A few minutes before entering the dry forest.
"We should move, the sun is hiding."
I was the first one to talk. When I looked at the sun, it was simply hiding, suggesting that it is about four o'clock in the afternoon or even more.
To waste time on useless thoughts would be of no use. It is better to start the search as soon as possible, because it is possible that the paladin is not yet in the dry forest.
It would be very advantageous to get into the dry forest as soon as possible and take the lead. But if the champion and that church are already in the dry forest looking for the devil to sacrifice him, we'd be in serious trouble.
We can't waste any more time.
"You're right," Clara said.
"Before you go, take some supplies. They may get lost there and take a while. The dry forest is very large and dense."
The farmer gave Alice a bag of cloth full of things. Finally we set off towards the forest. First we passed through the field of cultivation and finally we reached a big river. By crossing that river, the forest would be dry, but this river is too wide.
"Is there any way to get through as quickly as possible?"
"There is."
"What is it?"
I looked at Clara when she spoke. How do we pass a big river this big? It's only possible with boats, but... in this place there isn't.
"We can use the manna to try to push ourselves."
"…"
That's possible. Why didn't you know? But it's certainly a great idea. The question here is: how do I drive with manna? Manna is a type of energy that has no solid form and cannot be touched.
"How do we do that?" I asked.
Using manna for an impulse is a great idea, but being a great idea, how do you use that idea?
"It's easy. As you know, every living thing has a magical circuit that spreads throughout the body, and that includes the feet."
"But what does that have to do with anything?" I asked again. I didn't know what the magic circuit was based on with a manna boost.
"It's easy. Move your manna to your feet and concentrate a large amount, enough to take a stronger leap."
It means you just have to move the manna at your feet and make a common jump, as if it were normal. But does it really work? Then I concentrated my manna and it quickly moved at my feet. From my knees up, I felt my body lighter.
I finally understood what Clara was trying to get to. Moving the manna to the feet not only will I become a little lighter, there is also a kind of reaction that helps the muscles of the whole foot to give more thrust, using manna as a way to activate those muscles.
"I sigh."
I took a slight sigh and ducked a little. I had all the manna on my feet, so I jumped.
"Whistle."
The wind made a noise when I jumped. I felt the breeze of fresh air running all over my body and I opened my eyes. It was over 20 meters above the ground. I finally got back on the floor.
"It works."
"I told you," Clara spoke proudly, as if she had given a little lesson.
***
— Change of scene.
"Whistle."
Everything was quiet. The dry ground looked burnt. The place was a little fuzzy, as if it were foggy, but it was the dust that was always kept in the air. The trees were as big as buildings 40 or 50 stories high. They were oak-like trees, so I could assume they were very resistant and had manna inside.
The manna in these trees looked like a kind of element.
"Element earth."
An element that makes trees more resistant and even able to live for thousands of years.
The whole place looked like it was taken out of a movie where the world was full of natural disasters and, in the end, everything went dry and lifeless.
It was like the environment around us.
"There are no monsters at the moment," Alice said.
"That's normal."
"No."
"You're right. I analyzed a radius of a hundred meters, but there's nothing," Clara said, finding nothing.
I closed my eyes and tried the same thing. I looked at all the manna, it looked like veins of the body everywhere, but they were much more visible in living bodies and in these trees. I tried to get as far as I could, but...
Nothing, nothing. Just the manna and us.
There's not even a trace of any living thing, like some monster or anything, but I didn't find any of that.
"It's strange, there's nothing in this area," Alice said, with a worried tone of voice.
Honestly, it's weird. Although I didn't know the monsters well and I've only encountered one bear-like and that strange being where Encrid was, I've only seen those monsters, so I don't know what kind of monsters there are in this place.
"We should get some rest."
"But there will be no problem with surveillance, although there is no monster near..."
"I'il take care of it," I interrupted her before Clara was finished.
I was used to not sleeping. After all, I was a murderer.
Although I shouldn't be proud of that, some skills from my past life are very useful. In this case, surveillance is one of those skills that are useful in cases like this.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Well, make some noise in case anything comes up."
The night was close to falling, the sky was darkening at that time, so I decided to take a little walk, not too far, just about thirty meters.
And finally, the night fell. It was dark. If I were a magician from any other element, I could use a fireball to light up the place, but I'm a magician who controls the darkness. All my spells are dark and give no light. Unless I blow up, I could light up, but I'm not a stupid psychopath.
"It's time," Encrid spoke when I stopped.
"I'm close to the second circle."
Although I spent six whole months training, that was not an impediment not to increase my manna and be close to the second circle, but I decided not to move on to the second circle.
To be a second circle would be very good, but it is not necessary to move so fast. It is possible to save the manna to advance later. I decided not to advance until I was a gentleman, so the second circle was delayed.
I wasn't sure, but it's possible the suspicions might come. Encrid, though strong, isn't as strong as he used to be. If I become a second circle, it would be impossible for him to hide my manna, so anyone could know that I am a second circle in plain sight.
But there's a second way to know if I'm a second circle: see my arm. In the arm of the magicians are the circles, and that would be a big problem since I couldn't hide it.
"It's very quiet."
When I thought about it, I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. Then I concentrated my breath and took a meditation posture. Finally, I began to absorb manna from the surrounding area.
***
— Change of scene.
— Clara's perspective.
I was waiting until Asher made a move. I was very curious about him.
By the looks of him, he's obviously a child. That's why I was impressed when I found out he was a magician, but I didn't pay much attention to him at first.
But now he felt he was hiding something, apart from his mask that didn't show his face. The moment he said his element was electrical, he hesitated for a second. It was just a second, but I could tell she was lying. That's when we got to this place, the dry forest.
I knew we'd have to rest any minute since it was getting dark. It was then that I took the lead in asking if I could keep an eye on it. Then Asher fell into my plan. I knew he'd say he'd watch, so I waited until he made a strange move or walked into the woods alone. And it worked.
He was hiding behind a tree. When I looked up, I saw Asher sitting on the floor, absorbing manna.
"How can you absorb manna so quickly?" That's when I watched manna flow into your body at a surprising speed.
Even as I'm in the second circle and about to ascend to the third, I can't absorb manna at that speed.
It's absurd to see that rapid absorption.
It was hard to see because of the darkness. I couldn't create a fireball to light up without giving myself away. I could only tell the manna and barely the silhouette of Asher sitting on the ground.
"Whistle."
Suddenly, the wind began to intensify. I didn't know if it was normal or not, but it was weird.
The wind was stronger and the air colder than usual, sending me shivering just by rubbing myself.
"Hahaha... I sneezed, but I managed to make it just a murmur, lost among the sounds of the trees.
Why did I sneeze? It was strange, unless there was something in the air that my nose couldn't stand. They could be spores, but there were no nearby fungi.
Although it wouldn't be weird to find mushrooms here. Everything was dry and wet at the same time.
"I have a bad feeling. Why are there fungus spores?"
I saw the yellow spores floating everywhere.
Then I felt like sneezing. I quickly covered my nostrils with my fingers to avoid and not inhale the fungus spores.
Then I looked back at Asher, but...
"Where is he? I was here a few seconds ago." Thoughts invaded my mind. He just disappeared.
I walked as far as he'd been. There was no trace. How could he have disappeared like this without leaving a trace? Manna continued to flow normally into the air, indicating that it had been gone a while.
But the question kept resonating in my mind over and over again: how had it disappeared and where had it gone?
"I have to go back." I decided to go back to where Alicia and Dik were resting.
Asher had disappeared from nowhere. If he came back, maybe he would, too. But if it wasn't, then where could it be?
"I don't see anything."
The spores began to increase in quantity, almost forming a fog. I kept blocking my breath to avoid any illness or symptoms of inhalation, but why were there so many spores? Definitely not ordinary mushroom spores, this was too much.
Unless there was a monster nearby, but from the beginning I kept my perceptions sharp and I didn't notice any unusual movements of any monster.
Then I looked around and saw a dense fog of fungus spores. My heart started beating harder, this was unusual.
It was so strange that my heart was beating stronger than usual. My senses were alert, but I felt no danger. So, what was going on? Why did I feel that way?
"I have to get out of here, something's not right," I thought. I had to get back to where everybody was.
But where was Asher? He could be in danger, too. I couldn't be sure if there were monsters near me, but it didn't matter. I just wanted to find Asher.
"Crack."
At that moment, my senses grew even more acute. My heart was pounding and I turned my head back. Hundreds of eyes, hundreds of teeth. A fungus-like body with limbs: two legs, two arms. Apart from the hundreds of eyes on its flat head surface, a larger eye and a huge mouth full of teeth adorned the monster's figure.
"It's a Fonguru."
The monster was a Fonguru, with a red head and white body, limbs similar to arms and legs, numerous eyes on his red head and a large mouth with a huge eye on the white part of the body. Its stem rose to about ten to fifteen meters high.
The Fonguru roared:
"Raaaaagghh-KKRRRAAAWW!!!"
The roar was so powerful that my ears began to bleed. How could an 8th-grade monster be here? I was just a second-circle magician. Even a third-circle magician would have trouble defeating him. What was I supposed to do?
I wanted to scream for help, but the monster was too close, about ten meters from me, and its size was impressive, between ten and fifteen meters high. In addition, the Fonguru was known for its agility, range of attack and abilities with several elements.
"Boom!"
An arrow hit the monster's head. I saw who launched that attack and it was Asher.
"Are you all right?" His voice resonated in my mind and I gathered all my strength to overcome fear and scream:
"Yes... I'm fine..."