Withdrawing his sword from the head of the Dark Water Bear, Alnea used the black fur of the Oren Beast to wipe the blood off of his sword, before putting it back into its sheath. Almost on an instinct, developed from his days of training in the Bright Light Forest, he glanced upwards to look at Enn’s height in the sky, only to see the darkness reflecting the wear in his Heart. Killing so many Oren Beasts meaninglessly… what was he even doing?
Before Alnea could think further down that train of thought, a tangy, and metallic smell hit his senses, bringing him out of his daze. Looking at the blood polling around the body of the three metres large Oren Beast, he shook his head, before leaving the area. Even though the world of the Night Canyons was dark, it was not as if it was so dark that he could not even see anything around him. At best, his sight was just a little restricted. And the same was true of the Oren Beasts within the canyons. Some had even developed night vision, just so they could adapt to the darkness.
Yet, within the world of the Night Canyons, most of the Oren Beasts did not even bother with their sights. They looked at the world through not what they saw, but what they heard, and smelled. And the Dark Water Bear’s dying roar had been loud enough to ring out for at least a couple of kilometres in all directions. Even if other Beasts ignored the roar, they surely would not be able to ignore the smell drifting from the pool of blood forming under the bear’s body.
Most of those Beasts would still not dare to get close to the territory of the Dark Water Bear. At least not until they were sure that the bear was dead. And even then, they would use all sorts of mean to first ensure that the bear’s killer was gone, before daring to set foot in its territory.
Still, there were quite a few Oren Beasts in the area who would not be afraid of the bear’s killer. And they were surely not afraid of the bear. It had been at just the initial phase of its Adolescent Stage after all, while they had long reached the intermediate phase. And if such Beasts were to come riding the smell of blood…
Thus, opting for the most logical choice, Alnea picked up his Golden Yearning, and left the area, walking off into the darkness. Not without a goal, of course. He had a destination in mind. And though finding his way in the darkness was hard, after nearly ten days of fumbling his way in the darkness of the canyon, he was quite familiar with its routes. And so, not long after he had left the stream where he had fought with the Water Bear, probably an hour or two later, he finally made his way to the familiar bed of Blood Sucking Grasses. He made his way back to his master.
“What are you spacing out for?” his master said, when he just stood in silence, staring at her, trying to etch her figure in his Heart once again. Motioning for him to sit in in front of her, she added, “It is fine. You did a good job. Now, let yourself relax a little.”
“…Yes, master,” Alnea mumbled with a slight blush on his face, as he dropped his bag, and the sword to the ground, before taking his seat. Relief, safety, warmth, and all kinds of fuzzy feelings were filling up his head, making him feel a little lightheaded. But that was not enough to stop the smile from coming to his face. “How have you been these days, master?”
“Silly child,” his master said, looking at him with a warm smile, as she caressed his cheeks. “I should be the one asking that question from you. These past few days… They must have been tiring for you…”
“No,” Alnea said, shaking his head. “I mean yes, they were a little tiring… but I guess I needed them. I had not fought any Oren Beast for almost ten days… My fighting skills were starting to get a little dull. I even forgot to use my dagger for a while. To think that I needed seven days to think of such an easy trick… If before, I would have come up with it after just one failure.”
“It is not your fault,” his master said. “Given your circumstances, and how much Arcanas mean to you, I had already expected you to lose a little bit of your common sense. Rather, it would have been odd if you had not made any mistakes. But like I had said, making mistakes is not bad, as long as you learn from your mistakes, that is. This was the reason I sent you to ambush ten Adolescent Stage Oren Beasts. I wanted you to make mistakes, and learn from them. And you did learn from them, did you not?”
“I did…”
“Then everything is fine,” his master said, withdrawing her hand from his cheek, only to pat his head, releasing a white light from her hands as she did so, which seeped into his body, and removed any, and all kinds of fatigue that he had. All, except for one. “How was your experience of your using your Arcana?”
“…It was fine, I guess,” Alnea said. “Whenever the arrow hit the Beasts, they were left helpless to defend against my other attacks. But catching the Beasts off guard is not easy, so most of the time, the arrow was pretty much useless. A waste of Spirit Power, and time.”
“It does have its unique side,” his master said, nodding along with his words. “But that is not all you have to say, is it?”
“No…”
“What is it then?”
“…Ever since I have started using the Nightmare Arrow, I have been getting these strange feelings, master.”
“What kind of feelings?”
“Strange… and uncomfortable feelings… Killing these Beats… I get an unnatural feeling… As if this is not how things should be… That I am doing something wrong. It is not as if this is the first time that I am killing Oren Beasts. Just a few days ago, I lured that Razorback Black Water Turtle to the Bone Rotting Plants, and forced the Dark Wind Wolf to kill itself. But I had not felt anything back then…”
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Listening to slightly agitated voice, his master did not frown, as he had expected. Instead, she let out a light smile, and nodded, before saying, “This was another thing I wanted you to learn. To not rely on Arcanas too much. At least not on Arcanas that are below the Perfect Grade. There is a reason why Arcanas are Graded as they are. And it does not involve just their effects. Even their side effects are included in the Grading. As for your Arcana, did you not find your Nightmare Arrow oddly effective for an Arcana which I deemed to be of just the Low Grade?”
“…It did seem a little too effective for just a Low Grade Arcana. But I don’t have anything else to compare it too. Besides, its defects are just as glaring as its effects, so I assumed the Low Grade was because of that.”
“That is just one of the reasons,” his master said. “The most important reason for your Nightmare Arrow to be of just the Low Grade is how the Nightmare is affecting you. After all, the way you cast the Arcana is by first summoning the Mystery around you, before infusing it in the arrow. Even if it is just for a moment, you are still exposed to the Mystery. To the Nightmares.
“Normally, such a short exposure to the Nightmares should not have been enough to harm you. But you have been exposing yourself to the Nightmares continuously over the past ten days. Even if you were exposed only for a few moments each time, the accumulated effect of the exposure to the Mystery is much more than what either your Spirit or Heart could handle.”
“Then when you asked me to ambush the Oren Beasts…”
“To let you learn what will happen if you abuse your Arcanas too much,” his master said. “Do not worry. It was just an Initial Stage False Ranked Mystery. The anxiety, and the uncomfortable feeling will go away in a while. But like I said, you need to learn not to rely on Arcanas too much. Of course, if the Arcanas are at the Perfect Grade, and above, then there would be nothing to be worried about. Till the time you can create such Arcanas though, you need to learn to control yourself.”
“…I understand,” Alnea grumbled, feeling a little upset that his master had tricked him once again. Though he probably would not have understood the gravity of the situation if his master had just told him about it, and not let him experience it himself, he still would have followed her words. She could have trusted him with that. Yet she did not… So, it was fine if he had his little revenge on her, right? Nothing too dangerous. Just a little trick using his Aspect, and…
“What kind of trouble are you thinking of?” his master said, flicking his forehead with hand condensed from her Spirit Power. “Focus on what I am saying.”
“…I am focussing, master,” Alnea said, rubbing his head. “I will be careful with Arcanas, and try not to use them too much.”
“…For some reason, hearing you say that has me worried instead.”
“I am telling the truth, master! I will really be more careful.”
“Forget it. You will probably still end up doing something stupid, and reckless, so it would be better if I prepare for it beforehand.”
“I am not that reckless, master,” Alnea grumbled, only to be met with his master’s amused smile.
“Time will tell us whether you are reckless or not. For now, let us come back to the more important things.” After brief pause, in which his master withdrew the smile from her face, added, “How has your training been in the past few days?”
“…I did not get too much time to practise, so it has been a little slow,” Alnea said. “My Spirit Power should be able to reach the limit of the Third Level in a few days. And I got another Aspect. This one is related purely to lineage of Night. I should be able to employ its aid in the Martial Styles focusing on swords.”
“No Mystery then?”
“Not yet,” Alnea said, shaking his head. “But it has already been more than ten days since I last encountered a Mystery, so I should be encountering one pretty soon.”
“…When you comprehend the new Mystery, will you try to create another Arcana?”
“Maybe,” Alnea said. “The Nightmare Arrow is a bit unreliable. I have to use so many tricks just to make sure that it hits my enemies. And with the effect of Nightmares that you said… It would better if I could have another Arcana to rely on. Something much more reliable than the Nightmare Arrow. But that will have to depend on the Mystery itself.”
“Creating only Arcanas which you need… that is the proper attitude that an Arcanist should have,” his master said, nodding in satisfaction. “With just those words alone, I can rest in ease knowing that you are ready.”
“Ready? For what?”
“…Did you forget?” his master said. “You have gotten comfortable with the Art of Spirit Rebirth, and have acquainted yourself with the process of creating Arcanas. And though you still have to learn Martial Styles, and master your sword, you do not need me for those things. Only your path as a Scholar still needs some guidance, but you are not ready to engrave your first Glyph. So, for the moment, you do not need me.”
“No! That is not true, master. I still need you,” Alnea said hurriedly, vehemently shaking his head to deny the words of his master. Yet she just shook her head with a smile, and ruffled his hair.
“Silly disciple, I will still be there, watching you. However, right now, what you need is not my presence, but the presence of your peers. Of your rivals.”
“…Rivals?” Alnea mumbled. He was still not convinced with her words. But he had no words to convince her. So, he chose to find flaws in her logic instead. “Where am I going find rivals in the Night Canyons, master?”
“Do you not have two rivals already?”
“Two rivals?” Alnea said, looking at his master in confusion, until he finally understood what she was trying to say. “You mean…”
“You are ready to train with the girls.”
“…But it has barely been twenty days!”
“So?”
“Didn’t you say that it was going to take a month?”
“I said at most a month, not that it was necessarily going to take a whole month.”
“But…”
“Are you not happy that you get to meet with the girls once again?”
“…I am.”
“So? Do you still want to stay with me? Or do you want to train with the girls?”
“…Can I have both?” Alnea asked, looking at him master with a pleading expression, only have her flick his forehead.
“What do you think?”
Alnea made a struggling face at his master’s words, feeling a little troubled on how to respond. That was until his eyes drifted over the bed of grass he was sitting on.
“I guess if you put it like that, then I don’t have any choice, do I?”
“No, you do not,” his master said, looking at him with an amused smile, while pinching his nose. Only after he pleaded for her mercy did she release his nose, and said, “Get ready, we are going to meet with the girls.”
“…Yes, master.”