After finishing his registration, Eric decided to visit a tavern to accomplish two things.
First, he had to satisfy his hunger since he had left home without eating, and then he needed to gather information about the Beast Forest.
He might be desperate, but there was no way he was going there ignorant.
He quickly found a place called Mint Tavern and called for a waiter.
A young female waitress arrived shortly afterward to take his order.
“Welcome to Mint Tavern, sir.
What should I get you?” she asked in a polite and well-rehearsed manner.
“Sir?
That’s a new one,” Eric thought, feeling older than his age.
“Give me boiled chicken, coupled with a plate of rice and a glass of red wine.” The woman received his order with a bit of hesitation but still brought it anyway.
“Say, you do have a fine taste, sir.
Might you be a noble of some sort?” the woman commented, still suspicious of the strange kid.
“As if a noble would come eat here,” Eric retorted with a mocking grin.
“You can’t blame me for asking.
There is no way an ordinary kid would have such money to afford such a delicacy,” she mused, unconvinced about his identity.
“You never know.
This might be my last meal.
Say, now that we’re on the topic, do you know anything about the Beast Forest?” Eric asked with a serious expression.
The waitress sized him up and down before answering with a sly smile.
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.
Depends on how badly you need the information.” Eric shook his head with a resigned expression.
He seemed to have understood a little piece of how the world worked.
Nothing ever came free.
He quickly slid four gold coins toward the waitress and waited for her to speak.
She quickly placed the coins in her pocket and started explaining.
“The Beast Forest is divided into three layers: the outer layer, the center layer, and the core layer.
The danger level increases with each successive layer.
The forest is ruled by a black dragon, also known as the Dragon of Death.
It’s one of the few lightning-type beasts that are still alive.” After he was done gathering all the information he needed, Eric left the restaurant to search for a place to stay during the remaining days he planned to spend in the city.
The trip was supposed to be in two days, and he couldn’t sleep in the streets.
He might get robbed or something.
Eventually, he came across a modest building labeled The Traveler’s Inn and paid for a two-day stay.
In a tall mansion filled with maids and other household staff one would expect from a noble family, the gardens were filled with beautiful flowers and colourful life forms.
The castle stood in one of the mana-richest parts of the city.
Gazing out from one of its windows was a beautiful girl with black curly hair, dressed in an expensive yellow gown.
She gazed towards the outskirts of the city with an expression of longing.
She couldn’t really make out any images from her point of view since what she intended to see was too far away for her mundane eyes to perceive.
Rashel knew that her brother was doing something dangerous by now, since she had also read the contents of that book.
But it wouldn’t have been fair to leave her brother with nothing to go on.
Suddenly, a knock on her door snapped her out of her dazed state.
“My lady, it is lunchtime,” a polite voice spoke through the door.
Rashel quickly left the window and followed the maid to the dining table.
The noble family she was sold to was called the Sung Family.
They were a branch of the Blazing Phoenix Clan, whose element was flame, which was the reason the words “Blazing” and “Phoenix” were added to the clan name.
Rashel knew that the reason they had bought her was because of her bloodline.
She was to become the wife of the family heir.
They wanted the power of the dragons in her family, after all.
It was for that reason that they couldn’t find out she had a brother, since they would most likely kill him to keep that power within their family.
It might have been different if they had a female heiress, but sadly, they didn’t.
Eric stayed in his room for the rest of the two days.
He only came out to eat and gather information.
During those two days, he had gathered a general idea about the academy.
The entrance test for the academy would commence in three months.
It was said to be spectacular in many ways.
He also tried to find clues about the test, but every attempt led to the same statement: the test is different every year.
Eric finally left the inn for the appointed location for his departure.
There were only eight people when he arrived at the designated location.
Among them were two guards and one rider.
Eric wasn’t surprised to see that only five of the ten applicants had made it to the last day.
It was better to be a coward and alive than to be foolish and dead.
“Quite ironic for me to have such thoughts, since I am also among the so-called fools,” Eric mused.
The carriage moved through the northern side of the city entrance, opposite to where he had entered from.
Since the carriage was occupied by people who might not be alive in a few days, the passengers felt a natural sense of kinship with one another, so they started socializing.
Eric’s mind, however, was not on the affections of potential dead men.
He was wholly focused on the two guards following them on foot.
They seemed to have an endless amount of stamina.
This reminded him of the time he told his sister he wanted super strength.
It seemed that having super strength was a characteristic of all the awakened.
While Eric was lost in thought, the mana density started increasing rapidly.
It was only after Eric felt a spark of electricity run through his body that he noticed the approaching forest.