I look around to make sure nobody is in my secret training spot. Good. Safe~
Although I'm happy that Rei and Doggy-Sensei made my secret spot so much cooler, I sort of miss my me-time.
Now, I begin by meditating in order to gather the surrounding mana inside me. Not all of it, only what I can grasp. I noticed that sometimes when I meditate and draw in mana, my body feels weird. Sometimes my ears and tail tingle, other times my throat itches, or my legs and arms ache - it sucks. I couldn't even meditate at first because it...uhm... I mean, think about it! Could YOU meditate when your body itches all over?!
Doggy-sensei told me to endure, that it was important for my growth, and something about it getting worse for me in the future if I don't learn how to endure "the itch".
Doggy-sensei named it that. Haha. Funny.
But right now is NOT the time for laughing! It hurts! The ache in my tummy started hurting a whole bunch after I started meditating! Mana is rushing in like a tidal stream, then whirlpooling into my stomach! But why my tummy?! I never felt anything hurt before when meditating, just an itchy tail, throat, maybe my legs and arms, sometimes my ears...
Actually, that's everything.
*Gasp!*
Was it that silver stuff I licked?
MRAA! Stupid-stupid-stupid! Why would you lick random things, Cainya?! ESPECIALLY something silver?! Are silvery things EVER food?! Why did I...instinctively feel like licking...was it the mermaid's blood? But why would mermaids have silver blood? I thought that was unicorns...
*BOOM!*
*ROAAAR!*
I hear flocks of birds flying and nearby howling. Are the beasts reacting to the mana surge? The air is getting hot, and sometimes I see ghastly purple wisps flare around the distorted wind. My tail hurts, and so does my throat! But most of all, I don't feel so good. Maybe it's too much mana? Should I try releasing some of it, then? Fine! I-I'll do it!
Here goes! Just like I saw that day, first I gather mana in front of my jaws...th-then I focus on transforming that mana into an element... b-but I wasn't taught after this. Oh! I DO remember Doggy-Sensei changed its shape into fangs, right? Then I-huh?
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Interrupting my thoughts, I feel an image force its way inside my head, like a beautiful snake that booty-bumps my current thinking process out the window. Is this... from a TV series in my past life? The image is so vivid and clear, It feels as natural as breathing. Before my mental focus, an image of a massive fiery cat with two tails transforms into a house-cat. I keep getting drawn to the image inside this housecat's eyes; A purple wispy orb shapeshifting into a hazy skull of fire that burns the enemy and captures their soul. Before I know what is going on, I imitate that, and the scenery before me changes into something absolutely terrifying. The overwhelming mana inside of me transforms into a ghastly purple skull of fire that shoots towards the nearest roaring, that seemed to have been closing in on my whereabouts - probably guided by the stream of mana. It screeches before silencing. I faintly smell some burning flesh from a distance. Suddenly, a rreeeeallly loud roar caused the entire forest to tremble, and the mana coming towards me slowed down.
*Shivers*
I'll pretend I didn't hear that.
Whatever was going on in my tummy seems to be settling down. Why? I honestly thought the mana I used up would just be replaced instantly. The pain all over my body seems to be focusing primarily at my throat, hands and feet. Oh! And the tip of my tail. I think... I think the mermaid's blood attracted a huge amount of mana when I meditated...was I supposed to control it or something? Mrah, How was I supposed to know! It felt like every part of my body was gonna explode instead!
Did the blood run out of magic properties after refilling all of that mana I burned away? Or did something intervene? Whatever. Mana! I'm done meditating! In fact, I barely got started, but I don't wanna do it anymore! No more! I'm done with anything mana-related for a while!
Mrah...I... I feel dizzy. The world feels like it's shaking still... Why do I see a blur walking towards me?
Doggy-Sensei?
No... the housecat I saw in my head? She looks familiar- hm? "She"?
Why did... I...
*Thud*
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"Woof.(Stop ruining my peaceful village)."
"Aww, does the scawy fenwir puppy still need to bark like a doggy?"
"Woof-Woof.(I don't evolve by choice. If I did - The forbidden woods would never allow it.)"
"Nyuhuhu~ Stop pretending like you weren't offered protection by the Sacred forest folk."
"Woof.(I don't 'do' favors. Especially not ones that would abandon the humans that feed me.)"
"...Is that why you took my little one in? Because he 'saved' you and those humans?"
"..."
"Nyahaha~ this oddball certainly doesn't act like my kind. Neither does his twin, who was blessed by the Saintess. I wanted to keep an eye on him after those useful orcs threw him away, but... who in the world expected him to run away from that stray paradise? He spoke of adventuring, but left the city of Adventurers? Silly-headed pun-"
"Woof.(Don't care. Just leave.)"
"...I wanted to introduce him to someone... interesting. Alas, and he was supposed to hate people after he was abandoned~"
"Woof...(Stop pretending. You saved his life just now, didn't you? His chance encounter might've cost his life without you.)"
"Well, yes. My children have their uses. Naturally, I didn't birth them just to watch them die of their own stupidity-"
"Woof?!(The fact you appeared so freely in the Forbidden Woods means you've been accepted by them! You're in league with those monsters and the weird experiments that created that Hydra's descendant, right?!)"
"Nyeheheh~ Fal-dear, don't you feel just a tad tired... of those upstart humans and the so-called 'sentient' races, each farming us for raw materials?"
"Woof?(What?)"
"Well, I know 'many' who are~. The 'Age of Heroes'? Nyahahaha! While they chase a false prophecy that divides them... 'The Age of Monsters' will begin~"
"Woof-?(Hm? Age of Monsters? What crazy fool actually believes-)"
"Yeah, well, regardless, they're dead set on it. I did as instructed, and sowed the seeds. Time to visit the next location. We'll see each other again, Fal-dear~ don't be a stranger~!"
...
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"...Woof.(...Damn felines.)"
