The Aftermath
After taking care of the wounded and gathering the bodies of the dead demon beasts, Marcius directed his soldiers back towards the camp.
The regiment slowly made their way back, as they maintained their state of constant vigilance.
Because they were still in the forest, there could be more ambushes from dangerous wildlife. After the two ambushes they had to face, the troops were not taking any chances.
When they reached the walled settlement, it was already night time.
Marcius immediately let the tired troops take a rest. And he sent the wounded to the doctor's tent.
He also ordered some of the troops, who stayed back at the camp, to take the demon beast bodies. They would have to take out the beast core, separate the spirit shards, and then purify the meat, so that it could be eaten without dire consequences.
Then, Marcius entered his tent. As soon as he was in the tent, several attendants rushed in. And they became cleaning, applying medicine and dressing up Marcius's shoulder wound.
As he sat there, letting people fuss over his injuries, Marcius listened to the reports of the situation back at the camp while he was away.
The person who was giving him the detailed reports was called Toros Argun. He was one of the 23 cultivators with spirit beasts who accompanied Marcius in this expedition.
He was not the strongest out of all the 23 cultivators, but he was the most capable.
Marcius wanted people who were loyal sorely to him. And thus, he planned to train them from the scratch.
"There is no serious problem that warrants young master's attention. We finished the construction of the walls into the late evening. The towers are also finished but they are not as high as we would have wanted. If we are to continue the construction, it will get really dark. So, I ordered the construction to pause and instead create a makeshift area for watchmen at the very top of the incomplete towers. Although, I have to add extra garrison to make up for the incomplete defenses, I believe as we finish adding extra height to the towers tomorrow, the number of garrisons will eventually balance out." Toros reported.
"There were also reports of several sighting of wildlife at the edge of the forest. But none of them were actually dangerous. And there were no attacks."
As Toros finished his report, the attendants also finished taking care of Marcius's wounds.
"Good job."
Maricus complimented the man as he stood up. He walked towards the table in the middle of the tent to have a drink.
He took the wine bottle and poured himself a glass.
"Leon and Ser Janus will be busy with managing the soldiers and preparing for tomorrow trip into the forest. So, I want you to take care of the demon beast bodies. Take as much help as you need. I want the bodies properly handled. Purify the meat and give it to the cook to prepare a feast for tonight. For the beast cores and spirit shards, bring them to me."
"This one obeys young master."
Toros gave a military salute and left the tent.
When the demon beasts died, they left three things behind. They were the beast cores, spirit shards and the meat itself.
The beast cores represented the level of strength demon beasts possessed. They were the concentration of spirit energy within the creature's body. Thus, they were always filled to the brim with spirit energy.
The beast cores of a savage ranked beasts were yellow in color. The color of hazard ranked beasts' cores were orange, disaster ranked beasts' cores were red and those of apocalypse ranked were purple.
The cores could greatly help in advancing one's cultivation level, and thus, they were greatly sought after by many organizations. The higher the rank of the spirit beast was, the more priceless their beast core became.
Now, the spirit shards. They were a bit different.
When a demon beast died, their core released a pulse of spirit energy into their own body. Those energy sometimes mingled with the blood of the beast, and the result was several spirit shards forming at different locations of the body of the dead demon beast.
The sprit shards did contain a little bit of spirit energy, but they were far inferior from the energy contained inside the beast core.
Thus, the civilizations of Rubrum decided to use those shards as an international currency.
The shards were the same as the beast cores. Savage ranked shards were yellow, hazard ranked were orange, disaster ranked were red and apocalypse ranked were purple. A higher ranked spirit shard was worth a hundred of the shards one rank below them. For example, one orange shard was worth a hundred yellow shards, one red shard was worth a hundred orange shards and et cetera. (For reference, Marcius asked for five hundred orange spirit shards from Sergia clan as compensation.)
Nonetheless, no one could argue that the spirit shards were luxury items. Afterall, they could only be obtained from demon beasts.
Thus, the people also had to introduce a currency which was a level below the spirit shards.
They were called black iron coins, made from a rare and peculiar type of midnight-black colored iron. The iron had a ripple pattern on its surface.
A yellow spirit shard was worth a hundred black iron coins. One could make a calculation by using that standard.
And thus was the currency system of Rubrum.
Now, the meat of the demon beast. Usually, the bodies of the demon beasts were corrupted.
It was because of the foul magic Tridons used when they turned the natural wildlife of Rubrum into demon beasts.
In the early days, people of Rubrum avoided eating the meat of demon beasts because of that fact.
And then, they discovered that the meat from demon beasts had a subtle but positive effect on the development of the cultivator's constitutions.
Because of the discovery, people tried numerous methods to purify the meat of demon beasts. After many trials and error, they finally managed it and the rest was history.
Cultivators, be they possessing blank spirits or spirit beasts, enjoyed eating the meat of demon beasts. It could fill them with energy and stamina. It could even help their cultivation process.
That was why Marcius ordered the cook to prepare a feast using demon beast meat. The soldiers were tired and wary after the ambushes and battles in the forest.
Marcius planned to raise their morale by rewarding them with demon beast meat.
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It was very late into the night when the great feast finished.
As per Marcius's plan, the fighting spirit of the entire expeditionary army was raised.
Not only their morale, their energy was also refilled, because of the nourishment from the meat filled with spirit energy.
After ending the feast and making sure that the night-shifts for guard duties were properly handled, Marcius reentered his tent and called it a night.
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When Marcius woke up, it was because of a small noise from the inside of his tent.
The darkness and moonlight coming from outside indicated that it was still nighttime.
The heir of Aemilia clan's eyes caught movement from the corner of his temporary residence.
Moonlight reflected on iron and shined.
A dagger was drawn.
Marcius was already moving before the dagger came down.
And, the dagger came down. On Marcius.
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'Rubrum Trivia'
*Lycanis*
Lycanis were the dominant species in the Flavic forest. They were the most common predators one could found within the dense trees of the yellow-colored forest.
They were wolf-like creatures with large bodies. Their fangs and claws were sharp. They were very dangerous demon beasts.
But the most dangerous fact about the Lycanis specie was that, they usually hunted in a pack of ten to fifty. And, their teamwork was seamless.
When demon beast incursions occurred from the depths of Flavic forest, the Lycanis species formed most of its numbers.
*Alpha Lycanis*
Alpha Lycanis led the Lycanis packs. The stronger the Alpha Lycanis, the larger its pack could be.
Alpha Lycanis was bigger, stronger and quicker than normal Lycanis. And they had more intelligence, partly because of their natural occupation as group leaders.
They also had a ranged attack, where they used spirit energy to create devastating sound waves from their mouths.
They, very well, earned their reputation as ferocious predators and great leaders of the pack.
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Author Notes
Hello! MidnightMK here!
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