Chapter Four: The Great hunter

After getting to the camp we began the preparations for the night, everyone in a good mood, this time instead of collecting firewood, I and Glyo went hunting for some meat, "hey Xander, you know how to augment your body with mana to hasten yourself right?" Glyo asked me before going, "Yes I can, but why do you ask?" i replied, "it will be faster this way, we will be able to collect much more food this way" he explained, "i see, just let me get my weapon" i said, i took my sword out of my bag and strapped it to my waist, " i remember your father using that sword" glyo said, "yeah he gave it to me before i left to kytos" i replied, "you don't say… well then, shall we go?" he asked me, i gave him a firm nod as i augmented my body with mana, and so we went on our way to hunt for some food.

we had to run about five kilometers before we saw some animals we could hunt, as we were running i noticed that my body felt much lighted and my breathing was way more stable, and even after after over ten minutes of straight sprinting i felt great, probably the cause of augmenting my body with mana, after about 15 minutes we finally saw animals that we could hunt, a pact of about ten animal that looked like a hybridization of a snow tiger and a jackal, "some silver jackals, a super quick and around animal, but when cooked a delicacy" glyo explained, "it'll be great training for you, you will have to move with quick and silent dashes so they won't notice you as you try to take them out, because if they do, well… lets just say we won't be able to catch them" glyo instructed me, "why not?" i asked him, "because they can go from 0 kilometers an hour to 250 in three seconds" he said smiling towards me, i unsheathed my sword and took a stance suitable for a quick dash, my muscles were clenched i waited in the high grass for an opening in which i could begin the hunt, one of the silver jackals turned his side towards me, i released a large dash towards the animal with minimal sound and reached him in the blink of an eye, beheading it, before the head had touched the ground i moved on to the next as glyo watched from behind a large boulder, and so i took down 9 of them, but as i got to the tenth one, which was the large one by far, i could see that he had noticed me and tried to make a break for it, as soon as i saw his muscles move i dashed towards him, but he was to fast for me, we raced around for a few minutes when i realized i wasn't going to catch him, so i imbued mana into my sword, condensing it as much mana as i could, as a soft glow emerged from it, i did the last thing that came to mind, i threw it, but instead of falling to the ground like what i had expected, it went faster and faster using the mana i put into it as a jet, and stabbed into the beasts head, finishing it off, as i got back to the s wide mouthed and shocked glyo with the corpse of the silver jackal he asked me how i caught him, "i imbued mana into my sword and threw it at him" i answered, "i thought you might get five of them when the other ones would realize there was danger near by and run of, but you were so silent and fast that if you tried to take me out i wouldn't even be a match for you, and when the last one took of i thought that was it, but you chased after it, almost matching it with your speed, and now your telling me you actually killed it?!" he asked in shock, i nodded, i obviously couldn't tell him i had a full life as teh greatest is my century warrior and as a result i could be as efficient hunter as possible, he let out a sigh, "and imbuing enough mana into the sword so it'll be able to jab into its skull should be exhausting yet here you are, with no sign of slowing down, are you really not tired?" he continued, "well now that you mention it, i guess I'm a bit tired" i said, and that was the last thing i remembered before collapsing.

next thing i know i was at the setup camp, laying on my sleeping bag, looking at the stars i saw that night has already fallen, after looking around i could see everyone around the fire besides me, i got up and walked to them, glyo was the first one to notice me, "hey Xander, how are you feeling?" he asked me in a concerned tone, "a little bit hungry but overall not bad" i answered, glyo moved a bit on the log he was sitting on to make room for me and after i sat down he gave me a large, meaty rib of what i could only assume was one of the silver jackals, "thanks'' i said and started eating the rib, "so i heard you are the one responsible for the ten dead silver jackals'' sole said i a deep voice that made me think i did something wrong," yes…" I hesitantly said in a cautious voice, "dude… right on!" he said with a wide smile spread across his face as his fist stretched out before him asking for a fistbump, and as a man of culture i had to accept it, with a smile on my face, that night was a night of laughter, good spirit and a happy stomach and at that moment, i had felt like i was actually a part of the party.

We were all up until the late hours of the night, "so what happened after i blacked out?" i asked Glyo, "i had to run back and get sole to help me transfer all the silver jacklas" he answered, "at first i thought Glyo went a bit overboard but when he told me it was you, well… lets just say i was amazed to say the list" sole added giggling, "i have been training with my dad for over three years in inner body mana manipulation and sword fighting so i guess i improved over time" i shrugged, "on a different subject" Ell joined the conversation, "while you boys were on your adventures i and Jona had collected firewood, and i managed to develop a new move using both my elements" she said in a proud voice, "how? I mean you only learned you can combine your elements today!" i yelled out, "true, but the move i developed was one i had tried to do with my fire element for a while now so i just had to combine the right amount of wind magic and boom! a new move" she said with a proud smile on her face, "so what is this so called move?" Glyo asked her, she let out a soft chuckle and stood up and closed her eyes with her fingers crossed, her legs began glowing with a changing glow, from dark red to light green, you didn't need to be an expert to know she was investing mana into her legs, after 5 seconds she released all the mana that had builded up in her legs in the form of a blazing jet with swirling wind around it, causing Ell to fly seven meters up in the air, while the fire kept her up in the air the swirling wind stabilized her, after fully stabilizing in the air she leaned forward and boosted in that direction in an unreadable speed, she flu around us for a few minutes and then got down to us with a large smirk on her face, ''it helped me get on top of the forest and look for wood or animals near us'' she said proudly, ''well that's great and all but the night is about to end so how about we finish up here?'' Jona declared more than asked.

And so, after storing the uneaten silver jackals in the carriage we went and tried to get some sleep, ''I'll take the first shift'' I volunteered, ''you sure?'' Glyo asked me, ''yeah, I mean I just slept for a few hours earlier so I'm good'' I confirmed, Jona sighed, ''okay just don't overdo it'' she said, I nodded, 'it will also give me time to train mana realm' I thought to myself, when I made sure that they were all asleep I started meditating, this time I entered the 'mana realm' stage in under two minutes, after entering mana realm I started absorbing mana from the outer sources, I managed to absorb some earth and wind mana as well as a little bit of water from the puddles from the last rain, after I felt comfortable enough I even tried to absorb some light mana from the moon and dark mana from the shadows casted by the large trees all around me, which was surprisingly much easier and quicker then any of the other elements, but as I absorbed the dark energy I felt much more energy that any of the other elements gave me, my body was overflowing with mana, I just had to try using some of it, I opened my eyes and inserted neutral mana from my own mana center and looked into the forest, I could barely see anything with the darkness off the forest, and I could only see for about 500 meters before my eyes started to hurt, and then I tried it again but with the light and dark elemental mana, and not only could I see every little pebble in the dark ground of the forest and also see no, not see but feel every living thing, from the moss on the stones to the chirping birds on highest branches of the trees but I saw so far away I passed the domain of the forest and into the mighty mountains over 15 kilometers away from us as bright as day, i stopped thre mana flow to my eyes and continued meditating and again it took me two minutes to enter 'mana realm' but after looking at my sleeping team members and thought to my self what woul happen if i inserted mana into my eyes while using 'mana realm', and so i did, i felt the flowing mana in my body and focused it towards my eyes, after the light an dark mana reached my eyes i tried slowly to enhance my sight, and the same effects of enhancing my eyesight without using 'mana realm' applied as well, but one thing that mana realm had changed, zooming in on a young, large tree, i could see that unlike anything i had expected, the mana surrounding the tree was not one definite element but three mixed together, water, earth and light mana particles had all made the tree up.

what i assumed happened was that the earth and water mana had made the material the tree was made of, while the light magic, being in charge of the continuous growth of the tree, i figured that out by then looking at an older tree, where i could see water, earth and light mana like before, but in the older tree was also dark mana, the dark and light mana were always bumping into each other, almost fighting whether the tree was going to live or wither, after that discovery i kept meditating without any interruptions, using 'mana realm' to redirect the windflow, inserting mana into the ground to see what effect it has on the consistent glow of mana in it, at some point sole woke up, i could see he woke up before he moved a muscle because his steady mana flow around him started condensing over specific places, "good morning" i said to him, "same for you" he said mid yawn, "hey listen, before everyone else wakes up, can you teach me how to fight using only weapons and no magic?" i asked him, "sure i can, but why no magic?" he replied, "because no matter how good i am with magic, it can run out and then i will be stuck with an untrained body that can barely swing a sword, not to talk about fighting" i explained, "i see, well then, as you wish 'little hunter'" he said while rising up and stretching, after everyone got up and ate a few wild berries we had collected last night we fed the griffons a few leftover silver jackals and went on our way, about four hours into the ride we took a stop on top of a long mountain range, we found a fountain on the top of one of the larger mountain and stopped there for a lunch break, we washed of in the pond and ate some dried jackals from yesterday, after we all got out of the pond i sat down on a stone to dry of before we got on our way again, "Xander what are you doing?" jona asked me, "drying off" I answered with my eyes closed and my face towards the sun high up in the sky, "that's how you dry off?" she asked me in a wandering tone to her voice, i opened my eyes and looked at her, "yeah, how else would you dry?" I replied as I saw a smile rise on her face, "Glyo, would you do the honors?" she asked him, "sure" Glyo said as he stretched his arms, he closed his eyes, raised his arms and took a deep breath, "[wind gust !]" he said, not in a yell like how my father used cast spells but in a deep, declaring voice, as if the wind must obey him and do whatever he wishes, the moment the words left his mouth an unbelievably strong and warm current of wind blow on us, warm and strong enough to dry us instantly but not strong enough to move you from your place, we all got on the carriage and went on our way, that was when trouble started, after just a few minutes we entered a large valley created in between the mountains, it was very calm as the sun started setting in the horizon, we were all very relaxed, but it all changed when the ground, the rocks and even the grand mountains towering over us, everything began shaking.

the moment the ground shook for the first time we all jumped out of the carriage, we watched in horror as the mountains started shaking as the were made of leaves in the wind, we all gathered around in a circular pattern, and just then, the thing that had created the immense earthquake showed itself, it was a 100 meter high giant made of stone boulders, each boulder would be considered a mountain by itself, its eyes glowing in a flaming yellow light, it opened its mouth, or the enormous crack in its face that would be considered a ravine, and roared, its roar so strong for a second i thought the entire earth split apart, the mountains surrounding us started disintegrating, creating an avalanche of rocks and boulders, "everyone!, it's an SS+ earth elemental! use everything you have!" Jona yelled out as she was creating a barrier of water around us to deflect the mountains falling on us, we all pulled out our weapons, but instead of a sword, Glyo pulled out of his sheath just the guard of one, but before i could question why he poured wind mana into it, creating a green, transparent long sword, i watched as Sole pulled his seemingly small axes and just like Glyo's weapon, those axes were not just what the seemed to be because the second he pulled them out, large chunks of stone came out of the ground and engulfed them, enlarging them until each of the blades was the size of half of me, as that was happening Ell pulled out her katana and used her fire affinity to wrap it with blue flames, even five meters away from her i could feel the heat coming off of her sword, she used her fire-wind spell she showed us last night to fly up and fight against the elemental, i wandered how Sole and Glyo were going to fly up high enough to be able to hurt the monster, almost as if they were reading my mind Glyo started running towards the beast, but then he started rising up into the air, almost running up stairs made of air, that's when i realized that was exactly what he was doing, he made stairs of condensed air he could step on, soles method, on the other hand was much less delight, instead of making stone stairs to step on he raised a stone pillar below him that would throw him in the air, and every time he started to go down towards the earth another stone pillar shot out of the ground and boost him up in the air.

as all of that was going on, Jona noticed me standing there, standing in awe, "Xander! I don't care what your affinity is but if you won't use everything you have none of us will make it out of here alive!" she yelled to me, i realized that she was right, no matter what attacks they all conjured, none of them seemed to affect the elemental, "give me two minutes! can you do that?" I asked her, "I might be!" she answered, i closed my eyes as i absorbed the light and the dark into my body and entered 'mana realm', i felt the strange cramp in my stomach which told me i could use my elemental affinity, i looked down at my arms to see that one of my arms turned pearl white with golden lightning running throughout it, as for the other one, it was jet black with purple lightning throughout it, just like a few days ago, only this time i had it restrained, sparkling in the palms of of my hands were golden-white and purple-black balls of sparkling, restrained energy, i imbued my legs with the combined mana of the light and the darkness and jumped, using the elemental mana as a fuel to get up to the height of the elemental, even though i was aware of my teammates in the background, the only thing i could focus on was the giant in front of me, i put my hands together and poured all the mana i had into one condensed ball of mana, i could feel my mana running out as i know i needed to end this now, i released the energy gathered in my hands towards the beast, and out of pure instinct, i yelled out in a commanding, deep, voice, that felt like it wasn't even my own, "disintegrate!" the energy in front of me released in a concentrated beam of golden-purple beam energy that hit the giant in his torso as i was falling in lack of mana, the beam was absorbed into the giants body and for a second, as i was falling, i thought that i had failed, but in a single moment in time, the giant disintegrated in an explosion large enough to resemble a dropped nuke from my past life, a look i was unfortunately all too familiar with, and as all turned black, the only thing i could think of, was that i had hoped that my team members, no… my friends were safe.