The eye contact lasted barely a few seconds, but to me it felt long and intense, all I wanted to do was run but I'm painfully aware that the moment I turn tail, its game over.
"Only one option then." I said and as I had previously practiced, activated my one and only spell.
[Lumina Ward]
A crown of crimson sand materialized above my head, radiating a firm glow of red light. And the mist secreting from the crown seeped down over my body. This was the extent of my power, but it was enough, this bear had no means of using magic, and the only thing that can deal damage to my spell is magic, so I should be safe.
Just as those thoughts occurred in my mind the beast had made its move, it had waited long enough for its dinner and now it was firmly agitated by the prolonged eye contact, it felt angry for some reason when it stared at the human before it, but that mattered little as it rushed forwards crossing 6 metres in a few moments.
My arms raised instinctively in a futile effort to defend myself against the hulking beast. It pounced with fervor and lunged its claws out at me, ready to gouge out its pound of bloody flesh from my body and claim its prized dinner. But as it came within proximity to my personal 'Bubble', tendrils of blood red sand erupted from the layer of mist over my body and formed a solid curved wall infront of me. Its claw and the entire limb burst into particles of red instantaneously and rendered the bear crippled.
Both of us were in shock, myself because I hadn't known the Spell could harm others, thinking it was only a defensive spell with no offensive capabilities. But it seemed to have a secondary effect other than protecting me, it could 'Sandify' the attacks that hit it that were not magical in nature.
My eyes widened in wonder as the once threatening beast before me lay on the ground rolling and turning violently on the floor in an effort to ease its agonizing pain.
I knew this might be considered cruel, but since it attacked me first and I need to know the extent of my powers I held up my hand, and thought of the tendrils of sand that had came out of the red mist surrounding my body like an extra layer of skin. As i willed them to appear again, they obeyed, and a single tendril of Crimson sand came out of the cascading mist around my body and made contact with the perpetually paralyzed Bear on the floor. The moment it did, it began to spread over the surface area of the beast, soon only a clump of red sand was visible, a few seconds later, the sand returned to my palm, being absorbed into the crimson mist produced by [Lumina Ward]. Once the sand was gone, there lay nothing amidst where the bear was, no particles of stray sand, no blood or flesh, It was simply gone.
After the fight with the bear I thought about what to do. Iv tested out my new spell, but I'm a little worried about why my Lumina stat is fixed at "∞". Could I seriously have an infinite pool of Lumina at my disposal? I felt nothing when I activated [Lumina Ward] which tells me that either i have truly awakened with the talent of Infinite Lumina or I am pooling Lumina from someone or somewhere which provides a constant stream of Lumina, both theories held some merit but the second was merely a shot in the dark. After all my knowledge on Travellers is limited. I never took much of an interest in them as Prince of the Kingdom and Heir to the throne. Before I dive into any dungeons I should do what I can to find out some more information, I don't want to go into a dungeon not knowing what to expect, so finding out about what I am now and how to grow efficiently is a necessary step towards my growth.
On that note I began making my way to my house and within the next 15 minutes I had reached my house.
I wonder why there was a Bear so close to town, if it came much closer it could have proved a threat to the villagers, in this small rundown poverty stricken village guards are scarce and the only people here that have any combat experience are the guards that protect the mayors villa. Thinking about this I had the sudden realisation I may have indirectly saved a few lives today and an uncontrollable smile grew on my face.
I wasn't particularly fond of Humanity right now, but its not hard to see reason, when the opportunity to overthrow the future king and take the title for yourself presents itself I would also expect some part of me to leap at such a situation.
"Especially if I had come from a noble family of Advisors and hands of the monarchy in the kingdom" I said, pursing my lips at the bad memories that had given rise within my heart. I opened the door and the first thing I did was head to my desk to read more or at leased hope to find another page of hidden information. Maybe now that I had used my [Lumina Ward] spell to take down another being it would register as some sort of pass for the next page? I hoped, grasping at straws.
After turning the page and nothing happening my heart sank a little but I wasn't too disheartened.
I suppose I'll be going into a dungeon less prepared than I had hoped then. I gathered a few bandages and went to put on my hunting gear. As a prince of the Ebon Kingdom, I had many duties, but also a number of mandatory hobbies I should regularly partake in, one of such hobbies was hunting. Boar, rabbit and any game I could find would be pierced with the tip of my arrows back then. Now though, I had no such weapon, I was not allowed to bring anything from the Royal Treasury but since my hunting gear was custom made by the finest tailors in the kingdom and it was not dungeon gear it was seen as useless and thus allowed me too keep it as a family heirloom now that I had been excommunicated from the kingdom and stripped of my titles.
I looked in the partly smashed mirror in my small bathroom I had installed with the remainder of my funds and gleamed the Hunting Gear I dawned. I looked nimble and stylish but unfortunately since it wasn't Dungeon Gear it was about as useful in a dungeon as walking into the ocean with hundreds of layers of clothing, trying to keep the water from rushing in, futile. But of course for me it was less for protection. My [Lumina Ward] Spell would handle that, the hunting gear was simply to allow for quick, fast paced movement amidst combat. Which I was sure I was going to need regardless of if my Spell was active all throughout the dungeon.
Next, I sat at my desk with the strange Tome before me and pondered for a few moments, I needed a plan. What dungeon was closest? And is it plagued by travellers? These questions rolled around in my head for a few minutes before I finally settled on a plan.
If I go to the [Gremlin Cavern] Dungeon, an F-Rank dungeon, I should be able to eliminate all the enemies and obtain a spell parchment or skill book from the boss. I can walk since its only 35 minutes if I cut through the village and cross over into the Greenland Forest. I smiled, the Greenland Forest was the next forest over from The Nubia Wood, the village was pinned between the two but there was still a 10 minute walk through open plains once you left the village before you reach the treeline for Greenland Forest. I had hunted there fondly as a child, and now as an adult I can go back and raid my first dungeon, solo at that. A chuckle escaped my mouth as pity began to swell in my heart for all the other travellers who awaken and realise their not strong enough or even remotely skilled enough to clear dungeons solo. It was, afterall something only those from C-Rank and above could accomplish.
After coming up with a plan I hid the tome in a hidden compartment under the floorboards, it was a hidden compartment within a hidden compartment so no one would be able to find it nor would it perish if the house was burnt to the ground. After revising the plan I grabbed my hunters satchel which had a few days worth of rations inside and made my way out of the house and began the walk to Greenland Forest.