Zephyr kept his pace as he got closer to the pillar of light. As he crested over a hill, he paused and took in the sight of what lay ahead of him.
A huge shimmering dome covered a large area of land. It seemed to be a form of barrier swirling with concentric circles of magical energy. It was still transparent, so Zephyr could make out a few things from his vantage point.
The most obvious thing was that there was green, fertile land inside. It contrasted starkly against the bleak, colourless gray world right outside it.
He could spot some buildings scattered evenly inside the the dome. In the center of it all, a particularly large building stood beneath the pillar of light that had brought him here.
He breathed out in awe as he took all this in. "Man... this is the extent of a noble house's wealth and power?"
Even as a layman without any background in magic, he could tell that this was a great feat. He knew the Ryvelin clan wasn't considered the greatest of houses in the kingdom. But still, they could afford to do this for recruits of commoners.
It made him wonder what the rifts their family heirs use for training would probably look like.
As he made a move to start the jog down towards the dome, he spotted movement below from the direction he came from.
Someone was running towards the hill. He squinted his eyes as he tried to make out the features of the person. "Huh? Isn't that the cocky kid?"
The kid looked up and also spotted Zephyr before turning and changing his direction right towards him.
"Look at this kid!" Zephyr chuckled as he quickly scanned around, looking for what the kid was running from before he spotted smoke rising from the distance as some figures began to burst from the sparse treeline.
'It's those fucking ant-like things!'
'Did he go provoke them or something?'
Zephyr could now make out the devilish grin on the kid's face as he bundled straight towards him, along with the creatures hot on his tail.
Zephyr snorted at what the Blondie was trying to do before bursting down towards the dome, going out of the kid's view.
By the time the kid crested the hill panting, he quickly scanned below for Zephyr's figure but couldn't find a single trace. The creatures were already gaining on him. In fact, they were even more berserk now that he had gotten closer to the dome, like they knew this would be their only chance.
As he started to make his way down the hill, he suddenly spotted a dot in the distance.
"Huh?! Is that... No way that's the guy!" he said, slack-jawed.
"How the hell did he get that far so fast?!" He gritted his teeth and threw all caution to the wind, running without any care. His momentum began to build rapidly as gravity took its toll.
A few meters down and he lost control of his legs, tumbling down the hill.
Props to him, he was now covering more distance than he would have normally, but his body was wracked in pain as he tumbled like a bouncing ball, each bounce covering more distance than the last. Thankfully, there weren't any rocks that could cause him even more fatal damage, but the impact on the dust-covered, dry-caked ground still sent him reeling each time.
By the time he reached the ground, he was reeling in pain and gasping for breath, but the sick grin never left his face. He spat out a mouthful of blood with a roar and stood up, taking after Zephyr.
Zephyr, on the other hand, had gotten to the border of the dome. He placed his hand on the barrier and felt the resistance as he pushed forward. He paused, then reached into his bag to take out his token. This time, the barrier gave way and Zephyr stepped through.
The first thing that was immediately noticeable was the clean, fresh air. He took in deep breaths as he savoured it for a moment. At least now, it seemed whatever had been affecting his mana core had been purified from the air inside this dome. He was tired of getting jolted every five minutes.
He looked around and took in his surroundings. The ground was normal-coloured earth in here, grass was growing in patches around too. He looked forward and spotted some people staring at him not too far away. They were soldiers, standing at their outpost in their black, well-fitted uniforms. He walked towards them with his token in hand as one of the soldiers also walked forward to meet him halfway.
"Good day, sir. I'm a recruit—"
"I can see that," he cut him off, scanning Zephyr from head to toe.
"Hmm, no injuries. You from a mage family?"
"Uhm, no. Just a regular guy."
"How'd you combat the Core flare then?" he asked with a brow raised.
"...Bloodline trait," Zephyr said with a stoic face.
"Hmm..." He turned his gaze towards the barrier, "Seems another one is coming this way too. You'll wait, I don't want to have to do this twice."
"Go wait there," he pointed his thumb towards where the other soldiers were standing lazily.
Zephyr walked forward, greeting the rest of the soldiers, who didn't even bother looking his way, before leaning against the brick wall of the small outpost.
The wait wasn't too long before the blonde-haired kid also made it through the barrier. He was just in time because just as he entered, the ant creatures skidded to a stop outside the dome, clawing around for a way to also get through.
The kid fell on the ground gasping for breath as the same soldier walked up to him and repeated similar questions to the boy before pulling him up and walking back towards the rest of the soldiers.
The kid's gaze locked onto Zephyr in a challenge as he got closer but Zephyr just looked at him in amusement before looking elsewhere.
The soldiers were watching the ant-like creatures moving around like they wanted to get some action. Most of them turned to a man sitting with his legs crossed and propped up against some low lying bricks, a book covering his face. He seemed to be a higher ranking officer— the deference and the lighter black colour of his uniform sepatated him from the others.
The man simply sighed, "You can warm yourselves up a little... but don't go overboard."
"No worries, captain, we're just gonna grease our stiff joints," they laughed as they began to walk towards the barrier where the ant creatures were clawing to no avail.
The soldier guiding the blonde-haired kid called out to Zephyr as he walked further away from the outpost towards the center of the dome. Both Zephyr and the Blondie cast glances back as they heard sounds of explosions and laughter coming from where the soldiers were.
"Tch! Those guys get to have the fun while I'm stuck doing this..." the soldier muttered.