Immortal Mage - Chapter 7 Testing And Fighting

“What am i going to do? Hehe A lot! There are so many things that i couldn’t try in the Death’s plane. Now that I am back here, I am going to try out all of them. And to do that, I will explore the world!” Excitement could be heard in his voice.

From the simple things like the what makes clothes from magic special, to complex things like certain magic theories and spells. He also has some other things he created that he wanted to test. And with plenty of objects and mortal beings in the mortal plane, finally, now he have his test subjects.

“Hahaha I see You should stay here for a while. Test what you can here and do some preparation in the meantime” After Serion said that, he stood up and flew away. As he flew away, Iledoya could hear him say “Don’t leave before I come back. This time, let me say goodbye”

Even if Serion didn’t tell him, he would still stay for a while. After all, this was the forest he grew up in, Alfer forest.

Iledoya stepped outside of the cave and decided to wander the forest. ‘It seems that after Serion became the Guardian, the forest has become magical’. As he wandered around, he found a tree that had one of the fruit he ate. ‘This was the one that tasted like roasted chicken’ he observed the tree and plucked a fruit.

‘I’ve never heard of this plant’ He analyzed the fruit with magic and discovered it was actually a peach. ‘So this is what a Guardian ranked Beast can do with his area’ Iledoya was very sure that Serion mutated the tree so it’s fruit can taste like roasted chicken and it’s whole entirety can be eaten.

He took a few of the fruits before continuing to wander around. As he wandered around he suddenly remembered ‘This is a perfect chance to test that explorer’s technique!’ So he knelt down and touch the ground then spread his magic through it. The technique he’s going to try was a technique to scan and map his surrounding, similar to how a sonar would work.

As his magic came back to him he can’t help but be surprised. His technique couldn’t reach the boundaries of the forest. But he could still sense Alfer forest has undergone many changes other than just expanding since he died. Trees with fruits of various tastes was one of the changes. Many strong Beast can now be found in the area he scanned.

From the technique, he could picture what the Beasts looked like and what surprised him was, the weakest species he detected was Brown Horned Rabbit, which naturally born at Savage rank. There was no Normal Beast, with the lowest one of them all being Savage Beast and the highest one being a Mythical Beast. Compared to the time when Iledoya lives here, Serion was the only Legendary Beast and Savage Beasts was very rare.

‘This should be a good opportunity to test out my fighting power’ he thought while walking towards the place where he detected a Savage Beast. The way he was going to test himself, was by fighting with a Beast from each rank. Starting with a Savage Beast.

A short walk later, he’s now standing in front of a Green Scaled Viper, a Savage Beast. ‘So how should i fight it? Should i try to fight it with magic or with a weapon?’ Iledoya was standing still thinking how he should fight right in front of the Viper. The Viper stared at the 15-year old looking boy that was standing before it. A prey just came walking by and now it’s just standing there?

The Viper felt underestimated. It striked towards Iledoya, baring its fangs towards him. Just as it was about to bite, the boy in front of it blurred and vanished. The Viper’s vision then started to spin around and it could now see it’s body squirming. Without a head.

“How could I forget. I should’ve tested summoning my Scythe before anything else. Good thing it’s still like always. Using my Scythe should technically be using both magic and a weapon right?” Iledoya appeared behind the body of the Viper and said to himself. While he was thinking and the Viper came attacking, he suddenly remembered about his Scythe and decided to use just that.

‘Now what was it called again Nightmare Scythe Arts? Yeah that should be it’ Even though the Scythe is mainly used to severe souls, it is still possible to use it like a normal scythe and he happened to have knowledge on some scythe arts. The Nightmare Scythe Arts was the one he chose to practice. It’s a mysterious scythe art. Unless the opponent is able to overwhelm the user, all of the user attacks would cause fear to grow in their opponents heart and giving the possibility of nightmares when they sleep.

Iledoya suddenly felt pain all over his body ‘Ouch I guess my body still can’t handle such fast movements I should just use magic for the next one’ Iledoya sat down and rested for a while. “Hmm yeah, let’s try that magic next”

“Miko miko miii~ fatigue, fatigue, go away chuu~” he chanted. But nothing happened. “Wait, why did nothing happen? Did I do it wrong? But in her memory it’s exactly like I did. Meh, I should’ve known that it was fake just from the chant alone. But why is it that her targets really did look like their fatigue was gone though?” In his time severing souls in Death’s realm, Iledoya had met a maid’s soul and gained knowledge about an establishment full of maid that treats their customers as their ‘master’. Feeling tricked but confused at the same time, Iledoya sighed.

“Well this one should work. Life Magic: Rested body” he chanted again. This time, his body glowed a few seconds. He could feel his fatigue fading away while his body was glowing. “Okay, to the next target” he continued his walk.

The number of Magical Beasts in the forest if far less than the amount of Savage Beasts. The leap from Savage rank to Magical rank was huge and is not as simple like the leap from Normal rank to Savage rank. Because of this, Beasts of the Magical rank and above was quite respected and with their intelligence, they are able to understand the respect they are given.

Still a bit far from where he wanted to go, Iledoya heard the bush in front of him rustle. A Silver Wolf emerged from behind the bush. Iledoya was quite shocked seeing the 3 meter tall Wolf, as this was the Wolf that he wanted to fight with.

When the Wolf spotted Iledoya, it bowed down before saying “May i know who you are?”

Iledoya was confused seeing the wolf bow down. “My name is Iledoya. Umm why did you bow down?”

The Wolf answered “When I sense His Majesty’s smell mixed with another, I came rushing over. A human with the smell of His Majesty lingering around him are must definitely be respected.”

Iledoya gave an awkward smile as he thought ‘His Majesty should be Serion. I guess he has literally become the king of the forest’

“I I see Well anyway, Can I ask for a favor?”

“How can I help you?”

“Have a little spar with me”

The Wolf tilted it’s head in confusion. But remembering that the boy in front of itself has connection with His Majesty, he answered “Okay. But Let’s go somewhere else. Hop on. There is a platform that His Majesty has created for battles between Beasts. If you want to, you can challenge other Beasts after sparing with me there, as it is also a gathering spot for Beasts of high ranks”

“What? Really? Then let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” he hopped on the Wolf right away and it dashed right away.

“How should i call you wolfy?” the Wolf’s mouth twitched hearing how the boy called him. “Just call me Fen”

“That’s a strange name.” Fen almost tripped hearing his name being called strange. “Anyway Fen, can you tell me how Alfer forest is like now?”

“Well Sure the name is now The Great Alfer forest by the way. The Great Alfer forest is a very vast forest. It’s even larger than some Kingdoms. Ever since His Majesty became the Guardian, this place became a haven for Beasts. His Majesty constantly absorb magic to make the forest more and more magical, allowing Beasts to have an easier time raising their strength.

You can divide the forest into 3 area. The Boundaries, the Middle area, and the Heart area. The platform we are going to and the cave His Majesty resides in are in the Heart area. Most races dare not to wander into the Middle area and only dare to stay in the Boundaries.

It is in this Middle area that beasts of Savage rank and above lives. While the Heart area is where Beasts of Magical rank and above lies. His Majesty concentrated the magic of the forest to the Middle and Heart area, making the boundaries look just like a normal forest.

His Majesty also demanded that if the Beasts which resides in the Heart area want to kill each other, they may only do it in a designated place. The platform we are heading is the designated place, but only if it is a mutual agreement by those who fight are they allowed to kill. Knowing it will be hard for the carnivorous Beasts to not be allowed to hunt for food, His Majesty transformed a lot of the trees so they may bear fruits that taste like meat and has the same nutritional value.

“I see” Iledoya understood ‘So all the way from the cave, I wandered all the way to the Middle area. Alfer forest- wait, no It should be The Great Alfer forest now. It has truly become vast. And Serion is like a real king now.’

After a while, they arrived at a place filled with Beasts. At the center of the crowd of Beasts there was a platform that looked like it was made of stone. On the platform however there was a pair of black coloured panthers over 5 meters high with dark patterns all over their body and a white glowing scratch wound on their neck. One had the wound on the left side of its neck while the other on the right. Unlike Serion’s patterns, their patterns don’t emit any aura. Iledoya was shocked when he saw them.

“Two Midnight Panthers, both Legendary rank of the Dark attribute!” This meant that the forest had Beasts of all ranks. Fen said “You’re right. The one with the wound on the left side is Blaine while the other is Blaise. As His Majesty does not want non-Beasts to know of his presence in this forest, His Majesty appointed them to represent him when necessary. They are His Majesty’s most loyal attendants. Oh I think they’re going to fight”

Just when Fen finished speaking, the one with the scar on the right, Blaise, started speaking “Blaine, when will you admit it. I am more superior to you.”

Blaine who is just on the opposite side of the platform, snorted when it heard that. “Heh. When that Human King came here discuss important matters, you almost squashed him to death. And you dare say that you’re superior?”

Blaise twitched “That does not prove anything. Fine. Let’s settle this once and for all”

Iledoya was confused hearing their conversation. “What’s going on? Fen, do you know anything?” He turned to Fen for answer.

“It’s been going on for quite a while now. No one knows how it started. They’ve been coming here to fight almost every week just to prove that-” Before Fen could finish, he was cut off by the panthers in the stage.

Blaise and Blaine shouted at the same time “I AM THE ONE HIS MAJESTY PREFERS”

“…” Iledoya can’t help but twitched when he heard that. Being cut off, Fen felt quite awkward. “Cough so yeah that’s it. It started with who was the most loyal to His Majesty and it escalated to what it is now.”

After the panthers shouted, they rushed at each other and started trading blows. They were so fast most of the Beasts there could only see blurred figures clashing and retreating. But Iledoya was different, he used a magic eye technique and he could see their fight.

They covered their claws in what seemed like black flames and with just a swipe, their claws sends a black wind blade to their opponent. Sometimes they would take the chance to create a dark tentacle from their opponents shadow to distract them. But both of them are extremely agile and fast so they easily dodge each other’s attacks.

Suddenly, they each went to the edge of the platform. A magic circle appeared above them and they chanted in unison “Grand Dark Magic: Dark Beam!!” After which, from the magic circle a Dark Beam shot out as it targeted their opponents.

BOOM

The beam hit them both directly, creating a gust of wind. The platform didn’t get damaged, not even a scratch, while the panthers was still standing there perfectly fine too.

Oddly in sync, they spoke at the same time

“Damn it, you’re still standing”

“Hey you copied me”

“STOP THAT”

“DAMN IT. I AM THE ONE WHO IS MOST LOYAL TO HIS MAJESTY”

“…” Iledoya was speechless after hearing them. “Was this really a fight between Legendary Beasts? It seems normal..” Iledoya said, feeling a bit disappointed.

Hearing that, Fen said to Iledoya “Just because it looked like they act childish, doesn’t mean they’re weak. They are real Legendary Beast that are very loyal to His Majesty.

Why did their battle seem normal? It’s because their loyalty to His Majesty won’t allow them to hurt all these Beasts around the platform, so they’ve been holding back. And for the same reason, they will not take their battle somewhere else, in fear that when His Majesty needs them, they wouldn’t be present. If they fought without holding back, only that platform and the trees around the plain would still be standing.”

Hearing that, Iledoya gulped. He had a change of plans now “I I want to try fighting them when they’re not holding back…”

After Iledoya said that, a voice came from behind him “I can help you with that”

[edited by ed]