Night fell quickly over the deep zone, and with the darkness came the shifting sounds of the forest. The distant, heavy thuds of larger monster packs echoed through the trees, a clear sign that the woods were becoming far more dangerous than they were during the day. Realizing it was suicide to keep moving, Torin led the group to a secluded spot tucked between a cluster of massive, ancient trees and a rock wall.
They quickly set up a hidden camp, lighting a small campfire that cast long, dancing shadows against the stone. As they gathered around the warmth of the fire, the tension from the day's battles finally began to ease. Vessa sat across from Mori, her eyes fixed on him for a long moment before she finally spoke up.
"If you don't know your element main, would that mean you're a Quadra elemental?" Vessa asked. Mori looked a bit confused, tilting his head. "A Quadra elemental?" "It's a mage who can use all four elements," Vessa explained, her voice tinged with awe. "And sometimes even the sub-elements that can be derived from them. It's rare and people like that are considered geniuses ."
With a look of sudden realization, Mori blinked. "Well, I can use other elements. I started training them since I could remember...I think" Vessa's eyes widened slightly, a mix of jealousy and admiration crossing her face. "Ah... that makes sense, well I'm a water mage myself. I can use up to advanced-level water magic, and I can also do a bit of fire spells, but I'm barely intermediate class in that. I only registered to be an adventurer two months ago..." As she kept talking, recounting her journey and her training, Mori's attention began to drift. A bored expression crept onto his face as he stared blankly at the flames, nodding along out of politeness. But then, a specific phrase caught his ear. "Wait, go back," Mori interrupted, his bored expression instantly vanishing. "You said your mana core stage is at solid orange? What does that mean?"
Vessa paused, looking at him with wonder. She couldn't understand how a kid who could cast chantless fire magic didn't even know the fundamental stages of a mana core. Armin, who had been sitting quietly in the shadows beside Mori, chimed in to explain. "Our mana cores have stages young master, starting from:
- Black core- Red core - Orange core- Yellow core- silver core
and finally the white core stage being the highest, each core have different stages of progression, the dark stage, the solid stage and the light stage, when a person achieves the light stage, they can then build on it to breakthrough to the next stage" "couldn't have explained it better" Vessa said.
Mori absorbed the information, processing where he fit into this newly explained scale. He looked up at armin. "What stage am I then?" "Concentrate on your mana core, young master," Armin instructed. Mori closed his eyes and took a deep breath, dropping into a meditative state. He turned his awareness inward, focusing deep within where his mana pool was. As he concentrated, his mana core began to swirl and spin, hummed with energy. In his mind, the core came into sharp focus. It emitted a faint, clear light, It was at the beginning stages of the Light Red stage.
Mori opened his eyes, "I thought I'd still be at the black core stage but my core is a light red" Armin nod. "Well done, young master. There's still a long way to go, but with your talent...""Light red stage? That's insanely impressive for your age, in a year or so you might already even match me" Vessa said before we started mumbling in a trance "that's if I haven't broken through…" Lyra and Torin weren't concerned with their conversation.
"Light red stage? That's insanely impressive for your age, in a year or so you might already even match me," Vessa said, before she started mumbling to herself in a trance, completely lost in her own thoughts.
Lyra and Torin weren't concerned with their conversation, busy sharpening their weapons and keeping an eye on the dark tree line. Eventually, the fire burned down to glowing embers, and the group took turns keeping watch through the tense, heavy night.
When morning finally broke, the oppressive gloom of the deep zone lifted slightly as thin beams of sunlight pierced through the thick canopy. After a quick exercise, Torin stood up and stretched his massive frame.
"Alright, seems like we have a solid haul," Torin said, patting the heavy sack of orc tusks, goblin ears, and monster hides they had gathered. "The deep zone is getting too active at night. Let's head back to the guild branch, cash these in, and call it a successful run."
Mori didn't care really about the money. He still had plenty of funds left over, so he just gave a quiet nod and followed the trio as they tracked their way back out of the dense forest. The journey back was peaceful, there were barely any monsters during the day and some kept their distance. By the time the stone walls of the town and the iron gates of the adventurer's guild came into view, Mori and armin decided to part ways with the group. After parting ways with Torin's squad at the entrance, Mori and Armin walked toward a quieter corner of the plaza.
Mori looked up at the older guardian, his mind already drifting away from the forest. "Armin," Mori said, breaking the silence. "We've been hunting in this deep dark forest for three years now."
Armin stopped, looking down at him. "We have, young master. Are you growing restless?"
"A bit," Mori replied, looking out toward the distant horizon. "I think it's time we shift locations. The closest region here should be the desert lands, no?"
Before Armin could answer, a hurried set of footsteps approached them from behind.
"Hey! Wait up!"
Mori and Armin turned to see Vessa jogging toward them, her staff clutched tightly in her hand and her breath a little short. She stopped in front of them, adjusting her robes.
"I'm glad I caught you, lord knows what you were planning next" Vessa said, looking between the two of them before her eyes settled on Mori. "I was actually hoping... well, I was wondering if I could party with you guys again? For future quests? I get the feeling you aren't the ordinary duo…"
Mori blinked, slightly surprised. "We're actually about to leave this area. We're going hunting in the desert lands next."
Vessa's eyes lit up instead of falling. "The desert lands? That's perfect! I've been wanting to test my water magic in a harsher environment and try advancing it more, maybe also my fire magic…you'd know since you use fire a lot. I'd be happy to tag along, if you'll have me?…"
Armin glanced down at Mori, leaving the decision entirely up to his young master.