The Mana Rich Fruits in the Glade

The light mages, which is the popular alias for mages in this classification, A suitable name would be orb-using-mages. This was because they used orbs to focus and cast spells. Their power set was as dynamic as the Lord-mages', but without their orbs, they were nothing. Most of the people blessed to be light-mages never became light-mages because it was difficult to get a magical orb. The strength of a light mage lies in the mana affinity of the orb they use. Hence, many light mages weren't powerful, which didn't bring respect to their class.

The dark mage was the final type of mage. Anybody could be a dark mage, so long as they are able to summon a demon from the underworld and secure the blessings of mageship from the supernatural. Dark mages could be a lord mage, an elemental mage, or a light mage. Most of them were Lord Mages. The con, however, was that the power of a dark mage was at the mercy of its grantor. Demons were tricky, treacherous beings that acted how they liked.

Emperor Gerald said to the prince, "You will cultivate mana by consuming edible plants. After that, the beast will guide you to beasts that you will tame."

The last sentence made a worried, questioning look appear on the prince's face.

The Emperor understood and replied, "Yes, you will not use crystals, orbs, and runes."

The prince rolled his eyes, mildly infuriated. He cursed his bad luck in his mind.

"You will use our bloodline skills to tame the beasts," the Emperor concluded.

Zheng said, "Dad, I couldn't use the runes and orb,"

Emperor Gerald began to shimmer away from this reality.

"Talk less of using the blood line traits, which I have no hang on."

Unfortunately, Zheng's complaints couldn't be helped as his father faded away completely.

The massive bovine bellowed at him, making mocking gestures before walking towards the forest.

Zheng was a man of principle, and so he held himself back from losing his temper. He followed the bovine into the forest. The man and the bovine walked through the forest until they saw a clearing ahead. Zheng observed that there were many shrubs that seemed to bear fruits in the glade. They walked into the glade.

The bovine stopped before a shrub. It seemed disturbed by a detail of the shrub. Zheng came close to the shrub to observe. He noticed a bunch of empty fruit stalks. The bovine bellowed at him, and he heard a bass voice in his head,

'I don't know which of the scoundrels ate from this tree,'

Zheng was confused by the voice, forgetting to understand the message conveyed. The voice wasn't his because he had a baritone voice. He also knew the voice wasn't external, but he still looked around to verify. The only thing he saw was green and the bison staring at him. He heard the voice again in his head, but this time it sounded annoyed.

'Why did I bother talking to you? Dumb kid.'

The bovine turned away from Zheng, looking annoyed. It gazed back at the shrub before it. Zheng realised it was the bovine who spoke to him. He felt frustrated that he wasn't off to a good start with the bison. And to make matters worse, he didn't know why the bovine was pissed. He didn't know what to say, so he just stared at the shrub, wondering if it was edible.

The prince had taken a few classes on botany. In those classes, he learned how to identify edible fruits and plants. The plants with flamboyant looks had a 99% chance of being inedible. Most of the shrubs here looked green, and according to Zheng's botany knowledge, there was a 70% chance that they were edible. Also, the shrubs bore fruit. Weirdly, these fruits looked like mangos, and they were all yellow in colour.

He observed the shrubs and discerned that they weren't the same. Every one of the shrubs had a distinct leaf shape. He didn't have to dwell on his debate for long as the bovine lowered its head and grabbed a fruit in its maw before crushing and gulping it down.

The fruit the bison ate was the only one on the shrub. It was bigger than the others—about five adult fists larger—and had a yellow-red gradient colour. Zheng cursed his indecisiveness because it cost him the same fruit. He got over his weakness and reached for another fruit. Before he could grab another, the bovine collapsed on the ground, writhing in agony.

The bison felt like its insides were coming apart, and it yelled regularly. Zheng walked clear of the beast and watched it writhe in pain. He wondered,

"Was this supposed to happen? If this beast dies, how am I supposed to get home?"

The fur on the bovine gradually developed a red hue. When the red hue was conspicuous, the beast became fine and got back on its hooves. It glared at Zheng. Zheng raised his arms in protest, saying,

"What was I supposed to do? I'm not a vet doctor."

The tension was broken when a yellow cow that had patches of black and was half the size of the black bovine entered the clearing from the other side of the forest. The cow looked like an African bison, but it wasn't a great earth beast; rather, it was a mystical beast called the Majic Cow. The black bovine turned to look at the visitor. On seeing the visitor, lust came over the Dream Bison. It stuck out its tongue, drooling, and the cookie between its legs became a pole arm.

Zheng noticed these changes and shook his head. He liked canal desires, but not fulfilling them in a savage way like the Dream Bison intended to. He also noted that the black bovine looked agile after recovering from the fruit it ate. Then an idea clicked in Zheng's mind about the fruit the bovine consumed. The fruit was very rich in mana, which made it a rough ride for the beast to assimilate. He shuddered at the thought that it had been him who consumed the fruit.

The prince had learned about physical attributes connected to mana. One of them was mana affinity. Mana affinity was the ability of a mage's body to attract and hold mana outside of its own. Some creatures could attract more mana than other creatures.