Life Hunter

Chapter 75: ''Hi, Karma.''

Arima came back to the PA and conducted the rest of the classes with a dark mood.

"{Master, what happened?}" Lanya asked Night. "{Arima looks a bit strange since he came back.}"

Night glanced at Arima and shrugged. "{Who knows. Probably that dryad said too much. It was quite easy to see what kind of person she was. Don't mind, he's just a bit irritated. He'll soon return to normal anyway. Nothing can perturb him for long.}"

"{I see}" Lanya looked one last time at Arima and resumed the test that she herself was doing, as well. She realized that this small exam was a lot more beneficial than it appeared. The questions were not only about what Arima taught, but they also made you reflect on new theories and hypothesis. For example, at some point, she had to answer to the question; 'What other magics could possibly be extracted from the brain?'.

Her response after some thought was healing. Arima had told them that the brain controlled virtually everything in the body and could allocate resources in different areas. She concluded that it was possible to accelerate healing speed by sacrificing stamina.

The students were also entailed to solve what is commonly called 'magic equation'. It was basically magic circles, arrays, runes, etc... As a whole, you call that a magic formation.

Magic formation requires four procedures to work and depending on how well they are performed, the resulting magic will be stronger.

The first procedure is magic-theory-building. You simply need to constitute a sort of 'background' for your spell. For instance, some of Arima's simplest magics are based on mythological or legendary figures. The more this procedure is complicated, without losing its original sense, the more the magic will be powerful.

The second procedure is rune inscribing. In short, you'll have to transcribe your magic theory with the runes of your choice. Arima generally uses Latin. Rune inscribing carries what you could call the history of the magic. It's crucial for the magic to work. Incidentally, runes don't need to only be letters and symbols. It can be forms, images, or even straight-up photos.

The third procedure is mana circulation which usually involves creating a methodical path for mana to travel on the magic formation. It will mainly determine in which order the runes should be activated first. The form of the mana path can also be altered to enhance the magic theory.

The last procedure is, of course, chant weaving. Composing a chant that will not clash against the theory and will resonate with it. The longer the chant is, the fewer chances you have to lose control of your magic. But countless lines of chant don't amount to much. Only an incantation that can effectively affect the world is worth something.

In the end, a magic equation is about decomposing the four steps and correctly perform them. It is also the first test you generally have to pass before trying to cast the said magic.

In the evening, when Arima finished collecting all of the test papers, he fashioned a link to a space-time dimension and went into it with his three friends.

Once he arrived at the top of a random mountain, he summoned Karma. Night was curiously watching him from behind while crossing his arms with his wings folded. Lanya and Arister had been told by Arima to train together.

"[Primum, Secundum, Tertium, Gaudete] (First, Second, Third, Break)," Arima undid the three seals and Karma's aura covered the entire mountain. The soul weapon's power had taken a huge leap since its owner had stepped into the fifth sky.

Arima unsheathed Karma and placed the scabbard beside him. He then whirled the katana and planted the blade in the ground.

"Night, you can go back. Train those two if you will. You can help them both mastering the five lowest arts," Arima uttered. "I'll call you if I need your help."

"Sure," Night shrugged and flew off.

"[Karma, Verto]," Arima chanted and Karma started transforming. It slowly expanded as if it was inflating. The sword didn't lose its shape as a katana but it had become extremely huge. Like, too huge. The blade was now five meters wide and fifty meters long, with over half of it buried in the mountain.

"It'll be easier if you're bigger," Arima smiled and placed his palm on the giant blade. He closed his eyes and stopped moving. If it wasn't because of the regular breathing and heartbeat, he could very well be seen as a corpse.

After a few minutes of silence, glowing blue lines emerged on both sides of the blade and started spreading, forming something like a circuit board.

Arima exhaled and sat down. His mouth opened slightly as he chanted almost inaudibly and the glowing 'circuit' started moving in strange patterns.

The mana all around the mountain started to gather around Karma. The plants, the soil, the sky, the sun, everything was giving mana away to Karma, and so was Arima.

Small dots of light kept forming everywhere near the mountain. They were of all kind of colors; blue, white, red, black, green, purple, yellow, orange, and even silver. A stunning scene that looked like as if all the fireflies in the world had gathered here.

From afar, Night, Arister and Lanya were all admiring the phenomenon. Night observed for a moment before grinning, finally understanding what Arima wanted to do.

"Don't pay too much attention to it. It'll most likely take days for Arima to finish what he is doing," Night told to both Lanya and Arister.

"I'll play the teacher for you two. Since Arister is here, I'll go through the five basic arts again. Lanya, it's a revision for you."

"What are those arts you're talking about?" Arister asked.

"Arima's magic set, The Kind Demon's. Let's start from the beginning," Night declared and sat cross-legged with his arms crossed. He looked like an old sage beast in his dragon form.

"There are five different categories, each possessing five arts. Firstly, we have the blue arts; they are supposed to be the arts connected to fire and purification. Each art is a different flame. They are called 'blue' arts because of the first art being a blue flame. The fifth art of that category is 'Inferno'. I used it once against Lanya. It's basically a fireball capable of growth."

"Then, we have the red arts; connected to nature and humans. Each art is supposed to either control the nature or possess a theory directed against humanity itself. The word 'humanity' represents a whole for Arima. It conjoins everything. Men, elves, demons, and even gods. Everything is the same for him. And that's exactly why his magics are impartial. They are capable of affecting anyone."

"The fifth art is called 'Exhaurire', which translates to 'Drain'. That's what Arima is using at the moment," Night pointed at the light spectacle going on above the mountain. "It drains mana from the surrounding nature, and living beings if there are."

"After that, we have the black arts. As the name implies, this one connects to darkness and void. The arts in that category are made to punish souls and minds. The fifth art is something Arima uses a lot; 'Penitentia Conspiciunt', 'Penance Stare'. It's a spell that burns the soul while taking the memories of the victim. It can also be regulated to not take life."

"The fourth category is the white arts. They are connected to life, death, and time. It can heal, seal, and even restore anything. Arima said himself that the most delicate arts were the ones in the white category. The fifth art is a simple one though, it's called 'Sana Intrinsecus', 'Intrinsic Heal'. The simplest you can find in the whole category. But it's still a really special magic; the magnitude of the heal depends on how much mana you use to cast it."

"And finally, we have the destruction arts" Night paused. "It's basically, the five most efficient killing magics that Arima ever created. They can be of any element possible. As you go up in the list, the more destructive thy are. The fifth art is called 'Spatium Horti', the 'Space Garden'. The fifth art is a spatial magic already potent enough to kill me if I'm not careful," Nigh wryly said. "Can you imagine how powerful the other four can be?"

Lanya just nodded as she already knew more or less about the might of the destruction arts but Arister shuddered at the thought. Especially when he was perceptive enough to know how strong Night was. A magic capable of defeating this dragon was terrifying. And it was the weakest one.

Night grinned and stood up. He deployed his wings and sparks appeared in the gaps of his scales. "I'll show them to you. Arister you should first remember the chants and the flow of mana first. I'll impart you the full magic formations afterward," He stated and a fireball formed in his hand. "Let's go."

***************************************

Ten days later, the 'fireflies' still hadn't disappeared and were continuously being absorbed by Karma. Arima had not even moved once since the beginning of the process.

But at some point, he suddenly opened his eyes. "{Night, tell Lanya to come here.}"

Night frowned at the sudden demand. "Why?" He muttered bemused and ultimately transmitted the message to her.

"Eh?" Lanya was greatly surprised. She didn't expect to be called at all. She quickly teleported and arrived just below the mountain since her teleportation was obstructed by Karma's unrestrained aura. She materialized her wings and flew up toward the peak.

There, she saw the giant Karma covered by intricate mana circuits. Those circuits were all leading toward a single point, a really small blue square, situated where the center of gravity was.

"Come here," Arima beckoned and Lanya sat down next to him. "Put your hand on the blade. The rest will come to you naturally," He instructed and Lanya complied. She slowly rested her palm on the red and blue blade and closed her eyes.

She was suddenly overwhelmed by a great quantity of information. After a few seconds, she was startled to see what it was. "This is" She finally realized what Arima was doing for ten days now.

"I suppose you know what to do," Arima smiled at her. "I'll support you. I need you to take care of the main parts while I stabilize the rest."

"I'll do my best," Lanya nodded and both of them started to work on Karma. The latter was shining like never before because of all the concentrated energy. All of the 'fireflies' in the vicinity were swiftly integrated with the sword.

Even Arima's mana was getting sucked out by it. Since Arima had been giving it away for ten days straight, he only had a quarter of it left. Considering the size of his mana pool, it was a staggering figure.

A silver light was traveling through the blue circuits at light speed and Karma was pulled out of the ground by an ethereal force. The sword also began to shake to the point you'd think it'll break. At the same time, a weird magic circle appeared in the sky. Its contents were, with the lack of a better word, quite organic.

After a few minutes like this, Karma spun and pointed its blade at the sky. Its aura was also growing with each second.

Arima and Lanya remained on the ground with closed eyes. During that time, Arima opened one eye and without looking at somewhere particularly, he triggered his sigil. Karma ascended and went through the magic circle clouding the sky

The entirety of the soul weapon went through the circle but didn't emerge on the other side. Instead, the magic circle gradually gained a red hue.

Lanya sighed in relief and pressed her hand against her chest to catch her breath. She tilted her head backward and observed the changes in the magic circle. Arima waved his hand and the circle descended, it also became smaller with barely a meter in diameter.

It went down until it was covering the ground like a carpet. Arima stood up, followed by Lanya. The enigmatic circle then slowly receded and while it was gaining distance from the ground, a human figure was also forming in between.

After the circle disintegrated, the unknown silhouette had reached 1.80 meters in height. The identity of that figure was a beautiful woman with very accentuated curves, wearing a red and purple dress. Her silky long hair was of the same fiery color. She sluggishly opened her eyes and gazed at Arima with her dark crimson eyes. Her whole appearance gave off a hot-blooded but graceful impression.

"Hi, Master," She spoke up and smiled.

Arima snickered. "Hi, Karma."