Chapter 2: Beast Hunting Festival
"Crack!" I quickly turned around to the sound of the crack coming from behind, but a blade was already at my throat
The man stood behind me, and he talked in an intimidating tone, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
I made sure not to make any sudden move, "I am lost, and old man Oloris took me in and told me to come here"
"How is a human like you lost in such a deep forest?" He stared right into my eyes
"I-I don't know. I woke up in the middle of the forest and old man Oloris found me, so I came here hoping I will find help."
Finally, he lowered his blade, "My name is Fenris Hollowolf, I am the leader of this village. As I looked into your eyes, I sensed no evil nor lies in you, and it seems you really are lost"
So this was the chief of Wolfvillage, the man responsible for taking care of his people. As I stood before him, I noticed that he had a muscular build and was taller than most people. He had black hair and brown eyes.
"I was just testing you Aether, I already know my father sent you"
"Your father… so old man Oloris is your father?"
"So he didn't tell you about me. Haha, I guess that's just how he is. And yes, he is my father, and the previous chief of this village.
I won't ask where you come from, or what your past is like, but I want you to answer me this, Aether—Why is a kid like you have such an overwhelming aura that surpasses even mine?"
"Huh? I-I am confused, what do you mean I have an overwhelming aura?" I knew I had suppressed my aura completely, so I was confused as to how Fenris noticed
"When I first looked at you, you had no aura whatsoever, and that's normal for someone who's not a warrior.
But, the moment I drew my blade against you, a dark and overwhelming aura leaked from your body. It was almost frightening"
Could it be… The only answer that came to my mind was the Divine Emperor, his aura must've leaked out from my body, "I am sorry Lord Fenris, but I can't give you an answer, because even I have no idea why I was giving off such aura"
"I see… Well then, you must be tired Aether, you should sleep the night off, we'll discuss more in the morning" He guided me to one of the rooms in the back, and I slept through the night there.
***
The next morning
After conversing with some of the villagers, I learned many things about the village. There were around 200 werewolves living in the village, and most of them were normal civilians—A bit surprising though as I thought there'd be more members.
I wore the leather pants they gave me and threw away my ragged clothes. The people living in Wolfvillage only wore animal skin, and only great warriors were allowed to wear leather coats.
"Attention everyone!" By the order of Chief Fenris Hollowolf, the people of Wolfvillage gathered in front of the Main house
Fenris stood before them, "This boy is a human child, his name is Aether. He was lost in the forest, and luckily, my father Oloris Hollowolf found him. I want him to stay here in Wolfvillage, but if anyone have any objection, you may speak out now"
The crowd before me remained quiet for a while, looking around themselves.
Then, someone spoke out, someone named Uzui, "Lord Fenris, I understand why you want him to stay here, but he's a human child, he's weak and fragile. How can we allow him to live here if he does not contribute to anything. And the fact remain that he's a human, his kind have been hunting us for as long as we could remember"
...Fenris answered him, "You're right, he's a human, and humans have been hunting us for ages. But so do we, humans and werewolves have been at war for as long as anyone has lived here.
But, this child cannot be held accountable for his progenitor's actions, it's not our right to judge anyone based on the mistake of their forebears.
And as for his contribution to the village, this human child, Aether, was chosen by the Pool of Makdoral"
The crowd gasped, looking at me closely. I could feel the heavy weight of their glare on my shoulders—any other kid would've trembled right there. But luckily for me, I am a war veteran inside this little body, so I was already used to something like this.
Fenris continued, "I know it's hard to believe, but he was indeed submerged into the pool and walked out alive, Lord Oloris is the first to witness this.
Now, I've decided to start the beast hunting festival earlier than last year's, and Aether will be participating to prove himself.
Uzui, you were last year's winner, so you know this is the perfect way to know if Aether is worthy or not, do you?"
"Yes, Lord Fenris. I think it will be the perfect way to determine his strength and value, I agree" Fenris dismissed the meeting, and everyone went their respective path.
They all seemed convinced. But someone wanted to test me, and that someone was none other than the general himself.
Today morning, while I was asking around asking the villagers, I was told General Mordo was the one incharge of commanding the Wolfvillage soldiers. And so I wanted to meet such a highly positioned man, but I never thought it would be like this.
He called me to a barren field just outside the village
"Aether" He spoke out, "For this battle, you are not allowed to use magic. We will be fighting only with our body, a simple hand to hand combat"
I answered, "I don't know even what Magic is, but understood—I'll only use my fists to fight you"
Around us were the villagers, gathering to spectate our fight. At that moment I knew, I knew that the fight would determine my standing in the village—Whether I am a person to be respected, or a weakling to be ignored.
"Let the battle, begin!" General Mordo yelled out, his voice spreading across the battlefield
We lunged toward each other, and I saw him readying his right arm for a big swing. I slid below as he swung, and now that I was behind him, I quickly positioned myself to land a kick at his back.
The opening was perfect. But then, my kick did not connect—Instead, I missed and slipped terribly to the ground. The reason for my failure was my inexperience with this new body. My range and reach—they were completely different from my adult body.
General Mordo jumped and tried to hammer-fist me, "BOOM!" I rolled to the left, barely dodging it.
"Your moves—you're a better fighter than most people I've fought, Aether, and that says a lot. I don't know why you slipped and fell at the crucial moment, but you're not an ordinary kid, are you?"
I stood back up, and I knew he was right. Back then, I was the best hand-to-hand fighter in the entire empire.
"Well, if you're not coming at me, then I will!" He charged forward, swinging his fists wildly—I knew he was starting to get more serious.
"Come on, little boy, show me more! Hahahaha!"
With such a small body, I could barely keep up with his speed.
"Tch— I am doing my best here, General."
Thanks to the effect of the Pool of Makdoral, my body was tougher than even my old one, so I was taking far less damage than I should have from punches this strong.
In the chaos of his strikes, I finally saw an opening for a spinning back kick.
I dodged his left hook. "That was close, but now I can do this!" I twisted my body and threw the kick—"Fwoosh!"
He bent backward dodging my attack. "Haha, that was a close one. But you missed your kick again—this fight is over!" He locked his legs around my waist.
"What—" I gasped.
Before I could do anything, he flung me across the battlefield.
"That's enough!" He ceased the battle, "Aether has shown us a splendid performance, we can all agree he's more than capable of participating in the beast hunting festival, don't we?"
The crowd nodded their heads in agreement, and although I could still continue, it was better to let it play out this way.
"That was a good fight, but I'll have to re-train with this body, or I'll keep missing critical shots"
After our fight, I spent more time talking to the villagers, communicating with them. Spending the whole day talking and socializing, night quickly arrived. I went back to the main house, and finally took a good night's rest.
***
The day of Beast Hunting Festival
After fighting General Mordo, I was trained by old man Oloris and learned many new subjects, including the existence of Magic.
This world was different from my previous one, a thing called Mana covered the whole world, serving as an absolute existence that gave the beings their abilities and powers—The rules and laws were completely different.
Unlike my old world where sword techniques and ki mastery reigned supreme, this world was completely dominated by Mana.
"Aetherrr, are you ready for the competition?" She shouted from a distance as she ran towards me
"You can't use magic yet, make sure you don't come home dead, okay?"
Aria Hollowolf, the daughter of Fenris and the granddaughter of Oloris. She had black hair and brown eyes, just like her father. She just turned 7, so she's the same age as me.
"I'll do fine Aria, and I know you're jealous because you can't enter the competition even though we're the same age"
"Hey! What are you—" Before she finished her sentence, I ran away quickly to annoy her. But this doesn't mean I hate her or anything
[The Beast Hunting Festival: An event that lasted a day. It started off by hunting Mana Beasts(a beast that possessed a mana core), and each person participating will bring back the beast they killed before sundown.
To be crowned the best hunter of Wolfvillage, you need both speed and strength. You have to kill a higher grade mana beast than everyone else, and have to submit it faster than the others]
The sun finally hung red at the horizon, and so the festival started.
It was the perfect weather, not too cold, not too hot. I could feel how clear and fresh the air was, and the singing river filled my ears in joy.
"They told us we can only hunt within Redwood, and going further is prohibited. Excluding me, there are 23 hunters participating, so there should be enough space for everyone to freely hunt.
I can't use magic spells, so I am at a disadvantage compared to the others. But luckily for me, I never had any magic in my previous life anyway, so this is not a new scenario.
The trick to killing beasts is patience. I have done it thousands of times when our corps was stuck in the Gosom Wilds, so this should not be too hard"
Tick…Tick…Tick
11 hours passed.
It was evening already, and after sitting on the tree for hours, the beast finally fell for the trap
"THUD!" It fell to the pit, the pit that I spent digging for hours
"Finally. It finally fell for it, now I can go back and—"
"BOOM!" A huge ball of fire tore apart the pit, and the air around me was quickly overwhelmed with heat. I could feel the air and my skin getting warmer and warmer.
I saw the beast slowly crawling out. But luckily, it was too wounded to run away, "You almost had me there. I never thought a beast could produce that much power.
I observed you, lured you step by step, making sure you did not find any prey to hunt. Then once it's dusk, I knew you would be desperate enough to blindly follow the trace I made, allowing me to successfully trap you.
Now I just have to wait for you to bleed out"
…"ROAR!!" The mana beast roared out, and there was something glowing out of it.
They were runes, the runes that were engraved on the beast's body were shining out. We locked eyes with each other, and as if it had thought up an idea, the beast charged towards me not caring about his wounds.
"Damn it! why is it charging towards me"
"Taking those runes for yourself will be a good idea, boy" Finally, he talked again
"Y-You're"
"If you don't do as I say, the beast will kill you"
"Oh really?"
"Say you accept"
"Accept?"
"Yes, say you accept!"
"Dammit, this better be worth it, okay I accept!"
"Cling!"
I blinked, and again I blinked. In the darkness of that narrow blink interval, everything changed. And I meant everything.
A beast was charging at me, and it was right up in my face—that was what's happening. But, after I blinked my eyes… it was gone, the beast had completely disappeared.
I looked around me, even the sun had completely escaped the horizon, it was almost as if I had travelled through time.
"M-My arm is burning up, what the hell happened—"
I saw them, they were the runes… The runes that were engraved on the beast's body, were now carved all over my left arm
"What…What the hell happened to me"
End of chapter 2.