Chapter 16 - Serpent's Eyes

The guards were shocked to see that Francis' entire trunk was gone. His legs and pelvis fell to the ground, forming a pool of blood underneath the remains. Julieth began to scream as she covered her eyes and shook uncontrollably. Never in her short life had she seen such a cruel and macabre sight.

"Damn it. It's a Chameleon Viper, an insidious rank 2 magical beast that can camouflage itself in the environment. It is quite agile and dangerous!" Elijah said, as his entire body tensed ready to enter the fray. The snake had engulfed half of Francis and disappeared from the rest of the guards' sight again, but an ominous atmosphere was in the air. Clearly, the snake was still lurking.

"All guards in formation, watch all angles, I want no blind spots. Protect the Miss at all costs," ordered Captain Roger, as he ran swiftly towards the remains of Francis with his sword drawn. There were three whitish snake-like threads surrounding his sword, the mark that his Qi power had reached the level of a Praetorian. He found nothing around him as he carefully searched the place where Francis had died.

All the guards were incredibly tense and in a cold sweat. This trip to the Woods, which they thought of as just another walk, was quickly turning into a nightmare. While they had a Qi Praetorian and two Qi Grandmasters in their ranks, if they couldn't even see their enemy, they were likely to lose more of their own before they could kill it, or even drive it away.

Captain Roger circled around the guards as he searched for the beast, but did not find it even after 10 minutes. Finally, he put the sword away again. He was using everything he had to find the Viper but could not find it. "It seems the snake has fled," he said as he ordered the guards to calm down, and they slowly began to let their guard down. Miss Julieth, however, was still covering her eyes and trembling with fear as she sobbed noisily.

"Damn, I can't believe we were ambushed by a Beast. Some great guide we have, aren't you supposed to find these beasts before they attack us," one of the guards said, clearly disgruntled, trying to blame Elijah for the ambush, and not Francis who had disregarded the latter's advice, not to attack a beast that hadn't bothered them before. He had been a friend of Francis' for several years and was angry to have seen him die. Elijah, however, disregarded the guard and stood tensely as if waiting for something. Nerun stood beside him. His eyes had turned a golden colour and he watched everything with great vigilance.

"Hey, orphan, I'm talking to you..." shouted the disgruntled guard. At that moment, Nerun pointed at the guard who was berating Elijah. The latter shot in the direction of the guard at breakneck speed. All the other guards barely had time to react and several of them with their swords in hand started to move towards their companion, thinking that Elijah was going to attack them. They were surprised by Elijah's speed, and never imagined he could be so fast.

The sub-captain with sinister eyes appeared in front of Elijah with a blade in his hand, wielded in reverse, and lunged at Elijah in an attempt to slit his throat. Elijah however leapt three metres into the air, dodging the sub-captain and appearing on top of the guard who had insulted him. The guard was angry and although surprised he grabbed his sword and waited for Elijah to come down to attack him.

At that moment Elijah launched a kick wrapped with two snakes of Qi diagonal to the guard. The kick slammed into something invisible in the air. The large Chameleon Viper appeared right where Elijah had attacked and was ejected several metres backwards, with multiple broken scales on its head and bleeding profusely.

The guard was surprised to see the serpent but it had already launched a full-force attack on Elijah and was incapable of stopping the attack. At this moment he realised that Elijah never meant to attack them but was waiting for the Serpent, and as soon as he detected it he attacked it, saving his life. At that moment a stone hit him hard in the hand, making him drop the sword he was holding and resolving the strike. Nerun was still in his initial position. No one realised at what point he had thrown the stone at the guard with such precision.

When the Captain saw the snake, he lunged at it, and without missing the opportunity created by Elijah, he beheaded it. The snake fell dead in that instant. All the other guards stopped and rejoiced that they were able to avert a major disaster. Then, they all turned to Elijah and many turned red with embarrassment, especially the guard who had been shouting at him.

"I am very sorry young Elijah. Thank you for saving my life. My name is Ricard. I will make sure to pay you back for this grace," he said as he looked at the young man with new eyes. The speed and power he demonstrated clearly placed him among the strongest in the group, a Qi Grandmaster like the two sub-captains. The Sub-Captain who had attacked him kept glaring at Elijah with a hint of killing intent in his eyes. Yet he knew there was nothing he could do about it, at least not yet. On the one hand, Elijah had just saved the life of one of the guards, and on the other, he discovered that Elijah's power was not inferior to his own. It was possible that he might even be a little stronger. He couldn't help but feel a little envious.

"Well young Elijah, I sincerely apologise. I really didn't know you were so talented, a Qi Grandmaster at only 14 years old. Unbelievably, even in the capital, there are not many who have the same level. Receive my greetings and my thanks, which are also expressed by the young lady and all the guards," said Menke, who was comforting Julieth.

"We'd better make camp and wait until tomorrow to continue. This was the Viper's nest and it is likely that there are not many magical beasts nearby, since this was its territory. What happened with the guard was unfortunate, I must again urge you not to attack beasts that have not provoked us beforehand. I know many of you are very powerful, but there are many more higher-ranking magical beasts on the fringes of the Forest and it is easy to enter their territory inadvertently," Elijah advised.

On this occasion, the Captain and the rest of the guards agreed and began to make camp. Ricard approached Fancis's remains and made a small grave nearby. Several of the guards moved closer to the snake and began to dissect it for resources. The materials that could be obtained from a rank 2 beast, after all, were quite valuable.

Mr Menke approached a more or less open space in the forest in the Viper's territory and held out his hand in which was a silver-coloured ring with a light blue jewel embedded in it. Suddenly out of nowhere, multiple tents and other materials appeared. Nerun, who had approached the convoy, opened his eyes in surprise. He had never seen anything like it before.

"It's a space ring," said Menke, when he saw Nerun with his eyes full of admiration. "The ring has a Space Gem, a very special and hard-to-get gem, which contains inside it a natural space of several cubic metres, in which you can store items and such. It is one of the most advanced technologies ever developed, however, they tend to be very expensive and only a few people can afford them," he explained patiently.

"Wow... I want one. Imagine all the food I could store inside," said Nerun with shining stars in his eyes.

The guards quickly set up the tents. There was a central tent, clearly larger and more luxurious, which belonged to Miss Julieth, with two smaller tents next to it for Mr Menke and the Captain. There were 10 other tents surrounding these, which belonged to the guards. In the centre of the camp, they had built a fire. Everyone agreed that they had no way of storing much of the snake meat, so they roasted a large portion of it for everyone's supper. The most important materials of the snake were its scales, its two eyes, the fangs and the gall bladder. Because of the great role Elijah played, he was allowed to choose any of the materials he wanted. Everyone thought he would choose the gall bladder, which was the most valuable part, since it is where the Viper's venom was produced, or the fangs, which could be used to make weapons. However, he chose the eyes of the snake, a material that can be used in Alchemy, but is of little use unless you know a Pill Master. The guards simply took it that Elijah was sensible, and was leaving the best part for them.

Elijah approached Nerun and together they partook of the dinner with the guards. The meat of the magical beasts was considered a delicacy in all the territories and had properties that aided the development of physical and mental potential. The meat of the snake was shared among all. Nerun, who had never eaten Magical Beasts before, ate until he choked, causing laughter among several of the guards. They felt closer to Elijah and Nerun, especially having seen for themselves Elijah's prowess and how he helped them kill the snake.

Many of the guards overcame minor bottlenecks in their cultivation and advanced a Qi level. This change was most evident in Nerun, who advanced from Qi level 6 to Qi level 8 after dinner, and felt his body become lighter and more powerful. At the same time, he felt another adjoining energy in his mind, refreshing it, but Nerun did not know exactly what this other energy was that he was feeling.

As night approached, everyone retreated to the tents, with the guards taking turns to watch out for beasts attacking them. Nerun and Elijah had no tent of their own and were used to sleeping in the open, so they climbed a thick-branched tree near the camp and rested on one of these branches.

"Big Brother, that snake meat was super delicious. When we finish the mission we should go back to the forest and hunt other beasts to keep eating. That will help us get stronger much faster" said Nerun enthusiastically.

"Don't be silly Nerun. You know that hunting Magical Beasts is very dangerous, and we won't always be lucky enough to have a strong group like the one we have now. Even with more than 20 warriors, one of them lost his life. It is easy to make mistakes when hunting, and if we were unlucky enough to be approached by a high-ranking beast, we would all end up in its stomach." Elijah replied. "Besides, it is true that eating the flesh of Magical Beasts can help increase your power, but this is only true to a certain extent. For example, I didn't go up a single level, because the magical potential of the beast was much lower than the power of my body. I would need at least a rank 3 or rank 4 beast to help me raise a single level of Qi. This was your first time consuming a magical beast and a rank 2 one at that. You are not even a Qi Master, so you felt the increase in your power much more than the rest of the guards."

"I see... But apart from raising my Qi level, I also feel another strange energy. But I don't understand what energy it is. It's an energy that refreshes my mind and although I can't move it like my Qi, I don't know how to explain it. It's as if it allows me to talk to the world around me".

"Hahahahahaha. I see Nerun. That energy that you have developed in your mind is precisely Mana. Mana is the energy that is focused in your Mind and Spirit. Mana users communicate with the natural world so that it can help them and lend them its strength. The flesh of magical beasts contains a large amount of natural energy and is then absorbed by those who consume it. Most of the energy is lost, but some of it is assimilated by the body and transformed into the energy that the person cultivates, either Qi or Mana. You have not yet determined your path. For this reason, both energies were increased in your body when you ate the snake meat. However, increasing Mana is quite difficult. Two things are needed. On the one hand, you need talent. The talent to feel the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth with your mind is fundamental, and in Ansem, such talent is very rare. This is why even if someone ate some treasure that could increase the level of Mana in your body if you can't communicate with the natural world, the little mana you have developed will be lost. The next thing you need is a Meditation Technique. Mana Adepts use Meditation Techniques, similar to the Warriors' Martial Models, to increase the Mana in their bodies and thus continue to level up. Meditation Techniques are even rarer than Martial Models, at least in this part of the continent. These two things are imperative if you want to be a Mana user."

Nerun was thoughtful as he listened to his brother, and remembered the words Maikal had told them about Qi and Mana.

Actually, I have a gift for you. The Serpent's Eyes," Elijah said as he held out two rounded, reddish-looking objects to Nerun.