Chapter 185. The Northern Society
It seed that the temperature of the Northern Frontier had already reached its lowest point the mont one entered it.
Or rather, whatever little drop there was farther north was hardly worth ntioning at all.
Fran rode her black horse at an easy pace along a road where one could barely tell snow from path.
The black horse seed perfectly suited to the temperature here and was not affected by the cold in the slightest.
Fran sat atop it in light clothing, with nothing on her body that looked particularly warm.
Her condition was much the sa as that of those knight order mbers. She could feel the cold, but it did not affect her very much. At most, if she stretched her hands outside for too long, they would grow a little stiff.
The enhancents to her physique from so many professions had not been for nothing. Even the wound Connor had left on her, after she used a Healing Potion, had now more or less healed.
In sharp contrast to Fran’s ease, Dorian trudged behind her, each step sinking into the shallow snow as he moved forward with great difficulty.
He was wrapped in a thick coat, yet the cold still made him shiver in the white expanse. He had to struggle with all his strength just to keep up with Fran’s pace.
Fran glanced back once and could only make the black horse slow down further to make things a little easier for him.
But unexpectedly, when the black horse slowed, Dorian slowed along with it.
Looking at Dorian’s staggering steps, Fran had no choice but to continue like this.
Perhaps because the pace had dropped a little, Dorian finally had enough leeway to speak. He truly could not endure the cold any longer and wanted to distract himself by talking.
“Hey, friend, where did you buy your horse? How can it withstand the Northern Frontier’s bitter cold like that?”
He looked at Fran’s black horse with obvious envy. It was precisely because creatures that could adapt to two completely different environnts were so rare that he had given up on using a mount and chosen to walk alone instead.
Creatures suited to the freezing environnt of the Northern Frontier did not adapt well once they reached warr regions.
All the organs that kept them warm would leave them half-delirious from the heat in milder places.
And horses that could run at full speed in warm regions would feel chilled to the bone even while moving once they entered colder lands.
Creatures that could adapt to both kinds of regions generally cost an enormous sum, and Dorian, as a First-Tier Mage, simply did not have the spare money for such a purchase.
“I asked a mage of the Modification School to alter this horse for a little so it could adapt to cold environnts.”
Dorian asked nothing further. He knew that if it had only been a matter of adapting to the cold, he could probably have afforded it.
But Fran had clearly ridden this black horse all the way from the Alliance to the Northern Frontier.
That kind of alteration was obviously the sort that could adapt to both environnts, and the cost of that would not have been low.
The other reason Dorian stopped asking was that he discovered the mont he opened his mouth in weather like this, the cold rushed straight into his teeth.
After that brief exchange, he did not dare say more. If he continued, even his speech would start to slur.
So the two of them traveled on in silence. Fran was fine, since the cold had little effect on her, but Dorian suffered miserably the entire way.
Just when he was about to beco unable to walk any farther and was ready to suggest a rest, his eyes suddenly widened as he spotted sothing that filled him with delight.
In the distance stood a gigantic cylindrical structure, with billowing black smoke rising from its top.
At the re sight of that pillar, Dorian felt as though his whole body had ward up.
Ignoring the cold wind pouring into his mouth, he excitedly shared the good news with Fran.
“That’s the Northern Society’s compound.”
“That smoke-belching pillar is the great furnace the Northern Society specifically commissioned from the Construction School to fight the cold. It supplies warmth to the entire compound.”
It was as though Dorian had seen hope. Even his pace quickened considerably, forcing the black horse to speed up as well.
The closer they drew to that towering furnace, the more Fran suddenly felt the air, once harshly cold, begin to grow dry and warm.
With every bit of ground they advanced, she could feel the furnace’s heat washing over her.
Although in the frigid Northern Frontier that warmth could be scattered away by the freezing wind in the blink of an eye, Fran still felt her body grow a little warr.
As the furnace lood larger and larger in their sight, a black city wall ca into view before Fran.
To Fran’s surprise, outside that black wall there was not an empty wasteland, but buildings everywhere, packed densely along the broad avenue leading into the city.
Seeing her confusion, Dorian carefully explained,
“Those are ordinary commoners from the Northern Frontier. They settled here because it’s warr.”
“Although the Northern Society screens those who enter the city, so these commoners can’t get in at all, it’s still much warr outside here than it is elsewhere.”
This situation had begun after the Northern Society took over the lands of that lord who had wanted to join the Alliance.
Those commoners had suddenly realized that the authority over their heads had simply vanished.
To be fair, those lords had served so purpose. They cleared out magical creatures within the territory, distributed its resources, maintained basic order, and so on.
But the Northern Society had absolutely no interest in these commoners. They were a group of mages. What use did they have for ordinary people?
So they had no intention whatsoever of taking over responsibility for them. And when they discovered that the commoners wanted to bask in the warmth of their furnace, they simply drove them outside the city walls.
That said, the Northern Society had not been utterly heartless. After driving them out, they did not bother the commoners so long as they remained not far outside the walls and continued to benefit from the furnace’s warmth.
Later on, because very few mages ca from the Alliance side, the Northern Society had barely increased its mbership at all since arriving in the Northern Frontier.
With no other choice, the mages of the Northern Society turned their eyes toward the commoners outside the city and began implenting the Alliance’s mage education system within the city to replenish their own society.
Nowadays, throughout the entire Northern Frontier, the city built by the Northern Society had already beco the largest city in the region.
Other cities did not have this great furnace that could provide warmth, so in terms of living conditions, it was far superior to the rest.
“Co on, let’s go in through that gate.”
Dorian pointed toward the broad purple city gate and took the lead in walking forward.
Fran looked over and saw that beneath the wide gate, there was actually an enormous queue as well.
But the identities of Fran and Dorian as mages were not for show. The mont they stepped into line, the people before them tactfully moved aside and fell back.
Very soon, they reached the gate itself.
“Dorian of the Elental School.”
Dorian handed over his docunts, and the guards did not waste words. One wave of the hand was enough to let him through.
Then it was Fran’s turn. But when she handed over her own docunts, a cry of shock ca from the guard.
“You’re Fran?!!”
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