"Grandpa"s back.""It"s storytelling time."
Pleasant laughter from the surrounding hunters filled the plains. Every regular member of the team was laughing, Clark, the team leader, was no exception.
"Everyone, let"s rest for a bit," he called out, "Grandpa has some tales to share."
"Hahaha," Arthur"s gray hair and belly bounced as he laughs, "you got me there, Lightbulb."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Bursts of laughter flooded the place.
Everyone was laughing except for the "Lightbulb" whose turning incandescent from annoyance.
The stout man walked towards the nearest rock to sit. Rosh instinctively followed. The other hunters hesitated at first, but curiosity won and pulled them towards the two. Everyone sat on the cold snow, gathered around Arthur. The new hunters sat in front of him.
Arthur glanced blankly at the distant plain. The blood scattered on the fields, the smelly sweat from tired hunters, and lingering amounts of mana helped him to relive a memory from long ago.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
"As a hunter, magic is your best friend. For Mages, magic can be used to bend the rules of the world; for Healers, boost the body"s recovery; for Enchanters, enhance a thing from this world temporarily, either equipment; or for Physique Augmenters," Arthur pointed his finger towards the attentively listening Rosh, "their bodies. The list goes on and on."
Arthur glanced at Rosh, then asked, "Do you get what I"m saying?"
Rosh stood up like a student reciting at cla.s.s, then opened his mouth to speak. "You are telling us that magic has a variety of uses."
"You"re right, Arthur said, then scratched the back of his head from frustration, "but can you please not stand. We"re not in school."
"HAHAHAHAHA"
The surrounding hunters burst out laughing.
Rosh"s eye turned blank from embarra.s.sment. He quickly sat down, then stayed silent for a while.
Arthur glanced at the greenhorns in front of him, then spoke.
"Magic will always require a price, and that is mana," Arthur explained. "For us hunters, it"s as important as food. Without it, we"re only humans. I almost died before learning that."
"Almost four years ago, my party went to subjugate Black Boars on a remote forest. We have a balanced composition, one mage, one healer, one ranger, one Enchanter, and the last, a Physique Augmenter." he swallowed then continued, "What we thought as a simple hunt became a lesson to remember."
"After scouting the place for a while, we spotted one of them. The beast was no match against us. After realizing that it cannot win, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d ran away."
Arthur said.
"Why did you let it go away? Why didn"t you finish it earlier?" Rosh intuitively asked.
Arthur responded with another question.
"Rosh, what will you do if you"re tired?" he asked.
"Rest, of course," Rosh said.
"If you"re a monster, where will you rest?" Arthur asked.
Rosh pondered for a moment before answering.
"If I"m a monster, I"ll rest somewhere safe, somewhere on my territory," he said with pride, "my home."
A sudden realization crossed his mind.
"A pre-emptive strike on a sleeping fool."
Arthur flashed a bittersweet smile.
"And that"s our biggest blunder as a team," he said.
"Our team tracked the bear and found it resting on a cave. We decided to play with it for a little while."
"As the team"s only mage-"
"You"re a mage?! What type of mage are you?!"Rosh asked in quick successions.
Arthur instantly pointed his hands at Rosh, then recited some arcane words.
"Silence"
A burst of mana radiated from his hands before hitting the latter, causing a blast of light upon impact.
When the light dissipated, everyone saw Rosh"s neck bound by a ring of mana.
"Hey, Arthur! What the f.u.c.k is this?!" Rosh tried to shout, but no voice came out.
"To hear, one needs to be silent, now, is there anyone with questions?" Arthur said in a sweet but threatening voice.
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The newbies who have seen this broke out in cold sweat, while the regular ones are trying hard not to laugh.
"I made a pitfall using the last drop of mana I have. While waiting for the Black Boar, I sat on the back to recover my mana. I suddenly saw a spot of black in the bushes, I tried to notify my team, but I"m too late. A boar dashed at me. To stop the beast, I cast a barrier spell instantly. After the monster slammed at the barrier, the Enchanter enhanced his weapon then slashed the boar, having no defense against mana, the boar died on the spot. While I was lying on the ground, the Physique Augmenter was fighting another boar. He"s holding the monster"s tusk while pushing it. He augmented his jaw then bit the boar on the throat. When he let go, the boar was nothing but a corpse." he said before looking at Rosh, whose listening attentively.
"Rosh, if you learned something, free yourself."
The young man reflected for a second.
His eyes suddenly lit up in realization.
Rosh started clenching his teeth. A white light emanated in his throat, the ring that coiled around it earlier, started shaking. After a while, the ring vanished.
"Rosh, that hunter is right here, do you want to know who he is?" Arthur asked.
Rosh"s expression brightened up. Physique Augmenters such as him are rare. As a Physique Augmenter, mana can only be used to fortify or strengthen the body. As a hunter who risks their lives by fighting monsters, such magic is a great blessing, but blessings proffered by Magic always have a limitation. Physical Augmenters are "essentially" magicless.
Fate might have his favorites, but Magic doesn"t. Magic is a fair but selfish king who knows justice but only loves himself.
Being rare, studies about their powers are also limited. Learning from an older Physical Augmenter is a chance Rosh can never let go.
"He"s... here?!" he excitedly asked.
"Not here, but he"s our teammate. His name is Percival. He"s currently working as a miner." Arthur explained.
Listening to Arthur gave Damian a chill. His throat suddenly felt hot as he remembered his deeds against Percival.
*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*
Everyone turned to look at the Warding Pole.
The two-meter long metal bar is now glowing red and screams in annoying beeps.
Clark grabbed the transceiver in his belt, then put it near his mouth.
"Kyle, the Aerial Ward was singing just now. Send the truck immediately."He said in clear and concise words. Their leader"s caution was enough to tell everyone the danger of the situation.
"Hey, what"s that?" Rosh suddenly asked, looking at the skies.
Clark turned to look, but the sunlight blinded him. He blinked and looked again, this time with one hand shielding his eyes.
He found pairs of glistening wings flapping at a distance.
Clark turned shouted at the top of his lungs.
"RUN!"