Kapitel 36: Croye Empire
After two months of travel, the Varmon mage airship finally arrived at the Croye Empire. This was by no means slow, in fact this was already fast. Medora was a very large world which was at least five times the size of Earth so it had a much larger land mass than Earth.
Inside the airship, Cain was already making his way towards the Ashel mageride. He was joined by his sisters who had smiles on their faces. It was a little obvious that they enjoyed their time in the airship.
The same thing happened throughout the airship as various magerides transported the passengers to their various exits.
Cain's face was calm but deep within was like a maddened warrior seeking a life and death battle. He was thinking of his opponents. He wasn't so arrogant to think that he was the best. The world was large and there were countless geniuses. He had not even been to the strongest empire yet, so he had no reason to be full of arrogance.
Nevertheless, he knew he was special. He knew he had terrifying potential, but that was just it —potential. To him, a dead genius was no better than a dog.
He was most especially curious about the empire —Onhelm— that has produced the most geniuses and won the last two meetings. However he was also extremely interested in the Croye Empire, after all they were the second strongest behind Onhelm.
There were many things which made an empire strong but the most important was the amount of mages one had. False mortals made the majority of the population, stressing how difficult it was to achieve the mage rank.
Onhelm boasted the most number of mages —most especially Wizards— and also the strongest individual in the continent. It was also the oldest magic civilization. This made them akin to a heaven for mages. They had countless researches and highly advanced magic technology. They almost made Varmon look like a backwater empire. They were also known by another name —The Land Of Wizards.
Croye also had a large population of mages, but they were by no means the second largest. Eldrid actually had more mages than Croye. The major reason why Croye was the second strongest was due to their environment. With water came life and Croye was teeming with an abundance of life.
Due to this abundance of life, Croye had a tremendous amount of magical beasts and plants. Magical beasts were a rarity in Raoina continent. Even Onhelm which was the strongest empire did not have the amount of magical beasts that Croye had.
Beasts were divided into different grades; Normal Beasts, Mutated Beasts and Magical Beasts. Normal beasts were like false mortals, they could be found in every empire. They were no different from the common animals on earth.
Mutated Beasts were akin to false mortals on the cusp of becoming rank one entities. They were rarer than normal beasts but they were not too rare, nevertheless they were valued by each empire.
Magical Beasts however were extremely rare, the difficulty of attaining the first rank applied not only to humans but also to animals. The world's rules were fair and balanced. But that wasn't the only reason for their rarity. Another was because the empires kept their numbers in check.
The reason was simple, magical beasts were extremely powerful, more so than mages of the same rank. They had seen first-hand the true might of magical beasts thousands of years ago when there were six empires.
Much wasn't needed to be said since there were just five empires right now. The mages came to a decision, they would never allow magical beasts to threaten their existences ever again. Fear was the driving force behind their actions and so 'The Culling' began.
It was to the point that over two thirds of the magical beasts were slain, although not without serious consequences. Precious resources were lost and became extinct, lands were destroyed and some environments became uninhabitable.
However, they were more than happy to pay that price. The threat of magical beasts was something that the empires took extremely seriously. From then on, the growth of magical beasts became thoroughly controlled. Not allowed to reach certain numbers and ranks, however their importance couldn't be taken for granted.
Their bodies were top class treasures and were used for different purposes. Unlike Croye, Varmon empire was a stark contrast and had the lowest number of magical beasts, so pitifully low to the extent that they could almost be counted.
Cain stepped out of the airship and he immediately felt it. The cool breeze brushed his skin like the smoothest of feathers. The sun began to sink to give way to the dark night, the deep orange sky which was littered with stars and two resplendent moons added a certain charm to the environment.
Despite the dimming sun, he could feel the abundant life force in the environment. The humidity pressed his skin like iron on cloth. It wasn't a harsh feeling, it felt refreshing. Mages were forces of nature, they could feel nature's embrace and Cain was no different.
Unlike Varmon empire which was mostly windy and sunny, Croye had this misty feeling to it. The winds carried with it the moist atmosphere and the scent of greenery. Cain could perceive what smelt like crushed green leaves and cut green capsicum carried by the silent breeze. He could even faintly perceive caramel and burnt sugar lingering in the air.
He inhaled a full deep breath of all the mixed scents into his nostrils as he relished the feeling and then exhaled refreshingly. Truly, Croye deserved their reputation, their empire which was well known to foster life wasn't for show.
Right now the airship was docked in the Croye airship station. It was an enormous and wondrous work of architecture. The station was shaped like a cone, having a circular top which spiralled down to a point. Cain admired the station, it looked glass-like and brittle but he knew that was far from it.
Guinevere and Sabina were to his left and right respectively, keeping him in the middle. They too admired the station and took brief moments to immerse themselves in the misty feeling and the grassy scents.
Without wasting any more time, they entered the building and once again they were punched with another force of beauty. Inside the station was an atrium which blended perfectly with the light rays from the outside. Shops and all sorts of entertainment facilities littered the station. Cain could even see large ponds and 'waterfalls' just northwest from his location.
However the 'waterfall' wasn't like any other, instead of sliding down, they rose up from beneath, completely defying the laws of physics back on earth. But he wasn't surprised, the laws governing this world were completely different from earth with only a few similarities.
He took in the sight of everything in his vision. People gliding on air, waterfalls flowing the opposite direction, bridges made completely of water that one could walk on, ponds filled with golden fishes and many more. It was really something straight out of a fantasy.
Sabina's eyes shone with stars just like the visible sky. Although it wasn't her first time in this empire, she would never tire of such a sight. It was definitely eye candy to her. Guinevere still kept on smiling, whether it was due to the beauty of the station or owing to the fact that it was akin to her poker face, only she knew.
"Beautiful as always." Sabina grinned, she nudged Cain and looked at him with a smile. "What do you think little brother?"
Cain, who was a little lost admiring everything, was slightly irritated due to the sudden distraction but he still answered, "It's as you said, it truly is...beautiful." He meant what he said, in fact beautiful was quite an understatement to fully describe this.
Sabina just smiled in response and nodded. Guinevere's smile was still apparent but she was silent. They walked forward for some time before stopping just in front of two people, a man and a woman.
The man was short and fat, he wore a loose white magic robe which failed to hide his bulging tummy. The woman was slim, built like a blade of grass. She looked a little sickly and pale with bags beneath her eyes. Just like the man she wore a white magic robe which clasped her body.
She bowed slightly at them, "On behalf of the Croye Empire, I welcome the Ashel family." She raised her head and flicked her auburn bangs and stared at them. "My name is Glenyl Towbrij and this is..." She pointed at the man beside her.
"Alfred Towbrij." The short and fat man continued her introduction once it was his cue, but he shot the smiling Sabina a quick glance before averting his gaze.
Guinevere smiled, "Thank you for the welcome." She paused and scrutinised the sickly Glenyl. "How is your brother? Still biting those nails of his?"
Glenyl's eyelids twitched a little, she wanted to retort but held herself, "He's fine." That was all the answer she could muster and decisively switched subjects. "Our ride is just outside, so please if you may."
Guinevere's smile never departed from her face and just nodded with a knowing look. Cain and Sabina were silent albeit with different expressions on their faces.
Alfred gave Sabina a side-eyed glance with a slight smile which she returned, making his heart flutter a little. Cain just looked on blankly but inwardly he was quite satisfied.
He came to this empire for two major reasons; the first being, to participate in the meeting and the most important to him which he could never achieve back in Varmon — 'Magical Beast Hunting.'
His quick path to power highly depended on it and he already set his sights on a particular place, a forest which claimed a lot of dangerous magical beasts, 'The Forbidden Forest.'
The group of five reached one of the numerous exits in the station and eventually reached outside. Cain, who was expecting a mageride, was a little surprised because what waited for him was not a mageride, but what looked like a chariot. However he noticed the difference, the horse-like creatures were definitely magical beasts.
He remembered some things he read about them, 'Sepions, magical beasts from the horse family with low battle power, but they make up for it with their remarkable speed.' His eyes drifted to their horns and then observed their stature as he rubbed his chin. 'Hmm, much larger than a normal sepion and longer horns which are starting to curve inwards.'
After making his lightning quick observation, he came to a conclusion. They were Rank 2 magical beasts, probably on the cusp of the third rank. Sepions at the first rank were three meters in height but these ones were clearly large at four meters in height with extremely sturdy and muscular looking limbs.
'Using a magical beast in the peak rank just like a normal horse for movement.' His eyes shifted to Alfred and Glenyl and then back to the two beasts. He observed the environment and couldn't help but display an impish grin. 'Looks like my trip here isn't wasted.'
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Thieving
Thieving Hello lovely readers, sorry for the late release. Work has been eating me up and I'm writing this for free and as a hobby. But, I'm enjoying what I do, it challenges my imagination and I hope that I'm doing a decent job of conveying what I picture in my mind.
Some of you may be getting tired of the introductions, wanting to see some action and all I can say is, be patient. I've been learning and have come to the conclusion that it's better to give a good overview of what the world is like and how it operates instead of rushing into the action to add some realism.
Once again, thank you for reading. Your feedbacks help and encourage me to write more. Don't worry, lots of action will be coming up very soon. The updates will most likely pick up once I get some free time from work.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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