King Of Limbo

Night passed and morning came, the vibrant sun's rays shined into Aron's room as he slowly opened his eyes to the new day. Rather than sleep which his current body seemed to still not need, Aron made it a habit to meditate.

Despite the overwhelming advantages his body had he still had to deal with the vast wills of beasts within him. His strength wasn't hindered but his sanity was greatly at risk if he didn't meditate every so often to calm his state of mind, this was even more so now that he didn't restraint the wills fully.

Meditating also gave him slight insights into the condition and state of his body. 'As I am now if I were to completely go all out I should be at the apex of tier four or early tier five.' Aron concluded as he opened his eyes realizing his earlier thought of his abilities hadn't been all that accurate.

Such a case was not surprising, the current state of the world was built upon the remnants of a fallen civilization. Not only was the concept of mana and magic lacking a proper guide and set laws but even how one was ranked wasn't all that accurate.

Aron followed ranks according to the most common method he learned off in Argos's library which was by checking how dense the mana a certain being held.

The higher someone or something was the more dense their mana would be which was why certain beast's could overwhelm others simply by being in their presence.

'Varying densities.' Aron thought as he stood up from the meditative position he was in. This recent discovery he had just made was the reason behind his earlier assumption.

Unlike normal living organisms, Aron's mana density was continuously shifting. Sometimes incredibly dense other times low, to determine his rank roughly he chose to follow the average density he observed which was between rank A tier four and rank two tier five.

Before he could lament on this any longer a hurried knocking was heard on his door. As soon as he opened the door he found Claudia, Jin and Xavier standing outside his door with concerned expressions.

Aron glanced at the piece of parchment in Claudia's hand and immediately knew the reason for them being there. "So you found the bounty." Aron muttered in a casual manner, it seemed Khalifa and her organization were quickly performing this task.

"You already know?" Claudia asked with a bit of surprise, when she first saw this from a member who brought it back after a morning walk she immediately got extremely concerned.

"Figures." Jin who was the most relaxed spoke out with a smile but deep down he too was bit concerned or he wouldn't have come at all.

"Yesterday I encountered an underground informant who said there was a bounty for me on the black market so I..." Aron proceeded to explain to them a story of half truths, he lied about the origin of the bounty and its distribution but he did say this would benefit them.

"You're right, if news gets out that the heirs lost to a commoner then the major houses will be humiliated even more so since they even sought revenge in such a manner. So that's why the broadcast of the Journey to Ettenheim was blocked this time around... otherwise everyone would already know you fairly beat them and acquired the weapons." Xavier also soon relaxed and couldn't help but laugh at the predicament the major houses were in.

He as an aristocrat knew just how damaging to their prestige this act would be. "At the very least they'd probably blame whichever underground organization released this and purge them completely. However the truth of their loss will still be apparent... they've really fumbled this time." Even Claudia showed a small smile after hearing Aron's explanation, for whatever reason the two of them didn't like the major families.

"Naturally, all I have to do is fend off the wannabe bounty chasers that come my way in the next few days. If that's all you needed confirmation on then excuse me." Aron showed a satisfied expression and walked past the three of them leaving them discussing the matter even more.

Aron wanted to brief Lady Rose on some of his conclusions from the investigation so he his destination was currently her room, however he found that she was seated at a table alone in the large dining area of the building.

He made his way over and took a seat which didn't seem to bother Lady Rose who set down the cup hot leafy tea she was drinking. "Your informant apparently ran off from the inn hurriedly, whatever the case he's far gone or even dead. As for sightings... the beast is definitely a herbivore which matches every creature in the sketches, however according to the claw marks I found only two beasts fit that criteria."

"They are both extremely fast so their nest could well be over eighty kilometers from here but definitely less than three hundred kilometers." Aron explained and Lady Rose nodded. "I reached a similar deduction last night, I estimated they had to be less than two hundred and eighty kilometers because anything beyond that wouldn't match the traits of the creatures you described."

"The desert..." Aron remembered what laid beyond the distance Rose had just mentioned and understood. "Exactly, none of the creatures you mentioned could survive long there so naturally their nest wouldn't be beyond the territory of the forest. That doesn't lessen our possible locations by much however..." Lady Rose stated, clearly thinking this wasn't enough.

"It is progress however, from this we can get closer. These creatures are picky eaters otherwise they would have finished every crop in the outer fields. So we just need to find an area were similar vegetation has been exhausted, otherwise they wouldn't travel long distances like these." Aron's idea seemed to spark some light in Lady Rose's eye. "I need the name of every crop they had eaten, from that I can narrow down vegetation with similar properties and match it with what grows in the forests." She said with a tone of vigor, it seemed they would once again narrow down the location.

With a new direction found, Lady Rose didn't delay in assigning the task of finding the names of the vegetation in the fields to some low ranking members. They found this request odd but who were they to question the request of a grand mage.

As for Aron, he planned on skipping going into the forest today as they wouldn't be any new signs since the creatures never appeared in the fields the night prior.

.....

The day passed uneventfully and the following morning, Aron made his way to the fields and once again he found that no signs of new attacks.

'There's no set pattern in their attacks so I can't predict when they'll attack again. A mana beast can go long periods without nutrition after all.' Upon thinking of this, Aron sighed helplessly and looked slightly irritated that his investigation had reached a dead end for now.

"We won't be going into the forest today." Aron announced to Evanora but her gaze was focused elsewhere, upon following it with his own he found that her attention was towards an approaching airship in the distance.

It lacked luster and was a bit crude which meant it was likely an independent force or minor faction. "Seems they've began to arrive." Aron had long expected forces to start coming after the news of a possible ruin broke out. "Hmm." Evanora only looked at the airship blankly and gave no opinion.

This airship was likely one of many that would soon fill the docks of the city of Findel. This made the need to narrow the location even more urgent. 'Hopefully Rose gets results, it'll be best if we can start looking in a few days time.' Aron before gesturing Evanora to follow him as they made their back to the city