Risk Takers
At this time of day, Ervin remained consistent as ever. The atmosphere within his room was heated to an uncomfortable degree. It was far too hot for anyone to reasonably cool down in.
The source of the heat came directly from Ervin's palm. At the center, a small swirling formation of fiery flames whirling about, rhythmically swaying by Ervin's control.
The small wisps of flame represented Ervin's 5% control over the Frantic Fire Storm Art!
He was now at the point where he could at least condense the essence of flames into his palm.
The pace was considerably fast. Many other red colors would be struggling to surge flames to their fingertips. Others would even horrifically burn themselves from a proper lack of Fire Mana control.
It was at this time when sunrays came shining through Ervin's window, his phone suddenly went off.
The noise awoke Ervin from his magical trance as he knew the reason for this text message.
The heat evaporated, allowing the temperature to drop to more reasonable levels.
Ervin wiped the sweat from his brow, picked up the phone, and read through it. What he read left him with a calm smile.
One message was from Harvey detailing that he managed to convince Jane and Kane to come with them. And the other was from Glenn telling him to meet at a specific location only two hours later.
Ervin prepared as much as he could for this moment. He quickly washed up, packed his small cosmos sack, and left for the moment he hoped would change his entire life.
...
The trip down to meet the group went along fairly quick. With his Mage Enforcer uniform, Ervin had the clearance to get close to the city's exit without any problem.
These areas are specifically for Mage Enforcers to gather their bearings before leaving for patrol. The area was relatively empty today as it was a day off for new recruits and several of the senior teams.
Naturally, there were still senior teams patrolling as the Mage Enforcer organization could never take a single day off.
The ones who were here simply gave Ervin a curious glance before turning their attention elsewhere.
It was a day off for many. But this does not mean a Mage Enforcer can't explore the Twilight Woods on their own.
It's highly discouraged to do so. But to foster this sense of freedom, there were no rules preventing them from going out on their own.
Ervin did wonder if this truly was some kind of ploy to gain further control over Mage Enforcer's actions. He could see many other tactics his superiors do take to inspire more loyalty.
Even if his guess was right on the mark, Ervin wouldn't care anyway. He's just glad to use their resources in general.
With only a couple of minutes of searching, Ervin soon found his group who were also making it to the spot around the same time as him.
Ervin spotted everyone. Jane, Kane, Harvey, Alice, Glenn and Jerry, nobody new were with them.
It would be a bit better to have a higher number group. But to Ervin, their numbers were just manageable enough to prevent any unexpected chaos from happening within the group.
Ervin came as everyone was greeting each other, his steps gathering the most attention from the group.
He faintly smiled and waved, "Glad to see we all can make it. Our group should be more than good enough."
"Ah. There's some amount of risk." Glenn slightly smiled as he scratched his head. "Actually, I wanted to gather more of us. But not everyone was far too keen on taking that leap of faith. People in the same rank as us are more concerned with getting through their lives without any extra drama. While the more ambitious people made some less than desirable demands for wanting to come with us."
"Oh? That's a shame but not really too outrageous. I tried telling my friends about some opportunities we all can benefit from, but they all subtly shut me down. No matter, it's always the risk-takers that can spring up in life!" Jane confidently spoke up.
She saw not taking a plunge into risk as the more cowardly choice. Cowardice is especially something not needed when anyone becomes a Mage Enforcer. That was practically beaten into her brain.
"There's that. And there's also the fact that people just don't want to die or really get injured at all, you know?" Kane spoke in opposition.
He may have taken the risk. But his greatest confidence stems from the fact that all of his other teammates were here. There was no way he would trust Glenn's team on his own for his own self-preservation.
Before the group began their trek, they took a few minutes to familiarize everything they needed to do.
They already discussed with each other about their strengths and weakness a day before. Ervin vaguely participated in that phone call as he was more focused on his magical practice.
He got less information, but it wasn't too hard to figure out who could do what.
Everyone here was in it for the same reasons. Jane is more self-confident than her team, but she always has a reasonable personality that likes to run on her self-logic.
Harvey and Kane were honest people trying to do good and the same can be said for Glenn's team.
For the time being, a more harmonious atmosphere settled in the group. They became comfortable enough to at least rid away any opening awkwardness.
"Alright." At this point, Glenn clapped his hands. He began to lead the team towards the city exit as he said, "Time waits for nobody. Let's get going."
The others followed his lead, anticipation continually rising up in each of them. Leaving the city only required Glenn to show the guard his special clearance badge that he received from his superiors.
Once inside the outer area, Jerry instantly took out a detailed map. The map marked exactly where they stood and where the demon's valuable spots were.
At the same time, Alice and Glenn took out spray can bottles that were pattered with special magical insignia symbols.
Alice quietly sighed as she caressed the small bottles. "Hopefully we brought enough for the way there and back. I don't want to be caught up with any Demonic Beasts in all honesty."
"There should be enough. We made sure to overstock ourselves. Even as it came at a huge hit to our wallets." Glenn similarly sighed as he forced the memory of the lost money to the back of his mind.
Everyone there already knew what these small bottles were. Ervin's eyes gleamed with slight intrigue at them.
These were Magical Repellant Sprays. As anyone could guess, these sprays are used to repel any Demonic Beasts from one's area.
The Poison Mage who created these sprays somehow crafted a toxin that any Demonic Beast would find absolutely horrid to get close to. And if a Demonic Beast does get close, their life force would slowly drain away through the poisonous power of the spray.
The spray itself had little effect on humans. As long as one isn't directly eating the cans, they would be completely fine.
The tool was powerful. But naturally, it came with a weakness.
That being it was impossible to repel away Demonic Beasts stronger than Middle Stage Class 1. Stronger Demonic Beasts can simply shred through the poisonous toxins with sheer magical strength.
Thankfully, the route they were going on was still in the outer area.
Glenn and Alice sprayed out the cans, spewing a wave of faint green magical lights to shroud the group.
The faint magical fog was filled with Mana nobody in the group could understand. Its intense sensation trembled their souls, all of them feeling attraction to a higher magical power.
There was no need to worry about having to constantly spray the cans, the magical fog would follow the cans it was sprayed out from until the magical energy within the fog finally dispersed.
Jerry now led the way with the magical fog up. They walked with a pep in their state. Their bodies weren't completely tensed up, but they did not lower their guard even as they were protected within the fog.
The walk started out quiet. When they got deep enough with still no Demoninc Beasts coming out to them, the group finally felt relaxed enough to talk.
Ervin vaguely listened in as he curiously gazed around the Twilight Woods.