Mystical Journey

Emin had originally thought of letting him gain some knowledge on the different types, categorization and its structural differences of biology. He never expected that Garen would remember all that he had seen, instantly understanding them. With the combination of high intelligence and abilities, he could vividly remember each book he read.

However, there was no complete skill formed in his Skills Pane.

After staying in the underground chamber for more than a month, Garen walked out, face wrought with fatigue. Having continuously researched all the boring academic books for more than a month, even Garen, who had strong mental capacity, felt fatigued and sleepy.

"How was it?’"

Emin stood waiting at the doorstep, quietly looking at him.

"I’ve gained a lot." Garen answered with a serious nod. "It’s just that, so many books were encrypted, I couldn’t read them."

"Naturally; neither could I, most of the books were snatched by my Teacher. There was no way of decrypting them, hence they are only fit for collection." Emin’s face had a slight hint of helplessness. "Now that you have essentially mastered the three main tactics and have already read all the books within my collection, you can be a master too. I will ask you one last time; do you want to join my school? If you do join my school, I will craft a White Bear core totem for you, otherwise, you would have to choose other core totems. Once you are ready, come to me and I will craft a core totem for you once. But I trust you would know what the result would be."

Garen nodded.

It was time to make a choice.

"For now, I will still choose not to join." He calmly professed his decision.

Emin’s mouth opened, as though he had wanted to say something; but no sound was projected.

Both parties went silent.

Garen solemnly bowed at Emin with respect.

"Regardless if I join or not, you will always be my Teacher."

Emin wave his hand with much regret.

"The Great White Bear is not as weak as you think, actually, each core totem has different evolutionary modes."

"I understand. only by inheritance from the schools can it show its strong evolutionary mode, making the core totem stronger, having headroom for evolution." Garen answered clearly.

"But…""

He did not continue speaking.

Instead, Emin nodded clearly. "I know, you would want to inherit your father’s core totem.

That’s alright, when do you plan to go back?"

"I’l rest for a bit, so tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will leave." Garen replied surely.

Emin did not say too much, instead retrieving a thick, folded piece of paper from the pocket of his long robe, which he gave to Garen.

"This is the Luminarists' Night Market, some of the popular night markets are marked on it. With your Master level detailed blueprint, you could go there to do a few jobs and earn yourself some resources. In the future, you best build your own unit factory, otherwise your unit secrets may be leaked out if you borrow it from others. Of course, you could use your father’s one, but…. You’ll know in time."

"Thank you, Teacher." Garen thanked him sincerely. In this period of time, no matter what cause or intention, Emin had been very serious and responsible in his tutelage towards him, and really brought him into the world of Luminarists.

This was had been a huge favor.

Garen understood clearly the information that he had read in the book collection chamber; a majority of them were written by Emin himself, as the encryptions that was used was his specific encryption password. All this information had contained his experience and knowledge.

From the initial deal, to the attention he gave later, up till now where he taught Garen without reserve, Emin’s change in attitude was observable to Garen

"Work hard." Emin patted Garen’s shoulder with force.

"I will." Garen nodded sincerely.

"Since you have some time on hand, let me tell you some rules while interacting with fellow Luminarists. Don’t offend or touch onto others’ taboos and create trouble." Emin solemnly said.

Ding…... Ding…...

The silver wind chimes hanging by the side of the carriage rung incessantly.

The wide, yellowish-green plain held a winding river stream. The evening sun was oddly cold, and a cold breeze blew in waves.

The pale green carriage moved forwards along the stream, slowly, just like a little green bug on a yellowish-green carpet.

The wheeler had a gray leather shirt on him, with a wine bag on his hands, which he sipped from from time to time. His mind was concentrated on the tracks on the ground in front of him.

The grass still showed telltale signs from the carriages and hoove prints from the users of the track before him.

"How long more to Natta Town?" A male voice came from inside the carriage.

"About half a day’s journey before we reach." The wheeler answered with some estimation. "We will definitely reach before dusk, be rest assured. Otherwise I would feel guilty taking those rumbs of yours." The wheeler snickered, and raised the whip and caused a loud thump with it.

In the carriage.

A handsome-looking young man with blonde hair was sitting inside, calmly sporting a long gray robe with a thick black leather book rested on his knees, with just the first page flipped.

This man was the one whohad left the small town, Garen, who left Master Emin.

Before he left, Emin gave him yet another two items.

One, the book that was resting on Garen’s knees. The second one was a short, silver-white cane, which is a storage device used to keep Garen’s butterfly totem.

Garen, while listening to the horse’s clip-clop along with the wind chimes, set his gaze on the black leather book on his knees.

The pages of the book were of the width and length of a forearm, the first page showed a line of familiar handwriting. That was Master Emin’s encryption symbols, the ink still seemed fresh.

"Master, looks like I owe you another favor…" He muttered, shaking his head lightly as he started to decrypt the line of words.

--- "I have replicated a part of my academy’s illustrations, some of these non-core items would probably be of use to you. When you are in a pinch, try browsing this book…." ---

Garen sighed, and flipped a page over.

--- "Any normal creature can evolve into strong, legendary creatures. It all depends on how you nurture its evolution."

That’s all that was written in the second and third pages.

Garen continued flipping the pages.

In the fourth page, a menacing looking black wolf appeared on the top. To its right was a colored picture, on the left was some textual explanation.

‘Black Wolf, foundation level, one of the most commonly found forest wolves in East Continent, are very large in number, vicious in nature, cunning and cruel.’

‘Special ability: sense of smell. Its strong sense of smell is much stronger than regular canines, they are quite effective in tracking and pursuit.’

‘Area of activity: Forests, hills.’

‘Totem crafting difficulty: Simple’

Garen frowned, and flipped over to the next two pages.

On the fifth and sixth pages, to the right was a black wolf with its paws stepping on crimson flames, on the left were more textual explanations.

Garen observed closely; this black wolf’s form is almost identical with the one in front, just slightly bigger in size and the bottom of its four paws are burning with a crimson colored flame.

‘Fire Wolf, Evolution Level, second form. A vicious evolution from the black wolf totem. Possess stronger and sharper fangs and claws, able to attack by supplementing biting high temperature attacks.

‘Special Ability: Sense of smell, damage fortification, high temperature fortification, self-destruct. The final special ability is the main reason why Luminarists chose the black wolf as pets, fire wolves will detonate a horrifying explosion upon death, completely melting everything within a certain radius.’

‘Totem upgrade difficulty: ten thousand grams of A-grade ruby, ten thousand grams of A-grade garnet. Success chance depends on (base material) and (totem strength before evolution). Normal success rate: 11.5%. Will self-destruct upon failure, carries a certain risk.’

Tch…..

Garen inhaled a breeze of cold air.

"Ten kilograms of grade A rubies and garnets… such high success chance!" He understood the self-destruct part, after all, the power of the Luminarists was not easily obtainable, and you can be in danger at any time.

While reading through the information, the top part advised multiple times to do all the necessary preparation before evolution, otherwise your life will be in danger easily.

"This kind of financial expenditure… if you are not noblemen, evolution should not be something you can afford at all." Garen internally simulated the situation below, finally having a clear position towards a Luminarist as a profession.

"This is as good as burning money! But on retrospect, there should be a large production of gemstones in this world...."

Garen continued flipping through the pages.

‘Giant Magma Wolf, evolution level, third form. The Fire wolf totem evolves into a terrifying giant wolf. Its power is stronger, speed if faster, its body is filled with a fluid similar to lava, just by approaching it, one can feel the hundred degree heat. It is the strongest evolution form from a black wolf, is one of the three ultimate forms of my Tasura Academy.’

‘Special ability: inherits all of fire wolf’s abilities, and gets strengthened. Exploding Fireball: able to shoot powerful exploding fireballs, destroying enemies from afar, highly destructive.’

‘Totem evolution difficulty: One piece of red dragon fruit, magma tactics. Success rate depends on (base material) and (totem strength before evolution). Typical success rate is 2.6%. Will self-destruct if failed, carries high risk.’

Garen let out a long sigh, looking at the giant magma wolf on the page.

"This is no longer a normal creature, but a true strong legendary creature. No wonder totems are so powerful, no wonder Luminarists are so powerful…"

By continuing to flip the pages, two more creatures appeared: the white bear and leopard, as well as their evolution forms.

The entire book only had three creatures, the final totem of the Tasura Academy, the sabretooth,was not shown in this book.

According to the research done by the Tasura Academy, all their creatures had three evolutionary forms. The White Bear, Great White Bear and Ice Bear. The leopard, on the other hand consisted of the Leopard, Black Wind Leopard and Night Shadow Leopard.

The final forms were like creatures of legend; each extremely tough.

However, the evolution requirements and success rates were terrifyingly low. This lets Garen witness clearly the gap among Luminarists.

"To be able to gather such detail, this meant that the final forms were not only theorized, but had actually appeared before. If we took the black wolf for example, appearance wise it was not any different compared to a regular black wolf, At most it would have white luminescence, and be a little stronger than a living black wolf. However, if it evolves into a Fire wolf, it would essentially be a killing machine. The final form, the Giant Magma wolf is simply a legendary creature! This gap between the elite and normalcy is utterly huge!"

Garen originally was unclear about what form the Luminarists could achieve, after all, the scenarios that he saw as he transmigrated were blurry, due to the strong interferences when the scenario involved high level combats.

But now, through the illustrations, he can see that Tasura Academy’s hundreds of years of ultimate totems, have already reached such heights.