*THUMPF*
After sprinting relentlessly to get out of the mist, Ourin and Baerys fell onto the ground.
Panting and in shock that they were given such an opportunity, a heavy silence of realization came accross their mind. Ourin had scanned a big part of the common knowledge available for free in the library. This allowed him to become a real walking encyclopedia. He knew a lot about the fauna and flora of the world, not to mention the island of bones where there were countless books picturing the evolution of its ecosystem.
The Elder Bone Trees secluded a part of the island as a small-sized domain. As such, even if a plant went extinct in the island of bones, there might still be some remaining living samples in such mist domains. This was valid for both plants and animals. Humans, skeletons and even murlocs were similarly trapped.
Ourin had not only mapped the whole territory of the mist, he had also made countless analysis on the spell itself. Every year, it would get slightly bigger, though it did not follow a clear pattern and there was no way of predicting the time of its expansion. Little did he know, for the expansion offered an opportunity of escaping the spell.
"Did we really escape?", Baerys muttered, unable to contain her excitement, tears of joy and shock flowing down her cheeks.
Ourin nodded, and could not help but hug her to calm her down and calm himself down. A full year spent in the mist had rendered them unrecognizable. The clean and elegant Baerys who came from a declining magus family had become covered in mud and soaked in dry blood. Ourin, who was still a young teenager before entering the mist, had become a full-fledged peak rank knight with scars and muscular body that was incomparable with before. He exuded an aura of a warrior, one that had killed many creatures.
Regular peasants would not dare approach him.
"Let us return", Ourin muttered softly.
Baerys nodded in silence.
Their return was uneventful.
They skillfully avoided the magical beast, as the months spent in the mist had trained their pathfinding skills to the extreme, as well as their familiarity with the terrain. Be it Baerys or Ourin, both knew the anatomy of each creature they encountered better than anyone. They knew the peculiarity and patterns of mutants too. As for their natural habits, they had not just massacred these species in the mist, they ambushed them when they were in their weakest spot. To do that, they studied them, followed them for hours, if not days. They knew everything about them.
As such, avoiding such creatures was easy.
After nearly one day of travelling without rest, their stamina now much higher than what it used to, they finally saw the Mercifura academy from a distance. The massive architecture, a legacy left behind esteemed magus, seemed unfamiliar to them, yet it felt like a delivrance. The ominous sculptures on the gates, the golems guarding its entry, and even the thorny bloodthirsty vines on its walls that could swallow giants yet ignored them thanks to the apprentice token on their body...All of these elements felt like the burden on their shoulder was lifted.
They were home.
They managed to survive a bloody mist from a magus-level elder bone tree.
This was no small feat.