Not A Small Matter

Malik's speed was easily over what many would have expected of him. But that was just how fast he was growing. His magic could change since he had seen and read about multiple magic skills already. That was still not enough to showcase his talents though. 

Wnat was really influencing him right this second was that he was driven by emotion. That was tapping in to his instincts. The body that had been built used various racial aspects and monstrous aspects. 

While instead, his emotions were perfect triggers for the awakening of these parts. For the natural instincts for those parts of the body to awaken the skills they ended. Hence why Malik found it easier when he was learning certain skills in a moment of emotion. 

He had to control his emotions because they could be a double edged sword. In his anger he could lash out and cause harm. It was more steady now that he had become an eldritch seed and the class Seed Of The Unknown. He wasn't a vessel any longer, but certainly had the chance to become one. If he was not careful, he could lose his mind due to the mental corruption he was somewhat fighting against with both skills and what it means when he saw the prompt that it would recede. 

Regardless, when he moved right now, the understanding of the wind tiger movement grew greatly. But also did his own understanding of wind mana as a whole. He was allowing it to rush around him, act as a layer on his own skin.. So he felt every movements and how it change the pathways of how wind could move around him. 

Each small bit of air that passed him was moving according to nature. A flow of wind currents that moved even if one person could not sense it moving. That was air, always moving, changing, and altering itself. Water and wind were similar in that aspect, even though water was often denser and remained a little more isolated. 

This understanding was why Malik pushed himself faster using less of his own mana and using the wind mana to flow directly in to the high spirit veins to move better. The high spirit veins easily took in the wind mana and used it throughout the body to increase speed without major side effects. 

Although, Malik knew that there might be some lingering discomfort. He pushed the muscles of this body too hard for what they would normally be under when it came to stress. He was also paying attention to his surroundings and avoiding whatever monsters, caravans, or what else might be in his way while moving. 

That was how he found himself to be looking at the many rows of apple trees growing with care. The orchards were not a simple small farm. They were massive and stretched for a larger space than the actual small Harvest village was taking up. That spoke to how valuable the ruby apples were that they harvested and how much they worked to ensure that they had that harvest fro the nearby cities and towns. 

Just walking in to the orchard, Malik sensed the different species of monsters that called it home. Almost like a dungeon territory, there were monsters that lived here in harmony with those that farmed the land. 

He spotted one immediately. 

'Jewel bee drone- tamed monster

This is a jewel bee drone, they are one of thousands within a colony or jewel bees led by a queen. While not directly raised by a beast tamer, it is controlled by the jewel bee queen which is directly tamed by a tamer. This tamer will spend their entire life raising the jewel bee queen so that their colony can work symbiotically with farmers to help their fields. 

Because of this, the jewel bees are friendly with the farmers that allow them to pollinate and drink nectar from the flowering produce. As they work together, it is clear that they will allow for a better harvest generation after generation. 

If harmed or angered, the deep connection that every form of jewel bee has will activate calling for the jewel bee soldiers. As such, they will attack those that harmed them using venom stingers and other dangerous attacks. The entire swarm will often attack even if it is about to perish because of the attacker. They will also stir up other swarms nearby to attack and defend the territory they live within….'

Maliok immediately put the thought of touching these fuzzy black and yellow monsters out of his mind. They might have only been the size of his fist, but fighting thousands upon thousands of them would not go well. However, that would also be a potential danger. 

If there was an accident and one of these monsters was harmed, there could be a very large danger that came knocking. But the farmers here would know about that. They would grow and live while learning not to cause unjust trouble. 

That being said, Malik didn't see a single farmer in the fields at all. Not a single farmer was anywhere to be seen. Not looking at the trees. Not looking for anything at all. Instead, there was just a flow of jewel bee monsters keeping up with their work. The only odd things were tools left here and there. 

The trimmers on the ground were well cleaned and sharp. They were not tools left behind so that they coil rust out in the grass here. Instead, they were cared for. It made Malik realize that something must have happened that drew the farmers away from here in a rush. 

This alone made Malik begin running again. He could see the rooftops of the Harvest Village in the distance through the trees. He didn't need to stop and look at anything else before he noticed that there was a single barn on fire. He didn't want to stop there, but the fact that someone might be in danger made him stop there. 

As the smoke was hanging in the air, Malik channeled a larger amount of water mana. He focused on his idea to mimic the fire wall skill and make himself able to use all forms of wall skills. But just manipulating a lot more water to make a copy of that skill was draining. 

He had to use greater amounts of his own mana to speedily bring water mana from the air and ground to form in to a wave of water. The water shimmered in the sunlight a little before he pushed it forward the same way he did with the flame wall skill. The immediate sizzling and increase in smoke proved that he had not wasted the mana at all. 

He had forcefully choked out the flames and brought a lot of the hottest coals to cool. In response, he also heard the cries of a few monsters and of what could only be a few people within the partially destroyed barn. 

"I am an adventurer here to help you. Please come out if you can. If you need help I will bring you out." Malik pushed inside and used his mana sense to pick up the area where the people were. He found a younger girl holding on to a barn cat. The earth monster barn cat was known to be a farmer's best friend for their innate skill called ground softening. But the barn cat had made a small mound of earth around the girl and two other children. 

"You three look like you aren't hurt at all. But what happened." Malik knew he would hate the answer because barns didn't just burst in to flames without reason. And it didn't make sense that no one had come to help them. 

Through tears, one girl began sobbing about the people who came to help with the dungeons suddenly bringing in reinforcements. But those reinforcements began to block the dungeons after many had gone inside. Then they started to call the adults to the center of the village for an emergency meeting. 

Malik deciphered the rushed and tear filled information finding that the so called reinforcements also began lighting small fires to their barns and storage buildings. The children were able to flee, but the adults had been trapped within the village center by the very same reinforcements that had said they would help them. 

Malik helped bring the three children outside only to find that he had no idea what to do now. Pushing in to Harvest village and going right to the center seemed like the easy thing to do. But how would he handle multiple cultists? 

There were also signs of more fires. The only reason that the three children were not hurt and he had been there was that he had rushed and the barn cat had made an earth dome to protect them from the heat. That wouldn't be the case for everyone here. 

This was all separate from the three dungeons which had been cut off as soon as the church of light forces and disguised cultists had gone in together. They had literally planned to take down the entire village just to get what they wanted within these three dungeons. Most likely more experimental dungeons. It was a big problem.