Chapter 87 - Monsters And Beasts (1/2)
Evan and Demien walked slowly through the clouds of smoke floating in the air, just enough to reach the other end.
<What an interesting spell. Doesn't that mean Demien can practically fly, if he wants to?>
Evan gazed at the bottomless abyss below and at the cave walls studded with crystals, he was enthralled by the beauty and the vast darkness that lay just below him.
Demien, unlike Evan, had no emotions whatsoever. He didn't care, he just smoked his cigarette and walked along the slabs of smoke.
After a while, Demien frowned and said grudgingly: ”Damn, why the hell did they make this chasm so wide? Why couldn't they have just put up a hundred barriers and that`s all.”
”Make?” Evan thought he'd misheard. He thought this chasm was of natural origin.
Demien nodded: ”Yes, Fane wanted to put a lot more barriers in front of the fourth section than there are now, but Koen decided that making this chasm would be much more effective. All brawn and no brains.”
”I see you're a critic.” With a smile on his face, Evan said as he pondered Demien's words.
<This chasm was made by Koen? Unbelievable, but why are such unusual protective measures for?>
It seemed strange to Evan, in his opinion it would have been much easier to put people to protect the entrance to the fourth section.
”Well, to be honest Koen's actions have some logic. Barriers are good, of course, but they don't save against some creatures.”
”Hmm? Are there a lot of people trying to get into section four?” Evan asked puzzled.
He didn't believe there would be a person in all of Mossy Vulture who would be willing to be an enemy of the Erden Family and the Cross Family.
”People? Are you a fool? There is no such idiot who would risk sneaking in here. The fourth section of the ”pond of Mountain Crystals” has an incredible concentration of mana and if you think it attracts only people, you are deeply mistaken.” Demien said calmly as he continued to stride forward.
Demien's words led Evan to an unusual reasoning, because he had been in the city most of the time, he had completely forgotten how dangerous and diverse this world was.
<Well, let me think, I've never met a monster before. If they use mana the same way magicians do, then it's no wonder they're attracted to the fourth section.>
”So it turns out that monsters sometimes try to get into the fourth section?”
Demien nodded: ”Yes, and not just into it. The other sections, too, and even the numerous caves. I see you're still wet behind the ears and know next to nothing about monsters.”
Evan nodded. Demien's words were harsh, but that was all because of his character, it would be foolish to pay attention to them. But learning more about monsters would be interesting.
”Okay kid, since you won the tournament in the coat I`d made, I'll give you a little lecture. Don't interrupt and listen carefully, I`m not going to tell you twice, I'm not getting paid for this.” Demien took another puff and began his monologue: ”Let's start with why a magician's meeting with monsters is inevitable. Firstly, the best resources for weapons, armor, potions, and so on, come from mines, forests, and from monsters. Secondly, in the future you have to travel to learn more about the world and become stronger. In that case, you can easily run into monsters.”
”Thirdly, and most importantly, the reason why monsters attack magicians, and when I say magicians, I mean them specifically. Almost every monster has mana, which means such a monster won't attack ordinary people, they're useless to it. Of course, if the monster is hungry it will have no other choice, but that happens very rarely.”
”Monsters attack mages exclusively for one simple reason, magicians have mana and lots of it. Monsters kill us not because they want to, but because eating our flesh makes them stronger. Eh, it's a shame that people can't do that, you can't get any stronger by killing them.”
<It turns out that monsters literally absorb mana from the flesh of magicians? Hmm, although there's some balance to it. We kill them for resources, and they for mana. Both we, and they get stronger by killing each other. Pretty brutal.>