Failing at tracking monsters through anathema was starting to get on my nerves. After the one success in finding the A-ranked behemoth, I had no more luck. I still managed to find some, but it was more a result of me combing through the area with assiduous zeal than true skill—just like the lindworm I was looking at camouflaging among the sprawling roots of the closest tree.

Much in the same way I had done with the other monsters I found, I focused my senses on the area the beast occupied, trying to feel the refined anathema inside it. It was frustrating how simple it was. I had no idea why I couldn’t achieve the same results when I wasn’t looking at the creatures.

The corruption permeating the lindworm placed the beast at the very peak of rank B. It was a shame that all the monsters inside a resurging dungeon condensed a core rather quickly. After the ease with which I had dispatched of the rank C behemoths, I was rearing to try my hand at soloing a rank B monster. I knew my spell repertoire wasn’t enough to bring one down, but I still wanted to see how far I could go before Alessandro had to intervene.

Unfortunately, here in the Great Forest that wasn’t an option—or at the very least a very unlikely scenario—since as soon as a monster spawned or ascended to the next rank, they formed a core. Fighting against a peak B-ranked monster would be useless; although I had the vantage of rank, none of the stanzas I knew packed the punch necessary to penetrate their defenses.

Being unable to take care of the monster on my own, I went back to get Alessandro.

“We should regroup with the others,” he said, once he eliminated the beast. “It’s getting dark and I don’t any of us out hunting night.”

“Should we collect the cores?” Alessio asked. “Or do something about the bodies? Leaving them for days in the open while we clear the area could ruin them.”

“No, leave them be.” Alessandro shook his head, leading us away from the corpse of the lindworm. “Giacomo and I decided along the Guildmasters of the Legione we would split the earnings in half. After the raid, our harvest teams will tally the monsters and extract their cores, and pretty much anything else of value. It’s a shame we won’t be collecting the blood but bringing people incapable of defending themselves in to get it was both a risk and a loss of time. The sooner we start the array the better.”

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“Simone!” Alessandro called out loud, startling Alessio, Chiara, and me. The young man appeared out of thin air beside Alessandro with a playful smirk. “I want to regroup where we split. Pass the message along to Stefano and Chiara’s teams.”

Simone nodded, and after a wave of his hand he was gone.

“How long has he been trailing us?” Sara asked.

“From the very start—Simone is quite adept at hiding his presence through spells.”

“Why didn’t you make him the scout then?” Alessio asked, remembering what Alessandro told me.

I turned to look at Alessandro—I too was curious about it.

“He is not that good at using arcane magic,” Alessandro explained. “He can’t use Mana Step like Marco—not many can in fact. If I remember correctly, he can use it around thirty times in an hour. Past that number, each Mana Step is like a lottery ticket—sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. We can’t have Simone move alone and without back up with the risk of him being unable to run away.”

“How many times can you use Mana Step, Marco?” Alessio asked.

“I never thought there was a limit,” I told him, somewhat startled by Alessandro's revelation.

“That is your magic affinity at work,” Alessandro said. “All mages have one. Some help you manipulate mana better, while others improve your efficiency, making your spell more powerful or to need less mana. If my guess is right, yours should let you manipulate mana more easily, reducing the strain on your mind. Simone’s, on the other hand, helps him in casting the Songs of Protection and Imprisonment more efficiently.”

“Why haven’t I heard of this magic affinity thing before?”

“It’s not something you can test for,” Alessandro told me. “Mages learn how theirs work through trial and error, and years of practice. Besides, it’s not that important to know what yours does exactly. After a month or two, most newly awakened mages already know which Songs they should focus on and if arcane magic is too great of a strain.”

I nodded. It made sense. Using Mana Step was easy and also very convenient. It allowed me to move unimpeded and to stay safe. I didn’t think about incorporating it in my fighting style—I just did. It came naturally. The same had to hold true for all other mages.

When we regrouped with the others, the first thing Alessandro did was check for any causalities. Luckily, despite the higher average monster rank than expected, there were none.

As Alessandro brought Stefano, Chiara, and Simone away to ask about the dangers they had faced during the day, I moved towards Natalia, who sat with her back to a root.

“How was your day?” I asked, taking a seat on the grass in front of her.

“Could have been better,” she said, looking at the sky through the gaps in the tree crowns. “We met quite a number rank B monsters. Fortunately, Stefano is quite strong despite his age, and we managed to pull through.”

“I can relate. We met an A-ranked monster today—a behemoth. Alessandro had to take care of it on his own since Sara, Alessio, and I had no way to penetrate its scales.”

“He soloed an A-ranked behemoth? That’s impressive.”

I nodded, keeping to myself the fact that Alessandro was an S-ranker. Although he hadn’t told us not to spread the news, with Alessio and Sara, I came to the conclusion we would keep it to our selves; if Alessandro didn’t announce it to the world there had to be a reason.

I kept talking to Natalia a bit more before taking my leave. She looked like she wanted to be alone, but didn’t want to be rude by asking.

Having nothing else to do, I decided to scout the area around the camp. Away from the cacophony of my guildmates and the torches they had lit, the forest appeared dark and ominous. Each and every shadow seemed like the perfect hiding spot for a hungry monster to spring a trap from.