Arriving at Pernith

As soon as the sun's warm and comforting rays enveloped the caravan, they quickly started their journey.

Soon, they were about a half-day's journey away from the town.

As usual, Isaiah was practicing his mana control.

There was just something about Mana and Magic that excited him to no end.

He didn't know why, but whenever things became related to Mana, he would get passionate.

Maybe it was the mystical way it interacted with the world around him, or maybe it was because of the legends of strong heroes told to him by the village elders.

After all, Isaiah was just a child; it would be weird for a child not to be interested in Magic.

The man who seemed to be the leader of the caravan, whom Isaiah had come to know by name in the past few days as Perdan came to watch Isaiah practice his Mana control,

This was also the same man who, as Isaiah remembered, had a look of extreme sadness in his eyes.

"Still practicing Mana control, kid?" Perdan said while slowly stroking his Goatee.

Isaiah slowly opened his eyes and looked at Perdan, his face emotionless as usual.

"What else is there to do?"

Well, you're certainly right about that." Perdan answered.

There truly was nothing to do on the caravan.

We're almost at the town; if we're lucky, we should get there just as soon as night hits.

That'll be our last destination, but if you want a kid, I can use my connections to find you someone who's also going to the Royal capital.

Hearing this, Isaiah's eyes lit up, as this would save him the trouble of having to find a carriage that was going to the same destination as him and would also clear up the need to see if it was safe or not.

Soon, the beautiful night sky was approaching with the crimson moon in full splendor, and so was Pernith.

The town was an ordinary medium-sized town near the Empire's capital, where the Royal Academy was located.

The town had a wall made of some type of metallic ore that was sculpted extremely professionally.

As the carriages approached the town, Perdan and another merchant who went by the name of Nixon hopped out and approached the walls.

The gates slowly opened, and a man walked out from within.

The man was wearing a crimson uniform and exuded an aura that screamed primal strength and majesty.

The bright crimson uniform demonstrated his status as a member of the empire's army.

Perdan, you've finally returned!"

The man spoke in a voice akin to thunder.

"You know I would." Perdan said with a smile on his face, returning the hug to Donte.

How did the merchandise sell this time around? Donte asked.

"You know, with rumors of war and all, everybody is trying to get as many resources as possible before it all starts."

Hearing this, Donte's sharp eyebrows narrowed.

'The empire grows ever so hungry, Donte thought.

Well, you should get going; staying outside the town for too long isn't good. Donte exclaimed.

The carriages slowly drove in one by one until none were left.

As Isaiah looked around, he quickly saw the differences between this town and Black Wood.

Pernith was much, much larger than Black Wood and housed a much larger population.

The town was also well developed, with its buildings made of brick and stone-like materials.

Every large town and city had some military personnel stationed there to keep the peace. The larger it was, the more importance was placed on it. For example, Pernith, being a medium-sized town, had at least one person in the third realm.

The ranks of the Empire's military went as

First circle, Second circle, Third circle, all the way up to the sixth circle, where you would become a wing of the Empire.

The reason the ranks were described as circles was because there were many different ways to supreme power, and simply calling it a name wouldn't cut it, though the path you were on would have a specific name. For example, after the mage Disciple stages would come the True mage stage.

Isaiah followed the other merchants to an Inn to rest for tonight.

"As they were walking to the inn, Isaiah thought about the man wearing the crimson uniform he saw earlier; the man in question was Donte.

Isaiah remembered the aura he felt from the man and thought about how powerful he had to be.

That was probably the strongest person he had ever seen in his life.

As he thought back, he felt he could almost see a bunch of different particles surrounding Donte, with red ones being the most abundant. Isaiah wondered what it was he saw.

As they were walking, everyone felt the earth vibrate under them.

Isaiah and the merchants looked at each other to make sure they weren't the only ones.

The merchant thought "How strange."

"Could it perhaps be an earthquake?" One of the other merchants said

As they were thinking, everyone heard loud, blaring alarms threatening to blow out their eardrums.

Oh, come on," Nixon said while slapping his forehead.

It turns out it was an attacking beast horde.

"Weren't all the beast hordes in this area cleared out until the next convergence?" One of the female members of the group said this with panic evident in her tone.

"The only explainable cause for this situation is that a new beast lord must've been born." Nixon explained.

"The town's defenses would certainly be able to hold, right?"