- First, How did you know what was discussed here? Second, what do you know about those monsters?
- To answer your first question, my mom is the cousin of the king and the wife of the Duke which is also a King's Sword.
- So my cousin told you. That makes sense. says Galliard. What about the second one?
- I saw the monster before it turned. It was a normal Sabretiger but it was eating the wolf and its prana core. After that, it started changing.
- Are you saying that Sabretiger ate the wolf and then started changing? asks Darius
- Yes. At first, there were only small changes and the more time passed the more he was changing, the more he was getting stronger too.
- Now we have a reason why they change. says Darius
- It's not complete, though. says Noah. Monsters killing each other and eating each other prana cores in order to get stronger faster is not something new.
- True... . says Galliard. Well, thank you, Noah. You can leave now.
Noah leaves the room and heads downstairs
{Noah}
" Things are seriously getting troublesome"
He meets up with the others and they all get into the car and the car starts.
[Inside the car while leaving Fayrak City]
- There is way too much traffic, man. says Abel
- Is it fine that we are not waiting for your father and brothers? asks Juliana
- It's fine it didn't seem like the meeting was going to end anytime soon. answers Noah. What about you guys?
- What are you talking about? asks Juliana
- Did you check up on your mom? asks Noah
- *Snoooorrrreee*
Noah looks at Gancelot
- Since when is he asleep? he asks
- Ever since you went inside, Boss. He didn't even get out of the car. Don't you remember?
- Is that so? I guess I was lost in thoughts or something. says Noah
{Noah}
" I am trying to come up with an explanation of what is happening but I can't. Why are mutant monsters already appearing? Does that mean that a Rift has already opened? That's impossible since I can feel it when a Rift opens. At the same time, a monster can only mutate after absorbing demonic prana, whether they absorbed it intentionally or not since there was a lot of demonic prana in the air."
- We couldn't. says Juliana. She was meeting some people so we couldn't see her.
- Oh, ok... says Noah while looking at the window
- Noah, what are you thinking about?
- Nothing much...
- What did you say? asks Juliana in a menacing tone
-...
Noah sighs, stops looking at the window, and looks at Juliana
-I am thinking about the current situation. says Noah
- No matter how much you think about it there is nothing you can do, Young master. says Roan
- I know... says Noah
Juliana looks at Noah
- Abel, wake up Gan.
- Why? asks Abel
- Let's take a walk around the capital. says Juliana while looking at Noah
- Should I stop the car, young master? asks Roan
-...
- Young master?
- Go ahead, Roan. Stop the car. says Noah
- Yes, young master. says, Roan
Abel slaps Gancelot which wakes him up
- OUCH! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, ABEL!? yells Gancelot after waking up with a red cheek
- I tried less barbarian ways but you wouldn't wake up which left me no choice but to smack you. answers Abel
- Shut up, Gan. We're getting off. says, Juliana
- We're already back? asks Gancelot
- We are going to go shopping. says Juliana
Roan stops the car in front of a shopping mall and the group walks out of the car. Noah knocks on the driver's window and the window goes down
- No bodyguards. Ok? says Noah
- I will be accompanying you as soon as I park the car.
- Then we will go ahead since you can use tracking spells, I don't think you will have a hard time finding us. says Noah
The car leaves
- So what shop are we going into? asks Abel
- I will guide you all, bunch of battle addicts. says Juliana while looking at the boys
[An hour later]
Roan joins the group and finds the boys carrying a bunch of shopping bags
- What is the meaning of this, miss Fayrak?
- What is it? asks Juliana
- How dare you make my young master carry your shopping bags!? asks Roan
- No need to make such a huge fuss about it, Roan. says Noah
- What!? But Young master! It is above you to be carrying shopping bags.
Noah put the shopping bags in Roan's hands
- You are right now that I think about it. So carry them.
- What!?
- It's not like I can make the first princess of the kingdom carry them for me. says Noah
- Lucky us, right? says Gancelot. Only the dukes and their family knows what we look like.
- Things would have been quite troublesome if that wasn't the case. says Noah while walking ahead
The others follow him
- Where are we going, Boss? asks Abel
- What does a magician use as a weapon? asks Noah
- Wands! Are we going to a wand shop!? asks Gancelot
- Personally, I don't need a wand nor do I need a staff since I have a constitution but you guys need one. says Noah
Wands and staffs are weapons that magicians use. Since magicians, unless they have a constitution, cannot cast spells close to their bodies to not be hurt by their own spells, they use staffs or wands in order to create distance between the magic circle and their body. Creating a magic circle close to the body increases the chance of getting hurt by your spell.
- I AM DEFINITELY GETTING ONE! yells Gancelot while running toward a weapon shop
- I was pushing it back anyways so I guess I could buy one. says Juliana before leaving
Juliana leaves. Abel looks at Noah
- I will wait for a bit since I don't have the means to afford a wand or a staff currently. says Abel
- I will pay for you so don't worry about it. says Noah
- Really? But why? asks Abel
- Did you forget that you are a part of my squad? asks Noah
Abel shakes his head in denial. Noah exhales
- Just take it as an investment. Noah says while pointing at the weapon shop
- THANK YOU, BOSS! yells Abel
Abe turns around and runs into the weapon shop. Noah starts walking toward the shop
{Noah}
" I should take a look. Who knows? Maybe I will have some kind of a lucky encounter."
Noah enters the weapon shop and starts looking at the weapons and armor, however, he finds nothing that would be helpful to him.
{Noah}
" Well, you can't be lucky every day I guess."
Noah joins the others in the wands section
- Were you guys able to choose something? asks Noah while walking up to them
- I can't choose! says Gancelot
- Same here, Boss!
- What about you? Noah asks to Juliana
- I don't have a wand in my hand nor do I have a staff in my hand! So obviously I am having the same problem here. says Juliana with frustration
[30 minutes later]
- Enough. says Noah. I will choose your wands or staff.
- What! Master how can you choose for us?
- I don't care. If you didn't want this then you should have already picked your wands or staff.
Noah starts looking at the wands and the staff and he picks two wands and one staff and he heads to the counter. One of the wands is completely red while the other wand is brown with spirals. The staff is brown with green patterns on it.
- We'll be taking these. says Noah
After paying and leaving the weapon shop, Noah gives a wand to Abel and Juliana and he gives the staff to Gancelot. The trio looks at him with expressions demanding an explanation for his choices.
- Gancelot, when you use wind steps instead of using it on your feet use it on the staff. The staff was made with tempest wood from the Gale forest so it has a crazy amount of resistance against wind magic and since it's a staff I can teach you some staff handling techniques.
- From the Gale forest! That's a forest that only people starting from Gold-rank magicians and martial artists can enter. says Abel
- Juliana, the wand that I chose for you wasn't even made.
- What does that mean?
- It's one of the three horns of a triple-horned tiger.
- REALLY! asks Juliana with a huge smile
- That's not all, the horn before it was cut, contained prana inside which fused with the horn granting it the ability to resist fire and increase the strength of fire spells.
- That means that this is the horn of a flame tiger! says Abel
- Probably. answers Noah
- What about mine!? asks Gancelot
- Yours is a branch from a tree that's located in a Mana Land. I don't know which one though. says Noah
Mana Lands are places where instead of Energicules, mana is in the air. These places have an abundant amount of mana granting abilities to nature, animals, and even the monsters living there. One example would be the Gale Forest, a forest where the wind mana is so strong that there are always tempests and tornadoes.
- So why did you give me this one? asks Abel
- When I touched it I could feel it. This wand has an incredible amount of mana conductivity. The ability to conduct mana within an object. With this, your spells will be even faster than usual. I guarantee it. says Noah
The group exits the shopping mall and enters the car that was already waiting for them.
[An hour later at the Arcadios duchy]
The group gets out of the car. The servants open the door of the mansion, they enter and head to Noah's room on the third floor, they enter the room and they all sit down on the chairs.
- The results are coming out tomorrow, huh? asks Gancelot to Noah
- Yeah. Normally, it would have taken longer but Foivos said that he would grade us first. answers Noah
Noah looks at opens his phone and enters InstaChat. He sees that he received a message from Yoan so he opens the message.
[Message from Yoan]
" What do you mean by you almost died?"
[Message from Noah]
" It means that I almost died. I don't think the phrase has any other meaning."
[Message from Yoan]
" Explain what happened!"
[Message from Noah]
" I met a mutated monster and I got attacked. I fought it but I wasn't strong enough, just as I was bout to die I got saved by an AA-rank adventurer called Fenrax."
- Who are you texting? asks Juliana
- My brother. He wanted to know what happened during the adventurer exam. Noah says while closing his phone and putting it on his desk
- Well, I am going to sleep. says Gancelot while walking to the door
- Same. says Abel while doing the same thing as Gancelot did
The two leaves for their rooms
- You are not leaving? asks Noah to Juliana
- What rank do you think we are gonna get? asks Juliana
- It doesn't really matter since we can raise our ranks but... I think that Abel and Gancelot would get either C or B-rank. You would probably get B-rank and I think I will get BB-rank. Why do you ask?
- Do you think our ranks will be the results of our titles or of our abilities? asks Juliana
{Noah}
" That's what she is worried about. The fact that our standing in society might affect our results."
- I think Foivos will evaluate us fairly. That's what I asked of him. If our ranks are higher than the one I guessed then that means that we received special treatment and in that case, we will deal with it. There is no need to worry about it. says Noah
Juliana walks up to the door. She turns around and says
- I guess you are right.
She leaves and closes the door behind her. Noah takes a shower then he goes to bed
[Next day]