Magic-Smithing Ch: 114.3

Silently, Tabitha and I creep closer to our destination. Just because I could vaguely sense what was ahead of us and knew there weren’t any strong magic beasts ahead didn't an we would recklessly charge forward.

Both of us were still recovering, and while Tabitha was dangerous in any condition as long as she was on her feet, that didn’t an we needed to exacerbate our wounds for a little more food. If we were honest with ourselves, this little trip was primarily to kill ti and relieve so of our boredom.

I had been asleep for over twenty-four hours, leaving quite stiff, and I’m sure Tabitha was bored out of her mind watching the whole ti, unable to do anything but watch sleep. Both of us needed this; we had to have so form of excitent to keep us going. The possibility of more food was just the excuse we needed to stretch our legs.

Creeping around one of the massive trees, Tabitha and I get our first look at the battlefield we left behind and are both floored at the amount of life present.

Birds the size of dogs were swooping down from the tree branches fighting with the various giant insects present over scraps of goblin flesh. There were centipedes and millipedes the size of snakes, buzzing everywhere were flies the size of ping pong balls, and hordes of beetles similar in size to the one we just ate scuttling everywhere.

The birds and bugs I could understand, but why were there packs of rabbits hopping everywhere? And why were they white?

For a species that made its ho in a forest, you would think they would have dark coats to blend in, but these rabbits were the complete opposite. They were as white as snow and stayed in groups ranging from five to nine mbers.

They were as big as the horned rabbits the farrs chased from the village's fields; only these guys were distinctly missing their horns. Though, there was one massive difference between the two species. While they looked similar, horned rabbits had almost no mana and were simple pests; the white rabbits in front of , not so much.

The white fluffballs looked normal at a glance, but focusing on them revealed the truth. These rabbits were hiding fangs behind their fluffy deanor. I watch as one of them paws at the ground unearthing a hobgoblin arm, and viciously bites into it, tearing away a chunk of flesh. But that wasn’t the only secret they were hiding.

Focusing Sense Mana on the closest group of rabbits, I almost gasp at what I find. To the eye, the small group looked to be made up of six individual rabbits, each one moving independently with different ticks and mannerisms, while, in fact, only one of them was real. The other five were illusions, wads of mana projected in the shape of a rabbit and controlled by the real one.

“Hey, Tabitha,” I whisper while nudging her. "Do those rabbits look funny to you?" I motioned to the group, seeing if she could spot the difference.

Tabitha gives a confused glance before focusing on the illusionary rabbits. She doesn't look too interested initially, but the longer she looks at them, the more her eyes narrow and the more confused she looks. “They are…. weird,” Tabitha struggles to put her thoughts into words.

So, she does notice sothing but can't pinpoint what. "You can’t tell,” I smirk and playfully nudge her side again, much to her frustration.

"Give a mont," annoyed Tabitha swats my arm away before I can continue elbowing her.

She glares daggers at the group, so much that she lets out a sliver of her killing intent. Then, as one, all the rabbits in the group look up with their hair standing on end, and to my astonishnt, the group scatters in every direction. One by one, the fake rabbits pop like bubbles and wink out of existence once they’re a hundred feet from the real one, which expertly blends in with another nearby rabbit and its illusionary company and starts reconjuring new illusions.

Turning toward Tabitha, I bring my hand up to my mouth to stop myself from laughing. Tabitha’s eyes were the size of dinner plates, seeing the group of rabbits disperse and disappear entirely. "Only one was real?" Tabitha mumbles, disbelievingly gawking at the real one hiding in the other group. Even in all the chaos, she hadn’t lost track of the only remaining rabbit.

“Yep,” I point to each group of rabbits. “There’s only one real one in each. It’s honestly impressive.” This was the first ti I'd seen the magic beast equivalent of a mage. Sure, I’ve seen stuff like the silent falcon using mana to cancel out sound or the chaleon spiders using it to blend into their surroundings, but this was the first instance I’ve seen a magic beast use mana other than to enhance their bodies in so way.

And they really were amazing illusions. The hair on each of the rabbits moved with the wind; they looked and reacted to the other magic beasts around them and even kicked up small amounts of dirt when they hopped around. So it's no surprise Tabitha couldn't see anything wrong with them.

So much mana in such a small body…. I wonder how they would taste? I feel a shift in my soul, and every group of rabbits hopping around the crater suddenly froze, looked up at once, and bolted every which way.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to for the genuine story.

“Aww, no,” I wanted to run after the closest one, but it was gone before I could move. Apparently, they didn’t just have skills involving illusions; to move that fast at their level, they had good movent skills.

“Nice one,” now it’s Tabitha’s turn to give a hard ti. “Way to throw your killing intent right out there; you didn't even try to hide it," she elbows in the side harder than I did to her.

“What?” I groan out as I double over and clutch at my side. "I only have Intimidating Shout, and if you weren't listening, I didn't make a sound."

Tabitha rolls her eyes. “Killing intent isn’t a skill; it’s a manifestation of your will. Was that your first ti using it?” Tabitha curiously cocks her head to the side before pulling to my feet.

“I didn’t even realize I was doing it,” I tell her, making sure to leave out the part about feeling my soul shift beforehand. “Killing intent isn’t a skill?”

“As people level, they naturally grow stronger; your will is much the sa. Or at least that's how Master explained it to when I first manifested mine. Now that I think about it, you’re around that level now, aren’t you? I think I was level 73 back then,” Tabitha looks off into the distance with a smile on her face as if she was reliving a fond mory.

“Ok, so how do I control it,” I ask, bringing her back to reality.

“Oh, you don’t,” Tabitha flatly informs .

“What?”

“It takes years of practice for a person to gain control of their will. Most don’t gain a semblance of control until they cross level 80. Until then, you'll have to keep a strict watch over your emotions,” she tells .

“And if I do, things like this won’t happen again?” I gesture to where the rabbits were.

"No, that'll still happen," Tabitha looks just a little too happy to burst my bubble. “It will happen less frequently, that’s all.”

“Why did this happen now?" I curse.

Tabitha just shrugs. “Could be any number of factors. My best guess is all the fighting you’ve been doing. You told you've been mostly crafting until this last year, yeah? People who reach our level by crafting usually take longer to unlock their will, if they ever do at all.”

In my head, I imdiately picture Master Del and the ti he used his killing intent on . He doesn't like to talk about it, and I don’t ask. But it made wonder if Master could control it or if he just used it naturally when he was mad at .

"It doesn't look like you're listening to ," Tabitha pulls out of my thoughts and back to the present.

"Sorry," I quickly apologize for getting sidetracked.

“It’s fine,” she brushes off my apology and continues explaining. “Now that you’ve manifested your will, it will randomly activate when your emotions run high.”

“But they weren’t just now,” I point out to Tabitha.

"What were you thinking about?" She questions .

"I was wondering how the rabbits would taste," I say, blushing a bit.

Tabitha nods, “That will do it. You might not have thought much of it at the ti, but in your head, you were working yourself up to kill one of the rabbits. Killing intent is the easiest emotion to materialize, and animals, magic beasts specifically, are highly sensitive to it. Once you gain control of it, you'll be able to direct it as I can, but until then, you’ll need to be prepared to move fast when you’re hunting.”

“Ok,” I sigh, earning a puzzled look from Tabitha.

"Most would be happy to unlock their will; it's a sign a person is strong.”

“I know,” I frown. “It’s just…. I have so much to work on, now this? I have too many aweso skills; I don't know which to prioritize."

There is a long pause where Tabitha and I stare at one another.

Tabitha’s eyes narrow. “You’re ssing with ," she says flatly.

My frown slowly morphs into a big smile. “You caught on quick this ti,” I tease.

Tabitha huffs in annoyance. “What a problem to have. I would’ve given anything to be where you are at your age.” Tabitha looks like she’s considering punching for real, but her attention quickly shifts to the crater left behind by the elental. "Well, if you need to work on your skills, there's no ti like the present. Go catch us another beetle,” she orders.

“Huh?”

“Go. Catch. Us. Another. Beetle,” Tabitha repeats slowly, poking in the chest after each word. There was enough power in her finger that each ti it ca into contact with Mana Skin, she forced past it to tap her finger against my armor underneath. "And don't let out your killing intent," she adds.

“Uh, ok,” I stamr, taking a step back out of poking range from an obviously annoyed Tabitha.

Drawing my hamr, I slowly walk out from behind the tree we are hiding behind. A few nearby magic beasts imdiately notice , but almost none flee.

Of course, when I get too close to a nearby bird, it grabs the at it was tearing into and flies away, but as long as I kept a respectable distance, most were content to pretend I wasn't even there. A five-foot-long centipede crawls a few feet in front of , but other than turning its mandibles to for a second, it continues on its rry way

without sparing a second glance.

Obviously, they weren't seeing as a threat, but that was about to change. Tabitha gave a task, and if I wanted to smooth over her sour deanor, I needed to complete it. But which one?

There were dozens of decent-sized beetles in sight; all I needed to do was pick one. The highest leveled one was only level 43 and ca up to my knees in height, so it wasn't like they were dangerous.

I pause for a second; since when did I consider sothing at level 43 weak? That was close to Sandra's level, and I would never consider Sandra weak. A level 43 beetle would pose an actual danger to a regular villager, but now I brush their existence off like nothing.

“I’ve changed, haven’t I?” I mumble to myself. Even if it was just a week ago, I would’ve been hesitant to walk into the middle of this many magic beasts, but after surviving the battle with the goblins, the beasts around might as well have been puppies to .

While considering my change in worldview, I spot the perfect beetle. Nice and plump, shiny carapace, looked healthier than most of the insects around, perfect to roast over the fire.

No sooner than that idea crosses my mind, I feel another shift in my soul, and my prey turns and starts scuttling away.

“Nope, try again,” I hear Tabitha shout from where I left her.

Looking back the way I ca, I see Tabitha watching like a hawk with her arms folded in front of her chest.

I see, so she wanted to turn this into a training exercise. At least this ti, I didn't scare off all the beetles, just the one I was focusing on. It hadn’t even gotten that far. If I wanted to, I could jog and still catch up to it, but I'm assuming that would go against what Tabitha was trying to get to figure out.

Fine, I'll pick another one then.

I approach another beetle from behind. I raise my hamr, and…. There’s a shift in my soul. This ti the beetle doesn’t even turn around and look at before trying to run away on its stubbly legs.

I pick a third target, and the sa thing happens.

It happens again.

And again.

And again.

So many tis, I make it within spitting distance of multiple beetles, but once I decide to follow through and strike, sothing in my soul shifts, and I release a burst of killing intent.

No matter what I do, it activates on its own when I commit to an attack. And unlike when I fought the hobgoblin that could predict my strikes, I couldn't just bulldoze my way through it. Well, I could, but that wouldn't help in the future.

I try swinging my hamr without the intent to kill, but that doesn’t work either. I wasn't sparring with these animals, and I knew if I hit them, they would die; and if they didn't, it would be needlessly torturing them.

I don’t think we’re going to be eating anyti soon.