Leo swore in his mind while speeding up. Instead of furiously beating around like a brute, he calmly pushed the water back neatly with great strength. He was trying his best not to waste too much of his stamina. Meanwhile, the crocodile was closing in quickly.
He saw the shore was closing in. The water that he was pushing moved back with more and more force as he increased the power he put into each stroke. Because of this, he was able to get out of the lake and onto the shore quicker than the time he took the last time. He immediately left the water and scrambled forward.
The crocodile dived at him like before, except there was no mysterious barrier helping him this time. However, he had gotten enough space from the crocodile that it missed. Even though the crocodile didn't get him, he immediately backed up more so that even if it moved forward it wouldn't be able to catch him.
After giving himself enough space, he got up and bolted into the forest. Getting out of the lake was only his first problem: he also had to worry about escaping the forest without dying. He ran towards what he thought was where he came from. He hoped that it was the right way. Otherwise, he would be running to his death.
He ran through the forest and started to feel his stamina drop around 5 minutes into the run. A glimmering plant stood in the way which made him speed up. It was a Glimmer root, which meant he was likely on the right path.
He didn't skimp on any energy while running this time. This was him truly running for his life. He hoped that he wouldn't run into the wolf or any other monsters on the way like at the lake.
The trees were starting to thin out in front of him. The last stretch that he needed to run was in front of him. He dashed out of the last trees of the forest, getting into the open. The sun was just setting, telling him that he had spent a substantial amount of time blacked out.
If he was in the forest any longer, he would have to survive the already dangerous forest in the dark. The nocturnal animals would eat him alive.
Even after getting out of the forest, he kept running until he felt the forest was far enough. He slowed down to a walk, slowly recovering his breath while making his way to the city.
"I am never going to go into there again," Leo promised himself.
He forced his body to make it to the city gates. When he entered the gates into the safety of the city, he breathed a sigh of relief. After getting back into the city, his mind started functioning properly. Suddenly he remembered something.
"The market might close soon. I have to go!"
Since the sun was setting, the people at the market usually wrapped up at this time. Throughout the stressful day, he never let go of the satchel that held the Glimmer roots. He had 23 of them, which would give him 230 Star coins. It would give him some time to rest without doing work to figure out what happened to him and the tome.
With money involved, he suddenly gained a lot of energy. He sprinted to the market. When he got there, he saw that people were starting to pack their stalls up. He ran to where Trevor's stall had been that morning. Trevor's stall was still there, and Trevor was sitting there, unbothered that the people around him were packing up.
He let out a breath of relief. Trevor noticed Leo and saw his condition. While there were no visible wounds on him, his rags were completely unusable, and his face looked incredibly weary.
"You must have had a hell of a day," Trevor remarked.
"Almost died," Leo shot back.
Trevor shook his head. "I told you, didn't I? You took the risk, and you did it. How many roots could you find?"
Leo put the satchel onto the stall. He took out the stalks of Glimmer root. Trevor looked at them.
"These are good. That's 23 of them?" Trevor confirmed their authenticity.
He nodded.
Trevor reached into his purse and took out 5 coins.
"230 Star coins. Go buy yourself some better clothes." Trevor handed the coins to Leo.
He slipped the coins into his pocket.
"I will. Thanks for the work." Leo thanked him. Normally a day's work would give him a few Star coins. It was very apparent that he was an orphan so he wouldn't be paid the right amount. This was the first time he had earned so much money at once. 230 Star coins would last him and Daphne an entire month. He could also alternatively buy himself and Daphne a few pairs of clothes while trying to find other work to get him food.
"This is fine work. Do you want more work?" Trevor asked Leo.
Leo shook his head. "Not anytime soon. I almost died. It's too dangerous for me."
Trevor laughed. "I am not surprised. Maybe you could learn an aura training method from a guild and become an Aura Knight. You could earn a lot more that way."
His smile disappeared. While mages were solely nobles, commoners could also become powerful by learning how to use Aura. However, he never had the access to Aura training methods that others would have at a young age because he was incredibly poor as well as an orphan.
Normally, the reason people couldn't become Aura Knights was because of their lack of talent. But he was never even given the chance because he was unlucky. Trevor noticed the change in mood and understood why almost immediately.
"How about this? Aura Training methods are pretty common. They cost around thousand Star Coins. Good ones are more expensive, but the basic ones should be enough. Save up to that amount and I'll sell you one. Then you can see if you have the talent to become an Aura Knight. If you become an Aura Knight, you can earn more than a few thousand Star coins." Trevor offered an opportunity to him.
Leo smiled bitterly. "When I have a thousand Star coins, we can have the discussion again. I'll see you again if I need another job."
Daphne had woken up when the afternoon was cooling down and the evening was just setting in. She couldn't see Leo anywhere so she assumed that he had gotten some work at the market. She just waited for him because she was too weak to leave the shack.
At around sunset, Daphne got a little apprehensive. He never got jobs that required him to stay for long. He would typically get a few Starcoins to clean some equipment or glass vials. Daphne got worried that he wasn't back yet.
Around 2 hours later, the door to the shack opened. Leo stepped in. He had a basket in his hand.
Daphne looked up. Her eyes showed that she was worried the whole time. She saw the remains of his clothes. They were essentially unwearable. Daphne rushed forward towards him. She tightly hugged him.
"I was worried," she said softly.
He smiled and hugged her back.
"I was earning us the best dinner we ever had," he told her. He lifted the basket in his hand.
Inside the basket was a proper dinner for both of them. There were chicken breasts along with potato fries. Daphne saw this with puzzled eyes. She let go of him.
"What did you do?" She asked him.
He told her about the job that Trevor gave him. But he gave her a slightly altered recount of his day since he didn't want her to know anything she wasn't supposed to that could get her killed. So Daphne was kept oblivious about the cave and the tome.
When he was done with his narration, she grabbed his basket and turned away.
"Don't do that again. It's too dangerous," she said angrily while setting up for dinner.
He smiled. "I hopefully won't do it anytime soon."
_________
After dinner, he spread his blanket to get ready to sleep. Daphne was already asleep. She fell asleep because she was still sick and tired. He gazed at his wrist, looking at his tattoo in the darkness.
He didn't know what to do about it. The tome was a subject he was completely clueless about, but he couldn't go to anyone for guidance. After thinking for a while he gave up and went to sleep.
The minute he fell asleep, he found himself in a room completely painted white. It was incredibly bright, and he was sitting on a chair. Above him were a series of scribbles formed by golden light in front of him, floating in the air. He couldn't understand anything initially.
All of a sudden he felt a pain in his head. He got a splitting headache, making him cling to the chair while squeezing his head into his knees. It took him around ten minutes to recover. When he looked up again, his eyes felt weird.
The scribbles were dancing in his eyes. The scribbles slowly stopped dancing and came to a halt. All of a sudden, he could understand all of the scribbles.
_______________________
Empyrean Magic System
Refuse the magical circles around one's heart, for they are limiting.
Instead, condense your magic into stars in your mind. The mind is limitless.
________________________
This was not the only new thing about him. He could also remember something that he had never read - the technique to practice the Empyrean Magic System. He had an entire mage training method in his mind.
The Empyrean System was different from the normal magical system - the Imperial Magic System in two ways. He would be condensing his magic into stars that he would store in his mind. Apparently, normal mages typically store it around their hearts because it is a lot easier. The Empyrean System requires great talent from the mages.
The other way it differed from the normal system was how strength was defined. The Imperial System defined mages based on how many circles they had formed. 1 was the lowest and 9 was the highest. He knew that the emperor was a 6th circle mage. Before a mage became a 1st circle mage, he would be considered an apprentice mage. This person is someone who can gather mana but did not form a circle yet.
The Empyrean System based it on how many stars they formed. There were 12 stars that one could form. Each star was as powerful as a circle. However, because mages don't look at one's mind for magic, they would see the absence of circles around his heart and would think that he didn't have magic. This would benefit him greatly.
He thought about how the Empyrean System told him to gather magic. His curiosity made him want to try it once. According to the method, he would have to try and calm his mind to a stillness so that he could sense magic.
He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. As the information that appeared in his memories said, he tried to stop thinking about anything to sense the magic. However, his mind constantly wandered around and he couldn't do anything about it. Attempt after attempt ended in failure.
Eventually, the entire night passed by. When he woke up, his face revealed the disappointment he had. Initially, he was very excited when he thought he would learn magic. But he failed to do anything.
He wanted to stay in his position and just focus on learning magic, but Daphne was still sick. So he would have to bring her meals for her. However, since he earned a lot of money the previous day, he wouldn't have to go to do work for the entire week. He could just bring the meals for the entire day before focusing on magic.
"What do you want to eat today? What should I bring?" Leo asked Daphne. Daphne had also woken up at the same time as him but kept lying on her sheets.
She looked at him and said, "Whatever can fill my stomach. We can't waste too much money on food."
He smiled. Both of them weren't familiar with the concept of having so much money at once. They felt they had to conserve as much as possible. When Leo thought about that thought, his smile faded. He knew that if he became a mage, all of that would change. He became more determined to learn magic.
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