A few days before Michael arrived in Kingsbridge City to have his Talent Awakening…
Beneath the bridge spanning the River Dames, a group of children played around, scavenging through the murky water. Some of them even swam in the shallow parts of the river.
They didn't seem to care about the potential dangers or diseases that they could contract by swimming or even drinking the infected water of River Dames. They didn't know better.
"Haha! I dare you to swim across!" one boy taunted.
"If you can swim to the bottom, then I'll swim across," answered another boy.
And as these rowdy boys played around, they didn't notice the presence of a creature peeking its head out of the water.
'Humans… play… fun… me too,' it muttered, but the children could hear nothing but a gurgle of unintelligible sounds rippling in the water.
"What's that sound?" one of them asked, whipping his head around the river uneasily.
"Don't tell me you're scared of that fake old story."
"I heard it's true. My neighbor swore he saw the monster at night!"
"Bahhh! What a load of bollocks!"
But even if their parents warned them about not going on their own in the River Dames, they still went anyway. They didn't have any sense of self-preservation. If they had, they wouldn't even be near the River Dames in the first place.
'Play… me too…'
The creature slowly inched toward the children, its intentions pure. It just wanted to experience joy the way they were feeling right now.
Of course, the creature knew that it was different from them. No matter how much it wanted to interact with them, it could only watch them from afar, never being able to approach them because of its appearance.
But then, one of the kids stumbled, scraping his knee on the jagged rock while playing too hard in the river.
"Ow!"
The creature saw it—tiny microscopic bacteria and viruses floating around the river, slowly making their way toward the injured child who was none the wiser.
'Human… danger… ill…'
It knew instinctively that the child was in danger. Even with an open injury, the kid was still frolicking in the river, letting the dirty water contaminate the wound.
It had to do something.
Its body started to glow a green light and its innate magic allowed it to consume all the waste in the water, which helped sustain the creature, as well as purify the dirty water around the children.
Just then…
"KIDS! WATCH OUT!"
However, one concerned citizen saw the green, glowing creature in the water, slowly making its way towards the children.
As soon as the kids turned to see where the man was pointing, they were horrified to see the monstrous figure emerging from the river.
Panic spread through the children. They bolted away from the River Dames as fast as possible, trudging through the wastewater causing them to slip.
"Save me! Save me!"
"KYAAA!"
"AHH! Monster! A monster is trying to eat me!"
All the commotion from the children garnered the attention of all the people crossing the bridge. Heads turned, and horrified onlookers peered down at the river and saw the dangerous creature slowly making its way towards the innocent children.
"Someone save them!"
"Get the kids out of there!"
"Back off, you monster!" One of the men took out a knife from his pocket and threw it at the monster, grazing its head.
Seeing this, the rest of the people followed suit, flinging whatever they could—rocks, sticks, even pitchforks—to try and ward off the monster that was trying to 'eat' the kids.
But even when the creature's head was being bashed by rocks and pitchforks, it kept moving towards the children.
After all, the injured kid was still in the water. Viruses and bacteria would contaminate the boy's wound and kill him if the creature left now. The child would get overwhelmed by disease.
Finally, the boy found solid footing and was able to leave the current of the river. But then, he noticed something strange. He looked down at the scrape in his knee, and found that it was magically healed! It was almost gone, leaving only a faint redness in the area.
Bewildered, the boy looked back at the river and saw the creature staring at him.
Then, without another sound, the creature sank into the depths of the river as if it had only been waiting for him to be safe.
A few hours later, after the situation calmed down, the townspeople rallied. No matter how much the boy protested, a witch hunt for the creature began.
They thought it was dangerous. They thought it was the reason why people were getting sick from the water.
They tried to exterminate the monster.
_____
Back to the present…
Michael stood at the edge of the River Dames and watched the waste float to the surface. It was disgusting, to say the least.
ChatJK2, can you create a spell that will block that horrid smell?
[Understood.]
[Synthesizing magic spell…]
[Complete!]
[Scent Cleanser]
— ★
— Air element
— This magic allows the user to repel unwanted odors from their surroundings.
"That's better," Michael said as he took a deep breath, smelling nothing but crisp, clean air.
Now, I just need to find that creature…
With his Supreme Skill: Mana Gathering, Michael could see and sense any mana in his surroundings. If there was a creature in this river, then he would sense the mana in its body.
His eyes scanned the river—until he saw it.
A clump of Poison mana in the river. Strangely enough, it wasn't hiding at the bottom. It was away from the river, towards the buildings on its side.
It looks like the creature has found a lair for itself…
Without hesitating any longer, Michael jumped feet-first into the river.
Before the dirty, contaminated water could splash toward his body, an invisible prismatic bubble appeared around Michael, protecting him from being drenched.
He then submerged underwater, encased in a 1-meter sphere of protection around him.
Once inside the river, Michael could see nothing but darkness around him. He had to cast a simple 1-star spell called [Flashlight], and a small ball of light appeared at the tip of his finger, illuminating the murky depths around him.
He then began scanning his surroundings, ignoring all the garbage and waste in the water, until he finally spotted a narrow hole carved by the side of the river. Thankfully, it was large enough for him to squeeze through.
Michael entered the burrow, swimming through the tunnel until he found himself in a vast, dark cavern.
He had arrived in some underground chamber, which was the lair of the creature.
Just then, somewhere inside the underground chamber, the creature stirred from its slumber upon sensing a disturbance.
But it wasn't the same as before. The creature's body was full of scars and wounds barely healed from the many humans who had tried and failed to kill the creature.
It thought Michael was another one of them.
But this time, the creature wasn't going to run away.
Not anymore.
It was going to fight back.