The official description in the books for the Trial was: an act of powerful self-growth, something meaningful and deeply important to a person’s character. People believed it was a stopgate placed by the gods for higher power, so only the best of men could attain power. Those who were of virtue and worthy.
Of course, most of the trials were random requirements that barely made sense. Like kill five aerial soul beasts or learn swimming and such crap.
"Mind telling me what it is?" Faust asked politely.
Trials were personal business, and asking about them was considered invasive.
"Yes."
Faust sighed and stood from the rock. "I need your help to check my runes."
"The materials need—"
"I have it. I just need you to give me a little essence."
Faust used the dark flame in liquid form, mixed it with the deer’s blood and rot ash, and made the floating formation. Koren raised an eyebrow at his weirdness but said nothing while offering her essence to his formation.
°°°
Name: Faust
Rank: Fledgling
Soul Core: Tempered (6/300)
Negative Essence: 9740
Relics: —
Attribute: Natural
Ability: Spirit of Absence
...
°°°
’Oh, thank god. It works!’
Now he could count on at least getting one core from each kill. Life as a weakling in this world would have been terrible. He could rank up. Just confirming it gave his mind a sense of relief.
This time, it counted as two cores instead of one because of the Ravager-rank beast. As a fledgling, he was meant to hunt only fledglings. As per runes, that is. This is why each rank-up took years and decades of hard work. The higher one went, the harder it was to find suitable enemies.
Negative essence increased as well. No idea what it was or how to use it. But if one beast gave just that much, then it wasn’t connected to soul beast kills. He had tried stealing others’ essence using the flame structures before, but the number didn’t increase.
It also had strange requirements.
They salvaged the deer meat and carried it as the journey continued. An hour later, near a stream, they cooked the beast for lunch. A village was nearby, a couple of hours’ ride away. They had the whole afternoon and evening, so reaching the next village before nightfall was possible. But Faust decided it was enough traveling for the first day.
Around 5 in the evening, they reached the village and set up in the only inn the village had. The soldiers and others camped outside the village; only Faust, his companions, and the knights were in the inn.
Faust did not prohibit his soldiers from drinking and whoring, he did punish those who tried to bully the villagers or harass girls.
"Young Faust, soldiers need discipline. You shouldn’t have allowed them to go wild. Your father never allowed it while we were out." Sir Merek advised.
Faust and his companions were in the tavern, relaxing after a long day.
Merek was a young guy in his late 20s. A third son of one of the lesser noble families. The man took everything too seriously for his own good.
"The journey is long, Sir." He replied, "We all need something to look forward to."
"Your father will not like this," Birhi said from across the table.
She, on the other hand, was like his mother and sister combined. She had taken it upon herself to act like his older sister, especially now that he was away from home. Birhi grew up playing with Zisel and Augustine in their house, so the role came naturally.
"The things my father likes can be counted on one hand." He smiled.
Dame Naima chuckled; Hartwin and Sir Galahad smiled as well. Sir Orin remained neutral. That man was like a stone, barely reacting to anything.
"It is a cause to celebrate. The direct hunt is a success. We only need to hunt 300 soul beasts, less if they are higher rank. I thought this would take years, but now six months are enough." Hartwin said, then gulped down his alcohol. "Southern drinks have no bite to them."
"This is scarcely a place for it. Try Fairie’s Kiss someday; you will forget even your own name come morning." Sir Galahad said.
"I tried to get some back in Cindros. It costs more than a goddamn horse!" Hartwin replied. Both men started laughing loudly, talking about drinks.
"Get something for yourself," Faust said to Koren for the third time. She was standing behind his chair. He had to lean back and look up at her.
"No," She replied with her deadpan face.
He sighed. "Not happy for me?"
Without a single change in her facial lines, she replied, "My heart is full of joy."
Faust narrowed his eyes, looking at her for a while. "You smiled!"
"I will not dignify that with an answer."
"Hhahaha," Dame Naima’s laugh interrupted their staring match.
"What?" Faust asked.
"I apologize. I have never seen the girl talk so much."
Koren’s cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment; Faust smiled at her with a smug face.
"You checked your runes without drawing formations?" The female knight asked.
"I drew it, just not on the ground."
"You are interested in formations and spells?" She asked, probably just to make conversation since others were talking among themselves.
"It’s fun. But without essence, it’s nothing but an interesting subject to me."
"Are you married?" Faust asked this time.
She was surprised, but nodded anyway. "He is a merchant captain from Keldros."
"Kids?"
"A daughter, similar in age to you. She likes drawing. Loves those formations, spells, and runic tool things."
Without school or anything, kids in this world just followed around their parents all day or went exploring on their own. Cindros was a safe city, but not all cities were. Somehow, it felt like parents in this world cared more about teaching and educating their children than parents in the modern world.
The next day, they continued east. Now, every hour, at least one soul beast stumbled in their path. This far from the city and near the coast, it was to be expected.
Faust and his companions took their time reaching the coastal town, hunting down every soul beast that Jade picked up on. But after three days, they finally reached the large village at the very edge of the stony shore.
The other side of the cliff was the territory of Lord Saltray.
From this side, however, began the Penthos shield. Five coastal castles, belonging to five noble families. They protected the long stretch of beach from here to the Malakai ruins. Past that started Velthros.