Chapter 2: Funeral and First Combat

When he stepped into the doorway, his environment changed again and he realized he was standing somewhere in a grassy plain. It was early morning from what it seemed, so he knew that there was a difference in time from world before. He was standing  between two stones, around 4 meters apart, that were big enough to reach his waist. Looking at those stones, he knew that they were protected by a powerful magic and they can’t be moved or destroyed as long as that magic was active. These stones marked the portal that he just passed through. There was an eerie silence about them that kept animals and monsters away.

Looking around him, he saw the clearing or the grass plain was just about the size of a football stadium. All around were a forest. In the middle, was a small hill with a single tree standing on top of it. Eizo walked to the hill.

(That looks like a good place for what I need to do.) 

After reaching the top of the hill, Eizo laid down the bundle carrying the remains of his grandfather. He wanted to give his grandfather a proper burial. From the information that was implanted to him, he knew that he had to perform a funeral by cremation, since when uncremated, bodily remains have a tendency to transform into an undead especially those with high magical concentration. So, he casted a fire spell on the remains.

This was the first time ever he used magic. He knew the incantation as if he had known them for a very long time. It was spoken with clarity and precision. He felt the mana flowed out from him and he knew how to control it as it was exactly intended.

The spell that he used was for a special type of flame. It was for a Spectral Flame, a flame that burned not only the physical matter but burned also the magical energy in them. He knew that this was the best way to dispose of the remains of a mage and that his grandfather would want it this way. After completely turning the remains into ashes, he recited another spell. This time a wind spell called Wind Sweep to blow the ashes away. He controlled his mana and the effect was like gentle wind blowing away carrying the ashes to the surrounding forest. Then, he recited another spell, Raise Earth. A rectangular stone emerges close from where the tree sprouted from, and it has an inscription written in the English language which he knew did not exist in this world.

-Rufus Silvanus-

-Great mage, even greater grandfather-

“Be at peace. I will miss you. I’ve always loved your stories. When we meet again, I hope I can tell you stories about my own adventures. Goodbye.”

‘Rufus Silvanus’, that was the name real name of his grandfather that he learned the knowledge implant. He also learned that his grandfather was a great mage in his youth who reached the level of ‘sage’ at the young age of 78 and served as ‘Archmage’ of the human country called ‘Arken Empire’ for more than 200 years after that.

From the information he had, he learned that magic was regarded very highly in this world. It was common sense that all great deeds ever done were done through magic. All throughout this world, people are dependent on magic, even though the number of gifted people able to become mages made up not more than one percent of the populace. Most mages are members of the nobility. And those of common birth who were gifted were granted a rank of that of a knight when they became 15 years old. In this way, magic was equal to power and was indispensible in measuring a country’s military might. Magic was godly.

Mages themselves have their own rank among them depending on the rank of the spells they were able to cast. The order of ranking goes from lowest to highest as novice, apprentice, intermediate, expert, master, grandmaster, and sage. The same rank applies to the spells depending on the difficulty.

For most, the path to mastering magic was the Arken Academy of Magic. All qualified mages of the empire were admitted for free since the academy was sponsored by the empire. Few mages are able to learn through the path of apprenticeship under a ‘Master’, aptly named since only mages of the master ranked or higher can give a training that’s officially accepted as equivalent to an academy certificate.

Spells were categorized based on the element of the effect. There are six elements which are fire, water, earth, wind, light, and dark. Rufus Silvanus in his before travelling to another world was the greatest mage of the empire. No human has ever come close since. He achieved the following ranks:

Sage rank in water element.

Master rank in wind element.

Master rank in earth element.

Expert rank in fire element.

Expert rank in light element.

Apprentice rank in dark element.

His accumulated mastery of magic was implanted to Eizo when he touched the orb containing them. Other informations he learned were about the world itself. After using spells for his grandfather’s belated funeral, he felt somewhat drained.

(My mana reserves should be bigger but I guess it hasn’t filled up that much. Since there was no mana on Earth, even if I’ve had a hereditary capacity for magic being the grandson of a great mage, I’ve was not able to fill up on mana until a moment ago.)

 He sat down in front of the tombstone to rest take a moment to summarized his basic knowledge about the world.

The world is called Crystallis. There are two continents with some islands sprawling here and there. In the eastern hemisphere of the planet lies the bigger Aria continent which hosts five of the major races in Etheria namely the Humans, Elves, Fairies, Beastmen, and Dwarves. In the western hemisphere is the Demon continent which is populated almost exclusively by the Demon race. 

The major races in Aria continent have been at peace for the most part. They had an unwritten agreement to unite whenever there’s a demonic invasion from the west. The Human kingdoms are located on the great plains that made up the most of the Middle Aria Continent. The Northern Aria Continent are mostly tundra and the cold lands where the Beastmen resides. The Southern Aria Continent is covered almost entirely by the Ancient Etheria Forest that houses the Elves and the Fairies. Within the mountain range that spans from east to west, serving as a natural barrier between the Beastmen and the Human territories, is the Dwarven Kingdom.

He also now knew two languages of this world: Human and Elven language. 

After resting quite a bit, Eizo stood up and looked at the sky.

(Considering that it should be around late morning right now and the position of the sun, the direction from here to the portal in southward. I think I’ll try my luck in that direction. If I get lucky, I’ll be out of this forest before sunset.)

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Eizo walked around the stones marking the portal and south into the forest. Walking between the trees, admiring their girth, he wondered how old was this forest and came to the conclusion that it must be at least a thousand years of age. The trees were as crowded as it can get in such forest. Most of them were so tall that very little sunlight reaches the ground even though it should be the middle of the day that time.

After walking for a couple of hours he felt that the influence of the portal were diminishing and he was beginning to sense some animal activities around him. He started walking extra cautious and he was thinking of a spell that could help him. But before he could think of the appropriate spell, he heard some noises in the bushes from his right.

Two fully grown wolves jumped out of the bushes. One of them  sprinted towards him and the other was running to his right around him. Realizing that they were trying to flank him, he recited an audible incantation, pointed his right arm toward the wolf on his right with his hands close in a fist.

“Rock Fist!!!” From the ground, a ball of rock the size of a volleyball shot toward the flanking wolf. It hit the torso of the wolf and knocked it flying 2 meters away. Without taking a pause, he recited another incantation of a novice rank air spell, pointed his left arm with his hand opened, his palm facing the approaching wolf in front. “Air Shield!” A rapidly circulating wind formed up in front of him in the shape of an elongated disk. The wolf jumped at him claws first, mouth opened wide, only to be blocked by the invisible shield made from wind. Its claws were shattered and its front legs broken as it fell backwards, whimpering. 

Not one to miss his chance, he recited an expert level spell, withdrew his right hand and gathered the mana within his fist. Fire started forming from within and while motioning his arm as if to throw it to the wolf, he shouted, “Fireball!” Just like how it sounded a ball of fire shot out from his right hand towards the downed wolf in front of him. With the impact of the Fireball hitting its torso, the wolf was once again thrown backwards. The side of the torso where the fireball stroke home exploded like a small landmine. Flesh and blood were blown off, splattering in all direction, while the wound itself was immediately being singed by the intense heat of the fire before it spread all over the body of the wolf charring the entire animal in a bloody crisp.

The sight and the smell of the fur and flesh being burned was enough to make Eizo gag, no to mention the crying sounds it made while it was burning. But he’s not finished yet, he could throw up as much as he liked later on but there’s still another wolf. He couldn’t be careless now.

The wolf who attempted to flank him earlier was on its feet, and was rushing for him as quick as it could. Seeing its mate killed increased its ferocity by two folds. Mad with anger, the wolf lunges at him still 10 meters away. Eizo’s eyed widened in fear because he knew the wolf would reach him if he was unable to stop it with a very fast spell.

Instinctively, he swung his right hand as if to claw the wolf midair. Four blades of water lunches toward the wolf and two of the blades sliced the  wolf with little resistance before it could reach him. After being deflected, the body pieces of the wolf, cut in unlikely angle,were spinning out of control, spraying its blood all over the place, before they landed apart on the ground.

It didn’t even take a minute but the encounter felt like it lasted very long for Eizo. He was panting while thinking over what just happened. He was almost killed before casting a water spell with no incantation. Reviewing his inherited knowledge about magic, he learned that casting spells of a specific element chantless were possible for those who reached grandmaster rank for that particular element. But, this came with a huge increase in the cost of mana. ‘Water Blades’ by it self was an expert rank spell. He casted four of them simultaneously chantless. He was reasonably drained of mana. 

(-gasp- I should be more careful from now on. Walking in this forest without an active detection skill is suicide. But what spell can I use instead?)

Thinking while recovering his breath, he realized that he can use the intermediate wind spell called ‘Air Perception’ which infuses the air with small bits of wana to perceive all obstruction in space where air can flow while detecting any foreign mana in its area of effect. There was also the apprentice rank dark element spell ‘Shadow Veil’ which reduces the light being reflected on the body and dampens the sound coming from around the caster by 50 percent.

Sustained spells such as these cost a small but continuous amount of mana to remain active. Looking inwardly into his mind, he learned that he can sustain both these spells and still continue to recover mana, slowly as it was, while resuming his trek southward.

So he went ahead and cast ‘Air Perception’ and immediately his sense expanded 25 meters starting from his body. He knew exactly how the area around him was shaped. How big are the rock, the trees, how the earth is sloped, he knew every turn of the corner and crevices within the 25 meter radius. In addition, he felt the mana of some small animals around him and some traces of mana in can be felt on the surface of the trees where it is in contact with the air around it. 

(This is convenient, I can feel the mana of the small birds and the many insects around. And some of those trees, if I can feel mana from their surface, inside them, there must be a huge flow of mana. Not all the trees have them, I wonder what’s the difference.)

Confirming that there are no beast around that can threaten him, he casted ‘Shadow Veil’. A thin film of shadow enveloped him and he could tell the difference in the sound produced by him moving. 

He continued on his path for what seemed be 7 hours before he realized it was completely dark around him. Sensing the area with complete clarity using ‘Air Perception’ and since inside the forest was already dim, he failed to notice that the day has turned. Luckily, he can sense that he was almost at the edge of the forest. He finally saw a clearing in front of him. 

-Author's note:

Some action in this chapter. I'm just going by the flow as I write. Some chapters will have action some don't. Again, leave your comments if you have some notes. peace

p.s. what do you guys think of the length of each chapter? Too short?

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I made this map using fantasynamegenerators.com

The eastern continent is Aria continent and the western one is the Demon continent.

http%3a%2f%2fgdurl.com%2fQ3gk [http://gdurl.com/Q3gk]