Life Hunter

Night was shadowed by some really tall objects even though he was in his dragon form. At first glance, it would appear that he was inside a very dense forest. But if you looked up, you would see that what is causing the shadows are not trees at all.

Karma was touching one of those 'objects' in curiosity along with Ganesha and Raylein.

"Verdict?" Night asked them after transforming back into a human.

"Yes, no doubt," Karma nodded.

"Indeed," Ganesha rubbed his chin.

"Truly. It is…" Raylein sighed.

Night groaned and pinched the green 'wall'.

"So… this is just grass, huh?"

"Yes."

"You're correct."

"Grass."

Everyone fell silent and the wind whistled. The green 'objects' fluttered and produced a really familiar rustling noise.

"…What do we do now?" Raylein broke the silence and Night sighed noisily.

"Let's start by finding someone. Let's hope that things are not what they seem to be."

Ganesha laughed. "I think that your hopes have high chances to be betrayed."

"You didn't need to say that," Night retorted and turned toward Karma. "Can you try to cut them?"

"Sure," she complied and summoned a copy of herself. She grabbed the katana and swung it lightly. In an instant, thousands of strands of grass were cut and fell. Karma's eyes widened as she looked at her handiwork. She hadn't expected that result.

Raylein frowned. "How is it?"

" I don't know how to say it…" Karma was a bit disconcerted. "…It's less?"

"'Less'?"

"Yes, the toughness is lesser than in our Reality," Karma affirmed and cut a few more strands with a swing.

Night mused and picked up one of them. He played with it and threw it in the air. His expression went through a change. "The mass is the exact same but the size and toughness differ… that would mean things aren't really bigger here. They're just expanded."

"What's the difference?" Karma questioned.

"Well, you can take me as an example. My original form is that of a dragon. Then naturally, it's when I'm in that form that my body is the most 'stable'. But, if for example, I try to use magic to become bigger or smaller, I will have to either compress my body or expand it."

"Because no matter who, or what you are, you can't erase or create the matter composing you. So, when you become smaller, you have to compress that matter and when you turn bigger, you have to expand it. But in each case, your body will lose consistency and become frailer."

"And if you become too big or too small, there will be large consequences. If you're too small, meaning that your molecules are too compressed, your body will be tougher, harder, but the moment you suffer an external shock, you might implode."

"While if you're too expanded, you will have the figure of a giant but you'll become an empty shell that can be destroyed in a single attack," Night explained and looked at the grass lying on the ground.

"This grass is larger than what we know but has the same mass. Which means is it expanded compared to our standards," Ganesha and Raylein had perfectly understood at this point.

"Basically, this Reality may have a completely different scale but in fact, everything is also a lot more vulnerable than what we know," Karma said and Night nodded.

"Fine, I suppose it's good to know. Then what are we supposed to do now? How do we find the Pillars and Guardians?" Raylein asked.

"We should start by finding a village or something like that. There's no choice but to gather information at the moment. Even if it's shallow," Night responded and someone suddenly pulled on his sleeve. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Karma pointed at something with her finger. Her mouth was wide open. Night raised an eyebrow and followed her line of sight. He immediately froze. A colossal beetle was staring at them from one of the uncut strands.

"That's kinda scary… and gross," Karma commented and Night slowly nodded. He observed the insect and a thought struck him.

He extended his hand and cast a fireball. It flew and hit the beetle on its carapace. But it just popped and did absolutely no damage. Everyone looked at him with strange eyes.

"What was that about?" Ganesha questioned and Night forced a cough.

"Well… I conjured a magic that should've easily been able to kill something so weak. I literally used just enough power to kill an insect," he said and looked at his teammates. They were utterly confused by his explanation. He scratched his hair. "To be exact, I used an amount of mana that should've been enough to beat it."

"Ah…" Karma exclaimed in understanding but the other two were still perplexed. She looked at them and pondered a little. "How to explain this…? Arima mentioned this once, I think. 'Power balance'. Things can change from one Reality to another. Especially magic theories and circuits; since our own legends and science might not be the same here."

"At first, I thought there was no apparent difference in this Reality except those legends," Night added and his expression darkened. "But now I realize that, as much as everything here is expanded, the circuits are too. If we want to use our magic, not only do we have to use techniques that don't require theories concerning legends or historical facts, but we also have to use a proportional amount of mana to fit the size of the magic circuits."

"Oh… shit," Raylein got it and instantly cursed.

Night bitterly smiled. "It means that, for example, if things are twenty times bigger here, we have to use twenty times more mana."

While they were talking, Karma shivered as she witnessed the beetle's wings cases open. She wordlessly turned away and flew off.

"Huh?" Night exclaimed and the beetle started flying toward them. He instantly deployed his wings and followed Karma.

"What are you doing?" Raylein scowled at them. "Why are you running away? It's just an insect. Literally."

"Then get rid of it," Night replied.

Raylein looked at the approaching beetle blankly. He kicked the ground and was about to punch it. But he stopped halfway through. He realized that if he were to connect that punch, that insect would burst open right on his face. He instantly changed plans and teleported away. He conjured a spatial blade from afar and cut the beetle in two. Then, he heard three persons clapping in mock-awe.

"…Hey, why didn't you just burn it?" He glared at Night.

"I didn't want to waste my mana on that."

"Then wasting mine is fine? I shall remember you that you have more mana than all of us combined," Raylein retorted and Night shrugged.

"Blame Arima's aversion of insects. He gave it to us."

Raylein rubbed his face and sighed. "Let's just go already. Ganesha, where do we go?"

Ganesha took out a fancy compass that didn't seem to be magnetized. He made the arrow spin manually and pointed at the direction it indicated when it stopped. "There."

"Seriously?" Night interjected and Ganesha smiled.

"Of course, no matter what, this direction is the best choice for us. That's how my whole magic works in a sense."

Night sighed and flew off. "Let's get out of this grass first… damn, that sounds weird."

When they got out of the 'forest', the sun immediately illuminated them. The four of them looked around gaping. They knew it was going to be enormous but actually seeing it was a striking experience.

The trees could be compared to the tallest building ever made in the other Reality. The animals roaming the place were also terrifyingly big. Even small ponds were literal seas for them. And it wasn't needed to mention how colossal the mountains on the horizon were.

"This is…" Ganesha was sweating a little. "A hundred? No, far from that, a thousand? Is this reality a thousand times larger than what we know?"

Night silently estimated his surroundings and beckoned everyone. "…Let's move for now. There's no point in admiring the scene. Try using the least mana possible," he instructed and flapped his wings. He dashed in the direction Ganesha had directed them.

While they were flying across the planet, they spotted many different things. Apart from the extreme size of essentially everything, they happened to come across animals and plants which they knew about.

At some point, they even crossed paths with a pterodactyl and several other dinosaurs. They also discovered that the living beings in this Reality had a mana pool matching the size of their magic circuits. In other words, the average mana pool size here was a thousand times more than what they were used to.

"But at the same time, their magic should be weak for the amount that they use," Night alleged and everyone nodded.

"I have a question," Karma raised her hand. "What if the people in this world were to compress their bodies? Wouldn't they be able to change to match us?"

"No, lady, that wouldn't work," Ganesha answered to her. "They're indeed 'expanded' compared to us. But that doesn't mean the matter composing their body is unstable. Rather, they're stable when they are like that. If they were to compress them to become like us, they would end up as Night cited earlier."

"I see," while Karma was thinking about that, Night abruptly came to a standstill and also forced his group to slow down with a barrier.

"Hey! What was that for?" Raylein shouted but he didn't respond. His eyes flashed and shifted upward. His pupils narrowed into a slit and fire shrouded him. He turned into a dragon within the flames and roared. At the same time, the sunlight was blocked and everything suddenly became dark.

Night snorted and flapped his wings. He dispersed the flames and flew up. Karma, Ganesha, and Raylein covered their eyes and looked up afterward. They gasped when they saw a titanic shadow falling from the sky. Fortunately, it wasn't big enough for them to be unable to recognize it.

"That's a fist!" Ganesha exclaimed and they focused on what was behind that large hand.

"A minotaur?" Karma's eyes widened.

"No, there are few chances it exists here. Maybe it has another name. But in any case, this aura..." Raylein furrowed his eyebrows.

Night reached the giant fist and stopped it with both of his hands. The clash shook the ground and the shockwave created a deep crater.

"Uh?" A powerful voice echoed. It seemed that the fist's owner was quite surprised.

Night sneered and lodged his claws in the flesh of the minotaur. He gritted his teeth and twisted the entire arm before throwing the giant away.

His group watched in disbelief as the massive monster was flung before falling on the ground. But it wasn't long before he slammed his hand on the ground and got back on his feet; an amazing display of agility that didn't match his size.

Night clicked his tongue and landed on the ground. "Karma," he called and she immediately changed into a katana for him.

"Well, Ganesha, I don't know if you're too lucky or not, but you led us straight to the Guardians. What a jackpot," Night jested and shouldered Karma.

Ganesha snickered and sensed more auras coming toward them. "Isn't that what we wanted?"

"I guess."

"More importantly," Raylein raised his voice and glanced at Night. "What do you think?"

The dragon hummed and peeked at the minotaur then at the new silhouettes appearing one after the other. He grinned and his scales glowed red.

"I can take care of them."