139 Joining the Army (2)
The time Arthur spent inside that Elven settlement was peaceful, as none of the other youths plotted against him after Giullis warned them not to.
Deep down, he wanted to take revenge on Kymil, but that would have to wait. The event that got most of Arthur’s attention was the trip they would do.
Giullis said an important step in their training would happen inside the Elven capital, and depending on how well they perform there, then joining the army was not a pipe dream anymore.
Arthur had teleported to his settlement back and forth during the past month, and the progress of it was astonishing. They could now live in the forest without a problem, and Arthur could not help but praise the adaptability from the desert people.
Now, the day he had to leave, the Elven settlement arrived. Arthur had already warned his people about it, but promised he would frequently return. In fact, in this past month, Arthur focused on learning more spacial-time spells, and learned the Anchor.
Anchor was a powerful spell that allowed the caster to link two different places and teleport between them with just the thought. It had a large cool downtime, but the distance from each location was infinite, which meant Arthur could teleport to both edges of the world if he wanted to.
He set the first anchor in his settlement near the river, and would set the second one inside the Elven capital so that he could travel between these two places with ease. It was a spell mixed with an array, which was something Arthur had never seen.
“The ancient mages were truly incredible.”
Giullis said that the capital wasn’t far, but it was. Maybe the elves had a different perspective of far? Arthur guessed the reason after spending the last month with the elves.
Elves had huge life spans, and some Elven kids had over 80 years of age. For them, the perspective of time was messed, as they lived a lot more than humans. The capital was far, yet for them, who had a lot of time, it was close.
“All right, everyone, jump inside the carriage.”
The carriage Giullis prepared did not have horses in front of it, but strange creatures Arthur had never seen. These creatures had feathers, but were as tall as 3 meters, and had a peck that was intimidating. They reminded Arthur of the Chocobo from a game he used to play when a kid.
These creatures were a lot faster than horses, and even though the carriage was moving fast, it still had stability, and barely moved around as they traveled.
All the youths that had trained with Giullis were there, and not a single one of them liked Arthur. He showed up out of nowhere, and was taking the same test as them, but the difference was that they trained for it for years.
They hoped Giullis would separate from them once they reached the capital, and that would be their chance to plot against Arthur and make sure he wouldn’t pass the test.
Arthur was not dumb. He knew they would try something against him and was just waiting to see it happen. For him, these weak elves were nothing, and a plot by them would be easily demolished.
Another thing that happened during this last month was a change in his devouring skill. He had barely used it since he got it, as the attributes were only temporary, and Arthur did not see the need for it, but know it was different.
After his body gained a certain amount of celestial energy from his devotees, his devouring skill changed, and it fused with the celestial energy that granted him permanent attributes.
Now, every time he ate a beast, or someone, he would get a portion of its strength, leading to a definitive increase in attributes. The only downside was that the stronger his attributes got, the lesser attributes the eaten prey would grant, and eventually he would gain 0.
When Arthur discovered that, he roamed around the Elven settlement, killing lots of beasts he found nearby and devouring them. At first, he got a few attribute points, but it quickly stopped, as the beasts around that area were too weak.
If he wanted to get more permanent attributes, he would have to find stronger beasts or people to devour. These opportunities would surely appear one day.
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After 28 days of travel, they reached the Elven capital. It was immense, and the most beautiful city Arthur had ever seen.
The walls were tall, made of a green ore that reminded him of a jade. It also had magical vines growing in it, and with a quick glance, Arthur could tell these were there to protect the city, like a defensive array of some sort.
All the buildings inside the city were neatly arranged, and also made of precious materials that were only found inside the Elven forest. Some were made of ancient wood from the trees in the forest, others were built using the same stone as the wall, and some were of materials Arthur did not know.
What caught his attention the most was how clean the streets were, and how everything was perfect, as if someone had designed everything beforehand, and the citizens respected the laws and took care of the city.
If one compared that to the cities where humans tossed the trash all over the place, and tried to kill each other in the middle of the streets, it was worlds apart.
Not that it was a perfect place. It still had dirty in some alleys, homeless people, and thugs, but these were low numbered, and the city guards would always catch these people before something bad happen.
The thugs were sent to jail constantly, and the king tried his best to help the homeless people, building places that took children in, and shelter for the homeless.
“This is it. We are here. Slyvian, the most prestigious city in the entire worldJoi!”