Life Hunter 15 ''That's A Freaking Living Being''

"Good morning" The next day, Arima greeted Aria.

"h.e.l.lo Arima" She answered "I heard you were leaving today" She said

"Eh? Who told you that?" Arima was surprised

Aria pointed somewhere, he followed her finger and saw Night shamelessly eating a really big and expensive looking meat "You..."

Night turned his head to avoid Arima's look "Anyway, yeah, I'm leaving now" Arima said

Aria nodded "Good. Next time I'll beat you" She said earnestly

Arima blinked "Are you actually a battle junkie?"

She tilted her head "What is that?"

"Nothing. You don't need to know."

"Arima, I don't think you really have the right to call someone a battle junkie" Night commented when he heard Arima.

Arima ate his lunch. He bid farewell to Aria and left with Night.

After leaving the city, Arima and Night resonated. Once in his dragon form, Arima began to stretch and crack his neck.

"Let's go" He deployed his wings and flapped them. He instantly became a flash and flew away, he stopped only when he was four hundred meters high. His wings stopped moving too but they were producing some kind of red mist.

Arima looked around, when he was about to directly head to the Alliance, he noticed something that made him frown. So instead, he headed towards another direction, it was a plain a few miles away from the city.

"This..." Arima looked even more perplexed.

"{What's wrong?}" Night asked

"Do you see that?"

"{That? Isn't that just a plain}"

"Yes, it definitely is" He paused "And that's also the place where I summoned you"

"{Mh? So, what?}

Arima sighed strangely "That's also the place I fought with you" Night didn't respond, he waited for Arima to talk "So now, can you explain me why is this like that?"

He looked at the ground in front of him, the plain that should have been destroyed was already full of verdure. The cracks strangely closed and the craters became small hills.

"{Isn't that normal?}"

"If it's normal for you then that also means that it's normal for the other inhabitants of this world" He paused "But I looked at the ecosystem of this world, the plants and trees should grow at the same speed. That there are magic circuits or not, normal trees grow at the same speed. But, if you're saying that it's normal then that means that when every time the environment is damaged in this world, it is repaired at a fast rate" Arima explained

Night began to ponder seriously and the more he thought about it the more he became confused "{Does that mean that something that should not happen is regarded as normal by the inhabitants of this world?}" He suddenly realized.

"Yeah" Arima landed in the middle of the plain, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

"[Revelare caelum et terram] (Reveal the sky and the earth)" He chanted

"[Index mundo] (World Index)" Night was surprised, this was the first time he heard Arima chant with an actual incantation and keyword.

This was the best detection magic Arima could use. He felt something was strange. He concentrated his research in the area around him.

"I knew it" Arima suddenly opened his eyes

"{What did you find?}" Night asked in curiosity.

"I found a string of mana, that means that someone or something helped the nature here. And what surprises me is this mana's purity. No, more than pure, it's flawless, it feels like there are absolutely no impurities"

"{What? That's impossible. There is no way someone can have a completely pure mana. Even you are far from that}" Night was shocked.

One thing to know is that the more one's mana is pure the less it is wasted when casting magic. And to accomplish that, one needs to train his mind. Using mana means harmonizing it with the mind when the mind has traces of negatives emotions then the purity fall. It doesn't matter if one is bad or good. But if one has things like doubt, fear or hesitation then the quality of the mana will undoubtedly fall. And even though Arima is a monster in this aspect, his mana is purer than anyone else, but very far from perfect.

"It's a good thing that we're fused right now. You'll hold this string of mana while I'll try to a.n.a.lyze it" Arima said

"{Ok}"

Arima and Night turned completely silent. The former stayed in the same position for an hour before he opened his eyes slowly, they were filled with shock. Even Night stayed silent, not even daring to talk about what they just found out.

Coming back at what happened, at one point of his a.n.a.lysis Arima detected a 'will' in the mana then he followed it. But where he was led was absolutely unpredictable, the more he followed the more he went underground until he finally realized to what pertained this mana.

"{Unbelievable}" Night broke the silence.

Arima took a deep breath and flew gently, he stopped a dozen meters in the sky and looked below.

"Seriously" He talked "This planet is alive. That's a freaking living being. A living being that can use mana with a will inside, that eliminates the possibility of the planet trying to just repair itself automatically" He sighed and rubbed his temples "Let's go. If this thing finds out that I inspected him, I have no idea what it would do. I'd prefer to not be chased by the ground I'm walking on and the air I'm breathing with"

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

While flying, Arima used 'Wild spark' and easily broke through the sound barrier by propelling himself with his fire magic, of course, along with his wings.

He arrived at his destination in just half of an hour.

When Arima landed, he separated from Night who reappeared in his original form "Hey" He spoke just at that moment "Why are we here?" He asked.

The only thing he could see in front of him was a huge forest with very tall trees.

"To go the Alliance of course" Arima answered

"Isn't the Alliance supposed to be a city?" Night asked doubtfully

"Yes, it is. Didn't look at the map? What you see now is the 'Great Forest'. This Forest goes from one coast of the continent to another. It's also called the s.h.i.+eld of the Alliance because the latter is located behind this fortress of trees" Arima explained

"How can just a forest be the s.h.i.+eld of a whole country?" Night didn't know so he obviously asked.

"I'll explain it to you in there. Change to your wolf form" Arima headed to a small path in the forest and Night did as he was told and followed him.

In there, Arima continued to walk and explained.

"First of all, the elven town is in this forest, so the majority of the elves live here instead of the Alliance city. The elves are one of the reasons why this forest is an impregnable defense because it possesses the masters of the wild fight. The second reason is that a dryad is here"

Dryads are extremely rare in this world. They are the manifestation of a forest's spirit. On this continent, there is only one dryad and it's this one. The dryads possess incredible magic power and have the ability to cast it in most of the places of the forest she created from, this includes, of course, a magic barrier. Dryads always reveal themselves with the appearance of a kind and beautiful woman, and actually which possesses pointed ears.

"And the final reason, I think you already felt it." Arima finished by saying that.

Night nodded "I feel countless presences in this forest but I cannot see them"

"That's 'treants'. They are trees which became intelligent and able to fight with mana. That transformation is caused by the influence of the dryad. Their ability to fight is only around the second level, even with magic. But, do you know how many of them there is?" Arima suddenly asked.

"No" Night honestly responded

Arima smiled "It is said that at least 40% of the trees in this forest are treants"

Night broke out a cold sweat "Impossible. Doesn't that mean that there are millions of them?"

"Well, you got the figure. If I wanted to destroy all the treants here, I could, but I would be stopped by the dryad who is also protected by the elves" He shrugged "It's almost impossible"

Night's expression fell "Don't say almost"

While they were talking, they kept advancing until Arima stopped suddenly "By the way, where are we?" The latter said

"...you're lost? Seriously? And why are you asking me?" Night retorted "Rather, you should have realized you didn't the directions before you entered this forest!"

"Well, I forgot" Arima said "I should have used 'World Index' to memorize the continent's map but now I can't because the treants or the dryad would attack me" He shrugged "I'll have to do something quieter" He conjured a dozen of his usual birds to look at the place.

He stayed in place for five minutes and then pointed in a direction "Elven town, there"

"Finally" Night complained.

"What? It was just 5 minutes"

"Five minutes of you standing there silent, and me drawing circles"

Arima laughed "Sorry, let's go"

Because they had to change of direction, they created a path for themselves with neutral magic, or psychokinesis, for those who don't understand.

"By the way, is it a good idea to barge like that in their country. I mean, you're a human" Night asked

"Oh, that. Don't worry, we already have been detected and I'm sure they're already waiting for us at an ambush point where I would only be able to obey" Arima said, indifferent.

"What?"