Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 2- Descent of Darkness

Episode 65: Poison, Needles, and Stings

*Alto*

The well dressed, blue haired man chuckled. "Do not worry, Prince Kun told us about you," he said.

"P-prince Kun?" Arima asked.

"Wait, the triplets are royalty?" I shouted.

The proctor chuckled. "Yes, from their mother's side. For royals, they certainly are an odd bunch, aren't they? I guess it has to do with their upbringing in that tiny island nation. Now, do be careful about unveiling that fact to others. Since I can't teleport you away, I will allow you to enter through here." The gates to the forest swung wide open. "Good luck."

We slowly entered the forest. The forest was quite dense with giant two-hundred-and-fifty foot trees but which were spread far apart enough to allow thick growth on the forest floor. It certainly was great terrain for sneaking around.

Those teams with wood, wind, and earth users would have an easier time navigating around here. Fortunately, we had an earth user in Aban to help us.

Adah summoned a yellow sphere that resembled a hornet's nest. "Locate the closest team and return back once you've done so." A swarm of warps flew out of the sphere and spread across the forest. "Let's go and set up camp. My wasps will take care of finding us someone to battle."

Ulisis, Aban, and I gathered firewood while Adah and Onyx gather some berries from nearby bushes. Arima meanwhile went with Zelia to get water.

"Are those edible?" I asked.

Adah nodded. "My wasps told me that they lack toxins so we don't have to worry about poison. Now taste is another matter."

Ulissis took out a water bottle and cleaned some of the berries. Onyx grabbed one of the clean berries. Onyx coughed.

I slapped his back. "Are you alright?"

Onyx  spat out a tiny seed."I'm fine... wow that was most sour thing I've ever tasted," the kid said. 

"Maybe they'll taste better if cooked," Adah suggested.

Onyx sat down on the ground. "Can't we just find a deer or something? Ulissis, don't you have a gun as your wand? Hunt us some game will you?"

"Don't talk to him like that," I said. "He's not your servant."

Onyx glanced up at the stars. "He's rather useless though, I mean he doesn't have real magic so he can't attack anyone. The best use for him is to use him as a shield to block spells."

Ulissis sighed. "He's right. I might as well make myself useful and gather some food." He turned around and saw the girls we had sent off to fetch water running toward him.

"Hey, look what we found," Arima said. Zelia and her each carried two large yellow fish with white bellies.

Onyx's eyes lit up. "I wanted red meat but I'll settle for white meat! Someone start the fire."

"Everyone move aside," I said. I gathered sparks in my index and middle fingers and fired them at the wood Ulissis and I had gathered. Fire spread throughout the wood. I sat down next to the flame. Fire... my father and brother were powerful mages, yet I didn't feel like I could ever amount to anything. I was weak, I didn't even make it far in the representative tournament in Kyuu Seishin.

"Are you feeling well?" Ulissis said. He had his white hood over his face. Was he trying to conceal something? It was a habit of his to cover his face whenever he felt insecure.