19 Eslaine
LIGHT'S POV:-
4:00 AM
We reach the outskirts of Eros town.
There is fog all around us and nothing is visible.
With the forest on both sides and a silent road, it looks like a scene straight out of a horror movie and as if a ghost will come out of that fog any second.
Looking at Chase and Corey, they look a bit scared.
Anyways, so we move forward and soon find a white caravan with a bonfire lit a few metres away from it. 2 horses are tied to the caravan.
On getting closer we find a bulky man sitting near the fire.
He looks like he was in his 50s, wearing a grey Japanese kimono-like dress and a straw hat.
A katana was tied to his waist.
'Samurai?' I mumble.
Hearing my mumbling he looks at us, a big scar is present on his face from one corner to another making him blind from one eye.
"G-g-ghost!! L-L-Light, let's r-run, we are gonna d-die, we should escape f-from here." Speaks Corey scared out of his wits.
I look at him then looked at Chase who looks like he is ready to unleash his best move out there, he would have looked great if his legs weren't shaking so badly.
Ignoring them, I then look back at the man and ask, " are you a Samu- I mean Kaneto?"
He looks at me for a few seconds then at the two idiots behind me. After that, he looks back at me and nods.
I try my best to maintain a serious face and not to laugh at the situation.
"ahem", I fake a cough.
"I am Morpheus," I said pointing at me.
"He is Icelos," I pointed at Chase then at Corey," and he is Phantasos. Though you can call him Phan."
He again looks at Corey and Chase then mutters, 'peculiar names', then turns back to me and asks, "surname?"
I replied, "Somnus," with a humble smile.
"Pffft," a burst of laughter comes from behind, I look back only to find Chase covering his mouth with his hand.
"These aren't that bad names," I speak dejectedly.
"All right, enough with the bullshit." Kaneto speaks with a serious face then continues, "That kid asked me to return her favour by taking care of you lot for the next four years. I am Nakahara Kaneto. Call me Kaneto from now on. Platinum rank adventurer."
"If one of us can defeat you, it won't be four years," Chase joins the conversation.
He looks at Chase for a few seconds then smirks,
"Is that so? I would love to see you brats try," he mocks Chase.
I look at Chase...
Chase had a...well, hard to describe face. He looked like he is angry, scared, irritated and a little bit crying too.
'Poor kid ran out of words to fight.' I thought.
I then grab Corey who looks like he lost consciousness and took him to the caravan.
We then put out the fire and start our journey.
It is going to be a 15days journey, though teleport points are present in this world, it is only reserved for royals or higher nobles or rich people, as it costs a damn lot of money to pay for one teleportation.
I teach Corey and Chase different ways of meditation and channelling mana in their body.
And their first lesson is to connect all parts of their body with a single channel.
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Day 1
Nothing happened, we passed by a few villages, stopped once for sleep, then moved on.
The scenery was mostly plain and grasslands.
We did get to witness a few types of dogs, cats, cows, etc.
Day 2
We reached the foot of Dia mountains and took a break before moving on. We didn't talk much, just observed the surrounding. The mountains were blue with ice-covered tops. We are going to go through those mountains.
Day 3-5
We crossed the mountain and also encountered monsters, upon entering the mountain, which were too strong for Corey and Chase so Kaneto defeated them. Corey and Chase gradually became friendly with Kaneto somewhere along the journey and started asking about his adventures with mother.
Day 6-12
We crossed a big forest called the Scarlet Witch's Home. A lot of monsters came and also some bandits. All handled by Kaneto. Corey and Chase looked like they wanted to fight too but were stopped by Kaneto. The monsters were average but high in numbers while the bandits were few but strong.
Day 13-14
We didn't have any problems after we crossed the forest. A desert followed for two days before a lush of green was seen. The city was only half a day away but Kaneto decided that it was best to move during the day as it was safer.
Day 15
We reached Eslaine by the eve.
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7:00 PM
Eslaine, a city at the junction of Alfheim and Sol.
The only place that allows you to safely enter Alfheim.
Eslaine can be described in two ways:-
1. A circular city divided into 4 parts, each ruled by different organisations,
-Adventurer association in the south-east
- Human royals on the south-west
-Elven royals on the north-west
- pixies, wood fairies, kelpies, etc on the north-east.
2. A giant tree, an outgrowth of The Sacred Tree Yggdrasil, in the centre protected by guards, barriers, etc on all sides. And as the circle increases, you will find government buildings made of trees, markets and houses in that order.
Eslaine forms the junction at which humans and elves mainly meet and exchange culture. But it has a strict rule that doesn't allow one person to stay more than 4weeks. Also earning the title of 'The moving city'.[1]
Although, my reason to come here is to improve my knowledge. I also want to help Corey and Chase to grow stronger and make them understand mana more thoroughly; it is one of the ways I am going to improve their proficiency along with their base mana limit.
I am going to get stronger too and find different ways to improve my limited Constitution.
The plan is to find a place to rent for one month, register as adventurers, go adventuring, get strong and defeat Kaneto after that create fame and move to Alfheim and do something to earn the elves' respect and enter Heaven's Library.
We reach the southern main gate where multiple queues of people can be seen.
I get out of the caravan and start stretching.
"What's with the long line?Awaah" Asks Chase yawning after he jumped out of the caravan.
"They record people's mana signature so that they can keep track of people and if they stay here for more than 4 weeks, they are heavily penalised," Kaneto speaks monotonously.
This guy...why is he always so serious? So boring, adventuring should be fun.
We join the line and soon after 30 mins of waiting our turn came.
A guard asked us to flow mana into a sphere, and after doing so we were allowed to enter the city.
The city looked magnificent. Beautiful would be an understatement.
Stoned streets with sidewalks and shops with treehouses. Magical floating street lamps all around, with pixies, fairies and elves walking around, and fancy caravans that run on magic.
A night city made of trees and magic.
It looked like we entered a fairy tale world.
I look back at Corey and Chase, they are in a daze too. Chase has his mouth wide open in astonishment and Corey looks as if he is in heaven.
I didn't bother looking at Kaneto cause I knew he would still have that damn serious expression on his face.
Then Kaneto moves towards the right direction where we take a caravan and soon reach an inn which is close to the adventurers' guild.
It took us roughly an hour to reach the destination and we moved into an inn named Kitten's Paw. 'Cute name,' I mutter.
Entering the inn we find a lavish circular indoor with a bright yellow atmosphere, with big plants near the walls.
We enter the reception area where many queues are seen, we look around and choose the smallest queue. After a few minutes, our turn comes and a woman in her 20's is present at the reception area.
"Welcome sir, how may I help you?" She speak in a formal tone.
"1 room for 4 with high mana engine and high tempering circle." He speak in the same damn serious tone.
She give him a form which he fills in a minute.
Before she can ask for money, he pays 15gold coins..damn he is rich!
[The local currency is-
1platinum coin=1000gold coins
1gold=100silver coins
1silver=10copper coins
1copper=10iron coins
1 silver is enough for one person to survive for one month. ]
We went to our room and see a royal sized room...no...area, you can even play football in this room. Damn it was large! Truly a luxurious room. It has literally everything you can ask for. From a bath to a training area along with various weapons, etc. They even have a small library with basic grimoires.
Grimoires are a collection of spells that can be chanted without using your mana. It can be recharged and more spells can be added. The only limitation is that you can't use spells that you have never used before, so spell mastery was a must.
[Author's note:
Basic grimoire can store 5 basic spells or 2 mid-grade spells at best.
Mid grade grimoire can store 10 basic spells or 5 mid-grade spells or 2 advanced spell.
Advanced grimoire can store 15 basic spells or 7 mid grade spells or 3 advanced spells ]
The reason the room is so massive is because of space magic, and the reason it is so costly is most probably because of the training hall that it provides.
We take bath, and wash and dry our clothes and put it in our dimensional pocket.
We take out and wear similar clothing to the previous one.
We also order some dinner.
We then get out of the 'inn' whatever you may call it, and make our way towards the adventurers' guild.
...
10:00PM
...
A massive tree-like building is present in front of us and when we enter it we see a massive hall and thousands of people bustling inside.
Some are registering, some are chatting near a restaurant like place, some are eating, some are training, some are fighting, some are standing and checking a watch like thing on their hands.
We follow Kaneto to one of the receptions where a man is working on some papers.
Kaneto speaks to the man about something and then the man looks at us for a few seconds before taking out 3 watch like devices in exchange for a form and 3 silver coins. He then asks us to fill the form and go to a different area.
We reach that area to find a measuring device then we are asked to follow a female staff who lead us to a room with three big spheres. The female staff asks us to channel mana into the spheres. She looks quite bored.
Our results changed slightly as follows:-
Phantasos(Corey): 530(M), 4(A)
Icelos(Chase):7(M), 490(A)
Morpheus(Light): 5(M), 6(A)
That female staff is quite shocked and she is no longer indifferent to us.
Then we are asked to measure our fighting capability without using any artifacts. Those who can't fight at all can choose to become apprentice adventurers only, that too if they have a platinum adventurer as their guardian.
I obviously, choose the latter with Corey and Chase choosing the former, so we move towards the fighting area.
