"--Then I thought it was cute, but dad said I can't have it!"
"I told you that even though it's cute, it is still a beast."
"Oh please," Kayla says with a stance of annoyance, "even though it's a beast, it's still a small furball y'know?!"
As we headed to our hunting grounds-- the forest, Kayla and master passed the time talking about their usual stories. When this first happened, I found myself a little jealous of their relationship. But now that it has been months, I can't help but feel exhausted just by looking at the two.
To kill time, I would usually just focus on mana circulation whilst moving. This time, however, master said that we're diving deeper inside the forest.
"Mr. Renard, the purple leaves seem to be getting darker."
"It's "Master," brat. And yes, that is because in the deepest part of the forest lives the guardian of this land."
"Guardian? so he's not a threat?" Though I doubt I could do anything even if it was.
"No, no White! The Guardian is just called a Guardian because he reigns over this entire land. Meaning that if anyone makes a disturbance in its territory, it would punish them!"
Although Kayla's explanation has meaning to it, I found her shadow boxing rather awkward. So I just gave her a dry laugh before Master followed up.
"The guardian of this land is just an extremely territorial beast. The color of the leaves itself is a statement regarding the beast's magic power."
I see. According to the mana levels, I had read, the color of the mana being circulated in a person's body corresponds with the color of the rainbow. When I circulate my mana, red motes appear around me which corresponds to the quality of mana that I can circulate. If this guardian was able to influence this entire forest purple, that would mean said guardian would be extremely powerful. "Hope we don't encounter it..."
"Pfft-hahaha! You don't have to worry about that. The guardian uses this entire forest as a camouflage, which is why even I haven't even seen it."
"Mhm! we can't see someone who doesn't want to see us you know."
I accidentally let my thoughts leak out, but I do feel relieved that that's the case. Although I wish Kayla can apply her logic to herself when she's teasing me, I guess it's part of her personality anyway, so I guess that doesn't apply...
Feeling a little disappointed, I cleared my thoughts and tried to savor the freshness of the air around me. Just thinking of how my previous world's air pale in comparison compared to the freshness of the air in this world makes me satisfied.
"Then again, beasts are considered harmless by the Gods of Dorr Valia, so we don't really have a reason to subjugate it either."
"Wait, pardon?" Master just dropped the information so casually, but that is troubling in my perspective, "if that's the case, then we have been hunting beasts just for training?" I calmly asked.
Even if I was a prince who prioritized thinking over emotions, I value life and morality. If we have been killing beasts this past few months just for our training, then that would just be horrible.
Sensing my troubled expression, Mr. Renard explained, "We weren't hunting beasts, we were hunting "Chimera" beasts."
"Aren't they the same dad?" Kayla joins in and asks Master. From White's memories, it was just described that Chimeras were the "cooler" beasts, and I had no initial idea what a "cooler" beast means. But now that I have been fighting some Chimera beasts, it seems that these "Chimeras" are mixed in with a magic attribute.
"Beasts, in general, are capable of naturally circulating mana in their bodies, unlike the four-willed races. Chimeras, however, are products of malevolence." Mr. Renard continues to explain, "Kayla, what do you think of when you meditate?"
"Ehh? ahh! I just think of my inner peace. Why ask?"
"How about you White?"
"I just think of nothing until I reach an inner peace of sort like Kayla."
"Exactly. Inner peace is something necessary to process pure mana. Now, what exactly would happen if instead of inner peace, it's malice and violence?"
"They would become stronger?"
"The mana they circulate would be corrupted?"
"Uhh, both of you are correct. As Kayla said, they would indeed become stronger. But it would also corrupt their mana and mind which oftentimes turn them into Chimeras-- corrupted malevolent beasts."
"So it's okay to hunt them down?" I asked.
"Well Chimera beasts are just malicious incarnates, they're just trouble for everyone. Even the Gods of Dorr Valia marked them as existences that shouldn't have existed."
If that's the case, then I guess I can accept it as it is. Although I do feel pity for these chimeras, Master did have a point. If we don't weed out their numbers, we might be the ones to suffer in the future.
We then continued our walk until we reached our new hunting grounds and spotted a pack of wolves, well sort of.
These wolves had a pointed horn in the middle of their foreheads and had the color pattern of a white tiger-- white fur with black stripes. The most eye-catching part of them would be that their limbs, instead of furry paws, resemble that of amphibians. God, I hope we don't eat this thing for lunch.
"You guys ready?" Mr. Renard asks. Although the question itself implies that he worries for us, his proud expression and gaze that remained steady on the prey just tell us that he expects a good job from us. Well, that's to be expected. We have been training for over 4 months now anyways.
Failing to reach this man's expectation would be beyond shameful.
""Yeah!""
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