Weeks have passed since I began my tutelage, which was like the abyss brought to earth. I have barely been able to sleep as my teacher gave me a drink of some kind. Every day was the same study, spar, study, spar, nonstop. Despite the feeling of my muscles falling apart, I thrived in the high-intensity training. Though what he taught appeared to only be the basics it was nothing less than eye-opening. I brought up the gnarled wand that quickly became like another appendage and shot a fireball at the large man in front of me. This man was, in fact, not my master, but another servant. Towering in bulky full-body golden armor and wielding a short but thick blade which he used to swat away my attack. His movements were stiff and unnatural, but I didn’t let that fool me, this thing can move faster than an arrow if it so chose.

Runic writing suddenly flashed a dull red and I only barely had a chance to raise a shield before a wave of magic threw me into the air. I fixed my stance and sent an earth spear out which only barely caused the figure to stumble, but it revealed a slight opening that I sought to exploit. Like second nature I sent a barrage of magic missiles of which only one met its mark. This exchange of attacks continued until I ran out of energy. When I indicated our spar was over the figure silently turned and made its way into the woods. I sat down on a log and started to meditate, trying to regain my energy. Ever so silently a hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder causing my heart to slam into my throat. I fought the instinct to glare at my teacher as he snickered to himself at a job well done.

I stood up and prepared for my lesson for today, which was, apparently, the basics of casting. Strange glowing lines appeared on my teacher’s outstretched hand, and these lines slowly began to twist themselves into rope. This wasn’t like any casting method I have ever seen, the rope quickly circled back on itself, creating a tense coil. With a flash, the lines turned crimson, and a halo of flame ignited. With a quick movement, my teacher extended his palm forward which launched a crushing wave of crimson death. Like the breath of a dragon, the flames spread far and wide, incinerating all in its path. My face flushed from the sudden heat and my mouth gaped with awe. A sizable expanse of forest was gone and replaced with blackened char, trees were turned into carbonized stumps and the ground was unrecognizable. I turned to my teacher and saw a glint in his eye that usually meant that I was not about to have a fun time. “Your turn.”

POV shift---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I plugged my magic into her veins and forcefully circulated her inner magic. Unlike the spider method, the old blood hunter method required you to mix your inner magic with the ambient magic, which made this particular style a bit harder to learn if you’re not practiced in using your own magic. The quickest way to teach someone, I have learned, is to force the student to perform the spell by outside means. This however tends to be very, very, painful. I circulated her magic to her left palm and used it to reach out to grab ahold and bring back some outside strands. Now for the hard part. The girl began to desperately fight back as I siphoned some of her inner mana into the quickly forming spell. Strands of magic quickly converged onto the highly pure inner mana and with a bit of prodding the frantically waving lines began to intersect into a halfway decent braid. Like a spring the braid began to coil and compress until it finally began to unravel. Now time for the fun part. I sent the girls palm forward, releasing the tension of the spring which sent the spell forward at astonishing speeds. As it moved the tip of the braid unraveled, creating a wave of volatile magic that one would be wise to avoid. The wave was only the outer shell of the attack though, the core of the spell was the real menace. About ten feet away the spell struck a stump causing the core to turn volatile and implode on itself releasing another, more concentrated, wave of death.

If I recall correctly, this attack was used mainly on a group of enemies or a very large opponent. The wave effect knocked back and stunned the opponents while the core took out a specific person. Though from what I have seen, the wave alone might be enough to kill a man. The girl collapsed under the shock of using her inner mana for the first time. It only took another second before her mind finally decided enough was enough and shut down. I looked over at the destroyed section of forest and sectioned it off to grow back again. I may have been a bit too enthusiastic with my spell. I brought the girl back to the shack and sat her down on the cot to get some rest. I leaned back in my chair and thought about what to teach her next. It would be ideal to review the basics of magic as I have learned it, but that may not be the right course of action. Maybe just the basics of the basics will be a good start, and once she learns that we can move onto life and death combat. My mind began to drift as I planned a hunt, it’s been a while since I’ve had a hearty meal. Hunger was already gnawing on my mind and constantly having weak prey around is very much not helping. I have been eating all this time, but nothing so far has been able to satisfy me. I could sense the full moon outside starting to beckon me out. Maybe the village nearby has something interesting, they did after all have a giant pit of meat the last time I checked. I looked over at my half-empty glass of alcohol and with a rapidly transforming finger, I stirred the crimson liquid.