As he observed the leader, the two alongside Garen were ushered out of the scene by the paramedics who had rushed over, and onto a white carriage.
Lying on the stretcher, Garen’s sights fell on the chivalry leader’s direction unknowingly, and he his felt an unexpected chill.
The other party also looked back at him, his seemed cold and deep.
"We’ll talk in a moment."
A voice echoed by Garen’s ears.
Garen was shocked, He looked around, but there was clearly nobody who was talking to him. He realized that the chivalry leader seemed to nod at him, and turned away.
On the carriage, A team of people were guiding the carriage to a small hospital in White Garcia. A male doctor wearing glasses performed a brief check-up on Garen. There are no injuries, so he gave a prescription to calm his nerves, and also asked Garen to buy some simple medicine for external wounds and disinfectants. He was promptly released after paying for his services.
After Garen left the pharmacy, he found himself at the hospital corridor, and he saw the chivalry leader waiting for him.
Both men stood at the white corridor, looking at each other.
The chivalry leader’s expressionless face forced out a smile, and he reached out his hands.
"Eisenhart, the local leader of the chivalry unit, patrol unit guard and security officer."
"Garen, Garen Lombard." Garen held his hand and shook it, then released them. "Let’s find a quieter spot."
"Okay." Leader Eisenhart nodded, "Follow me."
He turned around and walked into a small ward, Garren followed suit, hanging up the "Do not disturb" sign and locking the door from the inside.
The ward was a simple affair; beds, tables and chairs, and a vase which carried a dried yellow flower.
The window was opened, and the white curtain waved along with the wind.
Leader Eisenhart walked to the window, turned around and looked at Garen silently.
"Be honest, are those people here for you?"
Garen lowered his gaze and nodded.
"I honestly don’t know, but it is possible."
"The totem users in Lush Forest are a already messy enough affair as it is, why are you poking your nose in here? Don’t you know we are in the midst of unrest here? So many people have died just a few days ago, yet you still don’t have the sense to avoid this place? "The chivalry leader opted to save the niceties and lit himself a cigarette, taking a
long puff.
He looked at Garen sideways, his eyes full of deep hatred and fatigue.
"The Lush Forest is in a situation where we find two or more totem users dead every day, it doesn’t matter which side are you from, this is still not the right time to come."
"I actually don’t know anything…." Garen frowned, "I’m just a normal person who just graduated. My house is here, I just want to go home. And this unrest you spoke of, what’s up with that? What’s a totem user? I only know of Luminarists…"
The chivalry leader took another deep puff, the cigarette head lit up with embers.
"A normal person who’d just graduated?" He took a sharp stare at Garen, like an eagle who had locked onto its target.
His thoughts churned for a while, before extending his right arm.
Pa!
He snapped his finger.
In that instant, a circle of silver patterns formed from his fingertip.
The pattern rippled in waves, and it spreaded out to every corner of the ward. At the same time, it swept onto Garen’s body too.
The chivalry leader stared at Garen, as if he was looking for some reaction, but unfortunately came up empty.
At that point, the chivalry leader had a face full of expressions. It seemed like that he had relaxed. He violently squashed the cigarette butt, and threw it onto the ashtray on the table.
"Very well, very well, it seems that I have misunderstood you, you are indeed a newbie." The chivalry leader’s stern face turned warm. "Alright, have a seat, you’re a Luminarist? A traditional one?"
Garen looked at him confusedly. "Aren’t you?"
"No, not that. I’m a Luminarist, of course, but I belong to the totem user inside. Don’t tell me even this is beyond your knowledge?" Chivalry leader Eisenhart looked shocked. "Did your teacher not tell you?"
Garen shook his head. The other party looked even more weirded out.
"Alright." He pulled a chair over for Garen, signaling him to sit down. "It’s been a while since I saw a newbie so innocent. Call me Eisen, familiar people call me that anyway."
"Alright, Mr Eisen." Garen recollected his thoughts. "I would like to ask, what are totem users? And what’s the situation with the Lush Forest?"
"I can answer those two questions." Eisen held his hands together. "In essence, Luminarists are a complex topic and covers a lot of research and application. But human intelligence and energy is limited, so we
we have each specialize on our own fields. Luminarists have three core roles, Luminarists, Forgers and Totem Users. Luminarists fill the traditional role; where they forge and use their own totems. Forgers specializes in forging totems, selling totems that are not activated to totem users to earn massive profits. Whereas totem users specialize in combat using totems."
"And they differ in specialization." Garen nodded.
"Yes, division of labor." Eisen nodded agreeably. "This answers the first question. Now for the second question: the situation within Lush Forest. At this point, I can only tell you briefly, The Lush Forest is in unrest the moment. Are you aware about the situation at White Rose?
"Is it about the unrest at White Rose City?" Garen’s heart shivered.
"The nature of the situation is similar" Eisen nodded reluctantly. "It happened last night. The outbreak had caused multiple casualties, with ten-over injuries. So, we locked down the entire territory throughout the night, disallowing any entries. We just didn’t expect that you’d still come, let alone get assaulted.
"Then what about Trejons’ Territory, what’s happened there?!" Garen continued asking.
"Trejons’ Territory had a good base defense,plus there were three totem users stationed there. The territory owner himself is a Forger, and he’s got wide connections too, there shouldn’t be any issues in the immediate future. Why? Your house is in the Trejons’ Territory?" Risen observed his anxiety, hence the question.
"Yes, I came back this time to check it out. But I don’t know…." Garen sighed "Right, Mr Eisen, you are not local, are you?"
"Good hearing you have. I just transferred from Hann District." Eisen nodded. "Alright, I have answered whatever is necessary, you should get going. Look for a place to hide in other districts. Going in now, a novice like you would be exterminated by any totem users."
Garen laughed helplessly.
"I have offended the Mercenary’s Guild,, I’m afraid I would be in trouble wherever I go."
"Mercenary Guild huh… now that’s a bummer." Eisen frowned. "A Luminarist without a totem like you, you’re basically a goner in one strike."
He stood up, and walked a few rounds in the ward.
"So, like this, you’ll be urgently looking to create your own core totem right? He asked after standing still.
"I have trained in some martial arts, so I could defend myself…" Garen couldn’t help but to interrupt.
"Self-defense?" Eisen couldn’t help but to shake his head. "You still don’t understand the difference between the totem user and a
and a mortal."
He raised his right arm, the green ring on his middle finger shined a bright green.
"I’m only responsible for Lush Forest’s small area for patrol, and I’m only using 10% of my ability. You should be careful."
Garen concentrated his focus. As the environment stayed still, his aura slowly spread out, covering the entire room.
The form he used to kill the two people just now was recreated. Even though his body did not expand, but he was at least 80% of his power just now.
The reason he refuted was because he wanted to understand the actual difference between him and a Luminarist. After all this while, he had not actually clashed against a Luminarist. This was a golden opportunity.
The platinum aura not normally visible by the naked eye swirled in the room.
Fuuu…
A breeze blew in through the window, raising the curtains and blocking Eisen for a moment.
"It’s over." Garen suddenly felt goosebumps behind his nape, Eisen’s voice was near him, standing behind him and a dagger in his hand was pointed towards his back.
Garen could feel it, the tip of the dagger had a terrifying power that was inexplicably sharp.
As he looked at where Eisen had been, the curtain fell to reveal that he had been long gone.
"When did you…" Garen felt that his throat was dry, the goosebumps rose behind him all over his skin. Obviously, this was a natural reaction towards threat. That dagger definitely had the power to break through his defenses.
"It’s not that I’m quick, you’re just too slow." Eisen kept his dagger, walked towards the side of the bed and sat down. "My totem’s ability is delaying, if you had a core totem, then you would be able to mitigate some part of the influence of my skill. But too bad you don’t. At least, for now. Therefore my ability could be utilized to its maximum: the hundred-fold slowdown skill had been fully utilized. When the wind blew, in that instant I just had to walk over to your back, pull out a dagger and point it at you. All it would take is a simple push. Chik!"
He imitated the sound a dagger would make as it pierced into a body. Only then Garen did lower his head, his expression calm, but with a hint of heaviness in his eyes.
"This is 10 percent of my ability. You, who does not have a core totem, are no different
are no different compared to a mortal.
Garen’s heart sunk deeper.
Just now, he had maximized his alertness to the peak, yet he could not react to Eisen at all. If he had really wanted to kill him, even with his maximum use of the Body Hardening Technique he would only last slightly longer.
"Alright, alright, you should leave, go anywhere you want, just not here." Eisen seemed to have lost interest, he lied on his bed and waved at Garen, signaling to him to leave lazily.
"Last question."
"Shoot."
Garen stopped for a moment.
"Among the totem users, are you considered strong?"
"Strong?" Eisen laughed in a baffled manner. "Brat." He sat up with a speechless face and looked at Garen." Totem users are ranked based on the evolution form of their totem. My totem is at its second form. There’s still a third form, some secretive big organization even has a unique fourth form, there are even some that could mutate based on the user’s talents to form the ultimate talent creature. With my little power, I am nothing but a small ripple…"
"I understand..." Garen finally got a brief idea on how each forms’ ability cap goes. The common knowledge that Teacher Emin gave him is too old and outdated…
"There is a night market nearby, you should go take a look. There’s no use in me telling you, you need to go and experience it yourself." Eisen gave advice like an old man. He waved at Garen again, not speaking another word.
"Thank you" Garen bowed slightly to him.
He could have obviously chosen not to care, but he was patient enough to explain so much to him.
Garen exited the ward, and closes the door.
"Be careful on the road, if you see totem users fight, do not interfere." Eisen’s voice from inside was sent directly to Garen’s ears.
He left the hospital.
Garen bought some clothes in Garcia to be changed, and then reclaimed the briefcase that was badly burnt from the police station after taking some notes. The police officers seemed satisfied, so they did not prolong his stay and allowed him to leave.
Garen found a motel to stay in. White Garcia was a small forest township with only three streets and about a hundred houses, but there was quite a number of motels, more than 10 in fact. A classic tourism township.
After paying two days’ worth of lodging fees, Garen brought his briefcase up to his own room.