The Divine Wolf... or?

With such a hefty amount of money in his hands, Ark didn\'t immediately turn around and leave the small establishment. Seeing that he wasn\'t leaving, the old man could tell that he wanted something else. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Hmm, I need a good mana crystal. Something that\'s above what\'s on display, surely you have something better right?"

"Of course, wait here for a second."

The old man quickly moved his feet as he ran into the small room behind the counter. It didn\'t take long before he emerged once again, with a couple of large crystals in his embrace. They were a bit too big to carry in his hands, so he tried his best to press them up against his chest as he scuttled out behind the counter, earning a cute chuckle from Atar.

Ark ruffled Atar\'s hair a little as he started to inspect the mana crystals that the old man had laid out on the counter in front of him. The numerous amounts of bright lights filled the entire shop, and they looked quite magical, unfortunately, there didn\'t seem to be any that fit Ephine. There was water, earth, ice, and even thunder, but Ephine didn\'t really use any of those elements exclusively.

Sure, she could absorb one anyways, but the effect wouldn\'t be as good. The more compatible you were with a mana crystal, the better the effect.

As he was about to shake his head, Ark noticed the only crystal that he hadn\'t really paid any attention to earlier, since it was a size smaller than the rest of them. With the help of his "Inspect", Ark\'s expression darkened a little, as he started to ponder what he should do. The mana crystal had once belonged to an elemental wolf, the same species as Atar and Ephine...

Ephine could naturally tell that the mana crystal was from one of her own kind as well, which was why her eyes didn\'t leave the colourful small orb of mana. Ark could see that her gaze seemed to be stuck on the mana crystal, and he could only guess how she felt about it.

"I want that one."

What he didn\'t expect though was that she actually wanted it. Ark didn\'t intend to ask her why, at least not now, so he just decided to buy it for her, their original goal was to get her a mana crystal anyways. "How much for that one?"

The old man was a little surprised when he saw Ark pointing at the small mana crystal of the elemental wolf, as it was quite peculiar. Not many people practised many elements at the same time, which meant that no one was usually interested in this mana crystal. After a quick glance, the old man decided on a price. "50 platinum!"

"Deal!"

Ark was a little surprised, he expected a higher price. But the reason for the low price quickly dawned on him. Even if it was a rare mana crystal, what was the use if no one was going to buy it? It\'s worth was naturally a little higher, but the old man wasn\'t sure if he was ever going to get rid of it, so he decided to lower the price a little.

It didn\'t matter too much to him either way since he was going to be able to profit a lot from that amber mana crystal he had just bought.

After handing the old man his money, Ark took a final glance around the shop before he started walking towards the exit. As he was about to exit the shop, with everyone else in tow, Ark suddenly stopped in his tracks. Even though he had just been fairly happy, his facial expression said otherwise.

Outside of the shop, 10 adventurers stood waiting on them to exit, and Ark could tell why they were there.

They had just offended some noble, and all of a sudden a bunch of adventurers turn up outside of the store they\'re in, seemingly waiting for them to exit. Ark wasn\'t stupid enough to not see the connection. What put him at ease though was the general strength of the adventurers outside. Even Ephine would be able to take them on by herself, much less Ark. "Prepare for a headache..."

Everyone else had naturally already sensed all of the people waiting from them outside, but they were a bit more relaxed than Ark was. Ark felt a little tense as he was always thinking about the visions he saw, and he was scared that they were going to come true. He always had his guard up, especially since they were in the middle of a foreign city that they knew next to nothing about.

Seeing the group of 5 people walk outside of the small shop, the 10 adventurers all got ready to fight. Even though their purpose in coming here was just to "escort" these people elsewhere, they didn\'t expect them to give in without having to show some force. Contrary to their expectations, the group of 5 didn\'t really seem to care about them, even though they were clearly hostile towards them.

Feeling as if they might\'ve been misunderstood, one of them decided to speak up. "You better stop right there! Don\'t do anything you might regret and just come with-"

Before he could continue, he felt a chill run down his spine. The young man who seemed to be the spiritual leader of the small group had just looked at him, yet he felt like he had run into a ferocious beast! The sword that he had just raised fell to the ground as he stumbled hastily backwards, trying to get away from Ark\'s killing intent.

Ark felt like laughing upon seeing the calibre of the adventurers that had been sent after them, but since they were already here, he decided to give them a little parting gift before leaving.

"Since you guys don\'t know who you\'re messing with, I\'ll be lenient."

Before anyone could question him, Ark seemingly disappeared from where he stood, before he reappeared at the same spot a couple of seconds later. Before most people could process what happened, they could hear the screeches of the adventures who had once occupied most of the street. Every single adventurer laid on the ground, rolling around in pain, some of them even screaming.

Ark just looked on coldly, maybe they were only following orders, but Ark needed to set an example to whoever had sent them. He was not to be trifled with!