24 (Ch 24)Into the forest

Stepping through the bluish mana representing the spatial gate Faith was barraged by a strange feeling. It was as if he just pushed past the surface of a pond only when reaching the other side he wasn't wet with liquid but traces of foreign mana.

'Apart from being a wormhole, I still have no clue what spatial gates actually are or how there created. Maybe I should ask dad?' - Faith wondered finding himself in the forest of familiars, stranded and with no life in sight.

The foreign mana of the place was slowly pressuring him as if the place itself despised his presence but he knew this was natural. Familiar Forests were made for the unique being know as familiars and nothing else.

Though anyone could enter they would all eventually be kicked out whether by the residence of the pressure exerted by the place itself.

'It's like Missing your class's field trip and being stuck in a random class for the day with people you don't know. Unwelcoming and slowly pushing you toward leaving' - Faith thought remembering a particular event that made him cringe late at night.

"Well anyway, Time to catch me some animal buddies... wait... where are they" - he said aloud realising there wasn't any life around him, at least in terms of what his mana sense could pick up.

Faith took a good look at his surrounding but found nothing of interest that made this place special. It was the normal Azure and scarlet foliage with the tree trunks being the sole exception, coloured as if they'd been burned to charcoal.

Even the river not to far off was bright pink, this place truly was unique compared to the city and lands that Faith lived in. Apart from the structures and colour schemes having slight detours leaning towards the darker side, the demon's home wasn't that special.

Everywhere in this world held some places with strange and special secrets but apart from that, it was pretty standard for a medieval magic society, at least what Faith believed was normal.

compared to his world it was far off in technology but more than made up for it with magic which was the priority. After all, why build planes when Spatial gates existed.

Faith had slowly become accustomed to the world he lived in and its customs but he was still far from normal. He'd been this close to reinventing showers before realising that his castle had many bathing areas with hot water.

Faith deciding that standing still would get him nowhere started trodding along making his way through the forest. Turned out it was a lot harder then he'd imagined and made Faith extremely happy he hadn't made similar ventures during his time as a human.

'I wonder if shadow step would do the trick?' - He thought remembering one of his newest spells.

To be fair he'd stolen it from the shadow harbinger... but magic copyright wasn't a thing so sucks to be him. Faith tried his best to be nice and friendly to all, that didn't mean his nefarious nature as a demon completely disappeared.

'Nah actually it takes to much mana. I have about a day with full batteries, maybe more if I stay in the shade and siphon mana from the shadows but that add a few hours at best' - he concluded.

His testing of Shadow stalk which melded his body into the shadow's and seemed unique to him even among all shadow magicians he knew about across recorded history, at least in the royal library and his fathers head.

Being the only proper hobby he had in this world Faith had looked into any story or piece of history related to Shadow magic but still found his knowledge rather lacking.

It was simply too destructive and difficult to control for proper improvements to be done in the field, not to mention the lack of shadow magicians that's numbers paled in comparison to even their counterpart of hard light magic.

Even the most basics of shadow magic like simply moving them were seen as top tier spells in their field.

Faith was an exception because things like what he'd appropriately dubbed Shadow bend which allowed him to move and control the shadows around him were as basic as breathing to him.

It led back to one of the major problems he had with shadow stalk, Shadow magic simply cost too much mana. If he wasn't a dragon he doubted he'd be even able to cast shadow bend for a few seconds without running out.

Deciding that simply continuing was his best course of action Faith trekked through the undergrowth and foliage. Strange enough his Shadow sense was dead silent.

'I wonder if this is what real-time pokemon hunting feels like' - he couldn't help but think.

Soon he arrived at a rather spacious clearing the first he'd seen in what he was convinced was a forest of nothing but trees and empty dreams of friendship.

'Well at least I can stop here, its probably fine to take a bre-' Faith's inner monologue was cut short by his head bending to the left out of pure instinct.

*Shink*

What followed was his gaze meeting a poorly placed Tree that had been skewed by a spear sizzling with electricity. Faith felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he stared at the thing that had almost hit him.

Could He survive getting hit by that? and on the back of the head no less? His heart beat faster and sweated slowly started running down his face as he came to the conclusion. Faith had never been in a life-threatening situation and his life up till now had been a dream come true apart from his goals being hindered.

Yet in a mere second, that dream he lived had almost ended. That frightened the little boy more then he would have liked to imagine, not because he feared death but because he knew the consequences of it.

'Shit, calm down Faith your shadow senses still worked and you dodged. Just stay calm as master taught and you'll be fine' - he told himself inwardly shaking as shadows converged around his hand equipping him with his Forgotten blade.

his hands were still shaking but at least he was ready for what was to come. He quickly cast the 2 of the 5 pure spells he could cast with his status as a deviant dragon and expanded his senses outward.

A barrier only visible through its faint blackish tint surrounding him as mana permeated through his body. He'd cast Mana skin and Vital check at the same time providing him with a somewhat solid yet somewhat ethereal defence while also giving him a real-time cat scan of his body.

Since interior magic use and empowerment came naturally to Faith he didn't need to cast them immediately as they would drain his mana too quickly.

No thoughts of saving to continue the trial were present but he was simply being careful not to run out of mana and leave himself exposed.

'Strength is good but my magic is a must if I'm against someone older then me, it the only advantage I have' - he told himself as to not freak out from fear and suddenly waste his mana.

The dead silence continued with Faith completely on guard as slowly but surely things started entering his shadow sense perception. Arrows and lots of them!!

The first wave came forward but out of caution Faith didn't simply devour them away with shadow magic, instead, raising his blade to deflect what he could and tank what he couldn't with his mana skin. it worked better then he thought as the hail was held back by his mana skin and the ones aiming for his vitals deflected by his blade.

Faith wasn't particularly talented at combat or swordsmanship but his battle sense instilled by Ervis served him well against a rather weak barrage.

'The arrows are just wood and iron, why the hell would they use something like that against someone with magic... oh' - He wouldn't have realised if not for shadow sense but the arrows didn't seem to be there to harm him, just distract.

He knew this for sure when felt his sense inform him that being with intent to kill where near, his battle, mana and danger sense all ringing like bells in his head.

'Shit.. 1.. 3 ..5.. 8 attackers!! why the hell are there eight people attacking me and where is that damn Rexel!!' - he internally screamed as he raised his guard even further.

He didn't want to fight but he didn't seem to have a choice. he'd only learned skills with magic for fun and swordsmanship and combat techniques a means to acquire a shared hobby with his future friends.

It was strange to say that the demon didn't want to hurt anyone but instead was being forced into it. He was still shaking somewhat over a looming fear he'd have to do things that went specifically against his mantra.

Yet when faced with the possibility of losing his life and becoming disconnecting from the first people he'd come to love Faith was resolute in his priorities.

He would try his best to not harm anyone but he was still determined to protect his life.

Just for a second as the enemies neared Faith's normally joyful and curious eyes flashed with the cold indifference of someone who wasn't willing to suffer again.