Book 2: Chapter 9

Cyil didn’t know about the figure that had been following him and was focusing entirely on his footing while treading the uneven forest ground. The dimming sunlight added to the difficulty of seeing where to step, slowing him down significantly.

Mahoj’s body was not even a rank 1 warrior because he had been entirely focused on mage training; so although being a mage had made his body stronger than an average teenager, the difference wasn’t too large.

Cyil remembered that the forest he was in was called Emerald Forest. The forest covered an area of 27,000 square miles with a few small mountain ridges scattered like cracks among the swath of trees. Most people never ventured too far into the depths of Emerald forest and only hunted around on the periphery. Those that did dare to venture deeper into the forest were never seen again...

In no time, the canopy from the trees had quickened the darkness, leaving Cyil with no choice but to stop for the night. He had ran close to 15 miles and estimated that with another day of running he would cover at least 100 miles or more. By then, he could exit the forest and travel the rest of the way on the main road.

Cyil quickly made a fire and stocked up on firewood for the night. He was hungry as all he had to eat for the entire day was two loaves, but he decided to worry about food when tomorrow comes. Without much to do, Cyil diligently sat near the fireplace and began to meditate.

The colorful lights appeared again and Cyil noticed that more fire particles than usual were concentrated around the fire. The difference wasn’t large but it would be easier to absorb fire particles this way, with them all clumped together.

Cyil had a sudden urge to find a lake to meditate near or perhaps even while sitting in the lake. If he could, then his mimicry of the ability perfect absorption would be even more effective. Cyil made note to put this method to the test once he found a lake and quickly reentered his serene state of mind.

Cyil continued to meditate as the fire died, the night fell and the sun rose. He had completely forgotten to stoke the flames throughout the night because he was too absorbed in meditating. Cyil couldn’t help but to laugh at the copious amount of firewood he had spent time gathering.

“Time to go,” Cyil said and checking to make sure the ashes from his fireplace were cool, he took off.

Cyil continued to run at a steady pace and whenever he was tired or thirsty he would stop to rest and cast a Water Sphere to quench his thirst. Cyil had traveled 40 miles since he woke and was now at the deepest part of the forest he would be in, before gradually heading out towards its periphery once more.

Cyil didn’t notice it at first but after a few more miles, he finally felt that something was different about the forest. Everything had become eerily quiet. The afternoon sun was still high in the sky, but the sounds from insects and birds had stopped. There wasn’t even animals playing about on the forest underbrush. Cyil quickly came to a stop and glanced at his surroundings. The colors of the trees and plants were one shade darker than what Cyil had remember. The tree roots that bulged out from the ground were now several times thicker than those he had hid the ring under. Cyil also found that the sunlight here was weaker than before.

His eyes had had time to adjust to the changing light so he didn’t see the difference but as he stopped and recalled the changes, the light was definitely dimmer.

“This must be deeper inside of the forest, an ancient part that humans haven’t harmed.” Cyil whispered to himself in awe. Not finding it the least bit strange that it was so quiet in such a dense forest, Cyil elected to continue on.

Occasionally glancing at the sun for guidance, Cyil jogged another 5 miles before stopping for a short break. Just as Cyil finished casting Water Sphere, a deafening beastial roar broke the still silence and rumbled the ground. Instantly, the sound waves produced ripples on Cyil’s Water Sphere.

“What animal could make such a sound?! Could it be a magical beast?” Cyil was shocked and wasn’t planning on finding out. He dispersed his Water Sphere and ran in the opposite direction from where the sound had come.

As Cyil was running, he thought about magical beasts. Mahoj’s memories did not contain much information on magical beasts and only gave Cyil a vague outlining of the different grades a magical beast could have. Much like how mages are ranked and leveled, so too are magical beasts. Though the method of grading magical beasts was developed by humans, it wasn’t too bad of guide and was usually correct. Sometimes, however, the rank and level given to a magical beast would be vastly incorrect which would result in a mage’s death due to underestimation of the magical beast. This underestimation was what was occurring at this moment.

…

An hour earlier, a group of five young wind mages from the nearby Gale Saints Academy had just finished their noon meal and was about to reiterate their plan.

In their group of five, there was 4 males and 1 female. The female called Rebeka who had a petite adorable face and slowly developing body stood up and commanded: “The Steeled Feathered Pheasant is only a rank 2 level 2 magical beast, but because magical beasts have enormous physical strength we all need to be careful. This beast is known for its tough defense and ramming ability; its only magical capability is Reinforce Armour, allowing its defense to raise by a significant amount. When the Steeled Feathered Pheasant uses Reinforce Armour our attacks will not be able to damage it for a short amount of time, only a rank 4 mage or higher would be able to cast a strong enough spell to breach the defenses. Thus, in this time we must avoid all of its attacks. If we can slowly draw out its stamina and continuously hit its vitals then this kill will be ours.”

As the female finished, one of the male called Brutus, the shortest one out of the bunch, spoke out in a timid voice, “Do you know how old the Steeled Feathered Pheasant is?”

Rebeka raised her eyebrow and replied, “It should be an adult, but I don’t know its exact age. Why, do you think the age matter?”

The timid Brutus looked to the ground and responded, “Never mind, sorry. If it’s an adult then it’s okay.”

The other males gave Brutus a look and some even scoffed.

One of the other male called Turtin, seeing that the female was still thinking about what Brutus had said, grew anxious and quickly added, “my father has killed a few Steeled Feathered Pheasants, even though they are ranked as uncommon magical beasts. He told me that the Steeled Feathered Pheasant has though defenses but is just a stupid bird in the end so we can easily take down this Steeled Feathered Pheasant.”

Another male, this one named Luhag, not wanting to be outdone, added in his two-piece: “Right right, I did some research on the Steeled Feathered Pheasant in the library and all the records say that they are extremely easy to kill, while the materials their body provides are tremendous. Some records even nicknamed the Steeled Feathered Pheasant as ‘the walking treasure chest’.”

Luhag finished speaking and looked to Rebeka, as if to seek her approval.

Rebeka nodded as she listened. Then she said, “although many say it is easy to hunt a Steeled Feathered Pheasant, we must still be on guard. We are not even Rank 3 mages yet, after all. If anyone should die during this secret mission then I won’t forgive them!” Rebeka ended her sentence with a forceful emphasis and gestured for them to head out…

The group traveled light and moved along silently with the wind. They had not used any spells to buff their speeds but being wind mages, their body was naturally more agile. Rebeka was leading the group with Luhag and Turtin sticking close to her behind and Brutus and Lupin in the rear. They did not speak and before long they reached their destination.

Hidden among the trees, the group of five stared at the den made of branches and vines which sat in the middle of the clearing. The den was larger than they had expected, as a Steeled Feathered Pheasant was only 7 feet tall and 6 feet long, but the den was easily 15 feet tall. The den was more like a dome, with its top matching the height of the shorter trees in Emerald forest.

“Why is its den so big?” Luhag involuntarily asked; he had not actually done any research on the Steeled Feathered Pheasant and before, was only speaking based off of things he had heard so he didn’t know how large a Steeled Feathered Pheasant’s den should be.

This was when Brutus chimed in with a little bit of excitement, “It must be because there is more than one Steeled Feathered Pheasant in there!”

When Rebeka heard this her eyes shined. “How sure are you about that?”

“Almost certain,” Brutus responded.

“Don’t lie!” Luhag said abruptly. “When have you ever seen a Steeled Feathered Pheasant’s den? We all know Steeled Feathered Pheasants travel alone and are rarely seen together even when they mate.”

Turtin was just about to add fuel to the fire when Brutus confidently agreed with Luhag.

“Right,” Brutus said. “They are rarely seen together but this is one of those times! They must be mating right now and that is their den!”

When Luhag heard his words being used to support Brutus’ cause, he grunted but did not say anything else.

Rebeka wasn’t really listening to the exchange anymore, and kept her eyes glued on the den. Then as if deciding something, she turned around and spoke to Lupin.

“Can you do it?” Rebeka asked Lupin in a serious tone.

Lupin didn’t responded right away, and only gave an answer after enjoying Luhag and Turtin’s murderous gazes burning into him. “I can take on one by myself for half an hour.”

“That’s more than enough time,” Rebeka smiled at Lupin’s answer, which sent Luhag and Turtin into even more distress. “Then let’s stick to the plan if there is only one Steeled Feathered Pheasant but if there are two then Lupin will isolate one of the Steeled Feathered Pheasant while we take care of the other one.”

Seeing as no one disagreed, Rebeka nodded. “Go!”

Wind Boots

Wind Boots

Wind Boots

Wind Boots

Wind Wings!

Simultaneously, all five of them activated their speed boosting buffing spell. Wind Boots would allow them to increase their base speed by more than double, whereas Wind Wings was a more advanced version of Wind Boots as it tripled the user’s speed and even allowed the user to step on air! Of course, the amount of steps that could be taken depends on the mastery of the skill and how much elemental energy the user had.

The one who had casted Wind Wings was not Rebeka, the leader, but Lupin, the quiet one in the group.

Lupin bursted ahead of the group and reached the entrance of the den. Looking in, he could see two shadows calmly begin to stand. “There are two!” Lupin shouted to the others, a bit excited.

Wind Blade!

Lupin threw out a Wind Blade which smashed like a hammer striking metal against the two shadows. The two shadows were not even phased, however, and this surprised Lupin, who instinctively backed up from the entrance.

“Something’s not right. Hold on,” Lupin managed to get out before he saw the first Steeled Feathered Pheasant’s emerge from the den’s shadows.

The other four also saw the Steeled Feathered Pheasant step out from the den and stopped in their tracks.

“What is that?!” Luhag demanded from Brutus.

“I,I, think it’s an ancient Steeled Feathered Pheasant,” Brutus replied through his open mouth, completely ecstatic at the discovery..

“You think? Does that look anything like a Steeled Feathered Pheasant to you? Fuck, you’re useless!” Luhag cursed Brutus and was just about to continue blaming Brutus when the ‘Steeled Feathered Pheasant’ raised its two heads in the air and roared, its sound unlike a bird’s chirp but more like a lion’s growl.

The group of five quickly covered their ears to no avail, as all their eardrums had already burst, leaving them bleeding from the ears.

The roar was so strong it had also released a shockwave that rattled the minds of the five making them temporarily dizzy.

The first to recover was Lupin and he did not hesitate to run. Just that roar was so powerful and had already sapped him of his confidence. He was a rank 2 level 10 mage on the verge of becoming a rank 3 mage, but that thing in front of him was definitely not a Steeled Feathered Pheasant, not to mention a Rank 2 leve 2 magical beast. It had to be at least Rank 4 or even higher! Lupin did not know and he didn’t care. When he remembered that there was two of those things he sped up, not sparing any elemental energy at all.