I was too hasty in assuming this trip would be boring. It certainly wasn't very entertaining, but it wasn't terrible. The first few days were great for travel. It was slightly cloudy, keeping the sun off our backs.
The sun illuminated the hills that stretched as far as we could see. The sight was rather mundane, but it had a beauty to it. It was on one of these days I asked Cristoph a question that had been bugging me,
"If it takes two weeks to travel from the capital to here on horseback, and my annual exam was only a few days ago, how was it that my results reached the capital, and then you two got here in less than half that time?" I wasn't going to ask how they had information only the MEB was supposed to know. That seemed like a question they wouldn't be able to answer, or one they wouldn't like me asking.
Christoph replied like it was common sense, "Well, we received our directions to find you through magical correspondence. We were actually already somewhat close to Lockwood, in another town to the West. Once we were told what to do, it only took us a couple of days to get there.
"I can assume the capital received the information the same way. Through some sort of magic."
This brief but informative chat was the start of something. I definitely wouldn't call it a friendship, because I didn't like the Elf much, but he was infinitely more talkative than his other mage friend, who treated talking with me like it was some deadly disease.
That's when I realized he probably thought it was. Maybe my results had said I wouldn't be a risk to other magic users, but he would be a fool if he started hanging around a Kura sorcerer. If what he was told wasn't true, I would be the death of him.
So I was left to only talk to Christoph. Through these small chats with him, I learned some things. These two were wizards, specifically. They channeled their magic through spells, instead of the free form casting sorcerers used. I also learned that this seemed to be an apprenticeship of sorts between the two.
The experienced senior mage, who I still did not know the name of, would take the wizard in learning on missions, teaching him spells along the way.
One spell I noticed Christoph trying to learn was called lanternlight. It would summon three ghostly orbs that produced a pale white glow. These supplemented lanterns, allowing us to travel at night without wasting oil.
After long days of travel, we would make camp and settle down for the night. I would spend these nights practicing my own magic. The first thing I did was consume my new axe, as I no longer had a need for it.
When I consumed the axe, I felt the same growth of knowledge I had when I consumed the second bear paw. This time, however, it was more complete. I was fairly certain I could make a decent axe, given the materials. It was like my mind was putting together the best pieces of each axe.
I wasn't nearly as tired as I was after eating the bear, but I did get a bit more lethargic after the axe. I was fairly certain I could pin my exhaustion that one day on my ability to consume things, which seemed counter-intuitive, given my ability to regenerate mana at a quicker pace after eating.
After several attempts, I managed to restrict how much of my arm changed from arm to axe. At first everything past my elbow changed. This time, I turned my hand only into the blade of the axe, attached to my regular arm.
Then, I made the handle only take up half of what was below my elbow, the other half staying arm. It took a great deal of concentration, and it wasn't anything viable yet, but it could be useful later on.
The last thing I tried was turning my arm into the bear arm. It worked, but it ate through my mana much faster than the axe, and I didn't have anything to see just how effective it would be in comparison, so I'd have to wait some more to see how that turned out.
After long nights of practice, we would return to the road. I would have my little conversations with Christoph, and admire the landscape. This was most of our journey, but there were some pretty enjoyable breaks.
Every few days, we would reach a town or village. There, we would take a days rest, but never more than one day. We would restock on supplies, and be on our way.
Those stops in towns were very enjoyable for me. I got to see new places. In hindsight, it wasn't that special, but I didn't leave Lockwood often, so these new people, new buildings, and new sites meant a lot to me. Each one felt different and unique.
After two weeks of travel, the landscape shifted from hills to flat plains, nothing obscuring my sight. This was also new to me. Hills were just about all I knew. The flat plains let us know when we were coming up on a town, and it was with that clear line of sight, that I managed to lay eyes on Therian City.
It was magnificent. Placed on a large peninsula, the city was surrounded by water on three sides, only connected to land through it's northern gates. A large wall of brilliant white stone was sure to prevent any unwanted visitors from getting into their city.
The fields around the city were used almost exclusively as farmland, large aqueducts feeding water wherever it was needed. The twilight sun cast everything in gold, sure to cover the city's entirety with it's radiance soon enough.