-----
"Aquarina, do you know where this spirit stone comes from?" I asked.
"Hmm… Mommy told me it was a gift from the gods…" Aquarina replied.
"I see…"
A gift from the gods… did the gods just drop a giant stone with spirit energy in the middle of the jungle? Then again, there's no point mulling over something I can't delve deeper into.
After a while, as the birds started to fly away, I noticed a few fluff balls slowly jump around the stone. Eventually, they noticed us.
They resembled brown and black hares, but they also had a sharp crystal horn on their foreheads, big enough to impale an adult man. Although their size was small, I bet they could jump over a person and kill them in one hit.
Of course, that couldn't be said for the tribespeople. They're too strong for that.
"Look! Are those monsters?" I asked.
"Oh? Ah! T-Those are Horned Hares… Mommy said they're F-Rank Monsters…" she replied.
"I see… maybe we could hunt some for dinner!" I suggested.
"H-Hunt? But it's dangerous… M-Maybe we should go back home…"
As she said that, Aquarina began to step back, only for one of the large hares to notice us. Its crimson-red eyes soon flashed with bloodthirst as the big-eared mammal charged at us while pointing its horn forward!
Wait… you're telling me these cute things are actually this aggressive? Or is it because they're territorial?
Then again, if you have a massive horn like that, I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to use it.
"Uwah!"
With the large hare charging towards us, Aquarina felt intimidated as she fell on her butt. Seeing that, I let go of her hand as I moved in front of her.
Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember…!
I conjured Ember a dozen of times in a few seconds. Before the rabbit's horn could even touch me, a large fireball emerged from the fusion of so many little flames, clashing with the rabbit head-on.
CLASH!
"Gryyeggh…!"
A pitiful cry was released by the horned hare as it fell over the ground. The entirety of its fur was set ablaze as it began to cry in agony on the ground until it eventually breathed its last.
"W-Wow…"
Aquarina looked at me with awe as her blue eyes glistened brightly.
"See? It wasn't so hard to beat…" I told her.
"Sylphy, you're strong…" she could not help but say, as if admiring me.
"N-Not really… I'm just a kid," I said, letting out a light sigh.
"But that was cool!" she said in response to my words.
"Is that so? W-Well, let's hunt some more… do you know any magic, Aquarina?" I asked.
"H-Hunt? Me?" she wondered.
"Yeah, you have to learn how to hunt one day, right? You have to make sure you can feed yourself in the future. Your parents won't be there for you all your life, you know…" I told her.
"O-Oh… I-I know some magic… Mommy taught me Aqua Bullet," she replied.
"Aqua Bullet?"
"It's… like this."
With that, Aquarina pointed her finger onto a faraway hare who was looking at its burning friend in shock. Soon, a sudden mass of water no bigger than a pebble was fired from her pointed finger in an instant. She didn't even chant it, nor did any magic circle emerge…
BANG!
The bullet of water quickly reached the hare's stomach, making it screech in pain before falling to the ground motionlessly…
"Oh…" Aquarina muttered. From the looks of it, even she was shocked.
"Huh?! You're also pretty strong, Aquarina!" I could not help but exclaim.
"Did I do that?" she wondered. She still couldn't believe it.
"Yeah, you sure did! Now let's bring them back home so we can make stew out of them!" I told her.
"O-Okay!"
With that, we quickly rushed towards the hares. I grabbed mine while Aquarina moved towards the one she killed.
However…
SPLASH!
Out of nowhere, the nearby forest trembled as a large figure, a creature larger than the hares by at least ten times, jumped out of it!
"Graaaooo…!"
It was a leopard?! No, wait… it had black fur… a panther, perhaps?
It was around three meters tall, completely dwarfing both of us in stature.
"Ah…!"
Aquarina was suddenly shocked by the sight. the leopard's sharp emerald eyes glared at her profoundly as it slowly began to move near her…
"Aquarina!"
I rushed towards her as fast as I could, infusing mana into my newly opened Mana Veins. Unfortunately, the Leopard was already way too close to her while she was paralyzed out of shock!
"Graaoo!"
The panther's claws emerged from its paws as it lunged towards her.
"NO!"
I cried as loudly as I could, quickly deciding to touch the grass.
Soon, my will was infused into the plants as my endless mana began to be poured into them like a fervent stream of essence.
The grass in the area then obeyed my will as they grew faster than the speed at which panther was heading towards Aquarina. Thankfully, the tentacle-like grass grabbed onto its hind legs at the very last moment and pull it down into the ground!
"Fooo!"
Naturia then appeared around me, aiding me in using Agriculture to reach this level of power.
After that, I reached Aquarina in time once more as I glared at the roaring panther. At this point, it began to cut through the grass angrily, hissing at me in the process.
"Aquarina! Snap out of it! Come, fire your Aqua Bullet at it and kill it! It tried to eat you!" I told her.
"A-Ah… R-Right!"
Hearing my words, Aquarina snapped out of her shock, gulping her saliva as she pointed her finger at the struggling panther, firing five Aqua Bullets in quick succession towards it.
BANG! BANG!
"Grrraaaoo…!"
The panther's body was quickly filled with holes, soon bleeding everywhere. Nevertheless, it was still alive.
It then began to breathe heavily as it looked at both of us. Its sharp emerald eyes seemed to contain defiance in them.
"I-It hasn't died yet…?" Aquarina timidly asked.
"Calm down. It's on death's door… it's quite resilient," I told her.
Aquarina looked at the panther pitifully, letting out a sigh soon after.
"Poor thing…"
"You're pitying it?" I asked.
"Maybe it was hungry…" she told me, lightly sighing.
"Oh… but even then, you can't just pity something that tried to kill you, Aquarina. Your life is just as valuable as theirs. In other words, you have the right to fight and survive as well," I said in response.
"I-Is that so…" muttered Aquarina before suddenly touching the panther.
"Grrrr…"
The panther groaned at her, only for it to close its eyes soon after. Eventually, it stopped breathing.
Phew…
"W-well, let's bring it back home. Maybe we can also cook it, huh?" I asked.
"O-Okay!"
With that, Aquarina wiped off the small tears she had in her eyes and nodded.
Man, what a strong girl.
-----