As Catlin deal with Ardent's parent, the said person was flying, covering a large area with murderous intent in his eyes.
'I will not let more villagers die if I can help it.' Ardent thought as he scanned for any threats in the distance.
With him being a 4th Circle Mage, his sense could extend to about 10 kilometers or so. Enough to detect danger before they could endanger the village.
However, it was not enough.
'The Bandit told us that they were under someone from Cruom City. And that someone should be official with great power and connection. While he cannot easily move the 4th Circle Mage, it still a possibility.' Ardent thought grimly.
At the same time, he is worried for his father-in-law and other delegates of the village. However, he did not have the time to worry about them, and could only trust that they will be safe.
'But if they don't...' if Cross died and Catlin is sad, Ardent will remove the kiddy glove. But for him to become a threat to the City, he need to become a 5th Circle Mage.
'I'm close to becoming one, but I need to spend more time inside the dungeon.' he still pensive of doing so.
The main reason being afraid that he will not receive any warning of invaders until it was too late. Hence, his search for any threats near the village.
'No strong threats, but there are a pack of wolves reaching 50 pack strong, and some aggressive bears. And some bandits.'
Wolf packs were usually left alone unless the pack have numbers in their twenties, which double the size of a usual pack. As for bears, scaring them away or using baits to get them to go literally anywhere but the village is the usual tactic, unless the bear in question is aggressive and decided to try its luck in the village.
Bandits, did he need to say more.
-x-
Ardent let out a whistle, "That's dealt with. Now, time to see if there are any other strong bandits."
The black-haired boy left the scene, which can be described as ghastly. Blood splatters and bodies of bandits littered the ground, with most of them having disconnected limbs, Ardent using anything but his Wind Magic for them.
As for the wolves and bears, he pulled them and store them close to the village, before sending a message to one of the guards, telling him to tell the elders there will be pelts and meat for everyone.
-x-
"Mage Ardent is working hard." the chief exclaimed, eying the pile of wolves and bears. It took the guards some time to carry all of it, but it is worth it.
Using them for stew would feed the villagers quite some time, and hopefully remove the somber atmosphere clinging on everyone.
"Yeah." the leader of the guard nodded, his face slightly bitter.
"What's wrong?" the chief easily spotted the look the guard leader had.
"... It's just, we have our most talented Mage performing a harsh task. All because us adults can't do it ourselves." the guard leader said in self-depreciation.
The chief did not spoke, understanding the feeling of the other man. The leader of the guard, his friend and subordinate dealt with the threat that can be handled by the guards, while leaving stronger foes for the Mages.
At least, before, the guards are not useless and do most of the heavy lifting. However, with their opponents likely being more 3rd Circle Mages, only Ardent can do anything to them, while the rest will be killed in seconds.
The chief sighed, as the two looked at the direction of the dungeon, hoping the young one will not pushed himself too far.
-x-
"Argh!" Ardent swiped his hands, sending in Wind Claw to the group of goblins. Killing them in an instant, he looked around before relaxing, no other monsters in the vicinity.
"That should be it." he exclaimed, doing one more check before sitting on the ground.
The reason for exterminating the monsters was so he could have a non-disturbed session of practicing Mana in the dungeon.
Ardent began a simple breathing exercise, trying to get his head into a proper mental state. Once he is both calm and relaxed enough, Ardent manipulate the Mana in the dungeon.
One of the reason why the dungeon is the hotspot for the village's Mage, the same likely be true into other places with access to a dungeon of their own, is because the rich Mana.
The rich Mana not only produced Mana Crystals, obtained from both killing monsters and mining the dungeon, but also provide the best places for Mages to train, and push their Circle up.
Manipulating and swirling the Mana inside the dungeon and the Mana Core, they can polish and slowly expand it, pushing their strength to the next level once sufficient polishing is done.
Ardent planned on reaching the 5th Circle soon this way. However, his intuition told him that it would be impossible in a short amount of time, at least in the first floor anyway.
Ardent walked to the place where the goblins spawned, or so he think anyway. There, he sense the movement of Mana, with a goblin slowly forming in what seem to be a Magic Circle? Magic Spawner?
Anyway, he could feel the dungeon starting to grow. He did not know how to explain it, but it felt like the dungeon becoming more entranced, with the second floor slowly growing, or at least connected to the dungeon and their world.
Ardent had a complicated look on his face.
"The dungeon is growing. It's good for me and the economy of the village, but it will strain the village ability to guard the dungeon on their own."
If it was before, Ardent did not mind sharing it with the nearby City. However, since learning one of the higher-ups of said City send in a bandit group with clear malicious intent, sharing such prize is the last thing he wanted to do.