"Do you know anything about the other continents?" Krios asked Loras while eating his lunch at the mess hall.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"I just learned about their existence last night."
"Really? I mean it's kind of understandable as not even everyone on this side of our continent knows about them. What do you want to know about them?" Loras asked.
"I was just curious about their inhabitants." Krios said.
I learned from the Headmistress and Professor Ashburn that each continent has a different race living in them." He continued
"Yeah, you're right. There are the elves, the barbarians, the beast-men, then us humans."
"Aside from appearance, how are we different from each other though?"
"As far as I know, Elves are more attuned to the elements, especially nature, than any other race. They have a much deeper connection to the environment thus their strong spiritual connection to the elements." He said
"And they also have generally longer lives than any other races. Some even call them the superior race." Loras explained.
"The barbarians ok the other hand are the closest relatives of the humans. They have very human-like features but have bigger and sturdier bodies. Most of them are warriors unlike humans who are mostly mages."
"Last are the beast-men. They are different from the typical mana beast as they have superior intelligence and has the ability to communicate with the other races."
"How about the dark continent? Is it devoid of any kind of life? I did not hear any mention of it having life of any kind." Krios asked.
"The dark continent is the largest out of all the continents in this world. The second largest would be the beast-men continent, but even that is said to be around only half the size of the dark continent."
"It's that big?"
"Yeah, and due to it's size, a lot of people who tried to navigate through it never made it out. Which is why no one has ever reported anything back. It's also yhe farthest continent. Most of the continents except for the beast-men continent are on one side of the world, while the dark continent is all the way to the other side."
"That makes sense. Have you been to the free-continent? I heard that there are humans there as well."
"No I have not. And it's almost impossible to go there especially for the majority of the public. Only the royal families of Aldecia and Hacier have the means and money to go there. Which is why it's impossible for the general public to go there."
"Oh and do you know about the Moon realm? Apparently, we're going to enter that realm in a couple of months." Krios shited the topic.
"Yeah, it's basically the first year's final ranking tournament of sorts. We'll be ranked based on the points we accumulate inside the realm."
"But aren't we going there along with other students from academies in the kingdom?"
"You're right, but our academy will be ranking us without the other students of other academies. We have scores anyway so it'll be easy for them to rank us based on that. And we will carry that ranking iver when we officially start with our second year."
They continued talking some more with Krios aking more about things he didn't know well about.
Days went by and Krios and Loras continued with their training. They have also been attending class consistently despite the stress of the recent events.
"Tsk." Krios stopped with his movements
"What's wrong?" Loras asked him.
"It's my spear. It can no longer handle the pressure from my mana output. It's also heavily damaged." Krios showed Loras his spear and it indeed had visible cracks on the shaft and the tip was chipped in one side.
"Let's get it replaced then. You have the money so you can buy a new one." Loras suggested.
"I have a different idea though. I want one specifically built for me, not a premade one. But I don't have anything I can use as materials."
"Wait, you still have the Infernal tiger corpse right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"You can use its bones as the main material! It would fit you perfectly as those bones are a good medium for the fire element as the Infernal Tiger is a fire beast."
"You're right! And I can use its core as the weapon's core to help channel my flame attacks using the spear more efficiently."
"Okay, so our only problem now is finding an adequate weapon smith to craft your spear for you."
"It's okay, I'll ask Professor Ashburn about it. I'm sure he knows someone somewhere."
The following day, Loras and Krios went out of the academy right after class. They are on the way to the weapon smith that Professor Ashburn told him about.
"His name is Halvin Mercene, his workshop is near the Alchemist guild. Once you're there, tell him I was the one who told you about him." He remember the words of the Professor.
After hours of walking and asking strangers for direction, they have finally arrived at the workshop. They had a hard time looking for it as it was situated on a slightly secluded alleyway and It looked like a small shed from the outside.
"Are you sure this is it?" Loras asked.
"The last person we asked told us it's this one." Krios answered.
"That doesn't look much." Loras mumbled.
They went inside and was greeted by the heat coming from a furnace at the far back of the room.
"Good afternoon." Krios spoke.
"What brought you here young man?" An old man came seemingly out of nowhere.
"Are you master Halvin Mercene?" Krios asked the man.
"Yes I am."
"Professor Ashburn told me about you so I came here to hopefully get my weapon made."
"Ah, the guy sent you?" The man asked him.
"Yes sir."
"Well I guess I have no choice but to make a weapon for you." The man answered.
'Wow, what kind of history do these to men have for him to immediately say yes.' Krios thought.
"So tell me. Whay kind of weapon do you want?"
"I want a spear." He asnwered.
"Do you have any materials with you? Or maybe materials in mind?"
"I have this." He waived his hand and the Infernal Tiger corpse appeared in front of them.
"It's an Infernal Tiger I killed a while ago."
"You killed it? But you're way below it in cultivation." Master Halvin looked at him with skepticism.
"The two of us did." Krios said while pointing at Loras.
And we took it by surprise. Which made killing it possible." Krios said hoping that the weapon smith stopped questioning him.
Master Halving shrugged.
"I guess that's possible." He finally said.
"What prt of it do you want to be made as your spear?"
"The bones. I heard that its durable enough to withstand fire based attacks." He said.
"Okay then, how about the tip?"
"Won't it be possible for the tip to be of the same material?" He asked.
"You want the tip to be made out of the same bone used for the shaft?"
"Yes."
"That's possible. It might even work better."
"And I want its beast core to be used as the core for my weapon." Krios added.
"Good idea, that would make the weapon more attuned to you, and to its core as it came from the same being."
"How much would it cost then?"
"Ah, since you provided the materials for the shaft, the blade, and even the core, and you're also connected to Ashburn, then I would only be charging you with a hundred fifty thousand gold coins."
'So expensive! But it is to be expected as I feel like he's way better than what I think he is.' Krios thought.
"Okay deal." Krios waved his hand and a hundred and fifty thiusand gold coins appeared on the table beside him.
"Can you also make it in a way that would allow me to use it in atleast the higher realm"
"Based on the quality of the material you have, I can make a spear that you will be able to use until the Reconvergence realm. Beyond that would be impossible." Master Halvin answered.
"That's plenty enough."
"It will take me about a month or so to finish your spear, so I'll just send it to your academy. Is it alright with you?"
Krios just nodded.
"I just hopes that it would arrive before they enter the Moon realm as it's around two months from now."
"Ah yes, you're a first year so you'll have to enter that realm. Don't worry, I'll make sure it arrives before you go." The weapon smith reassured him.
"Then I guess I leave my spear in your hands." Krios bowed at him.
"We'll need to go. We don't want to be late for the curfew." Krios said to Loras.
"Let's go." Loras nodded.
They paid respect to the weapon smith one more time and they left his inconspicuous little workshop.