"You are going to die. The two of you." He said with calm certainty. Cormac slowly steered the wheel and turned the ship, the little wind that passed the barrier ruffling his cloak.
They were on a flying ship provided by Cormac; it surprised Jael when the man pulled it out of his ring. It is an expensive thing to have, but that must mean Cormac is successful in his chosen job. Or he just stole it.
It wasn't like the golden and pristine-looking ship like Thayer's; this one was made of mana-treated wood, old but in good condition. It was shaped like a canone.
Jael smirked. "Is this what you tell all your clients?" From the first time that Jael met the man, he immediately knew he was a hard one with a bleak outlook on life. Years must have hardened him and now he's only living to survive.
Jael paused, fundamentally though isn't that what every being is doing? He shook his head. This is no time to be lost in thought.
"I've seen your type before. Recently, they entered the Tower and just passed their first-floor test. They believe they will reach the top of the Tower. They think they will reach the top of the rank and have power that only demigods have.
"But they will soon see that only despair lies in their way. They will either be killed by the monsters or reach their threshold faster than they think. Their WILL will get broken and they will settle for what they can get their hands on.
Cormac turned his hard eyes on them, there was no emotion in them. "Do you know that there's a study that of the Awakeners of every set only like five percent will not have the 'threshold cripple'..." he paused.
Jael thought he had stopped speaking and he shared a look with Temur. 'What the fuck is this? Is this man trying to discourage them from continuing
Since the incident that happened, Temur has been in a bad mood, and Jael thought he might have snapped with everything Cormac was saying, but the big guy smiled.
"But it doesn't matter does it?" Temur asked.
He gave them faded black clothes and told them to wear long swords. In towns like Orha, it's better to display your profession with how you dress and your weapon.
Longsword for mercenaries, daggers for assassins. Large hats for magic.
"Trying to form mysterious will get you killed faster than you can blink. Now, we walk!" Cormac returned his ship to his ring.
And so they began to walk towards the town. Jael expected the surroundings to be dried like the wastelands, but small grass and scattered tall trees lined the way toward the town.
They walked for most of the afternoon until Cormac stopped them for a little rest. They moved away from the road and cleared the ground on the side to sit.
"Why do we stop? We can still keep moving." Temur said as he drank water from a bottle.
Cormac pointed forward. "We'll see Orha soon, and since today is Wednesday I expect the Black Axe to pass here soon. I've checked earlier, but I can't find their trail."
Jael wanted to ask what Black Axe was, but he didn't get the chance; the ground shook, and before they knew it, hundreds of Awakeners on horses poured out in front of them. They wore black leather armor and carried different weapons but the axe was more common.
They passed by them without sparing them a glance but they didn't continue their journey until Cormac was satisfied they were truly gone.
"That's one of the mercenaries groups. They have a deal with a village nearby that pays them to guard their village," Cormac shrugged. "Far from the center town here, bandits roam the lands,, and if there'snotot enough wo,rk, then merciless will turn to bandits too. So the villagers try to hire those who they can."
"Alright, hurry now! We should reach the village before night!"