Second World

”Ah… I see what you mean. So I can have a Therras Beast pet, right?” Jack said.

”Yes, considering that beast was this countryʼs national mascot. It will carry a great significance for you to have such a beast as your pet,” Peniel said. ”Not to mention it was also a very powerful beast. It was a top-class beast of choice for any Beastmaster.”

”A beastmaster can also transform into a beast during a fight, canʼt it?” Jack asked.

”Yes, that should increase your melee prowess,” Peniel answered.

”Hm… All right! Letʼs go Beastmaster route then!” Jack declared.

With the choice decided, Jack used Town Return Scroll to teleport directly to Thereath. On the way to the Archer Academy, he sent a message to Fierce Flame. He had previously asked about the Rogue trial as preparation for him undertaking the test. The Rogueʼs trial consisted of a long lane filled with contraptions where a Ranger must pass through. Similar to the whirring blade contraption he found inside Temple of Divine Squall, but with more varieties and less deadly. A Ranger would not get instant death when hit by this contraption. There was, however, a time limit. If they failed to reach the other end when the time ran out, they were considered to have failed the trial.

Since he was now no longer taking the Rogue trial, that information was no longer useful. Fierce Flame sent him all the information about Archer Trial. It was an accuracy test. One was provided a bow to use or the Rangers could just use their Throw Weapon skill, this skill had no cooldown during the trial. The Ranger must hit several targets within a time limit and from a predetermined range. The first half of the trial had static targets, the last half had moving targets. The Ranger had to reach a minimum score to pass the trial.

Jack was not a veteran ranged player, but after using a Mage class for a while, his accuracy had increased. He should have a decent chance to pass the trial. Still, he went to a secluded alley and practiced throwing his weapon first. He equipped a dagger for that. He found that throwing a dagger was much easier compared to throwing a longsword.

After several throws, he was satisfied by the result. Although accuracy was not affected by his stats, the finesse and throw-power his Dexterity and Strength provided respectively allowed his throw to fly straight for a long-range, so less chance for a miss-throw.

Jack came into the Archer Academy and followed its due process.

Although he did pass in the end, he had some stumble at the very last part of the trial. The moving targets provided more challenges than he expected. Especially in the last few seconds, the targets moved at a very fast speed. Jack activated his Dragonʼs Eye to allow him a more easy time targeting them. He passed the trial a few points shy from the passing mark.

He exhaled a relief when he saw the points. He couldnʼt afford to wait a few more days to retake the trial.

After passing the trial, Jack was now officially an Archer class. He received the precise Shot skill, which he had no use of. He could still use this skill in conjunction with the Throw Weapon skill, but he didnʼt think he would rely on this skill much. So, all the 15 skill points he had received from Ranger class were kept in stock, he would use them for Beastmasterʼs skills later.

The 15 Attribute points, on the other hand, he spent them all to Endurance stat.

”Are you ready to continue your faction chain quest again?” Peniel asked after they came out from the Archer Academy.

”Yeah. We will again be shopping for common ores first. After that, we will depart,” Jack said.

”You said before that you have an idea of how to look for Aubelard, right? I thought at first you are going to ask for help from your guildmates.”

”They have their own tasks to worry about. I canʼt burden them with mine. Also, though they could roam the wilderness already, their mobility is still limited. Some areas are still difficult to explore. Their help wonʼt be efficient.”

”How about asking the prince to use his army for the search? He should have enough manpower for that,” Peniel suggested.

”We will leave that to our last option,” Jack said. ”I personally donʼt want to go that route. That Aubelard we are searching for is in hiding. A large-scale search by the army will be easy to be spotted. Aubelard might move away or go into even deeper hiding if he finds out. If that happens, it will be much harder to find him.”

”So, what do you have in mind?” Peniel asked.

”What I have in mind will need your help.”

”Me?”

”Yes, more precisely, your knowledge. Out of all the cities or towns or villages in this Themisphere Kingdom, are there any particular places that receive less sunlight throughout the year? For example, a village that is surrounded by high mountain, so it is shrouded by mountainʼs shadow most of the time.”

”Oh? You think because he is a Vampire, he will be looking for places like that to live?”

”If Iʼm a vampire, I will be looking for such places to live,” Jack answered. ”Donʼt forget that Horatio said he is wounded and canʼt move too much. He will be looking for a permanent place to stay when he escaped into this country. It will be weird if he stays in a place and only comes out at night. People will start wondering something is wrong.”

”A vampire can still come out during the day, you know. Itʼs not like they die after exposure to sunlight. They are simply weakened,” Peniel explained.

”Yes, but remember Horatioʼs info about the vampireʼs disguise. It is not workable under sunlight. I doubt he will be exposing himself using his real appearance, a vampireʼs feature is rather easy to notice. He will be using disguise if he stays in one place. Which means he will be looking for a place where he can use his disguise most of the time. So, is there such a place or not?”

Peniel gave the matter some thoughts. ”Well… Actually, I can think of several places.”

”Several?” Jack was astounded. He would think that a place that lacked sunlight will be rather rare. He had been afraid that Peniel will tell him there was no such place, but now the fairy was telling him there were several. He was both glad and concerned. Glad because now he had a starting point of where to look. Concerned because if there were too many of these places, he would still spend a long time searching.

”How many of such places are there?” Jack asked.

”Six,” Peniel answered. Jack sighed a relief. Six was still a reasonable number.

”Four were the case to which you mentioned before, they were mostly blocked by a mountain, causing them to receive little sunlight during the day. One had a strange phenomenon where the sky was always covered by thick dark clouds. The locale said it was the result of an ancient wizardʼs spell gone wrong. The last one was because it was built underground.”

”Underground?” Jack asked.

”It was originally built by a family of dwarfs who migrated to this country. More settlers came and the place grew. It was now the size of a small town.”

”Impressive, but I think we can rule out this underground town and the one with permanent dark clouds. Or at least left them for the last places to search.”

”Why? I thought that will be the most ideal place if one wants to avoid sunlight,” Peniel asked.

”They are. But they are also too obvious. I bet Horatioʼs undercover agents would have searched these two places already,” Jack answered. ”A more likely place is not too obvious but still serves its function. We will look for those four places covered by mountains. Are they small towns as well?”

”One is a large town, two are small ones, the last one is a village.”

Jack opened up his Map interface. After traveling to Sangrod and Liguritudum, a subsection had appeared on his map, showing a country map or world map. Of course, when he opened, most was still clouded by grey fog. Only the places he had been to have the fog cleared.

He opened the country map version and said to Peniel, ”Can you mark their locations on my map? Just their rough positions are fine.”

”Sure,” Peniel said and went on to interact with Jackʼs map. Soon the marking dot appeared inside the grey fog area.

Jack studied their positions. Then said, ”Letʼs try this one first.”

Peniel looked at the one he was pointing at. ”That one was the second closest to Tranviste. Horatio said Aubelard escaped from Tranviste, right? Why donʼt we look for the closest one first?”

”If I am Aubelard, I will be cautious enough to put as much distance from Sangrod Empire. So I think the closest one will be the most unlikely. We will search inside the second closest place first. If we find nothing, we will go to the third closest and then the furthest one. If still no result, we will then look in the closest one.”

”If we still donʼt find him then?” Peniel asked.

”Can you please not be so pessimistic?” Jack said wryly.

😉