C13. Terrifying Hunger

Tyler stared at the crystal for quite a while, even just looking at it made him feel refreshed and energized. A Magic Crystal was a concentration of the purest, and strongest mana stored in a magic beast. 

Magic crystals could only be found in magic beasts while ordinary beasts and monsters possessed what was known as a beast core. These were used to forge weapons and armors back in the Human continent, not only were they hard but flexible, but they also possessed attributes that added special effects to the equipment based on the beast the core was taken from.

Although there was a lot of information about beast crystals or cores he didn't know about, he knew even less about Magic crystals. They were the cores of the magic beast, the crystals were formed of pure Mana and could be used as an energy source, using a magic crystal to forge a weapon was considered wasteful and most of its energy would be lost during the forging process.

Although he could sense a lot of energy coming from the magic crystal, the mana inside the crystal was wild and chaotic. It wasn't compatible with humans and even demons (maybe the other races as well). The fundamental structures of beasts and humans were completely different, and the way they used their Mana was also different. if he tried using the crystal in its current form to recover his mana he would most likely damage his Mana body.

The refreshed feeling he was feeling from the aura of the magic crystal was mostly superficial, it was a passive effect caused by the insane amount of concentrated Mana inside the magic crystal, in the end, his fatigue hadn't disappeared and he was still drained of energy.

His growling stomach reminded him of this fact since he couldn't find any fruits just by looking around, his only option was to go back and hunt one of the Red hawks he saw at the entrance to the forest.

Venturing deeper into a forest that had contained the magic beast was not a good idea, especially not in his current state. He soon walked to the magic crystal and picked it up, it felt cold and didn't have the hard texture of a crystal.

After picking it up with his left hand he looked at the dagger in his right, he felt awkward, he would need to use the dagger when hunting and even when he would cut the animal in other to satisfy his hunger.

 He would then be able to get some rest to ease the exhaustion, but one of the ladies was badly wounded and he didn't know any healing spells, he had thought about leaving them behind and returning to the castle but he was hesitant.

As a self-proclaimed gentleman, he couldn't leave two beautiful ladies unconscious in the middle of a forest, hopefully, if he saved them they would be grateful and help him by providing him with information.

 At least this was the probably the best outcome from such a dangerous situation and his only hope to gain the aid of actual demons if he could play his cards right. It seemed that he was trying to convince himself in their favor "Sigh...".

Still, his arms were weak and he could barely move much less carry two girls. To be honest, he wanted to just lay down and sleep, it took all his willpower to just stand.

' Yup, I need help to provide help.'

 He thought he considered various solutions none of which seem feasible. 'Every time I use magic something bad happens, but luckily, it seems like am not a sorcerer as I can use various forms of magic, after all, both the elemental magic and control magic was that powerful, hmm... should I try? if care's not taken I might pass out on the spot.' he thought to himself in deliberation as he eyed his surroundings anxiously.

Thinking of all the pros and cons of using magic to save the two girls from being monster food he finally decided.

He didn't know much about demons so he didn't know their characteristics, if he was to base it on what he heard in the human continent, this would be a bad idea but it was hard to trust them now after what they did.

Besides, It was better to take a chance now with the ones that would owe him a favor or maybe just be grateful for not leaving them to die than wait or seek another one, which had more possibility for danger.

Gritting his teeth he decided to try, he took a few steps and got closer to the girls, he raised his hands above them with difficulty.

"Lesser Minimize Magic, Gravity walk"

This was a Tier 1 spirit magic spell, it would almost perfectly erase the effect of gravity on a target making them almost weightless. Normally this would only be used on lifeless things and objects, mainly to transport heavy loads. It was not used on the living matter because it hurt them but Tyler didn't have any other options.

Flight magic was a Tier 3 spell, at this moment he only knew tier 1 spells and had to make do.

The moment he said the spell a magic circle appeared beneath the two ladies, Tyler immediately focused on suppressing his energy, he may not know how to control his mana but he had felt the energy leave him several times now, and he now knew how it felt so all he needed to do was suppress that feeling and hope for the best. Besides he had used both lesser and minimize metamagic, even though he had just made up one of those. He felt it would help him limit the strength of the spell, either way, there was no danger in trying.

The magic circle completed and disappeared, the girls slowly rose as they hovered a few feet above the ground, they were practically weightless, but this also meant their internal organs were weightless as well which would affect their bodies after some time. At that moment Tyler felt his consciousness draining as he lost his balance and fell to one knee.

Luckily he was able to recover much quicker this time, his body was covered in sweat, and his breathing was heavier, but a smile slowly crept up his face as his eyes sparkled. "Looks like I can use magic." Even though he already knew that after casting two spells previously, this was the first time he was able to feel excited about it, still he knew he needed better control if he wanted to be a decent mage.

Tyler was no longer delayed, he had limited time until the effects of the spell ran out, he needed to get them to the castle ASAP.

He decided to pick the dark-skinned lady up first, she was the most in need of medical attention being so grievously wounded and still bleeding. It seemed like the wounds weren't infected which was a good sign. He didn't know any healing spells so there wasn't much he could do.

All he could do now was to stop the bleeding, he tore a piece of his shirt which was most likely dirty, but so was the girl's clothing. He applied pressure on her wounds to try and stop the bleeding, tearing another piece he wrapped it around her wounds and tied it tight.

He regretted not doing this before casting the spell, still, he made sure the makeshift bandage was firmly tied. After all this, he was finally ready to leave.

He picked up the dark-skinned girl and placed her on his left shoulder, then he picked up the blonde girl and held her under his right arm, they were practically weightless so it wasn't a problem for him, to be honest since they wouldn't touch the ground he could have just dragged them by their hands but he felt it would be a bit rude.

He was still tired and felt a little dizzy, he slowly walked back the way he came, back in the direction of the castle. The entire walk was hectic and keeping his arms suspended like that was becoming harder and harder.

Even though the ladies were practically weightless he felt like he was holding several tons of heavy luggage, it took him a considerable amount of willpower not to drop them.

It took him longer to get to the outskirts of the forest than he originally thought, he could finally see the Red Hawks perched up on the tree branches, several meters high. After arriving at the outskirt, he let down the girls, making sure their bodies were upright in other to prevent any issues from his spell.

Holding the exquisite dagger in his hand, he looked up at the birds, his neck was beginning to hurt from how high up they were.

 Taking a deep breath he tried to relax himself a little, there were a lot of birds in the trees and he could tell most of them were asleep since it was currently the middle of the night, he hadn't noticed it, being able to see so well in the dark had its disadvantages.

All he needed to do was aim for the most densely packed area and with one good throw, he might be able to kill one of them.

His arm felt heavy, he knew it would be hard to lift it not to mention throwing a dagger, but still, he had to try. Raising his right arm he swung it around with all his might letting go of the dagger as he aim for a flock of red Hawks.

The blade sliced through the air missing the birds completely and hitting the branch above them.

 "Damn it"

 Tyler frowned at the sight of such a sorry throw but before he could complain further the dagger fell back down and stabbed one of the red Hawks in the back sending it falling from the tree.

Thud...

Tyler seeing this scene felt a little embarrassed, he turned left and right making sure no one saw that, and he cleared his throat as he walk to the large bird that had just fallen.

 'Just as planned. '

Tyler took out the dagger from the back of the bird and surprisingly there was no blood on the weapon, it seemed this dagger wasn't an ordinary one. He tried lifting the bird, and although he did, it felt like his arms were going to fall off.

He had no choice but to deal with it, he went back, and just like before he picked up the girls but this time he held what felt like a 5-ton bird in his right hand too. Continuing his return trip, he struggled to walk back to the castle, he seemed to be getting weaker and hungrier the more time passed.

He was soon close to the castle, still trekking slowly to the castle he felt himself go through something, it was the same last time too, but he had assumed it was his imagination, but now... with his curiosity piqued he wanted to investigate but now wasn't a good time, the spell he used on the ladies would soon time out, not only had he used a lesser version of a Tier 1 spell he also wasn't in a good state of mind at the time.

It didn't take long for him to get to the castle and follow the same direction back to the seventh floor of the West wing, he found a room close to the king's Chambers and placed the two girls on the bed.

The instant he had done that the spell timed out and the girls fell on the dusty bed. He tried to find some clean clothes for them but couldn't, the only clothes still left in the castle were a couple of brown shirts and some grey pants with a few pairs of ordinary boots.

He didn't really have time for this though as his stomach was reminding him of his body's predicament. Walking out of the room after placing the clothing on the sofa, he had changed out of his torn brown shirt into another brown shirt.

He soon arrived at the yard by the west wing with the dead bird in tow, he didn't know where the kitchen was and didn't have the time to waste searching for it. there were trees in the courtyard so he didn't have any issues getting dried wood, he had spent a long time trying to start a fire with two rocks and finally succeed.

Plucking the feathers and draining the blood was not as taxing as he had assumed, the dagger cut through the meat like butter and he had found water in the well, although he could create water with magic and get a cleaner and purer one, he wasn't in a position to be picky. With the dagger everything seem so much easier than it would have been, he was starting to think about keeping it.

With things going smoothly his roasted meat was done within an hour as he brought a piece to his mouth and took a bite. Even though he didn't add any spice or even salt the tenderness and juiciness of the meat made his mouth water. 'It's no wonder this was considered exotic and was so highly sort after in the Ruz kingdom.'

It didn't take him long to eat more than half of the large bird, with his hunger quenched he could feel strength returning to his muscles. He still felt exhausted, so he went back to the Demon King's chambers to sleep, with the door to the library where he wanted to be as close as possible.