TBATE - Havaca Rises

Chapter 5 - Nature's Bounty

The next morning, I found myself lost in thought. I was angry, angry at myself for not feeling any more emotions about Sylvia's death. Shouldn't I be having nightmares? Or replaying the scenes hundreds of times adding what-ifs, could-of, would-of, and should-of, but instead, I've just come to accept it. *Sigh*  It makes no sense dwelling on this matter any longer, what's done is done I told myself. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the thoughts of Sylvia's death aside and started to plan my next moves. I'll have to stay here for 6-7 weeks waiting for Tessia and her capturers. First, I need a source of water and flat clear land that I could set up a base of operations. Secondly, I would need to hunt, not just for food but also to get beast cores for Sylvie to munch on. Thirdly, we need to practice mana control as there is so much happening in my body right now. 1) Sylvia's beast will is being forcefully repressed so that I can have a reason to stay in Elenoir, and 2) Sage is constantly trying to form an aether version of black heart. Both these processes have put quite the strain on this young body so much so that we had to stop our constant mana rotation. Fourthly, this should be the seventh day so I need to check in with my parents, after speaking with them I can plan my next few weeks of training and hunting.

Pouring mana into my ear cuffs I imagine my parents "Mom, Dad, are you guys there?"

"Art it's been so long since we've heard your voice, kiddo" chirped my father.

"Art, honey what's wrong? Did something happen? Your voice sounds a bit strained..."

Of course, mom could tell something was wrong even over a voice call and me trying my best to hide. "I'm fine, I really am, I'm just exhausted that's all. Plus, I still have to go hunting for food and look for another source of water."

"Okay, I'll believe you but just know you can tell us anything and I promise you we would never stop loving and supporting you," said my mother.

"I will keep that in mind and hold you to it but we might have a slight problem... I think I'm in the forest of Elshire...."

"Are you sure, you aren't mistaken?" asked my dad.

"I'm sure, there is a really thick fog and even observing the movement of the sun I still have trouble telling what direction I'm heading. Before either you begin to panic, I'll be fine this is merely a minor setback," I said with confidence.

"Art, right now I don't even know how to process this flurry of emotions but I know you've done the impossible already, so I know you will most defiantly be okay,"  my mom said in a shaky voice.

"Mm, your mother's right Art just take things slow don't rush, ensure you always have food and water before you leave your campsites, and leave small markings behind on the trees so you could tell if you've been walking in circles," said my dad

"Oh, wow dad, you're surprisingly knowledgeable!" I said in an attempt to lighten the mood and it seemed to have worked since I heard my mom laughing wholeheartedly over our comms and my dad was just a sputtering mess. 

"The mana trace will become noticeable soon so we'll have to end it soon, by the way, mom how is your pregnancy going?"

"It is going wonderful the baby is nice and healthy and after reaching the Helstea's I got plenty of food and rest and now I'm in perfect condition as well."

"That's great news, please relay my thanks to Uncle Vincent and Aunt Tabitha. I love you both very much and I'll call within seven days. Bye mom, bye surprisingly knowledgeable dad"

"Love you too brat..."

"Love you, honey, be safe!" said my mom suppressing a chuckle.

With that done I enter a meditative sitting position and began sending my sound mana out in pulse to act as a sonar. At first, I only did 5 feet and when I did, I felt like an overload of information. I'll have to cull lots of information until I could use thought acceleration and parallel thinking. I started to omit anything that didn't resemble water as my pulse waves began to spread further distances. Ahh, after 20 minutes I found it, a river, 3300m NNW {north north west}. I turned in the direction of the river and used wind mana to increase my speed and sound mana to deafen my footsteps, I darted off at unbelievable speed. If I had to guess I'll be there in a minute and a half which means I am currently traveling around 160km/h and yet it feels comparable to a light jog, I can't help but wonder how fast would I be with internal lightning, burst step and god step.