Catching up to speed (3)

As the day light shone on the endless forest, few rays of light penetrated through the dense tree canopy, elevating some of the dark.

On a certain path inside the forest, two figures could be seen walking. The first figure belonged to a man that wore a gray hooded cloak, while the other, wore a slightly haggard black cloak.

The man that wore the black cloak was silent, while the gray cloaked man was talking.

"At the beginning of the disaster, the number of artifacts around the world could easily reach several millions, or even more. However, as the time went on, and as the long awaited beasts' attack never came, the unrest inside the cities grew. With the emergence of artifacts and life energy, many new organizations that gathered those people were established. These organizations had amassed strength and might that did not lose out to the local governments. Hence, when the governments wanted to dissolve these organizations, and take over their 'assets,' to restore things to the way they were, things did not go as planned, and completely spiraled out of control."

"Anyway, the following power struggle persisted for long time, creating chaos and anarchy that took lives almost just as the beasts' invasion did. Finally, and when the dust settled, new overlords arose in the cities."

"What followed after wasn't peace, but even more chaos. At the beginning, taking other magicians' artifacts wasn't possible, only the gemstones. However, not long afterward, a method was discovered to seize the artifacts, and then merge them to advance the grade of the possessed artifacts. This way, it became possible to advance the artifacts to rare, special, and even the legendary epic grade. Also, there were some rumors of an even higher Grade beyond Epic, a one that unlocks superior spells!"

"The sheer destructive power that the rumored grade spells can inflict became an obsession for all the mages. It became a goal to be pursued at all costs. What followed, was as one can expect, absolute disorder, and wide spread wars. This period, was called the great mage war!"

"Although using artifacts to advance ranks became an obsolete idea, due to the disastrous cost. But, if one was to rank up using the normal way, then the artifacts would automatically unlock all of the spells of the rank that the artifact holder had advanced to. This means that if an artifact holder advances to the second rank, his artifact would unlock all of the second rank spells in its store, and make them available to him. Also, it was undeniable that the artifacts contain spells from the first rank, all the way to the fourth rank. And if one merges artifacts and manage to raise his artifact's grade to the epic grade, then he'd be in possession of epic grade spells! Now, and considering that it was possible to extract these spells, and teach them to other, possessing such treasure became enough to erect a large force, and push it to the peak, like a clan, a family, or other sorts of none-familial based organizations. Any organization that has strong spells in their possession; they can continually attract fresh blood and protect their interests, they can become top force, with no expiration date. Without spells, especially these rare and higher grade ones, organizations would either crumble or get swallowed by others. Master, you are a mage yourself… sure you can understand the importance of having powerful spells as your weapons."

"Anyway, master, the interference of the arch-mage put an end to this war, all over the world. His power and knowledge was not something that others could stand up to. Hence, no one objected to his involvement. However, by that time, most of the artifacts had either been merged or destroyed. The remaining number was no more than a thousand, or even less."

"Anyway, when an artifact holder dies or gets killed, with no one managing to take his artifact, his artifact would then vanish, only leaving small gemstone. Afterward, it would then find the next candidate that holds the suitable aptitude, before appearing at his wrist. This was how the artifacts were distributed in the first place. The top organizations in the world forbade others from possessing an artifact, and threaten with unimaginable punishments, while offering huge rewards to those that hand over their acquired artifacts or give information that leads to the capture of an artifact holder. They do so because they want to gather these treasures all for themselves, to increase their strength, and on the same time, to prevent others from creating organizations that can compete with them for resources and influence.

Ramie fell deep in thoughts, digesting the infos: 'so this is why the top forces in the world forbade others from possessing artifacts… it's all for the sake of obtaining the powerful spells for themselves…'

This made ramie feel an intense pressure. If news got out that he has an artifact, and a special grade one at that, then his small life would come a pathetic end, without him having the chance to even resist.

This wasn't illogical. After all, the spells for mages were everything. Without them, the magic energy is simply ammo with no shooting weapon. And if the grade of the spells were to be depicted, then if a common grade spell was a handgun, then rare grade spell was like a heavy machine gun, special grade spell is like a bazooka or a missile. As for the epic grade, that was something even grander.

Ramie started swallowing hard. If he was defeated here, then he would have been thrown into the meat grinder without even knowing why. Had he not used the contract, then Cyril would most definitely have not told him any of this, and instead led him to a top force to claim the prize on his head.

He was literally a hair width away from the gallows, without even him knowing.

This Cyril attacking him was not his bad luck; on the contrary, this was the best windfall he had ever gotten in his lifetime.

"Cyril, tell me everything that can even remotely endanger my life in any way, leave out nothing at all!" Ramie spoke in severe tone. "But, before that, is there any way you know to conceal the existence of the artifact?"

Sensing the tense tone, Cyril didn't dare to delay, and spoke all that he knows about the matter: "Yes master! It was said that the arch-mage handed the top organizations series of commands that could be used to activate special functions in the artifacts. However, and as the rumor goes, they chose to withhold this information to themselves, and didn't spread it. This was leaked by one of the famous mages that betrayed his organization. Afterward, the top forces in the world did their best to conceal the matter, however, they still failed. I myself don't know what these commands are, however, if one pays a suitable prize to the right person; it is to my knowledge still possible to learn these matters."

"You're saying that even after the arch mage knew that they concealed this matter, he still didn't spread it himself, or force them to publicize it?" Frowning, Ramie asked.

"I don't know why he did so, master."

At this point, there was no way for Cyril to not understand the current situation. This man, without a doubt, was drifter; someone who grown up in an environment separated from human societies, and had no idea that humanity still exists. Most likely, he was one of those that live thinking that they are the last of mankind.

Thinking as such, Cyril's heart bled in agony.

For someone to spend his life inside the forest, and without dying, this guy's strength should be on an insane level, yet, he actually attacked him. For these drifters, even if they were only at the first rank, their actual battle power was not something someone like him, coming from the safety of the underground society could compare to.

'I can't be blamed! Who would have thought that with how small these drifters number are, I would actually have the misfortune of meeting one of them? Also, these people live way deep into the forest, very far from cities… how was I suppose to know that one of them would actually come this close to a population center!' Cyril consoled himself, bitterly.

The chance of his meeting a drifter this close to the underground society should have been none-existent, as these people usually live in extremely secluded areas. If they lived nearby, then they would have found the cities long ago, and wouldn't have become drifters.

After cursing out few times in his heart, Cyril kept talking none stop, bringing Ramie up to speed on everything he could think of.

The two moved toward the general direction that leads to the underground city, which was the closes human gathering in the vicinity. Cyril had gone off the cleared route for days, as he pursued his 'target.' Now, he could not find it, and was lost in an uncharted area.

However, he could still tell the general direction that leads back to the underground city. But due to his fear of meeting some powerful beasts, he did not dare to take it before. He had decided to resort to this option only as a last choice.

But, now that Ramie took this route, Cyril had no choice but to follow. In any case, bloodline mages have a powerful ability to sense auras, so, their chances of encountering beasts should be at minimum.

"If we continue this way, then how long would it be before we reach the underground city?"

"If we keep walking in a straight path, and if nothing goes wrong, then we should arrive in about two days." Cyril answered.

"Mmm… Tell me about this underground city." Ramie threw a question.

…