Chapter 46: The Fifth Volume

Chapter 46: The Fifth Volume In the outer zone of the forest of corruption, Ames was standing in front of a huge tree, and beneath it, at its base was a boar beast with two tusks jutting out of its lower jaw and a curved elongated horn above his nose. It had a huge cut in its belly and blood was flowing out, but it was put to sleep with a sleep spell. Ames stood in front and mana was flowing out of his hands, forming a runic magic circle between the tree and the boar. Green prana flowed out of the tree, passing through the circle and covering the wound on the boar. Luke and Noah were standing at a distance, performing their guard duties as Ames did his research. It had been four days since they started their guard mission. Everyday was just a repetition of coming to the forest, catching a deadly or killer beast alive, bringing it near a tree and performing magic on it, and finally the beast swelling and bursting into smithereens. During these four days, they travelled together, ate together and spend a lot of time in the forest and had grown quite close with each other. Luke wanted many a times to ask as to what Ames was experimenting with, as the runic circle that formed from his mana felt familiar and was drawing him in. It was an energy that he had felt before but still felt alien, but he stopped himself every time as it was not right to ask someone of their secrets. "Is he experimenting with dark magic? That’s why he’s in the forest away from other’s eyes!" Noah whispered to Luke, his tone skeptical. "Why would he hire us then, won’t we tell others if we saw him doing dark magic?" Luke said. "Well...that’s true though! Then what the hell is this magic then?" "I don’t know! But it’s not dark magic! I feel like I’ve felt this kind of mana before, but I can’t point out where?" "Should I ask him?" "Don’t! it will be rude of you." "But I’m damn curious man! I’ll die of frustration like this!" Noah complained, his face twisting in frustration. Just then loud sounds of painful screams came from the boar. The area around the wound turned black and started swelling and finally burst, blood and flesh flying away. A deep sigh escaped Ames, he had failed again. He then removed the translucent mana shield and turned around, walking towards where Luke and Noah were. "Let’s move!" Ames said, disappointment apparent on his face. Both of them nodded and followed after him. While walking behind, Noah kept on signaling Luke if he should ask, but Luke kept shaking his head, asking him not to. Finally, Noah couldn’t endure anymore and he opened his mouth even when Luke tried to stop him. "Brother Ames! I know it’s rude of me, but can I ask you a question?" "Ya sure!" Ames replied. "You don’t have to answer if I’m prying into your secrets!" Noah said hesitantly. "What is this magic that you’re experimenting with?" "Are you having doubts whether I’m practicing dark magic?" Ames asked with a smirk on his face. Noah was taken aback at being seen through. He wanted to say something but no words came. "Hahaha! Don’t worry! Anybody who’d see this would think like you too! Even my master thought the same! But...it’s not dark magic!" "What kind of magic is it then? I’ve never seen or heard anything like this!" Noah said, his confusion deepened after his answer. "It’s a kind of healing spell! The principle is not around mana, but life energy!" Luke’s ears perked up upon hearing about life energy. His interest piqued. "Instead of using mana used by the priest and priestesses, the spell uses life energy from one being to heal the other one!" "Why do the beasts burst and die if they are supplied with life energy? Shouldn’t the wounds just not get healed if the spell failed?" Noah asked. "That’s what I’ve not been able to solve till now! I feel I’m near but it just slips away at the last moment. There’s something wrong either with the spell or with the runes of the magic circle. There is something that I’m overlooking!" "Where did you get the spell from?" Luke finally couldn’t resist asking. "I got it from a book I found in a dungeon a few years back!" "Does this book have a black cover with a number engraved on it?" Luke asked. Ames instantly froze as his feet stopped abruptly. He turned around with a surprised look and eyes wide open in shock. "How do you know this?" Ames asked, surprise and a trace of hope on his face. Luke was shocked when Ames validated his enquiry. Excitement bubbled up inside his chest. Finally, he found the book his ancestor talked about, the one with the magic spells. But instantly his excitement died down when he remembered the warning from the senior he met at that realm. "Can you show me the book, I want to confirm something before I say anything!" Luke said Ames’s eyebrows creased as he got skeptical, he was hesitating to show the book to Luke. "I think I may know the reason why your spells are not working." After a bit of contemplation, Ames finally relaxed and pulled out a book with the black cover and [V] engraved on it, and passed it to Luke. Noah just stood motionless and confused at the events unfolding, he couldn’t understand what was going on and instead of interfering, he decided to wait and observe. Luke took the book and looked at it carefully. It was similar to the ’book of matter’ he had and his was the first volume. The number [V] engraved on it, indicating it to be the fifth volume. Luke opened the book and just like his, the letters of the book were in ancient language, with the only difference being, there were two runic circle diagrams in it. Suddenly the letters started rearranging themselves and transformed into the language of the continent. As Luke read the words, he started understanding the difference between the magic casted using mana and the magic that uses prana. His lips lifted themselves up into a smile and he lifted his head up to look at Ames. "I think I’ve found the answer to the failure of your spells!" he said with a wide smile on his face.