The Haunting Hunter

Three months have passed since Melany left Sindry village and Tristan began training in earnest. Ever since he completed his first magic sculpture, Tristan has been practicing the use of alchemy, manna transfer and magic arrays to apply them practically.

Every day people from the village would come to the herbalist to ask for advice regarding problems with health or their crops. Today, Diane was sitting on the counter sewing up some special reed like leaves Tristan collected into a long fabric while occasionally sneaking in a glance or two at him who was busy drawing up arrays and experimenting.

The two were interrupted by old-woman-Jenkin. Jenkin was one of the village elders who had been farmers since Sindry's humble beginnings and one of the oldest people in the village.

"Grandma Jenkin! How are you doing today? Is it perhaps a stiff shoulder?"

Tristan was up and ready to serve a customer. He immediately made her sit down on the customer's seat and urged her to speak. Jenkin politely smiled.

"Tristan dear, little girl Diane, this old woman has been suffering from many a problems. Them bones are now old and creaking. I'd love a tonic for pain, won't you give your granny a discount?"

Tristan nodded and outright dismissed the need for a discount.

"We can't possibly charge you grandma Jenkin. How about something better than a tonic? I might be able to make you feel much more revitalized... If you just lend me your hand."

Tristan held the old woman's fingers delicately in his childish palm, closed his eyes and tried to guide his manna gently through her bones and muscles. He pictured repositioning pressured nerves and gently relieving the noted muscles and reducing bone cracks. To Jenkin the entire situation felt like a powerful massage that energized her from the inside! This was Reiki healing skill that he understood was described in the books but was supposed to be a high level skill of manna transfer combined with healing.

"Oh my! I feel 20 years younger. Tristan you little genius. It is like magic from the old days! I feel like I can even run! Thank you child."

Tristan however wasn't smiling. He had the eyes of having discovered something interesting!

"Magic from the old days? Granny what do you mean?"

Granny Jenkin scratched her head, perplexed.

"Little boy, it was a long time ago, but my father used to tell me he learnt a trick from some creatures known as orcs when he went to fight as a soldier. He would suddenly be able to break rocks with a punch."

Tristan was astonished! Orcs were one of the many non human species living on the Altan continent and his books described them as an extremely aggresive war mongering race who were very resilient!

"Granny, can you tell me more about greatgrandpa? How did he meet the orcs? About that magic?"

Jenkin sighed.

"Good old father, he left a few belongings before he went for the war against the foreigners and died. Why don't you take a look at the diary he left? I would have given those books to young Melany myself if it wasn't for father's ghost haunting his memorial room."

"Ghost? Haunting?"

Tristan was perplexed. He hadn't heard about ghosts existing beyond the tales of his parents and Rudi's baseless braggings. He didn't believe they were real, but with an open mind he urged Jenkin to lead him to the memorial room.of her house.

As Jenkin led Tristan inside the memorial room, he felt the air had a heavy scent of scorched earth. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand. Tristan closed his eyes to feel the pulse of his surroundings with manna but was suddenly thrown back to the wall and his eyes blacked out.

When Tristan opened his eyes he saw things levitating in the air. His eyes then fixed on Jenkin whose eyes were emitting a yellow glow. She opened her mouth and the unnatural sound of screeching bats echoed loudly through the room. He was paralyzed by fear at the scene.

"Who are you...intruder? Prepare to die.."

Tristan gripped himself to senses and spoke hesitatingly.

"Are you granny Jenkin's father? I came to meet with you and learn about your great adventure with the orcs."

"Y-you dare call my daughter a granny? My daughter is a princess like beauty! How dare you offend her!"

At that moment Jenkin, possessed, began creating a powerful lightning bolt that threaten to destroy the entire house but hesitated. Tristan was prepared to run but seeing Jenkin hesitate, he drove in.

"I just saved Lady Jenkin from a severe illness by healing her with magic. It was she who invited me to see your great power. Please forgive me!"

Humility is the important virtue at the moment! Jenkin too seemed to be having a conversation with himself and then stopped attacking Tristan and sat down.

"It appears you speak the truth. Daughter tells me you didn't even ask for payment. Young lad, tell me what you want? I will repay her debt."

"Could you tell me about your adventure with the Orcs?"

"Hah, of course. 'Twas one of me greatest adventures! I was hunting for rabbits in the woods of Ishtan when I found an ugly monster heavily wounded. I was goin' ta kill tha bugger but I pitied it and nursed it to health. 'Twas an Orc it said. Was attacked by a dragon!"

"D-Dragon!?"

Tristan couldn't hide his astonishment. Dragons are legendary creatures who freely roam the continent without any concern. The strongest of the strong! Seeing a dragon was considered extremely bad luck, because it meant almost certain death.

"Yessir, a dragon. However 'Twas a youngling and couldn't breathe fire. 'Twas how that disgustin' orc survived. I tried conversin' with that orc but 'Twas next t'impossible. In the end we talked with signs. B'fore he left, he taught me a magic of reinforcement. It made me defenses very strong and With that I became a captain in the army!"

Tristan stayed quiet, hoping for the old ghost to continue with his story. But the ghost seemed to have exhausted its energy in the excitement.

"Heh? Looks like I'm ascending! So I was waiting to repeat my story one last time eh? Kid.. It appears my time is up. I must thank you for releasing me from this world! Take this! It is a manna fragment the orcs gave me."

The diary of Jenkins's father suddenly started turning pages rapidly before stopping right in the middle. A small stone appeared from the page and gently flew towards Tristan who caught it. The book then burnt to ash and disappeared. The ghost then came out of Jenkin body, who silently fell asleep on the floor, and then began disappearing.

****

Tristan made sure Jenkin was healthy before he left her home and returned to the herbalist's store. Diane asked him about the ghost, but Tristan denied it, saying it was nothing there. He didn't want to scare Diane.

Tristan went to the woods surrounding the village on the pretext of collecting herbs and sat under a tree. He closed his eyes and try to sense the small brown stone using his manna. The moment the flow of his manna, a white aura came in contact with the brown stone, it turned into dust and a brown aura interacted with his, creating precise movements and shapes as if instructing the manna itself.

Observing this, Tristan understood what he needed to do. Immediately applying what he learnt from the fragment, Tristan was surrounded by a brown glow and he felt his strength increase and give the feeling if being invincible. He tried out his power and was able to crush rocks and slice trees with his bare hands! However, thirty seconds later he collapsed from exhaustion. He didn't have any manna left.

Reinforcement magic used a lot of magic power. Tristan was disappointed because he felt it had a huge drawback because his manna was too low. He began collecting herbs until his manna recovered.

As he was collecting, he realised there was a way to circumvent the situation. He began manipulating a fraction of his manna to form a very thin layer of reinforcement around him. He then punched a large tree beside him. The Tree was undamaged, with a small indent from Tristan attempting to punch it, but more importantly, Tristan was unharmed as well. He could use reinforcement as both an offensive and defensive ability. He then manipulated his manna movement even further so that the reinforcement energy only appeared on his hand, or his face or just a finger.

He kept practicing to improve control of reinforcement by trying to reinforce partial regions of his body, making various patterns - checkered, chaotic or even a spiral. He also improved control over the time he could maintain the magic. If he used it only during the split second of impact, at the area of impact he would save a lot of his manna. He also realised that by using reinforcement on his legs he could run much faster, even jump in an agile manner.

After testing around and learning a lot of new things, he hurriedly reinforced his feet and legs and began quick collecting herbs before returning to the store.