Chapter 7: The Starting Point

[SATSUJUNO KARASU]

It was another day for me to hunt for foods. Kuro, woke up early as usual. This kid is strange; he was always silent and too composed with the books that he secretly read when I’m not around. What even odd was he won’t speak unless you talk first. No, it’s not odd but it’s rather unusual for a kid. Most of the kids that I know are noisy and always energetic, but this kid doesn’t care about the world. It’s like he has a different world. At first, I thought he was just fooling around when he’s staring at the book he’s holding. But the more I observe him, the more I think that he can actually read even though I never taught him.

One time, I caught him observing our neighborhood from the window. I could tell that he was looking for something by the look of his eyes. To think that he’d actually grow as much as a fine man. He’s just 5 years old but his mental age is almost similar to my age. They way he thinks is mature and he’s always thinking about how he’ll do his next move. But I am still worried about his future. There are no signs that a mark will appear in his body. He’s already 5 years old, but nothing strange is happening to his body. The marks of the 5-year-old kids in the forest will appear eventually. One of the most common sign that your mark will appear soon is when a part of your body, where it will appear, will glow in several days. This is because the mark was being drawn and begins fusing with the mana or the magical energy in your body.

While making our way through the bloody forest, a group of common beasts started surrounding us. But that wasn’t what made me afraid. I was flustered when a werewolf suddenly appeared from the mist. A beast like werewolf belongs to the rare beasts. These beasts were three or four times stronger than common beasts. I wasn’t afraid because I thought he was strong, but because I could see the fear in Kuro’s expression. The usually calm and plain expression of his changed into fear. I could see the beads of sweat that were coming from his forehead down to his neck. That scene made me think that he’s actually showing emotions. I couldn’t blame him, that was his first seeing a rare beast like that.

When the beast was about to reach Kuro, I dashed to their direction and used my spell that creates strong sound waves to repel his attack. He got tossed a bit. It seemed like it was stronger than I expected. I drew my sword from my wrist and we begun clashing our blades. He was just using his sharp claws. While fighting it, I noticed how tight our situation was. These common beasts are in the way. I was worried that Kuro might get injured. I’m such a careless guardian. Why would I bring a Markless 5-year-old kid in this dangerous forest?

I looked at him. What is he doing? Is he picking up some rocks?

“Satsujuno!”

“Eh?” That was the only thing I could say after hearing him address me using my first name.

“Imbue some magic to these rocks,” he shouted.

I was confused on what did he mean by that. I thought that maybe he did learn that while reading. But I don’t remember reading it from those books. How did he know that you could imbue magical energy to things?

Even with confusions, I decided to trust him. No, I didn’t decide on my own, it was as if my body moved on its own accord. I imbued mana to the rocks that he was holding. It wasn’t that easy, imbuing mana from that distance needed concentration. First, I condensed magical energy in my left hand while fighting the rare beast with my right hand. After condensing the energy, I directed it to the rocks that he was holding.

“Kuro, stay right there and wait for me to finish this beast!” I shouted as I fought.

“Okay!” he said.

Where did all of his trembling go?

“Air, Endo Manatory!” I activated a spell that traps my opponent in a new space with me by creating a black sphere. The toughness of the sphere will depend on how condensed your mana or magical energy is. This sphere allows you to trap your opponent and fight them inside. That spell reduces the damage to the place.

“Now that I have trapped you here, you won’t be able to escape death anymore, you poor soul.”

I unleashed my mana, which made the place even darker. By unleashing my mana, I could expand my territory and take the control to the flow of the mana. By doing this, I can easily defeat my opponent, unless their level is higher than my stage. That time – in that form – I was at dark gray stage. In my beast form, I can go from black to blue stage. The stage of a mage can be determined by mana measuring items like mana measuring sword and magic crystal balls.

“Air, Wind of Punishment.”

Chains made of condensed air immobilized the beast shackling his hands and feet. As he struggled to move, I didn’t waste the time and cut his head from his torso using my sword. The chains disappeared and its torso ended up lying on the ground. I deactivated my manatory and the black mass that is surrounding us vanished.

As the black mass slowly dispersed, I saw Kuro standing and looked to happy. He looked at me with a bit shocked face, it was a face someone who just got caught from wrongdoing. But I was too shocked when I saw the common beasts lying around, dead.

“K-Kuro?” I stuttered.

I was too shocked and couldn’t say anything after witnessing what a 5-year-old frail-looking kid just did. He just killed a bunch of common beasts with just rocks that were imbued with bit of magic. No, there is now way he killed them with just rocks that were imbued with my magical energy, that wasn’t something you could do just by tossing rocks around. Yes, magical energy or mana can amplify someone or something. All I did was to make the rocks he was holding was to make them tough. In order to do what he did, you need to gather magical energy or and emit them.

While staring in a blank direction, I saw another common beast dashing towards him.

“Kuro, another one is coming!” I shouted. I just used too much mana that time but I have no chance to reload. I had thought that I could just kill it with a low-level spell.

When I was about to prepare my spell, Kuro picked a rock near to his right foot. But that rock doesn’t have imbued mana. I was so curious but I couldn’t manage to react.

“Haa!” he shouted as he threw the rock.

My jaw almost dropped from what I’ve just witnessed. A markless kid was able to manipulate mana. The magical energy gathered around his hand as he positioned himself for a throw. It was a weak magical energy, but as the rock passed through the air, it gathered more mana and when it wasabout to reach the point of impact, it became even more strong and pierced the body of the beast.

What on earth just happened? I thought this kid won’t be able to use magic at all? He looked at me again and when he was about to say something but he suddenly passed out. Did he use too much mana?

***

[KURO]

“Kuro, are you okay now?”

I heard Satsujuno’s voice as I open my eyes. What I saw first was the ceiling of our house. It was a ceiling made of bamboos and dried leaves. I was lying on the wooden bed where I spend my day looking on the window and reading books. My whole body hurts from the fatigue I got, running and tossing rocks around while fighting beasts. I raised my upper body and sat on the bed. I could feel the vibrations of my creaking bones. I really need to exercise a lot.

“Don’t force yourself,” said Satsujuno. He was preparing foods.

“Did I sleep too long?” I asked.

The sun was about to set soon. I probably slept too long.

“I’m sorry,” I looked down to my hands. “We couldn’t hunt because I passed out.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like it’s your fault,” he smiled. “I should be the one who’s apologizing. I brought you there without considering your age.”

“No… I…”

Why is he apologizing? It’s not like it’s his fault why beasts surrounded us.

“I’m sorry you got caught up,” he said. “Come here, you should eat first.”

I stood up from my bed and walked to the square table where he prepared our food. I pulled a chair and sit with him. The food reminded me of my country’s known food – Sinigang baboy (pork sinigang). Pork sinigang is a dish of pork that is cooked in a sour soup – either vinegar or tamarind. It is usually made with lots of vegetables and would make you drool when its smell hits your nostrils. I raised my right hand, holding a spoon full of broth and tasted the food.

“It’s delicious…”

Did I say that out loud?!

“Delicious, right?” he smiled.

I continued eating and didn’t give a response question. That was embarrassing. As I continue ddigging in, my body was slowly getting relieved. What is this?

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked.

“Yes…, ahhmmm… what did you do?”

“It’s nothing special.” His eyes closed and curved as he smiled. “All I did is to put healing spell to the soup.”

I see. So you can cast magic spells to things like these too.

“Kuro.” His face turned serious. “ Earlier, you used magic, right?”

Me? I used magic? Huh? What does he mean?

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t help myself but to ask.

“Earlier, what you did to those beasts wasn’t something you could do with magically imbued rocks. You probably didn’t realize it earlier but you gathered magical energy to your hands and made those rocks powerful as you threw them.”

“Gathered what? I thought I was Markless?”

I shouldn’t have asked that.

“You… how did you know that you are Markless? I never told you.” His face turned even more serious.

This is bad. I forgot that he’s keeping it as secret for now. What should I say? How should I escape this?

“I heard you talking with Mr. Nezumi one time.” I said as an excuse.

“Wha… when did I talk to him?”

“You don’t remember? You talked to him last time,” I said. This is one of the things that I learned in my past life; you could trick people by making them believe in false memory that you created. But in order to trick them, you need to have resolve and a great reasoning.

“Did I?”

“Yes,” I looked at intensely.

“I see,” he said. He was sitting in front of me. “About what I said earlier. You probably didn’t realize it but there is a possibility that you can use magic too.”

“But how? I thought Markless people won’t be able to use magic?”

“That is what I thought. But I remember my master saying that marks are just appearing to fully complete the attribute of its host. Marks are just appearing when the host or mage’s magic developed a magical attribute.”

I think I’ve seen this page from one of the books that I have read before. That marks appear to complete the attribute of a mage. But that book didn’t state what happens when someone appears to be Markless. Majority of people just believe that Markless individuals won’t be able to use magic.

“You probably read that to one of the books that I have in my room. Those books are written by my master.”

Written by his master?

“My master once said that if I met someone who isn’t marked by any of the attributes, it’s possible that they can’t use magic or they have magical energy but won’t have any attribute.”

“Then, you think I’d be able to use magic even without a mark?”

“I’m not yet sure but we should try it. If it turns out to be true, I will make you join the Bloody Moon festival’s test when you turn 12.”

“Bloody Moon festival?”

“Listen, that festival is held every twelve years in the borders between the beast forest and the bloody forest. It happens three days to test the abilities marked Beastmans. There are three tests that you will need to pass; the magical aptitude test, the adaptability test, and the final test. The final test was always different, so I won’t be able to know what kind of test it is.”

“But I am a human. I’m not a Beastman, will they even allow me join that festival?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Nezumi.”

Even if Nezumi allows it, I’m sure I won’t be able to dodge racism. Nezumi is like the captain or the mayor of this forest. He acts as the leader and the one who manage the village itself. If I remember it correctly, I met him first at the forest where that Eagle left me.

“Sleep tight tonight. We will find out tomorrow if you can use magic.”

Is this the reason why I got reincarnated to this world? I’ve been thinking about it lately, it is believed in my past country that a person dies when their goal had been finished. But I didn’t know if I ever had a goal, that’s I never believed. But right now, what is my purpose here? Why did I get reborn?

***

The morning came and I woke up early as usual. I got used to waking up with another similar scenarios and event everyday but this time, I am about to find out if I can use magic or not.

Satsujuno prepared breakfast and we made our way to the backyard after eating. The sun was still in dawn but he decided to test me early. Maybe if it turns out that I could use magic, our training will start today. He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt as usual. In his left hand is a sword sheathed in brown leather.

“Are you prepared, Kuro?” His eyes were serious.

“Y-Yes,” I stammered.

“Now then, hold this sword.” He unsheathed the sword that he was holding. It was rather an uncanny sword; it has a black handle but has a translucent white blade. He handed it to me and grinned.

“What am I going do with this?” I asked.

“With this sword, you coul determine someone’s level of magic. The fact that it can measure someone’s amount of mana to determine their level also means it can prove if you can use magic or not.”

That is actually intelligent of him. If this sword can measure someone’s magic, it can also determine if someone can use magic if it measures it.

“How do I do it?”

“First, you need to visualize the mana flowing in your body and unleash it.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that? How do I unleash my mana?”

I’ve thought of him as an intellect but it turned out that he can also be a simpleton sometimes. Well, maybe I should give it a shot.

I closed my eyes and tried visualizing light particles that are flowing through the veins of my body. If I could create a mental image of mana, maybe I could unleash it. This world isn’t the same as my past world after all. After creating a mental image of light particles or mana, I imagined it bursting out from my body. Slowly, I felt my heart throbbing faster than usual and my body is becoming warmer. I opened my eyes and saw a black aura that is surrounding my body. What is this sensation? I feel like my body is about to burst but it feels relaxed at the same time.

I looked at the sword that I am holding, it changed its color. The white translucent blade earlier turned into slight gray color. What does this mean? I haven’t read the part of the book where it explained the levels of mages yet.

“I’m surprised. I thought it would turn out to be a white sword.”

“What does this color mean?”

“Listen,” he said. “People who are marked by elements are classified into three different level. First is the intermediate level, it is composed of three colors; white, gray, and dark gray. The second is the master level where the color of the mage’s color turns from black, blue, to yellow. Lastly, the god level if composed of three sword colors, which are light orange, dark orange, and red. They said that when you reached the red level or color of the sword, you could become the world’s greatest opponent. But no one has reached that level yet.”

“Does it mean my sword color level is in the middle of the white and gray?” I asked. “Isn’t that too low?”

“No,” he said. “Your level isn’t low. I was actually surprised. Not only you can use magic but your level is higher than the average level of children who are 5 years old,” he added.

“Higher?”

Does it mean the average of people who just have a mark started in white level?

“Most of children who just got mark start with a white sword. In your case, you are now near to the gray stage, which means you are near to the second stage of intermediate level. What we need to do in the next years is improve your mana and change the color of your level as you train.”

“What happens next?”

“When you turn 12, you will have to join the Bloody Moon festival test.”

Why should I join it anyway?

“Now, let’s test if you can actually use your magical energy.”

***

That day, Satsujuno and I started training. Right now, I'm taking my first step in discovering why I got reborn to this world. What could be the purpose that I need to fulfill? It doesn’t matter how long will it take. I want to have a life with purpose... this time.