Floating around Aria were small rocks coated in wind element. She was planning to use the same attack as last time.
'My mana control jumped as well!'
Compared to the dozen she had coated previously, now there were nearly 3 times as many.
With a smile and a wave of her hand, the rocks gathered together. She then focused on forming a hollow cylinder of wind element around the rocks. And finally, just like last time, she formed a ball of wind that would shoot the rocks out.
But this time the ball was even denser than before, and with the cylinder that channeled the rocks, her accuracy jumped leaps and bounds!
The rocks shot out like a shotgun. The monster raised its furry arms to defend as multiple cuts appeared, some rocks flying past, missing, but a majority hitting. Familiar deep crimson blood sprayed on the grass.
'It's still standing.'
Despite the power of the attack being higher than last time, the monster still stood. Aria instantly realized why.
'So it can use Aura even more than the last monster.'
To launch the rocks, she used a variation of [Wind Blade] called [Gust], which pushed rather than cut. Now, she was a rank 1; it became even stronger. But even though it was powerful, it had its limits: the rock's durability.
The monster's arms were surrounded by brown energy. With the use of Aura, it instantly shattered the wind element, then the rocks upon contact, leaving no injuries. Unless she used a spell with the same strength against the Aura, she wouldn't be able to get through.
'My wind element got stronger, so let's try this!'
Aria launched another spell without hesitation, waving her staff with the familiar crescent shaped movement.
[Tier 1: Wind Blade]
A crescent shaped green light slices through the air, cutting through the Aura and into the monster's raised arms, making blood pour.
Compared to the many rocks coated in wind element, after ranking up, the [Wind Blade] was denser, stronger, and most of all faster.
'Fast! Both my attack and this monster.'
Aria's spell moved at nearly twice its previous speed. Likewise, the power of the spell was much stronger than before, at the very least, much stronger than the rocks coated in wind element.
But even though it was faster, the monster raised its arms as soon as Aria shot her spell. This instant reaction was expected; the monster was not only stronger than its kin but also faster, but such movements gave her enough hints to guess its rank.
'The wound is shallow, it's a rank 2 at the very least.'
Aria sprinted to the side away from the exhausted Ren. Following her, the monster switched direction, closing the distance at a rapid pace. During these movements, Aria raised her staff, and green light gathered, but this time, instead of the crescent formation signaling a [Wind Blade], the wind element gathered at a point that extended into a shaft with an arrowhead.
[Tier 1: Wind Arrow]
Because Aria didn't create the fletching or nock to shoot the arrow, it looked more like a small spear than an arrow. But that didn't mean it was inaccurate or weak; it shot with surprising quiet, streaking through the forest quickly, the only indication of its approach was the green light that composed its body.
The monster raised its arms once more, but unlike [Wind Blade], the arrow moved too fast for it to react, making it instinctively protect its head.
Like how the last furred monster died because of injuries to its head, the head of these monsters seemed to be a big weakness to them.
'Then block this!'
With a slight tilt of her staff, the arrow curved downward, hitting the right knee of the monster. The arrow didn't pass all the way through, but embedded itself deeply into the monster. A roar echoed as it bent down, reaching down to pull it out. However, Aria wouldn't give up such an opening.
[Tier 1: Wind Blade]
The crescent wind flew towards its face, forcing one arm to raise itself to block. Following this, she made another slashing motion with her staff, focusing on pouring an extra amount of mana into the spell.
[Tier 1: Wind Blade]
The spell sliced at the right hand, pulling out the [Wind Arrow]. It hit the furry hand that was about to grab the arrow, as well as the arrow itself. At that moment, Aria's eyes glowed with delight.
'Disperse!'
When the spells [Wind Arrow] and [Wind Blade] made contact, Aria forcefully dispersed them, causing the spells to return to their elemental form as motes of green light.
'Next it will gather!'
These green motes of wind element rushed towards each other and coalesced into a tiny ball, a tiny ball that was the foundation of her next spell.
'Now…'
[Tier 2: Wind Bomb]
A small explosion of wind magic occurred, doing extensive damage to both the right hand, grabbing the arrow, as well as the right leg, where the arrow was embedded.
Pieces of bone and flesh could be seen, making for quite the macabre display. Yet all in Aria's mind was celebration.
'Score! That worked like a charm, not even its Aura could block it!'
She had made the spell by combining the dense structural properties of [Wind Arrow] with the efficient cutting capabilities of [Wind Blade], compressing it all into a tiny orb that would explode at the touch.
'Still, it has some limitations.'
It was a very volatile spell. As soon as it was formed, it would explode, so Aria couldn't form it beforehand and had to do it on the fly. It was also a very slow process, meaning that if she wanted to hit the monster in the head, only being up close and personal would do the trick.
Different from the shallow wounds that the [Wind Blade] did, the tier 2 spell [Wind Bomb] created deep wounds, much to Aria's jubilation.
'Still that took a lot out of me….'
Checking her mana, she found that the core that was bursting with energy was now a little above a tenth left. At the start, she launched dozens of rocks at the monster, then cast [Wind Blade] multiple times already, also coupled with [Wind Arrow] and a tier 2 spell [Wind Bomb]. It was a miracle she wasn't running on fumes.
'But I did pretty well, didn't I?'
Compared to the last furred monster, this one was not only stronger but wasn't injured from any previous fights. Yet looking at it now, it had injuries all over its body, though mostly shallow due to Aura protecting it; the injuries on the right leg were devastating.
It was quite the feat, considering it was a whole rank above her. On top of that, Aria herself wasn't even injured a single time!
'I need to keep attacking it and keep a distance but…'
Even with the advantage, in her mind, Aria came to a logical but grim conclusion.
'I can't win.'
Generally, a rank 2 was stronger than a rank 1. Similar to the jump from rank 0 to rank 1, there is also a jump between ranks 1 and 2, but at the lower ranks, where physical defenses aren't absurdly increased, the gap between them, though large, isn't significant, allowing attacks from lower-tier spells to harm higher ranks.
That was the only reason Aria could get so far in this fight.
'My mind is getting tired as well.'
A couple of hours wasn't enough for her to fully recover from the mental exhaustion of casting various spells, especially higher-tier spells, as well as attacks demanding extreme multitasking.
'And I can't move.'
Moreover, her body felt incredibly sore, since using the magic of a higher tier than your rank required not only enough mana and knowledge, but also enough physical strength.
The physical strain mostly came from [Wind Blade] that she used as a Rank 0; interestingly, [Wind Bomb] didn't cause much strain since it was activated remotely.
In any case, it was safe to say that Aria was at her wits' end.
'Hmm, but this should be enough, right?'
Understanding that losing would mean death, her expression remained deathly calm. This calm was for a very good reason.
The injured monster limped towards Aria at a surprisingly quick pace. It resorted to crawling with its working arm and leg, and it closed in after a dozen seconds.
"Ah! Alas, my end is near! If only a white knight in shining armor would save me!"
Her tone was dramatic and high pitched, her acting was quite frankly..
'Terrible! What is she saying!? That monster doesn't even understand English!'
Ren sighed incredulously. He was behind the monster about 6 paces away, and after another step, the monster's hair stood on end.
Turning from Aria, it spotted Ren. With a smile, in his right hand, his sword gleamed already unsheathed, and in his left hand was a crystal that glowed with blue mana leaking from a small crack on its surface, a crack that was created by Aria moments ago.
Now that Aria was a rank 1, she could turn her mana solid and break the crystal even if her mana was leagues lower.
She didn't need to break the entire crystal; she only needed to make a small hole for Ren to absorb the mana inside!
"Are you looking for this?"
The monster seemed to realize that the mana came from its brethren, causing it to roar with anger, forgetting about Aria and lunging at Ren.
With its uninjured arm raised, it slammed down, arm covered in the brown colored Aura that flared even larger due to its intense emotions.
Dust and rubble launched in all directions.
But instead of Ren's crushed corpse under its arm, it saw an orange flame as heat pervaded the surrounding area. In an instant, this heat disappeared, condensing into a glowing orange energy surrounding a blade.
[Tier 1: Flame's Edge]
The monster's arm had hit the ground, parried by Ren's sword, and crimson blood now poured from a new wound Ren inflicted.
But that wasn't all Ren had done; blood gushed from the monster's other broken arm, and it had become shorter.
Why?
Because Ren had completely severed it from the monster flying in the air before landing a couple of meters away.
These actions merely took a couple of moments. Ren's dark hair blew in the wind, his pale face still covered in sweat, his body still shaking from exhaustion, and his heart still beating intensely.
Yet his ocean blue eyes held determination, a fighting will so intense that even the monster froze for a couple of moments.
With flaring vigor, Ren had joined the battle!
…
'My elemental affinity, I wonder what it is?'
Resting to the side, Ren held the rank 3 crystal tightly, absorbing all he could. Since it was rank 3 mana, it was extremely difficult to refine, requiring meticulous control; he had to balance his absorption, as taking too much would make him lose control of the mana, while absorbing too little would waste time that Aria was desperately making.
Aria had been fighting for a couple of minutes, running around and shooting rocks to stall it while also firing [Wind Blade] occasionally, but Ren knew very well she was reaching her limit.
'Making a core in a minute? How crazy! It took me a year last time.'
In his past life, he had spent a whole year forming a core, and he drank multiple elixirs during that time.
Checking on his core, he was pleasantly surprised by what he found. Ocean blue mana that glowed with light and dark tones, this mana formed a sphere that was his core.
'70% I don't have time! Should I risk it?'
70% was already absurd, like Aria, he had been forming the core since he woke up. Since they both had high ranks in their last lives, their speed was about the same, yet Ren's face couldn't help but frown.
'Since she gave me the crystal, it went up 20 percent. I've been taking as much as I could from the crystal, but I need to take more. Even if I have to force it!'
Due to his experience, he could balance the right amount of mana to take from the crystal. If he were too greedy and absorbed the whole thing, it would be a disaster; the refined mana was too strong for a rank 0 to handle, and would try to exit the body, returning to nature or back to the crystal.
'Since my body can't handle rank 3 mana exiting, my organs would rupture, and I would bleed out in excruciating pain!'
The macabre thought chilled his mind. Failure meant death. Yet success meant he would advance his core creation; still, thoughts of failure flowed through his mind.
'If I die, what will happen to Aria?'
Gazing at her figure, desperately casting spells, Ren knew that she was reaching her limit; they couldn't run. Aria wasn't as fit as he was, and they both were exhausted from casting spells or running, slight regret crossed his mind.
'Maybe we shouldn't have killed it?'
If they hadn't attacked the furred monster, its kin probably wouldn't have chased them, but Ren shook his head, the regret fading in tandem.
'No, that thinking is wrong; we can't predict the future. Plus, at the end of core creation, you need a slight push to break through to rank 1.'
If they avoided monsters and waited till the next day, they may have gotten their cores to 99%, but never 100%, as that required an external push to break through.
So Ren smiled and, without hesitation, absorbed a massive amount of mana from the crystal. The flood of mana came, shaking his body, causing his exhaustion to worsen, and a coughing fit of blood to stain the forest grass.
He surrounded the foreign mana with his own, attempting to crush it, but it only held for a moment as the mana broke through his own, pushing his mana out and wasting it. Ren merely smiled, pouring more of his mana around it, pushing it towards the center of his body.
The struggle between foreign mana and his own continued. Ren's mana was nearly depleted, yet he persisted, pulling the mana deeper and deeper into his body until a sphere appeared.
'Now get in!'
Scraping the last reserves of his mana, the foreign mana was pushed into the unfinished core, and in an instant, cracks started to appear as the mana fought back. Ren desperately condensed the sphere to hold in the mana and assimilate it.
The cracks continued to widen all across the sphere, nearly shattering it before it stopped. Soon, the ocean blue mana core churned inside him as it expanded, fixing the cracks and increasing in size, shining brightly.
'I-It's done! That was worth it!'
Ren felt the familiar euphoria of ascension, his mana jumping in both density and control. In addition, he felt his body become lighter and more robust as mana saturated his body. Ren's mouth curved in excitement as he once more ascended to the 1st rank. Without hesitation, he started casting magic.
[Wind Discharge]
A small breeze was felt by Ren; he then uncast the spell.
'Unefficient! Not that one.'
Ren continued trying,
[Earth Discharge]
Touching the ground, a small mound shot up. Ren shook his head.
'Not that one either.'
Both Wind and Earth were the most mana efficient of the basic elements. Although Ren could use them, if he wanted to fight the monster, he needed to use the element with which he had the greatest affinity.
[Water Discharge]
An orb of water appeared at his fingertips before falling and wetting his hand.
'This one has a bit..'
Water was one of the elements he used a lot in his last life. Although the water was larger than the others, he couldn't fully say he had an affinity, but because he used it the most, such a result occurred.
'That means I don't have affinities or I have an affinity for…'
[Fire Discharge]
Ren, without hesitation, casts the last spell, his expression changing to one of jubilation,
…
Back in the present, the monster threw a hook with its remaining arm, and Ren pushed his exhausted body to the side. His legs were tired, but his arms weren't as bad, allowing him to cut off its injured arm in an instant.
'It's still so fast!'
However, after such a move, the monster was on complete guard, not letting Ren any closer, using its higher ranked Aura to its advantage.
Moving with maximum efficiency, he dodged the attacks by mere centimeters, his body now able to withstand the wind pressure created by the furred monster.
'It can use Aura as well! I can't break through this, but it can only use it on its arms! I still see a chance!'
Aura was used by rank 2. Ren was rank 1, so he couldn't use it yet, but that wouldn't stop him. With a step forward, he started his advance towards the monster.
The monster swung down with immense strength, and Ren slashed at the side of the Aura covered arm, parrying it to the ground, but causing cracks to appear on his sword. He moved to the side of the monster's severed arm, using the weak side to his advantage, he slashed towards the face, blinding the monster's right eye.
Ren continued to dodge, applying more and more injuries to the monster; nevertheless, he knew his limit was fast approaching, and he needed a chance to deal a decisive blow. Little did he know that chance would come sooner than he expected.
"Ren!"
Aria's voice cut through the battlefield, causing Ren's eyes to widen at the call of his name. Glancing at her for a moment, an understanding was formed upon eye contact, his sword parried one more time, chipping it beyond repair, only the tip was sharp.
Ren then took a stance, planting his feet on the ground, leaving him open, getting ready to put his all into a single strike. It was insane to leave himself open, yet he trusted Aria would come through.
'I'll use… that move.'
The monster didn't give up, launching a final attack towards Ren.
Blood sprayed, but not Ren's; it was from its right leg, hit by a [Wind Blade], which caused the fist to veer to the side, missing Ren!
[Fire Discharge]
The mana was converted into fire element, as a sword technique formed in his mind. This technique required him to be completely still and focused.
'Helian Faith Simple Sword style 1st form'
[Piercing Light]
The fire element gathered at the very tip of Ren's blade as he thrust it forward at a speed so fast the monster couldn't react. The blade pierced the monster's head in the blink of an eye.
Its movements stilled before its arm turned limp, and when Ren pulled out the sword, it fell face first on the ground dead.
"Hah.. Hah"
His breathing was heavy, his vision blurry, he felt like dropping at the very movement, but his mind wouldn't let him.
Looking around, his gaze landed on Aria, walking towards her, he noticed that she was wobbling and that blood was pouring from her nose. She only stood because she was leaning on her staff.
Ren's ocean blue eyes and Aria's golden eyes stared at each other,
"Aria"
She tilted her head before giving him a light chuckle,
"Huhu, what is it, Ren?"
He shook his head before asking a question
"We never called each other by our names, huh?"
Aria's eyes lit up, realizing the same before nodding,
"That's right! Ren.. Ren! Ren?"
"Pft.. What is it?"
"Hehe, It feels nice to say."
The two moved using each other as support, moving towards a tree, sitting side by side against it.
"Do you think we'll be attacked here?"
Ren wondered, asking Aria,
"That monster came in, so it seems other creatures can as well. But…"
"But?"
"It's not like we can do anything."
They were too tired and injured to fight; their mana reserves were emptied, and their minds and bodies were exhausted.
"Ren.. I feel tired."
Aria's golden eyes were dull with fatigue. Ren smiled, tapping his shoulder,
"Then lean on my shoulder."
Aria's dull eyes lit up as she grinned, nodding without hesitation,
"Then don't mind if I do!"
Aria's weight pressed against Ren's shoulder as moments passed. Ren's body shivered, causing Aria to look up curiously. She noticed Ren's pale skin seemed cold, causing her to reach out to hold his hand.
"Aria?"
"You're cold, right? My hand is warm."
Aria's hand clasps Ren's, transferring an unfamiliar warmth to his fingertips. He smiles, thanking her.
"Ah.. thanks."
"Hehe, to think a fire mage would be cold."
Ren laughed with her, finding the situation odd as well, and soon the two drifted into sleep sitting under the night stars.