Accompanied by his fellow apprentices and their master, Adept Anderson, Greem stood on the barren, withered plains right outside the Magical Swamp and directed his gaze above.
Casting a massive shadow over them all, the flying… ship, for lack of better word, slowed to a halt and started a slow descent, the dust and dead plants on the ground growing rowdy about in response.
Perhaps impatient to get this pick up over with, a form that only grew more visible with its descent leapt from the ship and dropped with a loud clang about 3 meters away.
Anderson, who had been incensed since morning, grew even more enraged when he identified the figure.
It seemed the masculine figure recognised him too, as upon striding forward, he chuckled and said, "It really is you. I was wondering why we suddenly had to visit one more mission site. Now I understand. You can't hide from us anymore."
Making sure to not draw any undue attention to himself, Greem ran his gaze over the first Body-Refining Adept he'd seen since arriving in this world.
The man was burlier than him, standing at over 7ft tall. His arms and legs were so bulky the young apprentice wondered how the man's clearly well-made, golden armor hadn't been warped by the sheer musculature.
He quickly decided that short look was enough and directed his eyes elsewhere, just in time for Anderson to retort and vent his frustrations.
He waved his magic staff around in anger, letting out a shout with a power and intensity you'd expect from the man he was cursing at.
"You fucking pieces of shit. Bandits! I have said it over and over… the magical swamp is my private territory and place of residence. You have no right whatsoever to turn it into a mission site."
Unphased in the slightest, the giant of a man retorted calmly, his deep voice dripping with disdain. "Yes we do. Are you afraid the association will discover your petty tricks?"
The man laughed.
"Don't forget, this land belongs to the Sarubo Family. You've just been stationed here. You have no right to complain when the family head has agreed to open it up. If you know what's good for you, you'll stop whining and clean up your messes. Those inspection Adepts are very thorough."
Done with his "friendly advice," the masculine adept turned away from Anderson and swept his eyes over the waiting apprentices.
His expression grew even more disdainful, an "as expected" look worming its way onto his face.
He looked back at Anderson, the criticism and contempt he felt for the man on display for all to see.
"After twenty years garrisoning this place, this… is the result? Three and a half-Advanced Apprentices, not one Pseudo-Adept, and a little vampire."
He swept his gaze back and paused momentarily on Mary, sniffing the air in her direction. "Eh… she has some potential, but she hasn't even acclimated to her bloodline, and her foundation is weak."
Not bothering to send Adept Anderson another questioning stare, the Body-Refining Adept moved his eyes from Mary and resumed the visual sweep.
He passed over Greem and the other Advanced Apprentices, all them lowering their gaze due to the prickling sensation. His expression relaxed when he saw Greem and Madwoman, Hawkeye and Evil Bugs experiencing the opposite.
This man really disdained a lot of things.
As for the Intermediate and Beginner Apprentices, he treated them like air. To him, they might as well not exist.
"The association should've converted this place into a mission site long ago. Twenty years and only three advanced Apprentices."
Completely unbothered about his competence as a nurturer being called into question, Anderson resumed his tirade, again, about his "ownership" of the swamp.
Greem wondered how someone so powerful and wise (at least according to his adept level Spirit) could be so stubborn even when a hint slapped him in the face repeatedly.
"Let me emphasize this one more time. This place is mine according to the agreement signed between me and the Sarubo family head. I—"
It seemed the body adept was no longer interested in the Adept's useless complaints.
"Tell that to the association. My job is to bring the Apprentices to their respective mission sites. I don't care about your grievances. Oh right, I heard you taught Deborah's apprentice a lesson some days ago? That woman is gunning for you…"
The man laughed, taking obvious delight in Anderson's future troubles.
Clearly, the crazy old man didn't see it as such. "Deborah? That crazy woman. She's gunning for me? Her apprentice broke into this place and wreaked havoc.
Were it not for her master, I would have experimented on that little wretch. Instead I gave her a light punishment, and that crazy woman still wants to look for trouble…"
The duo went back and forth like this for a few more minutes until the Body focused Adept finally ignored Anderson entirely, his gaze moving to and resting on the awaiting and apprehensive apprentices.
"The ship is going to Erathia, Bracada, and Dagon. Apprentices who chose missions in these places, board the ship now. If you miss this flight, you're going to get there by foot. Apprentices who arrive at their mission sites late will have their Apprentice statuses revoked."
'Looks like we're in the first batch…' Greem nudged and shared a glance with Mary before they both moved.
He clutched the large bag on his back filled with their belongings and joined the other apprentices, hurrying in the direction the Body-Refiner gestured to.
The flying ship had landed it flat bottom on the plains and extended a wooden plank for them. With naturally generated decorum, the boarding apprentices formed two queues and calmly entered the mystical vehicle.
Inside the spacious deck, they joined apprentices from other places, who welcomed them with demeaning and criticizing gazes. As always, Greem treated this juvenile behaviour in the exact manner the body adept treated the Beginner and Intermediate apprentices.
Unlike his fellow tower mates who grew scared and felt challenged, he kept moving upon boarding and quickly found a place to settle down, dragging along the vampire who wanted to stop and engage in the petty posturing.
Like most of the other apprentices they came to meet, he and Mary were Advanced Apprentices, so their disregard would definitely bother these petty snowflakes but they wouldn't dare try anything.
As for the few Pseudo Adepts among them, Greem's regard and fear of them was also non-existent.
While the children measured up each other, the huge adept joined them on the deck and silenced all mutterings with his heavy presence.
The sensation Greem experienced earlier, the one that made the Adept's muscles and strength seem larger than life, hit everyone in full force. The hair on everyone's napes stood at attention, their bodies wracked with unwilling shivers and trembles.
"I don't care where you're from, so long as you are on this ship, you will behave. The deck is where you'll stay. No one is allowed to step into the cabin or cause a ruckus. Anyone who disobeys these rules will be thrown off the ship. Am I clear?"
When nothing but defeated silence and lowered heads greeted his warning, the hulking adept retracted his aura and strolled into the cabin, satisfaction coloring his rough features.
Not a minute later, a little tremble went through the ship, the deck buzzing slightly as it began an ascent.
This being his first time travelling by air in both lives, Greem peered over the deck, allowing himself a slight thrill at the rapidly shrinking ground and people.
He imagined that people in his past life would probably wave goodbye to their family, friends or lovers if this kind of open air transportation existed there.
Alas, this was a world that emphasised benefits and cold rationality over everything else.
The display of emotions and sentimentality in general were not frowned upon per say, but they'd certainly get you looks. Such as the girl rushing along the deck's length, crying as she waved at someone below.
Greem didn't need to turn around to know all the Apprentices watched her with disdain.
'Whole lotta disdain going around today…' he thought with a chuckle.
☀☀☀
Finally at cruising altitude, the airship picked up speed and streaked towards the south, leaving a cloud-like trail of cyan wind elementium in its wake.
Pale yellow wheat fields, tiny windmills, roads that coiled like silver snakes, and human colonies that dotted the rapidly greening landscape blurred before Greem's totally focused eyes.
The sights were amazing and eye-opening, but the multiple and incredibly spaced out nature of the human settlements is what tickled his critical side.
Apart from one city he noted, almost all the villages and towns were located far away from each other, surrounded by dense and large amounts of green.
Within those thick forests too he picked up the activity of wild beasts, even from his incredibly elevated position. The situation on the ground should even be worse, he surmised.
While the humans in these places could deal with the ordinary among these wild creatures, the unpredictable and magical ones were beyond their abilities and required the intervention of apprentices like himself and Adepts.
As the most powerful class of individuals in Lethon, it went without saying Adepts were the true masters of its lands. Yes, they were no longer normal human beings, however most of them made an effort to ensure that baseline humans survived and multiplied.
After all, that's how they obtained new talent.
Struck by how much regular humans were treated like cattle and how personal strength dictated one's ability to live and thrive freely, Greem ceased his sightseeing and lowered himself on the deck, assuming a meditative position.
He was a Pseudo Adept, the absolute zenith a human could reach in this universe. If he wanted to advance, he needed to make a qualitative change in his body and soul.
The upcoming mission would be instrumental in bringing him closer to that goal.
His thoughts were briefly interrupted when Mary joined him and laid down, stretching like a cat as she laid her head on his lap and shut her eyes.
This drew numerous heated gazes their way, mostly on him of course. But it all washed over him like a stiff breeze.
"So? Make any new friends?" he said in a tone only his partner could hear.
A lot of the apprentices had approached with the intent to "befriend" her.
In her always on, no-filter, no restraint approach to life, Mary kept her eyes closed and said, "They're all trash with filthy blood. If they keep bothering me I'll let them know how the Bloody Queen handles pests."
Similarly unphased by the increased aggression in the gazes the "trash" directed their way, Greem noted how the vampire's nose twitched at the mention of "filthy blood" and recalled how his blood had affected the girl's palette.
She'd learned a few blood purification techniques in addition to the extraction and compression ones he'd asked her to learn. Apparently, his blood tasted like heaven, and the only way to get regular blood even close to its level of quality was to cleanse it of impurities.
Glad that he had another way to keep the flighty temptress by his side, Greem smiled and gently brushed his hand through her fiery crimson mane. "Bloody Queen? Fitting name. Though as your boyfriend, I'm wondering, what that makes me."
The stunned vampire's eyes snapped open, Greem's perfect face being so close turning her sharp retort into a confusing stutter. "B-Boyfriend? You wish!"