Shadows

Whilst Beatrice was busy tinkering with her ants, in another part of the world.

Looking at the blond mage who was holding a book in her hands, Leyling's eyes couldn't help but narrow.

Even so, Leylin stood still, hiding in the shadows and not taking any action, as right now it was the middle of the day, and any action he took might be detected.

At this moment, Leylin seemed to melt into the shadows, becoming one with it and becoming completely undetectable.

After silently casting a spell to conceal himself even further, Leylin continued staring at the blond mage, occasionally moving his eyes toward a certain bush.

As he looked at the bush, which was moving slightly suspiciously, Leylin smiled slightly, watching as the blond hair mage began moving further and further away.

Seeing that his target was about to escape, the mage hidden inside of the bush suddenly took action, as three different wind blades suddenly flew towards the blond mage from different directions.

The moment the wind blades approached the body of the blond mage, a golden light suddenly surrounded her body, protecting her.

Even so, the wind mage still continued his assault as two of the wind blades struck the barrier of the light mage in the same spot.

Thankfully for her, by the time the third blade of wind was about to strike her, the light mage had enough time to act, as she suddenly disappeared, before reappearing some distance away a moment later with some sweat appearing on her forehead.

Seeing this scene, the eyes of the wind mage slightly narrowed.

This was the effect of the effect of the Rank 1 light spell, Light Flicker.

After a light mage uses this spell, they will, for an extremely brief moment, turn into light, allowing them to travel short distances nearly instantly.

Of course, as a Rank 1 spell, using this spell was extremely tiring for mage apprentices, causing its use to be quite limited.

A moment later, an arrow created out of light suddenly flew towards the wind mage, as the light mage, who launched this arrow began fleeing in the opposite direction.

...

As Rowan got closer and closer to the battlefield in front of her, she suddenly sensed something, as her eyes turned to a tiny dark cave.

Without any warning, an Earth Spike silently rose through the ground at a fast speed, striking whatever was hiding inside of the cave.

A moment later, Rowan walked up to the tiny cave and stared inside, causing a slightly surprised expression to appear on her face.

"I could have sworn that there was something inside of here," mumbled Rowan as she stared at the end of the cave before shaking her head.

Right now, Rowan had no time to concern herself with this empty cave, otherwise, her prey might escape.

...

As he stared at the light mage, who was fleeing at the moment, the wind mage suddenly grit his teeth before beginning to fly towards her as the wind aided him.

Right now, the wind mage had decided to take a risk, as he began flying towards the light mage.

Without any warning, an earth spike, which had been specially prepared by Rowan beforehand suddenly rose from the ground, going straight through both the barrier and the body of the wind mage.

At the same time, the ground below the light mage suddenly collapsed, sending her down into a deep hole.

After this, Rowan once again took action, as several spikes suddenly grew out from the walls of the hole, causing the barrier that was protecting the light mage to suddenly shatter.

A moment later, Rowan quickly looted the body of the earth and light mage, taking the book in the latter's hands as she began running away.

Without any warning, Rowan spat out a mouthful of blood, and before she could even have a chance to react, Rowan's head flew through the air, allowing her to see the scene of her death.

A small, insignificant snake-like figure emerged from the shadow which Rowan had created under the bright sun.

A moment later, Rowan's body fell to the ground revealing, Leylin, who quickly looted the former's body and ran away.

...

Darkness, although a simple word at a first glance, can describe many things.

But even so, there are a few things usually associated with darkness, with the most ordinary of them being something very simple.

Shadows

At a first glance, shadows might be harmless, causing some to mock the fear of shadows as something, ridiculous and childish, something without any meaning.

Even so, one must not underestimate shadows, after all, every single instinctive reaction of the human body was created by blood.

Created by those who dared venture into the shadows, not fearing what might lie beyond, only to never return, to never leave behind descendants.

...

As he read the book in his hands, some anger couldn't help but inexplicably appear inside of the usually calm Leylin.

After a few moments, Leylin suddenly began ripping the book, which was trying to describe the essence of darkness into pieces.

A few moments later, all that was left was Leylin, who was staring at the torn pages of the book in darkness.

After years of being in darkness, Leylin's eyes had slowly grown accustomed to it, allowing him to clearly see the torn pages of the book, which was sitting on the floor.

"I risked my life for this garbage?" mumbled Leylin as he raised his head, staring it the darkness in front of him.

But then, something usually began happening, Leylin, who usually only slept a few hours a week, suddenly began becoming sleepy.

And then, without any resistance, Leylin fell to the floor, sleeping.

An unknown amount of time began passing, perhaps days, years, decades, or perhaps even more, but eventually, Leylin's skin began falling off, being replaced by a layer of grey scales.

Suddenly, at a certain moment, blood then burst from Leylin's back, as a large set of wings suddenly revealed themselves, throwing off Leylin's robes.

A moment later, Leylin opened his eyes, revealing a set of then vertical pupils.

Right now, inside of a shadowy corner of the world, Leylin had finally transformed, becoming a true Mage.