Chapter 30: Trip outside the city

"I see that you don't have anything of value on you. Come with me."

As soon as Fen returned to the archarity, hoping that the argument that prevented him from entering it earlier would be already over, Mark came bursting out of the doors. Just a single look at his fully red face was enough to guess that the strife he had with Nadia was still going on, to the point he decided to not take part in it any longer.

"Excuse me?"

Given the state of mind of his saviour, Fen wasn't really sure if he was both willing and ready to follow him. What's more, by the time they were parting ways, Hekarion advised him to focus on practising his control even though he could already perform it nicely, so wasting the time to calm down a broken-hearted middle-aged man was not a duty that Fen was willing to take on his shoulders.

"You nailed the control, didn't you? Practising it in real life situation will bring you more benefits now rather than just sitting in the garden and repeating the same exercise over and over again."

With those few words, Mark grabbed his young apprentice's hand and pulled him along the street. Seeing how he would be unable to excuse himself from this sudden event, Fen could only breathe out before wrestling his arm free from Mark's loose hold and following him normally.

"We will visit the outskirts of the local forest. How much do you know about monsters?"

Slowing down his steps for a moment to allow Fen to catch up and line up with him, Mark asked without even bothering to look at his disciple. Even though he was still clearly furious about the recent clash with Nadia, at least he attempted to turn this trip into a worthwhile lesson.

"Monsters? Do you mean spirits or the beasts?"

As one of the hunters, Fen wasn't stranger to either of the two. Looking back, it was a beast's fault that he was caught by that damned inquisitor in the first place!

"I don't think we will understand each other if we speak using the names we know. Tell me, what do you consider to be spirits and beasts that you mentioned?"

The further the two of them got away from the archarity, the calmer Mark became, as if just the proximity of that place was enough to push his emotions to the extreme. On the other hand, it could be that he was finally trying to fit in the shoes of the teacher for Fen, who could be called not only great responsibility but also an opportunity for both Mark alone and the entire archarity that he was a part of!

According to Hekarion words, archarities were initially just the divisions of the global arcanists guild. Created with the idea of splitting the local tasks from more general administration, they soon were influenced by the regions where they operated. According to that old sage's words, it took only a few years for some of them to turn into their own groups, that nearly completely cut the ties with the main guild. As this trend accelerated, especially during the fairly recent years of the great war, more and more archarities decided to turn autonomous, quickly putting those who opposed the idea into obscurity.

"Spirits are fairly harmless. They look like a manifestation of specific elements of their own, ranging in size and activeness from completely powerless phires all the way to reasonably resilient major spirits. As for the beasts, they are capable of wielding more than more element, but will always focus on their most powerful attribute. Due to how the ecosystem developed around them, hunters like me had to either accept the reality and limit their targets to the weak and injured animals that escaped closer towards the humans, or risk their life by stepping into the area dominated by the beasts. I myself had the displeasure of seeing a beast thrice, and fighting with one twice in my life."

Quickly recalling the events that happened long before the inquisition knocked onto his doors, Fen couldn't help but smile, not even realising that there was a hint of sourness on his lips.

Killing a beast was a major incident that the entire village would celebrate. From the abundance of extremely nutritious meat, all the way to its valuable parts that couldn't be consumed, the time where Fen, Basil and their master once managed to take down a lesser beast, was the only time when they actually received a bit of money for their own use!

But as great as this memory was, the pouch that was weighting down Fen's belt forced him to realise how little did the three of them made despite risking their lives to accomplish that task. Even if all the money they managed to receive from the sale of the meat and bodyparts of the meat would amount to less than half of the golden coin that Fen could now spend without even batting an eye!

"I see… While anyone could say that you are wrong, I do believe that as long as this kind of classification worked for you back in the village, then for all intents and purposes, it was perfectly correct."

Finally reaching the gate, Mark, at last, managed to regain the same composed look that he had on his face a few days back when Fen met him for the first time. As the two of them moved outside of the city, its walls could no longer hinder the young man's eyes.

And there was a lot to stare at.

During his journey towards this place, Fen was too focused on the uncertainty of his future to care about something as meaningless as the sights, but now his situation was entirely different.

Looking forward, a wide, stone road was extending all the way to the line of the horizon, with enormous farmland stretching on its left side, and a forest just as big protecting its right flank.

"In the arcanist community, both the spirits and the beasts you mentioned, are classified as monsters. Minor spirits are grade ten monster, major spirits that are close to achieving sentience can be as high as seventh or even sixth grade. While there are some rumours about spirits reaching greater heights, they are extremely rare."

Not bothering to let Fen be awestruck by the sight, Mark continued to push forward, pulling the young man alongside with him.

"On the other hand, there are beasts. Since you are still on the level of learning control, I assume Stiel has yet to tell you anything about arcana constructs?"