The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 278

Chapter 278

Chapter 278: The Day of Bestowment

A soft knock on the front door snapped my eyes open. Spending the entire night refining my aether core had increased not only the amount of aether I could store but the speed at which the aether travelled through my newly-forged passages as well. The improvement was miniscule compared to my time in the Relictombs, but any amount of progress felt better than sitting by idly.

“Ascender Grey,” a soft voice called out through the door.

After getting up and having Regis withdraw back into my body, I opened the wooden entrance to see a girl that looked like Loreni, except a few years younger and with longer hair, waiting timidly.

For a moment she simply stared at me as I waited for her to speak, her mouth slightly ajar.

“Yes?” I finally asked.

“Ah!” She shook her head. “My apologies, Ascender Grey. My name is Mayla and I’ve been instructed by my sist—Loreni to assist esteemed ascender during your stay in Maerin.”

So they are sisters, I mused before replying. “You came at a good time, Mayla. I was actually wondering when the bestowment would be happening today.”

“It’s not until later this afternoon so Ascender Grey has some time to rest and get ready if you wish to attend,” she answered, keeping her gaze downcast.

“It’s actually getting a little stuffy in here so I’d like to take a stroll. Would you mind accompanying me?”

“Of course!” Mayla exclaimed.

“Ah, before that, though. I have a cart filled with mana beast corpses. Can you get a few men to bring it down to whichever shop I could sell them to?”

“Right away!” Mayla gave me a quick bow before scurrying back to town.

After she was gone, I used one of the empty horse-pulled wagons in the back of the house and began taking the beast corpses out of my extradimensional rune.

‘Is all this necessary?’ Regis asked.

“The story we’re going with is that I lost my dimension ring, remember?”

By the time Mayla came back with three burly townsmen, I had finished piling the corpses on the surprisingly sturdy wagon.

“Th-This...” A bearded man sporting a tank top to show off his muscles paled at the sight of the mana beasts while his two companions stepped back in shock.

I frowned. “Is there a problem?”

“N-N-None at all, esteemed ascender,” the bearded man said, carefully poking the leg of the bear-like mana beast. “It’s just that...these beasts are considered dangerous to even a team of mid-tier mages.”

With no reference to how powerful a mid-tier mage actually was, I just shrugged. “Please take these to town and give the money to either Mayla or Loreni.”

“Yes!” The three bowed once more before the bearded man began lugging the cart while his two companions pushed from the back.

Mayla and I took our time walking down the small hill leading back down to the downtown plaza of Maerin when I noticed her looking at the rune on my right forearm.

“Is something the matter?” I asked, suddenly very conscious that having a rune on your arm might be abnormal.

“My apologies for staring, Ascender Grey,” she said, peeling her eyes away. “I’ve heard many nobles and even highbloods have rune glyphs tattooed on their bodies but it’s my first time seeing one in person.”

“O-Oh,” I muttered. “Is it not popular in these parts?”

“Permanent ink capable of withstanding the properties of mana flowing through the skin is very rare and expensive to come by, and laws are very strict around these inks because it can be used to forge fake marks—which is why tattooing near the back is strictly forbidden—so rather than it being popular...” Mayla let out a chuckle as she rubbed her arm nervously. “My apologies, Ascender Grey. I’m sure you already know this.”

“It seems like you and the rest of the townspeople resort to apologizing very often,” I commented with a smile. “It’s fine. You seem very knowledgeable about this. Are you a mage yourself?”

“Oh not at all! Although...today is also the day of my bestowment,” she admitted, flushing with embarrassment.

“Congratulations in advance,” I remarked as we neared the gate to town. “Any particular element or class you’d like to be in?”

“Even though I know I’m a bit on the older side and my chances are low, I would very much like to be an instiller. I know that casters and strikers are the most sought after in academies and powerful bloods, but I’m no good at fighting,” Mayla admitted.

I pondered for a moment at her words. I had heard of the three classes of battle mages as well as the supporting ‘sentry’ class. In Aya’s brief, there was a detailed account of the powerful sentry who had managed to use her magic to create a path in the magical Elshire Forest for the Alacryan army to invade Elenoir.

Her name was...something Milview if I recall correctly. I also knew that she was just one of the many mages capable of using elemental magic to scout and scry long distances, however, I had never heard of instillers.

“What do you want to do as an instiller?” I asked, hoping to gain more information about this class.

“I want to create necessary artifacts to help the impoverished people all over Alacrya,” Mayla effused, eyes suddenly vibrant. “For example, I know that there are artifacts capable of purifying water but they’re currently too expensive to make on a large scale. However, I’ve done some research and realized that not all the components for the artifact are necessary and a lot of them can be replaced with cheaper materials so—”

Mayla let out a gasp and bowed at me. “I didn’t mean to lecture you, esteemed ascender.”

“I was the one who asked the question, Mayla,” I remarked. “It’d be silly for me to get angry because you answered me. Especially when you’re so excited.”

Mayla reminded me of Emily back in Dicathen. Her excitement and passion for artificing was second to none. The thought of my curly-haired friend made my chest squeeze.

“A-Anyway, did Ascender Grey have anywhere in mind to go first?”

“Since the mana beast corpses will be taken care of, do you mind if we stop by the schools?”

“Certainly! It would be an honor if esteemed ascender visited! I know the students at our striker school would love to get some pointers—of course that’s only if esteemed ascender wishes to,” Mayla said.

The irony of training the future soldiers that would ultimately attack Dicathen caused a laugh to burst out of my mouth. I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to stifle my laughter.

Mayla regarded me with utter confusion. “D-Did I say something odd?”

“No, it’s...nothing,” I said, composing myself. “Anyway, let’s take a look through the academies.”

***

The visit to the caster school was brief. They were having practice outside today so I could see over the fence surrounding the training grounds each of the caster students participating in target practice shooting bolts of pure mana. From the power of their spell, to the amount they could fire as well as the accuracy, each of the kids showed varying levels of competency.

‘How cute,’ Regis remarked.

“It doesn’t seem like these students are using their marks,” I noted.

“The students here are still adjusting to their marks so they’re not yet allowed to utilize their elemental magic yet. Once they’ve been deemed a base tier mage, they’ll be allowed to practice the elemental spell their marks carry,” Mayla explained as we watched from the other side of the metal fence.

She turned her head left and right as if looking for something before letting out a gasp. “Ah! I forgot that the primary students are practicing in the arena today in preparation for the upcoming exhibition. My apologies, esteemed ascender. Both the instructors and students are much more excited this year because of the recruiter coming from Stormcove Academy.”

“Is Stormcove Academy that much of a prestigious place?” I asked, genuinely curious.

Mayla thought for a moment before answering. “Well, it is an official academy so students accepted will have housing and basic needs provided for them within the campus to be fully immersed in training. Stormcove is also one of the higher ranked academies in not only Aramoor City but the entire Grevorind Region. That being said, this is still all relative.”

The two of us began making our way to the shield school as Mayla continued to explain.

“Compared to the elite academies in the rest of the Etril Dominion and even the other four dominions, which have even more prestigious academies, I guess Stormcove isn’t much. It’s why esteemed ascender has most likely never heard of Stormcove Academy.” Mayla rubbed her neck as she blushed slightly. “I can only imagine how pitiful our schools look compared to prestigious highblood academies in the central domain.”

I remained silent while taking in all of this information. It seemed like the entire economy in Alacrya glorified self-improvement in strength and was even centered around it. Was this all funded by Agrona? I couldn’t imagine a viable way for a proper economy to form around just training and getting stronger aside from hunting mana beasts and going down the Relictombs.

“D-Did I talk too much again, esteemed ascender? My sister, I mean, Loreni, often berates me for this.”

“No! I like it,” I answered quickly. Mayla was a goldmine for information and the best part was that I didn’t have to ask questions that might normally be common sense. I stopped mid-step, alarming the little girl. “Mayla, do you know what dungeons are?”

“Dungeons? Of course—my mother would tell me the story all the time as a child,” she answered. “It really is amazing how the great Vritras led by the mighty Agrona vanquished all of those dangerous dungeons in order to keep us safe.”

It was both hard and easy to imagine Agrona and the rest of his clan wiping out all of the dungeons in order to build an economy around exploring the Relictombs.

“What do you know about the other continent then?” I asked, studying her expression.

“Dicathen?” Mayla tilted her head. “I’ve heard stories from passing merchants about how savage and undeveloped they are. It’s scary to think of an entire continent where mages run amok and dungeons still exist. Thankfully, Sovereign Agrona has decided to liberate them.”

“Liberate?” I echoed, pushing down the fiery rage rising up from my core. “I see.”

The shield academy was a bit more entertaining, but we didn’t stay long either. Mayla guessed that the primary class of the shields were also in the arena since the shields and casters often trained together. It made sense seeing as the shield’s practice was to either take damage for their teammates if they were a melee shield or create defenses from afar if they were a ranged shield.

After watching the secondary class focus on doing movement drills while maintaining a stable shroud of protective mana over their bodies.

Finally we arrived at the striker school, where both the primary and secondary students were present and currently about to spar.

“Remember, release and focus your mana from your core to the rune glyphs that make up your mark! Pay attention to the warmth that spreads from your mark and let that feeling guide you. Don’t try to control it!” advised a scowling woman garbed in a layered robe of muted colors.

Despite her salt-and-pepper hair and the wrinkles lining her face exposing her age, she carried herself with poise as she strode around the two students wearing padded leather practice-gear while the rest of the class sat against the walls.

From what I could tell in the gaps of the protective headgear that they wore, the two students looked around the same age as Mayla. Each one of them fought barehand and even without being able to sense mana, a faint shroud of white clung to their bodies.

“Begin!” the woman barked.