Chapter 168 - Cules's Training

There in the dark part of the woods, where the moonlight had limited reach, a Dark Wood appeared. This type of monster is a D-rank monster that appears every night. However, they only appear in limited light places; thus, their weakness is light.

They can't be seen totally. Their features might be a dark wood log standing on end with two legs and two arms made of sticks. Their eyes also appear to be black.

This is an ugly monster, to be precise. Just looking at it makes me puke. It was like a corrupted wood or dying tree to me. It also gives off a nasty aura as a result of a dark mist around their bodies.

"There are 4 Dark Woods, Cules. They might be less weak to physical attacks, so just overwhelm them.." I said with an assuring face. Cules also replied to my idea with a glittering eye.

I just snickered at him as he left my position. Cules went straight to the monsters, but before they could attack him with their stick and rolling forms of attack, Cules had already smashed them to pieces.

What the heck? This is funny! I mean, the bravery that those monsters had. It's totally the effect of fear.

I don't know how Dark Woods think, but there are two effects of fear in reality. It will be escaping and attacking. If you fear something, you will try to escape it, but you might also conquer it. 

Well, maybe those monsters are just stupid and become hostile to any creature. I can't blame them because the demons didn't give them intelligence.

Cules smashed and smashed every bit of the Dark Woods that appeared. Every one of them didn't escape from his pleasure.

And just after he went on a rampage, he came back to me with a very pleased expression, as if he had just fought like a battle junkie.

"This isn't enough. You just bullied them, Cules."

"Groooh?"

"Right. We should find some stronger opponents, but we can't find them immediately. You still had the strength of... maybe a C to A-rank monster, so let's look for monsters that ranged in that tier."

"Groooh!"

Cules and I had an agreement on the matter. It seems like we will get far from the city. Well... it's not a problem. We can just come back after a few hours before they sleep.

Okay! Down to the forest!

***

After some strolling and bumping into lower-ranking monsters, we finally met some who could put up a fight.

This one... is a Mutated Bear.

Well, they actually have different names, but to me, they look like a mutated bear. It's not important anyway. Whatever their names, they don't have an effect on our training. 

"Let's go! Use thunderbolt!"

Boom!

Just like that, a huge thunderbolt appeared in mid-air and hit the monster with it. However, the mutated bear survived that attack.

Urgh... this seems to be a tough opponent. It survived that magic attack from Cules?

"Well, too bad for you, Cules. You will fight physically. Try limiting your mana consumption. You are different from other creatures in this world, so if you still can't absorb the proper amount of mana, you will not use a magic attack."

"Groooh!"

What's amazing is that I discovered Cules is well compatible with mana. He can absorb and use it to create an invisible pool inside. It was something that we discovered out of whim when I taught them to try to use an ability like Ellena's first ability.

It wasn't actually a sure result. That was a result of my experiment that turned out to be useful.

I wanted to see if Cules had a talent for magic. Thus, now that I knew that he had, I tried searching for a rune, but it also turned out that he didn't have one.

This is something that I really didn't expect. Perhaps there are still things in the law of magic that haven't been discovered. 

Well, people are only researching in the field where they can understand things. And no one would think that a creature without a rune would try to use magic.

It was amazing. Something that I... want to learn.

If Cules learned it, how about me? And since my luck sucks. I just disregarded the idea. 

I can't use magic.

Cules had an opportunity to connect with the mana, and as a result, he had unintentionally created a mana pool. However, since I don't have a physical body, I won't have a chance to have a connection with the mana.

This method that Cules unintentionally learned might be similar to cultivation. Cultivation is a Taoist concept of cultivating Qi to have supernatural powers, a long lifespan, and plenty of out-of-ordinary feats.

If this thing might be really, really similar, then Cules can endlessly practice this.

After Cules killed the mutated bear, I tried to fix some thoughts in my mind.

If Cules absorb some mana, he can become a magician. It's a concept that I learned from reading various fantasy books. It's not a petty thing; it might be useful.

"Cules, we will continue training. For now, meditate and absorb some mana." I ordered him. He nodded and tried meditating like a human in a meditative posture.

Now... it's time to think about putting things together.

If the possibility of having a mana pool has been unlocked, does it mean that those who have runes can try to create a mana pool by absorbing mana?

It doesn't hurt to try. I will try to ask her to do this sometime.

Now then, if this had a limit... I might try to limit Cules's use of it too. I can't physically know Cules's condition with his mana pool. I just knew it when he said it to me.

It's laughable to say that he said it to me, I just understood it in some way.

Cules might also be using his stamina to conjure the mana in his body. Well, it's something normal. If you have something to work in your body, the energy within will be used to perform it.

But to think that stamina might not be the fuel required to summon it...

Perhaps the mana can be controlled by itself without using some energy in the body. And to note, Cules is not a human.

Argh! These things are messing with my mind. But the rough idea is there. I'm thankful that I can understand Cules in some way.

Now, it's sure that Cules can use magic, and also physical attacks in some overwhelming way.

After two hours of training, I unsummoned Cules, and I finally went back to the inn.