Pillar of Yita

Before long, Fang Hong saw the team Hilveld had mentioned.

It was a sizable team, the long line snaking its way through the forest.

He noticed there was more than one guild, but rather several small guilds forming a union team, among which the group with the most members all wore blue cloaks with crosses, constituting the core of this team—while many others wore battle attires of different designs and colors.

Some had as many as a dozen people, others only a few.

Given the visibility of the enormous beast of burden in the forest, those people naturally noticed Mr. Greyrock and Fang Hong’s group. The team slowly came to a halt, and after what seemed like a brief discussion among them, a group of those clad in blue with crosses gradually approached.

Standing on the platform, he watched as the team crossed the battlefield from last night where they fought the Night Lizard People, inching closer to them—

The corpses of the Night Lizard People in the clearing had already disappeared, returning to the deities they worshipped. The Night and War Lizard People possessed certain intelligence and worshipped a nature spirit, a minor deity, thus they also had a Resurrection Temple.

However, traces of the battle could not be erased, with broken trees and large swaths of scorched earth, and the conspicuously large beasts of burden seemingly hinting that this ’merchant group’ was not to be trifled with.

Indeed, these people seemed to mistake Fang Hong and his companions for an armed merchant group, since merchants typically travel with large beasts of burden in the wilderness. Their team also brought along numerous livestock, but those were smaller mountain beasts of burden like yaks and Fenris Ground Dragons.

The approaching team consisted of five people.

Four men and one woman, with one man and woman among them appearing older than the others, who were younger. They stopped at a safe distance and shouted:

”Are you the merchant group heading to Cloud Harbor?”

As Princess Briana had told everyone, near the Golden Bay Anchorage lay a small village that housed only a handful of hunters before the discovery of the anchorage. However, since its discovery half a century ago, the area had gradually grown, often housing passing merchants for extended stays or stopovers.

Thirty years ago, merchants from Cloud Harbor built a road across Fenris Isle, and since then, commercial activity between the two locations started over land.

Therefore, encountering small merchant groups along this route wasn’t unusual.

The man who called out was an average-looking middle-aged man, wearing a dirty leather vest; the white shirt underneath was nearly unrecognizable as such. A handgun and two swords, one long and one short, hung from his belt. When he saw the two crossbow cannons, one before the other, mounted on the platform on Mr. Greyrock’s back, each with thick crossbow bolts glinting coldly, he stopped afar and was astounded.

Merchant groups typically use large beasts of burden as transport, but mounting two such crossbow cannons was indeed rare; even calling them armed merchants was an understatement.

However, he likely didn’t realize that the young man on the platform opposite thought this platform wasn’t hedgehog-adorned enough.

Of course, Fang Hong and his group were not actually a merchant group.

Fang Hong, standing on the platform, shook his head at these people and loudly answered, ”We are not merchants, but adventurers planning to head to Cloud Harbor.”

The man then noticed the golden spheres slowly circling the platform and Fang Hong’s metal gloves. Alchemist, he suddenly understood, a team led by an alchemist naturally needed such a large platform for beasts of burden.

Of course, there was also the option of a Combat Artisan to control the Clockwork Fairy, but that man clearly did not think in that direction. In Eteliria, Combat Artisans are generally exclusive to the Grand Guild, as not even ordinary small guilds can afford to train one, let alone a Free Adventurer born Combat Artisan.

Like their Rain Listener Guild, which had no Combat Artisans at all, the guild did have a few professional Alchemists, but they were significant assets of the guild, not lightly involved in adventures.

For their adventures, they generally had Apprentice Alchemists who also worked as trainees, and for just maintaining and servicing Magic Guided Conductors, that was basically sufficient.

The realization of encountering a professional Alchemists’ team brought a smile to that man’s face, and Fang Hong saw him immediately turn to discuss with his companions, who all looked relieved.

While he found it somewhat strange, he then saw the man turn back and shout, ”Are you by any chance a traveling Alchemist?”

Fang Hong hesitated, truly considering whether he was actually an Alchemist.

In Eteliria, while technically the Alchemist occupation also covers Combat Artisans, adventurers usually distinguish between Combat Artisans and Alchemists, the latter generally referring to those solely working as professional Alchemists.

From this perspective, of course, he would be considered a Combat Artisan.

But if one were to delve deeper, his actual commitment to the Combat Artisan domain wasn’t significant, not even half of his total experience—whereas most of his expertise was invested in the route of Artisan Master.

This was because he lacked adaptability to Magic Power, and had no choice but to follow in the footsteps of Hain Famm, inheriting the mantle of an Alchemy Master, which certainly couldn’t be accomplished with just a superficial understanding of Alchemy.