Chapter 22: Mage Apprentice? i

It had now been two weeks since they fled from Viscor and nobody knows what sort of battles have already taken place in the meantime. They had seen some armies moving along the road, forcing anyone to get out of their way or join them in the conflict. Barely anyone had chosen the latter option as they were all fleeing from the war in the first place. Some asked for supplies, others for food, a majority asked for safe passage but none were answered by the army. A few of the lower ranked soldiers tried to help out but were scolded before they could do anything. The higher officers just sent a messenger back to the capital for a rescue force but by the time it arrives most of the escapees will starve or die of some other cause.

The only one truly affected by any of this was Isbeth. Isbeth wanted to share what little sustenance pills she had left but Roy decided against it saying that they should prioritize themselves first. Looking at the gaunt lifeless faces tore at Isbeth’s heart but she knew Roy was right. Her hand tightening around Cerise’s as a form of comfort to distract herself from the terrible image around her.

The trio reached their destination, a small town located several hundred leagues away from the Balros Mountains. It was a town that heavily focused on gathering herbs and hunting to survive as the land to their north held lush forests and wildlife suitable for consumption.

It was a typical village found in many places, more suited to the old ways of life rather than the newer forms introduced with magic and faith. A small shrine dedicated to Vera, Goddess of the Hunt, existed by the town’s largest building, presumably the baron’s home.

Roy, of course, attracted attention the moment he walked into the village. They weren’t overly cautious of travelers or refugees since news of the war spread. In fact, it was still quite peaceful due to their trust in the Helios Kingdom’s ability to defend.

The Balros Mountains act as a natural wall preventing easy passage to and from the Helios Kingdom, and the fact that the soldiers are all adequately armed and trained provides comfort as well. Sure, the Ivecil Kingdom might have won a small skirmish a month ago but it was simply that, a skirmish.

As such, the members of the town were wary of the giant man but weren’t cautious to the point of blocking his passage. A Halfling was currently chatting up a storm with the residents, unusual to see one in Helios but that would be the normal case if not for the war.

“So do you sell any dried food? Oh, and do you have any Shivertail roots or Uris herbs?”

Isbeth was currently going around asking people if they had preserved foods. If they didn’t, she would ask if they had the materials required for her to create the satiation pills. It turns out that they had plenty of Uris herbs, a type of plant commonly found as if it were a weed in forests. On the other hand, they barely had any Shivertail roots, the only ones she could find were exorbitantly priced at 58 silvers a stalk here compared to Viscor’s 7 silvers a stalk.

Must be Helios’ warmer climate and this village’s southern location causing it. Guess she’ll have to head north to find some Shivertails then. For the time being, Isbeth restocked on a few herbs that were sold much cheaper here than Viscor. Her [Alchemy] and [Synthesis] skills were starting to stagnate so she needed something new to experiment with in order to start leveling them up again.

Roy chose to drop by the local tavern to see if he could find any information. Leaving Cerise alone with Isbeth to wander the dirt paths.

Cerise found a nice place to sit and tore out that book again. The mana pathways within her own body were completely different compared to the common Neutral alignments found in most living beings. Rather than moving through different channels in her body, her Mana seemed to naturally move throughout her blood.

The book described methods of manipulating Bana by focusing these channels to close and open at will but Cerise could just move it freely. The main difference, however, is that she lacked the ability to manifest magic outside of her body.

She was currently practicing keeping her Mana outside of her body in various shapes. Despite the numerous failures, she kept trying countless times. To an outside observer, she was sitting there staring at her upheld finger with a frown on her face. To ones with a keener eye, they would see Mana constantly shifting around the girl, swirling and spiraling every time a small jet of Mana escaped her body.

She refined this technique over the past week, if she couldn’t keep the Mana still in the air around her, why shouldn’t she try to keep it moving? The centripetal force kept the Mana from dispersing and allowed her to summon forth a small [Light]. Of course, maybe because of the centripetal force or her own actions, the magic itself didn’t emit light but absorbed it.

Seeing the area where she successfully casted magic for the first time darken, she assumed that she had casted a regular [Light] and carried on with her experimentation. She also received a rather dubious skill as a result though.

Skill [Reverse Cast] has been obtained

A feat has been performed! First Skill Owner (+5 LUK)

The magic went entirely unnoticed by those around her. This particular hunting village relied mainly on physical strength or wit. The darkened area was faint, only visible to those with superb eyesight like Cerise or someone with a specialized skill. Cerise went to check her status, knowing full well what each word went as Isbeth’s tutoring over the past week moved onto the topic of how this world worked.

Name

Cerise

Age

30 Days

Race

Lesser Devil (Scarlet) [1/3]

HP

67/67 (+.27/s)

MP

202/202 (+.077/s)

SP

63/63 (+.056/s)

STR

20

INT

73

WIS

54

CON

25

AGL

41

LUK

14

Current Ailments | [Hunter’s Eyes] Sealed (78%)

Skills

Level

Proficiency

[Blood Flame]

1/25

.1%

[Demonic Vitality]

1/10

71.3%

[Reverse Cast]

1/25

.2%

[Rendering Claw]

1/20

5.9%

[Hunter’s Eyes] {Hunter’s Mark}

3/10

3.9%

[Reading]

2/10

14%

[Blood Bound]

1/5

N/A

[Twisted Fate]

N/A

N/A

The [Reverse Cast] skill had something to do with the dark [Light] she had created. It was fairly obvious what the skill did by simply looking at its name. She attempted the next spell in the book, one that she also failed with many times before. It was the [Spark] spell which created a small jolt of electricity or so it said. She tried casting the magic using the same centripetal technique she had used earlier but the spell still failed. The [Reverse Cast] skill didn’t activate as she had hoped.

She moved onto the next and the next, but every time it failed for reasons unknown to her. The only other successes she had was with the [Cool] and [Heat] spell, each acting opposite of what it was supposed to accomplish. It seemed as if the spell she cast must have an opposite in order to active the skill. She flipped forward a few pages and found the Level 1 [Darken] spell. It was much more complicated than the [Light] spell and required an inscription. Sure, it was just a circle with a triangle inside of it but it was an inscription nonetheless.

Cerise got up from her sitting position and started transcribing the image onto the ground with a stick she found nearby. She struggled forming the perfect circle using the stick and to her surprise, Isbeth had come back with a bag filled with green and maroon plants.

“Hmm? Did you finish the Level 0 spells already?”

Isbeth had stumbled upon Cerise drawing on the ground with a stick. There were several crossed out ovals in the dirt where Cerise had been. Her trail extending a couple of steps at best.

“Here, use this instead. I don’t have any magical ink but normal ink should do.”

Isbeth passed her a small slip of parchment and an equally sized feather to Cerise. Her small dexterous hands nimbly picking up the quill and jotted down the figure within the book. She still made mistakes now and then but after three tries she succeeded in forming a near perfect replica of the inscription circle. How this circle related to casting the spell was unknown but was generally accepted as the common way according to the book. She spread her dark red mana into the paper following the grooves formed by the tip of the quill, visually supported by the black ink. Once her mana formed the shape it required, the magic was ready to be activated.

The [Darken] spell was successfully cast, it had a much more powerful effect compared to her reversed [Light], a shroud of darkness covered her entire body, or to be more exact, the Dark Element did. She ceased the flow of mana and tried applying the centripetal flow once again. The spell activated but it was still darkness surrounding her. Her [Reverse Cast] still didn’t trigger. She deactivated the spell again and tried casting it without the inscription, forming the same shape with her pure Mana. The dark red light condensed in the air before collapsing on itself due to its own instability. Cerise frowned. Her centripetal technique which she assumed to be the answer to her magic problems turned out to not be the answer she sought.

Once again, she tried casting the [Light] spell within her mind, without the whole centripetal technique she had been attempting with a flipped image of what the book provided. The spell failed which she had expected but this time it was different. The Mana left her body in wisps but it curled naturally towards her left hand holding the paper. A thought ran through her mind as she started ejecting more and more Mana from her body, the red hue visible to even a normal person’s eyes. The Mana gathered just above the white skin on the back of her left hand, forming into the very shape she had constantly been trying to form in her mind. It was a blood-red cross that held an ethereal beauty, stretching from the base of her hand to the base of her middle finger. She received another skill this time, with words that she never heard of before.

Skill [Runic Inscription – Aerial Type] has been obtained

The moment she heard those words, the blood-red cross started eating away the rest of her Mana. She ceased the flow but it continued devouring the ambient Mana instead, growing in size and decreasing in translucency. The cross had eventually solidified on the back of her left hand and emitted a field of darkness discernable only to Cerise’s eyes. She manipulated the field to extend outward and it had. The spherical mass expanded and contorted in the direction Cerise willed it to. She genuinely smiled out of delight thanks to the mysterious power she had acquired, but her thoughts were interrupted by the loud disorderly footsteps and heavy breathing behind her.

She and Isbeth turned in the direction of the noise to see a young man in navy blue robes, his short chopped hair glistening with sweat. He seemed to be of the magic sort as he carried a bag and a staff topped with some sort of jewel. He stopped just in front of the two girls, his breathing still heavy and his expression excited. He pointed a shaking finger towards Cerise’s left hand, where the blood red cross floated radiating a dreadful aura.

“Mind… *huff* if I can… become your apprentice?”

The young man said, clearly misunderstanding the pale girl as some sort of immortal loli vampire mage of unimaginable power?