Chapter 31: Trouble

**POV: Eirlys**Another week of hunting has passed. As I reached the seventh day without my brother's direct supervision, a feeling of fullness washed over me, as if I were on the verge of saturation. I recognized this feeling as the critical point my older lux brother had talked about. I decided to let the other children take care of the rest of the beasts.According to the brother's words, those who assisted in the death of a beast would receive experience, although it would be distributed according to the amount of damage caused, awarding more experience to the one who finished it off.During our return, my friend Misha was also experiencing saturation. I was glad that our group was getting stronger. When the brother arrived, he said he would help us in our advancement, which comforted us. During my turn, I followed his instructions to the letter and created my vessel. I experienced a peculiar sensation, an overwhelming force flooding my body.I had never felt so powerful. I believed I could face any challenge. When I opened my eyes, I found my older brother with a strange expression on his face, as if he was pondering something complicated. Then he said to me:"Eirlys... we need to talk."For a moment I was frightened by what the brother had to say , but When he explained to me what the characteristics were and the need to keep mine secret, I was a little disappointed at having to hide my power, and not being able to use them, but my brother taught me that I just had to be careful to avoid revealing the white flames.Although I did not know how to use them , when I tried to use the element according to my brother's explanation, only red fire manifested, although I knew it would appear when I did, I was scared because I thought my hand would burn, but nothing happened.My brother explained to me in detail the risks and problems associated with the use of white fire.I made sure to engrave his words in my mind. My brother is never wrong and has always done things with me in mind well if he says something, it is likely to be true.The next morning, my brother handed me a ring. I was excited, because according to what Misha had told me, when a boy gave a ring to a girl, it meant that they would be together forever, something I always wanted and it was my wish that I wanted to achieve once I won the hunting competition.Due to the unexpectedness of the proposal I was a little distracted, but I paid attention to my brother's explanation about the function of the ring. He told me that, if I ever felt the need to use white flames, I should activate it by inputting mana.Although I did not know its exact purpose, I trusted that the ring would have some miraculous effect, so I placed it on the finger that misha had told me was the finger of promise, and headed out to hunt with my friends.On the way, misha noticed my constant smile and asked me why. I hadn't realized I was smiling, but I explained that my brother had proposed to me, and although he congratulated me, because of how happy I was I made many mistakes causing him to scold me. After almost getting hurt, I seriously focused on the matter and stopped rambling.Three more days passed and all the children in my group had made progress. The brother gave us some potions that, according to him, would make us stronger. We decided to go into the forest now that we were more capable. Everyone agreed with the idea, so we ventured beyond our usual explorations.We walked for two hours, noticing that other groups had also decided to go deeper. Thanks to my improved range, my senses covered more distance and I could use mana better. According to brother's teachings, I had been practicing a combat art that allowed me to perform movements by combining elemental mana with my physical movements. We wished to explore these abilities further.Killing one-star beasts became easy, even being able to do it alone. This filled us with confidence, and we decided to test our skills against two-star beasts. This area harbored beasts with a mana intensity I had never felt before, which led me to assume they were two-star or higher.Brother warned us to be cautious and had taught us to distinguish the beasts based on the quality and intensity of their mana. At first, we acted cautiously, but we adapted quickly and were able to defeat them more easily. However, after each battle we needed to take a breather.After midday, we encountered some peculiar beasts. They looked like dogs walking on two legs and carrying sticks in their hands. Although they were only one star, they seemed strange to us, so we decided to eliminate them by ambushing them. I myself took one out with a single blow."Auuuu..."However, at that moment, we heard a howl. It seemed that one of the beasts had blocked the attack and called for reinforcements. Although we managed to take it out, we were worried.Brother had warned us that certain creatures acted in packs and could call for help if they felt threatened, so we decided to retreat and retrace our steps. However, it was too late; my senses detected that many creatures were following us, including some two-starred ones.I knew we were in danger, so I communicated with the others through the bracelet that big brother had given us leaders for emergency situations, asking them to meet us to face the threat together.There were three groups nearby willing to help, as we knew that alone we could not deal with all the creatures. When we met, we decided to look for a place that would give us an advantage and continued our retreat.However, the creatures were slowly approaching us and we were running out of time, so we decided to improvise a wall using downed trees along the way. We prepared for the confrontation, even activating our shields to calm ourselves.When the creatures finally caught up with us, I noticed that among them were three larger than the rest. I scanned their mana and confirmed that they were two-star beasts. Each group took on one of them while we supported each other. At that moment, I activated my fire mana and surrounded my sword with flames.I also deployed the one attack of the art I had mastered, "Art of the Elemental Knight-First Stance-Heavy Strike." With a downward swing, my sword cut through the chest of the beast including the old spear it was holding to block my attack.And I took the opportunity to continue attacking, but it soon retreated to join the other one-star beasts, fearing it would be surrounded. I continued to fight them while the other groups dealt with the remaining two-star beasts. After an arduous confrontation, we finally managed to get rid of all the creatures.I thought we could celebrate our victory, but suddenly,"auuuu"we heard another howl coming from the same direction. A shiver ran through my body, and before confirming anything, I communicated with big brother. When we finished securing the area, we received his reply, urging us to return to base.I hurried the others and, although exhausted, they followed my orders. On the way, the remaining groups joined us, including Clayton's group. I had no time to explain; I just told them to run.After a few minutes, our worst nightmares came true: one of the children who excelled in detection detected that we were being followed by more than fifty creatures. We were still far from our base. At this speed, it would take us at least half an hour to get back, and the creatures were faster than us.But we kept running with no other choice. The children didn't panic; I guess the shield was helping them. Soon, one of them detected a cave that might be a good place for the dog-headed beasts not to take advantage so I ordered the children to follow me into the cave.