CelestialShadow
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Chapter 27 - Ranking up
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 17:54:07 +0000 UTCAdion looked at the three dead beasts and was satisfied with his fight. He took control of the fire that was still burning and put it out. Even though he could only control a small flame if he wanted complete control over it, he could still control just as much fire as any other fire mage if he needed to. It would just be hard on his Will if he wanted to do so for long as the Will of the World would quickly fight for control over it.
The reason he never used that much fire was that he didn’t have a fire core like fire mages had. So he had to conjure fire from the pure mana around him, which took a lot of Will. But Adion had gotten a long way already and was planning on practicing conjuring fire a lot. After all, he was going to pretend to be a fire mage, and if he could only conjure a small ball of fire, people would think something was off.
Adion then thought of a problem as he got ready to carry the beasts. The space mana he had under his full control was only the size of a grown man. It worked for carrying one beast, even if the whole body wasn’t under his space mana’s control, but three bodies were impossible.
What a waste. Do I have to come back and make two more trips here? I guess I was still planning on hunting more, so I might as well head back here.
Adion then grabbed control of the dead boar and manipulated the frozen space to travel behind him.
Do other Outskirters actually carry the beasts back every time? That must be exhausting. Even if I feel the boar's weight when I carry it in space, it's evenly spread through my body. To actually carry something that big and ungainly seems awful.
It took Adion a few hours before he was back outside of the outpost again. This time, he went to the small Outskirt Guild branch located in the outpost to collect his reward. The building was much smaller than the one Adion had been to in the city. Two stories high and barely bigger than the inn Adion was staying at. The doors stood open, and as Adion stepped inside, he noticed that there was only a single receptionist sitting behind a desk further in. There was also a mission board and a few posters with information. The rest of the room was just an ordinary tavern where about ten people were sitting, already starting their drinking.
Most people only gave Adion a quick look as he walked inside carrying the boar, this time without his space powers, of course. One man, however, took a longer glance and suddenly said, “Holy Hellemus. He can’t be much older than 15 and already a Bronze mage?” That got the attention of the rest of the early drinkers. They all looked at Adion, trying to feel his age and strength. Adion let them. They would only feel the strength of a low Bronze mage.
The men in the room started whispering to each other. “He can’t be simple, must come from a high-tier family, maybe even a Noble one.” One man with a large red beard in his forties said to his drinking companions.
“Yes, they send them out alone like this to temper their Will sometimes, I’ve heard.” a man of the same age and equally rough beard answered.
A younger man in the group, the only clean-shaven man around, said in a low voice, “Which family do you think? Is he the young master of the Graton family? But he has black hair, what do you think?” he asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” the red-bearded man said. “We should just mind our own business and not get involved in the affairs of family clans. It will do us no good.” Everyone seemed to agree with that statement.
Adion, meanwhile, had heard it all and ignored it. He reached the reception desk, and a middle-aged woman greeted him with a smile.
“Quite the haul. I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new to Outpost Grillis?” she asked.
“Yes, I just got here yesterday. I would like to turn in this low Bronze beast, please.” Adion said.
“Sure thing, just let me see your Guild card,” The woman said.
Adion took out his Guild card and showed it to her.
“Rank 1 traveler. That would mean you just cleared a mission with a higher rank. Have you done more of these and want the information sent to Billford?” The woman asked.
“No, this is the first time,” Adion answered, “I plan on doing 20 of these here so I can rank up. Is that possible?”
“Yes, we can upgrade Guild cards up to rank 3 traveler here. I will register that you’ve completed the mission, and we can hold off until you rank up before sending the information back to Billford.” The woman said.
Adion nodded and left the body on the floor to not bloody the desk. The receptionist went into the back, and a few seconds later, a man who looked to be in his 60s with a bloodied apron came out. He grabbed the body and carried it away. Not long after, the woman came back with a pouch of coins that she handed to Adion.
“The beast and its core were in good condition, so you get 2 silvers and 20 coppers,” The woman said with a smile.
“Thank you very much,” Adion responded.
It's lucrative being an Outskirter, I guess. I wonder how much I could make if I hunted down Silver beasts.
Adion made his way out of the building and could hear how the conversations around the tables once again picked up in volume.
Adion made his way back to the dead beasts that, fortunately, hadn’t been found and eaten by other beasts. While making his way back for the second time, he was once again attacked by three Blue Fire Boars. This time, one of them was a middle Bronze beast.
Adion let go of the dead boar he was carrying and got ready to fight. He ignored the fire shot by the boars this time as he could dodge quite easily. Beasts were quite horrendous at mana control compared to humans, so they generally mainly fought using their bodies, at least in the Bronze and Silver stages.
Adion ran towards the leftmost boar, which was a middle Bronze beast and ahead of the other two. He froze it in space just before they collided and pierced its brain through its eyesocket with his sword. He quickly let go of the room and turned to the next boar, which he promptly made work of in the same manner before turning his attention to the last boar. He froze it in space and approached it slowly this time.
Adion wanted to see how long he would be able to freeze a low Bronze beast. He knew that even if it broke free, he could use the fire that had started burning from the boar's missed attack at the beginning of the fight, so he felt it would be safe.
He stopped when he stood eye to eye with the boar and could see confusion in its eyes as it struggled to break free. It had been frozen for 10 seconds already, and Adion felt that he could probably hold it for another 10 if he pushed himself. He had no intention of exhausting himself completely, though, so he pierced its head with his sword from underneath its jaw, leaving a complete corpse so he could earn more money.
I’m much stronger than I would have assumed from advancing from low Bronze to middle Bronze. Even though it still took some effort to stop their momentum when running, it was nothing when comparing it to how it was before.
I can only imagine that training my aura for a year with Fellion worked wonders for my Will. I didn’t expect that, but it makes sense when I think about it. I had to use almost all my Will every day to manipulate my aura.
I think I should end my days with aura training from now on. Trying to hide my strength and space element as deep as possible and push my Will to the limit. It won’t have an immediate effect, but it seems to add up nicely over time.
Adion had a pleased smile on his face as he made his way back to outpost Grillis, carrying the boar he had dropped earlier in the frozen space behind him.
Seems like I will have to make a few more round trips.
Adion finally arrived in his room at the inn late at night. He hadn’t run into any more beasts, but the fighting and carrying boars all day had exhausted him. The woman working in the Outskirts Guild had become increasingly flustered every time Adion arrived, and the people in the tavern had become even more interested in him. When he arrived with the sixth boar of the day, the whole tavern had become silent, and everyone was watching him.
The tavern had been packed by then, and Adion could only guess what type of rumors had started circulating around him.
Oh, well. I’ll only stay here a few more days to upgrade my rank. Hopefully, everyone will forget about me after that. And if Villem hasn’t turned up by then, I’ll just forget about him. He probably doesn’t know anything about those people with white masks anyway.
Adion had asked about Villem at the Outskirts Guild, but the woman was unsure if he was around, so Adion simply left it at that.
Time to train my aura control. I can’t afford to slack off.
Adion continued training for half an hour before falling asleep exhausted.
Four days later, Adion entered the Outskirts Guild building carrying a low Bronze Blue Fire Boar. It would be his twentieth and final mission completed as he could now rank up to rank 2 traveler.
When he entered the building that also functioned as a tavern, the place didn’t quiet down as much as it used to. Perhaps people had noticed that Adion didn’t care and never talked to anyone or acted arrogant around the outpost, easing the tension.
“Adion,” The middle-aged woman behind the counter, who Adion had found out was named Clara, greeted him as he approached her, “This will be your twentieth mission, so I guess you want your rank upgraded?”
“Yes, please,” Adion said, handing her his Guild card.
“I’ll handle it right away. It won’t take long,” Clara said and rushed off.
The same old man who had taken care of Adion’s beast carcasses arrived and carried away the body without a word, as usual. Not long after, Clara arrived with Adion’s monetary reward as well as his Guild card, now with ‘Traveler II’ engraved on it.
“All done,” Clara said, handing him his belongings, “What are you planning on doing now, Adion?”
“I’ll head to an outpost deeper into the forest,” Adion said.
“Is that so? You should be careful. You are so young and talented. There is no need to rush anything,” Clara advised.
“Mm, maybe. But I’ll at least take a look,” Adion answered.
“Haa,” Clara sighed, “Well, good luck. I hope I’ll get to see you back here safe.”
“Mm, thanks.” Adion nodded and then turned around to leave.
He had already checked out of the inn he was staying at and had all his belongings on his back, so he went straight to the gate to leave. It was still early, as Adion had only made two rounds during the day. He even left the body of a boar that he had killed. Adion had noticed that most of the beasts he ran into always traveled in groups of three or four. He didn’t know if that was something specific to the Blue Fire Boar or if that was the case with all the beasts in the Outskirts.
Adion was worried that he would have to continue fighting several beasts even as they got stronger. He had absolute confidence in defeating a peak Bronze beast, but three or four of them at the same time could be difficult.
Most Outskirters hunt in groups, so maybe the beasts also started doing so. Or perhaps it's the other way around. No matter the reason, it is going to be hard for me to hunt stronger beasts alone.
Maybe I should join a team to hunt with. They’ll definitely notice my strength, though, but I can pretend that my space powers are a result of me being Gifted. That was always the plan anyway. But I was only planning on revealing that once I got to Cyalis. If I do so now, it will cause a big commotion. A lot of people will surely look for me and pressure me to join their family or organization, and I have no interest in that.
Adion thought about his options for a while before deciding to continue hunting alone for the moment. Even with multiple peak Bronze Beasts, he had his healing pills in case anything happened.
