Spirit Taming

Chapter 524: Next Place To Go

That dumb elf was all involved in politics and she is even younger than me by comparison." Clark was grumpling as he moved away from the elves. He was glad that the system had accepted that he completed one objective, but he had noticed that the heat around him was intensifying a little.

The elves were a political race and they had to do a lot to show their worth. But the fact that they were just about as bad as the corruption that Clark saw in the humans made his skin crawl. It meant that the elf he had just met with guards that he could have easily beaten down was most likely on her last legs. This was her last choice at strength because she was desperate.

While it didn't excuse the fact that she had nearly killed herself and caused a monster to be born, it was still a lot to take in. especially since Clark knew that he had no right to enter in to another race, even another world, and set some precedent for how people or beasts should be treated. It was hard to rationalize what he had said and done in a way.

That aside, he was very glad that he had not had to deal with any fighting or death. He had seen the show of battle and known that he would potentially be walking up to some stalemate that was happening between the dwarves and the elves. The thing was, he had only found the elves.

The damages were clearly caused by the elves' golems. The deep earth golems could definitely focus their strength and cause craters the same way that other beasts could. Clark had also noted the earth energies in the area that proved this once more over. That just left how strong he could assume the dwarves were.

From the basic knowledge he had heard growing up and managed to gather in Nova academy with the little free time he had, he knew about their race as well. But that didn't mean he was confident in fighting against them and the styles they may have.

The dwarves were a more brutal race in a way. They preferred using their skills to forge and craft things. This meant that they were experts in metal and earth type beasts. Some fire mixed in here and there but they often just manipulated metal to create what they needed from it.

These skills gave them partners that were more likely to take weapon and armor forms. Their focus also relied on their own world or dungeons that allowed them to collect unique ores as materials. This being the fact allowed the humans to reach a tentative trading agreement and keep from fighting.

It wasn't like the elves who had been more easily convinced to just build themselves a forest city with an embassy to create an alliance.

The dwarves also had a temper that was worse than the elves. The elves were peaceful to a degree and would argue with words before their fists. The dwarves were opposite in this matter. If they were annoyed or angry, they would be ready to settle their matters with a battle of strength and skill.

This was why they often were found to battle right off the bat rather than to wait and see how a situation progressed.

This did not mean that they were meat heads that could not think. Just because they used their strengths to fight meant nothing. They were very intelligent. They had developed unique and intricate designs. Buildings and machines that relied on a beast's energies to be able to create something bigger. It was said that their massive cities were able to be moved with beasts and their creative forging.

But not many humans had been allowed to travel to such a world.

Traveling to the dwarves' home meant that they trusted the individual not to divulge certain information. They were very secretive of their knowledge. So much so that they had even kept a few people that accidentally came in to their world while potentially starting small battles here and there.

They even managed to take in geniuses from other races and make them part of their citizenship since they learned well from them.

The reason that Clark felt that what was riding more and more was simple. He was back to trying to head toward s the hottest place. The best place that he could call a forge. Not that what he considered a forge would be the same as the dwarves. For them, Clark assumed it would be the ideal place for heat, earth, and metal energies to meld together or to be shaped.

That meant that the hotter the area was, the better. And the closer he would be getting.

Originally, Clark had expected that he would be heading toward the largest volcanic mountain around. But when he had found one that was cooled and one with elves on it making it cooler, he made the decision that the largest was not necessarily the best. His mind had changed.

The dwarves would need the best place to be one that was full of the most energy, a volcano couldn't grow if it was already a massive mountain. So, looking at the horizon from where he stood, Clark spotted the smaller volcano in the distance that was spewing lava and causing large plumes of dark gasses to float in to the air.

With the place he was in, it was too far and Clark couldn't make many details out, but it was definitely not normal for the smoke to be rising in such odd ways. It made more sense that something was stopping the flow of lava at the top of the volcano. It also meant that there were dwarves actively forging right where the lava was forcing its way out of the earth. A very dangerous place.

"Devi, head that way and start to scout. I know that the space between here and there is a bit large. But we have to make sure that we don't get in to any fights with a beast while we sneak that way." Clark knew that Devi was stronger than he had been before. The show of his full form in front of the elves to intimidate them was purely an example.

While Clark knew that Devi kept himself well hidden when it came to strength, that was because he had the deepest desire to protect him. Clark and Devi were one in the same soul. Therefore, Devi hid his strength to always have the upper hand. He kept himself hidden in invisibility or in the smaller ghostly form that Clark knew him as.

However, Devi had grown a lot. He was able to have a more humanoid spirit form. The deep darkness in his eyes and mouth still showed. But he could easily show his hands fully formed with sharper white claws. These spectral limbs were mystifying enough that no one would notice the lack of legs. It put Clark at ease too seeing that Devi would be able to fight more easily and use his skills.

"Crim, we are moving out. I would take to the air but that will be seen. We are going to head through that space there. A trail flowing with more lava and that will require speed to get through safely. But the dwarves could easily walk through it. They won't expect that someone will come knocking that way.

And they will definitely want to fight."

Knowing the temperament of the dwarves was very useful. But also knowing what they could and could not traverse was also a smart move. The dwarves naturally had a tougher body. That was the easy way for them to be able to survive here and their home world easily. They knew elves and humans were weaker, that was why they could take trails through this dungeon that the humans and elves could not.

The moment that Clark leaped down the mountain and started to traverse through the cracks and crevices, the rest of the group was working hard as well.

"This trail is getting weird. We keep finding pieces of swords or armor. That means we are definitely coming up in some battle that the Solar Academy city soldiers were chasing." Jerold had gone ahead a little and found the first evidence of such a battle. When he returned, he showed off the broken pieces of armor and a sword.

"These aren't broken easily. This metal was made to resist some damage. Whatever they are fighting has a tough defense and can use blunt force well." Ralph's knowledge of forging came to an unexpected use here. Even Isa had not expected that Ralph was this knowledgeable already. But it proved that they would have an upper hand ahead already.

"So we need to be ready to fight." Grace nodded and started to mentally prepare herself. Professor Wright made mental notes as she let the students follow their plans and prepare themselves. She had also sent her beasts to scout ahead and was confident in the things to come.