As I ran to catch up with Hilda she had already run out of the institute gate although we are both carrying the supplies that we will use for the next few days our speed is unaffected as they only weigh a few kilos. But what worries me is still Hilda's mental state because she may seem to be acting more rationally she is still very worried about Ingredi when leaving the institute she couldn't hold back on her aura and elemental energy expenditure Hilda's wind is accelerating to maximum to get to our destination as quickly as possible.
If it weren't for my superior ability to control my aura and the Wind element I would have been left behind, Hilda has already reached the maximum level of the black core for months she is much closer to reaching the gray core than I am with the change of quality that has already started within her core she is able to spend her aura at a much higher speed than mine this allows her to strengthen her body at a higher level than me.
It doesn't take us long to invade the city's prime district as we enter a stable that is next to a mansion that matches the size of the institute itself. Of course, I'm not counting the emerald forest in this comparison. The mansion I believe is the Menfis family headquarters we passed several guards who didn't move an inch when they saw Hilda I think this wasn't the first time she's acted like this before. But I can still feel like I'm the focus of a lot of people and most of them are hiding in the shadows.
It's very uncomfortable to be the target of such piercing stares I know it's normal for this to happen I'm a stranger, but that doesn't make the stares that are increasing with every step I take within the Memphis complex less irritating.
Hilda finally stops running as she enters one of the stable buildings. She's already spent half her aura on the trip here. Hilda jumps into one of the stables' stalls.
"Blue my sweetie, do you want to go after Ingredi?"
When I arrive in front of the stall that Hilda has entered, I see her hugging and petting what I assume is Blue she is really beautiful her fur and white highlight her blue eyes she is not too big for a magical animal that is used for riding she is slightly shorter than a horse in height, her length is much longer than that of a normal horse. She noticed my presence and looks at me with the aggressiveness of a predator if Hilda wasn't hugging her I believe she would have already tried to attack me.
"Calm down Blue he and a friend he is not a threat. She's very protective of Ulric, but don't worry she won't bite you."
I feel that the smile on Hilda's face has a sinister nature that not only won't stop me if I get tackled by Blue, but I believe she's going to have a lot of fun when that happens.
"I prefer to stay away even though I don't think she likes strangers very much. And where would my mount Hilda be? I don't think I should try riding Blue with you."
"I thought you were braver Ulric afraid of Blue? She won't hurt you, but since you're so scared you can take one of the horses in the stall next door. They're tamed to accept being used by anyone who puts a cell in them."
As I walk away and go to the winged stables I can hear Hilda laughing and talking to Blue. It doesn't take me long to get a cell and put it on one of the horses the stable has over fifteen horses and they are all level one magic animals this is the first time I ride a magic animal they are much more expensive to rent than normal mounts.
When I attach the luggage to the horse I go out with him and see Hilda riding Blue and just seeing how she moves I realize that she is a magical animal that depends on her speed and claws to fight I don't think her coat is very resistant .
"Let's go Ulric! We've wasted too much time here, we have to reduce the distance from Ingredi's group."
"Lead the way I hope the horse can keep up with Blue."
Blue shows her red tongue in my direction as if mocking my comment I don't doubt she sees the horse I'm riding as inferior to her. She darts out of the Menfis family compound and heads towards the north gate. As I started to ride out I feel a piercing look at me unlike him and I feel a frightening amount of mana emanating from that person when I look in that person's direction.
I see a woman in the mansion window she is extremely similar to Ingredi and Hilda she is wearing a simple robe that asserts her identity as a mage even though she walks with an orange core the presence of her mana and as overwhelming as the aura of the red core my mother's the only difference between them is that I could only feel the overwhelming nature of my mother's aura by focusing on her, as my mother kept her contained in her body. The mage at the window who is probably Hilda's mother is using her mana pressure directly on me as if her presence alone isn't enough to scare me.
As I walk away from the mansion I still feel the presence of Hilda's mother following me, she only disappears when Hilda and I pass through the north gate of the city.
"Hilda! Her scary mother I think she is not very happy with her decision to follow Ingredi."
"What about my mother? You haven't met her yet, why do you think she's angry?"
"Didn't you see her at the Hilda mansion window? She gave me as deadly a look as Blue is giving me now."
When I've paired up next to Blue she's been looking at me like an enemy she really doesn't like me.
"She'll get used to you and just be patient, she's suspicious of strangers."
"Are you talking about Blue or your mother?"
"They're the same of the two in that sense Ulric, but did you really see my mother in the mansion?"
"She looked a lot like you and Ingredi once commented that she was a magician like her so I believe it was her mother."
"I doubt if my mom had seen me pick Blue up and go out with a boy she doesn't know she would have created a wall of ice at the gate to keep her from climbing out."
"Do you have an aunt who is a wizard too?"
"Not my two aunts are warriors like me. And only one of them is in town right now. Let's focus on the path now Ulric as we only have a few hours let's ride to the max your horse should be warm riding for three hours he is of a strong breed."
Blue sprints down the road easily avoiding any cart or mount in her path, her movements are very fluid she must have a finity with the Wind element probably she should wake him up for years to come if Hilda feeds her materials containing very pure Wind element energy .
My horse can barely keep up with Blue, but after driving away from the city and not so the obstacles in front of us have disappeared the horse has shown its advantage against Blue he can easily maintain her speed in a flat and linear trajectory.
We rode for two and a half hours without even a break in that time I had a lot of free time and studied the mana and core of both the horse I'm riding and Blue.
Although neither one of them has a very strong characteristic in the behavior and quantity of its mana, this is the first time that I have been able to study the core of a magical animal at work so closely during tracking or a fight, it is difficult to have time to examine the minutiae. of the core and after killing the magic animal its core goes dormant.
So I've been able to learn a lot by looking at the cores of the two mounts. The horse's core that is so close to mine I could see that the mana inside it is arranged in waves from the center to the outside of the core they serve as a divider for their mana the mana from the inner layer and much more concentrated than the outer one. when the horse spends the mana from the last two layers, the mana from the core layers is transferred to replenish the mana from the surface layers of the core.
I previously believed that mana went directly from the core of the core to the body of the magical animal. I didn't know that the core of animals had partitions before, but this justifies the detonation phenomenon that a core can cause when it breaks apart when the animal it's still alive i've never had the misfortune to witness this happen as it's very difficult to happen with animals below level three only when animals develop a more developed personality or intellect they can explode their core to hurt their attacker why when facing animals or magical beasts of level four or above it is advisable to kill them quickly or cause them enough pain to lose control of their mana.
Because the suicidal move of detonating your own core generates a massive explosion that usually kills the idiot who is killing the magical beast or beast.
As for Blue's core I could see some particles of the water and wind element mixed in the initial layers of her core she really has great potential to become a two-element magic beast. Hilda is lucky to have a partner who has so much potential and the same elementary affinity.
If I had enough money, I would try to find a mount compatible with me too.