Munching

Crunch. Crunch.

A black centipede twitched slightly as it was ground between Klein's teeth. It dissipated soon after, its dark essence flowing into Klein's soul.

"They don't taste like much..." Klein thought as he cast another [Soul Steal], this time wasting more mana purposefully to form a fishing rod.

He had been at this fishing endeavor for a few hours now and had greatly increased his proficiency in the spell, understanding more of its nuances as time slowly passed.

He had also managed to perform some emergency aid on his wounds once his mana was full.

And speaking of mana...

'So, if it previously took 30 minutes to completely fill my mana from nothing...' Klein thought of the gains he had made in the past few hours.

The soul of the knight was of the biggest benefit to him, and the accumulation of hundreds of centipedes also played a large role.

'Hmm... is it about 15 minutes now?' Klein considered, amazed at the results.

'Keeping this up...' Klein thought about [Soul Fortify]. He desired now more than ever to learn the abstract technique after feeling the benefits of a stronger soul firsthand.

'That's not all...' Klein didn't think that the benefits of a sturdier soul would end there, and this seemed to be a facet of soul spells that would slowly unravel as time passed.

Whistling away, fishing with a smile, he wondered what would happen if he took the souls of the entire swarm.

------------------

"It's been too long; why isn't he back yet? Should we go check?" Harold tapped his finger on the steering wheel, feeling a chill crawl up his spine at how quiet and isolated they were.

The only comfort he could find was the glow of the headlights.

"Hmm... Right, let's go and take a look" Amelia nodded as her thoughts veered in a certain direction. They certainly couldn't rely on the wizard all the time, so it would be better for them to find out what kind of dangers were lurking in the nights to be better prepared to face them.

She looked back at the kids in the car who were already dozing off after their adrenalin had worn off from all the excitement earlier.

She sighed, wondering when, if ever, the bizarre phenomenon would end, or when they could return to a semblance of a normal life.

Vroom.

Harold started the engine, eyeing his fuel tank meter with a sigh. He had about half left, and unless he could find a gas station soon, they may really be out of options.

The headlights illuminated the dirt trail as the car slowly drove forward. It was dark, and they might stumble upon something dangerous if they weren't alert and cautious.

Amelia rolled the window down slightly to allow sounds through.

Moments passed silently.

Whoosh. Swish.

The familiar sound of the seaside passed through their car, and looking in front of them, out of reach for the headlights, but in full view of the twin moonlights, that same haunting scene greeted them.

Crimson sea. Wreckage. Stone monument, and a swarm of arms eagerly attempting to emerge from the depths, reaching out into the air.

Only this time, the ambience was broken slightly by the drenched young man in the distance with torn clothes, sat on the stone monument high up in the air, swinging his legs. He was joyfully whistling, munching, and...

Fishing?

Amelia and Harold looked at each other, rubbed their eyes and looked back at the scene.

"..."

"..."

"D-do..." Harold found it difficult to find his voice, unable to finish his question.

"Y-yeah... Let's..." Amelia too, uncharacteristically stammered.

With a tacit agreement, Harold shifted gear to reverse, backing away from that scene until the sound of the waves could no longer reach them.

"..."

"A-are we going to survive here...?" Harold asked to no one in particular, his eyes betraying his fear and anxiety.

Amelia exhaled slowly, considering.

"Who knows... It looks like the end of the world, but..."

Harold looked towards his wife with a silent question.

"But... Klein seems fine..." Amelia stated in almost a whisper. She felt incredulous at the strange, eerie sight, especially of that horrific swarm. But what she was questioning more was how on earth Klein seemed to remain unaffected by it all.

'Are all wizards like that...?' Amelia had her doubts.

She also began to deeply question the beliefs about her profession.

'If a mental illness increases survivability, is it necessary to treat?'

She shook those unnecessary thoughts from her head, and turned to her husband.

"Harold..." She began, her eyes determined, "We should ask Klein to teach us magic"

The car was silent for a while before Harold slowly nodded.

"... And... the kids too..." Amelia added after some thought. Harold turned to her, wanting to say something, but after a long moment, simply sighed and nodded.

------------------

Weathers Salvadore sighed as he glanced up at the night sky. The twin moons cast their haunting glows on the still air.

He had flown around in the past day, wondering what was happening throughout the continent. He had only covered a small region of Etherwind, but what he saw made him grimace.

Everything was... broken. Some places had it worse than others, but whether it was their own people or the foreigners that had arrived, everyone seemed completely worse off.

Many students desired to leave the academy, urgently wanting to return home. Only the few who had no families to speak of wished to stay.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose in consternation, wondering what he should do. It was too dangerous outside to let the students leave as they pleased.

The nights, especially...

Weathers felt chills.

He had seen existences out there in the night that made him freeze and his blood run cold.

There were beings that strolled the night that he couldn't even fathom.

The only reason he had made it safely back was because he remained cautious and avoided danger as best he could.

'I should go and see the emperor... Haven't visited in a while' he thought with an annoyed frown.

And speaking of annoyances...

Weathers thought back to his particularly irksome student, wondering what he was doing.

'Bah humbug, he's probably giggling to himself and swearing on my beard'

Weathers felt that of all of them, Klein was the least likely to die.

He had seen the child grow up, after all.

Thinking about Klein, a vein threatened to burst from Weathers' temple.

'Damn brat could've told me they don't know about magic!'

He huffed as he recalled the mishaps and accidents and frustrations he had gone through because of the boy.