Chapter 132 Exploring The Center
'... He could sense my presence?' The dark-haired boy thought to himself, a slightly confused expression on his face.
"I don't care about forgiving you, just don't do stupid things again and there won't be any problems." Lyrian nonchalantly said to him with his back turned as he walked back to where Alten was.
The crowd was slightly confused about what Lyrian was talking about but soon dispersed as well. All in all, they seemed to be slightly worried, but overall happy with the experience. It was thrilling after all, and everyone craved a bit of that.
"Hey... my name is Joltun by the way. Joltun Namiel. What's your's?" The black-haired kid suddenly decided to ask.
Lyrian looked back over his shoulder, "Lyrian Theageld." He blankly stated as he resumed walking over to Alten and someone who seemed to be his new friend.
Joltun stood there for a few seconds before walking towards the two stronger groups and having small talk with them. By now, the entire crowd had dispersed.
As Lyrian got to where Alten was, he asked, "So... what about Leon? What happened to him for him to not be here?"
They had already hashed out most of the details of the situation by now, but this was still slightly puzzling to Lyrian.
Alten suddenly came to a realization, "L-leon! He went to a hunt with another group of kids and I couldn't go since the slots were filled but... I think he's in trouble! That Kedward guy spoke about the two of us being separated, so they must have sent some goons to eliminate him out there!" He exclaimed, his tone full of worry.
"Eh... I'm alright." Leon suddenly said from atop one of the stalls as he quickly jumped down and neared them.
Hearing Leon's voice suddenly sound scared the shit out of Alten for a moment, "Dude! Don't just appear like that out of nowhere!" He said, placing his hand on his heart, "Wiat... why are you back early from the hunt if there was no one sent to eliminate you?"
"Oh no... there was. 7 of 'em." He said as all three who heard that looked at him with slightly surprised expressions.
Looking at Lyrian surprised, Leon quickly followed up, "They were weak. Must have underestimated me. But I also got some information about their leader. His name is Spade apparently."
Hearing this, all three had different reactions. Rylan thought to himself, 'Yeah... that bastard.' With slight frustration and fear mixed into his tone of thought.
Alten fearfully said to himself, 'Got information? What the hell did this scary bastard do to them!?' He imagined a scene where Leon tied them all up and tortured them until they gave their answers, which sent shiver's up his spine.
Finally, Lyrian was most shocked to hear this, 'Spade... Spade? I remember that name. From the start of the exam, that was that kid I met back then...'
While the conversation about the topic continued, Lyrian became better acquainted with Rylan. Eventually, they all walked back to Rylan's camp and pitched their tents nearby. Following Alten's suggestion, Lyrian allowed his ostrich to join the others and relax. Once everything was set up, they gathered around a hastily constructed campfire in the middle of the tents.
"You arrived astonishingly quickly... on the 24th day. It took us more than a day to reach here. How did you manage to cover the distance in just a few hours?" Alten inquired with genuine curiosity.
Lyrian pondered for a moment before responding, "I didn't need to stop hunting as you all did on the route. I had the same pace the whole way through." His companions nodded in comprehension, responding with a collective "Ohh..." or "Ahh..."
He continued, "And there's something else... I tested my new power by running part of the way on foot. Needless to say, I've gotten a lot faster."
"What?!" Alten exclaimed incredulously.
"Huh!?" Rylan blurted out in surprise.
"Hahaha!" Leon burst into laughter.
And thus, the 24th day concluded in such lighthearted camaraderie. After going to sleep the next day soon arrived. Everyone spent the morning of that day getting accustomed to the center, and Rylan also introduced Lyrian and the others to some things that they hadn't seen yet.
As they walked around, they could sense the tense atmosphere wherever they went. There were several eyes on them, and they didn't know what intention was behind those eyes.
Nonetheless, their day continued as normal as ever. No interesting things happened, allowing them to explore. They visited where the bulk of the tents were, where potentially tamed mounts rested, where most hunts were hosted, and even a place where kids were selling some items.
All of these places, except for the main hunt hosting area, were pretty far from the main hub where the food stalls were for some reason. But, it kind of made sense.
This wasn't some town or village, but an environment created by kids. Since stealing and other crimes were common, everyone wanted safety at a distance.
Lyrian wanted to check out the things that everyone was selling a bit more before heading back to camp, as the sun was soon going to be its brightest at noon, where the next hunt was going to commence.
In the selling area, there weren't any stalls or anything like that, but a few grass carpets laid on the floor with some items on top of them. They all split up to look at stuff to buy for themselves, and as Lyrian neared one of the shops with a bunch of creature remains, the kid selling the items shouted out, "These are all tier three creature remains. That mean's in the real world, they will sell for quite a bit."
Lyrian stopped as he heard this a took a good look at him. He looked to not be a noble, or if he was one, he was a low-status one. He knelt down, "You can sell this stuff for money?" He asked, having almost no idea of this.
He had heard about the concept before, but it wasn't exactly popular it seemed, since the information he had learned wasn't enough to convince him that it was a real occurrence.
"What? Of course, you can. What are you? Some moron?"