Chapter 12

At this time in Siberia.

The expedition to Siberia lasted more than a year, but the results were considerable: the detachment collected several hundred spiritual seeds, a couple of dozen soul seeds, one heavenly seed, many elemental crystals, awakening stones and other useful resources. Heavenly seed was found in the lair of the younger Emperor, who was killed by Gorynych in the Urals: the detachment managed to get there before the other Emperors came to divide the liberated territory, but there were already two high commanders in the lair, who were killed by the magician of the spell leading the expedition and his deputies - magicians of the half-spell ...

Now the detachment was looking for the lair of the supreme commander. Suddenly the detachment stopped - one of the scouts returned and immediately reported to the head of the group. After listening to the report, the mage of the spell turned to the squad:

- In the direction of our path, a fresh trace of the use of the poison element spell was found, most likely the high commander whose lair we were tracking down no longer exists. Since this is the third time that we come across traces of the recent use of the poison element spell, it can be concluded that the unknown spell mage is moving along a similar route to ours. We will now set up camp and await reports from other scouts to determine our next target.

After breaking up the camp, Ivan's parents spent time at one of the bonfires, Vika cooked food, and Victor chopped wood with wind magic.

- Do you think Vanyusha went to university or is in his third year in college? - asked Vika, increasing the flame in the fire with the magic of fire.

- I'm quite sure that wherever Vanya is studying now, he constantly drinks with friends. I hope he still went to university, with such and such abilities. The main thing is not to fly out later. - Victor answered.

- I'll have to bring him some souvenirs from the expedition. - said Vika.

- We will bring it - we will bring it, only we still need to return. - Victor said a little frowning.

Suddenly, a signal was heard over the camp that a man was approaching. Victor looked in the direction in which people ran and saw a woman of about 30 approaching the camp. She looked unusual: her dark long hair was braided into a long braid that stretched to her knees, and she was dressed in clothes that, according to Victor's ideas, were worn by women in ancient Rus.

Ivan's parents joined the people who surrounded the stranger. The newcomer waited patiently for the commander of the detachment. When the commander arrived, the stranger said:

- Hello, I am Marya, magician of spells of the element of poison. It looks like it happened by chance that our goals coincided, and I took your loot in three places. I have a proposal for you. Three hundred kilometers from us is the lair of the younger Emperor. You and I, the commander, could distract the Emperor, and the rest at this time - take everything valuable from the lair. Of course, first I will use a spell with which I will clear the lair of weaker monsters so that they do not detain you, and I will lure the Emperor out. I can put you all temporarily immune to poison, and you can safely stay in the area where the spell was applied. My spell only affects living creatures, so valuable items in the area will not be damaged. All the loot is yours, with the exception of special magical artifacts, which, according to my assumptions, may be in this lair.

- Hello, dear Marya, I am the spell magician of the wind element Vladimir. Please make yourself at home in our camp. We need to discuss your proposal. Sorry for the question, are you from the Princess? - the commander of the detachment greeted Marya.

- Yes, of course, discuss it, thanks for the hospitality. Yes, I am one of the Princess.

Vika, who was standing with Viktor in the crowd that surrounded Marya and Vladimir, quietly asked a woman standing next to him - the magician of the half-spell Lyuba:

- Princess? Who are they?

- There are rumors that this is the name of a group of women working for the Serpent-Gorynych - Luba answered Vika just as quietly.

Vika was surprised, but did not ask her interlocutor further.

The head of the detachment left Marya, talked with his deputies and gathered the entire detachment in the center of the camp. Vladimir loudly addressed the detachment:

- You've probably all already heard the proposal of Princess Marya. My deputies and I decided that the proposal should be accepted - there can be a lot of loot in the lair of the Emperor, this is not counting the corpses of strong monsters that will be in the lair after the spell is cast. Anyone have any strong arguments against?

There were no objections. Everyone in the squad was willing to take risks. After Vladimir told Marya that the detachment was accepting the offer, everyone began to prepare for the operation. After the camp was closed, the group set out on a journey. The detachment stopped at a distance of 15 kilometers from the Emperor's lair and waited for the signal. Marya turned to face the group and the whole squad was covered with a dark purple glow - everyone got temporary immunity to poisons. Then Vladimir and Marya went towards the den.

After some time, the scout gave a signal to use the spell and the detachment moved towards the lair. The monster's refuge was a large piece of land surrounded by artificial rocks - apparently this barrier was erected by the Emperor himself with the help of the element of earth. Approaching the lair, the magicians saw that the entire area was covered with purple fog and, having passed into the lair through a large passage, the magicians saw that the entire clearing was littered with the decaying corpses of monsters, including in the den there were two high commanders.

The squad began to search for resources. The loot was rich: a large number of elemental earth crystals, many spirit seeds of the earth element, and a few soul seeds of the earth element. Suddenly, one of the half-spell mages, who was in the center of the clearing, gave a signal to gather. The mages broke away from collecting the loot and went to the deputy commander, who said: I'm sure there is the Earth Fruit of the Earth element underground here. Enthusiastic exclamations went through the detachment, and everyone began to extract the Fruit. After retrieving the Fruit, the squad spent some time collecting resources, and then the mages rushed away from the lair.Having moved away from the lair at a distance of two hundred kilometers, the detachment set up a camp, and the magicians began to wait for the return of Vladimir and Marya. After a while, Marya came out of the shadows at the edge of the camp with the wounded Vladimir in her arms. The princess said:

- The task is completed, we escaped from the Emperor, moreover, he is now unable to pursue us. Commander Vladimir is alive, but he needs medical attention.

The Healing Mage healed the squad leader, and the mages set off on their way. Marya learned that in the center of the Emperor's lair was found an object that looked like a wooden bucket half a man high, but it was magical and emanated from it with strong auras of wind and earth. Satisfied Marya took only this item from all the loot and left the detachment. And the expedition continued.

At this time in the Leningrad region on the shores of Lake Ladoga.

Ivan, Pavel, Olga and Lyudmila, having arrived at Lake Ladoga, tried for several days to find the animal, following the instructions of Lyudmila's device. Every time they got close enough, the device showed that the animal moved several kilometers, and Ivan felt the aura of the element of chaos. Ivan, who a week ago learned to release chaos magic of the first stage of the entry-level, after the next movement of the animal, said:

- Apparently our little animal covers part of the space with an aura of chaos and somehow "confuses" the space so that distant places turn out to be close. But our animal is not yet strong enough to fill large spaces with an aura, therefore, as I understood, studying the areas covered with an aura of chaos, this animal, when it decides to move, "shoots" a projectile forward, covering everything in its path with an aura of chaos, due to this results in a very narrow, but at the same time very long strip, filled with an element of chaos. Let's do this: we will split into two groups, one group will go towards the animal, and I, as part of another group, will feel where the animal will send its projectile and try to catch up with the animal, since I have now learned how to release the first stage of earth magic and can move quickly, as well as we know that the animal cannot move to the lake, so its range of movement is limited from the Ladoga side.

They were divided into groups as follows: Olga and Lyudmila went to "frighten" the animal, and Ivan and Pavel went to catch it. Acting according to the plan, Ivan, moving with the help of earth magic, reached the place where the animal appeared before it made the next move. The student saw a small white fox, which was trying to spit away from the student, but apparently realizing that it would not be in time, spread an aura of chaos around itself.

The space around Ivan and Pavel became chaotic, the chanterelle, which was only a few meters away, suddenly found itself further away: the space was distorted and several meters turned into several tens of meters. Ivan, realizing that this element of chaos is stronger than his own, despite 5 spiritual boundaries, he decided to attract the animal with the magic of space: in the field of visibility for the magic of space, distances are not important. Thus, the white chanterelle was in Ivan's hands. Before allowing himself to be bitten by this small Leader of the Pack, Ivan filled his hand with the energy of chaos and scratched the fox behind the ear. Oddly enough, after that the animal stopped resisting and began to demand with its muzzle to be scratched more. Ivan looked closely at the animal and realized that it was not quite a fox. "Scribe, this is a polar fox."

Ivan made a star map of the summoning element and put a spiritual seal on the Arctic fox. The student said, addressing the animal:

- Well, Arctic fox, I'll call you Scribe.

When Olga and Lyudmila approached, Ivan hid the Scribe behind his back and said:

"We've got the Scribe here.

Pavel began to suppress laughter with difficulty, and Olga asked:

- What happened?

Ivan solemnly took out the animal from behind and said:

- Here is a Arctic fox named Scribe.

Pavel laughed, Lyudmila muttered something like "idiot, by God as little children", and Olga just rolled her eyes.

Ivan thanked Lyudmila for the find and asked if she knew what to feed this animal for development. The girl replied:

- I have no idea, but I think that if this animal sees a tidbit, you will immediately understand it. By the way, you noticed that your Scribe not only has an aura of chaos, but also weak auras of ice and space. Apparently, the presence of space explains that, being only the Leader of the Pack, he can perform such tricks with the element of chaos.

Olga noticed that she had never heard of such magical animals as this Arctic fox. To which Lyudmila said that her sister was fumbling and this animal, according to her, would definitely develop to a commander in the stage of maturity. "It was too easy for me to get such a powerful animal of an unknown species, and it was very fortunate that the Scribe appeared so close to Peter, maybe it was Lyudmila and her sister who set it up? But why do they need it? "

The students returned back to St. Petersburg, and Ivan, having come home, suddenly remembered his amulet and decided to study it. "Mo Fan's amulet had an inner world, but I wonder if mine has? He ate enough Servant souls and a couple of souls

Leaders of the Pack in the summer. " Ivan focused on the amulet and really got into his inner world: a giant cave appeared before the student, in which many souls of Servants soared, but not a single soul of the Pack Leader. "Apparently, the amulet was saturated with the souls of the Servants and no longer eats them for its development. Okay, I'll let them go to the development of Necromancy, as soon as I bring it to an average level. "

The next day, Ivan decided to test the Scribe in battle and challenged a student who was one position higher in the rating of the main department of recruitment to a duel.