A day later, at the Golden Sail Merchant Guild's headquarters in Stone Salt Town.
"Lord Veylin, are you certain you want a mage apprentice? As you know, even mage apprentices must be 'blooded' to take up the profession. The price... none of them come cheap."
The guild steward was the same fat man Veylin had met before. He rubbed his hands together, confusion in his voice.
For a Pioneer Knight, every copper leaf ought to be spent where it mattered, such as on enchanted weapons or powerful guards.
"I have some special circumstances. I need a mage who can sense the flow of ether."
Veylin leaned back in his chair, relaxed. The unspoken message in his words was clear-don't ask questions you shouldn't.
"Of course, of course. Your will is my mission."
The steward immediately bowed and said no more. Soon, he brought a young man into the room.
The boy looked no older than sixteen or seventeen. He wore a gray apprentice's robe washed pale, his frail body looking almost lost inside its loose folds.
He clutched a crude staff carved from White Ash. No mana crystal was set into its head; it had merely been polished smooth.
He kept his head lowered, looking nervous, as though he dared not meet the eyes of a true noble like Veylin.
"Lord Veylin, this is Leo, a mage apprentice. He has some talent for sensing ether, and his price is quite reasonable," the steward said, introducing the boy.
Veylin said nothing. His gaze rested on the boy for a moment.
[Leo] [Level: Level 1 mage] [Bloodline: Fairy descendant (bronze tier) 32%, mixed bloodlines 68%] [Abilities: None] [Overall assessment: A novice who has only just crossed the threshold into the supernatural. Possesses a faint intuitive sense of ether flow. Bloodline optimization available.] [Optimization plan: ...]
That would do.
"Leo?" Veylin said.
"Y-yes, my lord." The boy abruptly raised his head and awkwardly performed a mage's salute.
"I'm hiring you to find an area of concentrated ether for me. A lower concentration is acceptable. Can you do that?"
"Yes! I can, my lord!" Leo's eyes lit up. "I've learned two spells, Mana Sense and Ether Index. I can sense the direction of ether flow within a kilometer. As long as there's an Ether-Rich Zone, I'm sure I can find it!"
"Good." Veylin rose. "Three silver moons a day, with meals and lodging included. We leave now."
The price left both the steward and Leo stunned for a moment.
For a mage apprentice just starting out, this was undoubtedly generous pay-the steward's own daily wage came to less than five silver moons.
"Thank you for your kindness, my lord!" Leo bowed deeply, his face flushed red with equal parts excitement and gratitude.
Veylin thought little of it. Useful people naturally deserved pay to match their worth.
Before leaving, Veylin handed the steward a note listing the materials he needed.
Since they were all common materials, Veylin simply bought several crates to take with him.
On the way back to Graymist Village, Veylin and Leo shared a carriage-not because Veylin couldn't ride, but because Leo, who came from a commoner family, couldn't.
Because the body's original owner had been "bloodless," everything he knew about bloodlines had come from ancient books of dubious authenticity. He had never studied the subject systematically.
To test some of his suspicions and assess his new employee's expertise, Veylin started a conversation.
"Leo, tell me what ether is, as you understand it."
"Huh?" Leo hadn't expected this noble lord to chat with him. He nervously sat up straight, like a student called on by his teacher.
"Ether... is the foundation of the world, the source of life for all things," he answered as though reciting a textbook. "It's everywhere, like air and water. Whenever we breathe or eat, we exchange ether with our surroundings."
"And what about 'Ether-Rich Zone'?"
"Those are different, my lord!" Speaking about his field, Leo grew increasingly relaxed and talkative. "Ordinary ether is like a quiet stream, while a rich area is like a lake fed by countless streams. The ether there is more concentrated, and the local geography gives it particular attributes. In a rich area, practicing breathing techniques or raising magical creatures becomes far more efficient."
"Are they hard to find?"
Leo scratched his head and said, a little sheepishly, "Not really. Unless you're in a 'dead zone,' Ether-Rich Zones of varying concentrations can be found all over the continent. It's just that the larger ones are more likely to spawn powerful magical beasts, or they've already been claimed by great nobles and mages."
Veylin nodded in understanding.
That confirmed his suspicions.
Ether wasn't some scarce resource. It was a ubiquitous energy field. All he needed to find was a "node" where that field was stronger.
Over the next few days, with Leo guiding them, Veylin and a ten-man squad led by Barrett began surveying the hills along the marsh's outskirts, working outward from Graymist Village.
Yet the task proved far harder than they had imagined.
Leo's spells did work. The tip of his White Ash staff gave off a faint glow in response to the flow of ether.
But the environment around Graysea Marsh was simply too hostile.
The first site they surveyed was a mud pool bubbling with green gas. Leo said its ether concentration was decent, but the acrid sulfur stench and mud poisonous enough to kill a hare made it useless as a campsite.
The second site was a steep slope bristling with jagged rocks. Leo's staff shone astonishingly bright, but when Barrett sent men up to investigate, they were met by a swarm of fist-sized Spineback Bees armed with venomous stingers. They nearly lost men.
Four days passed without a single success, and the mood grew increasingly grim.
The air changed, too. The sea breeze that usually blew so often had stopped, and a stifling, humid heat settled over everything. The sky was so dark that evening seemed to have arrived early.
On the morning of the fifth day, Old Walker appeared before Veylin's party as they were about to set out. He gazed gravely into the depths of the marsh, rubbing his withered fingers together uneasily. "My lord, something's wrong. The Weeping Moon is coming."
"The Weeping Moon?"
"It's Graysea Marsh's rainy season, my lord."
Old Walker's voice was low and hoarse.
"Every year in early summer, it rains in Graysea Marsh for more than a month straight. When that happens, the whole marsh becomes part of the sea. The muddy ground beneath our feet turns into bogs that can swallow people alive, and the magical beasts living deep in the marsh all come out to hunt."
He paused, his clouded eyes holding a fear rooted deep in his blood.
"When I was young, I saw an adventuring party fail to get out before the rainy season. There were more than fifty of them, and fewer than ten survived. The roars of the beasts in the marsh blend together, day and night without end, as though the entire marsh is wailing. That's why those of us whose families have lived here for generations call it the 'Weeping Moon.'"
Veylin's already pressing sense of urgency sharpened into frustration-he was out of time.
He glanced over the village walls. They were fairly sturdy, but could only fend off scattered magical beasts.
He couldn't leave his fate to the beasts in the marsh!
"Keep moving," he ordered.
Before the Weeping Moon arrived, he had to find an Ether-Rich Zone, use the Springlaw Messenger to accelerate the evolution of the Stone-Skinned Vine, and "print" a sturdy castle with his own hands—one strong enough to withstand a rampaging tide of magical beasts!