Unlike goblins, all the kobolds she saw held one or two axes. Some were on the ground, while others were jumping from tree to tree like barking monkeys.

“Since you’ve already attacked once, don’t mind me returning the favor.”

Ana extended her hand and numerous sharp stones shot from her fingers at machine gun speed. ‘Stone toothpicks… Who would’ve thought?’

Despite the barrage, even more kobolds charged forward and some threw their axes. Instead of raising a wall, like in the past, the girl dug straight down, covered the ceiling, and finally checked her mana.

‘A quarter’s already gone…’ She could sense the kobolds up to 2 meters above ground, but the situation could still turn dangerous.

‘Fight or escape?' It didn't take long for her to decide.

'No need to over-think things. Just shoot.’ Ana extended her hand upwards before pulling back and placing it on her hip. Then, she checked the enemy’s position, aimed mentally, and shot.

One needle for one kobold. She had to stop periodically since she ran out of targets. Eventually, the dog creatures also stopped throwing away their lives and retreated.

Instead of going up to check, Ana brought down the corpses one by one to collect their pelts. It was disgusting work which filled her tiny hole with an insufferable smell.

“God, I wish I could manipulate wind…” Since Ana was new to magic, Ethan advised her to only focus on earth techniques, where her affinity was highest. He even planned to only tattoo earth spells on her to hasten her progress.

Several grueling hours later, Ana was done. Most of the pelts had rips and holes in odd places, but it couldn’t be helped. After using a petunia cleaning scroll, she carefully made her way back to the lake.

‘I wonder if she’s ok.’ thought Ethan before a few dozen bloody pelts fell right on top of his head.

In the following week, Ana would repeat this process endlessly, keeping the mana cores for herself and leaving the beasts’ skins for him. Slowly but surely, she began familiarizing herself with the woods around the lake.

Most herbivore and non-magical creatures were nocturnal and had some form of camouflage. Lower rank mana beasts either worked in groups or hid almost as much as normal animals.

Surprisingly, the giant bears she sometimes found were among the weakest creatures as they were merely rank 1 and rarely gathered in groups. They also had large pelts which made them ideal targets.

One day, for the first time in a while, Ana managed to spot the kobolds before they spotted her. Though a bit dangerous, she wanted to learn more about her surroundings, so she followed them to their lair.

It was a large cave which stretched on for quite some distance. Though they seemed to lack the proper tools for the job, the cave’s entrance was a perfect square, so they had to have built it on their own.

‘Did they use stone pickeaxes? How would that even work?’

Ana dug into the ground and moved closer for an inspection. Some 50 feet into the tunnel, small rooms began appearing on either side. Each one housed two or three kobolds, some of the creatures being much smaller than the rest.

Suddenly, a piercing scream was heard from outside. The adult kobolds rushed with their weapons while the children waited behind.

‘What now?’ wondered Ana. She couldn’t imagine killing kids, so she considered simply leaving. ‘Should I wait for them to finish fighting and then gather the corpses?’

Unsure of how to proceed, the girl returned below the cavern’s entrance. She couldn’t see them, but just from the shape their mana took, the creatures attacking the cave looked like something out of a horror movie.

They were 10 feet long and had 5 arm like appendages on either side of their flat bodies. A long sharp tail moved around like a whip, and their skulls resembled a lizard’s.

Despite looking more like a turtle than anything agile, the rank 2 creatures ran across land like cheetahs and some even glided directly above it.

“Scary…” Ana had no way of fighting something like this head on, and she definitely lacked the mana to take down a horde.

She had tried several times to channel ambient energy while doing various tasks. Not only was it extremely tiring, but a tiny stream was all she could manage.

While the girl was lost in thought, more and more kobolds fell in battle. Sharp needles extended out of the enemies’ arm-like appendages skewering bipedal dogs one after another. The creatures were getting closer and closer to the cave’s entrance and to the children inside it.

Finally, one them made its way through. However, instead of entering the cave, the monster's skull smashed into a thick wall made of stone.

‘I’ll probably regret this.’ complained Ana. Three breaths later, her ‘prophecy’ came true.