" Is that an undead? " A young man clad in bronze light armor said, gazing at Ossa who was stuffing his face with the mana cores.
Fear gripped his heart, his gaze not leaving the creature which looked like a demon feasting on its prey.
" How!!! This should be a bronze region, why is such a powerful undead skeleton here " He thought, biting his fingers in nervousness.
" I don't get paid enough for this " He slowly crept away, heading out of the forbidden forest.
"Hey, why are you out so soon?" A young man clad in the same armor said as he noticed his comrade coming out of the forbidden forest, his eyes darting around him, seemingly in fear of a stalker.
" Man, you won't believe what I saw on my
reconnaissance, " He said, cold sweat forming on his brows.
"Sonic ware bats?! They are supposed to go into hibernation today, so I guess you might meet a few," the man clad in a similar attire said to the one who just arrived.
" Mark, it's topor, not hibernation, they are bats " He corrected his comrade, sounding a bit cheeky.
" Yeah, whatever, it's the same " He retorted.
" I didn't see them. I found an undead... a skeleton undead " He added, his voice a bit shaky.
" A skeleton, that should not be a problem, right? " Mark said, not understanding why Joe, his friend was behaving like that.
" You didn't see what I did, " Joe said as he proceeded to narrate what he witnessed.
He had witnessed Ossa fight with the wasps, bewildered as he saw a lone skeleton massacre hundreds of them..
Mark believed it was a basic skeleton soldier, as they were not uncommon in the forbidden forest, most if not all of them immobile. But upon listening to Joe speak, it sounded more like a demonic creature than the weak, annoying basic skeleton he knew.
" That sounds dangerous, we need to inform the commander, it would be disastrous if the students were to meet it," Mark said as he gestured for Joe to follow him.
They left the edges of the ominous-looking forest which despite the starlit night looked dark.
Humanoid-shaped trees lay at the edges, something to deter people from entering, as the inner part of the forest was just like a normal one.
It dettered most but for warriors and mages, it made them more curious.
Curiosity made them venture into the forest, the nature of the forest made known to them after finding out it was not as terrifying as the outer trees made it seem.
From then on, the forest had been used by mages and warriors as training and hunting grounds.
They walked for a couple of minutes along the forest edges appearing before a campsite.
" Hey, you go tell him " Joe chickened out, afraid of the commander.
" Hey... Why?! ... I don't want to go alone " Mark said, shifting his gaze to the large leather tent at the center of the camp.
"You know, he told me to check on it yesterday and the day before, and I said all is well without actually checking. But today I am bringing different news; he might suspect I didn't do my job well," he said, scratching his poorly kept brown hair.
"Well, if I go with you or without you, he will suspect you either way, so let's go," Mark stated the obvious.
" Ok, let's go, at least ... "
" Hey, Mark how was the reconnaissance... Are we safe to move tonight " A young man clad in iron armor, said as he walked towards the two.
" About that... we would like to meet with the commander, " Joe said, avoiding the question.
" Is it that serious?! " The man clad in iron armor asked.
" Yeah "
" Then, don't let me stop you " He left, giving them way to meet the commander.
Nervously and hesitantly, Joe moved towards the large tent, eyes on him as they could not understand his behavior.
" What did he find out "
" Are we going to delay the hunt today too "
" He must have gotten himself in trouble "
Murmurs filled the campsite as men clad in different colored armor watched the two walk toward the tent.
The different colored armor represented their ranks just like the color of a mage's robes determines their rank.
The material with which the armor is made, determines the soldiers' rank, as well as the color.
Brass-colored armor, made of brass, is for the least of the warriors—an apprentice of some sort who has newly been enlisted in the army or mercenary group.
Bronze-colored armor, made of bronze, is higher than the brass soldiers, as they have more experience and have a skill or two under their name. Like Joe, who has the detection skill and is thus good for reconnaissance. They are not necessarily fighters but can handle themselves in a one-on-one battle with a regular mid-tier magical beast.
Then there is the Iron-colored armor, made of iron. Soldiers clad in this armor are a rank higher than the bronze soldiers, their skills more geared towards combat. They can handle about five regular mid-tier normal magical creatures, with the best of them handling peak tiers normal magical creatures.
A rank higher than the iron-clad soldiers is the arctic blue-colored armor, an armor made from blue ores, a mineral exclusive to the world of Terra. They are strong enough to handle a mystic creature one-on-one.
After that is the silver-colored armor, made of titanium. Soldiers clad in this armor are capable of fighting mystic peak tiers magical creatures.
Then there is the black-colored armor, made of black iron. Soldiers clad in such armor can face normal dragonic creatures from tier one up to mid-tiers.
The strongest of the warriors, the warriors clad in golden armor and armor from the sunstone, it is believed warriors of that caliber can fight dragonic creatures and even divine beasts.
Each stage has ranks, which are determined by the number of rays on the sun's crest on their chest. One ray is the lowest, with the highest being six rays.