Life Hunter

Arima was walking through the forest, heading to the nearest city according to his transplanted knowledge. On his way, he analyzed the information he had about magic and tried various things. He also quickly got used to his body. After all, it was his own but younger. He also noticed that the clothes he was wearing were the ones he wore the most when he was still going on missions. Even some of his personal belongings had been brought over with it.

About magic, first, there were eight root elements: Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning, Spirit, Darkness, and Light.

And there were seven non-elemental magics: Mind, Space, Soul, Neutral, Life, Death, and Time.

The first eight elements were used by magicians according to their affinity while non-elemental magic basically required talent and work. For example, if a mage had good affinity with fire then he'd be able to learn fire magic easily and quickly.

If a mage was very intelligent or hard-working, he could develop non-elemental magic. However, even if he were a genius in that type of magic, if he didn't have any innate affinities, it'd be hard for him to use a basic elemental magic.

In short, elemental and non-elemental were like two realms that formed a balance in mage craft.

Arima followed the instructions in his head and performed an affinity test. It was quite simple, he just had to think of the eight elements in his head and then chant something. And so, eight spheres of different colors appeared above Arima's hand, forming a circle.

Seeing the results, Arima was a bit startled. He was taken aback because it showed that he had a great affinity with all elements except spirit magic. And what was even more shocking was his affinity for lightning and darkness. The level was monstrous, as if these elements were totally submitted to him.

All the spheres were normally neatly round, like marbles, but the spheres for darkness and lightning were like a chaotic gathering of energy. He could feel a strange connection between him and those spheres, but it wasn't uncomfortable. And as a close third, he had a great affinity with fire, even though it wasn't as much.

Arima smirked. "The hell, if I didn't know better, I would say it's a cheat." After that though, his expression darkened. "But, this affinity with lightning… is that irony? A joke? Was I really killed by it, and now it's like my ultimate power or something?"

About an hour later, Arima was calmly walking through the forest, lost in his thoughts and testing his magic when he heard horses galloping and wheels ramming on the ground.

Just before that, Arima had noticed that his physical abilities were being enhanced a lot since his arrival. In his old world, he had already trained his body to the limit. But now, this limit was broken and he was truly pleased.

And it wasn't only his body, his senses were greatly boosted as well. He could hear a carriage several hundreds of meters away in the middle of a forest and even distinguish the horses' quickened breath within all the noise. He decided to go look at that cart and for that, he tried something.

"[Quantum Electromagneticis Constringitur] (Quantic Electromagnetic)."

"[Scintillam Feram] (Wild Spark)."

At Arima's feet, dark electricity emerged and started cloaking him. Arima kicked the ground and disappeared thunderously. He was merely sprinting but his silhouette couldn't be seen by the average eye anymore. You could only hear faint crackling noises as he stepped on leaves and branches very fast. After only ten seconds, Arima was already observing the cart moving on the path ahead.

What he had just used was one of the magics he thought of when he saw his affinity with lightning. It was technique that changed the composition of his body to make it become partially electricity. Thanks to that, he could partly ignore friction and air pressure and go extremely fast whilst propelling himself.

Also, the reason Arima chanted in Latin was that he noticed that the influence the incantation has on the mind of the caster was crucial. In fact, he tried with different languages to chant his magic and noticed that when he used Latin, the magic would be stronger. An ancient tongue could apparently influence his mind better, and the 'world of magic'.

Looking at the cart, Arima thought of something and chanted.

"[Bestia Peregrine Falcon] (Beast, Falcon)."

A ball of black electricity emerged from his body and took the shape of a falcon. It was then covered by a shadow and the electric falcon ultimately looked like a real one.

This magic was another one that Arima came up with. It combines lightning, soul, and dark magic. First, the body is molded with electricity and is then integrated with an artificial soul. The shadow covers the body to create the image of a real animal. And with the soul magic, the beast is gifted with basic intelligence.

"Well, they say the image of ourselves is projected by the soul and same with the shadow," he muttered while looking at the bird. "Go," Arima prompted and the bird flew off toward the cart.

Arima was linked to his beast so he could see with its eyes. Hence, it allowed him to spy the cart from a safe distance. The falcon approached the carriage and inside were four men and four enchained children, from ten to fifteen years old, two boys and two girls.

Arima frowned. He scrutinized the four men. Three of them were wearing armors and swords and the fourth was wearing a red robe. "A mage perhaps."

Then he looked at the four kids. Arima had quickly became accustomed to mana; the omnipresent energy in this world. He could easily discern that these kids were elves because of the spirits around them. He also heard through the falcon's ears the humans' conversation for a moment and reached a conclusion.

"Must be the abducted kids she was talking about. Did that old man cast a blessing of divine cliché on me?" He said laughingly.

Arima wondered. "Slavery, huh?" He despised that word. He was someone who loved freedom and couldn't tolerate anything that goes against that belief. In the past, he fought and killed many. He definitely wasn't a saint. But if he were to ignore those in need although he had power, what kind of monster would he be?

"[Fulgur Quatro Jaculum] (Lightning Arrow X4)."

Four black lightning arrows formed in mid-air and were shot toward the cart. The arrows went incredibly fast and all reached their target at the same time. The heads of the four men exploded and burned.

"I suppose they were too weak to avoid or sense it in time. In any case, I wonder why the magic I cast is black? Is it related to my affinity with darkness? And, is it me, or magic is really easy to use?" He blankly remarked.

Truthfully, if Azes was watching right now, he would have been utterly shocked. Arima had mastered magic in only an hour. He even used soul magic to create a pseudo-life as if it was no harder than actually chanting it.

Arima only thought that maybe it was because he had a good understanding of the soul thanks to Azes and that he apparently was gifted in magic. He had always been a great mind and he had enough life experience to shadow anyone.

But at that time, Arima still didn't know the real implication of his power nor did he know the main reason why he had it.

While mumbling to himself, he rushed toward the cart because the horses hadn't stopped but accelerated instead. He used two other arrows to cut the ropes tying the horses to the cart. The two horses soon vanished in the forest after being freed.

Arima reached the carriage and peeked inside. In there, the four kids were horrified because of the headless corpses lying there, still fuming from the neck. And when they saw Arima, their eyes narrowed in terror. They tried to get away from him even if they couldn't get up because of the shackles.

"[Fulgur Clavem] (Lightning Key)."

A few electric darts floated above Arima's palm then approached the children. They closed their eyes in fear but what they heard surprised them. The shackles that were restraining them fell on the cart's wooden frame, unlocked. They looked at Arima and the older girl among them stuttered.

"Th-Thank you…"

"It's nothing," he solemnly replied and eyed a few big bags that were there. 'Lucky…' He commented silently. Money was a small issue he was thinking about.

He neared the bags and opened them. There was a bag with food and two others with money, jewels, and ores. Among them, there was also a box with various weapons inside.

Arima grinned. "[Umbra, Manducare] (Shadow, Eat)," he chanted and his shadow grew darker and bigger until it covered all the bags. They began to merge with the floor; with the shadow. Soon, all the objects present in the cart had been absorbed by the shadow. The latter retracted to Arima and reverted to normal.

This was his spatial magic. Arima actually didn't know the size of the storage but he could absorb anything, even living beings, as long as he provided air, in his body and shadow.

The children were looking at him with strange eyes, thinking that perhaps he had just saved them for that money. He turned back to look at them when he finished and sighed.

"So? What should I do? Someone asked me to save you if possible… do you think you can go back home alone?"

Because of his question, the four elves became aware of the situation they were in. A man had rescued them, but they couldn't return home by themselves. If they were to adventure alone in the woods, they would risk being captured one more time or killed by the danger.

Arima sighed again. 'Well, she asked me… I should take them to her.'

"Okay, wait a minute," he mused for a moment and called his falcon. He then created another three and sent each of the birds in four different directions. One to the north, another to the east and so on.

Arima wanted to cover a large zone to find Lifa. He agreed to help these children but he couldn't afford to take them with him, so he intended to give the 'escort job' to someone else. And Lifa was the only person available and additionally the elf who asked him this favor.

Five minutes later, one of the four falcons spotted Lifa and Arima was informed immediately. The other birds were dispelled and the last one was ordered to mark Lifa's position.

Arima looked at the elves. "I'll send you to someone."

"Someone?" The older girl asked.

"Yes, an elf named Lifa Drein."

"Lifa?!" The elf shouted and the eyes of the children around her widened.

"Yeah… she's the one who asked me to save you all. Maybe it's you, the friend that she mentioned?"

"Y-Yes, the princess and I know each other since childhood," she stuttered.

"Oh…" Arima was certainly not prepared for that casual revelation. 'She sure kept hidden critical information,' he smiled. "A princess, huh?"

"You will send us to the Princess?" The younger boy talked. He opened his mouth for the first time.

Arima looked at him and grinned. "[Bestia Duorum Gryphem]," the same phenomenon that occurred with the falcons repeated itself. Two balls of electricity formed again, but these were much bigger. The spheres took the shape of a beast with the body of a lion and with the head and the wings of an eagle.

When the shadows covered them and gave them an image, the appearance of the beasts was then fully revealed. Two majestic beasts, two meters tall each, were stamping and howling. The elves gawked at the griffins in disbelief.

"Get on," Arima beckoned.

The children hesitated but braced themselves and approached the legendary beasts. Surprisingly, the griffins lied down when they got near. Seeing this, they became confident and mounted them.

"Hold tight. You'll fall otherwise," Arima warned and the four children nodded. "Good. Gryphem!"

He ordered and the griffins took flight. When they were out of sight, he glanced at the broken carriage.

"[Ignis] (Fire)," he burned it along with the corpses with a fire that also possessed a dark shade. Under the might of his flames, even the bones became ashes.

"[Scintillam Feram]," he intoned and left.