Chapter 20: Improvement
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It was midday when I had finally woken up. A dull ache throbbed at my waist with every breath I took. Even though the wound had closed, some pain still lingered, reminding me that true healing was still something that would take its time.
I slowly began to lift my body and sat up. In front of me was the bear skin. I stood up and stretched. I needed to boil the hide to finally acquire an mattress to make my nights more pleasant.
As I opened the door of my hut, cold and icy breezes assaulted my small frame. My clothes couldn't protect me everywhere as the wind seeped into some parts, remembering me that the cold would never disappear and just waited for me.
While shivering from the low temperatures, I put some snow into my bowl and gathered some branches to start the bonfire and melt the snow.
"Ignite," I chanted as I imagined the wood catching on flames.
A small spark came into reality and I dont know but the wet and cold wood begann to burn. I didn't complain about it, though.
First, I ate the leftover wolf meat, which seemed to be almost bad by now, and filled my stomach. Then I spanned the bear hide onto four sticks above the fire in a manner that prevented it from catching fire, afterwards I threw the melted snow over the hide to clean it.
From time to time, my head jolted around the campsite, looking for Alvin. He didn't seem to be here. I shrugged my shoulders as I threw more wood into the bonfire.
"Alvin must be in the woods hunting," I thought—he must be starving by now.
After 30 minutes, I took the hide off. It seemed to be clean by now, as its feral smell and blood were gone. I put the hide across the whole bedframe but then noticed that I required some grasses to lay below the hide.
With my gloves, I dug away the layer of white at a spot and cut the grasses with my knife. I then transported them within my bowl and laid them into the bedframe. I repeated that process until the frame was cushioned out evenly and then laid the bear hide above it. I still had some wolf skin and decided to make a small pillow with it.
After finally finishing the projects, I could now dedicate myself to growing stronger with the use of magic.
I knew I lacked methods in offence and defense and wanted to improve my magic skills in these aspects first.
When thinking of defense spells, the concept of an earth/stone wall appeared in my head.
I willed the earth to form a wall in front of me with my imagination as I chanted: "Earth Wall."
A sturdy wall made out of earth and small stones formed in front of me. It was at least 35 centimeters thick and towered a bit over my head. I immediately recast the spell to see what my limit was.
"Earth Wall." "Earth Wall." "Earth Wall." "Earth Wall."
Four identical walls appeared as my mana in my Magic Core was almost used up. I could cast some spells tough—those who required less mana.
But could I just not cast the same spell with less mana?
This time I imagined a smaller and thinner wall to appear and chanted: "Small Earth Wall."
My thought turned out to be right on the spot, as I could infuse more and less mana into the spell. But could I do the same with Moonlight Veil? I already knew the answer: No.
It was just like I felt which spells I could strengthen and weaken based on the amount of mana I used, and Moonlight Veil was a spell that I couldn't forcefully alter.
Now, with my mana spent, I sat in the lotus position and slowly gathered mana from the environment by pulling those orbs to me. After an hour of pulling those orbs to fill the mana pool within my Magic Core to the brim, I then tried to gather even more mana, but it just wouldn't fit in. I then thought of what the goddess of knowledge told us and tried to form a circle around my Magic Core with the excess mana. My first few attempts resulted in nothing. I couldn't just tell the mana from the environment to form a circle around my Magic Core. I then tried to use the mana from my own Magic Core to form a circle. Sweat dripped down my chin as I used all my concentration to manipulate my mana.
The moment I thought I had it, the circle collapsed into nothing but fading wisps of energy. My teeth clenched as frustration burned in my chest. So close… so close! My fingers trembled, not from the cold, but from sheer tension. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Something was missing—something I couldn't grasp yet. Eris told us that circles existed along with other methods; however, she never even told us how to achieve success in these methods.
I sat up and stretched while surveying my surroundings. It seemed like Alvin wasn't back yet, and I decided to practice throwing my dagger. If I could throw my dagger with precision at prey while being safe at a distance, my chances of getting hurt would lessen.
I took the dagger out. I then strode towards the next tree and swung my arm with my dagger in grip overhead. My arm and core muscles tensed up as I took a step with my right foot and threw the dagger, a swooshing sound resounding in the air.
In the air, the dagger spun, and its blade hit the tree trunk at a weird angle. The blade embedded itself in the wood. Its blade tip was below the hilt at an angle of 70°.
"At least something to start from," I thought to myself as I tore the knife from the trunk.
Slowly but surely, it started to feel right. The dagger spun through the air with more precision, the sharp crack of wood splitting under impact fueling my determination. A smirk crossed my lips. I wasn't a master—far from it—but it was a start. And that feeling of getting better, step by step… that was progress.
At dusk, Alvin came back. He was out of breath while dragging a deer behind him.
"Nes...tor hu...ffff I've got... food," he puffed.
I smiled at him and prepared the fire.
Alvin skinned and butchered the prey.
The excess meat was stored inside his hut.
He didn't seem to be hurt.
We let the legs roast above the open fire—spreading a fragrance of roasted meat.
The body warmed us as we both held our hands in front of the fire. "How did you hunt that deer down?" My curiosity spoke as I looked at the fire.
Alvin seemed eager to answer the question as his eyes glinted and he gestured his frustration with his hands. "That damned deer knew it was being followed," Alvin muttered, his eyes glinting with excitement. "It twisted and turned, taking me through thorny paths and up slippery slopes. Clever beast. But I was patient. When I finally got close enough to strike, it bolted, and the chase began. My lungs burned, my legs screamed, but I wouldn't let it escape. Not this time". he said—pride could be heard in his statement.
"That explains why I didn't see your face all day long," I jested.
He rebuked: "That's only true because you've slept all day long."
My throat tingled as laughter escaped my mouth. Alvin shared my response and began laughing too.
Our laughter was quickly stopped by the smell of something burned.
Our deer meat began to burn.
We both quickly grabbed the hot meat with our hands—which resulted in us both getting small burns on our palms.
We both ate the meat while engaging in small talk until the last ember extinguished.
Alvin then nodded uncertainly.
"What's bothering you?" I asked him while raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing," he answered before quickly adding: "Except that I'll try to unlock my Magic Core tomorrow and would ask you to not come looking for me."
"Okay, good luck," I told him.
He stood up and said, "Thanks... And good night?"
"Get some rest." My voice steady as we both stood up.
With that, we both walked to our respective huts without looking back