One year later.

Shirou's training had been developing quite nicely.

His afternoon workout routine had settled into a fair compromise between him and Yamashiro. Ideally, Shirou wanted to continue on to the higher intensity of exercises, but Yamashiro argued that working too hard will divert important nutrients that could be used for his growth. Growth that would be important for the future, since it would give him more height and greater reach once he reached adulthood. In exchange, it was agreed to extend his sessions from 2 hours to 3 hours. That way, he could still increase his stamina.

As for his training in the field of magic, it had improved in many areas. In terms of strength, you could say that Shirou had managed to push his prana output to 4 units per circuit. A 25% increase from the maximum of 3 that he was capable of a year prior.

Speed had a similar degree of development. Shirou could confidently say that he learned to increase and decrease the rate at which he produced prana. In fact, he even tried experimenting by going as slow as possible, and was rewarded with a different set of results. The real breakthrough was the change in his casting speed and the extent of his mana analysis. Shirou managed to cut down the time needed to scan an object's mana print. He had also moved on from scanning fist-sized objects to larger boulders.

His control was another matter entirely. The progression was slow. Switching from circuit to circuit proved far more difficult than constantly focusing on one. Shirou would continue to train this aspect because it looked to have potential. He wanted to see what would be possible if he could cast a spell chain. But that was after he learned more magic.

At this moment, he was training a different sort of craft.

Reinforcement.

He had successfully been able to replicate the enhancement effect from a year ago. While it brought bad memories of Sakura's abduction, he powered through and focused on learning it. Reinforcement was one of three magecraft spells that he could use at the time.

So it only made sense for him to work on developing the ability.

For some reason, it proved easy to use only on his body. It wasn't mastery, but Shirou was confident that he could use Reinforcement for a decent period of time.

The problem was when he used it on other objects.

The sound of exploding wood reached his ears, followed by a burst of laughter from Taiga. She had been watching from the side as Shirou practiced Reinforcement on some firewood collected from the forest.

"You know…magic isn't needed to cut wood. But it sure does make it faster!" The woman giggled at her own joke.

Shirou's brow twitched at Taiga's jibe. Wait until he showed her what Reinforcement did to his body…

He was capable of doing it on his body. So why wouldn't it work on other objects? Was it because other objects had a different form of magic compared to his body? But that didn't make any sense, Shirou could easily inject his prana into the object to scan its mana print and it wouldn't break apart.

Not like it did with his Reinforcement.

So it was a matter of control then, Shirou guessed. Looks like he would need to experiment on the amount of prana he was injecting into an object.

Unfortunately for him, his inability to Reinforce other objects was not a lack of control, but rather a lack of information. Shirou's circuits had kept his memories of self reinforcement from Unlimited Blade Works. But he himself didn't know the process to cast the spell itself. Shirou was skipping the part where he would find the structural defects of said object, and injecting prana into those weaknesses to reinforce them.

Shirou pouted. His morning session was nearing its end, yet he had to make any progress when it came to controlling Reinforcement. Lunch was fast approaching and he would need to start preparing the food with Taiga for the others.

Looks like he will have to continue figuring the problem out on another day then.

"Are you finished Shirou? We should start heading back." Taiga mentioned. She was already preparing to return to the orphanage.

Shirou picked up the small pile of firewood at the side of the clearing before following her from behind.

The walk back to the orphanage was spent admiring the changing of the season. Summer ended a couple of weeks ago. In its place, Autumn had arrived with a flourish of raining leaves.

The forest had slowly transformed from bright hues of emerald into magnificent shades of auburn and vermillion. A cool autumn breeze rustled the forest, causing leaves to fall off trees. The fluttering pieces of flora floated in the wind and showered down on the two before landing on the road. Rays of sunlight pierced through the canopy and brightened the beautiful scenery.

Shirou smiled at the panorama that his eyes beheld. Sakura would've loved to see this. Spring may have been her favourite season, but Autumn was a close second.

The orphanage was bustling with activity when they returned. Some children were busy raking the leaves, while others were hanging clothes in the back.

Some of the children ran up to Taiga and gave her hugs. Meanwhile, Shirou started to arrange the firewood at the front of the large cabin. He placed the wood in two rows, making sure that the large ones were on the bottom, followed by the smaller above.

One piece of firewood was picked up and brought to the kitchen in the back with him. To prepare the fire, Shirou briefly reinforced the lumber fragment to shatter it into pieces. Each bit was lightly placed underneath the large pot, then he tore crumpled leaves and sprinkled it over the firewood. The two smooth rocks off the side were collected and Shirou worked on starting a spark for the fire.

A few steps behind him announced that Taiga had begun preparing the ingredients for tonight's stew. Some onions, carrots, and potatoes were arranged on the table, followed by one salted slab of beef. Due to the lack of magic for convenience, salt was there as a replacement to keep the beef preserved for a longer period of time. Stew was the common choice of dish for the orphanage because of how many children lived there. Cooking the food was also easier done with this method. Dividing it among the children was as simple as counting one, two, three.

Shirou pulled out his prized culinary set. The collection had been well-kept since its acquisition at the trading caravan over a year ago. Every six months, he would bring the knives to another town to have the edges checked, and if required, sharpened at the grindstone. So far, grinding the knives have only been done once.

Shirou opened a wooden barrel and started scooping some water into the pot. Onions and carrots were finely minced on a cutting board before being sweeped into the cauldron. Potatoes were sliced into pieces before joining the batch. The slab of beef was cut into small cubes and sprinkled with some wild basil Shirou found. It soon followed the rest into the pot. The cover was slid over and the simple stew was left to cook.

Time passed quickly. Supper was served, plates collected and washed, children sent to bed.

Hours crawled by and the moon passed across the night sky.

The light of the sun slowly transformed the color of the night sky, signifying the arrival of dawn.

Dawn usually brought glad tidings with it, since it was revered as the symbol of hope and of new beginnings.

But this dawn was different. Something unknown had arrived in the surrounding forests.


One month later.

Shirou was peeking through the treetops. His reinforced eyes pierced the surrounding foliage in search of prey. It was the middle of autumn and animals were beginning to prepare for winter. Several species should be busy feasting on the season of autumn to build up their fat reserves for the long hibernation coming.

Or they were supposed to.

For some reason, the roaming animals had dropped in abundance. Some still remained, but a significant reduction in number had been noticed.

Something was going on and Shirou noticed it. Not only him, the hunter-gatherer party had been collecting more natural harvest than previous seasons. Which meant that the animals were not feeding on them. Even other villages had reported the same findings.

For such an event to occur on a large scale…would be bad for the villages.

Shirou looked around again. There were a couple of wild boars feeding further east of their location. Some other options appeared, but the wild boars proved to be closest at the moment. Shirou noted down the locations of the other targets in his mind. It would be good to hunt them down later if the group had enough time left.

Shirou started making his way down the tall pine tree. His lessons with Yamashiro had paid in heaps when it came to hunting and other skills. He quickly scanned the branches of the tree, paying attention to avoid the previous ones used. Yamashiro forced him to always use different paths up and down a tree to ensure that he wouldn't become complacent in his training. Shirou reached his left hand out to grip a firm branch before dropping his left foot on another offshoot below it. His right hand navigated to another branch, which allowed him to release his left hand and reach for a different base to hold on.

At his current pace, Shirou was slowly climbing down the tree. He wasn't quick enough to achieve the speed of his teacher yet.

Near the bottom of the tree, the hunter-gatherer group stayed. They were taking a short break while waiting for Shirou to finish his survey of the surrounding area.

They heard shuffling leaves that indicated Shirou's return. A few moments later, a pair of feet land on the ground.

"There are a good number of boars to hunt towards the east, and if we have some time, we can chase an elk further north." Shirou notified the group of his findings.

Yamashiro handed him his bow before gesturing for everyone to rise. "Alright then, let's track ourselves some good meat!"

The group starts reorganising responsibilities and a select few were tasked to guard the bags of plant and fruit along with the hunted meat. Before long, Shirou and some others were on route to pursue the wild boars.

Yamashiro sent him ahead to cover the rear flank of the boars. His status as a mage had spread throughout the village after people had seen his reinforcement ability. Shirou had never intended to keep it hidden, but it still came as a surprise to people. To them, his enhanced strength and speed were irrefutable proof of magic.

Shirou reinforced his legs and began navigating silently through the foliage. His goal was to get behind the boars as quickly and quietly as possible. Any sound would alert the prey to his location and increase the risk of them running.

Soon, Shirou reached the little clearing that the boars were feeding in. They were larger than his size as a child, which identified them within the medium range. Quite a decent amount of meat for the village.

The environment in this specific area had no breeze, which meant that Shirou didn't need to pay attention from which direction he came. So Shirou navigated around the clearing, observing the direction the boars would likely escape to. They had come from the west, the same location that the hunting party would arrive at. Intuition told him that their most probable escape path would be the opposite side, judging from how most of them were positioned.

They would run right into his hands.

Shirou started rummaging through his small sack for some rope. It had proved itself useful for making traps in the forest. All you needed to do was plan accordingly and a prey or two could find itself stuck in your trap. He only had enough rope for two traps, or else weight would start hindering his hunting ability.

He looked around and started picking out likely paths that some escaping boar would try. One trap was placed on the main route, and the other on a divergent path some fair distance away. Shirou's assumption was that the first boar caught would squeal and alert the others to avoid his area. Then, the following boars would pick the next path available. Where his second trap was set up further along.

Now all he had to do was wait for the others.

'Some training would be nice.'

Shirou started running through his prana exercises. Focusing on one inactive circuit and throttling the ignition until he reached its maximum output.

For a normal mage, this would be a simple task of turning a circuit on and off. But that was because they were trained with proven methods.

Shirou had to build his circuits without any knowledge.

Unlimited Blade Works could not assist in this stage because prana circuit memories are not physical experience.

Especially when this type of training was first-hand experience.

In Shirou's previous life, his circuits had never undergone this type of conditioning. As they were left to stagnate, each of his old circuits could only muster a little more than one prana unit each. So training to use the maximum ten units per circuit would prove difficult.

Shirou took a few minutes ramping up his circuit output to maximum. While activating one was instantaneous, it could only produce one prana unit at the beginning. He needed to learn how to quickly use all available energy from the get-go.

Now, on to the second stage, control and endurance.

Keeping the circuit throttling at maximum power while lasting for as long as possible was difficult. It took nearly every ounce of his focus just to keep track of his surroundings to avoid making noises.

Training was one thing, but applying it in a real scenario added another layer of intensity.

Shirou found that the hard way when he tried to train his circuits while also performing his workout session. No matter how much he tried, he didn't have the skill for it yet.

Yamashiro did enjoy the show though. He laughed each time Shirou crumpled onto the ground like a doll.

Shirou observed his circuit after another brief check of his environment. So far so good, he had not made any moves that could alert the boars.

His circuit was nearing the end of its ability. At his current development, a circuit could keep throttling four units of prana for fifteen seconds. When he lowered its output to one unit, each circuit could last for one minute. If you applied that to all twenty-seven circuits, Shirou could last roughly seven minutes on maximum power while twenty-seven on minimum.

But that was only an estimation of how long he could fight with magic. His circuit's prana production varied whenever he used reinforcement. Shirou couldn't control his prana usage to remain at one unit perfectly. Whereas, it was easier to flood his reinforcement with four units of prana.

That in itself was also a new discovery for Shirou.

His Reinforcement magecraft only needed one unit of prana to maintain. The absolute minimum of his capability. Pushing beyond one unit of prana resulted in his reinforcement becoming stronger at the cost of operation length.

So Shirou had decided to categorize his training into three: Power, Medium, and Save Mode. Power focusing on maximum output, Save focusing on stamina, and Medium being a mix of both.

Shirou's circuit promptly gave out as it reached its limit. The failure to push past fifteen seconds didn't deter him. Rather, it only started another phase of his routine. Mana Analysis was casted on the overheated circuit and Shirou observed. He believed he could find a way to improve his Mana Analysis by experimenting the craft on different objects, himself included.

The circuit had started its recovery process, slowly gathering together Od to restock its energy. Shirou watched the process intently, already forming ideas about how to train his Od regeneration. The main problem was that he could not manipulate the speed of regeneration. Once he finds a way, then maybe he could start on them. But until then, he is limited to the amount his body could contain.

Thirty minutes later and a couple of overheated circuits, the ambush was begun.

Shirou and five other bowmen released their arrows at the unsuspecting boars. Five were killed in the initial volley and the rest scattered.

With the difficult part finished, all that was needed to do was check on the traps later for more prey. A few were bound to be caught by the preparations the hunter party had done.

Once everyone regrouped, a problem appeared. There weren't enough people to carry everything back to the village. Making a round trip during the night wasn't viable, not when recent rumors of a monster had been circling around. Monsters were a rarity. They were only told as stories to scare people. Most of the villages had actually never seen one.

So when rumors popped up, it was assumed to be real. Nobody had ever started talking about monsters up until recently. With the sudden drop in prey around, it seemed like a possible scenario. Especially when some people had talked about seeing eyes at night. Unlike normal animals, these eyes were white and unearthly. They described that it was like staring at the moon. These people were deemed crazy until the same story started cropping up from different sources.

Shirou believed them. He had seen magic and knew that this was highly likely to be a monster. He was obviously scared to see it. But the situation currently didn't help calm his nerves.

"Half the group can stay and safeguard the boars, the other half should start bringing the food back." Yamashiro announced. If half the group departs now, they would make it in time for the village at sunset.

"Shirou and I will remain with the other half to keep watch. Pairs will rotate as sentries, but me and Shirou will divide our shifts in half. We have the best eyes around and can keep looking from above the trees."

The plan seemed fine. Except for the fact that Shirou was staying with half the group to safeguard the boars. Then again, it made sense because Shirou was known to use magic. He could reinforce his eyes and watch surroundings far better than even Yamashirou could.

With a little bit of convincing from Yamashiro, he finally caved in and stayed with the group to guard their prey.

That night, the remainder tied the boars to a tree in the clearing. They had checked the traps and found another seven boars captured, bringing the total amount to twelve. It was obvious that if they didn't stay behind, then these boars would escape sooner or later.

One boar was picked and roasted on a spit for dinner. Then afterwards, people started resting one after another.

Two sentries talked to each other while munching on some extras after supper. While Yamashiro and Shirou discussed who would take first watch.

"You should get some rest now. Morning won't arrive for another nine hours. I'll wake you up after five for your shift." Yamashiro was going to take an extra hour so that Shirou wouldn't be too tired.

Tired and full, Shirou agreed quietly and made himself comfortable on the ground before drifting off to sleep.

A few hours later, Yamashiro woke him up for his turn.

Shirou washed his face with some water from a wineskin to wake himself up. Five hours was not enough sleep for a kid like him, but the job needed to be done. Yamashiro pointed him at the best tree he found to observe the surroundings from and told him to watch from the same spot.

The tree was taller than the rest of his surroundings and provided a nice view of the sky and the forest below. Shirou confirmed this for himself once he reached the top. He turned his attention on back to the ground and activated his circuits and casted Reinforcement. His reinforced eyes broke through tree foliage to check on the environment every twenty minutes to conserve his energy.

At least Shirou could get some good training during his shift.

Shirou performed his usual mana exercises while periodically casting reinforcement on his eyes to scout for any unusual changes in the environment. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for a good long time.

Until halfway through his shift, when Shirou started to feel like he was being watched.

It wasn't clear at first, but a subtle hunch started to build once the third hour began.

Shirou didn't understand why he started to feel uncomfortable during his second round of mana exercises. He briefly activated reinforcement on his eyes and looked around him. But nothing seemed different.

Nothing seemed different.

That triggered a flashback of Shirou's lessons with Yamashiro.

'If your instincts tell you that something is wrong, they are usually right. So let's train them shall we?'

'Are you going to make me work on dodging your traps again?'

'No, no. Here's a thick piece of cloth, make sure to wear it tightly around your eyes alright? And no peeking.'

'I don't like where this is going…how will I train instincts if I can't see what I'm supposed to dodge?'

'That's the point. Listen carefully to any sound I make and react to which direction I'm coming from.'

Shirou's environment turned silent as Yamashiro stopped walking. He focused on listening, trying to hear for any clues.

Yamashiro was the best hunter the village had, bar Shirou of course. His footwork had been honed from years of hardwork to assist his hunts and it had yet to fail him.

To Shirou, it was impossible to hear him approach under normal circumstances. To hear him, he would need to reinforce his ears. But that was cheating when it came to training his senses.

So instead, Shirou paid attention to the breeze around him. The side which Yamashirou would come from would have less sound because the wind's path had been disturbed. The training area had been especially windy today so it was the only clue Shirou could use.

A near silent crunching sound resonated from behind Shirou, causing him to jerk his body sideways to avoid a direct hit to his back.

Only to be punched in the chest.

From the front?

Shirou's mind caught up to him as his butt crashed into the ground.

'I thought you said to listen from which direction you were coming from! I can't dodge if I don't know where you are!'

'I told you to react to which direction I was coming from. I used listening in my instructions to confuse you. No enemy would give away where they would attack from.'

'From here on out, we are going to train you to react without clues. Trust in your instincts and they will save you.'

Shirou started running ideas through his mind.

There was an enemy. He couldn't find the enemy with his reinforced eyes, but his instincts had alerted him. Which meant that the enemy was looking at him, but from where?

Shirou reinforced his eyes and scanned his surroundings again. Not just the ground, but also the trees within eyesight.

So far no good.

Then Shirou remembered how the mages kidnapped Sakura. They did it by using a spell that turned them invisible to the naked eye.

That meant that Shirou had to use Mana Sight and hope to find the enemy somehow.

Mana Sight was the new ability born from the combination of reinforcing his eyes, while simultaneously using Mana Analysis to visually observe ambient mana.

It was weaker than Mana Analysis in terms of studying mana, but traded it for a wider perspective of the world.

Quality for quantity.

But this situation called for the imperfected magecraft because Shirou needed to find clues about the location of his unseen threat.

His vision changed into a myriad of unexplainable colors once his eyes registered the ambient mana in front of him.

As usual, the sky looked similar as it did in real life. A dark expanse filled with glittering points above. But unlike the normal sky, these glittering points moved in a specific direction. The same direction that the wind was blowing towards.

Due to his change of perception, the first brightened to a colorful mix of hues similar to green, and brown, but these colors of mana were far deeper than the simple descriptions men appointed for them.

They were green and brown, do not mistake that. But rather, there was more to them. The closest explanation would be describing the difference between a two-dimensional drawing to a three-dimensional view in real life.

And it hurt.

Shirou's mind wasn't adapted to the amount of information his Mana Sight introduced to him. A headache started to form in his mind despite his interest and enjoyment of the scene before him.

The forest truly looked and felt alive whenever he used his Mana Sight. More so than when he watched the forest with his normal sight.

But Shirou pushed through the distraction and slowly accumulating pain at the back of his head. He had to find the threat he was feeling or else he wouldn't be able to plan accordingly.

Shirou scanned the environment several times, the pain in his head starting to distract his focus.

Then he spotted a different color of mana. One he had never seen before.

The color could be described as white…but that was an incorrect description in itself. It was similar, but also clearly different. The lightly colored mana stood out from its surroundings with the strength it exuded.

Kilometers away, up in the cliffs of the mountain, was the being that had triggered Shirou's flight or fight response.

Shirou reinforced his eyes to its limit while focusing on the center of unknown mana. Closer and closer, until his sight briefly interacted with the thing.

For once, Shirou could confidently say that he stared straight into the eyes of a monster.

Two ethereal white eyes stared right back into his reinforced golden eyes. The distance between the two clearly not a problem.

No. These eyes were not white.

An apt description would be…

Eyes like the Moon.

It wasn't a color that greeted Shirou, but a feeling. A sensation of other-worldliness from the color.

It was both natural and unnatural.

It was similar to how Shirou watched the moon his entire life. Weaker, but the feeling of watching the moon always calmed him. It was like a friend that nobody would ever feel threatened by.

But this thing was not a friend. The feeling was weaker than that of the moon, but the intensity and ferocity was on another world compared to the eyes of bears and wolves Shirou stared down.

In that very same moment, the being noticed that Shirou had caught sight of it.

Shirou's body shook in terror. The feeling he had been experiencing increased at a terrifying pace.

This thing obviously did not want to be seen.

And Shirou just went and stared at it in the eyes.

Shirou's headache vanished to the back of his mind as the being grabbed his attention. Despite the kilometers between the two parties, Shirou felt that he was standing right in front of the monster.

It was studying him intently. The sense of danger scaled each hundredth of a second that Shirou looked back.

But he couldn't break the connection. Shirou was too scared to do anything but watch and feel each action the being did.

It felt like an eternity. The two sides observing each other across the entire forest.

Then the sensation stopped.

Shirou inhaled a deep breath after what seemed like forever. His body had momentarily forgotten to breathe during the entire exchange.

The ferocity directed at him waned and disappeared. But the strength and intensity reflected within the eyes colored like the moon.

Shirou still struggled to define the color based on his understanding and simply decided to refer to it as moon color for the time being.

The thing continued to study him, and Shirou returned the favor.

He was still scared, but his interest kept him from cutting the connection that had been established by both parties.

It was only for a few minutes, but the exchange felt like it dragged on for years.

To Shirou, it was like watching the moon. But unlike the moon, this thing felt alive, and was watching him back.

To the being, it was like watching a scared animal stare at it in interest. Simply because said animal wasn't killed in its presence.

Shirou's fear inadvertently had been observed by the thing and exposed his reaction to the situation.

Shirou wasn't a threat, it surmised.

But Shirou wasn't something to be ignored either. He was the first being to notice it in this place, and unlike the others, this one was young and innocent.

The thing had seen many mages. Most had ignored it because they didn't notice its presence. But a select few had, and these select few were powerful.

Just like the mages that were hunting it down.

Shirou was different.

The thing stopped staring at Shirou and quickly ran across the cliffs at speeds Shirou could only dream of.

With the connection broken, Shirou's distraction disappeared.

Then came the pain.

Shirou's Mana Sight had accumulated all the pain in his head until his mind returned back to normal.

Which it then received.

Shirou's balance on top of the tree crumpled and he was sent falling down it's branches.

Straight into the ground.

Shirou barely managed to notice the approaching ground before reinforcing himself from the landing. His body smashed into the ground with a large crater appearing.

The sound and reverberations woke up the entire group. Panicked shouts from hunters and orders thrown around by Yamashiro echoed in the silent forest.

After the panic settled down, the group started checking the boars and counting men.

"Where is Shirou? He should be on guard with the two sentries! Have you both seen him?" Yamashiro asked the guards urgently.

"He left three hours ago in the same direction the sound came from! He's not here but that means he must be stuck wherever he is!"

Yamashiro bit his lips worriedly.

Shirou was already a good fighter in terms of village standards. The kid could put up a fight against adults when he used light reinforcement for quick dashes. While nobody had ever fought Shirou with strength reinforcement, it was obvious that nobody could tank a fist that broke rocks.

So there should have been nothing capable of stopping the kid from returning.

Except for the monster.

"Quickly! Everyone group together in fives and start searching around you! Only the monster could possibly stop Shirou from coming back!" Yamashiro shouted.

The hunters understood his words. The monster was here and it must've attacked Shirou.

Several search parties were formed and the groups slowly split from one another to cover more ground.

Teams were told to move slowly and quietly. The hunters couldn't find any threats, but their instincts were high on alert from Shirou's disappearance and the possibility of the monster being nearby.

He was found half an hour later a distance away from camp. Shirou was knocked unconscious, and his body found in a crater.

No signs of battle were found. But magic had proven to be capable of things they thought impossible. So it was best to err on the side of caution.

They attempted to wake Shirou up after checking on his body. No wounds were found, but it still shocked everyone that he escaped without injury from such a fall.

Magic was truly amazing.

Shirou was brought back to camp and the group stayed alert throughout the night up until the morning arrived.

Shirou awoke to the sound of hushed warnings as the other hunters noticed his return to consciousness.

He moved to stand up when he saw Yamashiro coming.

"Are you ok Shirou? You fell hard last night." Yamashiro's voice carried a tone of worry and attention. Something clearly spooked him and the group judging from how everyone was acting.

"My head still hurts, but I guess that's what happens when you push yourself with magic." Shirou honestly replied. The events of last night still fresh in his mind.

The being was gone, but Shirou still remembered the power and fear he experienced.

"I know this is too early, but what happened? We assumed the monster attacked you and that you had failed to return because you couldn't."

It was a reasonable assumption. Shirou had to be the strongest person in the village with his reinforcement ability. Nobody could come close to the strength he carried now.

Magic was simply that dangerous.

"It wasn't an attack…but I did see the monster briefly."

Whispers started echoing from the gathered crowd. So the rumors were true. There was a monster roaming the forest.

"The monster is true then? Can you describe everything?" Yamashiro and the hunters were paying a lot of attention to Shirou now. They had heard rumors of the monster, but most had reported a variety of information. Which led to them thinking most of them were just made up.

"It's powerful. I couldn't see it properly, but it's magical strength far exceeds mine. It's sheer presence was able to reach me from the mountain cliffs. I felt like I was going to be attacked the entire time. Distance isn't going to defend you from the thing if it starts hunting any of us down."

The news silenced the group of hunters. It sounded made-up, but Shirou was known to be honest and good by the village. As far as they knew, Shirou had never lied to anybody.

Maybe except that one time he did to Taiga. It wasn't exactly a lie, but more like a half-truth. But nobody knew that.

"Then why didn't it attack us? You said that it was threatening you."

"I don't think it would attack unless we did something aggressive. It left me alone after a few minutes even when I clearly noticed it's presence. Most bears and wolves would react aggressively if we stared at their eyes. This one acted differently. It left me alone after we stared at each other."

Shirou certainly was scared about the encounter. But he remembered how the presence softened after a few minutes of observing each other. Did it know that Shirou didn't intend to be a threat?

That thing was smart. Far smarter than anyone Shirou met.

And it scares him. But it also interested him. Shirou wanted to see the being again.

Certainly he could. The thing was staying in the forest, and it was the cause for the noticeable drop in prey around.

But for now, the priority would be to bring the boars back to the village.

They needed to start stockpiling food for winter.


Shirou's Current Abilities:

Reinforcement (D-)

The ability to reinforce imperfections within objects to improve performance and durability. Increased prana allocation enhances the abilities of said objects beyond their usual limits. Currently, Shirou's strength in reinforcement is D rank based on the adventurer guild's guide book. An adventurer with D rank strength is capable of breaking rocks. This magic is subject to improvement as Shirou continues training.

Mana Analysis (C+)

Similar to structural analysis, Mana Analysis allows the user to observe the magical energy an object or person has. Shirou's Mana Analysis stands at C+ rank based on the adventurer guild's guide book. Adventurers with C rank Mana Analysis are able to study the magical energy of other beings. Shirou's development in Mana Analysis is advanced due to his continuous use on nature. Detecting ambient mana is harder than detecting active mana. Shirou's training involves him using Mana Analysis on groups of objects or larger spaces. Since his environment is largely made up of nature instead of people, his ability has developed further than normal.

Mana Sight (C-)

A variety of Mana Analysis casted using the eyes as a base instead of the hand. This allows the caster to visually see the mana around them. Mana Sight is categorized at D due to its ability to translate information from Mana Analysis into a visual form for casters. The stronger the strength of a person's magical ability, the brighter they are seen. The more prana a person can use, the larger space their prana takes. Mana Sight follows the development curve of Mana Analysis, in which they rise up a rank based on the ability to observe magical energy. Various factors like range and analysis quality affect the ranking of Mana Sight.


Author's Note

This chapter was a bit slower. I was thinking of ideas to insert as filler so that I could increase the content of the first volume. Instead, it went from a filler and turned into a main plot event that would change how the story continued.

At least today is a Saturday! I hope everyone enjoys the weekend update!