The 'red marble' moved rapidly towards Nick's opponent, who had raised himself quickly from the ground with his body still bathed in flames. The man caught a glimpse of Nick's approaching attack and he responded by using his body to generate a wide cylindrical pillar of fire that enveloped the red marble and extended into the clouds.
(Tall Flames)
Nick cast Blink to appear on the ground ten meters away from the man's front. A few moments after the red marble was consumed by the flames, under the influence of the resolving and still intact red marble, the flames at the point where Nick's attack resolved vanished, breaking up the pillar into two vertical sections with a two meter length of empty space between its flames. That empty space only remained that way for less than one second as flames still emerged from the Fire Magician, quickly closing the gap.
Noticing Nick's new position, the fire path Magician dispelled his flame pillar and so most of the flames dissipated but a flurry of flames still covered many sections of his body. The man seemed to be preparing another spell as the magic energy exuding from his body suddenly began to swirl around him violently but before he could manifest his method, Nick already brought about his own method.
A sphere of bright-grey light formed at Nick's raised right index and middle fingers and then shrunk to the size of a marble before twinkling like a miniature star. The fire path Magician as well as the loose rocks that were present on the ground began floating in air weightlessly as soon as Nick's spell resolved.
(Venus.)
It seemed that the space within a fifteen meter radius of Nick had lost is gravitational pull, resulting in a scene of loose rock and clumps of dirt floating all around him. The fire path Magician endured the sudden weightlessness and continued trying to resolve his spell when he unexpectedly coughed out three mouthfuls of blood, his vision became blurry and his mind became unfocused. The flames on his body instantly died and the magic energy swirling around him became still.
Nick observed the man's condition without any surprise as to the cause.
(Venus removes the gravity acting within an area...doesn't reduce it, but completely removes it. Gravity usually has an impact on everything it comes into contact with, even the blood in our bodies and the water in our cells. The complete loss of gravity resulted in the man's bodily functions losing equilibrium as the fluids involved became weightless, probably moving out of place and disrupting important processes. The man's spell seemed to have failed and he suffered a corresponding backlash.)
Nick wasn't about to give the man a reprieve. He quickly raised his left metallic-silver left hand towards the man and clenched it slowly, casting King's Domination. The space around the fire path Magician's throat immediately began to collapse as Nick's left hand closed. Sensing the danger as his neck was heavily pressured, the fire path Magician immediately opened his mouth in Nick's direction and a bright, red glow emerged, immediately following which a blast of red-orange flames erupted from his mouth and headed towards Nick's position as if the man's head was a flame thrower.
(Minor Flame Thrower)
Nick was forced to cancel King's Domination because in order to counter his opponent effectively, he could not maintain too many spells at once. Normally Nick would be able to maintain five spells at once with no problem but Battle Armor was just too complex and consumed too much of his mental energy, reducing the number of spells that Nick could maintain simultaneously to three.
(Dominate The Space.)
A faint grey magic power pulsed out from Nick's body and enveloped the space all around him, including the total length of space between himself and the fire path Magician. Nick willed and the blast of flames that were coming at him rapidly parted and its resulting two portions moved past him without coming into contact with him as if he was a sacred island of safety.
(That man's spell is probably rank 2 basic grade. That is why he was able to cast it so quickly despite how I was pressuring him.)
Thinking about how the battle was going thus far, Nick concluded:
(This fire path Magician is strong but he is lacking in terms of something that I've experienced in my other battles. It might be...desire. I don't feel any desire to win from this guy and so his ferocity is almost nonexistent. Well...I suppose that's appropriate since this is just a simulation. I need real battles, not this.)
Nick decided that he had enough of testing out Battle Armor. It's offensive and defensive capabilities were demonstrably effective and stable. Nick cancelled Venues and the twinkling grey light at his right finger tips dissipated. The surrounding floating rocks as well as the the fire path Magician fell towards the ground. The man was forced to cancel his spell as he fell from his airborne position and so flames ceased to be propelled from his mouth and soon, all the remaining flames dissipated after losing their source.
Nick unsheathed Failed Tool and Pressure Piece with his right and left hands respectively with Battle Armor still covering and enhancing his two arms. The fire path Magician landed onto his feet and immediately began trying to cast a spell. He exuded a large amount of magic energy from his body which then swirled violently around him, soon converting to magic power as the magic energy transformed into bright orange flames.
The orange flames enveloped the man, quickly growing into a sphere of revolving fire where the fire path Magician's body was completely concealed. The temperature within the surroundings began to rise as the man's spell resolved. From Nick's distance over ten meters away, the man shone with light and fire like a miniature sun. Nick whistled, then said:
"That's definitely an advance grade spell. That guy probably intends to send something scorching my way but too bad for him that I'm already bored with this battle."
No sooner than Nick had finished speaking, the miniature sun moved towards himself with the pace of a train, resulting in Nick's clothes beginning to smolder. Nick raised his right brow in annoyance as his polo shirt was lightly burned in several places.
(Man, I really liked this shirt.)
Nick's body suddenly radiated a faint red aura as he finished forming the laws for what he was hoping would be the spell to end this battle; the faint aura rapidly enveloped both of his swords. Nick quickly crossed Failed Tool's and Pressure Piece's blades one in front of the other like an 'X' and then swung them to his sides with a speed that made the movement seem instant. Two crossed arcs of dull-red magic power were instantly created and then flew forward with the speed of cannon fire towards the incoming 'sun'.
(Dominating Splice.)
The two crossed arcs crashed into the sphere of flames at about ten meters away and forced apart the flames that they came into contact with. The crossed arcs then sliced into the fire path Magician's body unhindered, cutting his body into four pieces and halting the forward movement of the man's body enveloped flames.
BOOM!
The fire path Magician's spell became unstable and the flames exploded, emanating a bright-orange light which momentarily filled Nick's vision before dissipating. The aftermath of the explosion revealed a ruined and charred corpse divided into over a dozen pieces that rested scattered over the already ruined and charred terrain.
As Nick observed the smoldering corpse for a while until neon colored words appeared in front of him:
SIMULATION ENDED
The space around Nick then warped and stabilized a few moments later. Nick found himself in a small, white-walled room. Nick sheathed Failed Tool and Pressure Piece, then moved to open the room's door. As soon as he opened the door, the memory of his first encounter with Tracy this afternoon flashed in his mind and he stopped moving for a moment before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him, muttering:
"That doesn't matter."
*********************************************************
Carla stood in her office within the factory owned by The Magic Scroll Company. This factory was located away from the Richter Order Academy campus and somewhere on the outskirts of London. It was very large, being about the same size as the British parliamentary building.
She looked below onto the factory ground floor using her office's large bay window and watched as over one hundred rank 1 Magicians operated eight identical magic formations in order to produce soul healing scrolls. Twenty Magicians were placed within the outer edges of each formation to operate it with the materials required to make the scrolls placed at the center of the formation; the Magicians simultaneously poured their magic energy into the magic formation and guided the automated processes that created the magic scrolls along to completion. At that point, a finished scroll would be taken from its floating position at one end of the formation and placed into a holding case by a quality inspector who was also a rank 1 Magician.
The magic formations each basically produced thirty scrolls per minute, giving Carla eighteen hundred high quality magic scrolls every hour. She stood there watching the process and still could not believe what she witnessed even after one month of their operations being like this. She asked herself:
"How did Nick invent this magic formation as he did? I was beside him the entire time as he designed it and now I have indisputable evidence that it works as intended."
Carla was greatly confused as to how a young man not even twenty three years old managed to design a magic formation so easily.
"Is Nick a formation path Magician? Even if that is the case, he should not be able to invent formations at his age."
To Carla, Nick's growth and development seemed to defy logic.
"He not only seems to be skilled in soul path and space path but also formation path. That isn't even considering his apparent interest in blade path and swords. I have a feeling that this young man's background is not as simple as I thought. I need to keep Nick close."
At this time, two knocks sounded at Carla's office door and she responded by speaking without turning around:
"Come in, the door is open."
Upon gaining permission, two men wearing expensive looking suits walked into Carla's office and stood at her right side, joining her in observing the production downstairs. Donny Jenner spoke with incredulity evident in his tone:
"Carla, when you said that you might have found a way to automate the production of the soul healing scrolls, I thought very little of it but seeing this now, this work environment makes me hard. Where did you find a formation path Magician to outfit our facilities with these magic formations? With these formations, our projected labor costs have been slashed and our production capacity has increased over five times."
Carla ignored Donny's crude speech and explained, keeping her eyes on the work downstairs:
"The magic formations were actually set up by myself and our rank 1 inspectors using designs and instructions that I gave them. It was a relatively complex undertaking but only took about two months to complete."
Randolph Jenner responded to Carla's words immediately:
"Oh. You're saying that we set these up using designs. That's great since that keeps outsider from knowing our business but where did you get the designs from? These magic formations are clearly meant to specifically produce soul healing scrolls. If you have a formation path expert on the payroll, we have a right to know. The two of us also have other business ventures that might need that kind of expertise. We're partners, right? It only makes sense that we share valuable contacts."
Carla turned her attention to Donny and Randolph who both kept a straight face as they waited for Carla's response. Having a formation path expert on call was no joking matter and they wanted answers. The Jenner family was one with a long history and many resources but even they would need to spend an astronomical sum to invite a formation path expert to design a functioning and customized formation for them.
Did the Jenner family lack members to have trained in formation path? No. It was just that formation path was incredibly difficult to cultivate because vast knowledge of other paths were a prerequisite to becoming a skilled formation path expert and since these experts were usually relatively weak in terms of direct combat ability, those who cultivated formation path tended to have short lives if they were not protected around the clock.
Carla internally sighed because due to the conditions of their contract she could not hide information crucial to the operation of the company from the other shareholders and so once Nick had given her the formation designs to be implemented, she could not hide his involvement from these two unless she wanted to risk forking over more benefits in terms of share interest and dividend allocation.
(It is not worth hiding it. If these two try to approach Nick without my supervision, I will directly 'discipline' them.)
Carla replied to the two plainly:
"My fiance designed the magic formation so that I could solve the problems of possibly high labor costs and low production volume that I reported to him."
Both men creased their brows at the same time when they heard Carla's response. Randolph questioned:
"Your fiance? Do you mean Nick Capitol, the twenty two year old that isn't even a rank 3 Magician yet?"
Carla nodded her head once, a small amount of pride radiating from her expression. She replied:
"Yes, I'm referring to Nick Capitol."
Randolph's expression froze, thinking for a moment that Carla was lying but upon remembering the terms of their contract with her, he dismissed the possibility of her trying to deceive them. Donny was quicker to accept Carla's words and turned to look at the production going on.
Randolph continued speaking to Carla:
"Nick Capitol turns out to be very skilled. So that's why you decided to marry a weakling."
Carla frowned in response to Randolph's words and replied:
"Watch what you say, Randolph. Don't test my patience."
Carla could not tolerate disrespect towards Nick because he was still in an important developmental phase. She had to protect him from ill intent. Randolph waved his hand and assured:
"I was only speaking facts and not trying to insult the young man as he is still rank 2, after all. His magic formations are very impressive. Since he is to be family, we should all get better acquainted. He might be able to help other Jenners in unforeseeable ways."
Carla shook her head sternly, replying:
"My fiance is busy cultivating and I had to personally spend days with him just to obtain the design for these magic formations. I will warn you only once, no other Jenner is allowed to approach him except me. Do you understand?"
Randolph internally snorted but Carla's power and her relationship with Nick prevented him from carrying on as he wished. He would have to wait for an opportunity in the future to become more familiar with Nick.
"Have it your way, Carla."
Donny then turned to face Carla again and suggested:
"You know, several large families are having a get-together in a month to showcase their young talents in a tournament of sorts. Vaughn has decided recently that we should be a part of the festivities so why don't you have Nick participate? He is basically a Jenner, isn't he?"
Carla already knew about the tournament but she had never thought of having Nick enter it until now. She replied:
"I'll think about it."
Donny nodded his head once and said:
"You do that, miss general manager. We'll be going now."
Donny pat Randolph on the right shoulder, signalling that it was time to leave and so they both walked out of Carla's office, closing the door behind them.
Carla went back to watching her workers produce magic scrolls and she muttered:
"My fiance...my fiance. My arrangement with Nick is feeling realer by the day."
**************************************************
By the time that Nick returned to his commercial building using Blink, it was night time and Dewy had just returned from taking his grandson home. As Dewy walked to the front door, he met Nick in front of the door. Nick asked:
"How did things go with the two people that I left in your care?"
Dewy thought back to the events of the afternoon and reported:
"They seemed very grateful about the help that you gave them. I took them to their dorms immediately after we purchased their materials. The woman tried to obtain your phone number from me but I declined since I was unaware of your exact relationship."
Nick replied while sporting an exhausted expression:
"That was the right call. Alright then."
Nick went into the building with Dewy following closely behind him. Nick made his way to his first floor office and spent some time eating the final loaves of french bread that he still had within his space band. After that, Nick thought about what his next move should be.
"I should be trying to go for rank 3 but I am still lacking in terms of magic energy quality. My magic reserves are so great that the overall quality that I need to achieve in order to reach rank 3 is greater than other rank 2 Magicians. There is also the matter of my talents which I have only been making use of for a relatively short time, I still need to train them. I also need to further develop my meditation and foundation laws."
The latter concern was what Nick was most troubled by. Normally, a person would decide what kind of Magician they wanted to be and choose meditations and foundation laws based on that but Nick cultivated four different kinds of magic. While his mindscape was most suited for using rule path magic at the moment, if he did not want to hamper his own growth in the other paths he would have to adjust his meditation to account for his other paths as well. It was the same for his foundation laws.
"To consider rule, soul, space and blade path all at once is a monumental task that requires a long time even if my attainment in space and soul path are exceptional. Even more so since my attainment in rule path and blade path are ordinary. I could just keep my mindscape rule path focused but that would ruin my own potential. I want what is meaningful, not expedient. That means that I have to make use of all my potential to move forward no matter how long it takes."
Nick pondered for nearly an hour and then decided:
"The fastest way to develop is by doing. Just like how I made important strides while facing the troubles of the Never Ending Battlefield, right now, I need a hill to climb, an adventure to take part in. I can move towards rank 3 most optimally that way."
Nick continued his pondering and spoke aloud while doing so:
"Since I am in my third year, I could take up a mission within the Never Ending Battlefield and stay there to cultivate but that doesn't seem very exciting. I might as well try to explore a different realm, a place where the ultimate result is final."
To Nick, the Never Ending Battlefield felt like the equivalent of Magician training wheels where the consequence for their actions were not that great. He thought that it was better to get worthwhile experience elsewhere.
"I'll go to the Academy Mission Hall and find a mission that involves going to another realm. I'll continue my cultivation there. Since I have over two hundred billion pounds to burn, stocking up on magic materials and food won't be a problem."
As soon as Nick decided on a course of action, he didn't wait to make a move. He executed immediately. He cast Blink several times in order to arrive at the Academy Mission Hall. He made mention to the clerk about the £7,000 that James and his crew should have left for him. The clerk knew of the matter and immediately had the money transferred to Nick's bank account.
Nick then went to the mission board to look at possible missions based in other realms that he could take on. There were about five that suited Nick's purpose and that did not require him to be in a group.
There was a mission involving a realm called Dark nightmare that required Nick to find rare magic materials but only had a vague description of how those materials could be found.
There was a mission involving a realm called Snowy Peak where he would be required to cull the population of snow ogres that were present within the realm.
There was a mission involving a realm called Jade Fantasy that required him to find and destroy nests of wolf like magic beasts that would commence a beast tide after their breeding season was over.
There was a mission involving a realm called High Wire that involved using magic to manipulate the weather so as to protect the crops that were freely growing in it which were useful for potion making.
The final mission that caught Nick's eyes involved a realm called Forgotten Peril. It's goal was to find and kill a magic beast that was on the verge of becoming rank 3. This magic beast was a mutant shifter that could take on a human form and cast spells like an actual human. It evaded the capture of everyone else sent to kill it and even killed a few rank 2 third years. The mission description states that if the mutant shifter becomes rank 3, then faculty members will likely have to be mobilized in order to deal with it.
(Hmmm...it looks like the magic beast in the last mission has the same goal as myself - to get to rank 3. I'll pick the last one since I only have to hunt one magic beast and also because the poster says that the time difference within Forgotten Peril is 1:30, meaning that one Grand Earth day is equivalent to thirty days within Forgotten Peril.)
Nick tapped on the poster, saying:
"I need preparation like getting magic materials, food, cooking and sleeping equipment as well as a cell phone that works while I am traveling within this realm."
While Nick was setting his intentions, a familiar female voice spoke from somewhere near him; Nick's Spacial Awareness talent had already generated an image of the person within his mind so he knew who it was without turning around:
"So, you have an interest in hunting troublesome magic beasts. You know, if the mutant shifter becomes rank 3 while you are hunting it, you will probably die without a corpse."
Without even turning around, Nick replied:
"What's it to you, Pearl Wiles? If I die, that is none of your business."
Pearl creased her brows and flicked a section of her long, black hair, saying:
"Is that how you talk to your former teammate? No wonder none of the seniors in the third year know who you are."
Nick's right eyelid twitched and he turned around to see a woman wearing a pair of well fitting blue jeans and a sleeveless red blouse. He immediately mobilized his power while he glared at the woman:
(Dreadful Aura.)
Rather than useless talk, Nick wanted to show her what would come out of provoking him. A dreadful and fear inducing aura emerged from Nick and enveloped Pearl. Pearl was surprised by the sudden imposition and could not react before Nick's aura had her slowly stepping back, feeling intense threat. Pearl's heart rate quickened and her breathing became more forced but she gritted her teeth and eventually stood her ground, glaring right back at Nick.
Nick was annoyed by her resilience but not surprised. He knew from working with her before that she was a tough woman.
(She has relatives employed within the magic military so she probably received excellent magical training at home.)
Nick sighed while retracting his dreadful aura and then asked:
"What do you want, Pearl?"
Pearl reduced her vigilance after Nick's aura dissipated and replied with a haughty tone:
"I just came in here to pick up a mission and I bumped into you. Don't think too much of it. Now that I think about it, shouldn't you be glad to see me? Didn't you and my uncle have some kind of agreement?"
Nick shrugged his shoulders and spoke while maintaining an indifferent expression:
"Whatever agreement that I made with Lieutenant Andrew Wiles did not have a time limit and there were hardly any conditions. Now if you'll excuse me."
Nick walked past Pearl and went up to the clerk to request the mission within Forgotten Peril. After the clerk gave Nick a debriefing on the basic fundamentals of the mission and how he would get to the realm, Nick thanked the clerk and told him:
"I will be back in twelve hours to begin the mission."
Pearl stood in her spot, glaring at Nick which she had been doing for twenty minutes now. Her mind oozed with negativity.
(That son of a bitch ignored me. Me, Pearl Wiles! I come from a family with over two thousand years of history. Where does he come from, the trash at the back of this building?...)
Pearl internally vented for a long time, even making the present clerk a little uncomfortable but she eventually calmed down and took a look at the mission within Forgotten Peril.
"Magic beast hunting, huh? Not my favorite thing to do but maybe after I beat Nick to the kill, he'll show me the respect that I duly deserve."
Pearl went up to the clerk and spoke with urgency:
"I will also take on the mission within Forgotten Peril."
The clerk awkwardly nodded his head and explained the relevant details to Pearl the same way he explained them to Nick while thinking:
(These last two applying for the shifter hunting mission seem strange but I hope they don't die like the others.)
***********************************************************
Nick spent the next few hours buying, space path, blade path, formation path and soul path materials amounting to over £1,800,000,000 in value. He also bought food, tools and equipment amounting to over £400,000,000 in value, the greatest valued being armored vehicles, scanning equipment, books, medicines and a smart phone that would receive signals within Forgotten Peril and so he could stay in touch with people that were on Grand Earth.
Nick texted everyone relevant in his phone that he would be going on an expedition for a few weeks and that they shouldn't contact him unless absolutely necessary. He also informed Dewy of his mission. Carla called him soon after to say:
"I have something that I want you to do by the month's end so If you can, end your expedition in about twenty five days."
Nick was annoyed by Carla giving him a time line but twenty five days on Grand Earth was just over two years within Forgotten Peril so he wasn't too upset. He still chose to give Carla a hard time, however:
"Since when do you give me orders? I didn't even hear please, Carla."
Carla removed the phone from her ear to look at the screen for a few moments, thinking:
(Does this man want me to discipline him?)
Carla was well aware that she could not really tell Nick what to do but they had a special relationship so he had to consider her wants whether he liked it or not. That was just how it was. After thinking for a while, she realized what Nick was doing and internally sighed:
(He wants to put up a front so that I don't walk all over him. Please, I don't have time to play games.)
Carla spoke again, this time with more politeness in her tone but her instructions remained firm:
"Nick honey, I really need your help with something so your FIANCE is asking you to return from your mission in twenty five days. Do you find that acceptable? Just remember, once we get married, you'll have to deal with me for the rest of your life. You shouldn't stress me out with bravado now, Nick honey."
Carla said that last part sweetly but Nick could sense the threat buried in her words. He replied with indifferent certainty:
"I will return in twenty five days."
Carla hung up the phone after getting Nick's response and Nick cast Blink several times in order to get to the Academy Mission Hall. Nick walked up to the clerk at the front desk who was different from the clerk that Nick had already spoken to about the mission.
He made his intention known and the clerk responded:
"Take the elevator to our underground floor and someone will use our space path magic formation to send you where you need to go."
Nick nodded his head and did exactly that. There was an elevator positioned with open doors at the corner of the ground floor and so Nick entered and pushed the button that would get him to the floor below.
When he stepped out of the elevator, he arrived in a room that had walls made from cuboid shaped, chiselled, grey stone. The room was at least twenty by fifteen by eight meters cubed in dimension, representing its length, width and height respectively. The light that bathed the room was produced by two sets of one meter long LED bulbs attached to the center of the ceiling.
There was a large magic formation that took up most of the space on the floor. It was designed with an intricate design of patterned Valteesian laws and painted into the ground with some sort of bright silver pigment, being oval in shape. No sooner than Nick had arrived, a person wearing a grey Magician's robe suddenly appeared; the person had sharp, dark eyes and had no hair on his head or face. Nick made a conclusion after sensing the magic energy radiating from the man's body:
(This man is a space path Magician.)
Space path Magicians were rare but organizations like Richter Order Academy usually had a few on hand to operate things like space path magic formations and advanced grade magic tools as well as manage the academy's spacial resources. Nick boldly asked the man while pointing at the magic formation on the floor:
"Could I alter this magic formation to get to realms that the academy doesn't know about?"
The man looked Nick in the eyes fiercely but was internally surprised by his question, thinking:
(Altering this space path magic formation? Is this young man insane? This formation was designed by a space path scholar during the early years of the academy over two thousand years ago. Although some slight improvements have been made since then, the skill needed to make viable alterations is not something that he can imagine. I myself can't even make such alterations reliably because my knowledge of formation path is lacking; I can only create sub-formations at the locations where the formation is intended to teleport people to.)
The man soon shook his head and replied:
"Maybe you can make those alterations after two hundred more years of study."
Nick smiled lightly. He could actually see patterns for viable alterations using Eyes of the Fated and his formation and space path attainments gifted him an intuition that greatly increased the chances of any attempt that he would make being successful but Nick was not actually serious about making alterations.
(If I were to alter the formation and use it to visit an unknown realm, I could end up dying without a corpse if I was sent to a realm with regular or world class level magic beasts or an environment that was too extreme for my current power to defend against.)
Nick was only trying to ascertain the possibility because he remembered that Judas Masters wanted Nick to save him from the Pit of Suffering within Primordial Plain. Nick responded as if he was making a joke:
"Never mind, a rookie like me would probably need five hundred years to do it."
The older Magician kept a straight face and asked:
"Where are you going?"
Nick declared with certainty:
"I'm going to Forgotten Peril."
The older Magician nodded his head once and reminded:
"A realm like Forgotten Peril is accessible from multiple points and organizations so I will send you to a populated outpost where there is a major access magic formation supervised by many academies. Do you understand?"
Nick nodded in affirmation to the older Magician and then proceeded to walk to the middle of the formation. The older Magician took that to mean that Nick was ready to go and so he clasped his hands, activating the formation by saying a trigger phrase that was in Valteese:
"Activate."
The magic formation's laws shone with bright-silver light as a soft buzzing sound erupted. Nick's vision became filled with light and a few seconds later, when the light faded, he found himself standing in a different room with a different magic formation under his feet. Nick observed his surroundings and realized that this room was larger, being a huge indoor space with scores of people dressed in all kinds of styles waking around. The magic formation under his feet was not drawn in Valteese and consisted of symbols that Nick couldn't begin to guess the meaning of.
(Eyes of the Fated is difficult to use on mystical languages that I don't know.)
The room that Nick was in was about the size of a convention center with glass ceilings above that lit the space with sunlight and walls made of some kind of concrete that were painted light-brown in color. Nick mused:
(Right, Forgotten Peril is a resource rich realm whose access rights belong to multiple organizations. Although the realm has multiple human settlements erected by people from Grand Earth, it is still mostly wilderness and has a land area exceeding Grand Earth's by two times.)
Nick didn't want to waste any time so he quickly moved away from the magic formation that only seemed to be separated from the crowds of people by unmanned guard rails. Nick made it past the guard rails and ran to one of the probable exits with his two sheathed swords swaying as he ran.
When he reached the glass double doors that would evidently lead him to the outside, there was a sign plastered beside it with rules written in Valteese and colored blood red:
______________________________________________________
No killing or crippling or crimes of any physically violent sort are permitted within the settlement.
Magicians may not fly over the settlement.
Magic beasts are not allowed inside the settlement even if they are enslaved.
No one is allowed to cast large area of effect spells within the settlement unless for the defense of the settlement.
Anyone found guilty of trying to lure magic beast tides towards the settlement will be executed without trial.
....
______________________________________________________
Nick read all the rules of which there were over fifty in total. He memorized each one which took him about ten minutes and then he left the building.
When Nick stepped foot onto the outside, he was bombarded by the fresh, free flowing air that pervaded the surroundings. People walked on the cobble stoned streets and headed in varying directions. The races of the people did not seem mostly white like what Nick was used to but included varying ethnicity.
Nick joined the moving streams of people and wandered around, spending the next hour getting a good look at this settlement. Based on the conversations of the people, the settlement was called Napster and was one of three located within the surrounding radius of one thousand kilometers.
The buildings within the settlement were relatively short and mostly made from a kind of brick that was manufactured from minerals found here in Forgotten Peril. The settlement covered an area of about twenty kilometers squared; it was surrounded by walls slight over forty five meters high and made from rocks quarried from within Forgotten Peril that were stacked on top of each other and covered in a layer of cement like material that gave the walls' surface a smooth but hard texture.
Nick did not plan to go inside any of the buildings since he did not plan on taking up residence in Napster or familiarizing himself with its inhabitants. Nick already bought a detailed map of Forgotten Peril from Richter Order Academy's Magical Archives Office so he was already set to embark on his mission.
(I have a map, supplies stored within my space band and I know my mission. I don't need to waste time here.)
Nick soon found one of the settlement's gates where people that were dressed casually in Magician's robes or leather combat attire guarded it on the inside and outside. Nick was about to walk through the open gateway that seemed to be shaped like a pentagon.
Before he walked through, however, one of the white female guards dressed in a purple magician's robe and sporting dark-brown, short hair on her head stopped him and walked up to him, asking:
"Hello there. I've noticed that this is my first time seeing you. Are you new to Forgotten Peril?"
The woman made that conclusion based on Nick's apparent age and the relatively carefree way that he walked. Nick replied:
"Sure I am."
The woman then spoke:
"If you want to re-enter this settlement, you will need to either pay with magic items or gold."
Nick raised his right eyebrow and asked in response:
"Huh, gold?"
The woman nodded her head once and explained:
"This gold is a metal that seems just like the gold found on Grand Earth but it is far more precious in terms of making magical equipment so it can be used as currency because it is relatively rare but can still be found in the wilderness if you are skilled enough. The trade systems here in Forgotten Peril work based on barter or gold weight so be aware that you need to search for gold when you are out in the wilderness. Also, you best try not to get robbed."
After saying that, the woman smiled at Nick and walked back to her previous position. Nick did a slight Japanese styled bow of thanks and ran through the gates.
No sooner than Nick left the settlement, he witnessed a man being vertically sliced in half by a slim, brown woman dressed in denim overalls and a graphic t-shirt, sporting a head full of black, braided hair, using a loud chain saw like magic tool. She screamed at the now fallen and ruined corpse:
"You should have just given me the money you owe me. Loser!"
Nick observed the bloody corpse for some time, then observed the woman who screamed. Other people who left the settlement gates just walked past the scene but Nick found it a little out of place to ignore.
The enraged woman soon noticed Nick's gaze and looked at him fiercely in return before asking from six meters away in Valteese:
"What the hell are you looking at?"