Chapter 31: Beast Hunt

'Almost there.'

Another month or so had passed since Van had begun circulating his mana. He was in the garden as usual, doing his job while he moved the mana inside his body. The first week, Van could barely grab a hold on it, but as time went by, he eventually got the hang of it and began to multitask his circulation throughout his daily activities.

He had already completed all 5 fragments, and he felt that he would break through to the next rank soon, where his choice would matter greatly. 

After one breaks through the Apprentice rank, for humans at least, they could choose two paths, the path of the Knight, and the path of the Mage. Those were not the only paths, but they were the easiest and most common. Van himself planned to follow both paths in order to become stronger. 

Following more than one path of power was extremely uncommon and extremely difficult, as it required much more effort and time to go through. But one who completes both paths can become much more stronger than those on the same rank as them. 

That night, Van was once again circulating his mana, ready to break through. After completing all 5 fragments, one had to use their mana to enter the next rank.

Slowly, Van moved his mana towards his right hand, and tried to empower his hand with it. He had to use the mana inside of him to affect his hand. When the mana finally wrapped his hand, Van felt a massive rush of energy. 

He felt stronger, healthier. He could feel all of the mana inside of him and could move it around freely. He no longer needed to focus to circulate and control his mana. What he needed to focus on next was his mana control and manipulation. 

'But I can focus on that later.'

Van looked out his open window at the forest that lay beyond the grounds of the estate. He flexed the fingers on his hand that was wrapped in mana. Van could tell that while his own body had grown stronger, it could not compare to his hand. Mana made that much of a difference. 

Van decided to check his status for any changes, and he liked what he saw.

<> Status <>

Name: Van Brown

Mana: 30/30

Rank: 1st Sword Knight

<> End <> 

'Knight, huh? That must be the default for humans.' 

Van was now in the Knight stage after Apprentice. The Knight path focused more on strengthening the body and open combat skills rather than focusing on magic or other skills. It was a straightforward path that Van was happy to start with.

Van stepped closer to the window, stepping onto the windowsill. He peeked at the grounds below, which were devoid of any guards or surveillance as usual. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

'I'll most likely be followed. There's no way this estate would've lasted this long without some form of security.' Van opened his eyes with determination. 

'I just hope they don't punish or kill me immediately. That's the only way my plan will work.'

Van wrapped his feet with mana and leaped, going over the fence boundary of the estate and diving deep into the forest.

'Time to go hunting.'

******

On a high floor inside the manor, Lord Raphael sat inside a lavish room, reading a book. This was one of his personal rooms, where only a select few servants had access to. The room was silent and peaceful, save for the crackle of the fireplace.

A cloaked figure appeared out of nowhere behind him, and kneeled.

"The servant Van has just left the estate grounds, and entered the forest."

Lord Raphael seemed unperturbed by the news, not even turning around to face the cloaked figure.

"I see. Do you think he is trying to escape?"

"It is likely, my lord. He left as soon as he entered the Knight rank and got a feel for his mana."

"So that was why he was so diligent about learning from my study. He wanted to learn how to use mana so he could escape." Lord Raphael turned a page and sighed. 

"How disappointing. That boy was quite promising. You know what to do, Verro."

"Of course, my lord. I will report to you when it is finished."

Verro disappeared just as suddenly as he arrived. After his disappearance, Lord Raphael shook his head.

"I only have a few rules…"

******

Van was now quite deep in the forest, looking around for any mana beasts. It felt good to stretch his limbs and feel free, even if just for a short while. 

After a short while walking, Van heard a low growl. 

"Yes!"

From a random bush, a wolf pounced at Van. Van turned to face the wolf, and swung a fist empowered with mana at it mid-air. The moment Van's fist made contact with the wolf's face, it exploded, blood and brains flying everywhere.

"Damn it!"

Van wiped the blood from his eyes as the wolf's corpse plopped to the ground. After getting most of it out of his eyes, Van glanced at the corpse, holding back nausea. 

'That was too easy.'

Suspicious, Van empowered his hands with mana and approached the body. He looked away before he ripped through the body, looking for a core. After a few seconds of searching through guts, Van removed his hands, disappointed.

"This was a normal beast, no wonder…" 

Van immediately left the corpse, trying to find a mana beast. Not only did he need to harvest some mana cores, he felt that fighting beasts would help increase his skills, particularly his Combat Arts, which had been neglected ever since he landed in Fendor.

Van searched around, but there was nothing.

"Shit, I'm running out of time… They might be watching right now…"

Nervous, Van began to run around, frantically looking for a mana beast. High above him, sitting in a branch was Verro, who was confused by Van's actions. 

At first, he was going to kill Van for trying to escape, but then he saw him kill that wolf and even search it. And instead of running for the nearest town, which Verro was sure that Van knew where it was because of the map in the study, Van was running around looking for more beasts.

Van was still running when the ground behind him suddenly burst.