[Battle Mage I (Light Blue)]
[Congratulations! Using your willpower and a small blessing, you've successfully passed the first threshold of a Battle Mage: Overcoming a Killing Aura. Your mind has been tempered from rock into iron. Now, if you want to persist on the path of a Battle Mage, the only threshold left is the mastery of skills. Keep up the good work, and maybe one day, you may join the ranks of those beings who have mastered the art of using magic for killing and war.]
[Effect 1: A slight resistance to Killing Aura.]
[Effect 2: A decent increase to your mana capacity and mental energy.]
The causality power — as Zane started calling it — materialized from his soul crest and traveled throughout his body. There were no injuries to heal this time around, but the mental fatigue derived from the battle intensity and the emptiness of his mana reserve were swiftly alleviated. The energy finally stopped in his brain for a second before disappearing.
The changes were immediately noticeable. Zane felt the range of his perception had increased from 20 meters to 30. Due to a feeling that this was not the only change, Zane cast a spell as an experiment. He was correct; his casting distance had increased. When he cast his first spell, the longest distance possible was 5 meters; anything longer than that and the spell would dissipate.
Over the past few days, Zane never stopped training, and his range almost reached 10 meters. Now, after the Battle Mage Title, it has reached 15 meters. "It seems the spell range is half my perception range," Zane noted. At the time, it was impossible to verify whether that was true, but he still took note of the information. A few more tests revealed other changes. For example, Zane used to take close to ten minutes to recuperate his mana. But now, after timing it, he only needed eight and a half minutes.
"Mental energy provides so many benefits. I wonder whether there are other ways to improve it besides titles and meditation," Zane thought. A basic analysis of the information he has hinted that mental energy is crucial to a mage, possibly as important, if not more, than mana. And after today's experience with the title, Zane experienced a small portion of the wonder of this power derived from the soul.
A deep exhalation emitted from Zane's mouth. Although he had benefited, being so close to death is an unpleasant experience. Glancing at the title description, Zane couldn't help but remember that deep voice that saved his life. It was truly bizarre, but the only explanation Zane could currently come up with was his family's magic. According to his mother, during his Outdooring — a Ghanaian spiritual tradition that took place eight days after his birth — he received his spiritual name, Kwame, because he was born on Saturday. However, unlike other normal Outdooring that most Akan children experience, their family, which still practices the old ways, also conducted a spiritual guardian ceremony for their infant, and his guardian was Anansi, the God of Spiders, Stories, Wisdom, Knowledge, and Trickery.
"I may need to have a conversation with Mama," Zane thought, regretting that he had neglected all those old traditions. Luckily, there was still time. As long as his mother and the elders are willing to impart their knowledge to him, Zane is willing to help. Even if the Shaman Path contradicts the Mage Path, he can still learn something from it.
"Now, what am I to do with you?" Zane muttered as he glanced at the magical creature's corpse on the ground, wondering how to clean up the mess. Since the body was so close to his cave, he had to move it, or the smell might attract other animals — especially the kobold.
"Hmm? What's this?" In Zane's perception, he suddenly detected a highly concentrated source of mana in the creature's body, around its heart, to be specific. Intrigued, he retrieved his knife and dug out a blue crystal the size of his palm. "So much mana? Can I absorb it?" The temptation was intense, but before he could put his thought into action, he sensed two other energies besides mana.
The first one gave him a feeling of weightlessness and freedom, similar to the wind. Given how the creature used a wind spell, Zane remembered what the tester told him about mages who specialized in a field and theorized that this power was probably wind energy. As for the second? It resembled mental energy, but less pure, with little pollution or other things mixed into it.
Roar!
An intense tiger roar echoed in Zane's mind as he focused while he was analyzing the unique mental power. If not for the previous experience, he might have been scared into soiling his pants. In that moment, all thoughts of absorbing the crystal's mana vanished from his mind. However, he decided to keep the crystal since it may be valuable. With this issue out of the way, Zane still had to deal with the obstacle of moving this creature, which probably weighed more than a ton. With the kobold's terrific sense of smell, it's only a matter of time before they are drawn to this location from the blood smell.
"Do I really have to move?" The last thing he wanted to do was sleep in the open; it was already a miracle he had found two caves within a 200-meter radius. Zane even suspects the Dimension Tower teleported him to a place near the cave in the first place. If that were true, the chances of finding another one are small.
Zane was a problem solver. Since he had a problem, he sought a solution. After considering all the tools and resources at his disposal, he concocted an idea. After casting the mana shield spell, he used his ability to control the semi-transparent shield to try to push the tiger's body away. His train of thought is that his body may not be able to move such a heavy creature, but magic— or the shield— may.
He was correct.
Although the process seemed draining on his mana reserve and required immense focus, which rapidly drained his mental energy, Zane successfully pushed the corpse hundreds of meters away from the cave. After that, he spent more than half an hour covering the blood trail with dirt. By the time the kobold starts to hunt tomorrow, most of the smell should be gone. And hopefully, there won't be any more magic creatures.
The night went without a hitch. With ample water and food, Zane practiced his spell casting and meditated. Tonight's session proved to be even more effective as his increased mental energy meant he could spin his meditation rune even faster and amass even more mana. Finally, he slept with his belly full and his mind fulfilled.
The hope that this shift would last only one day was gone the moment he opened his eyes in the inflated mattress, so Zane focused on completing the task he had assigned himself: continuing the hunt. The plan was the same as yesterday; as the saying goes, don't fix it if it ain't broke. These creatures did not raise livestock, so they hunted in the forest at least twice a day. Zane observed them from afar with the drone and eliminated the hunting squads of ten. In the morning alone, he hunted four of them, killing 40 kobolds.
"Only 10 left to evolve the title," Zane thought. After memorizing the directions all the hunting squads headed toward, Zane only needed to control the drone in that direction to discover their trail. The only concern was birds since one of them had previously attacked the drone. Luckily, Zane ran away fast enough, but from that moment on, he had to focus only on flying at the right attitude.
"Hmm? Is that another human?" Through the drone, Zane saw a thin-looking Latino man wearing brown leather armor, a long black shirt, and two bracers. At first, Zane thought it was a human native of this world until he saw the beat-up Converse. Holding a spear and a shield, the man fought with two kobolds while three bodies lay on the floor.
"Inhuman reaction speed, and he's fighting like someone who has been practicing spear and shield combination for months," Zane observed. "Can this be accomplished in just two weeks? Or was this man some kind of martial art genius or specialty, and it just so happened to help him after joining the tower?"
As much as the latter arguments make more sense logically, there are too many flaws. How rare are geniuses in any field? But even if they have unparalleled talent, two weeks is too short to reach such a level of skill. As for being a spear practitioner beforehand? That's also unlikely. While there are many martial artists in the modern world, few of them practice weapons. And the ones that do usually use the sword or something like a nunchuck.
"I wonder whether he is a Knight or a Rune Warrior?" Zane thought.
The battle soon ended, and the black-haired man killed the two survivors with only minor injuries. Acting as a seasoned hunter, the man wanted to hurry away from the scene before the other kobolds caught the scent of blood. However, he stopped when he noticed a drone not too far away. Zane saw his mouth open to say something, but he couldn't hear anything because of the distance and the sound of the propellers.
"Should I meet him? he pondered. The man seemed a threat with the spear, but only if he got close enough. With a gun in his hand, Zane doesn't believe the knight could pose a threat as long as he keeps a distance. So, after making a decision, he motioned with the drone, signaling the latter to follow him. Intrigued, the black-haired man nodded before running after the drone.
"Stay where you are," Zane said once the man reached the 15-meter mark, even showing him the gun on his side. The black-haired man raised his two hands to show he meant no harm and said something, but Zane couldn't understand because it was in Spanish.
"Is he from Mexico? Or is this a mission with South or Central America?" Geographically speaking, since Zane's director was for North America, that's the kind of person he should be dealing with — unless the missions were not purely based on geography.
Zane's brow furrowed. He had visited Mexico with Cindy, and he knew enough Spanish to ask for food, directions, tell someone he was lost, and ask about his passport and the embassy. That's the extent of his mastery.
"Do you speak English?"
"Sowy amigo, no hablas inglés."
Zane frowned. He wanted to communicate with this man to ask for information, but it appeared that this may not be possible. Suddenly, he thought of something and asked again:
"Can you understand me now?"
"Yes, yes."
"Good," Zane nodded. It appeared even the Knights had to learn Gremorian.
"Friend, where are you from?"
"Mexico."
"So, you are indeed from the North America Division."
"Mexico is indeed in North America."
"That's not what I mean," Zane said, realizing this man's understanding of the Gremorian Language was not as in-depth as his, and something was lost in translation. "Do you know Director Keldithas?"
"The cold and indifferent elf? Of course, I do."
"Good," Zane nodded. After reminding the latter of the director, he should also remember the hidden rule against killing each other. Now, Zane felt he could lower his guard a bit. No matter what kind of person this knight was, he should be wary of the Dimension Tower's rules. Of course, he still kept some reservations in case the latter was lying.
"I'm Zane, a mage. How about you?"
"Ricardo — Ricardo the Knight."