The whole week passed surprisingly quietly. Cale spent the mornings helping his friend with his research and the evenings taking care of his own problem. Grischa, meanwhile, had reached the point where he wanted to apply his tests to a real ship. So that morning he had commissioned the conversion of one of Altona's ships while he worked on combining two different magic crystals into one.

Cale left him to it and spent his time talking to the dragons about the gift of rebirth. He had brought up the subject of a possible illusion, which Palaios had rather quickly denied. His belief was that Velence would be able to distinguish such an illusion from reality, so Aaron's theory did not convince him. However he found the idea, that with after the consumption of all the mana of the gods the world could get to its origin, more reasonable, but equally he felt this idea as a stopgap. Even if time travel ended on its own, there was no guarantee that the false world was really created by the gods.

Palaios therefore firmly believed that Cale had to find a way on his own and not wait until the end. And this thought was also joined by the Eldest and Fengari.

"Good evening. I hope you all had a good day. As always, it is a pleasure to see that so many of you have come and I hope that this lesson will also be to your liking", Cale said formally, slowly turning in circles as he gave his reasons.

The evening had arrived and as usual he stopped his lessons in the arena. The number of spectators increased significantly, which pleased Cale immensely. It meant that even the people who could not fight at all were interested in what he had to tell.

"As promised, today we're going to talk about the creatures from the fourth plain, which are undoubtedly some of the strongest and most dangerous of their kind."

This was probably a bit of a first for many, as these types of creatures were very rare to see. Even Cale had only encountered them a few times, as they hid well and generally avoided contact with humans.

"At this point, I would like to use your attention right away to anticipate one thing: let others know immediately if you have sighted any of the following creatures. Do not attack alone under any circumstances, even for an experienced Anuxer or Mage, this could mean death", Cale stated seriously, letting his eyes wander over the audience. Memories from his past lives came over him for a brief moment, scenes where people had killed their entire groups due to their overzealousness. "Well then, let's start with a creature with which I personally also have a score to settle. The Novarens."

He emphasized the name clearly as he used his magic to make a detailed edition of the creatures appear. The creature had a body height of a good 2 meters and was covered with dozens of powerful spines, which alone were another meter long. The massive creature took a step with its small, thick feet, which made the ground tremble slightly, while Cale elegantly took a step back.

"Perhaps some of you already know the stories behind the Norvaren. 17 years ago they were among the creatures that attacked the village of Groka of the province of Caplens, which was located at the northern tip of the kingdom of Sylve. Undoubtedly, these were among the most dangerous creatures sighted during the raid. They can reach a weight of 15 tons, which is largely due to their incredibly heavy, mana-filled spines. The Norvaren will never show its face during an attack and will also barely move, as its underside is not protected by spikes", Cale clarified, lifting the giant monster into the air, allowing people to see its small feet and tan belly. For a moment, he let the inhabitants stare at the creature before using his mana to move it into its protective position. The head disappeared completely and the belly area was reduced to barely a meter in diameter. With its spiked dress, it looked like a threatening plant that was most comfortable when not moved.

"The point, though, is that you can't attack a Norvaren easily."

Cale dropped the beast on the ground and made a normal sword appear in his hand before slamming the weapon against the spikes with full force. In a few seconds, his sword shattered completely, prompting surprised exclamations from the onlookers.

"Their spikes have been hardened with mana to such an extent that no ordinary metal can harm them. Even for swordmasters who can use a similar principle to strengthen their weapons, they reach their limits here", Cale explained, causing a sword to appear once more, this time filling it with mana before darting toward the creature's body once more. A loud, metallic sound rang out before Cale's hand was thrown back, shaking wildly from the impact. The sword had been able to withstand the pressure, but again the creatures had received no damage.

"The only weapons that can even get through this hard armor, as far as we currently know, are the 3 legendary swords of Linus Karma", Cale raised and looked in Miguel's direction. The blond haired man was standing a few feet away from him and nodded when he heard this comment. Slowly, he approached the mage and made the bright blade of his sword appear before striking a vertical blow at the creatures with a powerful slash. With a hissing sound followed by a sudden blast of wind, Miguel completely separated the creatures into two, while the humans looked on in shock at the result.

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"Now then, here comes the big question. How do you kill a creature with such, portable defense?", Cale pointed out, thanking Miguel and reconstructing the Novaren. "Simple. You attack its weak point. His gut. You may realize that this could become a problem for an ordinary person. That's why mages have to do the job. With the help of wind or earth, you have to lift the creatures that weigh tons, making it easier to get to the underside. But don't assume that the Novaren won't put up a fight."

Cale repeated his demonstration and lifted the creature into the air before it released its spike and shot full force toward himself on the ground. With a loud bang, the meter-high spike stuck to the ground next to the mage as he held out his hand and leaned against the menacing sight.

"They can use their spikes as a weapon to attack. Don't even try to block it. Due to their toughness and speed, they will pierce through anything in their path. However, don't assume that you could drive the creature to get rid of all spikes. They can make their lost spikes regenerate in a relatively short time with the help of mana", Cale explained, pointing to the spot where a new, dark spine was currently growing. "The older the creature, the more frequently they can fire and regenerate their spines. Usually they produced between 300 and 350 spines in a fight before running out of mana, but the older creatures of them can have double that range."

Cale spun the creature in the air a few times, which is why it rained its spikes down on him. Skillfully dodging these, he generated a large amount of water, formed it into a pointed arrow, and shot it against the underside of the Novaren. Momentarily, silence fell before dark blood became visible and flowed down. Consciously, Cale let this sight stand like that for a few moments before it completely dissolved its illusion and earth fell to the ground.

"Quite a remarkable creature. In the past, people had tried to hunt this creature to use its spines as weapons or to attach it to walls as a defense. I'm sure you can guess how well that worked", Cale casually tossed in as the crowd slowly processed the sight and began to clap. Gratefully, Cale raised a hand as he used zero magic to pull out a bottle of water and drank it with relief. His throat was getting relatively dry from all the exertion, so he had prepared himself by now.

Cale then announced a short break while he watched the townspeople with interest. Some were eagerly taking notes in the Chronicles, some were using the minutes to discuss the topic with their friends, and some were playing with their magic to recreate the water attack Cale had used. He was visibly relieved that people were so enthusiastic about his lessons. Inevitably, his gaze landed on his friends, who were gathered in the usual spot. Grischa and his family had joined the usual group, and several other High-Magicians were also gathered around and beside William. Even the people who were not mages seemed to realize that there was a gathering of prominent people there.

Even Fengari was present again, taking the liberty of bugging Aaron. You could clearly see his tension as the cat jumped from William to the High-Magician, but he didn't allow himself to say or do anything.

<"Fengari, please let him live">, Cale gave voice, which is why the cat turned to him.

<"You are such a killjoy">, she just commented and jumped on, so she found herself on Ben's shoulder. The 3rd seat seemed to have noticed that someone had helped him, which is why he looked first to Grischa and then to Cale. With a blunt nod, he confirmed Aaron's suspicions before making the bottle disappear and getting back to work.

"Well then, the 10 minutes are up. I'd like to continue", Cale raised, causing a small mass of mana to appear. He waited a few moments for the voices to settle and people to take their places again. Unobtrusively, he had the source of mana move near the spectators and watched to see if and how they reacted. Quite obviously, it was mages who first noticed something strange, until at some point the first fingers pointed inconspicuously at the invisible mana mass.

"Please raise your hand if you can feel the mana", Cale commented dryly, tracking how long some hands were raised in the air. A pattern was clearly discernible, as the mages liked to gather in a group, which was why some people always came forward. Satisfied, Cale let his eyes wander over the people until he finally lingered on a young woman. She didn't seem to be a mage, nor an Anuxer. Rather, she seemed like an ordinary saleswoman working here in town. "Mana sensitivity is one of the most important things that any human should master. For those of you who didn't notice anything or had problems, please close your eyes and try to concentrate. There is a small source of mana flying around here in the arena right now, which I want you to locate."

The people did as they were asked and so did some mages who had already discovered the source. Cale moved the free mana slowly, which is why it was easier for the spectators to discover the location. Inadvertently, his gaze landed on his friends group, all of whom had their eyes open, which is why a satisfied smile appears on his face.

"For those of you who continue to have difficulty sensing mana, I recommend attending the scheduled class of my colleague, High-Magician Sefra Risztus, tomorrow afternoon", Cale stated calmly, casting a quick glance at the woman, who nodded affirmatively. "You can open your eyes again. For the creature I'm about to show you, mana sensitivity is important, which is why I've submitted this issue to you. Two pieces of information, therefore, up front: never fight an Elosien with a group of less than three people."

Cale then caused a figure to appear, a good three meters tall, made of black smoke, with a strange bulge in its head in all four directions. Cautiously, this figure, which consisted of only two legs, a flat upper body, and the small head, took a few steps toward Cale.

"This here is the body of an Elosien, which is also called the Ghost of the Plains."