"That's so impressive. There must be more than fifteen biomes in the pavilion. Yet from the outside, it doesn't seem that big," I say to Pepper, dazzled by all of this.
"Maybe they use Temporal Mages, those who can control time and space in a certain way! That seems to be the most logical solution. Otherwise, the pavilion is simply gigantic," she rationalizes aloud.
Nodding, I ask her if she wants to explore some biomes before the break is over. Excited by the idea, she runs off without warning towards one of the doors.
I can see her running off in the distance with her red hair swirling behind her. I catch up with her, and she says in a breathless voice:
"It's the fire biome, let's go?"
"Yeah," I reply, opening the biome door. As soon as I open the door, a blast of hot air hits my face.
"Wow, it's hot in here," Pepper exclaims.
"You can say that again. Look at the back, it looks like there's a mini-volcano!"
"But yeah, it's true! Let's go take a closer look!"
"Hmm, I think we should pass, there's lava everywhere and I don't want to end up with burnt legs for the rest of my life."
"Is everyone here?" Mortius asks.
"Yes!" the majority of the group shouts.
"Perfect. I hope you were able to stretch your legs a bit because now I'm going to explain some theory to you. Let's start with the basics. As you know, each person has a profession. Some are oriented towards combat, others towards production, and some are neutral. Combat professions are usually geared towards war and exterminating monsters. Production professions are geared towards manufacturing, breeding, or farming. Neutral professions are neither of those, or a mix of both. Although each profession is oriented towards a specific area, it is still your choice to decide whether or not you want to evolve in that direction.
All of this may seem complex, but to simplify, even if you have a production profession, nothing stops you from being just as efficient in combat as someone who has a combat profession. I'll use myself as an example. I have the profession of a Farmer, but I've always wanted, like a certain part of people, to explore the wild lands and live my life as a mercenary. With this goal in mind, I trained and became just as effective in combat as those with a combat specialization! Of course, it didn't happen overnight, but hard work always pays off. Let's go back to the prairie biome. I'm going to demonstrate what happens when you reach full mastery of your skills.
We walk, I turn to Pepper and ask her, "What do you think he's going to do?"
"I'm not sure, I have a hard time imagining a farmer fighting," she replies perplexed.
When we arrive at the biome's gate, Mortius signals us to enter. Once in the center, he asks us to move as far away from the center as possible. Everyone complies, and he begins to explain the characteristics of his profession while summoning a large black scythe with a crimson blade:
"The Farmer profession allows us to have the following skills at level 1: Scythe Mastery and Planting. Although the scythe is not a popular weapon in combat, it doesn't stop me from using it to mow down my enemies' lives."
Seeing our awestruck faces, he smiles and tells us to watch carefully. His scythe starts spinning around him faster and faster, becoming so fast that I can no longer see it. The lingering images of his movements with the weapon create a kind of dark red barrier around him. It's impressive, I think, watching him.
After a few moments, the effect dissipates, and Mortius continues:
"As you have just seen, skills can be mastered and used in almost any way, you just need to find your style and discover your preferences. I would now ask you to move away as far as possible since I'm going to use one of my skills: Sowing."
He makes a wrist movement and throws small balls, which are probably seeds, in my opinion. They fall to the ground and start to germinate visibly. They grow quickly, and after a few seconds, the seeds have become vines. They cover the ground in a circle with a diameter of five meters. In the distance, opposite me, a guy approaches and touches one of the vines. It reacts and wraps around his wrist. The student starts screaming in fear and, in panic, tries to pull harder to free himself. But the vine continues to wrap around him like a snake trying to devour its prey.
While the student cries for help, Mortius begins to laugh, a powerful and hearty laugh. After calming down, he continues by pointing at the student who touched the vines:
"Extra lessons, never forget that curiosity can kill, always think before you act, otherwise, you'll end up like this poor little man."
Like a mummy, the student is completely covered in vines. His screams are barely audible, and all of a sudden, the vines retract and disappear.
"Now, I'll show you something else," the professor continues to explain.
He makes the same movement as before but puts his hand on the ground. By the time he stands up, the vines have already reached our feet. They continue to climb everywhere, including on us. Most of the students scream and struggle, but instead, I try to keep calm. The vines wrap peacefully around my legs, my belly, my shoulders, and finally my head. They now cover my eyes, and the last thing I see before passing out is an emerald veil.