Chapter 41 The City
Vincent looked at the Red-Winged Serpent on the ground. It was about eight meters in length with a width similar to his body.
It has gray scales but a red luster can be seen whenever the light passes through it. It is such a beautiful serpent and he didn't expect it to be like this.
At first, he imagined it to be some hideous creature that is slowly forming limbs to evolve into a basilisk. However, it really was just an oversized serpent with bat-like wings.
"You did great, Tara. If I decided to fight this creature, I would probably have to destroy its beautiful scales." Vincent commented.
Tara didn't speak too much and only nodded at him before she found a place to sit down.
"Is it dead?" Yvette asked.
"I think that it just fainted. I will kill it now."
Vincent said as he pulled out his Silver Ruin Dagger. However, Yvette stopped him immediately.
"You can't. The three precious scales will be useless if you kill this serpent now. You have to remove the three precious scales first before killing it."
"Eh? Why is that?"
"Ugh, so you're not even aware of it." Yvette can only wryly smile as she started to explain the precious material that can only be found on this type of creature.
Apparently, the serpent doesn't have valuable fangs, venom, or organs. This is mostly because it is in the state of evolution and everything is quite messed up within its body.
However, three of its beautiful scale can still be very useful to create magic tools using alchemy.
This is what Yvette wanted.
"T-thanks for letting me know. I guess I still have to study, huh. I probably can't rely on what I've just learned in the village. Ahh… Miss Yvette, is there a book I can purchase that can help me regarding the material I can loot from Savage Beasts?"
"You're interested, huh. I guess you really like hunting them. Anyway, there is a library in the city. There should be a book called Third Compendium of Beasts. That's probably what you wanted to read if you want to know more about the Savage Beasts."
"A Compendium of Beasts? A Bestiary… That's good. I will keep it in mind. But now, what do we do about the rest of its body?"
He asked after collecting the three precious scales of the serpent. The three scales weren't that huge and were only a little bit bigger than an adult's thumb. However, they seem to possess an incredible amount of Mana which made Vincent a bit nervous.
It is like he's holding a bomb that is about to explode.
He already killed the serpent after removing the scales on its body. Apparently, as soon as he did this, the red luster disappeared from all its other scales and he didn't have to ask Yvette to know that they were no longer of any value after they became like that.
In short, those three scales were truly the only valuable materials on this creature.
"I'll just bury it with my Earth Magic. Leave it to me." Yvette confidently said as she asked Vincent to bring the serpent outside.
As soon as it was brought outside, Yvette took a deep breath as she carefully manipulated her mana.
"Earth's Hand…"
Suddenly, the ground under the corpse of the Serpent moved… The ground vibrated weakly before the corpse was dragged down completely.
"Incredible… I've seen it a few times now but Mana to Element Magic is really incredible." Vincent bitterly smiled as he knows that he can't learn the Tier 3 Mana Arts.
He can only admire it from the side hoping that he could learn it someday.
"Did you reach a bottleneck and couldn't advance your rank as a magician?" Yvette curiously asked. This may not be an appropriate question since answering this is pretty much revealing your weakness.
However, she genuinely wanted to help him since she knows that he already has the foundation to learn the Tier 3 Mana Arts.
"Yes… It's been a while since I mastered my Tier 1 Mana Arts. My grandpa told me that I could naturally learn it after mastering two or three Tier 1 arts. However, I have already mastered 4 Mana Arts but I'm still unable to see any progress. I also have plenty of mana in my core."
"Ohh… That's good to hear. As expected, you really have a good foundation. How about talent? May I ask what grade was it? Or were you able to measure it when you were young?"
"Yes. I was told that I have a low-grade talent in Mana Cultivation."
"Really? A low-grade talent with an incredible amount of Mana. You're also an Aura Knight. I can't believe it."
She was obviously shocked after hearing such a low evaluation.
'Perhaps his parents lied to him about his real talent? Ugh, whatever…'
In the end, Yvette suggested to Vincent that he needs to hire an Adept Mage to look into his Mana Flow and find any problem with it.
"An Adept Mage, huh…"
"Yes… If you earn enough money, you will be able to hire them to give you some pointers."
"Don't you have one in your Clan?"
"Ugh… I'm sorry Vincent. Most of the Mana practitioners in our family our Magic Knights. Adept Mages are magicians who were able to have at least three Tier 4 Mana Arts after all. It wasn't easy even for our family."
Yvette wryly smiled as she explained the huge chasm between the Tier 3 and Tier 4 Mana Arts.
Vincent felt glad for Yvette's presence.
Thanks to her, their journey wasn't boring at all.
'It's unfortunate that I didn't find the mysterious grounds that Chief August mentioned. However, I still enjoyed crossing this mountain.' Vincent mused as he recalled the story he heard about the Wither Mountain.
***
The night passed peacefully thanks to Yvette's preparedness. The three of them had a very good sleep which helped them to be filled with energy today.
Along their way, they still encountered a few Savage Beasts but weren't as serious as before.
"We're here." Yvette said as she pointed at the walled city from afar.
She can now finally heave a sigh of relief! She had survived and returned to her home city!
Now, it's time for her to fulfill her promise to Vincent.