At their lunchtime break, Abel and Zeke decided to head to the forestry near the academy. Here, they were going to train Abel's skills.
It was about time now, a decent amount of time had passed, and Zeke was pleased with how far he had come.
Abel's aura of pristine golden qi enveloped his body once again and reached out his hand. As he did so, his hands glowed a red colour.
The red colour of this energy gleaming across his palm was slightly orange and more fiery than Zeke's.
A ball of red energy shot out from his hand, and was about the size of his fist. It was much smaller than Zeke's ball of energy, and travelled much slower.
It hit into the trunk of a tree, exploding right on impact. The explosion was loud, and the birds in the trees lifted into flight upon hearing this.
However, the damage caused wasn't exactly substantial. The tree he had struck still remained standing, but he had shaved off a large portion of the tree, though.
Zeke just clapped with praise, walking up to his friend with a look of surprise on his face.
Elric sees him here and also sees Arwin eating human blood. Instrumental in getting the league of hunters chasing after them.
"I can tell that you're a hybrid because if a vampire had a blood pellet that strong as their first try, they'd immediately be trained up to be a high-ranking warrior." Zeke commented.
From behind a tree trunk, stood Elric of the noble Reinhard family.
"What sort of technique is that the city of Fragan has no form of skill book! That technique could kill somebody of our level of cultivation, that's for sure! Just what are you hiding from us, Abel and Zeke?" Elric asked himself, watching on.
"Whatever it is, I promise I'll found out and use it against you. Nobody challenges the power of the nobles or their place in society! As they say, the pyramid is made of bricks, and each brick has its place." He stated, with a mischievous smirk.
He slowly stepped away, and was no where to be seen seconds later.
Zeke's ear twitched, and he looked off into the distance from hearing an odd sound. Abel looked cautious as well, since he had just showcased a skill impossible to use for humans.
"Did you hear that too?" Abel asked.
"I think so. It might have just been a rabbit or something. Let's get out of here anyway, we should continue this training elsewhere." Zeke decided, beginning to leave.
As Abel followed him along, he caught an oddly familiar scent. He stopped in his tracks, standing at a particular tree trunk.
The smell was giving him a weird sense of deja-vu, and he wondered why Zeke hadn't stopped to investigate as well. I mean, he was a vampire just like he was, so they should've possessed the same supernatural senses.
"Wait, is it because I'm a werewolf too? Do I have better smell than him?" Abel wondered, taking a sniff of the tree.
Upon taking this sniff, he knew what he was smelling now. The silk of a robe, an academy robe that wasn't their own.
He stood there, frozen for a brief period.
"Maybe, some kid was training here before us. Yeah, that should've happened." Abel surmised, catching up to his friend.
*****
During this upcoming time, the students were given time away from the academy to train and prepare themselves not only physically but mentally.
Many parents were packing up large amounts of supplies for their children, because of the terrain they were about to cross.
It was going to take seven days just to get to the desert realm where Solterra was located. This meant long journeys through blistering heat, harsh terrain, and around dangerous, maniacal beasts.
Abel continued to hone his skills and was glad to see that he could now utilise the blood pellet technique at will. It took a large amount of his qi, but his cultivation was also making astounding progress.
He could feel that, with his qi, he was definitely one of the strongest people of his school now. However, along with him, teenagers would bloom at their age and make a lot of progress.
As children grew to become adults, their dantian would also mature and become more compatible for cultivation.
*****
In the academy, many students stood, wearing backpacks and containers of supplies to keep them going.
"Alright, students. You all will be heading over to the desert realm, along with a few other people affiliated with us. We want to make good use of this trip, so along with us there will be some nobles and merchants heading over to Ansita. Of course, we minimise the number of trips we have to make beyond the walls so you're not the only ones."
"Remember to showcase the best of yourselves. You will be heading to a bigger city, and even though you are a splendid bunch of cultivators, there will be somebody in this city that meets your match." Master Klemens stated.
"Hmph!" Otto exhaled in reaction, in contest to that statement.
"I wish you all the best on this trip and even if you do not perform as well as you would've expected, enjoy yourselves while you are there."
The students walked up to one of the large gates of the city, which now had around 100 cultivators. Many wore items like beast armour, while others looked more sleek and fought without large armour on their bodies.
Armour was commonplace but not ubiquitously used amongst cultivators and soldiers. There would be the drawback of having to constantly imbue the armour with qi, and it would also be dead weight.
*click*
CREAK!
The large 50-metre tall double door opened, revealing the lust forestry and grasslands ahead of them.
Along with that, there was a massive vehicle that had a number of carriages. What was most striking, though, were the animals tied to the front of it.
There were black-skinned horses with glowing red eyes that vehemently stomped their feet into the grass beneath in anticipation of this journey. Along with this, there were large birds with wings the length of up to 5 five fully grown men that were tied to these carriages through several ropes.
They hovered in one place, also awaiting the journey.
Among the horses were also slender cheetahs, with dark fur of similar darkness to the horses. Around them were streaks of black energy that seemed to flow off its skin.
"Make room in these carriages. The students, you will have to remain in the last five." An academy master announced, guiding them to the closest carriages.
The students made themselves at home, and saw several seats for them to take in this transportation vehicle. The carriages were open on the inside, filled with red seats and walled off with an interior of rice paper, but a wooden and metal exterior.
"We will be leaving in 10 minutes. Make yourselves at home. There will be meals provided in the morning, afternoon and evening, and we will leave the carriage to set up camp and sleep during the nighttime." A master explained.
He then jumped onto one of the carriages, and some of the men at the front of this vehicle whipped the ropes tied to these animals.
*RUMBLE*
*RUMBLE*
The birds zoomed forward and looked like a blur before being tugged back by the robes. The horses galloped along, and soon enough the carriages were travelling at more than 140 miles an hour along the grass terrain.
There was a relatively flat path that the carriage was set to take, but the journey would still be incredibly rocky for a person with weak qi.
To entertain themselves, the three friends just kept themselves occupied with conversation, and cultivation along with reading the skill books that they had brought along with them.
In this journey, Otto and his sister were cultivating. Otto seemed like a statue and even for the numerous hours that he had spent in this carriage, he remained still.
Abel attempted to mimic that same resolution, and meditated from afternoon until the sun finally reached the horizon.
The reddening sun left an orange gleam along the surrounding horizon, and the air was slowly starting to cool.
In a few hours, the night had come and the sky was a very dark blue. The sun had long fallen below the horizon, and the sky's main source of light was now the pure, white moon overhead.
The carriage was slowly starting to slow down, and the animals could no longer output the same force as before. They were fatigued and along with the students and men riding this vehicle, they needed a good night's sleep and rest.
What they were near was a forest, that was a few hundred metres away.
The large group of people, that were nearly a thousand, arrived at this forest and began setting up large tents and camps. There were campfires also being set up, where people were cooking meat that they had brought along with them.
The academy had brought their own supplies to give the students on the train, but people brought their own things that they wanted to treat themselves with.