13 Chapter 13: Progress

August 10 Year 30,765

A month has passed since the incident with the Savage Sang Elder that is now a lich. Nothing uneventful happened aside from the town's situation slowly getting better

Currently, Cairo is outside the town with John supervising his training. The Cairo of now and the Cairo one month ago was miles apart

Cairo is still not bulky but his body is only a bit skinny now and he even gained some more height. The kid is still short for his age though at only around 5'1 feet but he's getting taller

"[Blood Magic: Boiling Blood!]" Cairo circulated mana to his body and stimulated his blood. This is a common trick that blood magic users often use

Stimulating one's blood with magic can increase people's physical strength and reaction speed. The increase varies depending on how much mana the mage uses and how high their mastery over it

With the boost provided by his magic, Cairo barely dodged the sharp claws of a desert fox by moving his head to the side

Cairo clenched his fist and poured more mana in it and the blood in that area was more stimulated. Cairo uses his fist to attack but the fox has a quick speed and uses its tail to block

Even then, the impact threw the fox away but it wasn't injured in the slightest

Seeing that his first attack didn't have his desired result, Cairo controlled some of the sands around before rushing towards the desert fox

"[Sand Magic: Sand Guard!]" Cairo uses the 'head' of the sands he was controlling and that part hardened as it charged at the kid's enemy

The fox opened its mouth and a stream of winds and sands clashed with Cairo's attack

The two canceled out each other before the fox uses its swift speed again. Its claws glowed with a sandy color before jumping in the air, intending to claw Cairo's face

As a result, Cairo uses sands to block. The fox penetrated the sands but was unable to move farther after that. Cairo's heart trembled at that as the fox's claw was literally only centimeters away from his face

Even then, Cairo doesn't want to lose and he uses his other hand. Sands gathered in his palm before he raised his arm to hit the fox with his magic

"[Sand Magic: Explosive Sandball!]"

The fox doesn't want to die and opened its mouth before a brown ball formed in it

Cairo sensed mana fluctuations and he was forced to let go of his control in his explosive sand ball to control the sands below him to move him away

The fox landed on the ground and the ball attack it made missed its target

"This fox is tricker than I thought" Cairo thought in his mind before his blood boiled again and he charged at the fox's direction

A dagger appeared in the kid's hand and he stabbed it downwards. Too bad for him that the fox was really too nimble and it moved in the side

After dodging, the fox leaped once more to claw Cairo but the kid only controlled sands to block for him. This time, he already learned his lesson

Cairo moved away from where the fox's mouth was directed and his arms exploded with power. The dagger killed the fox and its face bled a lot

"Control the fox's blood" John who was watching in the side to protect Cairo in case the kid won't win said and the kid obeyed him

Cairo removed his dagger first before putting his palm on top of the dead fox's head. As he is a blood mage, Cairo knows that he shouldn't be disgusted by the sight of blood, and seeing blood is already a normal thing for him

Droplets of blood started floating and a ball of it gathered into Cairo's palm

"Try changing their shape" John said. Since Blood Magic involves blood and Cairo cannot recklessly use his own as he's still not that physically fit, he can only resort to training with other creature's blood

In this way, when the time comes that he can use his own blood to fight, he wouldn't need to start from scratch. Besides, with this, he can train his fighting skills while also being able to hunt for food. A real win-win situation for him

Cairo controlled the ball of blood and shape it into a square, then to a triangle. Simple shapes like those are easy to do but complex shapes required him to have better control in magic

"Try hardening some blood. Use a small amount first before slowly increasing it"

As usual, Cairo obeyed. John and Kira's teachings were all beneficial to him. Add that to him having access to his past life's memories made his skills to advance at a rapid state to the point that it shocks Kira and the others

For him to do that despite being born in such a town, how could they not be shocked?

Cairo tried hardening the blood but the transformation was too slow. He cannot use it in real combat effectively yet but Cairo wasn't discouraged. Small improvements are still improvements!

Suddenly, the two heard a bird's cry and when they looked at the source, they saw an eagle circling above them

"Perfect timing, try fighting the eagle by only using blood magic as much as possible. Real-life combat can make one improve a lot"

The eagle might have smelled the scent of blood coming from the fox and it was attracted to where it was

The eagle issued several bird cries as if wanting to intimidate the two humans below to leave the prey. However, the two just waited for it to come down so that the eagle will become Cairo's 'live target practice'

As expected, seeing that the two annoying humans didn't leave, the eagle started diving down

Cairo controlled more blood and have them form a blood screen in front of him. However, he overestimated the protection the blood screen can give him

The eagle's beak penetrated Cairo's defense and the kid doesn't have a choice to control the sands below him to move his body away

Even then, the eagle managed to leave a scratch mark on Cairo's shoulder and it bled a bit

"Are you, alright?" John asked in worry. No matter what, Cairo is still a kid in other people's eyes. An injury although light can still make the adults worry about him

"I-I'm fine!" Cairo replied through gritted teeth. It wasn't that painful but the pain is still pain. Not to mention, he still needs to fight the eagle

As its first dive attack failed, the eagle flew higher before flapping its wings wildly and sharp winds were generated

Cairo uses blood magic again and this time, he poured additional mana for defense. However, the eagle's attacks are still powerful and droplets of blood were being blown away by it

Smalls cuts appeared on Cairo's body and John became more worried about him. The older man was about to help Cairo but the fighting intent that he saw made him stop

After the winds stopped attacking, Cairo did his best to harden some blood as fast as he can and fired it towards the eagle. The eagle only dodged by flying to the side but Cairo waved his hand and the hardened blood's trajectory also changed

The eagle flew higher and the sharp blood chased it for a few seconds before Cairo loses control over it due to the long distance

The eagle flapped its wings wildly again and sharp feathers made from sands advanced to Cairo

The kid controlled his mana and his blood boiled for the nth time. The increase in speed enabled him to run around and dodge. But after only a few seconds, he felt a wave of fatigue spreading in his body

John stepped in at that time and a thread of his own blood flew out from his palm that penetrated the eagle's chest and it immediately died

Stimulating the blood several times or in a long period of time is not advisable to those that have a weak to normal constitution. The mages literally forced their bodies to move faster and generate an attack stronger than it normally can. There was bound to be some limitations

Cairo kneeled in the ground and John supported his body. "Don't stimulate your blood too much, do that only when you are in a desperate situation. You have a chance of defeating that eagle if you didn't stimulate your blood several times before"

Cairo can only nod his head at that. He knew that he made mistakes. Too bad that his fighting experience is still limited and he doesn't know how to balance all of his abilities

This is a problem almost all mages experience. Different types of magic can be used in different kinds of situations. Those who are new to magic find it hard to use the appropriate magic in different situations. It wasn't surprising that Cairo made that mistake

"Let's go back in the town and rest" John said before helping Cairo to stand with his own feet

When they reach the town, Cairo immediately went to a house that became his and spread his tired body in the worn-out bed. Cairo only rested for a few minutes before taking out a book about magic to continue his study

More knowledge means the more Cairo will understand the world and it would be easier for him to use magic

Cairo only started reading when a woman entered his room. "Why are you not resting properly?" Kira asked with a frown and Cairo didn't answer to that

Cairo might be the closest with this Kira but he still has his cultivation as a priority. He doesn't like the nagging he is receiving

Kira can only shake her head at the unresponsive Cairo and went to his side. As usual, a white light covered the woman's palms and she placed it on top of Cairo's body to heal the kid's injuries while also removing his fatigue

Cairo immediately felt waves and waves of comfort spreading to his body. Having a healer is really beneficial, they can make Cairo's tired body to feel as if it was back at its peak condition

"Last time, you said you want to do research right?" Kira asked and that immediately piqued Cairo's interest

Cairo sat in the bed and waited for Kira to continue her words. The woman can only shake her head in bitterness. Cairo was mostly unresponsive to anything that she will say but if it includes anything about magic, the kid will immediately give her all of his focus

"What field of research do you want to take?" Kira asked and Cairo immediately answered honestly. "Anything that can make me stronger"

"No, I mean, there are several ways to make a mage stronger. There are potions that can boost a mage's magical prowess temporarily and permanently. There are also mages that relied on items like a weapon that will also increase their strength"

Cairo started contemplating but he doesn't know what field to choose. The various path of research have their own pros and cons

Those who focused on potion making or alchemy can increase their power through potions but it required a long period of research. Not to mention that tons of resources were needed than the other paths, Cairo can only advance in that area if he has access to a lot of resources. Besides even at his young age, Cairo knew that he cannot focus all of his time studying, he needs to have actual fighting experiences

"Is there a way where the strength I will gain will be my own? I do not want to rely on things like weapons or potions" Cairo asked hopefully. Fortunately, Kira has a wide range of knowledge

"People that want personal power mostly relied upon their own bodies and they studied biology as their main research path while also studying in the fields like alchemy. Some also modified their bodies to improve it but I don't recommend that"