章節 32: Basics

At first, Marcus couldn't understand for the life of him why it was his master hadn't just trained him while they were on the outskirts of human civilization, but his question was quickly answered as he traveled throughout the numerous forests along the outskirts. The farther one ventured from the center of the continent, the more dangerous the beast and monsters that roamed around were.

Almost immediately after Marcus had departed from his location at Ebonscale, monsters arrived in droves in the area he had previously been. He assumed it had been due to the town going up in flames that attracted nearby monsters' attention to it.

He was only about a 100-200 meters away when he spotted all the monsters that started roaming the area. There were hobgoblins, treants, spiders with twelve legs and over a dozen eyes, and some monsters Marcus couldn't even begin to describe or know the name of.

If it hadn't been for his master's constantly guiding him to safer pastures for the first two days, he'd have likely died not knowing what killed him or how it had happened. He couldn't count the number of times his master had saved him from an untimely death.

The forest he was located in was known as 'The Forgotten Grove'. It was home to mostly advanced-ranked beast with a few intermediate beast scattered here and there. For Marcus, who was only a elementary mage with only one mage art that he didn't truly know how to use yet, he was quite literally an ant amongst lions.

The rank differences were no joke even amongst fellow humanoids. When beast and other monsters' ranks were mentioned though, the rank differences were even more exaggerated than those of their humanoid counterparts.

For example, if an average F-rank monster were to fight against an average F-rank mage or martial artist then the monster would almost always win. Unless the F-rank mage or martial artist possessed mage arts or martial arts that could counter said monster, they wouldn't be a match for their monster counter-part.

This was because monsters and beast were fundamentally more adept at understanding and controlling mana than their humanoid counterparts were. Monsters and beast did not socialize and form societies like humans do.

In doing such a thing, humans diverge from learning and understanding mana to splitting their attention across multiple different aspects of life. Such as technology, politics, agriculture, and numerous other things. This came with its advantages of course but it didn't lack disadvantages either, as could be seen in their combat prowess against beasts and monsters.

Beast and monsters on the other hand, solely focused on killing and evolving through killing. This was the only aspect of life they knew and were accustomed to. Following the 'law of the jungle' allowed for them to flourish in their understanding of mana and ways to utilize and improve upon it in combat. They may not have had other luxuries like technology, which their humanoid counterparts did, but they made up for it in pure combat prowess and mana utilization.

This all went to say that Marcus hadn't had it easy for the first two days he'd ventured within 'The Forgotten Grove'. His survival hadn't all been due to Nekros though because he had to properly think about what his master had said to avoid certain dangers and execute said orders effectively enough to not be severely injured or worse, killed.

Eventually though, he made it out by the skin of his teeth, and stumbled upon his first human settlement. This settlement didn't have many people or even mages for that matter, but it had just enough to keep the town running and protected. This was the town Marcus had acquired clothing from after selling off various things he'd found along the way. At first the discrimination shown towards him was minimal and overall inconsequential, but as he moved farther and farther inland this discrimination became harder to ignore.

All in all, this brought Marcus to the present predicament he now found himself in, which was finding a safe place to hide and train.

"So, what exactly is the plan now? The only mage art I have right now is darkness manifestation, but I haven't been able to use it since that time at the swamp."

"I'm not surprised, after all from what you've told me in these last few weeks, you don't seem to know much of anything in regards to mana. Though this is to be expected," Nekros replied.

Nekros wasn't surprised Marcus hadn't learned many mage arts or even the fundamentals of mana. All omens were globally ostracized and suppressed by every race there was. Whether it be human, dwarf, elves, or even demons, omens were a sore spot for every race after the old war that occurred 300 years ago. Said war brought about the emergence of omens and led to a catastrophe that had not yet been forgotten but this was a story for another time.

"I suppose we will start with the basics. Open your Terra."

Marcus followed his master's instructions and a bright blue screen manifested in front of him.

------------------

Str = 25

Mag = 15

Dex = 15

Spd = 20

Def = 10

Res = 15

Lck = 0

Health = 500/500

Class = Unavailable

Rank: Elementary

Mage Arts: [Darkness Manifestation]

Constitution: Eclipsing Phantasm

Elemental Affinity: Darkness

------------------

"I won't bother explaining your basic stats because it is beneath me and you will learn more about them once you enroll in the academy."

Marcus was startled by what his master said. He wasn't made aware of why he was traveling to the Uceris kingdom, but it seemed he had just found out why. He wasn't thrilled by the idea of being around people who would want nothing more than to have his head on a pike, but for now he'd focus on his master's teachings and worry about those matters later. Surely Nekros wouldn't invest so much time in effort into him just to send him to his death.

"Essentially, Terra acts as a way for the inhabitants of the world to compartmentalize and understand how to use mana and its applications. It displays your seven basic stats as well as your health, class, rank, mage arts, constitution, and elemental affinity.

"Your health, mage arts, and elemental affinity are all self explanatory so I will not speak on those. Your class also isn't worth mentioning at this juncture due to it only being available once you've become a ranker. The only important aspects worth mentioning right now are your rank and constitution. As such I will begin to speak on those."

Marcus still remained in his meditative pose as he sat attentively listening to Nekros's teachings. He had been patiently waiting for this long enough, and it seemed his patience was finally being rewarded.

Tonight was going to be a long night.

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