Arthur left the outpost early in the morning. He carried with him his old training sword, a small bag, and a carving knife to bring back the proof of his kills. Before leaving he memorized the path and the map Zoe had shown him before leaving. He had already memorized much of the surrounding areas while traveling during his previous excursions to hunt for the beasts.

He was now traveling East and a bit south just out of where he had walked through in the past. The mana beasts he was tasked to kill and retrieve the cores and heads from were from a lightning elemental type bird called purple-streaked shrieking birds.

From the beast encyclopedia, he learned that they became purple blurs in the air and created loud shrieks from their beaks while in distress and as a call to gather others of its species. They also gathered in nests of five to ten birds. Arthur was not looking forward to it.

‘Finally, I’m on my own again. Every day has been non-stop go do this and that. I may not ever get physically tiring, but it does get mentally exhausting. I just want to return to the battlefield once more and help win this war. I know I’m not at the same power level as before but I’m not in the same body as before. I’m not human anymore. I’m something else. Zoe gave me a new name and proved that. I am a new person that is also parts of the old. The only thing left of my old body is the memories I kept during the soul transfer process they did just before turning on this body.

Maybe with this new body, I can be somebody else and do other things once I complete these tasks given to me. I owe it to Zoe and the others to see it through first before moving on. Once I’ve gained enough power and can show them my might I will be able to persuade them more forcefully if needed.

For now, I need to prove myself to myself and the researchers. With the power, I have been taught to use I will complete my mission.’

Arthur continued through the woods and past his furthest previous point. He had to slow down due to the plants that served as obstacles in the way. As he progressed he noticed that the beasts that didn’t actively use mana avoided him when they could. Because there weren’t any flesh-filled people surrounding him they just saw him as a moving metal thing that wouldn’t do anything for their appetite.

Arthur hoped that it wouldn’t be the case for mana beasts as well. His current worst-case scenario was to hunt down some smaller beasts first to serve as bait for the purple-streaked shrieking birds and attack them once they arrived. Arthur regularly cast [Detect Life Aura] in search of animals in the forest. Most of what he saw were small birds and mammals that ran away before he could see them. He had also learned and started to regularly cast [Silence]. The duration was long enough to be worth it to use repeatedly but wouldn’t be worth it to use in battle due to its high initial mana cost.

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After traveling for another hour Arthur found what he was looking for. He first heard the birds before he saw them with his magic and eyes. Arthur recast [Silence] once more and approached slowly.

He watched them in them up in the air as they hunted. He counted seven of them together and waited to find a time to strike. The birds circled together and cornered a group of large ferret-like animals. The birds split up and pushed the ferrets towards the nearby river and sent the occasional lightning blast towards them. As soon as the ferrets were forced into the water other purple-streaked shrieking birds sent enough current through the water to paralyze and stun them before picking them out of the water.

Arthur made a note to avoid both the water and the attacks if he could help it. His metal body would attract the lightning and quickly fry his insides.

‘I need to hit them quickly and separate them. They aren’t particularly fast and rely on their magic attacks before other methods. I wonder how they would react to other mana beasts attacking them. Their hunt should end soon. They seem to prefer hunting very weak beasts. I can’t rely on my sight as much for this battle as well. They will attack from all sides, and I need to protect myself well.’

The birds finished off the rest of the ferrets quickly after the first fell. The last of the ferrets tried to scramble and dodge the attacks instead of dying in the water, but they were all caught eventually. The bodies were thrown from the water onto the side of the river. Soon each of the birds was now picking at their fresh hunt for food.

Arthur chose this moment to strike. Their guard was down, and they were unfocused. He cast [Ice Field] with one hand and then [Plasma Bolt] with his other hand immediately after. The bolt hit first and burned the nearest bird’s wings. The ice-covered the ground and them all soon after. The birds slowed to get into the air and small ice crystals covered their bodies.

The injured bird cried out as it tried to flap its wings. The rest took to the air while the other was unable to leave the ground. Arthur shot out another attack and hit another bird while they prepared an attack.

Arthur prepared a [Mana Shield] as the birds attacked. His shield crackled as they hit. He kept moving to finish off the initially injured bird while the second fell from the sky. Seeing that their magical attacks weren’t going to hurt him they swarmed around him.

The shield only blocked attacks from the front so Arthur moved his free arm into the air and swung with his sword. It smacked one of the birds as it came down on him, but the other birds hit their mark. They all had long thin beaks that were sharpened to a point. Most of them only scratched at his body while one tore at his shoulder wire. He felt a weakness in his sword arm and almost dropped the weapon. Swinging his spell arm around he cast [Plasma Bolt] once more into the crowd of birds.

The spell ignited and blew up near the middle of the group. They tried to scatter, and some were blinded as they crashed into one another. Arthur took this moment to finish off the bird that he had hit with his sword. With another cast of [Plasma Bolt], he finished off the first bird he had fought.

‘Two down five to go.’ He cast [Plant Growth] and took a step back. Arthur held his arm up as the plant healed from the tears and reknit itself. They cawed at him and spread themselves out. Arthur noticed that some of them seemed hesitant to continue the fight unsure of if they could finish the fight.

‘[Ice Block]. [Air Jump].’

Arthur cast the two spells back-to-back at the nearest bird. He moved through the air and readied his sword for a follow-up attack. The closets birds scattered, but two were hit by the attack. The others decided to help their friends and moved to attack him from behind.

The bird hit by the [Ice Block] attack fell to the ground towards Arthur who swung out at them and injured them further. The remaining three birds fired off their lightning attacks once more. Arthur tried to move out of the way, but he was too slow and still got hit by two of the three attacks.

The lightning coursed through his metal exterior quickly and entered the plant wiring within him. In an instant, all connection to the metal exterior was cut and burned away within him leaving him with only an unstable connection to parts of it and the metal sphere ball containing his core.

‘Damn it. I should have cast [Mana Shield] back there. Now I have to sit here in the darkness while my mana and body recharge. It could take hours or days. I need to focus. I still have a connection to most of my parts, but the power provided by the wiring no longer exists. I need to repair one of my arms first. I can then cast [Plant Growth] to speed up this process. At least the birds seem to have left. I don’t anything for them as far as food goes.’

Arthur began his unconscious repair process while returning to his thoughts. If he was going to be stuck here for a while he might as well make the most of it.

‘First thing I need to do is learn more spells of all kinds. Area of effect spells are nice for groups, and I will be needing support spells pretty soon. I also messed up my arm before I could do much with my sword spells. I’m not sure if I can have Zoe make me some extra armor before the sword arrives. Right now, my slowness and joints are major weak points if I..’ Arthurs felt the connection to his thumb fade completely and disappear. ‘Get off me you puny, smelly birds. You are the only ones who could have taken it. Give it back it isn’t yours.’

Arthur tried to extend his power beyond his current self to grab hold of the birds that were surely mocking him above his temporary grave. He pulled at the mana and his energy within himself and fired out the pure mana from his core wildly into the area from his missing finger. Arthur felt it come from his finger and not the hand it originated from. Arthur focused his now dulled senses and felt the small connection to his finger.

‘My mana within it must’ve kept it active. I need to get it back. This is an embarrassment.’ Arthur focused on the connection to the missing finger as it moved away from him and held onto it in his mind. ‘I will retrieve you, my missing digit, and finish off the zapping birds. I won’t be afraid of you.’