Lunella found herself waking up in the orc’s camp once again. She managed to heal her leg enough to limp around somewhat steadily in just a single day. Still, the terrible wound on her arm looked quite grizzly.

She passed out drunk yesterday. She sang out her less than sober feelings for Amara, totally embarrassing for an hour before the spirits claimed her. The only thing she got out of it was a throbbing head and a dry mouth.

Outside of the bedroom, she found Domak sitting with the orc chief once again. In the short time, they’ve met one another, they’ve already become drinking buddies. I feel like they might be a little too friendly.

“Ah, luna! How’s that head’a yers?” Domak asked

“Terrible.” Lunella rubbed her head, looking at the ground. “Do you have any water?”

Tuvaki said, “Yeah, that barrel over there has some.”

Lunella walked over to the barrel and cupped her hands in the water, taking a big sip. Then another. At some point, she was shoveling the water down.

Tuvaki laughed heartily. “Seems like even demons get hangovers.”

“Yeah. Seems like it.” Lunella grumbled sarcastically.

“Well, no more alcohol for you. Anyway, you should go find Aldo. I asked him to teach you some things about your magic. He’s one of the best here.”

“Huh? Orcs and magic?”

“You think demons are the only thing that can use magic?”

“It’s just that I’ve never heard of orcs using it before.”

“We primarily just sense it. It should be useful for you, though. You’re probably going to want to stay away from human settlements for your own safety. Knowing how to sense magic will make survival a lot easier. Plus, it might be useful for you in finding the Demon of Aren.”

“Right. I guess I’ll talk to him then.”

Domak then chimed in, “Also, I brought supplies. Yer gonna have to head out today after Aldo trains ya. There’s also a change of clothes.”

“Ugh. Do I have to go today?” Lunella groaned.

“A knight is on their way. It’s one hell of a race.”

Lunella sighed. “I guess you’re right. Thanks for looking out for me.”

Lunella grabbed the sack that Domak presented her with and headed back to the makeshift bedroom to change. She finds her original cloak, as well as her original armor. Back to this getup again, I guess it isn’t too bad. Still, she hangs on to the torn outfit that Amara gave her. I sure hope we can be friends again someday.

Having changed into her new, old clothes, Lunella left her makeshift bedroom and stepped outside. A group of a few orcs, led by Aldo, were waiting for her. Her leg was still doing poorly, but she had the strength to limp on.

“So, we’re going to learn magic sensing or something?” Lunella asked

“Indeed. You need to be able to handle yourself if you’re to stay alive in this world outside of humanity,” said Aldo.

“Are you sure there’s no way for me to live near them?”

“Indeed, it could be an option. We orcs don’t have that option. But it is true that you demons can sometimes be passibly human.”

“Then-”

“But that doesn’t account for the knights; unlike us orcs, you demons have a glaring weakness to them.” Aldo pointed at Lunella’s glowing arm, “At the very least, you aren’t strong enough as you are. If you wish to live near them, you’ll have to get stronger until you can beat Tuvaki without breaking a sweat.”

Lunella thinks back to the fierce battle and grimaces. I don’t stand a chance if the knights are stronger than him.

“So that is why you need to learn to sense magic, learn to hunt, and learn to fight.” Aldo says, “But don’t worry, I’ll teach you as best we can. I’m the best tracker in the tribe.”

“I’ll be in your care then.” Lunella nodded to the orc.

The group headed out of camp, Lunella limping behind them the whole way. The pain gnawed at her, but with everything that’s happened lately, her pain tolerance had grown enough to tolerate it. Traveling east, the group left behind any trace of civilization. Soon, they were surrounded by a towering forest growing ever denser. They come to a small stream and set out to cross it. The orcs are able to walk over it easily with no issue, but they had to help Lunella avoid getting her already injured leg hurt even more wading through the current.

After crossing the stream, the group stopped at a clearing. This is where Aldo sits down on the grass.

“I think we’ll have good luck if we try hunting from here.”

“How can you tell?” Lunella asked

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“Look at this clearing. Do you see all the game trails branching out into the woods? This is a well-traveled area” Aldo grinned. “There’s more than that, though; first of all, let’s assume you were a human. How would you track an animal?”

“Maybe by looking for their tracks?”

“Certainly, the tracks are an easy way to find an animal, but there are some problems with that. It can only possibly reveal where the animal was and maybe where they’re going, not where the animal is.”

“That sounds kinda obvious.”

“Listen. We’re monsters, not humans. We have a nice little cheat. Unlike humans, we have a mana core, right?” Aldo patted his chest with his fist.

“I see where you’re going with this.”

“We can directly control magic. Sense it too.”

“I mean, I feel it within my body, but I’ve never sensed anything outside it.”

“That’s why we’re here.”

“Seriously?”

“Here, put this blindfold on.”

hmmm. Lunella looks at the orc with one eyebrow lifted before snatching the cloth blindfold out of his hand. She quickly ties the blindfold onto her head.

“Now what?” Lunella asked,

“Just focus on yourself, for now; feel the mana within your body.”

Lunella brought her focus inward, feeling the beat of her heart. She did a similar thing to her normal magic and shifted the mana around her body

“Focus more, feel the mana. Ask the right questions. Where is the mana concentrated? Is it flowing? What kind of element is it?”

The mana swirled about inside her body; she took note of the feeling and began surveying her body part by part. Feet? Very little mana that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Hands? Her hands, too, contained little mana. The extremities seemed almost blocked, with little mana making it into them.

She moved her focus to her uninjured right arm. The mana there gradually increased as it went inwards toward her core. Her other arm, however, seemed to have built up a pulsating mass of mana that had been locked in place by the Angelite wound. She finally surveyed her chest and the great amount of mana within. It flowed freely from an area near her heart. Downward from the heart was less mana, but as she focused on her own head, she found the core. The mana crashed out like a tidal wave traveling into her chest and, from there, her whole body. As expected, the mana core was without a doubt the source of her mana.

She tried to cast fire magic and felt a wave of mana gushing from her chest out to her extremities. As it hit her hand, the mana changed, Leaving its original form in some way and becoming different in some way. It gained a certain heat to it.

“Good. Did you feel it?” Aldo said, satisfied.

“Yeah,” Lunella nodded slowly.

“Next, we need to expand your focus. For that, I brought along this...” Aldo reached into a sack and pulled out a blue orb, tossing it to Lunella, who managed to successfully catch it despite being blindfolded.

“This is....”

“It’s a water mana core.”

“water type?”

“Mana cores exist and are typically aligned with whatever kind of element they belong to. They’re shared by a whole species, though orcs have the same red mana core, for instance.”

“What type do I have?”

“Why don’t we cut you open and find out.” Aldo chuckled.

“Not funny.”

“Anyway, I’m not sure; I’ve never even met a demon before now.” Aldo said, “Okay, now that I gave you the mana core, I want you to try and sense it.”

Lunella nodded and then brought her focus to her hand; at first, she only felt a faint essence, but after circulating her mana within her body a little bit, she started to feel something, a sliver of energy. It felt faint, but it kept getting more intense. She tried to get a better mental image of it, to no avail. Then she got an idea, and she sent out a small wave of mana from her hand into the orb. Her mana left her fingertips, and when it collided with the core, she managed to get a completely clear glimpse of it for just a second.

“I DID IT!” Lunella shouted out ecstatically.

“Wonderful. Let’s make this a little more difficult. Drop the core on the ground.”

The orb fell to the ground and landed on the grass, flattening it slightly.

“Sense it now that it’s outside your hand.”

Lunella sent a small burst of mana from her hands, awaiting a response, though to no avail. The distance had decreased the effectiveness of her little mana wave technique. Focusing on the ground, she tried and tried to sense it without success. She sent out some more waves hoping that she could find it, but it was pointless. The familiar sensation from the core never came, and all Lunella could do was sigh.

“It’s not working.”

“I know it isn’t. I can see you sending mana out like an idiot over and over again. You’re not trying to blast it with mana. You’re trying to sense its mana. Feel the mana radiating off of it brushing against your skin, then you can figure out where it’s coming from.”

Feeling the ebb and flow of mana within her body, Lunella tried to bring her focus to the surface. She was eventually able to sense a small pinprick of energy tickling her. She could feel the mana colliding with her body. Now all she had to do was decipher it and find the source. She felt around for it, then eventually picked up on a detail: it’s different from the mana in her body; it’s an entirely different element. After this revelation, she managed to pick up a cool signal from the core out of the surroundings, and just for a second, blue light filled her blindfolded vision.

“Huh, my eyes should be closed; why did I just see the core.”

“You’re almost there; just a little bit further, and you’ll be able to see the mana around us.” Aldo exclaimed, “Now, let’s have a final lesson for this morning. I have a few different types of cores here. I want you to be able to pick out the yellow one.” Aldo places four different cores on the ground in equal distance intervals. A green one, a Yellow one, a red one, and another blue one. “Find the yellow one, Lunella.”

Lunella attempted to feel the mana on her skin again, but all of the signals were faint. Too faint, she could hardly distinguish them in all the noise. She tried her best to bring her focus outward, finding the mana source, but nothing seemed to work, and she was left sitting there hopelessly.

“Can’t manage it, can you? What you have to do here is release some of your mana. When mana collides, it has a reaction; that’s why you could easily sense it when it was in your hands. You can sense further if you increase the amount of mana, but you also need to listen for it.”

Lunella sent as much mana as she could out of the surface of her skin. Like before, it didn’t work, but just for a moment, when she did it, she could feel different signals get stronger at different intervals. Not just the four orbs on the ground but orbs from the orcs as well. Her brain was able to decipher it, and she could swear that she could almost see it.

“What was that.”

“You have the early stages of mana vision. If you practice this regularly, you will be able to sense things even further. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that you’ll have to close your eyes to use it. Additionally, humans and other creatures that lack mana cores are incredibly difficult to detect. You might be able to detect them with great practice, but you’re nowhere near that level. Now tell me which one of these four cores is the yellow one.”

Lunella focuses on the signals. One feels hot, one feels cold, one feels refreshing, and the other comes with a tingling sensation. She can tell that the cores are different, but she can’t make out which is which yet. She panics a little and points at the yellow one.

“Correct, though that was just a guess, wasn’t it. There are hundreds of types of mana cores, and it’ll take you some time to learn what each of them feels like.”