As the question of whether there are apprentices of different Magi in the outpost can be considered an irrelevant question Fraser ignored the steady stream of traveling apprentices and walked towards the exit.

Since the entrance of the outpost is located at the edge of the cliff, naturally the outpost is completely submerged in the cliff.

Just as Fraser arrived at the gate towards the howling abyss and wanted to step into the howling abyss a silhouette blocked his way and spoke in a mocking tone:

“An apprentice who doesn’t value his life? I am pretty sure that I didn’t saw you at the gathering, so stop trying to cloth like one of those inner circle members and go back to your task.”

As if annoyed by the action of Frasers, the silhouette charged out with his open palm.

Even though Fraser was able to realize that the silhouette attacked him, he only was able to put his arms up in order to protect him from the impact.

However, the impact on his arms never came.

Through the corner of his yellow eyes, Fraser saw a black something descend and grab the palm.

An agonizing scream echoed from the silhouette.

Through the pain, the blurry silhouette slowly turned into a human being.

With a fascinated gaze Fraser stared at the silhouette who, after the pain, turned into a normal human apprentice.

‘How come I saw him blurred?’

…

…

It was a normal guarding duty which Peter took after joining the outpost at the edge of the howling abyss.

Normally he would never take such a boring task and waste his time, instead, he would explore the howling abyss in order to find interesting monsters which he would track down and kill.

Not only for excitement but also for the powers these monster would possess.

After all, some monsters or creatures would possess strong abilities which are mostly thanks to specific organs or body features they possess.

One of them was the illusion sheep which skin had the ability to secrete a liquid which would allow it to become blurred and almost make it invisible to predators in the darkness or dense surrounding.

So it was no wonder that the skin and the organ which stored the liquid became the first thing that Peter transplanted into his own body.

After all the difficulty of getting the skin and organ of an illusion sheep only consisted of finding one, which after a period of preparation of setting traps and a little bit of luck succeeded.

Sadly as this was Peters first transplantation he made a mistake and didn’t considered deactivating the ability of the skin and thus the illusion effect became permanent.

Naturally, there were a few moments when the liquid would stop secreting, for example when he went to sleep or he got injured.

All in all, these were moments when his body wasn’t able to sustain the skin effect due to an external cause.

But as the illusion effect of the skin saved his life many times and gave him an imposing aura in the presence of other humans or apprentices, he didn’t implant a fake switch as that would cost more overall energy than letting it be as it is.

The good days in the howling abyss ended when his mentor informed his group about the upcoming monster tide and when they moved towards an outpost at the edge of the howling abyss.

As his mentor only recently became a Magus, Peter as one of the oldest inner circle members naturally had to take up duty in order to please the inner circles of other outposts.

So the most boring and unrewarding duty went to Peter: the guarding duty at the entrance which consisted of chasing away any stray monster and the supervising of younger apprentices.

After a while, Peter saw two concealed figures walking toward the entrance of the howling abyss.

‘Ah, another two of those apprentices who after finishing their duty have death wish. At least these guys are smarter and tried to disguise himself like most members of the other inner circles.’

Stepping in front of the first one Peter started to speak:

“An apprentice who doesn’t value his life? I am pretty sure that I didn’t saw you at the gathering, so stop trying to cloth like one of those inner circle members and go back to your task.”

‘Let this be a lesson to you.’

With this thought, Peter used his palm before suddenly a hand grabbed his hand and… pain.

…

…

While Fraser stared at the boy wondering the blurring effect emerged from the body a thought crossed his mind.

‘When I think about it, I never actually commanded the servant to do anything. Is the servant a sentient being or just good at processing my thoughts? I need to check on that later.’

The scream of the blurred apprentice caused a commotion.

Most people love gossip or things that look interesting and a screaming guard at the entrance?

A perfect topic to talk about.

Besides, it would also be good information about why the scream took place. Maybe it is some kind of rare resource? Or information that could be withheld.

Before a crowd could surround the three people, Fraser already commanded his servant to stand behind him.

The guard of the entrance held his arm which looked like a bloody piece of flesh with shards of bone protruding out of it.

“Un-authorized apprentices are not allowed to step out of the outpost. Your senior apprentices should have assigned a duty to you and forbid you to go outside. Didn’t you have heard that there is a tide happening soon?” spoke the guard with clearly visible suppressed hatred towards Fraser.

“I am part of the inner circle of Magus Sept. Since I am a newcomer I have no duties. I am allowed to pass, right?” asked Fraser while a small crowd mumbled and whispered at Frasers and his companion's actions.

With an ugly smile, the guard stepped aside and said in an impatient voice: “Naturally, move.”

With ease, Fraser stepped outside of the outpost and a damp smell greeted him.

In the blink of an eye, the wide nature of the howling abyss greeted him.

Turning his head around Fraser could see that the outpost entrance looked small compared to the seeming infinity long cliff of the howling abyss.

Looking back into the howling abyss he could see that a dense forest awaited him, covered in mist and light sources in the mist made it into a mysterious and dangerous fairyland.

With nothing but a small bag filled with potions and his servant of the type soldier Fraser stepped into the unknown and vast forests of the howling abyss.

His goal? Killing organism which would deliver enough organic matter, in other words, meat, to cultivate more servants.

‘I should concentrate on the more simple animals, for example, the colossal cave bear is a good target. My servant is way bigger than the cave bear and probably way stronger. It would also deliver a huge amount of organic matter. I should avoid those animals or organisms with special abilities, most don’t give much meat and are not that useful to myself.”