Whether or not the group realized it, they had all relaxed a lot. They had managed to follow the flow of the carriage and start to focus on themselves and their beasts. This was a good thing since their running from the prior day had been at a major cost to their ntal and physical endurance.
Since Ella had been fully focused on her brother, the others had taken their chances to learn where they could. One of the books that Isa had managed to collect for the group had been one that detailed basic herbs in the northern area. This was good for Maria and Grace since they wanted to look for so as they traveled.
It also drew Clark's attention since he didn't want to dwell on the negative side of things.
While Ella was the one that needed the extra help to handle her brother's injury and touchy state, she had long accepted that he was hard and that they were doing whatever they needed to help him. Lit had even been left with the two so that Lit could help dull the pain that Ella's brother was in. That was all she needed other than to just be close to her brother.
That left the group with their own stress when it ca to worrying about their friend and her family. They all cared for Ella since Ella had always been the one to back them up with important facts. She had also always prioritized their information and how to help them improve.
While Clark had made the key decisions or given guidance, Ella had kept record and raised plenty of important details that helped them all choose their paths. This alone made her a very important figure in everyone's lives. That was why it hit everyone a little harder to see that she was not bothered with research at all right now. She was focused on family and that was all.
A very different turn of events.
Where this left them was with the flour guards paying attention to the surroundings and the group moving carefully looking at the forest that they had barely taken much of a look at as of yet. Realizing that the forest was very similar to the forests they had been in before took only a few monts. It was a very easy and common fact but one that the group hadn't thought about.
Where things were different ca down to the ice nature of things. So of the plants would be the sa in cold or hot climates but they had subtle differences. Where the trees would normally have more open leaves, the leaves here on most trees were smaller so they don't gather the stress of ice and snow during storms.
This also made them sharper which explained why the group had gained cuts and scrapes from their run in with the winter puma.
It was even more interesting looking at the mosses and the mushrooms that ford at the bases of trees. The frost moss species was very common to the north. But what Clark, Grace, and Maria found was that there were more sub species than they expected.
Gleaming frost moss that could help cure the common cold, black frost moth that attracted a unique kind of mold for its own nutrition, the prickled frost moth that could cut the skin but was actually edible if cooked, and multiple other forms. It was a surprising discovery for them.
After so ti of talking over their books and what Clark was analyzing, Ralph managed to take so interest as well. But where things differed was why he had so interest. "I have that forging book and a few others, they say that so herbs are better used as forging materials to make specific alloys. That's how blood drinking blades can be made.
But they are also extrely rare because they need a vampire's bone dust to make it work."
"A what?" Maria opened her eyes wide. She had not thought that a blade could drink blood or do anything else.
"A blood drinking blade. It steals nutrition from what it attacks and uses runes and a special alloy to give it to the one that uses it. But it is hard to make since it needs to be crafted for every user specifically. It can't be used by others and if it is it becos brittle." Ralph's knowledge was surprising but made them all think more. "It also needs wolfsbane to be made.
Apparently, werewolves and vampires are opposites in a way. There's an armor made that needs holy garlic to be made and is best for werewolves."
"I don't understand a single bit of this. Is forging or different beasts and races always this complicated?" Grace felt that she had sohow ended up in so strange advanced forging class. Even Ralph clearly only understood the basics and was struggling to find the deeper anings here.
"I think it's less about the races and more about the things the materials can do. Herbs are a forging material all the sa. But to make blades and armor for certain races or beasts certain materials are needed. If I rember from the history classes we had to take, the vampires and werewolf races co from the sa world and rarely have dungeons that connect to us.
They also had lesser vampires and werewolves that are often beasts for others. A high vampire or a high werewolf rarely becos an actual race. aning that intelligent beasts of their species are raised as such and not captured."
This was enough to smooth things over. Calkr could only be proud that he had recalled things from school. He had doubted many things since he had co to this world and tried to learn more. But Nova Academy was very efficient. He had learned so many things about the world and the mysteries within it.
Different races were definitely one, but it also raised many more gray area questions that it was hard to think about for too long.
"So anyways, that blue flower, the blue frost drop is useful for forging iced steel. It's apparently the best tal used to make ice type arrow heads. I was thinking you can help get it. I want to make them. It's a lower tal but one that will be perfect for training.
And for my partner's resistances to ice and water." Ralph seed to have found sothing good spurring the group in to changing their hunting targets for herbs. It was a good developnt.
From Clark's perspective, it seed that Brad's hyper focus was rubbing off on Ralph. Instead of the usual attitude, Ralph had been caught up in getting stronger with his forging skills. Therefore he needed the appropriate materials.
While all this was happening, Brad, Reese, and Jerold were focused elsewhere. Their minds had been caught by the way that the four guards carried themselves. For Jerold, it was the attentive and focused attitude that ca with protecting them. For Brad, it was the endurance and strength in every movent. The guards had long been in the wilderness.
They had naturally developed a better body control to be able to react to all situations at the drop of a hat.
Reese was in a slightly different mindset. He saw that the four guards all carried swords and heavy shields. They also had the sa beasts but the group had yet to see them. He just knew that they all carried the sa training to make sure they could protect better. The idea that they understood one another perfectly to be able to work without speaking hit him hard.
It gave him the desire to also increase his own ntality in the sa form. He should learn about his own group.
The three were not working on their own goals but also learning as they went. Together, Jerold was using the things he saw to develop his own senses. He was trying to sense the smaller beasts moving around them that were running from him. Brad was copying the movents of the guards, and Reese was learning to adapt to the two as they changed their behaviors.
It was a strange dynamic that clearly showed how they would be able to alter their own habits while traveling to better handle their surroundings. Adaptation was the key word.
This left Ella alone in the carriage with her brother. She had not seen him wake up for even a second. But she could clearly see that his vine beast had covered the wound and was constantly acting to keep her brother healthy and safe. It was a testant to how well her brother and his beast had bonded together.
Where she found herself was not just worried about him but in a unique theory. Her brother's vine beast was definitely able to get stronger. It was powerful enough and had the right energy but it had yet to grow, why was that? Could she help her brother and his beast more? Could she prepare for her brother and his partner to beco much stronger when he gains his strength and arm back?
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