26 Ember Wolves

Blood Requiem Essence, despite its name, was made by refining the soul of Carnage or Chaos Beasts- an ethereal component. That is why it was required to have this Incantata -- a Soul Jar -- to refine Blood Requiem Essence.

While the soul would survive in this Soul Jar for at least a few hours without fuss, Saiph wanted to get the procedure out of the way now so he could rest without worry as soon as he was done.

He opened his backpack and dug through it for the required materials. He grabbed out a powdery substance contained in a small, leather bota bag.

"Enzo, open the valve here on the Soul Jar," Saiph instructed.

"Mm." Enzo walked over to him and obliged, opening a small valve on the top of the jar.

Saiph maneuvered the opening of the bota bag to the valve and inserted it, dumping its contents into the jar.

Enzo closed the valve back off and Saiph started shaking the jar.

The powder that he had poured in was Blood Materialization Powder. It was obtained from processing some Flora Magicae and was used to materialize a beast's soul into Essence of some sort. This particular powder made Blood Essence, and the "Requiem" portion of the name was derived from the strength of the beast soul used- Carnage or Chaos, in this case.

After the shaking was done, Saiph opened the lid of the jar and poured it back into the bota bag. He shook the bag a bit further then set it down; he was done.

The bota bag -- also known as a waterskin -- was an Incantata as well, one which negated a vast amount of Mana Radiation that was emitted from volatile or powerful magical materials. Thus, this bag was one of the best standard containers for magical materials in the Academy.

Of course, none of the three Incantata used in this procedure belonged to Saiph. He had borrowed them from Mr. Goth without interest. However, if he lost or broke any of them, he wasn't sure if or when he would be able to pay them back.

With his task done, Saiph felt a wave of exhaustion come over him. He quickly tried to put the items back in his bag as he felt himself falling over. Hitting the ground, Saiph looked over to his companions as his vision faded away.

…

Saiph awoke with a crushing headache. He noticed that it was dark out and a small bonfire was lit nearby. Groaning and grasping his head, Saiph found out that his face had been almost completely wrapped in bandages.

Previously, Saiph's face had suffered the brunt of the splinters from an exploding tree. He wasn't even sure if he would recover in this lifetime from such a brutal attack. He gently felt around his tender face, realizing that, indeed, the wounds were quite severe.

Slowly getting up off the ground, Saiph stumbled over to his two companions, sitting down next to the small bonfire. Pain shot up his leg, where he had been bitten. Saiph groaned and looked down, seeing a linen wrap enfolding the wound.

Although it hurt, nothing seemed too serious. It seemed that the Zap Ant's main force of attack came from the zap itself, not the pressure of its jaws.

Now brazenly illuminated in the firelight, Saiph found himself to be Topless, with bandages wrapped around his torso.

Neither Enzo nor Velvet said anything to him. Saiph found this slightly peculiar and looked over at Enzo. His eyes were closed, asleep sitting up. Saiph then turned to Velvet, who was in a similar state as Enzo.

"Eugh," he groaned, bored and in pain. He was fully rested despite his grogginess; he knew that sleep would be a fickle mistress tonight.

Saiph sat next to the dwindling bonfire for a few minutes, reflecting on the battle against the Zap Ants and their queen.

All in all, it could be considered a success. There were no casualties, their objective was obtained, and no enemies got away; what more could one reasonably ask for?

Of course, it wasn't perfect. A lot of Saiph's own moves were very amateurish and unrefined. But, he wasn't too worried about it. Things like that would be cleaned up with experience.

Sighing, Saiph laid down on the fertile forest ground and looked up into the sky.

The smoke from the fire trickled upward, caressing the tree branches overhead. Through those same leaves and smoke, the luminous glow of the radiant moon shone through, illuminating the forest floor around them.

As Saiph was laying against the ground, his thoughts wandered to his recurring nightmare. Losing his arm, having it ripped off by a vicious beast before he was able to even defend himself… it all scared Saiph.

What if one day he came across such a situation once more? What if he encroached on a Sovereign's territory and it just straight up ripped him apart? There would be nothing he could do about it, powerless in the face of overwhelming strength once more.

Attempting to move past such a dark subject, Saiph soon felt his eyes tear up as he contemplated the fate of his own father. He had put it off for almost two years now. He hadn't committed to doing anything about that menace. There wasn't any excuse now, either, since he could easily go for a 'visit'.

Saiph groaned and closed his eyes, the pain in his heart throbbing.

"Mm." He decided. After fixing his arm, the next step in his master plan would be to volunteer for escort duty at the end of this year, ideally receiving his hometown.

Then… he would confront his father.

…

Saiph slowly opened his eyes, sunlight flaring into them as he did. He squinted, making out the figures of Velvet and Enzo, who were working on cleaning up the makeshift campgrounds.

"Yaaaawn." Saiph got up off the ground, stretching his stiff back. Yawning once again, he tried to remember when he fell asleep last night to no avail.

"Mornin'," he casually murmured to the other two.

"Mornin'," they both responded, equally tired. Yesterday had evidently been completely exhausting for all three of them.

Saiph yawned one last time and started to help clean up the remainder of the camp. After it was all said and done, he threw his shirt back on and discussed the game plan with the other two.

"We wanna jus' head up the mountain more?" queried Enzo.

Saiph slowly remembered Enzo's goal for coming here, picking the pieces of the puzzle out of his groggy brain. Enzo wanted to grab some Essence Mana Crystals from Carnage Beasts to increase his cultivation and shift his elemental affinity early on, giving himself a head start.

"Sure, what'er we lookin' for?" Saiph replied.

"Beasts with a lot of fire affinity. If I can increase the power of my fire Runes, my battle strength will increase by a lot."

Saiph and Velvet both silently nodded with his assessment; that seemed about right.

The trio further discussed their plans on what, exactly, they should be looking out for in terms of hunting and defending themselves from.

They eventually decided that a pack of Ember Wolves would be the best option. They would be pretty weak for Carnage Beasts individually and there would be a large amount of them since they lived together in packs of 5 to 10.

As for what they agreed to look out for, all Chaos Beasts, even a sign of one of the three possible Desolate Beasts on Arches, or the strongest Carnage Beast on Arches: a Shadowmonger.

Luckily, Shadowmongers were typically nocturnal and passive, so there shouldn't have been any issues coming from them.

There were quite a few different Chaos Beasts in the area, but each should stick out in their own ways quite notably. For example, the Zap Ants' array of dead trees.

As for the three Desolate Beasts on Arches -- a Blaze Wolfking, a High Torrent Crab, or a Death Eagle -- the only possible path of survival was to run at any sign of them. Unfortunately, all three could be found on mountains so they weren't safe from any of them.

Velvet, during this discussion, put forth her hesitation in regards to the whole operation. But, after some discussion, she agreed to it.

Thus, the group of three set off up the mountain to hunt down a pack of Ember Wolves. They took their time, though, allowing Saiph to prepare some potions from the local Flora Magicae and for their wounds to naturally heal.

Saiph prepared another acid splash potion, this one a bit more potent than the last one, and two potions of hemostasis in case of an emergency.

...

After slowly trekking up the mountain for two days without a major incident, the trio caught track of a corpse of a Leap Deer, a Common Beast. The trifling remains of the creature had been thoroughly ravaged by fearsome, large teeth and claws. It also had burn marks covering its skin.

"This is it," Velvet announced after inspecting the body for a bit. "Ember Wolves must have done this, and they aren't too far off."