Chapter 258 Exiting The Campus; Into The Forest
The crowd around the panting man soon dispersed back to normal. The man only stared forward.
"I must thank him." He said with resolve.
***
By that time, Lyrian had already traveled far away. He imagined that the brats were going to be questioned for their injuries soon. After being questioned, they would be undoubtedly looked into.
'More so than anything, I just hope they learned their lesson.' Lyrian thought.
***
Before long, he arrived near the outskirts of town. Just like he expected, the workmanship when it came to building architecture, roads, and other structures was less. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought.
Although the buildings were a good bit smaller and more spread around, the landscape was still very high quality. There were no broken roads or unfinished buildings, which Lyrian was slightly surprised to see.
Soon after, he made it to the tall wall that stretched around the campus. Mere feet apart from the walls was the titanic seethrough a magic dome that encapsulated the entire academy grounds.
He was slightly surprised to see students entering and leaving the walls at a pretty high rate. It wasn't like the inner city crowds, but there were at least 10 students he could see right now either entering or leaving the campus.
Most of them looked to be riding on their own unique mounts--each as large as a fully grown horse--and some even larger. Loud stomps sounded beside Lyrian as a rider on a majestic white deer rode by, glancing at Lyrian.
'Upperclassmen. They are not first, or even second years.' He said, as he had seen both years, and the students didn't seem to resemble any.
'The first and second-year students are in the outer academy. These must be the inner academy guys.' Lyrian mused as he walked past the incoming riders and made his way to the wall.
There was a large opening where the students passed through. The iron gate was pulled up, allowing people to freely go in and out. The guards posted on the outside of the wall didn't take a second look at Lyrian, as he walked right through.
While passing through the opening, however, he was stopped by a short man in a small stall within the wall to the left.
"Please, good sir! If you could, show me your hunting license before you pass this gate. It is only a one-time showcase, your lordship, as I have a very good memory." The small, stubby man said with a grin on his face.
Lyrian nodded and passed over his platinum circle plate--his hunting license. 'A dwarf? I didn't expect to see one here.' He said inwardly.
The man, who Lyrian saw was a dwarf, examined the plate for only a small period before passing it back over. "MVP Lyrian Theageld!" He shouted, garnering the eyes of a few passing students.
'He's an MVP huh?' One of the third-year students thought as he walked through. He had green hair.
Others also took note of the kid as an MVP. Lyrian noticed this but didn't care. He took back the plate as the dwarf continued.
"I shall remember you. Safe hunting." He smiled.
Lyrian nodded again, making his way out the other end of the wall opening. He walked patches of grass mixed in with the stone path for a few feet. Finally, he crossed over the blue dome and stepped onto only grassland.
Stopping, he looked up at the sky that was already covered by the treetops. He hadn't even taken two steps from the dome, yet no ray of the sun pierced through the leaves.
Taking a deep breath and preparing himself, he then gazed forward at the deep forest in front of him. Trees were thick in their trunks and were shaped oddly. They were straight, but curved and had bulges and other deformities.
The air was crisp, yet had a tinge of mystery in it, making it elusive--and even a bit frightening for some. Lyrian exhaled his breath and smiled.
"Ah~ this reminds me of when I first entered Eade forest." He said, reminiscing.
It hadn't been too long, but he had entered that forest to find a place to cultivate, just as Lyrian was planning to do here. There was one more thing other than cultivating, however, and that was to hunt.
"Firstly... I'll hunt." He grinned, dashing forward into the forest. As he traveled through the jungle at a quick pace, he became better used to the landscape. It wasn't exactly like the Eade forest, but close enough for him to be quickly acclimated to it.
He had practically lived in the jungle... he liked being in there. He noticed that near the wall, many trees were marked by the hunters. Along with that, there were paths formed on the ground due to the constant travel.
Soon, however, these markings and paths began to dissipate into pure wilderness. Lyrian got excited thinking of how powerful creatures here would be.
It wasn't long before he had found his place in the depths of the untamed forest. It wasn't like this land was claimed or anything... it was fought for day by day by nature and its beasts.
Lyrian looked for an opening, a place where he could potentially set a trap or something of that nature. Traveling at his speed, he eventually found one not too far away.
It was a fair-sized opening, enough to catch even a large beast off guard.
'Before I cultivate, I want to try out just how hard it is to beat up these creatures outside of the academy walls. I want to fight a strong one though, not just some random critter. Not only for its greater materials but also because it will actually be a challenge.' He mused, darting his eyes around the area.
'Hm... I don't really have the time to set a trap and wait. It might just be a good idea to go out and try to find one near this area.' He thought after a few seconds of total silence.
Just then, he felt an odd chill creep down his back. Slightly hesitant, he slowly turned his head.
*ROAR*
As he turned, he met the face of a ferocious tiger, its piercing amber eyes locked onto him with predatory intensity.
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