Stygian Mage

The place that had been chosen as the place for the trade meeting was a small restaurant. For the sake of this meeting, the whole restaurant had been booked and was closed for anyone else for the day. While this restaurant was not the most famous restaurant in town, there were still many people who frequented here and had their daily meals. So, having the restaurant closed for the full day pissed off many such people. But even so, they did not dare voice out their grievances as the ones who had done this were the Initiators; moreover, they were Rank 1 Initiators.

Ashby, having the highest cultivation level amongst all the Rank 1 Rogue Initiators in Bellfalls right now, was left in charge of conducting the meeting. Given that he was willing to shoulder the responsibility, no one disagreed with it and just went with the flow. Especially when Ashby had hinted before that he had some details to share with the other Rank 1 Initiators about the type of Beast Tide that they were facing.

Beast Tides generally happened after the mating and the birth season of the Beasts. Restricted by the factor of limited resources, the old and the disabled members of the packs were forced to move out and seek their resting place elsewhere; of course, those Beasts who preferred to stay alone were excluded from this. This was the cause for most of the Beast Tides. But there were some other scenarios that also led to Beast Tides. In fact, the Beast Tides occurring because of these other scenarios were much more threatening and disastrous than the usual ones. And based on the past records, there were three such scenarios that caused the most damage out of them all.

The first scenario was where the Beasts would gain a ‘Beast King’ and would follow that ‘Beast King’s’ orders to attack the nearby settlements. Of course, for a Beast to become a ‘Beast King’ it would have to have some level of intelligence and would need to at least understand the concept of a united army; hence, just being strong was not enough to become a ‘Beast King’. As for the attack on the settlements, everything was for more resources; after all, Initiators were one of the best resources for the Beasts.

The second scenario was where the Beasts in the jungle would get threatened by irregular Mana Waves and would go into a frenzy; attacking anyone who would get in their way. These irregular Mana Waves were usually generated by the disturbance caused by some high-quality items or an inheritance vestige. Of course, only an inheritance vestige of a high-ranking Initiator had a chance of producing such irregular Mana Waves; inheritances of Rank 1, Rank 2, or even Rank 3 Initiators didn’t have enough power to produce them.

The third scenario was where the Beasts would be controlled by an Asadien and would attack the nearby settlements on their orders. ‘Asadien’ was actually an Enfari word which loosely translated to ‘Intelligent Beings’ in common language; to be exact, it meant ‘those who had the potential to bend the Mana to their will’. This was a general term taken from the magic language and was used to mention all the ‘Intelligent Beings’ present in the universe.

One thing that was common in all of these three scenarios was the fact that they all followed a certain pattern of attack; different from the usual Beast Tides. Moreover, these Beast Tides also contained all kinds of Beasts; regardless of whether they were old, young, disabled, healthy, pack Beasts, solo Beasts, etc. And most of all, the Beasts in these Beast Tides would not back off even when they would feel that their life was threatened.

Given the facts in front of them, the Initiators in Bellfalls were already sure at this point that the Beast Tide they were facing was not the usual one. And while all of them were earning a good amount of crystals and resources because of this Beast Tide, they were now starting to get hesitant about whether to stay or run away before the situation got worse; after all, they all had already gained quite a bit and were not willing to risk their lives anymore.

Out of the three disastrous Beast Tides, the best-case scenario for them was definitely the one related to the irregular Mana Waves. This kind of Beast Tide only included the frenzied Beasts and did not have a controller. As such, it was still very possible to manage these Beast Tides with enough manpower and proper management.

Ashby, who was the strongest amongst all the Rogue Initiators and was a Beast Summoner-cum-Warrior hybrid, had actually sent one of his Soul Pets into the jungle before to investigate the cause behind this Beast Tide. Aside from the trade meeting, this was the main reason why the invited Rank 1 Rogue Initiators had gathered at the small restaurant without any hesitation. Ashby had actually taken a huge risk in doing this as he could have died from severe soul damage if his Soul Pet had been killed in the jungle; of course, because of the special feature of the ‘Summoners Contract’, he was confident in saving his Soul Pet.

Given the acute perceptiveness of Rogue Initiators in general, they all understood the reason why Ashby had taken such risk. But regardless of what they knew in their mind, they all showed a respectful attitude towards this seemingly selfless action of his.

…..

“Fellows, thank you for coming today. As I had mentioned before, aside from the trade, I would also be sharing the cause of this Beast Tide with all of you,” A slightly dark-skinned male looking to be in his thirties with short dark-brown hair tied in a pony-tail said as he took a look at all the Rank 1 Initiators sitting around a round table in the small hall. This man was Ashby, the strongest Initiator amongst all the Rogue Initiators gathered in Bellfalls right now.

Soren had already scanned this man before when he had met him once and had the results; Rank 1: Layer 4. Although Ashby had a lower cultivation level than Captain Hans, he was still not someone who Soren could win against. The difference in power between each layer was truly huge. Even Soren, who possessed extraordinary prowess as a Spellcaster, could only defeat or possibly kill a Rank 1: Layer 2 Initiator at best. Of course, this fact was true only when his most powerful spell, <Create Undead>, was not considered. But even after including the Forsaken Knights that Soren could now create, it was still not possible for him to defeat a Rank 1: Layer 4 Initiator.

The Forsaken Knight that he had chosen for the evolution of the spell was a powerful undead with very high potential, but, in the end, it still depended on his abilities. As it was the case with his other Rank 0 undeads, Forsaken Knights would also get stronger when Soren himself would get stronger. For now, though, each of them only had the strength of a Rank 1: Layer 3 Warrior type Initiator. But even so, based on the fact that he was able to create them at will, Soren believed that he could defeat anyone under the Rank 1: Layer 4 cultivation level.

……..

There was no doubt about it that every Initiator in the hall had been quite anxious about the Beast Tide that they were facing. Seeing how the intensity of the Beat Tide was slowly increasing by the day, they all had been sitting on pins and needles waiting for Ashby to confirm the source of the Beast Tide. Of course, they were still able to deal with the current intensity, so they hadn’t truly made any concrete plans for leaving yet. But given the gradual increase that they were seeing each day, they had given it some thoughts and were definitely on edge about it. As for the Blood Contract with Captain Hans, it didn’t really matter to them. After all, it was not a binding contract and hence, it would immediately be absolved once they left the premise of the area; they all had made sure of that before signing it.

Captain Hans was also well aware of that. Moreover, he was also very well informed about their current situation and the predicament that the town was currently facing; after all, if all the Rank 1 Initiators left, the town would definitely be destroyed by the Beats. That was why since the day he asked everyone to help out regardless of their shift rotation, he had been going around trying to get all the Rank 1 Initiators to sign a more authoritative and strict contract; in return, he offered them an opportunity to be directly employed by the royal family. In the Stuteron Kingdom, a City Guard Captain was someone who was directly appointed by the royal family; hence, they had the authority to employ someone on their behalf. Of course, this employment was by no means just for decoration, and thus, was very restricted.

Given Hans’ cultivation level, it went without saying that many Initiators agreed to the new contract just to get on his good side. But most of them did it for the chance to be able to work for the royal family; Alrule was also among them. Those who had rejected the said contract, however, had gathered here in the restaurant today to find out the details behind the Beast Tide; this had been the criterion for the invite.

“So, as I have confirmed, this Beast Tide seems to be originating because of an irregular Mana Wave.” As Ashby said that, every Initiator present there visibly relaxed in their chair and got comfortable. This was what they were hoping for. And now that Ashby had confirmed it, they truly felt like a weight had been lifted off their chests. Of course, this kind of Beast Tide was also very dangerous and could potentially destroy several towns, but it was still possible for them to resist it with the number of Rank 1 Initiators they had in town; not to mention the possibility of a powerful vestige containing the inheritance of a Rank 4 or higher Initiator being the cause of the irregular Mana Waves.

“Now that we’ve confirmed the source of this Beast Tide, we should first get on with the trades,” Ashby continued after giving the Initiators a moment to digest what he had just said.

“Yes, let’s start the trade first,” A young man in his late twenties with short black hair said as he took a look around the table for confirmation.

Soren had come to this trade meeting only for the confirmation of the source of the Beast Tide. He had already done a good amount of shopping not long ago, so not only did he not have anything that he needed to buy right now, but he also did not have anything that he could use as barter. But given that leaving right now could be seen as a disrespectful action and might antagonize someone needlessly, Soren decided against it and stayed for the trade; if nothing else, this could increase his knowledge about the items in this world.

“I’ll go first then,” An old lady with gray hair tied in a bun and wrinkles covering her whole face initiated the trade as she took out a wooden box and put it on the table. She then opened the box and revealed the content inside to everyone else; it was a red-colored blade of grass. This was a somewhat uncommon grass known as Blood Grass which was generally used in healing pills and potions.

“I am willing to share this Blood Grass for 10mgs of Flux Grain,” The old lady continued and then closed the wooden box after she made sure that everyone had gotten a good look and had confirmed that it was real; this type of wooden boxes were mainly used to keep the ingredients fresh so it was not a good idea to keep it open for long.

As for the Flux Grain that she was asking for, it was an ingredient that was used in many types of potions and pills. But above all, it was one of the main ingredients which were used to create an Age Restricting Potion; a potion meant for decreasing the signs of aging.

Given the Initiators’ ability to increase their life span, the majority of them generally looked very young. Only a few Initiators who had aged quite a lot and had not broken through to a new level would start looking old. But of course, if they broke through to a new level even after getting old, they would be able to get back their youth just by increasing their ‘Vitality’.

“I have Flux Grains, but I want two blades of Blood Grass for it,” The young man who had just spoken before this old lady said as he took out a small cloth pouch and put it on the table.

……

The trades continued on as day turned into night.

Throughout the trades, Soren had gained a lot of new information that he knew nothing about before. This was very beneficial to him as he was going to practice Potioneering, and knowing the ingredients and materials was a huge part of that. Not only that but knowing the details about the ingredients would also help him in identifying rare herbs and items out in the wild.

Of course, he couldn’t know about all the ingredients out there just from this one trade meeting. For that, he would need a proper compendium about such subjects. And given that these compendiums were not available in the open market, Soren had to look for one in the trade meetings like this.

Fortunately for him, a compendium that detailed three such subjects was just put out for trade in this meeting.

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