It's been about 2 months since school has ended, and I'm doing well on my promise.
*POW*
The beaming sun began to shine through the exploded head of a Vaspe. A smoking AR-15 appeared from behind it, whilst I stood in front of the monster.
So far I had been going out in the forest everyday, practicing my Magic, optimizing it the best I can. I got some shooting practice in, drastically improving my aim, still better to summon it and have my magic shoot it though.
As I trained my mana limit I was able to step into the lower sky core of my mana. I swear the author who made this power system had to make everything so complicated.
Like why couldn't my core just be DIRECTLY correlated to my strength. The core only increases the amount of mana I can hold in my body and the pressure my mana can give off...
*POW*
Woah.... Aren't there more Vaspe out than usual? I rarely saw any in the past like 10 years, and all of the sudden they pop out every 5 seconds. Like right there! There goes another
*POW* *POW*
....and it looks kind of weird. The usual green coloration of the Vaspe was gone, replaced by an iridescent black that gave off a glossy shine. The appendages increased from 10 to 12 and the wings seemed to have increased too. There was also a weird yellow gemstone that shone right on its forehead.
...what the hell is happening..
..Yeah no I'm getting out of here. No need to risk my life when it hasn't even started yet. I actually kind of hate fighting believe it or not.
No reason to waste so much time and energy, getting sweaty, getting hurt..yeah that's for psychos.
"Hey! Kid who are you? What are you doing out here??"
I turn around seeing a party of 6 people. There was a large man with blue hair and an Axe wearing a brown overcoat and dark grey pants. There seemed to be 2 twins who had green hair and Bows. I can see the crazy in their eyes, I swear it.... There was also a stout man with a large beard wearing a large backpack that seemed to fit an entire tool house inside it. A brown-haired slender man holding a silver longsword loomed at me whilst there stood a short haired woman wearing brown leather armor.
They seemed to be locally hired hunters. In every town, there is a set of commissions posted inside of the main governmental office. "Hunters" are the people who accept these missions and go out to hunt animals, monsters, some even gather materials. You can even request them to do more personal quests, as long as it wasn't anything to crazy.
However, I personally never trusted hunters. They were a crazy bunch, constantly risking their lives for a few coins and food. That could never be me.
Always bringing trouble where ever they went...
'...shit...'
"Yo, I was just heading back after seeing some weird Vaspe. The corpse is over there"
I pointed northward in the general direction of where I killed several monsters. You'd think, why wouldn't I become a hunter and sell the corpses I gained? Well first off, these Vaspe are worth almost nothing. Oversized bugs that STINK, with almost no value. Also I had to be above 20 in order to apply and go through several screenings. All in all, it was too much hassle for such a crappy job.
"Why were you hunting Vaspe in the first place.....people like you....should never...you have to stay away....!"
..this twin dude, is too crazy man. See what I'm talking about? Hunters are just crazy people wanting to die! The blue haired man walked over to one of the twins.
"Vregal calm your twin. However, there's still no reason for you to be out here. Were you perhaps training?"
"Yes sir! I was just trying to improve my mana and hunting, I was planning to be in and out."
"Good, we just got notice of a Mana Zone occuring and we're trying to clear out the area of possible mutated monsters."
'oh my god...'
Why did I have to come out here and try to be cool??? The one time I go out a Mana Zone occurs right where I'm hunting.
A Mana zone is when a very dense and strong energy of mana occurs in one area. You'd think it'd be easy to just send some people to go and absurd, but it's too dense and violent. The best way to let Mana zones go away is by letting them dissipate naturally and become more steady and equal.
However, they're still pretty dangerous considering Monsters, that have the ability to absorb any mana no matter the circumstance, mutate and become even more irrational and savage. The mana often makes them stronger and more volatile.
'I seriously have to get home'
"Thank you so much. I'll hurry home right now."
I then made a beeline to the house, I don't know why I listen to my parents, "go outside August! You need fresh air!" Now look at me.
"Hey kid wait!"
"?"
"Let one of us escort you home, we still don't know what's out there."
'..oh wow, that's nice of them.'
"Oh, thank you then!"
The short-haired woman walked forward among the group. It doesn't look like she seems to have a weapon, so I should be safe...Even if I wanted to refuse, that'd look pretty weird I guess, and its the polite thing to do.
"Hello, my names Rena, nice to meet you!"
"Hi, my name's August it's also nice to meet you."
I didn't go to deep into the forest, so the walk shouldn't be that long, however as we walked further and further out of the forest. The air became...weird. I couldn't hear the usual chatter of bugs and birds. It just became eerily silent, along with the oxygen level seeming decreasing.
In some rare cases of Mana zones, the Mana can begin to distort the environment due to how thick it is so this isn't out of the norm.
'...I-I'm screwed.'
This has got to be some sick prank. Weird things always happen in this world only to ME I swear man.
"So, August where are you from? How old are you?"
"Well in 2 days I turn 18, and I'm from the outskirts of Augusta."
"The Augusta with the cathedral right?"
"Yep, I haven't been there often but it's very beautiful. One of our main attractions."
"I've heard, it's one of the main reasons why our team came down here, go sightseeing before our retirement."
"Oh your retiring? Congratu-"
*BOOOM*
'...'
'..I'm about to cry....'
A humongous seemingly black void popped out of nowhere. Large transparent wings that seemingly glowed during the day unfurled into a diameter of almost 15 meters. A human face seemed to be attached to an insectoid body with a creepy smile and wide maw.
'Screw this, man I just wanna go back home!"