Ruith froze.

He stopped breathing and his blood pounded in his ears. How had it noticed him from all the way down there? 

The Voidborne could easily jump right up here and kill him before he knew what happened. With the power it had just displayed, what was a few hundred feet to it?

But it did not do that. It turned around and dashed back into the forest.

Ruith let out a breath and gasped for air, sweating from the fear of staring into that creature's eyes. Knowing that he was utterly helpless if it chose to come for him left a sick feeling in his stomach, he hated how powerless he would be against the Voidborne.

He knew the requirements to join the Sanctum Knights, and one of them was to have at least a gray core. The 17 men that now lay dead on the grass would have all had a gray core, and Ruith wouldn’t be surprised if some had a white core.

What could he possibly do with his black core? Each one of those men could have killed him with a flick of their finger, and they had been slaughtered in barely over a minute.

He needed more power. 

There was already a will in him like a massive fire to become stronger after what had happened to his father, but now that fire was like a raging inferno.

He had gotten lucky that the Voidborne didn’t attack him.

Two men appeared almost as if by teleporting. However, the truth was that they moved at insane speeds. A strong gust of wind blasted their surroundings due to the sudden stop.

They looked around at the mangled corpses, frowning. 

“Another one. Just wait until I get my hands on that fucking abomination…” One of the men spoke, his deep voice filled with fury even reaching Ruith on top of the wall.

The man was bald and quite skinny, wearing only a pair of brown pants. His skin was a dark chocolate color. He carried no weapon meaning he was likely a mage, a person who had chosen to use their ability at a long range instead of close combat like warriors.

The tall man next to him said nothing, looking in the direction the creature ran. In his hands he held a simple looking wooden staff that was taller than himself. He raised it up a bit, and something almost imperceptible flowed down the man's arms and onto the staff, slightly warping space as it moved.

Ruith was shocked. The ‘something’ that moved was the tall man's mana. Ruith’s core was only black, only at the next stage would he easily be able to see the mana in the world. 

Just how powerful was this man for his mana to even be visible to someone who was essentially a normal human?

From the tip of the staff what looked to be normal dirt shot into the sky, forming into a small needle. Ruith could barely see it, luckily the sun was still providing some light.

Ruith thought that was all, but then the stream of dirt just kept going and going. It didn’t stop for almost a minute, and yet…the needle gained no size.

The boy realized. That man had compressed an insane amount of material into something that tiny.

WHOOM!

It blasted in the direction of the forest, presumably at the Voidborne.

BOOM!

Ruith saw several trees get blasted into the air more than a mile away, a cloud of dust rising. A small tremor even reached him.

‘Holy shit, that power is insane…’

“Tch. Missed it.” The tall man finally spoke.

The bald man scoffed.

“You really need to work on your aim, Vordan.” 

Vordan rolled his eyes, turning around to where they had come from.

“Whatever. I’ll report this to His Majesty, you find someone to gather the bodies.”

Before the other man had a chance to say anything, Vordan was gone.

“Now, what are you doing?”

Ruith jumped to his feet, stumbling backwards.

To his side, the bald man stood.

‘What the hell? I was just staring at him!’

“How…” 

The man chuckled. “Sorry for scaring you. Me and my brother noticed you as soon as we arrived here.”

“You aren’t in trouble, however, since you witnessed what happened here I need to ask you a few questions.”

He had a light smile on his face, which helped calm Ruith’s nerves.

“I am Teran…”

“R-Ruith.” He stuttered, still very surprised.

Teran stuck out a hand, and Ruith shook it.

“Now, let’s go somewhere else to talk.”

The man grabbed Ruith around the waist, and soon they floated into the air. 

“Hold on tight.”