-4 months later-
It is almost time for the birth of my baby sister. That's right, sister. The doctor checked in a few months ago, and when he did, he also performed the magic equivalent of an ultrasound to check the gender of the baby.
That was when we found out it was a girl. Now my sister was about to come into this world very soon. She was due towards the end of the month, a few weeks away. Meanwhile, the staff was getting the house ready to welcome her.
Her room was prepared, her clothes were gotten, and all the essentials were prepared. This was all happening before she was even born. I guess that's what being born into a noble family got you.
Of course, like me, she would be in the master bedroom for at least the first year of her life. I had moved to my new room now so that she would be taking over the cradle. With all my antics and "constitution" my parents trusted me enough to sleep alone.
This meant I could go out at night starting from now on too. I had already started conditioning the staff to be used to me staying at home now during the day. I also went to bed early to get more time in for nighttime practice.
It was a month ago that I had fully stopped going into the forest during the day. In return, I would sneak out every night for hours. This not only gave me more time but was also much more sneaky.
Going out at night meant I didn't have to shake off all the maids on my tail. Today was one such night that I went out. It was midnight and the air was a cool breeze. It was midsummer and the crickets were chirping as always.
I was feeling especially adventurous tonight and decided to go further into the forest than usual. I could feel the forest brimming with life the further I went in. Normally I would occasionally see a small animal or two in the daylight, but now, when the only light that came was the moonlight filtered through the trees, I could feel the beasts coming out.
The largest animal I had seen before was a deer that had wandered close to the house, but now I could feel the cores of much bigger ones. These were all at least Orange core beasts around me.
As I sped through the forest, the core ranks just kept going up and up, until it was eventually at the Gold rank. This was the end of the line for me, if I kept going, I would undoubtedly be in deadly danger.
I was already in some danger being around beasts my level. I had no combat experience, and I could only rely on my magic. I climbed up a tree to prevent any surprise attacks that the beasts could come up with and scouted around.
My perception still only stretched up to 100 feet but that was enough space to see the beasts around me. The closest to me was (Dark-Gold) and around 70 feet away. The beasts had avoided me because of my aura, but these higher-level ones were inching closer.
Using my mana-infused eyes I peered down at the beast. It was a rabbit with blood-red eyes and black fur that made it blend into the surroundings; I would have missed were it not for the eyes and my mana perception.
Something completely out of my expectations was its size. I had expected it to be humungous and at least as big as a person, but it was the opposite. Not only was the rabbit not human-sized, it was even smaller than the average rabbit.
It hopped to the tree I was on at a rapid speed, and immediately I felt its aura. This little beast was terrifying. The aura itself was enough to make my knees weak and almost made me pee my pants. Not only did the aura show off the rabbit's power, it was also stained with blood.
I could smell the blood coming off the beast. The salty, metallic, refreshing smell and taste in my mouth and nose. It wasn't a scent I was unfamiliar with, but it was startling to see it coming from such a small and normally vegetarian creature.
Anything in the Gold realm was deemed to be dangerous, so it shouldn't have surprised me too much. Already I could feel its bloodlust and hunger directed at me. Although I had unleashed my aura, I was still restricting it, so it must have seen me as easy prey.
I wasn't about to let it get a free meal so easily and began circulating mana. I cast neutral and earth body strengthening to buff my defense and also began to prepare some spells. I cast (Earth Spikes T. 1), (Water Lance T. 1), and (Fire Spear T. 1). I also prepared the lightning strike just in case.
Just as the rabbit was starting to climb up the tree, I shot my magic forward. Before my magic could even reach it, however, it deftly leaped out of the way. That was when I summoned the lightning strike. Not even a yellow rank would be able to completely dodge it.
The lightning went clean through the rabbit, burning its flesh and bones. It wouldn't even bleed—the fur set on fire, reflecting across the dead, red eyes of the rabbit. The tree I was on was falling.
My earlier magic had done a number to the base of the tree and now it was falling. Using air magic, I stepped off and fell in a slow descent. I could feel the other beasts coming near. They had smelt the flesh and wanted the easy meal. Some higher-level ones were also coming near.
That was my cue to leave for the night. I was tired and it had nearly been an hour since I left. It would take at least another 30 minutes to go back to the house using all my magic. It had taken an hour to come here when I was conserving my mana.
This was a good experience for me as well. It also taught me the importance of having experience. Without my lightning magic, I would have been killed at only a year old, not to mention by a rabbit.
It was on my way back that I encountered many more beasts. They had gotten curious about me and were looking to see if I would be an easy meal. Some of the braver, or dumber ones(I couldn't tell), got in my way and blocked my path.
I could have easily gone around them, but I was already out and needed more practice. These would be easy targets to practice my magic on and develop some higher-level ones.
My first unfortunate victim was a giant bullfrog that got in my way. It was of the (Dull-Sienna) level and not much of a threat to me. I first hid in a nearby bush to prepare my magic. Even against an enemy of a much lower rank than me, I wasn't confident enough to face them head-on. Not to mention that my current casting time was a whole second even for my lowest and most familiar magic.
In that second, a lot of things could happen that I wouldn't be able to react to. I hid in the bush and prepared the same magics I had done with rabbits, this time adding more mana to them to make them stronger and sculpting them to do more damage.
Whereas before, I had just done the spell in its natural form, this time, I honed the blades to be sharper and more lethal. I wasn't sure if it would work, but if it did, that would be a big accomplishment.
I also formed magic circles to manipulate darkness and air. I would be using these to cover up any trace of the murder. The smell of blood and viscera could attract larger predators I didn't want to face.
After I felt my preparations were ready, I let my magic loose. The elemental spears and spikes struck true, killing the frog instantly. Then immediately after that, a sphere of darkness and still air encompassed the corpse.
I then carefully used earth manipulation to bury the body deep underground. This continued to happen a couple more times until I got home. I was so tuckered out, the moment I fell on my bed, I fell asleep.
I had learned a lot from this adventure and couldn't wait for more to come.