Kyle ran through the fiery wilderness towards the east.
This time, he was alone.
'I hope Selene wants to join. I don't want to run this far just to get a refusal,' Kyle thought.
Naturally, he was on his way to Forthing's Hold, the place where Selene Forthing lived.
She told him over a year ago that he was free to visit her if he was in the area.
'Would be great to have a Beast Tamer in my team.'
At that moment, he remembered Lily.
'A Beast Tamer and a Golemancer. Hope there are no conflicts.'
'Actually, who am I kidding? Even if Lily were a Knight, there would still be conflicts between her and Selene. Fucking Lily has conflicts with everybody.'
'Yeah, well. Still gotta try.'
After a while, Kyle reached another Skysand Stream. As always, there was a tunnel passing below it.
As soon as Kyle came out of the other end of the tunnel, he reached a place he hadn't been to yet.
'Quite a contrast to the fiery landscape from earlier,' he thought.
Right now, Kyle saw a watery forest.
Small streams of pure water flowed through the healthy and tall forest.
He also saw a bunch of small lakes, and there were even some marshes.
The air was thick with Water Ether.
'Bunch of water. You know what that means…'
Just when Kyle thought that, a mosquito landed on his cheek.
BANG!
Kyle obliterated the mosquito.
'That means fucking insects!'
'Don't want to stay here for too long.'
Kyle immediately continued his journey to the east, walking through swarms of insects.
From time to time, he saw huge frogs and fishes jumping out of the water, killing some bigger insects.
'Gotta be careful. This is the territory of the Shoreshells.'
The Shoreshells were one of the five Four-Weapons Guilds.
Usually, Four-Weapons Guilds didn't care a lot about Three-Weapons Guilds, but the Shoreshells were special.
They had the smallest territory out of all the Four-Weapons Guilds.
This meant they might be the weakest Four-Weapons Guild.
This, in turn, meant that Three-Weapons Guilds could be a threat to them, and people generally didn't like being in the same place as something they perceived to be a threat.
When Kyle went to Janus' Hold, he had also entered the territory of a Four-Weapons Guild, the Naga Covenant.
However, he hadn't been worried about them back then.
The Naga Covenant was strong and stable. Their territory was huge, and they were one of the three strongest Four-Weapons Guilds.
They wouldn't care about a random Three-Weapons Guild.
'Hope the Shoreshells won't cause trouble for me.'
Kyle ran through a couple of fishing villages before he reached a huge city near a gigantic river.
The river was tens of kilometers wide, and it was the biggest river in the Skysand Kingdom.
It was called the Ocean's Life. It originated from the southern side of the Skysand Kingdom and flowed into the Grand Ocean.
The amount of water this river transported was crazy.
On the side of the river was a humongous mountain.
However, the mountain was almost completely hollowed out, and its center was a luxurious city.
The color scheme of the city was dark blue, and it was in the shadow of the mountain, keeping most of the sunlight out.
Kyle saw a huge number of fishing boats scattered across the river.
Some of the boats had powerful people on board who fought any sea creatures that lived in the river.
However, there was another thing Kyle noticed.
'That's a lot of Beast Tamers,' he thought as he looked around the city.
Usually, big beasts were not allowed to enter towns and cities.
Big cities usually had an area where the beasts of Beast Tamers could walk around without disturbing the inhabitants of the city.
For example, Starkhold had two stalls near its eastern and western gates, which could hold about 30 beasts each.
However, this city had an entire village dedicated to the beasts.
Kyle could see hundreds of beasts outside the city.
'Didn't know Deep Cove was such a Beast Tamer haven,' Kyle thought. 'But it actually makes sense. The Ocean's Life delivers a bunch of beast meat, making it cheap.'
"There are so many beasts because the meat is cheap, right?" Kyle asked.
"No," Theodor answered.
"Huh? Then, why are there so many?" Kyle asked.
"The Beast Master Association has its headquarters here," Theodor explained.
"Beast Master? Not Beast Tamer?" Kyle asked.
Beast Masters were Beast Tamers who had reached the Third Realm.
"Yes," Theodor answered. "It's the governing body of the Beast Masters and Beast Tamers. They decide the rules that all the Beast Masters and Beast Tamers have to follow while also representing their interest in front of the kingdom's government."
"According to an agreement, the Beast Master Association must have one of their members acting as an official Advisor to the King."
"Every Beast Master is a member of the Beast Master Association, but not every Beast Master is a member of the government or the army."
"You can view the Beast Master Association as the combined power of all Beast Masters in the Kingdom."
"Huh," Kyle said. "So, they're like a worker's union?"
"Worker's union?" Theodor asked with annoyance.
"Yeah, one worker can't force an employer to change their unethical practices, which is why workers often band together to put pressure on their employer in a group," Kyle said.
Theodor was a bit disgusted. "You are comparing the moon to a puddle of mud, but if that comparison helps your dwarf brain to understand the complexities of governance, you may view it as accurate."
"The comparison was accurate, then?" Kyle asked.
"Roughly," Theodor answered with a snort.
"So, I assume the Beast Master Association is stronger than the local Four-Weapons Guild?" Kyle asked.
"Much stronger, yes," Theodor said with annoyance. "The Beast Master Association is on the same level as the single Five-Weapons Guild."
"Crazy," Kyle commented. "Does Starkhold have something comparable?"
"No."
"What about Janus' Hold?" Kyle asked.
"Did you already forget the gigantic tower?" Theodor asked.
"Oh yeah, right. That one was important, yes?" Kyle asked.
"Naturally," Theodor answered. "Just based on its size and Ether density, that tower probably acts as a research study for several Grand Sorcerers. Such an impressive study can be viewed as being on the same level as the Beast Master Association headquarters."
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