SOUL FLAME

"Let's go, I am even starving," Bel exclaimed, rubbing her belly to show how hungry she was.

Ossa looked at her, confused, as he did not know the concept of hunger, and her actions intrigued him.

"What is hungry?" he thought to himself as he looked at Bel with confusion in his eyes.

"You don't have a stomach, so I guess you would not know about hunger," Bel said as she looked at the space below Ossa's ribs, where his stomach should be.

"Well, I guess that's good. You would not go hungry..." She exclaimed, putting the pup down.

"We are going for a hunt; we will be back later," she said to the pup as she gestured for Ossa to follow her.

The pup, who could still not understand her, just rushed towards its parent's side, helping the mother tend to the male's wounds.

Ossa followed after her as she headed into the outer parts of the forbidden forest, as they were close to the outer edges.

The Forbidden Forest had been categorized into the outer region and the central region.

The central region took about 90% of the forest, with the outer part making up the remaining 10% as they were the edges of the forest.

The wolves were in the central region closer to the outer region, as they were on the weaker side. As one went further into the forest, they encountered stronger beasts.

Whistling sounds reverberated through the forest as the wind brushed through the leaves of the trees, swaying them from left to right.

Ossa and Bel walked side by side, shadow wolves behind them, hiding in the shadows of the trees, as their black pelts were a beacon in the light of the day.

"Where are we going?" Bel inquired as they had been walking for a couple of minutes, seemingly having a leisurely stroll.

"I don't even know... I want to catch some beast as per Master Francesco's request," Ossa said internally, also lost in the forest.

Not knowing what to do, they both continued, searching around for any beast.

Finally, their search paid off, as Bel spotted a horned rabbit, a tier two normal magical beast.

"Is that a normal magical beast?" Ossa asked internally, unsure of it.

[Yes]

"Ok," he said as he dashed forward, his battle instincts kicking in. Within a matter of seconds, he reached the creature, his straightened fingers penetrating the creature's body.

The rabbit died before it knew what hit it.

[Killed a normal rabbit]

[Extracting life force]

[ Life force extracted ]

[Life force converted into intelligence]

[Host intelligence increased to a four-year-old]

Ossa's dark green eyes glowed, after which he felt a slight increase in his intelligence.

"Thank you, master," he said, as he felt it was due to his master's help.

"Wow, you are so fast," Bel said as she praised Ossa.

From her point of view, Ossa had teleported as she was not paying attention to him. One moment he was beside her, and then the next, he was on top of the rabbit.

Excited she rushed over "So how do I cook this," she exclaimed. "Your eyes seem to be made of fire, can you increase it so that I can cook the rabbit... I am really hungry," she said, looking intently into Ossa's dark green eyes.

[Contractor has requested to use soul flame]

[Processing request...]

[...]

[Request accepted]

[Sharing soul flame with Contractor]

[...]

[Process Complete]

[Contractor can now freely use soul flame]

Bel, who was pondering how to cook the rabbit, felt a warm sensation on her left index finger.

"What's that?" She raised her left hand to inspect the sensation, only to be shocked to see a dark green flame dancing on her fingertip.

"Ahh, hot!!! I am on fire..." She screamed, shaking her hand as she tried to get rid of the flame. Startled, the wolves in hiding came out, as it was their job to protect the human.

They looked around, trying to find the threat, but there was nothing there.

"I'm burning... Ah, it's not hot," Bel calmed down as she noticed she was not hurt or burnt by the flame.

"What's this?" She inquired, turning towards Ossa, who stood by the side, unmoving as he stared at Bel, his eyes reflecting the laugh that he could not show.

"Hey, are you laughing at me?" Bel grumbled as she noticed Ossa's urge to laugh.

"I guess you know what it is then... Wait, it's the same as your eyes. Did you give me this to cook the rabbit?" she inquired.

In response, Ossa nodded.

"Wolf!" A shadow wolf exclaimed as it gazed at Bel, inquiring whether she was well.

"Ah, you guys are here... Thank you, but I am fine now... Sorry for bothering you," she explained.

Understanding her, they left, hiding in the shadows.

The omega, the female alpha, had instructed them to protect her. From her analysis, if the girl were to get hurt, the skeleton might go on a rampage, killing their whole pack.

"Aren't they nice," Bel said, looking at Ossa.

"By the way, how..." She paused as she noticed the flame was no longer on her fingertip.

As she thought about what happened to it, the flame came back, responding to her will.

"It's back... Is this magic... Wow," she said excitedly.

"Disappear," she said, the soul flame disappearing. "Appear," and it came back.

"Disappear."

"Appear."

"..."

"..."

Gurgle!!!

"I'm hungry... Enough with the play, let me get something to eat," she said, exhausting her stamina as the soul flame expended energy instead of mana.

She went close to the rabbit and, without skinning it, started to roast it.

The flame, in response to her will, danced around the rabbit, incinerating its fur while only roasting the meat.

"Wow, this magic is so beautiful. What type of flame is this?" she inquired, fascinated by the efficiency of the flame.

No response came as Ossa could not speak, and even if he could, he knew nothing about it. He sat by her side as she enjoyed her meal. The wolf's mouth watered as they watched the little girl eat the full-grown rabbit all by herself.

"I wish I could share, but this flame made me really hungry," she thought to herself as she greedily stuffed her face with the food.