He continued strangely with a bit of reverence in his voice. "Even a common animal like boars or wolves have reached power equivalent to low level spirit beasts. Considering that this is your first visit here, your bodies shouldn't be able to contend against them." He looked them up and down as if he were surprised that they were unharmed.
"Not only are the animals there one of the strongest of the transitional islands but the ghostly screams of the people that died in the gap between worlds torments anyone inside the forest. The screams have an effect to them that if you let it influence your mind it will get exponentially worse.
Usually, after a few weeks it would break their will for survival and makes it more likely that anyone arriving there would starve to death because they weren't able or didn't want to hunt anything."
Leo rubbed his chin in thought. He kind of understood what the guard was trying to tell them. It seemed like the island they came from was a more dangerous one. It is obvious that they are cut from a different cloth as they not only survived the island, but they didn't seem to have suffered as much as they would have expected.
"So, what are spirit beasts?" Sarah asked the guard who nodded as if he expected the question. "Spirit beasts are more intelligent animals that have accumulated enough of what is known as Anima and have therefore evolved. Anima is the energy that is inside everything on this planet. Just by eating and drinking you are already taking in anima.
Most beasts accumulate their anima through eating other beasts, but some evolve through the proximity to a large source of anima. We humans can gather anima as well, but everything will be explained in the reference guide that we will hand out to you shortly. Ah, and don't worry the guide is as accurate as possible and up to date."
After listening to his short explanation, the girls silently looked at Leo wondering how his theories were once again frighteningly accurate. They could only shake their head in disbelief.
"Alright, just fill out these forms and we can show you around to your temporary abodes." The guard said as they entered a large building. There was a reception with a pile of paper that the guard was walking to. The guard then handed them some papers.
The receptionist greeted them with a smile and gave them a pen to fill out the forms. The guards positioned themselves at the door alert for any attacks which obviously attracted the perceptive Leo even if they were rather subtle about it.
He might just ask them, he thought. The guards were forthcoming until now and were happy to answer their questions, so it wouldn't hurt to know why they were rather tense. The others took their forms and went to a nearby couch.
The reception hall was lit brightly. It was like they were in a normal hotel on earth even if the lamps were obviously not powered by normal means if the strange glowing crystal inside the lamps was anything to go by.
"Excuse me. Is there a reason why you are on the lookout? Do you expect an attack, are some beasts or murderers on a rampage or something?"
The guard was surprised by the sudden question directed to him. He hesitated for a moment as he looked at Leo. He started slowly and with some bitterness in his voice, "This is another world and the inhabitants or rather those that have immigrated from earth generations ago don't look kindly on foreigners.
They consider themselves superior to anyone coming from earth in every way and think of us as thieves that have dared to step on their sacred land." The guard chuckled ruefully. "Oh. And call me Seron."
The guard that seemed to lead the little group, that accompanied them, was tall probably 190cm and muscular under all that armor. He had piercing blue eyes that screamed righteousness. Leo also felt that he was dangerous. Although, he came off as amiable, Leo wouldn't want to fight him.
"Thanks, I'm Leo." Leo answered with a smile as he started to join the others to fill his form out. It only asked him of basic knowledge like his personal information and his experience with crossing over. He added some information that he got from the others so not to make his crossing too particular.
He also had to write down which style of combat he preferred and where he trained. He could have refused to share his information and throw a tantrum, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.
This information with his face on it was available all over the internet back on earth and they could just send someone back and get it from there. The same could be said about his girlfriends, although Sarah's information was only made known cause of association.
After they filled out their forms and gave it to Seron, he pointed at a door a bit to the side of the reception.
"Before you go rest, we would like you to do a little test for us. Although, it is rather unfortunate that it is so late, it is better to test you now than later." The guard said as he gave the papers to another guard.
The group looked at each other before they followed him through the door. "Just touch this crystal ball as long as you can. If it hurts too much just let it go. One at a time please." The guard said as he pointed to the white crystal that sat on a small pillar just big enough to hold the ball.
Shunlei was called up first. She went up and touched the white crystal ball. As soon as Shunlei laid her hands on it, something seemed to have steered the inside of the crystal as it began to move towards the side of the crystal her hand was touching.
The color of the white crystal had changed too. Almost every color was represented and all of them were flowing towards Shunlei's hand. Some colors were represented more than others though.
Gray and Violet flowed to her hand in greater abundance. After 2 minutes her face grimaced as if she experienced great discomfort.
After another minute she couldn't take it anymore and removed her hand. The crystal swiftly returned to its white color and calm surface. The guard that had her paper wrote something on her paper before marking her form with a stamp.
Next up was Laura, who also pressed her hand on the crystal for about the same time as Shunlei. The colors she drew out of the crystal were Red and Violet.
After she was done, Sarah drew out almost only a green flow out of the crystal with Violet barely coming second. Of course, they all drew out the other colors as well just not as abundant as their main colors. As the three had finished the little test, Seron seemed to grow more and more excited.
Of course, Leo and the others were a bit lost on what the colors symbolized or what it meant that they could hold their hand on it for several minutes. After all, they had been in this city for 15 minutes tops.
After being asked, Seron said that it will become clear after they read through the reference guide they would get. It did grind Leo's gears that they were going into this almost blind, so he was already eager to read through that guide that was made for the newcomers.
However, he guessed that it was some kind of assessment, if the novels were anything to go by. It was Leo's turn now. He just touched the crystal like the others and drew out a deep indigo and violet as well. A violet was abundant as well.
In comparison to the others, he held onto the crystal for a longer time. After 6 minutes and a half he finally couldn't hold onto it anymore. His hand stinged and felt taut like it would burst out of his skin. The feeling slowly but surely flowed up his arm and then through his body.
As it was spreading through his body, he felt more energetic and pumped up. It was like he had just drunk the greatest pre workout booster.
Seron looked shocked at his results and his excitement could be clearly heard in his voice. "The others were already top talents but Leo you really hit the ball out of the park!"
"Did I?" Leo asked as he shook his own hand to quicken the spread in vain. The guard seemed to have realized something.
"Yes! It isn't any day that someone can hold onto it longer than 2 minutes when they first arrived here! You should probably join a faction soon. If someone heard about your group's talent, they would probably send some people to either recruit you or you know."
Considering that they were already on guard, Leo had figured that people might want to attack them preemptively. Leo was sure that they wouldn't want to let talents live to grow. So, Leo took his warning to heart.
The receptionist gave the group the key for a room after hearing that they wanted to sleep together. They quickly went up and entered their rooms. Without talking to each other they went through their room seemingly in search for something before taking some things and putting them in another room.
Even though it was getting late, they were still energized from the crystal and couldn't help but feel desire rise up inside them. They wordlessly threw off their clothes as they embraced each other for some long hours into the late night.
After the group went up to relief themselves, two guards had positioned themselves at the entrance of the building while Seron and the guard with the papers talked with each other as they went through the papers.
"No wonder they seemed close to each other, they seemed to have trained under the same mentor. I have heard of Mang Tou's try. He was fairly talented. A shame that he couldn't cross the gap." The guard with the papers pointed out as he put them inside a folder.
"Indeed. I wonder what Mang Tou shared with them that his students could consistently drew out Violet. Either way, Sarah and Leo were probably the biggest surprise. Someone, who could absorb that much anima when they first arrived and another that was a born healer. The others had different colors as well. They could probably create a balanced team."
Seron thought out loud as they put the papers into a folder before getting up and making their way deeper into the building.
"Yeah, that Leo guy even drew out indigo and violet, that combin…" The other guard half whispered in the end, getting self-conscious of his loud voice after being glared at by Seron.
It was a rather stranger sight for them to whisper since they were inside their building behind closed doors, but they couldn't be cautious enough. "Yes, the last time that happened, the person reached the land of the gods." Seron said after he pulled out an amulet that started to glow.
"You think, he will reach it too?" The guard said unsure as he handed over the folder with the forms after Seron stretched his hands out. He looked over Leo's description of his experience inside the gap between worlds.
"The hints are there. He was especially hit by the crossing. His demeanor when we stepped to him. It's clear that he is capable, and he seemed to be in a relationship with the girls. Maybe he will return after he stepped into the land of the gods." Seron held his chin in thought.
"Y-you think? No one returned after reaching it. Maybe the reason the others haven't returned wasn't because it is so beautiful there that they didn't want to return but because they all died." The guard argued.
"Perhaps. We will have to wait and see." The two ended their conversation as Seron put away his amulet. They continued to walk through the empty hallway in silence until they reached the very end.