Chapter 75 - Hunting

Lily placed Arakil's notebook open on her lap, hoping it would aid in his gathering attempt. She kept nervously looking around, hoping that nobody spotted the dazzling display, and was ready to flee at the drop of a hat.

When she felt like the coast was clear, she closed her eyes and began a small meditation session to see if Arakil was progressing.

She could still see the black flakes from the defeated monsters floating about and saw a tiny trickle of them heading toward what she presumed was Arakil. Lily felt her heart drop, and she wanted to whine about the unfairness of the situation.

That's hardly anything at all! Why can't he gather it? Stupid seals, why are you making giving him a little quality of life so difficult?

Lily tried to think of a method to help her mentor's situation. She wondered if she could gather the black specks a bit closer, then he might have an easier time. Nodding with determination, she breathed in and began collecting the flecks, paying careful attention to ensure she didn't accidentally steal any from Arakil.

Don't want to be like a particular greedy dragon… Lily giggled to herself.

When she was satisfied with her work, she halted the process and smiled triumphantly at the much more compressed area of monster essence flakes. Even though she teased Rose mere moments ago, Lily had to admit she felt a desire to absorb it for herself and refine her Mana Core further.

Lily patiently watched, seeing the very slow trickle continue, when suddenly, the book in her lap increased in size and weight as if demanding her attention.

"Arakil?" Lily whispered, looking at the book.

The book shifted in size a few more times. He clearly wanted to say something, so Lily brought a few Starlights close before reaching into her little pouch and pulling out a relatively small ink bottle she had arranged for such an occasion.

Rather than bringing a pen, this bottle had a dropper cap so she could siphon some ink and drip it onto the pages carefully. While working with Camilla, she noticed the useful bottle and requested one for herself. To Lily's surprise, the woman gave it to her freely, stating that she preferred using pipettes over droppers for better precision.

As the ink dripped on the page, it hastily formed into words.

[Absorb the monster essence—now!]

"Okay!" Lily agreed immediately and closed her eyes.

Almost immediately, Lily noticed why Arakil had been so frantic, as she noted that despite gathering the flecks, some of them had been lost over time. She promptly formed her gathering spiral and began drawing it in while still making sure to cleanse them before using them to refine her Mana Core.

"Okay, I'm done," Lily informed Arakil as soon as she was done.

She drew more ink into the dropper and dribbled it onto the pages by squeezing the squishy end between her fingers.

[The ambient Mana briefly spiked when the monsters perished, but I cannot directly draw in the essence without strenuous effort. There's also a significant efficiency loss, and it would be far better for you to refine it and donate it to me later.]

"Ugh, why can't things ever be easy," Lily groaned.

[Don't let it sour your mood. You did wonderfully dispatching two monsters. This will be better for your growth before the examination anyway, so I'd almost argue this was a better outcome.]

"I suppose so," Lily reluctantly agreed. "I just want to help you more now rather than later down the line. At least fix your eye, or let you be able to talk, or something."

[We will fix the book's eye in due time. Why don't you do a bit more hunting before returning for the evening?]

Arakil's book then shrunk back down to notebook size, giving Lily a clear indication that she should get moving.

"Fine," Lily whined. "But we seriously need to work on making your life a bit better. I mean it!"

Lily carefully put away the bottle after securing the cap. Then she placed Arakil back in her breast pocket before enveloping herself in her Nebula Veil again. The stardust in the area had already almost vanished entirely, so she was definitely safe.

Now… Where to find a few more monsters? Preferably gremlins; they seem to have a lot more than other monsters. I wonder how much Rose got from that bear? I bet it was a ton!

One area immediately came to mind—the ritual site. It had previously attracted a large group of gremlins before Rose burnt them to a crisp. It was a bit of a trip, further than Lily expected to go this evening, but thanks to her newfound stamina, she felt up to the task.

Lily arranged her stars in a formation to increase her vision radius. After glancing up at the gibbous moon, she nodded confidently and began jogging toward her destination.

Thanks to the distance and the increased activity at night, Lily's journey also netted her another two slimes, a spider, and a wandering gremlin. The slimes she dispatched with a single star each, while the gremlin required two.

Lily was unsure of the spider, so she went with a safe bet of three. However, her luck finally failed her, and she only produced a single star. However, that was enough to knock the spider off balance, and as it squirmed creepily, she flung out another one to finish the job.

Lily was a bit worried about her Mana usage, but thanks to all the refinement, it looked like her Mana Core was in tip-top shape, even though her repeated attempts to keep it perpetually rotating were still failing.

Throughout the night, she could hear various howls and hoots in the forest, but she never once spotted a wolf. She still remembered Rose's story of defeating an entire pack and almost desperately wanted a similar result for herself to brag about when they next met.

Maybe they've retaken the glade? Lily wondered, slightly hopeful.

Lily licked her dry lips in nervous anticipation as she approached her destination. Her mind raced as she wondered what she would find before finally breaking through the brush into the small clearing.

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Lily instantly spotted the familiar stone that Arakil's magic had created, although it looked like it had seen better days. It was visibly defaced with scratches, scorch marks, and missing segments while also looking much more visibly weathered.

It was so pristine before, thanks to keeping a little bit of Mana inside it.

But she banished her thoughts when she saw three tiny figures dancing atop the stone—gremlins. However, that wasn't what gave her pause; they were prancing around an orange glow that one of the gremlins was holding.

Lily squinted as best she could to see what it was, but it was too far to get a clear visual. She briefly regretted not pressing to learn Mana reinforcement as she could've used some temporary stronger eyes for this situation.

It's fine. I'll just get a little closer and then cast Starburst. If I put no limit on the maximum, I might take out all three instantly.

Lily nodded to her own reasoning.

But safety first!

She pulled out a shield talisman and placed it on her shoulder while activating it with a trickle of Mana. The tiny paper briefly shone before sticking to her shoulder as if coated in a magical adhesive, forming a thin magical barrier around her.

I don't think gremlins can get through my Nebula Veil after all my practice, but I'd rather have peace of mind.

She flexed her starry cloak a bit, ensuring that it was still active and she hadn't accidentally dropped it. Now that she was controlling it more directly, even a surprise shouldn't make her drop it. Wrapping herself in a more thorough covering, she stealthily approached the gremlins.

The gremlins seemed none the wiser, but her closer proximity made her start to wonder if the orange glow was a fire with how it was flickering. Had the gremlins found a burning stick or perhaps stolen a torch? Regardless, Lily did not want to be hit by a burning stick, so she raised her palms and cast Starlight.

One.

Lily winced as she saw a single star summoned forth from the magic circle in her palm. It rocketed towards the gremlin pack while she hastily corrected the lousy luck by casting it again.

One.

Lily silently cursed.

The first star hit one of the gremlins, who uttered a shrill cry echoing into the night. The gremlins immediately began to react as they jolted upright and attempted to scatter. The second star also struck, unfortunately hitting a different gremlin from the first, so she had yet to land a finishing blow.

The gremlins were approaching her, but she remained calm despite the situation's bad luck and began another casting. She fully intended to finish one of the already injured gremlins immediately and narrow down her threats.

One.

Damn it, what's with my luck suddenly!?

But despite her complaints, one would be enough to finish the job. The star summoned forth caught the attention of the gremlins, who began hastily charging toward their hidden adversary. The targeted gremlin tried jumping to the side to dodge, but Lily flexed her will over the star and adjusted its trajectory slightly, allowing the star to still careen into the gremlin and explode.

First one down. Lily thought confidently, wanting to cheer at her success. Then she noticed what the orange glow actually was.

Is that gremlin's hands on fire!?

As if to answer her question, the gremlin with the burning hands made a throwing motion and flung out a tiny firebolt. Lily's eyes widened in surprise at the approaching flame, and her senses recovered just in the knick of time as she made a backhanded swatting motion.

Her Nebula Veil responded to her will and gesture as it billowed outwards and mimicked the swat, colliding directly with the firebolt and snuffing it out entirely.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief, happy to confirm that Arakil was once again right about her starry cloak being a good magical defense.

The fire gremlin, however, was visibly disgruntled, throwing a mini temper tantrum as it jumped up and down, kicking and screeching. Its remaining ally, however, was still charging towards Lily, who was about to cast another Starcluster at it when she had a curious thought.

Could I smack it with my cloak?

Lily's arm was already extended from the backhanding motion, so she swiped it in the opposite direction as if trying to face-slap the gremlin. The Nebula Veil quivered before mimicking the motion and smacking into the gremlin.

Hopefully, it's lighter than a rock!

Lily's hopes were met, as the gremlin was indeed lighter than the rocks she had trouble blocking. The gremlin was sent tumbling to the side, and as it fell head over heels, it let out a long, droning screech.

The fiery gremlin actually began pointing and laughing at its companion, causing little embers to spark and flitter from its fingertips.

Lily wasted no time in firing another star at the disabled gremlin on the ground. As it was clasping its head and spinning, the star hit it directly and exploded into a shower of stars and black flakes.

The fiery gremlin's laughter stopped, and it snarled at Lily again with newfound animosity. She wasn't having any of that and raised her hand threateningly with the Nebula Veil fluttering behind her for dramatic effect.

Unfortunately, despite her display, the gremlin had no fear of the small bunny girl and lashed out with a barrage of tiny flame sparks. Lily immediately shielded herself by extending the cloak's shroud, which appeared to be effortlessly eating the tiny darts of flame.

The fiery gremlin was so one-minded about throwing as many little sparks of flame at her as possible that it didn't even notice her casting her own spell again and three more stars bursting out from the palm of her hands.

The stars flew outward, and Lily gasped a little as she saw at the last moment that one would collide with her Nebula Veil. She tried to will either to move out of the way, but she was too late.

However, much to her surprise, the star seemed to glide through the cloak unimpeded and exited out the other end on its original trajectory.

The gremlin finally noticed Lily's attack and released a surprised wail before the stars collided with it and exploded into three incrementally increasing explosions.

There was a bright flash of flame, and Lily thought she might not have dispatched her foe yet. But upon closer inspection, she saw that the flash had released countless black flecks tinged with glowing embers.

Is that because it was a fire monster?

She glanced around a bit to see that there weren't any hidden gremlins, but it appeared she was alone now. She quickly entered her gathering meditation trance and noted a multitude of black flakes in the area, most of them tinged with orange glowing embers.

She hesitated a little and added a few extra rings in her spiral towards her Mana Core, hoping it would be enough to cleanse or quench the embers. To her relief, her usual method seemed more than enough to cleanse the incoming Mana into the usual pure silver she wanted.

What a haul! I'm definitely getting a few extra layers added to my core tonight!