Chapter 65: The Long Eared Guardian 5

Arden got friendly with Lafiel. She likes talking and so as he. She was an outcast in her tribe who is only there to protect them. Arden is a wanderer who has nothing to do other than hunt. Thus they talk to each other and express idle thoughts while at it. Arden finds their time together as great. He thought she was a little strict but when she spoke her heart out he was sure that she was a good person.

Arden observed Lafiel in her works. Lafiel would run around and kill anything that moves. She was careful more than ever. Arden thought that she can only do so because of her mana. Her power encompasses about the land and the more she spends her time here the more she becomes accustomed to the land. He helped Arden take care of the hunt. Arden is grateful since he doesn’t have to trek through the dangerous snow.

The snow is about knee-length now. Arden felt like the more he spent outside the thicker the snow became. He spent weeks on this place and so far only meeting Lafiel that he got a bit better. The memories of being pushed out of the cliff bothered. He is a normal human after all. A bit weird and emotionless sometimes but even he feared death. He owed his life to the others. He’d be a fool if he hands it over easily.

At least that is what he thinks lately. He never really got himself almost killed until lately. He still shudders at the thought of experiencing such suffering again. Arden could still remember the way his bones creak and the way his organs made a slimy slippery sound as he moves. He could remember the way his fingers would ache and the dryness of his throat was maddening. The hunger he felt while feeling his organs disoriented would make any people mad. Perhaps he was maddened to the point he couldn’t feel the days passed. All he knew that every hour and every second he was breathing for his life.

Lately, he got a bit better. It took months for him to recuperate and he remembers that it was still summer. When he woke up from the nightmare it was already starting to snow. He still wore the Black Panther that he killed during that day. He will never forget it for the rest of his life and will he ever let go of the pelt of the beast that reminds him of the second most vulnerable experience of his life.

The Black Panther he wears as a cloak and cowl would remind him of how he suffered. A reminder to failure he likes to put it. A reminder of how he got pushed, suffered, and almost met another end to the raging beast. He killed the beast with struggle and he was someone who could even kill a Pyromancer. He knows how to kill Mages and the likes with the teaching of his foster father. The Black Panther was the strongest opponent he faced. Even the lady during that night in the slums or the bandits was nothing compared to the Black Panther.

Not because the Black Panther was strong but because how weak he was. If the beast succeeded then he would be inside the Black Panther’s stomach.

…

In the morning Arden would only stare at the sky. He usually cooks food when he's hungry. The nameless place he is in is filled with resources and everything he needs to eat. His fur bag was already filled with butchered meat and pelt. His concern for the weather has also been taken care off. He built himself a makeshift tent out of the materials he could find. At best he would lay his tent near the tree when he is keeping camp, while he made the hollow tree in the distance a shelter he could use to house himself when the snow hits hard. He could feel the gust and blast of the wind in the north getting colder. The south is also blowing cold winds thus making the weather harsher.

He manages to sleep under the usual tree but with how winter is getting harsher. He could only shelter himself in the hollow tree. The hollow tree has already a fur bed he made. It is stuffed with leaves and some fur he didn’t need. The blanket he crafted was really warm. He wanted to make a fire inside the hollow tree so he transmuted some cobblestone and formed them into a makeshift hearth.

Arden has no plan on living in this place forever. If he cannot find any directions then he’s going to travel randomly and follow the roads until he meets anyone that could point out the way. He only plans to stay in this place for the winter and leave when spring arrives. His senses have become rather honed in this place. With his body broken he became paranoid about being injured. Usually, he would use what he was given to attack but now he switched into long distance attacks. He made a bow fetched some arrows for it. He made the quiver himself and used the leather he tanned into a belt. His craftsmanship is rather not that great but still, it was better than nothing.

Arden carries his bow along with him. Right now he is sitting outside in the usual tree. He saw the sky and guess that it was already noon. When noon comes up he usually starts roasting some meat. He has been eating nothing but fruits and meat since living here.

He wishes he could carve some pot and make some stew but that would require him using his Mana. The Mana he has right now is quite fragile and it might short-circuit if he forces himself to ‘construct’ complicated constructs and surely his magic veins will go awry.

He’d decided to limit himself with the normal constructs and instead of fully constructing in one go. Arden instead now constructs them by parts. For example, if he wants to construct a sword. He would need a pommel, the hilt, the blade and the guard. That’s four parts thus he will construct them and assemble it himself. He did the same to what he is wearing and the bow. He could not manage full constructs at the moment. He still feels that his heart has problems and considering how his bones almost turn to shards. His organs almost clogged up and littered with tiny holes. Arden thinks that he should take it easy. His healing his wounds but nevertheless the healing doesn’t restore but regenerate.

Arden knew the basic healing spells. His healing spells accelerate the recovery of the cell while the ‘detoxify’ magic and the other things are mostly something basic. Unlike ‘real’ healers, Arden cannot completely recover himself without using his own cells.

His magic needs fuel. And because of how his mind is loosely based on the teachings of his foster father. He could not grasp true miracle unlike his foster sister, Susan. She could use true miracle on her healing techniques while at the same using the techniques of Arden’s foster father to supplement it.

Arden is talentless when it comes to Magic. His magical techniques can only regenerate him but never will it truly miraculously restore what was lost. Instead of restoring it ‘replaces’ what was torn. That’s why when he fell from the top of the mountain it took months for him to heal. If Susan healed her then it would only take a week or so to do it.

It is an inferior magic but nonetheless still can act like the real one. Arden just lacks the grasp of perceiving true miracle after being influenced by the Mage Killer. The Mage Killer, his foster father worked around the idea of Magic as just unexplained Science. His foster father believed that when using Magic there is an equivalent exchange. Transmute and Construct use Mana as fuel. His foster believed that and thought more in the line of an alchemist and thus his healing spells are rather inferior. Arden believes that the reason why the healing spells of his foster are inferior is that because of overspecialization.

Arden’s foster father calls his Technique as the Mage-Killing Style. And because of this, his other skills were vastly inferior. It is a style that focuses on survival and in killing ‘Magical’ things. It can be used in dealing with others but it only truly shines when faced with foes like Mages and anything Magical.

It is useful but at the same taxing. The Style is heavily dependent on Mana and even using the objects around him won’t supplement his construct Magic. After all, even if he uses the Mana around him. He is still the conduit, the passage, the tube that the Mana will flow on to.

He can’t risk having his Magic Veins being invaded by foreign Mana. It might cause detrimental effects and concocting the Mana only makes him fatigued.

It’s really troublesome.

But Arden doesn’t really mind that much. The snow outside makes him calm and despite the fact that his powers are limited. He can still feel safe with the bow he made. He saw the snowflakes gently swaying down from the sky. As he stares at the falling snowflakes, he saw the person he was waiting for.