On instinct, Gina attempted to check her mana levels to see how much she had left, and she almost laughed at her actions when she saw that she had still not used any mana at all. Gina had only become a Sage a day ago, so the concept of not using any mana to activate a spell was still new to her!
"You’ll get used to the feeling eventually. I did the same thing a lot when I first became a Sage, but after not using my mana for a few weeks, I managed to beat the habit. But at your level, you should be careful when using more taxing spells. Some of them will still take mana from a Sage, so keep an eye on your mana level until you master Sagehood completely."
Farlow said this as he walked up to Gina, and Gina smiled at him in response. Farlow had already gone through everything Gina was going through as a Sage right now, so he had been giving Gina some tips on how to use her abilities better and how to get used to her Sagehood. Gina was glad that she had someone she could ask for advice on things like this, but at the same time, Gina could feel irritation bubbling from inside her as she remembered the annoying Spirit partner that was supposed to be teaching her all these things! Ulyn was still as much of a brat as ever, and even after Gina entered the forest, Ulyn still refused to give Gina any sort of help at all! According to what Farlow said, the bond between a Spirit and their contractor would determine how powerful a Spirit Arts user’s powers would be. Gina’s Spirit Arts progression was still only at 2%, and the reason for that was obviously because Ulyn just refused to get along with her!
’Maybe I should just go ask for another spirit? No, that won’t be possible. The Queen was kind enough to give me Ulyn, so I’ll be asking for too much if I try to switch for another one.’
Gina turned to the side as she felt for the ambient Spirit Energy around her, and she pointed in a certain direction before she and Farlow began to move again. Spirit Energy was the lifeforce left behind by both Spirits and Spirit Arts users, and it was something that only another Spirit Arts user could sense. Even though Ulyn refused to cooperate with Gina, Gina was still a Spirit Arts user, and this meant that she had the ability to sense the ambient energy left behind by spirits as they moved, so Gina had been acting as the compass throughout their journey, and she could tell that they were already close to the center of the forest! Most of the monsters that they had been meeting were around S to SSS Rank in strength, and the two TITAN Ranks had easily taken care of all of them without much effort, but from this point on, they were going to be running into spirits, and it was going to be a lot more difficult to handle them since Spirits were natural Sages that could also tap into the natural mana of the world. Gina and Farlow moved in silence for a few minutes, but then Gina spoke up to ask a question.
"Actually, I was wondering... Do all the spirits in nature look like the fairies?"
Gina turned to Farlow curiously, and Farlow just shook his head and said:
"The fairies are the highest authority amongst the spirits. Wind fairies rule over the authority of wind, fire fairies rule the authority of fire, and the earth, water, and lightning fairies rule their own authorities as well. But as for the nature spirits, they take on different shapes based on their preference. Most of the spirits I’ve seen had taken the form of animals, but I know of a few spirits that took the form of elves or even humans. Spirit is just a term used to describe the entity, but their form is always different."
Gina nodded along as she listened to Farlow’s words, and she was about to say something else, but she stopped as she felt a sudden pressure coming from beside her! Gina shouted for Farlow to dodge, and the two of them moved out of the way as a massive wind arrow slammed into the area where they had just been and left a large gash in the floor! Gina turned to where the attack came from, and she felt her eyes widen as she saw a massive snake staring down on them from above! The snake was so large that its body was coiled around two trees multiple times, and Gina had to lift her head upwards just to see its head!
"A wind-snake spirit."
Farlow spoke up in awe as he stared at the giant snake, and Gina’s eyes narrowed. The snake was looking down at the two of them with pure white eyes, and when it hissed, it showed off massive fangs that were as long as Gina’s arm! Gina immediately pulsed her Spirit Energy, and she sensed that the snake was at least a TITAN Rank I beast! They could take it!
HISSS!!
The snake hissed at her in anger, and Gina put her hands to her sides and produced multiple wind arrows as she shouted to Farlow!
"Go! Give me an opening!"
Farlow wasted no time as he dashed forward, and the snake lashed out with its tail and produced a massive wind blade that almost cut Farlow in half! Farlow managed to easily deflect the wind blade using his Sage power, and then he sent a ball of wind towards the snake’s head!
SLAM!
The ball smashed the snake’s head to the side, and it hissed in anger as it dashed towards Farlow again! Although Farlow was a Sage as well as one of the strongest wind users in this world, there was a reason why he had still not come into this forest to try and kill the dangerous beasts here all this time, and the reason for this was because spirits were known to be very difficult to kill! Even though Farlow was stronger than this snake, he could feel that his attacks were not doing that much damage to it, and that was because he was still just a regular magic user and not a Spirit Arts user! Even amongst the Sages, the Spirit Arts users were known to have a much deeper connection to nature, and the only people that could do maximum damage to a Spirit were either another spirit or someone who had made a contract with a spirit and become a Spirit Arts user!
BOOM!
Farlow moved out of the way quickly as the snake slammed its massive head into the spot where he had just been, and he had to wrap his body in a ball of wind and blast off the ground as the snake came after him again! The snake sent multiple wind blades to try and kill him, but Farlow easily evaded all of them, and he quickly moved out of the way as a shout came from behind him!
"MOVE!"
Gina’s hand was pulled back like a blade as she charged straight for the giant snake, and the moment Farlow shifted out of the way, she slashed her hand forward and unleashed her most powerful wind blade!
SLASH!
The giant snake looked like an extremely dangerous predator, but its massive size just meant that Gina had a lot more surface area to attack, and that same size was what allowed Gina to easily take the snake’s head off in one attack! The giant snake was split in two immediately, and Gina let out a breath as she landed back on the ground a few meters away!