Chapter 43: Life Mark.

"Gaspar!" Shouted by my father in alarm as he tried to catch up with them.

But he was eventually stopped by the thick wall of giant vines of thorns as they immediately blocked his path.

Even if he waved his sword with might and released a huge blade of aura it only managed to destroy a small portion of it.

The blade of pure aura that my father have released is ineffective in clearing a path, as it only managed to destroy about 30 meters of the thorns, before all the power on the blade was consumed.

After seeing that scene Father just stands there with a grim look on his face as he stares at the direction where the magic beast had taken Gaspar.

"Ma-Master H-Hubert i-is that the black beast of the southern continent that is responsible for the destruction of the kingdom of Aqua?" Sandra fearfully said as she look at my father with utter horror on her face.

"Why is that thing here?" Hugo said gravely as he look at us with a face full of worry.

"I have no idea either," Father said as he turn towards us.

"But we now must all go back to the city. It's not safe to stay here any longer." Father seriously said as he walked towards our soldiers and immediately called for them to retreat.

"Father what about Gaspar are we just going to leave him like that?" I ask in concern.

"Gaspar is safe for now." Father said as he raised his hand holding a bookmark like paper with a mysterious inscription.

"Is that a life mark, Sir Hubert?" Callisto suddenly asks in surprise.

Life marks are one of the very important magic crafts in this land. Since it would allow anyone to know if the bearer of this mark is still alive or not.

Life mark is one of the famous products of magic in this new world by using specially crafted paper and special ink.

Wizards can create this life mark by inputting their power and drawing mysterious inscriptions on it.

The only function of a life marks is to determine the status of a person's life if he is still alive or not.

Other people might think that's it's useless, but you all need to remember that it takes us days to reach the next nearest human settlement as there is a huge gap of forestry and wildlands between each city.

And no one knows what kind of danger would they encounter once they leave the city since news traveled slowly at this age. Except for people who have a magic antenna since they can immediately sent or read a message but this kind of magic craft is very special and unique as only wealthy and powerful people can have this kind of gadget.

So the importance of life marks has become significant to normal people as it is the fastest and most efficient way of determining someone's life status. It's also much easier o acquire compared to a magic antenna.

In order to use this life mark you only need to drop a blood on the paper to create a bond with it, and it can identify someone's life status anywhere on this land.

But one life mark paper can only be bonded to one person each time and the transaction of blood bond is already permanent and can no longer be erased.

Although a person can create hundreds or thousands of them as long as they have the money to buy a life mark paper.

Although a life mark can only be bonded to one person for a lifetime, this paper can still be used for a long time as long the bearer of the mark is alive.

Once a bearer of a life mark died whether he is very far away then his life mark paper that he has a bond with would burn on its own signifying that person's death.

Or if the person's life is in danger the life mark's inscription would turn red instead of black.

But what I didn't expect is that my father would allow Gaspar to use one of the precious life marks we have on vault.

Because aside from its hefty price it's also difficult for anyone to purchase this magic craft on the market of the eastern continent.

As a huge portion of wizards who make this craft is located on the western side of the continent and we are basically located at the opposite side making it harder for us to get hold of this magic craft.

This two sides of land are separated by a huge landmass that it would take a strong knight like Hugo 6 months to cross by using the fastest transportation steed we have.

Since Hugo's mission is to travel throughout the continent, my father also gives him a life mark that he left on our mansion so that my father can monitor his safety wherever he is.

And one piece of this life mark cost an astonishing amount of gold to purchase from a merchant. Specially here in the Turox kingdom it would probably cost as much as a thousands gold coin for one piece of it.

Since we don't have a way to find a wizard who specializes in this craft and we've been suffering from a severe lack of funds this past few years. We only have 10 pieces of it and this life mark was passed down to us by our ancestors as they purchased the bulk number of it during the peak of our power.

"It is a life mark." Answered by my father to Callisto's question.

"But why? even the Stratnan family only have a few numbers of it but you Lord Hubert even dared to use this precious magic craft for him." He said while looking admirably at my father.

You must know how rare and precious this life mark is, and it is very uncommon for the nobility to use it on normal people like Gaspar.

"Gaspar is not just a normal person for us Callisto. His contribution to our city's development is immense. Aside from that, he is the only person capable of handling a powerful magic beast." Father said seriously.

"But Lord Hubert that is not just an ordinary magic beast it's a rank 5 magic beast. How sure are you that he can handle that?" He ask with a stupefied face.

I almost forgot that Callisto is still not aware of Gaspar's secret adventure to this place as we decided to keep it as a secret for now for the safety of everyone.

"Were not even sure if we could still consider that thing as a magic beast." Suddenly said by Hugo as he confronted my father.

"What do you mean by that sir Hugo?" Ask by Michael as he approaches him.

"That thing that surrounds it aren't you all familiar by that?" he asks as his face shows a grim look.

"You meant the Black Mist?" I said as everyone suddenly shows a panicked expression on their face.

"Is that really the black mist?" Sandra asks with an ugly expression on her face.

"How did it get here?" Callisto said in Concern as he looked around for answers.

"Did a demonic creature manage to cross the border?" Michael said suddenly in a mumbled tone but it still got everyone's attention.

"That can't be this place is too far from the border." said by me as it's too impossible for it to happen.

"Other kingdom should already notice by now if that's the case but it isn't, so it's not from the central border." Father said grimly.

"Lord Hubert didn't Gaspar said that it wasn't the same black mist as the one on the other side of the wall." Sir Kiel said suddenly as he quickly catch up to us.

"I don't know but Gaspar doesn't have any reason to lie from us." Father said as he look back towards the corrupted land.

"But if it wasn't the same black mist why did it manage to corrupt the land around us." Sir Hugo said aggressively.

"Perhaps at first, the black mist isn't that powerful enough to display its might. Like this wall of thorns, at first we all thought that we could easily clear this up but it just becomes stronger." I said as I explain what I'm thinking.

"Master Lucas, are you saying that it's evolving it's powers?" Callisto said while gloomily looking at the dead tree.

"Yes, that's what I mean. whatever started all of this, it affected everything within this land." I said while looking back at the wall of thorns covered in thick white fog.

"You mean the earthquake 3 months ago. It all started from that time." exclaimed by Hugo.

"Yeah it is, and we can now confirm that whatever happens at that time is the start of all of this problems." I said as I explain my findings through them.

"But Lord Hubert how are we going to solve the problem about the corrupted land brought by the Black Mist it would surely destroy a large portion of the forest." Callisto suddenly said.

"We can only hope that Gaspar would be able to do something about it." Father said solemnly as he stares at the life mark on his hand.

"Gaspar your personal cook? I'm sorry Lord Hubert but what can he do?" asked by the puzzled Callisto.

"He is the only one we know who can help the magic beast control the black mist on their body." Father added as we all went back towards the city.

"What?" "How is he gonna help us?" he ask in utter confusion.

"Later Callisto, I'll explain everything to you but for now we must hurry, although the thorns have stopped expanding but the sickening fog is still rapidly approaching us." I said grimly as all of them look at our backs which is already covered in thick white fog.

"Oh no." Sandra whispered in horror.

"We must hurry." quickly shouted by Hugo as he run towards our soldiers.

"Everyone leave all the unnecessary things here, go back towards your carriage we must all leave this place. Now!" announced by my father in his loud voice as everyone quickly evacuated the place.