26 City Mapping

Lucas walked down the halls of the temple his mind wandering as he proceeded towards the exit. He left the temple grounds and walked aimlessly not even remembering is the original goal for leaving the temple in the first place.

After about an hour of walking, he finally came to his senses in some random poor looking marketplace. This was nothing like the grand area he had seen when he originally came to the city. 'So I guess even this holy city has its slums.' Lucas thought to himself.

'I have to find my way back to the temple' Lucas thought as he extended his mana out around him. He created a visual map of the area in his head and committed it to memory. He figured he might as well start memorizing the city on the way back.

This proved to be more of a problem then he had initially anticipated. Not only did he not recognize where he was no matter how far he went he also had trouble focusing enough to properly commit everything to memory.

He attempted clearing his mind several times but no matter what he did he could not get Barthiz out of his head. He felt a mix of anger in sadness and he couldn't put his finger on why. He knew he did not like seeing her with another man but he didn't understand why he was so caught up over it.

Barthiz is a succubus so it is natural that she would attract the attention of other men. Not only this but there was nothing between him and Barthiz so he knew it wouldn't be right for him to be jealous about it.

These thoughts caused his mind to once again become clouded as he proceeded through this unknown part of the city. Unfortunately, his attire had grabbed the attention of some unsavory individuals.

Due to the fact that he was distracted, he was actually oblivious to this fact. Normally people who saw his clothing would be sure to steer clear at all cost as to not accidentally offend him. But in this place things were different.

The people were uneducated. To them, he just looked like a vulnerable rich kid. Of course, some of these uneducated people saw the logic that someone that was rich must have a powerful backing and stayed away.

But to the others, they were blinded the potential value of the person in front of them. There were also no mages that ever passed through the area due to there being absolutely nothing of value for them so no one ever even stopped to consider that he may be something as godly as a mage.

As a result of all these factors, these unsavory ones set up an ambush in front of the path that Lucas was currently taking. Lucas still blinded from emotion continued walking stupidly into a trap that could have been avoided.

The same way he did a thousand years ago. Of course, this 'trap' was nowhere near the level of the one laid for him in the past. After walking for another two minutes of walking Lucas heard the sudden whiz of an arrow flying towards him.

Lucas looked up for a moment before scoffing. He hardly needed to act. Although he was no master magician at the moment his current skills were more than enough to erect a small barrier to block a simple arrow.

Lucas felt very enraged once again. He had already had a bad morning with his actions and the fact that he couldn't understand himself. Now some random people actually are trying to come after him using a normal arrow?

Lucas smiled evilly as due to the fact that he was no longer distracted he could easily pick up on every enemy in the vicinity. There about 15 attackers and 10 more who were hesitating in the background. Only if Lucas proved to be an easy target would they jump in.

Lucas imagined a small scale fire spell forming around him. Mana heeded his call an formed into 3 small flames that would be used by a normal magician to maybe light a candle but nothing more. But Lucas let his anger guide him and commanded for larger flames in his mind.

The mana responded with difficulty. Although the mana was indeed attracted towards him he was not mentally strong enough to use them to their full potential. Due to this, not all mana would heed his command.

The only reason he was getting the current response was due to the fact that his anger proved to be a strong stimulus for his mind allowing him to clumsily form a stronger spell. The once candle-sized flames grew into the size of palms.

Although he wanted them to be far larger and grander in his mind he would have to make due with the current flames. With this he commanded the palm-sized fireballs to go forth and that they did. The each or the fireballs burnt wholes through five people faster than they could blink.

Just as the ambushers hit the ground Azavius and a few other mages arrived at the scene. They had detected his draw on mana the moment the battle had begun. They feared the worst and rushed over.

Two possibilities had been running through Azavius's mind on his way over. One was that Lucas may be simply defending himself but the other was that he might be finally showing his true colors. As a result, he was prepared to both attack and defend Lucas when he arrived.

He appeared with a grand barrier surrounding him and a powerful attack spell in hand. He was greatly embarrassed though when he arrived to see all the attackers were all on the ground and they were all mere peasants that did not warrant anything near such a response.

He deactivated his spells before landing on the ground and approaching Lucas. "What are you doing all the way out here? When I said you had the day to yourself I did not anticipate for you to go out and cause such a ruckus. Not to mention what happened at the temple." Azavius gave Lucus an inquisitive look.

Lucus sighed and lowered his head in embarrassment and shame when the incident at the temple was brought up. "I originally left the temple to explore the city but got caught up in my thoughts and ended up here," Lucus told Azavius.

Azavius nodded in understanding. Although he did not know what he was thinking about such an occurrence was completely normal for someone studying to become a mage. Such things would be very common until the mage reached a mental level of being able to think while also remaining aware of his surroundings.

But even when a mage reached such a level they could still end up lost in their thoughts and end up in a dangerous situation much more so for a stronger mage. Imagine a master magician flying and getting lost in his thoughts.

His speed would be much faster than an apprentice who could only use his two legs. As a result, before he knew it he could end up in enemy territory surrounded by other master magicians and meet his end just like that.

The number of mages with great potential that had fallen due to something like this was staggering. Who would think that such powerful beings that were worshiped as lords and demigods could fall to such a simple blunder?

"I see, well I can take you back to the temple or I can give you a map of the city for you to explore. It's up to you." Azavius said. Lucas thought before a moment before accepting the map. Although he could probably get away with just going back to the temple and memorizing the map that already existed there were chances that there were secret areas not included in the map.

As a result, he decided he would use the map as a general guide while exploring a memorizing the city for himself. Azavius nodded before gathering the mages and preparing to leave. Just as he flew into the sky he turned around and shouted to Lucas.

"Try to get back as soon as you can that sister of yours is worried sick about you!". Hearing this Lucas's mood improved as the mages disappeared into the sky. Lucas studied the map and quickly discerned his own location he was in the district known as 'The Unfaithful's Grave'.

The name allowed him to glimpse the likely reason for such poor conditions but he would ask more about it when he returned to the temple. In the past, he remembered anyone who made it known that they were unfaithful to god would simply be seen as a waste of space and killed on the spot.

So the fact that there was an entire district that they were allowed to live in at all was surprising to him. He quickly decided there was no point thinking about this as he stared at the map of the city and created a general overlay in his mind.

He extended his magic sense to the general surroundings an added anything that was not originally apart of the map to the overlay in his head. He quickly found that there were many alleyways and tunnels in the area that were not on the map.

He reckoned this was due to the person who mapped out this place not caring to note down any of the specific details to the place because all other locations on the map looked more finely mapped and excellently done.

He made a mental note of this in his mind as if anything happened this could prove to be a good escape route for him and Barthiz. He would have to ask her to investigate this place more thoroughly in her free time as well as build some connections that could help in a potential escape in the future.

Lucus walked for 2 more hours around the area before deciding to head back to the temple. Compared to the other areas of the map the Unfaithful's Grave was simply too large and unorganized to be thoroughly mapped in one day.

He decided to follow the most direct route to the temple while keeping his magic sense up to discover and hidden paths on the way there. He was starting to get a bit of a headache from such a long use of mana but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

Magic sense was something that did not require much mana but good concentration. This was also part of the reason he decided to head back after only two hours. He found himself almost getting lost in his thoughts many times while exploring.

He was just barely able to catch himself each time. The moment he exited the district his original speculations were confirmed. On his entire journey back to the temple outside the Unfaithful's district he would only find a total of two unrecorded back alleys.

Lucus was careful when arrived at the entrance to the temple. He looked out to make sure he would not run into the either of the students from before. He could not understand what he had done to make either of the students hostile towards him.

It was completely stupid to him. 'Is this how they treat their other peers? No? Then why the fuck do they treat me like this. Is it really just because of who my master is? shouldn't such a thing make them show me respect rather than attacking me?'

Seeing that neither of the students was inside he made his way back inside the temple back to his temporary room. He was shocked to see there was no sign of anything that had happened in the morning.

Lucas entered his room and sat down to properly absorb all the information he had obtained from the trip. He was going to greet Barthiz but when he thought about what happened in the morning he decided against it.