The Dark Legacy

Chapter 10 : Black tree forest.

Kris's body was riddled with injury, he patched up his wounds with bandages, temporarily stopping the blood flow.

His black cloak was soaked with blood, wrapping around his body tightly. It also helped him to cover up the wounds to some extent.

Kris was extremely wary at the moment, because he was at his weakest. If another mana beast show up that would be the end of him.

He wouldn't be able to ask the academy for help either. Each of his step was measured with extreme caution.

" Such bad luck, if i had an A-class mana core then things would have been quite different. It was fortunate that the rhino was only an earth elemental beast with strong defense but little attack power, thus i was able to kill it. I need more high attack power spell that cost little mana but to exchange them a large number of magic points is needed.

I could also sell this beast core, earning two rank one low grade magic stone at the very least. " Kris thought as he moved forward slowly.

Suddenly he took a turn moving half of his body sideways, a dagger flew out instantly, Kris didn't stop, he threw dagger one after another with lightning speed which cut through the air swiftly, but suddenly with clank sounds the daggers fell down in midway.

A figure emerged from the place where the dagger had struck.

" Stealth artifact! This will be difficult. " Kris frowned looking at the figure infront.

He wore a white uniform, means an apprentice magician same as Kris. A wind veil constantly hovered around his body making a strong defense.

Kris knew who the person was, it was the same guy who had beaten him to pulp in the past.

" Student of Hysteria magic academy? " Kris's voice was extremely thick, with a touch of resonance.

The boy infront smiled looking at Kris as he flew forward. Kris suddenly felt a bad premonition. Was he following him all the way here? Since when?

" I know its you Kris, no need to act infront of me. "

Kris's heart tuned cold as he slowly removed the mask from his face.

" I never introduced myself, did i? I am Vance, a commoner, just like you. " He smiled as he introduced himself.

Kris didn't reply, only looking at him with cold countenance.

" Who would have thought that you are a dark magician, hehehe interesting indeed.

What do you think will happen if i sell this news to church? I will get a huge amount of money, and the church will hunt you down relentlessly. Hehehe."

" What do you want? " Kris opened his mouth speaking coldly.

" Nothing, i'm just explaining. Do you know the church of light would grant the title of noble if someone manage to kill a dark magician? Wouldn't it be better to kill you, rather than handing you over to them? "

" Looks like you are the only one who knows about it. "

" Yep, but don't worry, i'll kill you soon. "

" Its much better this way. " As Kris said this, he vanished from the spot.

Vance's pupil shrunk as he furiously tried to make a distance, because he couldn't sense his presence. But he suddenly felt an acute pain in his back, he saw a long black object was protruding from his chest, creating a large hole. Vance turned his head, Kris who had penetrated his claws into his back gave a wide smile in return.

" How? " Vance uttered slowly, looking at him with confusing gaze.

" Why talk so much nonsense before death. " Kris moved his claw slightly, directly digging out his mana core. Before death vance didn't even had the chance to self detonate his mana core.

Kris squatted down checking his body, only after confirming he was dead then he relaxed.

Kris was extremely cautious and alert from the beginning. When he had separated from his group, he was aware that someone might follow him since he was being targeted intentionally while he was in the academy.

He chose not to exert his full strength while battling the rhino, taking a great risk in the process. His alertness showed fruition, luring out Vance in the open.

Seeing Kris weak and injured vance thought it was a great chance to gain some benefits from the church. He was careless, allowing Kris to kill him with one hit.

Kris's was almost at the point of fainting, his mana reservation was completely dry after using spells again.

Too much mana starvation for a magician was extremely dangerous, it might even cause death.

Kris slowly sat straight, keeping his breathing steady as much as possible.

Magicians could absorb mana from his surroundings, their mana core would be able to absorb an exact amount of mana according to its rank.

A higher ranked mana core would be able to absorb mana extremely fast but Kris's mana core was only C-class, thus his mana absorption would be much slower.

Daylight vanished as the night slowly descended, Kris walked out of the dark and gloomy cave, his visage was much more vigorous than before.

He changed into a new black robe again, wearing the same broken mask.

" Sigh, it took so much time just to fill up my mana reservation. Such disadvantage of being a C-rank mana core. I won't be able put up a fight against an A-rank or B-rank.

Fighting against same ranked magician is much more harder than fighting against a higher ranked mana beast.

Magicians could use their wisdom and intelligence in battle while fighting the opponent, using every opportunity in their advantage. While mana beasts have low intelligence, they could only attack or defense.

So my mana shortage would be obvious against magicians.

I need to find a way to upgrade my mana core. "

Kris contemplated as he walked out of the cave.

" Keeping that aside, first i need to get out of my current predicament which is to deceive the academy and show my fire elemental prowess as a fire magician. "

Not more than half a day had passed, Kris arrived before the black tree forest.

Towering black trees covered the whole area, each of its branches was shrouded in white mist, which looked very creepy.

The trees were different in shapes and sizes, some looked like a sleeping giant, some looked like a human who was praying for help.

" Black tree forest, its name is indeed as it looks. "

Kris stepped inside the forest as his vision changed. The area inside was just like a graveyard, full of death energy.

Death energy was exact opposite of mana. So when a magician or any living being come in contact with death energy, it will try to corrode their consciousness, making them one of the living dead.

This kind of living dead was also known as ghouls.

Magicians needed to protect them from death energy while traveling the black tree forest. In a way, black tree forest was quite dangerous.

Kris wasn't afraid of danger as he dashed forward, activating two types of spell.

" Shadow barrier."

" Black vision. "

After using shadow barrier, a thin blurry smoke appeared on his body, enveloping him completely. It was to protect him from the death energy.

No sunlight could penetrate inside black tree forest, so the area inside was dark and gloomy. Black vision allowed Kris to see clearly around the area of fifty steps.

Kris moved fearlessly, while slashing many ghouls and small mana beasts in the process which lived inside the forest. He had done his own research over black tree forest. So he knows many things about its terrain and inhabitant beasts.

Kris suddenly stopped as he looked at below his feet. He squatted down and observed closely.

" More than eight different footsteps, it means a group of four or five had gone toward this direction. "

Kris moved toward the direction of those students footsteps. His moving technics was lite and precise without any extra movements, which allowed him to avoid many unnecessary battles.