Glan Natural Science Academy

After an hour.

Ryger finished choosing his hired mercenaries and set out on his very first trip of his life.

“Uncle Logic, I’ll have to trouble you to lead the way for this journey.” Said Ryger to the middle-aged man. 

This man was a middle-aged fighter with some white stubbles. What was eye-catching about him was that half of his face was completely disfigured for some unknown, as though some terrifying proteus had licked him there and the tongue’s sharp barbs tore through the face’s skin, making him look fierce and scary.

“Mm.”

Uncle Logic didn’t talk much and gave off a calm and steady feeling, just like the sword at his waist – dark and bulky. He led the way quietly.

For some reason, Ryger got from this uncle a feeling of his own father – the aura of a jungle hunter.

 

“Kyubey!”

The other side.

As the crisp voice of a ponytailed girl rang out, an awe-inspiring, black-furred wolf at a mud scape far away showed its head then ran over at an astounding speed, its perfect body exhibiting an explosive strength. With a leap from about 7 or 8 metres away, the wolf landed near the girl then licked her hand.

Ryger, seeing this, drew a deep breath.

Prompt: Juvenile blackfire wolf.

Although this blackfire wolf was only a juvenile, the power it already possessed wasn’t something that an ordinary person could easily deal with. Ryger still remembered how his eyes nearly popped out of his head when this 16- or 17-year-old girl called Lulu jumped out with her blackfire wolf while he was choosing mercenaries at the mercenary association’s entrance.

This was an E-Class mercenary?

Although he didn’t know why, Ryger chose her as his mercenary on the spot.

“Ha ha ha, stop playing, Kyubey. We’re on a mission!”

The girl ran together with the blackfire wolf while laughing. She then somersaulted onto the wolf’s back and soon caught up to Ryger.

“Lulu, why are you an E-Class mercenary? Don’t those mercenary squads want you?” Asked Ryger, unable to resist his curiosity.

She stuck her tongue out and said, “I don’t want to join other people’s mercenary squad. I want to make my own one!”

“Hm?”

Ryger turned his head and looked at the girl.

Lulu recollected past happenings and her happy, dimpled face was gradually replaced by loss.

“Ever since I was small, I trained with my grandfather on a snowy mountain. Later, when grandfather passed away, he left me a sword called Frost Creator. It’s grandfather’s legacy and it’s very important. But later, I… I lost it!”

“Then I remembered. Back when grandfather was alive, an organisation called ‘Hoodoo’ tried to steal Frost Creator! So I came to St Glan Castle with the hopes of making my own mercenary squad, finding Hoodoo and taking back my Frost Creator. But the mercenary association’s receptionist told me that I needed to pay 10 gold coins as guarantor fee to make a D-Class mercenary squad…”

Frost Creator? I wonder what sort of sword it is.

Ryger listened to Lulu’s experiences and felt that it was like a novel. It even involved a secret organisation.

“Then how far off are you?”

Lulu looked at Ryger doe-eyed and said aggrievedly, “I only have 35 silver coins.”

“Cough, cough, cough.”

Ryger didn’t know what he should say next. Wasn’t this like him 2 months ago, when he came to the Academy to learn.?

“Making a D-Class mercenary squad needs at least 4 members. Big brother, when I save enough money, can you join my mercenary squad? You’ll be the head magician!”

“Uh… hah hah hah.”

Laughed Ryger awkwardly as an answer.

……

 

Of the many human principalities, the Six Great Principalities were the strongest. And of the Six Great Principalities, the Sealand Principality and Glan Principality fight for the position of the strongest. The war between the 2 countries had almost never stopped.

As a result, although the scholars of the Glan academy and the Sealand academy learned from each other when it came to the pursuit of academia, they were in an inherent state of competition. Because the royal family of the 2 principality were hostile to each other, the 2 states’ enmity even extended to areas such as the mercenary association, coliseum, merchant groups and so on.

The Furnace Mountains should had been a holy ground for both states’ initiate students to collect natural specimens. But because of the hostility between them, the mountain range, for the recent hundreds of years, had had a layer of shadow casted over it, as though there were horrifying, unspeakable monsters prowling about.

 

Night.

With an aged mercenary in Uncle Logic, as well as Lulu and Kyubey, the night went by peacefully.

By noon the next day, they had finally reached the edges of the Furnace Mountains.

Mountains with snow at the top went on for as far the eyes could see.

At the active volcano further away, plumes of smoke were emitted and low, booming sounds could be heard, as though it was going to erupt at any given moment and bring about cataclysmic disasters. This had been going on for a few decades.

Ryger was forced to admit that mountain climbing was physically laborious.

Not long after they began, Ryger was already panting and drenched in sweat. Every step was exceedingly hard.

He wiped away the sweat on his forehead and rested for a moment.

Ryger looked at Uncle Logic who was walking steadily, then at Lulu who was walking while playing with Kyubey. Seeing the two’s energetic and spirited look, Ryger couldn’t help but lament.

Not all scholars were as physically weak as the current Ryger.

On one hand, his physique was weaker among his peers because of congenital reasons. On the other, many scholars who study evolutionary secrets and human body profundities far surpassed fighters on the same level when it comes to their physical prowess. It was precisely because of this that scholars can use absolute strength to easily trounce fighters who possessed rich battle experiences and were supported by fighting spirit.

“Let’s rest for a while.” Said Uncle Logic upon noticing the condition of the magician employer behind him.

“Mm.” Replied Ryger.

Looking at Ryger’s young face, Uncle Logic, who hadn’t spoken much until now, suddenly lamented.

“Hahh, the greatest weakness of fighters was that once we failed to breakthrough while we’re at our peak, we’ll gradually decline as we age with no further chances unlike you magicians. The more aged the magician, the stronger they are.”

“Eh?”

As he listened unmindfully to Uncle Logic’s lamentations, the resting Ryger looked at a green sprout under some rock crevices not far away. Just then, the Starcore’s prompt appeared.

Prompt: Infant-nurturing plant detected.

“Infant-nurturing plant?”

An infant-nurturing plant was a herbal ingredient of ‘Infant’s Wail’ as written in 《Basic Concoctions》. Infant’s Wail was a hallucinogen. It would result in the victim having hallucinations of babies wailing. Although it wasn’t a strong poison, it was superior in that it was both colourless and tasteless, making it extremely easy to poison someone without them noticing.

Met with a pleasant surprise, Ryger could no longer be bothered with resting. Among his gasps, he took out from his spacebox a shovel that was specifically made to excavate plant specimens. He dug around the seedling in the rock crevices.

“What are you doing?”

Lulu came over and looked at Ryger curiously. This was her first time interacting with a true magician close up and she was indeed curious.

Logic also couldn’t help but frown. He was unable to see what was so special about this seemingly ordinary grass and could only think that magicians are truly mysterious.

 

After some time.

Woof woof woof!

After Ryger dug out the infant-nurturing plant, Lulu gasped. Even Kyubey barked restlessly and while wagging constantly, backed off far away from Ryger.

The roots of the plant in Ryger’s hands squiggled unceasingly like countless tiny insects. It followed its nature and winded around Ryger’s palm. The scene was indeed terrifying.

To this, Ryger was indifferent. He smiled, elated,  and picked away the roots that winded around his palm before putting the plant into a special wooden box.

Lulu’s eyes widened.

“What the hell is this thing?”

Ryger dusted off his hands and smiled. “Quite the decent luck. It’s a magical plant. It should sell for some silver coins.”

Boom!

Just as Ryger finished explaining, a volcano far away suddenly quaked strongly. The strong booming sound caused the trio, who had reached the midpoint of the mountain, to look over. They saw the volcano’s pillars of smoke getting even richer.

The three were prepared for such a phenomenon and knew that this volcano had been acting in such a way for the past decades, and so didn’t mind it. They continued climbing up.