Chapter 18: It’s Hunting Time

Lucas PoV 

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Some time passed since I formulated my strategies there inside the tree.

After that I waited for my leg to heal completely and left the tree in search of a place to set my trap.

Walking carefully and wrapped in my Darkness and Illusion Elements, I went through the dense forest in search of a good spot and any possible trace of Alice.

Unsurprisingly I found no trace of her - nothing really, since there are no magical beasts around here - but I did find a good place for the trap.

An extremely dark corridor of trees with the light hardly being enough to distinguish the shape from the surroundings.

The perfect hunting ground for someone like me. 

And that is where I am now.

Without being the least bit bothered by the pitch dark due to my Darkness Element, I carefully observe the surroundings, looking for the best place to set up the Pentagram.

Pentagrams are nothing more than an personification of spellcasting methods.

They are like mathematical operations, a simplification of their respective procedures.

This is the step-by-step:

Transcribe the required spell from its Mental Form - the usual way of casting spells, mentalizing them and shaping the mana and everything else from there - to the Physical Form - the successfully transcribed spell, able to operate without constant intervention from the caster - 

Create the Pentagram Base System Formula - specifications about the Pentagram, such as conjuration speed, amount conjured, type of pentagram, etc - 

Prepare the Catalyst - the foundation of the Pentagram, it provides mana and supports the entire structure, enabling it to exist -

Fuse the Base System and the Physical Form, forming the Incomplete Pentagram - already formed and functional, but defective Pentagram that needs to be controlled and actively supplied mana -

Fuse the Incomplete Pentagram with the Catalyst, creating a fully functional and independent Pentagram that needs only to be activated and will start working

(I am sleepy, so I didn't have the creativity to create anything more detailed.

I really hoped to create and describe something better and more complete and complex than this, but my brain does not want to help right now and these were the only ideas that came, sorry - Author)

I merge my four elements and transcribe them into Physical Form. Poison for a tasteless and odorless paralyzer and sleeping pill, Destruction to cause internal and external damage with the inhalation of the poison, Darkness for the dulling of the senses, and Illusion to make it difficult to detect anything.

For the Base System Formula, I created one of remote control continuous attack one running at full power from the start.

For the Catalyst, I used mommy's mana currently inside me as fuel, so I won't have to spend mine and won't risk running out due to over-consumption, and I'll use my body as a backup in case she goes out of range.

Completing the last two steps easily, I have my Pentagram ready to be activated and moved whenever I want.

Now I just need to find her and lure her here.

But that is precisely the difficult part, it is not easy to find her in this dense forest without the Family Connection.

Should I let my bestial instincts take over? It will be much easier to find it this way, since it have been trained precisely for this purpose; the hunt.

As for the "bestial instinct" story, it is quite simple.

Mom trained us for the purpose of becoming hunters, but not normal ones.

Completely rational hunters but with the instincts of a Magical Beast. 

The fusion of the strengths of two beings. The sharp instincts of the Magical Beasts and the rationality of the Spirit Beasts.

Thus creating the perfect being for the hunt, known as Beastly Hunters. 

Well, it's the best thing to do in the current situation.

I breathe in and out deeply, feeling the excitement of adrenaline starting to run through my veins, seeking nothing less than a good hunt, a great battle.

(Yes, the MC is going to be a battle maniac almost to the level of a suicide - Author)

With a predatory smile, slit pupils and an expression that is insane to say the least, I lower my upper body, using both my hands and feet to propel myself into the forest ahead and activating all my affinities to the maximum.

Feeling the wind whipping my body, messing up my hair and tails, I begin to search for any sign of Alice.

I return to the entrance of the forest where we parted, as I run and maneuver through the dense undergrowth using all my senses to the maximum to detect her.

And as you might expect, finding her won't be so easy.

But now that I am here at the entrance it should be easier. She must have left some tracks there.

I scan the ground, looking for any sign of the direction she took. Footsteps, crumpled grass, broken branches, scent, anything.

And it was very easy to identify, she did not take any care to hide her tracks.

It could be a trap to attract me too, she wouldn't leave such obvious tracks.

But why should I care?

That will only make it more fun. 

I don't mind losing even a little, this is just sparring.

I make my decision and start running in the direction of his tracks. But of course, taking due care not to be detected.

Fortunately her tracks lead into the forest, otherwise I would have to turn around and wait for her to come after me. That would be beyond disappointing.

With the dense woods and darkness taking over my vision once again, I start to look for any other signs of her.

Broken branches, crumpled leaves and grass, vines in strange places, fallen rocks, bent plants, tangled fur, claw, feet and hands marks, her scent.

The whole place is awash with it. 

Even if she is trying to attract me, isn't that too careless? If it were anyone else, they would have already turned around and walked away from how obvious the situation is.

She surely did this just to entice me to go after her... what a dirty but effective technique. That's the way to do it, force the prey to come to you even if you know it's a trap.

Haha, my dear sister is evolving well. I'd better work hard or I'll be left behind.

With a burst of enthusiasm coming from the most random way possible, my will to hunt her increases even more, along with a strange little feeling inside me that I observe in the background.

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I have been searching for a while now without finding anything.

At one point her tracks simply disappeared, with only a faint scent scattered by the wind lingering in the air. Same thing as nothing.

I even tried to search around the area to try to find any other tracks, but found nothing.

It seems that it was not a trap, just a distraction.

My enthusiasm is already over because of this.

I was very foolish to think that it would be so easy to find her in this forest. 

Well, it can't be helped, everybody makes mistakes.

I will keep looking, it's the only thing I can do.

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Huh?

I continue to act normally, even though I detect a small abnormal fluctuation in natural mana.

I put all my senses to work to the maximum, looking for the exact current location of the source of the disturbance.

I believe it is quite obvious the source of the disturbance. 

Alice.

She has hidden herself very well, without this little disturbance I would not have detected her so easily.

But too bad for her, the darkness is my true habitat. 

Nothing in it goes unnoticed by me... at least it will one day.

Acting like an omnipotent grand master is difficult when you are weak.... 

If I didn't have to act normal, I would be all depressed right now.

But well, silly little jokes to distract me aside, I move on to subtly address the location of the Pentagram.

Fortunately it is not that far away.

Should she take the initiative to attack, I just need to direct the fight to the Pentagram's location. It won't affect me much.

I just have to be careful not to be too obvious.

Being too distracted is suspicious, we are on a hunt, we must be alert.

And being too alert might lead her to be too cautious, being too restrained in pursuing me.

I need a balance point.

I am not going to lie, I am a little nervous.

I don't want to take the chance of losing her again and spend another eternity wandering aimlessly in the forest while I look for her.

I'm already bored!!! 

Also, I'm not competitive enough to go through that much boredom just for the sake of sparring.

The chances of me ending up just giving up out of the blue are already too high.

I know, I can be very fickle sometimes, even I don't understand myself very well.

But well, I'll hold off for now.

I continue on my way pretending not to have noticed her, and it seems to be working.

I have walked a good distance and am getting close to the Pentagram.

Fortunately, it is hidden by my Darkness Element.

Since Alice has no Darkness Affinity, it will be difficult for her to detect it.

If it was cloaked with the Illusion Element, the mana fluctuation and her familiarity with it would make it easier for her to detect it.

I am also beginning to suspect that something is wrong.

All along the way she did nothing but watch me.

I know that watching and waiting for the opportune moment is the key to a surprise attack, but she already knows all my battle patterns, so there is no need to wait that long.

She has had a few opportunities to attack as well, since me to expose an "accidental" flaw in my stance when I stop to rest for a while.

But she kept doing the same things. Watching and chasing me.

From that point of view, her failure to control mana also becomes suspect.

Hiding her presence well enough for me not to detect her and then out of nowhere making a mistake and exposing herself.

Even if it is a small mistake, she knows that I must have noticed.

Nothing in this forest but us has the Illusion Element, which was the Element from which the fluctuation occurred.

And yet she kept following me.

She has some plan in mind, that's for sure. But the question is, which one?

I can think of several possibilities and also none.

There is always the chance that I am wrong and end up in a bad situation because I assumed something wrong.

I should avoid this as much as possible.

Acting without having a good idea of something is not my style. 

I must act based on evidence and proof, not hypotheses and guesswork.

Of course, I will not stop imagining the possibilities of something and its countermeasures. That would be stupid.

I just won't act on speculation.

Can I be wrong with this method of thinking? Yes, I can.

But the feeling of being wrong by wrongly assuming is much worse than the feeling of being wrong by doing nothing.

You could also say that I am much more the analyze-and-act type than the type who acts impulsively without considering anything.

Your actions affect your surroundings, so look for the least self-destructive alternative and apply it. This is one of the foundations of my behaviors.

Based on all this, I will continue with my original actions. Attract her to the Pentagram and then attack her.

And with the time that this whole monologue has taken, I am almost at the pentagram. A little bit more and I will get there.

Alice is still following me normally, without any change in her patterns. I must do the same, act normally.

I can already see the familiar ground a few meters away.

The sun is also beginning to set, further accentuating the darkness already present in the forest.

The time for her to act is passing. 

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If she continues like this, her chances of losing me in the darkness and being discovered will increase.

Taking another step, I am completely inside the Pentagram. 

Since its total size is even large, she will be inside it before I come out.

All that remains now is to wait for this moment and attack.

I continue walking normally, until the moment has come. 

She has entered the circle.

With a command from my mind, I open all the pores of my body, letting Mama's mana run wild and paint the area with a white mist.

But before the mana could even fill the whole area, it began to be sucked madly through the ground, which in place of the white mist spewed out a four-colored one.

I can feel the Pentagram working perfectly, and it makes me take the small part of my attention that was watching it and focus it on my opponent.

From watching her the whole time, I could see the lapse of attention she made in observing the Pentagram set up.

Using this oversight, I command in my mind for the Pentagram to focus its mist on her, at the same time beginning to run towards her.

Still in my Bestial Hunter form, I quickly get in front of her running on my four limbs.

Leaping up, I aimed my claws imbued with my Destruction Element toward her neck and the Soul Gate.

Unfortunately, the time was enough for her to partially regain her stance and create a metal plate on her unprotected Soul Gate.

I left deep cuts in the metal, but could not get through.

Changing the course of my attack, I forcefully thrust my claws towards her shoulder and neck while using my tails in an attempt to make her lose her balance.

Faced with the two-pronged attack in quick succession, her inadequate posture showed its effect.

A deep bloody gash in her shoulder and neck area and unbalanced legs, causing her to fall to the ground.

Walking past her still falling after the two successful attacks, I could see with my enhanced vision slight hints of mockery reflected in her gaze.

Likewise, I directed a look of contempt and arrogance at her, as if I were looking at an inferior being.

Landing on the ground, I quickly turn around using my tails as support and see that Alice is already standing with proper posture.

Her wound is still bleeding and should not stop any time soon.

If not treated in time, the chances of losing her arm and being weakened by the bleeding are high.

Since Mom's mana won't heal us until we are almost dead, doing this manually is the only option.

And this is a good time for a fatal attack.

I propel myself forward with my four limbs and some tails and run towards her looking to cause more open wounds and possibly a fatal attack.

The more open wounds she has, the faster the Pentagram's poison will seep in and cause damage.

Wrapping my body in my Darkness Element, I use the environmental advantage to my advantage and with the addition of my Illusion Element I make my figure almost undetectable.

I let my bestial instincts take complete control and I conceal the sound and smell that I produce.

In this state I am almost undetectable to anyone with a strength equal to or less than mine.

I run unevenly around the place and use the rocks and trees as support to jump toward her, leaving her in a passive situation while I continue to inflict as many injuries as I can.

After a while of running around the place, I feel my body heat up with impure images of mommy begin to flash through my mind.

But because of the excitement of the fight and all the physical effort I am putting in, I ignore it thinking it is a result of all the effort and intrusive thoughts. 

Big mistake.

At first there were only a few, but the more this happened, the more flaws I showed, allowing Alice to vaguely detect the direction from which I would attack.

Until at one point...

Due to an oversight caused by these thoughts, I lose control of my Darkness Element in mid-jump and reveal my location.

With no support points in the air, I can only continue with my attack.

Not missing this opportunity, Alice materializes a knife and plunges it into me while dodging my attack using her Fire Affinity underfoot.

Feeling the sharp pain above my hips and missing my attack, I regain control over my Darkness Element and hide in a tree.

Realizing now the abnormality of my thoughts, I focus most of my attention on finding its cause while the rest watches Alice.

I can hear her trying to provoke me with curses and humiliations, but I ignore her.

I circle my mana in an attempt to calm my mind and get into a zen-like state.

Feeling little effect, I circulate my mana throughout my body, looking for any abnormalities.

As I circulate my mana, I find the abnormality and it brings a frown to my face.

My whole body is filled with an aphrodisiac. Even though it is weak, its quantity is enough for me to lose my rationality if fully activated.

With that, I realized why Alice didn't attack me and just followed me silently the whole time.

Her goal was to make me absorb as much as possible and gradually activate them in battle, causing them to enter my bloodstream and totally distort my mind.

Looking for the reason I could not detect this, only one option comes to mind. 

She used an extremely low amount and fused it with her Illusion Element, and to further minimize the chances of me detecting it, she purposely revealed herself, knowing that my attention would fully focus on her.

What a cunning plan.

Unfortunately, even if I discover her plan now, this amount will take me quite a while if I want to remove it. 

And, unfortunately, it is a time that I do not have.

The author of this plan is frantically searching for me, while setting the whole place on fire to extinguish the darkness and find me.

My only option at the moment is to isolate this aphrodisiac with my mana and slow it down as much as possible.

Damn it! Why didn't I realize this before! Saying all that shit about battle wisdom only to end up making a dumb mistake like that!!!

Now I'm completely fucked! Once I engage in battle again, the effect of my mana delaying aphrodisiac is going to be the same as nothing.

While I'm in this self-blame, I feel something inside me pulsating. 

The feeling I felt at first expands, as a sudden inspiration enters my mind.

Commanding with my intention, my mana from the Destruction Element flows like a flood into my body, causing a red trail to glow throughout my magic and blood veins.

With the red trail running rampant through me, I feel the aphrodisiac being destroyed; directly disintegrated from within me.

At the same time, I feel my Mark burning madly, causing me to scream and grab my face with my hands.

Helpless, I wait for the pain to go away for I don't know how long.

I am sure I lost control of my Darkness Element and exposed myself, but fortunately Alice did not attack me during that moment.

With the pain fading enough that I can open my eyes, I open them and notice the abnormalities with me.

My vision and body have a slight reddish tinge, hardly noticeable in the darkness.

My magic veins emit a faint glow of a crimson red as I feel the abnormal amount of mana from the Destruction Element flowing through me.

I feel that my control over the Destruction Element has improved tremendously as well.

Superficially, these are the only visible improvements.

Internally, I feel that my amount of mana from the Destruction Element has increased.

But not only the Destruction Element, all the elements have their amount increased.

My magic veins have widened. 

My Gate can expel more mana, at a much faster rate.

My connection with the outer mana has increased.

I feel that my body has become stronger, more robust, more resistant, more agile and faster.

And other things, which together add up to a great deal.

But in short, everything about me has improved. 

You could say that I have undergone a qualitative change.

In simpler words, I finally broke through the barrier to enter the Beginner Magus level.

Realizing this, a broad smile appears on my face.

After so long, I have finally broken this boring barrier.

As for what exactly this "barrier" is, it is nothing more than the process of totally detaching yourself from your "Mortal Being" - the initial state of all beings, where the body and soul can be considered not fully adapted to mana - and entering the state of "Magical Being", where the body can already be considered fully adapted to mana.

This is the simplest explanation I can give, since going into detail would take too long, and free time is not a luxury I currently have.

(I will leave a note explaining it at the end of the chapter, in case anyone wants to know - Author)

Getting up, I hear my bones crack, as a pleasant sensation comes over my body, similar to the lightness one feels after exercising.

Looking at my surroundings with my reddened vision, I realize why Alice didn't attack me 

Everything has turned to dust, with nothing left intact. 

A large amount of mana from the Destruction Element still surrounds the area, but surprisingly I am not affected at all.

But leaving that aside, I turn my attention fully to Alice, who stares at me cautiously.

"Life is unfair, don't you think?" My tone would be very convincing, were it not for the maniacal grin on my face.

His face contorts as he hears me, while his entire being radiates restraint, fear, and caution.

I sigh mentally, already seeing the outcome of this fight.

His mental state is already shaken and my strength has increased by at least a few times.

While I feel happy to break through, I also feel sad to lose the chance to have a good fight.

Wallowing in the sadness, I feel a change involving Alice.

A large amount of pure mana begins to flow from her body, increasing all her abilities.

It wasn't to the level of being equal to my improvement, but it was enough for both of us to be able to fight without one side being completely suppressed by the other.

Sensing this, Alice's previous ugly expression fades away, and a new, happy one replaces it. The same happens to me.

We both turn our heads in a certain direction, where we can feel a new presence. Mommy. 

I don't know when, but she arrived here.

Seeing her neutral face, we understand that she has no intention of intervening further in the battle.

Facing each other again, Alice and I nod our heads together.

With a tacit understanding, we know that the real battle begins now.

"Do your best." We say to each other.

Hearing this, my battle-hungry expression returns and I begin to prepare myself for the real battle.

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Hello everyone :)

Here's the explanation

The state of "Mortal and Magic Being" is basically nothing more than adapting mana as explained in the chapter.

More precisely, "Mortal Being" is a state in which the being - only spirit beasts, demons, elves and humans - has no control over its mana and that of the surroundings.

This is due to its Gate not having awakened, which is nothing more than the Soul not being mature enough yet to interact with the world, and thus not being able to control its mana.

This changes when the Awakening happens, which is when the Soul is able to interact with the world and is baptized by the Will of the World, thus being recognized as able to properly exercise mana control.

But this process is not instantaneous, its delay is directly linked to the talent of each being. 

Greater delay -> Greater talent

Less delay -> Less talent

The higher the talent, the longer it takes to be considered fit. Otherwise, it would be that the Will of the World would have to work harder on you, thus taking longer.

For the lesser talent, this process would be reversed.

Baptism is not done instantaneously so that there is no shock in abruptly changing the properties of the Soul, which can cause irreversible damage to the being.

That is the reason for the gradual change and the delay.

When the being has completely finished the baptism, he is considered a "Magic Being". A being approved by the world to begin walking his path as a Magus.

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