All the villagers were curiously looking at what was happening, Yefan Wilkins and Keredoth were standing not too far, some human shaped mud targets were at several meters in front of them, Yefan was holding his two newly made magical guns in his hands, his eyes shone with excitement, it was exactly like a baby finding an interesting toy.

The old man gazed at the mud targets: “Well I made the targets you can test your twin devils to your heart contents boy“

Yefan slowly lifted his arm and pointed the muzzle of the gun toward a target, Yefan magic control ability was B rank and according to Wilkins it was already quite high for a beginner, with his constant and rigorous training his aptitude at managing his Mana improved drastically.

Yefan poured Mana inside the gun triggering the shining of the white engraved patterns.

“Concentrate and think of the size, speed and intensity carefully “advised Wilkins beside him.

Inside his mind he visualized the shape of a real bullet then changed its material into blue flames after that he tried to control the speed before pulling the trigger of the gun.

SFX: Flash! … Kasha!

A bright blue small flash passed in front of the eyes of the villagers, it was so fast that nearly the majority of the people weren’t able to catch its appearance, the flash was followed by a muffled sound it was almost inaudible.

Only Wilkins clearly discerned the true appearance of the blue flash, it was pointy and cylindrical but the size was a few centimeters in length, what amazed the old man wasn’t the projectile but the damage it made to the target, Yefan Dexterity easily reached four hundred points he didn’t have to train to have good precision and marksmanship so the bullet made of blue flames easily hit the target, a small sized circular hole and charred marks appeared on its head, Wilkins with his earth magic made the targets reinforced with several layers but the bullet nevertheless still passed through which is a proof of the incredible penetrative force , this still didn’t shock the old man , what truly shocked him and that the people didn’t notice was that even the tree behind the target bore a hole , Wilkins underestimated his creation and also the terrible blue fire.

“hahaha bull’s eye! “Yefan laughed and blew on his gun muzzle while making a triumphant expression.

“Indeed rare elements are terrifying, now I can truly affirm that the artifacts are worthy of their name but to be sure keep up the training I’m going to rest, continuously making weapons made me tired “

“Got it old man and again thank you for these precious weapons I’ll treat them like a treasure “

Wilkins smiled gently before slowly returning to his house, all the other villagers having their curiosity satisfied dispersed seeing that the event came to an end leaving only Yefan and Keredoth.

“This weapon is a million time stronger than a bow, hunting will become much easier I guess it will be a feast every night? hahaha” Keredoth drooled at the simple thought of having meat every night.

Yefan was stunned by the gluttony of this burly muscle head.

“You meat maniac according to your thoughts the black stripped deer will go extinct, do you want to never have meat again as dinner? “ Rebuked Yefan.

Keredoth scratched his head:” impossible, if I can’t eat meat forever I’ll surely die…no…it will be a nightmare!”

“hahaha then take it easy on the deer” Yefan laughed

Every time Yefan had these sort of joking discussions he felt warm inside just like bickering with a true family member, not having pressure or responsibilities, no needless expectation, he felt free and was quite contented, without realizing he began to appreciate living in this world.

After Yefan parted with Keredoth he continued to train, this time he aimed with his left hand, he noticed that the left hand accuracy was slightly lower than the right that was not all after examining his magic card he spotted two important facts.

One was that the MP was consumed very quickly when using fire bullets, each shot took 100 points, Yefan fired ten shots, it means he consumed 1000 MP.

MP : 1645/2645

According to his total amount of MP he can shoot a total of 26 shots before exhausting his Mana but Yefan thought that it drained a great amount.

Yefan previously confirmed that the lightening sword consumed 5 points of Mana every second so he can maintain the state of the sword for approximately eight minutes taking into account that he never uses the guns or any other magic spells, who said that rare elements are advantageous, sure magician with rare elements are powerful but it also comes with shortcomings and that is a great consumption of Mana, indeed blue fire and lightening have a great destructive property but the fuel that is Mana is rapidly depleted .

The second fact was that his magic attack increased by leaps and bounds.

When using the sword:

M.ATK : 498

When using the guns:

M.ATK : 656

Yefan was not a stupid young man on the contrary he was quite intelligent, considering the possibility of a battle situation he carefully thought how to use each of his cards.

He sat under a tree and began to seriously organize his fighting strategy.

“so first I can only use the guns when I’m in an overwhelming situation or when I’m surrounded by many enemies ,second the sword in itself is sharp and sturdy so unless the enemy can’t be injured when it’s not imbued with magic I will also not use lightening , third I have my physical strength backing me but I need a type of magic that lets me defend or evade that’s the only weakness I have now , I have the set of agility techniques but it’s useless when facing a magician and all the more when facing a close combat magician type or beast ….hmm better ask the old man about spells now … “

After that Yefan began to meditate, thinking it through as long as he can increase his Mana many problems will disappear little by little so he decided to diligently meditate and at least reaching the rank of apprentice magician within a week, each level increase required 100 points but the old man explained to him that maybe three hours of mediation is truly great but the amount of Mana varies from place to place and also that the rate of absorption will never be constant so he needs to train hard and always let his body remain at its optimal state .

At the same time Wilkins was resting inside his house, he was lying on his bed his eyes shut seemingly sleeping but suddenly he woke up, he appeared to be alarmed and his gaze became full of caution then his expression changed into a bewildered one.

“Strange I would have sworn that I sensed a powerful murderous aura or is it an illusion? “

The old man shook his head and denied the absurd thought.

**************************

One week passed by quickly, during that time Yefan persistently tried to increase his Mana, he would every day sit under the waterfall and begin to meditate after that he will train with his sword and guns, today he was finally going to breakthrough a rank for the first time, he already asked the experienced Wilkins many questions, about how to breakthrough and also if a change will occur.

“When breaking through the rank of apprentice the root of Mana will begin to sprout, of course a qualitative change will happen, you will feel the Mana particles around you more clearly but before that you will face a bottleneck, do you know why I let you study magic theory, that was because I wanted to let you understand the laws and properties of the elements and Mana it will be handy when you breakthrough, don’t worry the first bottleneck should be not too difficult to break for you“

That was the explanation that provided Wilkins to Yefan, remembering each word concentrated and tried to slowly absorb Mana into his root, while the particles were flocking toward his body he thought of all the knowledge he had assimilated from the books the old gave him, If Mana was existing inside every element every living being and every inanimate objects then it surely is necessary for this world to function correctly , considering this point of view from another angle a question popped inside the mind of Yefan .

“From where the Mana is coming?”

Indeed, what is the source of Mana?

These miniscule particles from where are they created?

Or should we say what is that something that can create them.

Suddenly Yefan thought of something important, the old man said that the people living in this world knew of the concept of planets and space, galaxies, solar systems and so on…

What Yefan didn’t know was that simply reaching that conclusion and thinking of these problems are enough to let him breakthrough but coming from a world dominated by science he simply had a more through way of thinking, he knows that every planet has a core, if the Mana is flowing inside every part of this world then the only possible source of Mana is the core of the planet and The Mana is its Life force.

The living beings are simply using the same concept, a source of Mana that is the root for humans and the other races living in this world , planets are not sentient beings , that is those same races who created magic .

Yefan felt the Mana inside his body converge and being absorbed at an astonishing speed by the root, suddenly a single small sprout emerged, that was the proof that he broke through to the apprentice magician rank, all the Mana formed a whirlpool and got assimilated by the sprout to consolidate its shape the process took an hour before Yefan slowly opened his eyes.

“fewh! I finally broke through, this feeling is truly invigorating!” letting a deep breath Yefan exclaimed.

Yefan then stood up and left the valley toward the village, midway he was humming a ditty with a satisfied smile.

Inside the village the women were drying the clothes and the kids were like always paying merrily, the men weren’t here probably hunting, Yefan directly walked to Wilkins house.

Sfx:toc toc toc !

“Enter! “The gentle voice of the old man was heard behind the door.

The old man was as usual reading some ancient books and sitting comfortably on his chair, seeing Yefan enter he smiled .

“You broke through?”

Yefan grinned and nodded.

“Good! You rate of improvement is really enviable , it took me a month to break through to apprentice magician , at that time I was hailed as a prodigy sigh…that was the old good times “ melancholy appeared on Wilkins expression.

“Old man if I can escape from the wilderness I will find a way to bring you back and heal you! “ Yefan seeing the sadness deep inside Wilkins eyes felt that he wanted to help him.

“Don’t waste your strength, a crippled Mana root can’t be regenerated at least by conventional means , I never heard of a healed root so just concentrate on yourself , even if only the thought made me happy boy “the Old man felt was moved by Yefan words.

(Old man I will find a way!) Yefan thought in his heart.

“Oh that reminds me take this “Wilkins stood up and withdrew something from the wooden box in his room.

“This is a leather chain for your sword with this you can carry it on your back oh and give me your coat I will make two spots were you can hide your twin devils “said the old man .

“Oh thank you old man I was also thinking about it it’s a great help, I came to ask you about something “

“You want to learn a spell?”

Wilkins always knew what yefan was thinking.

“Yes I already broke through and I thought deeply about my weakness at this moment, I need a spell that can let me evade attack or parry “yefan explained.

“Oh, hmm…well you’re third and fourth elements are darkness and wind if I remember correctly?” inquired Wilkins.

“Yeah “

“Then I have what you need “

The old man stroked his storage ring softly and took out two scrolls.

“These are two magic spells, in my numerous adventures I collected quite a number, I think your luck is good “

He then handed them to Yefan.

“The first spell is a wind type spell (wind shield), the second spell is a darkness type spell (shadow movement), the wind spell is a basic ranked spell but the dark spell is divided into three stages each stage correspond to a rank basic ,middle and top , so the true might of this spell is a top ranked “Explained Wilkins

In the books he read Yefan seems to have noted that a magician can’t use a spell unless his rank is adequate , for example a high ranked spell can’t be conjured by a top ranked magician , the first four ranks from basic to top allows the magician to only cast basic , middle and top ranked spells .

“Thanks old man it was just what I needed right now “

“Oh I also considered something seriously boy, what you are also missing is fighting experience so you need to face some magical beasts to hone your techniques, you can step in the wilderness but you must not exceed a range of 5 kilometers, there is only magical beasts of the first rank so it should be safe for you” warned Wilkins.

Yefan eyes lit up, in one side he thought that he finally can test his sword and guns on opponents on the other side he was nervous because he will for the first time face a serious enemy.

After chatting for a while with Wilkins Yefan returned to his room and took a look at the two scrolls.

Wind Shield (Wind type Spell): creates a shield made of wind to repel most basic ranked offensive spells.

Magic incantation [?-?-?-?-?] (magic symbols)

Rank : basic

Shadow Movement (darkness type Spell): allows a person to create and move inside shadows, perfect for sneak attacks or evading, divided into three stages.

First Stage (basic ranked spell): Creates four circular shadows in a range of 10 meters, lasts for 5 seconds.

Magic incantation [?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?] (magic symbols)

Second Stage (middle ranked spell): Creates 10 shadows with the desired shape in a range of 20 meters, lasts for 10 seconds.

Magic incantation [?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?] (magic symbols)

Third Stage (top ranked spell): Can move inside the surrounding shadows made by objects, unlimited range, lasts for one minute.

Magic incantation [?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?](magic symbols)

Yefan was surprised by the tremendous help that the darkness spell can procure in fighting, the first stage lasts for five seconds, many people will say that the amount of time is too short but Yefan disagree on this point, the old man said to him that in a battle of life and death just a simple second can change the tide and even save your life, so five seconds were already precious.

“Magic incantation huh?”

Wilkins already explained to Yefan that there is two types of magicians those who can cast spells by chanting and those who have powerful mental strength and don’t need to say the incantation out loud that is called chantless incantation, there was 21 known magic symbols that can be applied to the six principal elements, Yefan already memorized them and how they are spelled out.

Yefan took 1 day to master the wind spell, it was a simple basic spell so it was not difficult at all to learn it as for the first stage of the darkness spell he took two days, the dark element is a major element but it still rarely appeared in the human race so it was somewhat more challenging , by testing he found that he can indeed invoke four circular shaped shadows on the ground , he is free to choose their positions but in a range of 10 meters only that was the limit , he can jump into a shadow and come from another at will in the span of five seconds , Yefan that it was similar to teleportation but Wilkins said that it was not , spatial magic is a forgotten magic and the concept of shadows greatly differ from teleportation magic who is a an ancient legend rank magic spell .

*************************

The next day Yefan, wore his coat and like Wilkins promised he made two holsters inside for his guns, he also attached the sword with the leather chain and carried it on his back, looking at his black fur coat, long black hair and black pants he appeared like a dark warrior, Yefan mused.

(I’m just so cool hahahaha)

Wilkins accompanied him to the border of the mysterious woods, the atmosphere was shockingly different on the other side and it was like a barrier separated two different spaces, the so called wilderness resembled a jungle , the foliage and Trees were more dense and thick , and there appeared to be a thin layer of mist surrounding the air .

“Boy I can only warn you again don’t cross the limit I told you about, if you go deeper the more dangerous it will be, for testing the waters don’t become arrogant, just make your safety the most important “Wilkins wanted to remind Yefan as to not have any accident.

“Don’t worry old man I still have things I need to do I will not die!” Declared Yefan

Wilkins patted him on the shoulder and nodded.

Yefan walked slowly and entered the jungle, finally he will have to experience the Wilderness!

Name :Ye Fan

Age : 17

Magician

Rank : Apprentice

Level : 2/10

Warrior : Swordsman

Rank : Middle

Level : 8/10

Physical stats

STR : 550

AGL : 499

DEX : 423

END :501

Magical stats

MP : 3225

M.ATK : 150 (without sword and gun)

M.DEF : 150 (without wind shield)

Magic control : B

End.