Chapter 682 Taking Alaric Out into the Wilds

Now that Alaric had a new weapon Marcus handed the enchanted staff over to him and let him try it out a bit.

“Wow it feels completely different from the other one. Is this what a masterpiece feels like.” Alaric said as he swung the staff around.

Of course, it was not actually a masterpiece as he surmised, but it was more than sufficient for a person at a lower level.

“Well, I am glad you like it but to go along with it you need some armor. So, for the meantime keep practicing and I will make you something that is light and easy to move in.”

Going back into work mode Marcus pulled out some more bronze and began the far lengthier process of making some light armor for Alaric.

‘Yeah, a thin chain shirt and pants ought to do it.’

Within an hour after using all of his skills to speed the process up, Marcus had made the base of the armor for Alaric.

‘Yep, chain mail is always tedious. But at least with bronze I can just bend it into shape with my bare hands.’ Marcus thought while adding a few basic enchantments to the armor.

Once it was done, he had Alaric put it on under his clothes to allow the boy to get a good feel for his new equipment.

“I feel way stronger now. I can already tell how amazing this stuff is Lady Irene.” Alaric said while jumping around and laughing.

He truly looked like a kid having fun here, and Marcus cracked a smile seeing him so happy of the items he had just made.

Still, there were many other things that they needed to get done, so the amount of carefree time that Marcus was going to give Alaric was limited.

“Now that you have some new gear it is time that you test it out. I had Lilia fight some beasts and monsters once I gave her some gear, and you are going to do the same. It will be a good learning experience for you to get your first taste of real battle.”

Leading the way out of the forge Marcus took Alaric into a back lot and made sure no one was around.

“This should do.” He said and allowed Roxene, Inten, and Blitz out of his companion storage.

Startled by seeing the three beasts suddenly appear Alaric feel flat onto his butt and stared at Blitz who looked the most menacing of the three even if he was actually the weakest.

“Alaric I would like to introduce you to my three beast companions. You will eb getting to know them fairly well during your training since they are going to be helping out.”

Marcus then introduced the three of them to Alaric who was slowly gaining back his composure.

“Oh, and do not touch Roxene unless she allows it. She has no problem biting people’s arms off if they try to touch her without permission.” Marcus said as he saw Alaric’s hand wavering back and forth towards Roxene.

Though as soon as he heard this, he yanked his hand back and held it close to himself.

Of course, Marcus was overexaggerating a bit. Roxene would normally warn someone at least once before doing anything drastic, but he did not want Alaric getting on Roxene’s bad side.

“Okay, I think that we are ready to go now. Go ahead and mount Blitz, he is used to people riding him and should not be much different from a horse.”

Slowly Alaric approached Blitz who lowered his body and nodded his head towards the boy beckoning him to get on.

Tentatively, Alaric placed his right leg over Blitz and sat down on his back.

An instant later Blitz stood back up and Alaric gripped ahold his neck tightly in order to not fall off.

“Roxene, do you mind?”

Rolling her eyes, she understood what Marcus wanted and increased her size a bit with her supreme skill to be large enough to be ridden on.

Jumping on her back Marcus made sure to grip her fur and lower his body so that he would not slow her down as much.

Naturally he was the only one who was allowed to do this as her partner, and anyone else that wanted to ride Roxene would find themselves turned into dust by corroding darkness or searing light.

“Now to the northern exit of the city.” Marcus said, and Blitz and Roxene shoot off towards the edge of the city while Inten rested on Marcus’ shoulder.

As soon as Blitz began running at a fast pace, Alaric began screaming in terror as he had never gone so fast outside of a carriage before.

Within just a half hour they made it to the northern gate of the royal capital, and while they garnered some stares for ridding on such unique beasts, they nonetheless exited the capital without issue.

“Well now that we are out of the city Roxene and Blitz can really let loose and get some speed Marcus said back to Alaric.

Though as he looked at the boy, he saw his disheveled appearance that looked similar to scared cat clinging to something for dear life.

“I suppose that we could take it a bit slower instead.” Marcus said as he stifled a few chuckles.

Getting back onto the road they traveled away from the royal capital for around three hours before turning off the road and heading out into the unpatrolled or maintained wilds.

“This should be a good place for a base camp.” Marcus said when he found a flat area at the base of multiple hills.

It was well out of view from all sides and would be protected against the wind, making it a good place to set up.

However, as Marcus got down off Roxene and easily kept going Alaric collapsed to the ground, evidently exhausted from the long travel that was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

Seeing that Alaric was down for the count, Marcus began setting up camp on his own and figured he could teach the tired half elf tomorrow.

“This is delicious!” Alaric said as soon as he ate the stew that Marcus had prepared for dinner.

He could not believe how good it tasted for something that was made out in the middle of nowhere without a proper cooking facility.

“Lilia always told me you were a good cook, but this is even better than our own chef, lady Irene. You must have some sort of gift for cooking.” Alaric said before digging in and eating ravenously.

Once they had finished eating. Marcus allowed Alaric and his beast companions who needed rest to get some.

‘It has been a while since I last stayed up on my own keeping watch.’ Marcus thought as he took a book out and started reading.

With his skills he was fairly confident that he would detect any threat before it became a problem. Also, any beast with half a braincell would stay as far away from Roxene as they could.

Luckily the night went uneventfully, and as soon as Alaric was awake, Marcus showed him how to break down their camp and set it back up again.

“Hm, it took around a half dozen tries, but you have gotten good enough to pass.” Marcus said once Alaric successfully pitched a tent.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Alaric was ecstatic to not have to practice anymore with setting up camp.

paɴᴅᴀ ɴ<0>ᴠᴇʟ “I am sure you have been waiting for this. It is time to go out ins each of some monsters or beasts for you to fight.”

Perking up and regaining his energy, Alaric expressed his enthusiasm for their main purpose of being out here.

However, as they trudged through the wilds for over an hour without finding anything his spirits began to fall again, and his body that was not used to being exerted this much began to ache.

“Oh, looks like we found the jackpot for you.” Marcus said as he extended his finger and pointed towards the creatures he had spotted.

Around a thousand feet away was a shoddily constructed camp and sitting around roasting something over a fire were a dozen goblins.

They were a far cry from the well-armed and organized goblins Marcus had once slaughtered in the Great Gome Woods, and it was clear that this was just a stray group with no real leadership.

‘Their levels range from three to ten. They should make for excellent training for Alaric.’

For a few minutes Marcus made sure to have Alaric observe the goblins and quiz him on what they were doing and how to tell what their hierarchy was.

“So, the one with the beat-up iron spear is the leader, right?”

“Yes, that would be correct. You can tell since he has the best weapon out of all of them, and when they started eating, he took the best piece for himself. And if you watched carefully, you could see that the weakest two goblins were actually made to fight over the remaining scraps.”

Nodding his head Alaric made sure to remember this, though he was beginning to wonder why all this was so important.

But as if he could read the boy’s mind, Marcus quickly answered his question.

“It is crucial to be able to gage your opponents’ strengths even without an appraisal skill. There are plenty of methods to block or fool the skill, so being able to judge the relative power of others on your own is a critical ability.”