Chapter 12: (8/12)

Just to be sure, Etgar commanded his vampires to kill all humans that they can spot within thirty miles radius of this forest. Whether they are woodcutters, warriors, magic casters, hunters, blinds, deafens, even children. If there are any villages in the forest, kill them all as well. Protecting the news about the Blood Mages Guild from leaking out is Etgar's top priority. He knew there was no way he could stand up against the Mages Council at his current level after his fight with Markus. Aber and Violet could have told someone about the Guild and Etgar isn't willing to take that chance. He rather executes a million people wrongfully, than let one person escape that could jeopardize his Blood Mages Guild.

After making sure all humans within thirty miles radius were killed, Etgar and his vampires flew back in the direction of the vessel of the Red which had now sunk deep into the sea. All warriors, Sir Benes Raulnor, all Members, and Executioners of the Red including Executioner Raynard Lynchfield and Enye Larson were killed in battle. This war had ended. Due to all fallen Blood Mages immediately being revived by Master Andrella Whistler and other Master-tier Blood Light Mages, the total casualty of the Blood Mages Guild is zero.

Kain sighed softly after he heard Aber and Violet were eaten by the vampires and Etgar also gave commands to kill all humans within thirty miles radius. “Thanks the Watcher! I won’t make the same mistake again.” Kain thought to himself.

Just when Kain thought it was over, Etgar approached him and said, "Kain, come talk to me after we get back to the Guild."

"Yes, Guild Leader."

Blood Mages had looted substantial rare Magical Equipment from the members and Executioners of the Red. Everyone was so happy about the outcome of this battle including Etgar Revenmar. The appearance of Archangel Zerachiel was unexpected, but it didn’t affect Etgar’s plan that much. Executioner Markus Berethryl had left Toria Continents to travel to Heaven Realm, the existence of Blood Mages Guild was secured and won't be exposed to the Mages Council. Kain’s Second Soul followed Etgar back to the Blood Mages Guild’s headquarter near Erbi city belonging to Sungaria nation to continue his training with the hope of stepping into Legend-tier sooner than he had assumed.

Back to Kain Almos (Kain Bersk), Arthur Castillon, and Avery Dorinshyl. They have safely arrived back in Nosh city belonging to the Commonwealth of Krorg two weeks after Lord Vonda Hardy was killed. However, no one knew about this news yet since it was still too recent. After Kain and Arthur summarized what happened in the Nalas Kingdom to Executioner David Bodwyn, they went back to their daily routine of training in the Mages’ Academy of Nosh. Avery Dorinshyl and her family members followed Executioner Bodwyn back to Bifjorkian Theocracy for the new life as a member of the Gray that she was highly looking forward to.

The next day, a mail courier brought Arthur Castillon a small package mailed to him by his mother, High Priest Zora Faringray. After signing for the mail package, Arthur brought it back into his room to open it. In the package, Arthur saw a black color necklace. And next to the necklace, there was a note. After carefully examining the note to make sure there was no poison embedded in it, Arthur then opened the note and started to read it. It was a letter written by Zora. She wanted Arthur to know that the black necklace she sent him is Concentration Amulet. This Concentration Amulet is a rare soul-class Magical Necklace with the power to grant its wielder a passive ability to help the wielder focus better during meditation. Arthur was having a problem keeping his focus after meditating for more than six hours. He didn’t want to lose the meditation progressed and was forced to stop at the six hours mark. It doesn't matter how many times Arthur had tried, meditated more than six hours is just too hard for him to do.

To be fair, regular magic casters could only meditate three to four hours a day. Arthur could meditate six hours a day, that is something not just any magic casters could do. In the letter, Zora also mentioned to Arthur about an extremely powerful, highly attractive, Executioner that served Lord Kath Donoghan of the Brown. Her name is Rose Embers, and she is a Saint Thunder Mage. Zora explained that Rose had watched Arthur’s performance in the Student Mages Council and took a very liking to him. The Concentration Necklace was a gift from Rose given to Arthur and she asked Zora to mail it to him on her behalf.

Arthur smiled and thought to himself, “Rose Embers? Isn’t she the heroine of the Shota Empire? A powerful Executioner such as her took a liking of me, how lucky am I?”

Shota Empire is located between the Commonwealth of Krorg and Grand Duchy of Macmalian. Similar to the Commonwealth of Krorg and Grand Duchy of Macmalian, the Shota Empire also bordered the Dryardian Empire. Many powerful female Saint-tier Mages and female Saint-tier warriors from the Shota Empire love to marry men who are much younger than them. This is one of their weird traditions, but Arthur Castillon didn’t know about this yet.

Arthur dropped his blood into the Concentration Amulet and then made a pact with it for the soul bound process to be completed. He immediately began to meditate and to his surprise, he could mediate up to nine hours before starting to lose focus.

Arthur was very happy with the result of the first time trying out this Concentration Amulet. Arthur thought to himself, “Just the first day and I have successfully mediated three extra hours. I’m sure the meditation duration will increase more in the future. At this rate, I will be able to catch up to you soon, Kain Almos.”

Two weeks later during the Conjuration class session, Professor Vincenzo Biersack spoke regarding citizens of Redkeep city recently receiving too many attacks from magical creatures of the magical forest located to the Northeast of Redkeep city. This happened every time the magical forest became too crowded and magical creatures started lurking outside of the forest to find food. They will also fight with and eat humans after killing them. Similar to magic casters, each magical creature was born with an Elemental Soul allowing them to learn and cast magic spells by themselves. However, most of them only learned to cast basic magic spells and couldn’t train past Intermediate-tiers.

Unlike humans that can learn to speak at an early age, only magical creatures reaching the age of ten thousand years can learn how to speak the human language. A magical creature can live up to a hundred thousand years old. The magical creatures that could step into Saint-tier Magic will be able to live for eternity. All Legendary Mythical Creatures that came from different realms are all Saint-tiers and they have learned to speak the human’s language while still roaming in their realms.

After careful analysis, the Mages Council confirmed there was no sight of Legendary Mythical Creatures in the magical forest near Redkeep city. Principal Starag of Mages’ Academy of Nosh wanted to create a hunting event for the Student Mages to gain real battle experience. No Novice Student Mages will be able to join this hunting event, only Intermediate-tiers and Master-tiers would be able to sign up for it. Each professor could bring up to three groups. Each group will have nine Intermediate-tier Student Mages and one Master-tier Student Mage. The Master-tier Student Mage will be the group leader to oversee and assist nine Intermediate-tier Student Mages as needed.

Because Professor Vincenzo Biersack was assigned to oversee three other groups. Professor Cade Lawson, Master Light Mage, was assigned to oversee three groups having Sofia Verardi, Kain Almos, and Arthur Castillon as the group leaders.

In Sofia’s group, she had Ana Roxley (Wind), Calley Astorio (Ice), and seven other Intermediate-tier Student Mages.

In Kain’s group, he had Golda Coldshore (Thunder), Jaane Almos (Earth), and seven other Intermediate-tier Student Mages.

In Arthur’s group, he had Adela Hindergrass (Light), Rosa Drumwind (Fire), and seven other Intermediate-tier Student Mages.