12

"Rich?" I raised an eyebrow. "What do y-"

"Nevermind that! We need to go!" Nira suddenly took off running.

I didn't linger long and started running after her. While I didn't know exactly why we were running, I figured it had to do something with that dead hunter's belongings.

We ran about two hundred feet, when I suddenly heard a familiar sound coming from behind - the sound of something flying through the air. Eyes wide, I jumped to the side. An arrow embedded itself in the ground a short distance ahead of where I had been running a moment before.

'What the…' I looked back and the huntress was chasing after us with startling speed. Her bow was drawn and she was reaching for another arrow. 'What did Nira steal?!' I cried out in my mind.

"Thieves!" The huntress shouted at us from behind, letting loose another arrow in my direction.

'Why me?!' I groaned as I dodged - which I was getting pretty good at, if I do say so myself.

Shortly after the second arrow buried itself in the ground, Nira suddenly stopped. She spun around, eyes sharp. In one fluid motion she dropped her spear, pulled an arrow from her quiver, and nocked it. She held her breath, and a moment later - she let the arrow fly.

Her arrow sounded different. It whistled through the air much louder than the hunter's arrows - hell, it was even louder than Ahlthazar Darkheart's giant spear-like arrows. I watched in amazement as the arrow screamed towards the huntress. It wasn't necessarily faster than the others I had seen, but it was affecting the air around it as it rotated - distorting it as if it was being bent by the arrow's passage.

"...!" The huntress also noticed the strange arrow, but didn't panic. She had been following us while sticking close to the trees, as had become customary for her after years of hunting in the forest.

Before the arrow could arrive at her location, she stepped behind the tree beside her.

The arrow hit the ground where she had been standing - and shattered it. Dirt sprayed violently into the air in all directions.

"What are you waiting for?! Run!" Nira called out, a bit of exhaustion in her voice.

I stopped gawking and chased after her.

Glancing back as I ran, I saw the huntress step back out from behind the tree. She looked down at the ground, then back towards us.

But she didn't follow this time.

Still, we ran - and kept running, for half an hour.

Only after Nira was satisfied did we stop - both panting in exhaustion, trying to claim as much oxygen as possible.

"What the fuck was that back there?!" I eventually caught my breath and interrogated Nira. "What did you steal?!"

Nira wasn't offended by my tone. Instead, she smiled and pulled a small metal cylinder out of a sack she just scavenged from the dead hunter. The cylinder was hollow, with a strange bluish glass lens in the center.

"This." She replied, holding the strange cylinder out for me to see.

"..." I looked at it, then back at her. "What is it?"

"You see, you humans may not be able to use Mana, but you have created some interesting toys." She smiled, then continued, "This is one of those toys. It's called a Mana Tracer."

She held it up, and put it to her eye. "You see, if you look through a Mana Tracer, you can track disturbances in the Mana. You can follow them."

"Any hunter worth their weight possesses one…" She paused. "But they're also extremely expensive."

"It takes years to save enough money to buy one, so only the most veteran hunters carry them. It's proof they've graduated from mediocrity and stepped into the ranks of Venir. The Venir are hunters who live in the forest. They're constantly on the move, never staying in one place at a time. Their lives depend upon the hunt." Nira trailed off.

"You see… My father was a hunter." She added in a quiet voice. "Shal'Iri and human hunters always had their differences, but they respected each other. Learned from each other. At least… they used to…"

"He taught me a lot when I was still very young." Nira crouched down, running her hands along the limbs of her new bow.

It looked much too big for her.

"I see…" I finally said.

'Not to mention that shot she took…' I started to think I was profoundly lucky to run into her when she was battered and weaponless.

"So… Why does that make us rich though?" I pointed at the Mana Tracer.

She grinned, "Well, you see… from the time I began walking, my father taught me the hunt." She paused, put the metal piece back to her eye, and continued, "It may have been a long time ago, but I remember the important parts."

She seemed to locate something particular as she stopped looking around. Handing me the Mana Tracer, she pointed in that direction and said, "Look."

Nira looked at the little cylinder like it was her long lost lover as I accepted it.

"This thing is going to make Manarts rain." I heard her whisper excitedly.

Ding!

[You have discovered a Spell! Do you wish to learn it?]

My eyes widened and I looked at the Mana Tracer with incredulity.

'No way.'

I focused my thoughts while looking at the strange device.

'Inspect.'

[Mana Tracer - Standard Monocular. Imbued with Spell of Trace]

[Spell of Trace.

Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Cost: 1 mana per 5 seconds.

Invoke method: Recite the required Vir'il to toggle the Spell on and off.

Vir'il: Tra'ma]

'I can see the Vir'il for this one too…' I thought about auto-translate for a few moments, then shook away my thoughts.

'Oh well, doesn't matter. Yes!' I exclaimed.

Ding!

[Spell of Trace has been learned.]

I looked back at Nira and grinned, but didn't put the Mana Tracer to my eye like she was expecting.

My actions must have looked quite stupid to her, as a few seconds later she frowned and asked, "What? Are you going to look through it or keep standing there like an idiot?"

I shook my head, then handed it back to her.

She looked at me with a scowl.

"Tra'ma." I recited. It was better to just show her. She already knew I could use Spells after all.

[Trace activated.]

I felt a cool sensation move from my chest, up my neck, and into my eyes. Suddenly, the world was bathed in

blue light - almost like wearing blue-tinted sunglasses in my previous life.

'Mana.' I guessed.

Indeed, it was as if there was Mana everywhere, represented by blue light. Looking around, I quickly noticed parts of it weren't still. I could see streams of blue light, flowing off into the distance.

I looked over at Nira, and could see Mana swimming around her. In the direction we had come from, Mana was moving in our direction.

My jaw dropped. This was… Amazing!

'It only uses one Mana every five seconds too… I don't even need to turn it off!' I thought with excitement.

"Tra'ma?" Nira looked at me strangely, then her eyes widened. "Your eyes!" She exclaimed.

"Don't tell me you… you… !!!" I could see a myriad of emotions in Nira's eyes as she stared into mine.

I wondered what my eyes looked like right now.

"Tra'ma." I repeated ten seconds later. The wondrous blue world instantly faded back into the gloomy dim light I was used to.

[Trace deactivated.]

I could keep the Spell active, but it was slightly distracting - I wasn't used to it yet.

"I learned the Spell." I stated.

Nira just stared in silence. She seemed shocked, like her entire world view was shattered and she didn't know how to accept it.

"It's called Spell of Trace… right?" I probed.

She slowly nodded.

"What do my eyes look like when I use it?"

"...They're blue." She paused, "Bright blue…"

'That's badass.' I thought.

I frowned a moment later though. That meant I couldn't activate it around people.

"When I use the Spell… The world becomes dyed in blue light. It's Mana right?" I asked.

She nodded.

"That's awesome…" I sighed in appreciation.

I looked at the Mana Tracer in her hand. Humans had managed to extract the Spell from some unknown being using who knows what method to put it in that little monocular. It was truly extraordinary.

More importantly though, it seemed I now had another method of learning Spells.

'But, what about my dagger then?' I wondered. 'It has some special effects, are those not Spells?'

I unsheathed the dagger and stared at it for a few seconds.

'Guess not.' I sighed.

I looked at her bow. Remembering that arrow she shot, I wondered if there was a Spell attached to it.

"Can I see that for a second?" I asked, pointing at her bow.

She looked at the bow, then held it out for me.

Ding!

[You have acquired: Enhanced Longbow.]

'Inspect' I focused my thoughts.

[Enhanced Longbow. Enhancement: Increased durability.

Increases damage by 35-45]

'No Spell.' I thought sadly, sighing in disappointment.

'Still, it's a strong weapon.'

'But then, how did she do it?'

"Nira, how did you shoot an arrow like that?" I asked, handing the bow back to her.

She took it and smiled cheekily, "Oh, that? It's nothing special."

I waited, but she didn't seem to have any intention of elaborating.

'She's definitely pouting.' I lamented.

I sighed, "Alright, don't tell me then…"

"Are we going to keep heading South? Or should we hunt for something to eat?" I asked, looking in the direction of that mysterious stream of Mana.

"Both of course!" She declared, then reasoned, "It's a long way to the ruin, we might as well have some fun along the way."

'Fun… she says.'

Her idea of fun worried me, but it was a good opportunity to test my new spell.

"Okay, let's go." I agreed.

Nira stood up, stretched briefly, then put the Mana Tracer to her eye. She scanned our surroundings one last time, then walked between two large Eks and looked back at me. "Follow me." She gave me a toothy smile.

I stared. This was the first time I'd seen such a smile from her. Her teeth were pearly white, contrasted distinctly against her dark ashen skin. It was moments like these I would almost forget that she was an otherworldly being with a penchant for striking sensitive places.