Capítulo 25: Reencounter
When he got back to his cottage, Leo holed himself up in his room. For the next two days, he concentrated all of his attention on reading the books. As he kept reading, he realized how less he knew about the world he lived in.
The city he was in, Solhaven, was only a small city. It was near a major city called Eldridge. Solhaven was managed by a 4th Circle Mage while Eldridge had a 5th Circle Mage. The book didn't say anything else about the cities.
The more important information he learned was the differences between Mages and Aura Knights. Apparently, mages had the same power as Aura Knights. While mages used magic power, aura knights used aura. Both of them would be equally powerful if they faced off against each other.
The only reason mages were considered more important was that magic could impact battles more than aura. Mages could cast spells that changed entire battlefields, unlike Aura Knights. This was why magic was controlled by nobles.
The most important thing that he learned was that a person could only learn one thing between Aura and Magic. He couldn't learn both. He was disappointed at first when he saw that in the book, but he realized that he wasn't a normal mage. He decided to test if that was right or not after reading the rest of the books.
He spent the bulk of his time reading the book that Trevor recommended to him. This was because he would encounter these beasts in the forest. The book had the weaknesses of the beasts as well as their habits. He could use it to find herbs as well because the places they lived were where magical herbs typically grew.
He also found that magical beasts and people had a more delicate power system than just looking at how many circles they had formed. Mages and Aura Knights could be a 1st Circle or 2nd Circle Mage or Aura Knight. But within 1st Circle Mages, they were classified as Early, Mid, Late, and Peak Stage of that Circle. This was the same with magical beasts.
After he finished reading the book, he decided to start learning aura. He went to Daphne to take the book from her. At this point, she had already memorized everything in it, so he wasn't obstructing her practice.
"Did you reach 1st Circle yet?" He asked Daphne.
She shook her head.
"It's okay. It takes time." He consoled her and went back to his room.
He opened the book and started reading. The concepts were incredibly similar to what he already knew. The only difference was that he was gathering the aura in his body and eventually consolidating it in his dantian instead magic in his mind. It wasn't supposed to be too difficult, right?
He was completely wrong. He already knew how to gather mana, so he started searching for aura in a similar way. He started searching for it, but he didn't have any results at all. After two hours of failure, he decided to give it a break and went back to training magic.
The next day, he went to the inn to prepare to go to the forest. He was trying to earn more money so that he could get books that explained aura better.
He entered the inn. He went to the front and ordered his usual meal and went to a table to wait for the order. The person who brought the meal to him was a young girl who looked the same age as Leo.
She was the daughter of the inn's owner and Leo had seen her numerous time there. Since she was the same age as him, he had talked to her a couple of times as well.
"Hello, Leo," She said. She put the tray of food down on the table.
"Hello, Lily. How is your day going?" He asked her.
"It's okay. Are you going to the forest again today?" She asked. She was very curious about the forest.
"Yes." He answered.
"Can you tell me about it when you get back? I wish I could go but my parents will never let me." She said.
Leo smiled. "Of course, I will. Here, the money for the food." He gave her two coins. She took the coins and left. He started eating his food slowly while listening to the conversations around him.
After a while, he was about to leave the inn, but he saw someone familiar talking to the owner of the inn. He went a little closer to listen to the conversation.
"We will get the money to you as soon as possible. Please give us more time. The business has been slow because mercenaries stopped going to the forest." The owner said. He was a middle-aged man.
The person he was talking to was dressed in black clothing and had a gold chain hanging on his neck. He was the same person who had demanded money from Leo at the slums a while back.
"All I hear are excuses. The boss said that you might need some incentives. So, if you cannot come up with the money, then we will keep your wife till you can." The man said.
Leo heard these words and his blood started boiling.
"Sir, please! I will try my best to return the money. Please let my wife go." The owner wailed.
The man didn't bother answering and just left the inn. While he was leaving, he noticed Leo.
"What are you looking at, brat?" He said and shoved him out of the way.
Leo got incredibly angry and almost cast a magic bullet at him, but stopped himself. If he cast magic in the middle of the inn he would get into a lot of trouble. Moreover, the man hadn't even recognized him. This meant that he and the owner were not the only victims. That would mean that the Blacktooth gang was very powerful.
He looked at the owner who looked like he was dead inside. He walked up to him.
"Sir, can you tell me a little about the person who just left?" Leo asked him.
_______________________
A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
If you like the story, then please consider voting with power stones.
:) Thanks. Have a great day.
Capítulo 26: Information
The owner looked at Leo. He saw the 13-year-old who came to his chest in height asking about the person who just left. He quickly reset his face and put on a front.
"You are a kid. You shouldn't mess with them." He said.
Leo looked at the owner. He took out a wallet from his pocket. He took out a note and slid it onto the table. It was a 10000 Star coins note.
The owner looked at the note. He saw the amount of money on the note.
"What is this?" He asked.
"How much you owe them. I will pay this much if you tell me everything about them." Leo said.
What he did was daring. Even though he was rich enough to afford a loss of 10000 Star coins, he was doing more than that. He was going to find trouble with an entire gang. This could put him in a lot of trouble.
The man looked at Leo with a shocked expression. He recovered quickly.
"I... I can't accept this. This is a lot of money. How can I repay this?" He said.
"You just have to give me everything you know about them. That will be enough." Leo said.
"Fine," The man sighed. He didn't want to tell a child about his problems but he needed the money desperately. "The Blacktooth gang is a new power in the city. Their leader just showed up a year ago and they started expanding. I heard they took over the slums and started stealing money from them as well."
Leo nodded. He was a victim of this as well.
"They also lend out that money. They are the only place where small businesses can find money since Solhaven doesn't even have a bank. I took out a loan from them to keep the inn going. The interests stacked up and now I can barely pay them back each month. I paid them over three times the amount I borrowed till now." He ranted.
"Why don't you just tell the city guards?" Leo asked him.
He shook his head. "They don't care at all about crime. The only people who can escape are people with money in the Commoner's district. The rest have to endure this. Even the adventurers have to bear with it." He said.
Leo was confused. "Even the adventurers? Aren't a lot of them 1st Circle Aura Knights?" He asked.
"The Blacktooth gang is run by a Late-Stage 2nd Circle Aura Knight. He is more powerful than any of the adventurers who live in the outer parts of the Commoner's District. Any of the 2nd Circle Aura Knights who are in the 2nd Circle are in the deeper parts. Also, very few people are actually stronger than him in the city. There are less than ten people who are." He said.
"One person is that powerful?" Leo asked.
"If it was just one person, he wouldn't have that much influence. The Blacktooth gang has over 100 members. All of them are at least Apprentice Aura Knights. Half of them reached 1st Circle. They are very dangerous." He said. "I don't know what you will do with this information, but be careful. Don't go near them. You don't want to mess with them at all."
Leo nodded. "Thank you. I was just asking to keep myself safe. Do you know where they are more likely to be? I will stop walking around that area." He asked a final question.
"They are in the slums. You will find them very quickly if you walk near there. The slums are very dangerous now." The owner said. He slid the money a little toward Leo. "Are you sure this is how much you will pay me? This is very common information."
Leo stopped him. "Don't worry about it. What you told me was very important."
While what the owner said might have been less, it gave Leo the information he needed. He understood that there wasn't too much time till the Blacktooth gang became a problem for him as well.
If the gang had formed only 1 year ago and already spread this fast, it meant that they weren't planning on stopping. They would start entering the Commoner's District as well. The only place they wouldn't hit would be the Noble's District because of the Magistrate.
Leo lived on the edge of the Commoner's District. It wouldn't be too long before they come knocking on his door again.
However, even with the information that he received, there wasn't a lot he could do immediately. He could deal with the Apprentice Aura Knights, but what was he supposed to do with the rest of the Blacktooth gang?
Even if he somehow got rid of all the 1st Circle Aura Knights, he would never be able to deal with their leader. The only way he would be able to be would be if he made his 2nd Star. Then he could waltz through and easily deal with the rest of the gang.
He decided that he now had a goal - to get stronger so that he could deal with the Blacktooth gang. He would put Aura aside to focus only on Magic. This would mean committing to going to the forest for Beast Cores as well as practicing heavily.
While trying to defeat the Blacktooth gang might seem like an emotional action, it was the most logical thing for him to do at this point.
_______________________
A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
If you like the story, then please consider voting with power stones.
:) Thanks. Have a great day.
Regalos
-- Regalo
recibido Estado de energía semanal
200+ Ranking de
Poder 
0 Piedra de
Poder También te puede interesar
Comentario de párrafo