TBATE - A New Start

Chapter 7

Casma POV:

It's been 2 days since we left Zestier. In those days, Art started to teach me how to purify mana effectively. I didn't have a full understanding of how the process worked, so hearing it explained and shown by the source itself helped tremendously. He said I should be able to use elemental magic already, though, and to our surprise, I couldn't.

Whenever I tried to, all we would hear was a pop sound. Like the spell had imploded on itself. I tried for nearly three hours earlier today to make a water or earth ball, or even a wind sphere, and nothing worked. Arthur said I might not have enough mana to conjurer any, but I couldn't augment my body either.

It was nighttime already, and we had just finished setting up camp. Ellie was helping Alice with dinner, or we'll she was trying and failing. Art and Reynolds had gone off to get more wood. I was left to my own devices. I had nothing particularly to add here, and I didn't feel like I should. This felt more like a family moment for them. So I decided I would go and wander into the woods to see what was around us.

I walked in the opposite direction from where Art and Reynolds had walked into the woods so that I wouldn't run into them. After walking for nearly fifteen minutes, I found an opening that led to a wide field. The grass wasn't overgrown, and patches of flowers sprouted here and there.

I walked to the middle of the field and sat down. Crossing my legs and relaxing my hands on top of my knees, I started the process I had done a couple of times since our journey began. Remembering the advice Art had told me about how he took in and purified mana. Closing my eyes, I slowly began pulling the ambient mana around me in towards my core and started the process. My core hadn't changed from black yet, so I still have time to learn mana rotation as long as I hold off on breaking through to Red Core.

I was only taking in enough so that I would break through as soon as I had learned it. In theory I expected I was already half way there, but there was no real way to tell whether or not I was close. While lost in thought the mana coming from the tree line felt off. Almost as if telling me something was there and as if on que, I heard rustling from that direction. I opened my eyes looking toward the woods.

A mana beast that looked highly wounded was creeping toward me. It looked like a mix between a dire wolf and a fox. It had the head and body of a fox but it had the size of a large dire wolf. Its fur was pure white but was matted and thick clumps of blood spotted it. However that wasn't what caught my attention. It was its tail, or should I say it's four tails.

I never heard of any mana beast that looked like this, nor was there anything in TBATE about a mana beast that looked like this. None of the asuran races were ever described or talked about having a form like this. In honesty I was in awe of how beautiful the fox-like beast looked, even with the wounds.

The closer it got the larger it seemed to become until it was 20-yards away. It looked down on me, exuding its pressure on me. It felt thick and heavy, making every breath I took, shallow and shaky. I was surprised with just being able to stay conscious. I carefully stood up looking at the beast, legs wobbling the entire time.

It bent its large head down to the ground and then flicked its head back up. Something came flying making an arc in the sky before falling at my feet. When it settled on the ground I could tell what it was and if I said I was expecting something incredible, I would be lying. Unfortunately this isn't some fantasy book, wait no it is, but also isn't. I rubbed my temples quickly before I started to hurt my head.

A/N: At this moment Casma has 2 brain cells running and they are not agreeing.

Back to what was tossed to me. It was a simple stick. I wish I was joking, but what laid at my feet was a stick that was thick on one end and started thinning towards the opposite end. It was quite literally a stick that you would find on the ground.