A mage… huh

A young man stood over the corpse of an owl beast. His breathing was rapid and he looked drained, but his body looked untouched.

Porter debated retiring on the search for the intruder many times over the past day, but he knew he had to at least check the relic was safe.

His adoptive father, also the Lord of Konola City, discovered the artifact less than a month ago. A slave miner found the relic in the deepest part of the mines, although he wasn't too sure of the specifics.

The moment Jax saw the relic for the first time, he was captivated—it had to be his. Pass it on to the royal family? Of course not! Whether it was the relic's effects or his grand ambitions, Jax would not let this fall into the hands of another person!

Unfortunately, the relic was easily noticeable. Its main effect was to spew out ki, consequently increasing the ki density in a large radius. While this was fantastic news for his cultivation, any decent cultivator would notice the abnormalities.

After giving it some thought, he decided to leave it with his good friend, also the leader of the Red Bandits. Unless one came knocking on the bandit's door, they wouldn't notice the strange ki density.

'Anyways, this beast looks like it could sell for a lot. Father might want to beast core as well.' Jax thought. 'Well, I'll get it back when I come down the mountain.'

…

It was strange.

After digesting the ki orb and cutting it out of his stomach, he felt a connection to it.

It wasn't because it nearly killed him multiple times, nor was it the feeling when he saw the old man in his inner consciousness. It was more like a prized possession—the orb was his, and only his.

'I wonder how long I can use this thing.' Ray wondered.

He wasn't stupid: he knew the orb was like a magnet to the powerhouses of this world. If he could sense it from so far away, he had no doubts that people stronger than him would find it as well.

He sat on a large piece of rubble, his hands fiddling with the orb. There was something different about it, he just couldn't figure out what it was. He racked his memory for any clues, but nothing showed up.

'Whatever. I'll figure it out eventually.'

His attention was removed from the orb since he sensed an organism climbing up the cliff.

It wasn't a beast, probably a human from what Ray could tell. That was to be expected since few beasts could climb such a steep incline.

The peculiar part about the human was its abysmally weak ki aura. It was showing signs of a peak stage-1 practitioner, which was something Ray could kill with like swatting a fly.

'How did it survive the beasts and get up here?' A suspicious look appeared on Ray's face. He would never take someone lightly without understanding the situation.

A few minutes later, Porter floated up the cliff and took a step on its rocky surface.

For a moment, he didn't see anything abnormal.

For a moment.

The second his eyes set upon the destroyed dome, a shocked expression rose on his face.

Of course, that expression was nothing compared to when he noticed the old man's body, still bleeding on the floor.

For the icing on the cake, a demonic creature was calmly sitting on a rock, its eyes dead set on Porter.

Weren't those things supposed to be halfway across the world in the demon empire? What's it doing here?' Porter thought to himself in a panic.

Porter wasn't someone who went out frequently. He was your typical shut-in who spent the whole day researching and cultivating—your typical mage.

When he saw the monstrous humanoid creature sitting beside the bandit leader's body, he froze, unsure of what to do.

His lack of battle experience was shown instantly.

Ray had a peculiar gaze: he also didn't know what to do in front of Porter.

How was he hovering? What was that blue sphere encircling him? Many such questions popped up inside his head.

He picked up a rock and chucked it at Porter.

The blue sphere dimmed for a moment, but the rock bounced off, leaving Porter unharmed.

Ray's interest was immediately piqued. After all, he wasn't stupid; the only explanation was magic.

In other words, Porter had a working mage core—the same mage core that Ray needed.

Ray stood up from his spot and bolted toward Porter.

This shook Porter out of his daze, both his arms rising in unison.

He started mumbling words that Ray couldn't understand, which confirmed Ray's guess.

A ball of blazing fire appeared on Porter's hands, quickly growing in size.

Before Ray could reach Porter's shield, Porter let go of the fireball in Ray's direction.

Ray was paying close attention so he managed to side-step the spell, but he underestimated the destructive powers of the fireball.

The fireball smashed into the ground, somehow setting the rocks ablaze.

Once the fireball landed on the ground, the resulting explosion clipped Ray's body, especially his left hand. The tips of his fingers were completely burnt, the flesh charred black. His hand took the brunt of the force so the rest of his arm was burnt lightly, but the damage was still apparent.

Shock was all that ran through Ray's mind. He could tell from a glance that the mage was young and inexperienced. Yet with one simple spell, the mage managed to deal so much damage.

The spell didn't even hit him full-on; he could only wonder about the consequences of facing the spell directly.

Although Ray was shocked, he didn't let it show. He immediately leaped toward the mage once again since he recognized the weakness of the mage early on.

As powerful as the spells were, what use were they in close-range combat? The ki aura the mage gave off wasn't even at stage 2. Ray was confident in killing the mage once he closed the distance between them.

Porter started chanting another spell, panic was written all over his face. This was the first time he encountered a creature that didn't die in one shot—he had no clue what to do.

Truth be told, he was a lazy person—he only bothered learning three spells, only the shield and fireball being useful for combat.

His only move was to cast a fireball again, and hope the Tiefling died.

By the time he finished casting his spell, Ray was already on him, ready for slaughter.

Ray didn't dare underestimate the mage anymore. His fingers were shining bright, singularity ready to bring destruction.

Once his finger reached the shield, the magic and ki let out a loud explosion, both Ray and Porter flying backward.

Ray landed face-first into a large boulder, but he stepped out of it a second later, unharmed.

Porter, on the other hand, wasn't looking so great. The explosion caught him off guard, which interrupted his spell-casting. The blue sphere which protected him was nowhere to be seen, presumably wasted trying to stop Ray's attack.

Porter stood up from the ground, his perfect hair disheveled and small bruises lining his skin.

"You! Don't you know the consequences of attacking a mage!" Porter screamed. It was the first time he had the chance to breathe, so he had to open his mouth a little.

It was the first time someone dared to attack him once he became a mage, and he was not happy one bit.

He met people of the monster empire before, but they were all respectful toward his position. None of them were blatantly disrespectful like the Tiefling in front of him.

Ray cocked his head in confusion. 'Is he stupid? I want to kill him, why is he blabbering about consequences.'

"Don't think you can get away with stealing the relic, you demon!"

Porter started chanting another spell, this time different from the fireball.

This alerted Ray, so he retreated in the opposite direction. He had no clue what the opponent would cast, so his best bet was to tuck his tail and run.

Seconds passed by, and Ray waited for some devastating spell to hit him once again.

He kept running, waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever happened.

To his astonishment, the mage disappeared from his ki perception—he was nowhere to be seen.

He turned back to confirm with his eyes, and sure enough, the only remains of the mage was a scrap of his clothes.

He could only stare at the empty mountaintop in wonder.

"A mage… huh."