord Darius glanced at Glin. He then lowered his head. "Please forgive Dennis if he'd caused you harm. He is indeed a little reckless."

"Hmph!" Glin weakly snorted and just left. He went directly to the gates. Totally displeased, his hands were clenched tightly.

"Fourth Elder, please let off my son's recklessness this time," said Lord Darius to Theian, as if sincere.

"My Lord, it's fine. Young people are naturally reckless. Even my son is," Theian quickly replied and smiled.

"You are right. It's a part of being young," laughed Lord Darius. All the elders agreed. "Well then, I will not be bothering you all. I know you all are busy these days. Forgive me."

The crowd shortly dispersed after Lord Darius went on his way with his son. His calm and smiley face immediately vanished and was replaced by a grin.

"Dennis, don't trouble Glin for a while. I have a plan. We will get his two relics."

When Dennis heard his father, he was instantly surprised. "He has two relics?"

"Other than the thing you've mentioned, I found out that he still has another one from his mysterious mother," Lord Darius smiled viciously.

At the food house…

Finally finding a seat on the second floor, Glin decided to read a book while waiting for his grilled meat. He's been reading books quite a lot since he planned his big journey. Knowledge is still power, he firmly believed. This time, he took out as small book that fitted well on his leather bag. It was all about the known places in the "Great Woods."

The "Great Woods" was a name that was given to the largest forest of the known world. It takes up almost one-third of Tran, the name of the super continent known to be the entire world, and has been an astonishing source of wonders after the start of the New Mage Era. In the present, it is said that only a tiny part of it has been explored by man after the Dark Era. But many experts say that there used to be kingdoms that stood in it during the Ancient and Lost eras. Because of this, the Great Woods has been in many countries and kingdoms' interests for centuries. In its vastness, it is highly possible that countless labyrinths, dungeons, treasuries, abandoned castles, and abandoned cities are hidden in it. Though, its origin is still a giant mystery since several records says no trace of such a very wide and unexplored region during the ancient times, which means that it probably didn't exist 3000 to 2000 years ago.

Glin took his time reading such book not mainly because he wanted to learn clues about where to find the treasuries from the ancient times, like rooms filled with golds or magic items. The real reason is because he wanted to know where are the possible places he can find the treasures he wanted to collect.

The Great Woods is actually not very far northeast of Stonewill city; that's why the city is often attacked by strong demon beasts and sometimes faces beast tides. In fact, the forest where Glin lived for eight months—Silent Valley—is a speck of it. But he wouldn't dare rush into that deadly wilderness without knowing his direction: The truth is, no one dares to enter the 'real' Great Woods from the Silent Valley.

Just as a few minutes on the chair, the grilled meat finally came. It was the usual lady worker who brought all the lunch for Glin.

"Black Mist Basin?" the beautiful lady worker in maid outfit suddenly asked when she took a glimpse at the page where Glin was reading.

"Hm? You know that place?" Glin was suddenly intrigued when he heard the lady worker's tone.

Glin was hoping he could gather more information because the book he was reading was very outdated.

"Em," the lady nodded, shyly.

"Tell me about it," smiled Glin. At the same time, he took out a shiny gold coin and placed it on the wooden table. The book was not too detailed about the Black Mist Basin and it turned out that ten treasures from his list can mostly be found on places like it, so he was hoping to get more information from the lady worker. "Please sit."

When the lady worker saw the shiny gold coin on the table, her eyes immediately lit up. This tiny piece, it was almost half the worth of her entire month of efforts. Naturally, she'd feel joy. But she wondered which family this youth in front of her came from. The youth, Glin, was at least five years younger than her and he's spending money so extravagantly. This young guy isn't rich on his own, right?

The beautiful lady worker sat on the wooden chair at the opposite side of the table. She stared at Glin unconsciously, the latter was smiling handsomely.

"Hm?" Glin wondered if there was a problem in his face that made the beautiful snow-white lady stare at him wordlessly.

"Oh, sorry," the lady worker was finally pulled back to reality. She was embarrassed. Why was she staring at him like that? Her face turned slightly reddish. She quickly began telling about the Black Mist Basin.

"Black Mist Basin is located at 350 kilometers north-northeast of Stonewill. The place always wet even during summer because of the trees blocking the sunlight. It also has a lake at the center and the soil all around it is highly fertile, making it possible for a big number of plant species to grow."

"Hm," nodded Glin. Six out of ten sought treasures that he may find in Black Mist Basin were actually from plants, he remembered. It was good news.

"There are many kinds of treasures that can be found in there, mostly related to water element. For this reason, many Water Mage chose to explore this area. However, the place is extremely dangerous and not completely explored. The thick mist that's present most of the time makes it hard for Adventurers to navigate and often leads to accidents such as beasts' encounters," the lady worker continued.

"What is the most common beasts nesting in there?" Glin suddenly asked. The remaining four out of ten sought treasures that can be found on Black Mist Basin were actually from body parts of beasts. He wanted to know the chances!

"That… the most common are Giant Slugs and Giant Hermit Crabs. Water-pearl Tigers are very rare, hunters are competing for it. Turtle Crocs are common on the inner areas. Night Demon Birds are the rarest but is definitely not hunted, the most dangerous beast in Black Mist Basin. There may be other demon beast species there that I am not aware of but in terms of their danger level, it should be below that of Water-pearl Tigers and Night Demon Birds."

"That's all I know," the lady worker smiled. She then dragged the gold coins and kept it. Shortly, she began to wonder why Glin was willing to pay big money just to know more about Black Mist Basin. "Hey, are you going to Black Mist Basin?"

Glin only smiled. "You know a lot. How did you learn it all? You aren't actually an adventurer, are you?"

"That… My father is a Water-type Battlemage, he used to go there and there were times he brought me along." The lady worker stood up from the chair, planning to go back to work.

"A battlemage, it must be great," Glin smiled, "thank you for your time. Your grilled meat tasted good!"

"Thank you," the lady worker was very pleased by Glin's attitude when she left.

Glin once again looked at the page he was reading. The author has mentioned an old rumor, something about "the lake's devil." Glin sighed helplessly. Seems like he can only deal with it when it comes.