Chapter 3: A Crisis Calls For Me

When they started their journey to the Town of Ash, Kuro taught Zhen how to manipulate the mana in his body to produce elements and condense them outwardly into the world.

By following Kuro's procedure, Zhen managed to learn the basic attack move, Fireball.

The fireball Zhen produced shocked Kuro and he asked him about his shocked expression.

Turns out Zhen's fireball was amplified at least 10 times more than a normal fireball should be able to produce.

"Well, this is probably because of my luck or my cheat to be able to amplify it," Zhen said to show off to the dazed Kuro.

What Zhen doesn't know is that the fireball only managed to be amplified because of a tiny hidden core inside his body.

The hidden core just reacted when Zhen started to condense the element and seeped into it to magnify the attack.

This is something that will stay unknown to Zhen for a long time until he becomes strong enough to find out this mystery core.

While Kuro and Zhen continue to travel by foot instead of flying on Kuro's back is because Zhen wants to admire the environment.

He never got a chance to truly look around carefreely on Earth as it was simply black and grey to him.

Now it's the first time that Zhen is seeing the greenery in the forest and the beautiful sky.

Kuro did mention Zhen to be careful because, in the forest, many magical beasts are rank 1-3 while higher rank is deeper inside but they can never let our guard down.

Magical beast in this world has rank 1-9 with 9 being the highest tier and a calamity level that can annihilate a human kingdom to the ground.

Kuro is a rank 5 beast but Zhen gave him a doubtful look because he managed to get injured by a couple of hunters.

Kuro snorted and ranted at Zhen because he was simply too depressed to check around his surroundings and got sneak attacked.

"Listen, master, if I was in my top condition, those humans are nothing in front of me. I can easily exterminate them." Kuro roared aloud to proclaim his prowess.

"Hahaha, why are you being so serious?" Zhen kept laughing at how easily Kuro gets agitated whenever he mentioned him being injured,

Despite their bickering, Zhen was happy deep down because he gets to talk with someone without holding anything back unlike Earth.

Unbeknown to Zhen, Kuro is jubilant too as his situation is similar to Zhen of Earth so they continue to bicker, tease each other, and practice magic while traveling.

Right at this moment, they heard a scream from afar and this voice most definitely belongs to a female.

"A crisis is happening and it calls for me," Zhen said in an excited tone but his thought process is the opposite of his reaction.

'If this turns out to be some scheme, like the knight in shining armor plot that is targeted at fools to rob and kill him then there will be no mercy. I'm not some 3 years old to fall for some plot and die.'

Zhen would not naively believe that there would be someone screaming in a dangerous forest which will attract more magical beasts to approach them.

There are times to be fooling around and there are times to be vigilant and merciless when needed.

Zhen told Kuro to carry him and fly up to the air so they can check the surroundings of the location and if he sees some ambush around then they will destroy them for ruining their happy moment.

Due to Zhen's affinity with the elements, he was able to utilize the light and dark to scan 50km around him, unlike others who can only do it at a minimum of 1-3km.

What's worse is that they won't be able to see the enemy clearly but Zhen can see everything.

This is like those games where you pressed the map and see all the enemies in a red dot but the red dot shows the enemy feature instead.

When Zhen used this ability, he named it Sense like anyone would do and start analyzing the area.

'Turns out, this is a dumb beautiful girl coming out alone and is fighting a lion-looking, creature.' Zhen was dumbstruck by this cliche situation.

Kuro identified the lion creature and started giving Zhen information.

"Master, that lion creature is called a Likra, and it is a rank 3 magical beast. They are usually hidden in their cave so it is rare to encounter one in the forest like this one here. That girl's luck is truly something."

'A Likra and a rank 3 huh, that girl's luck is truly something to be praised as I can see her using water to attack and wind to be agile.'

"Since this isn't some scheme and a beauty is truly in need of a knight, I will gladly be the one as that'll be the first girl in my harem."

Zhen said loudly before ordering Kuro to go and assist her right away.

Kuro flew straight down with his claw open to attack the Likra.

As soon as Kuro attacked Likra, Zhen flew next to the girl using the wind element and asked gently.

"Are you alright?"

'The perfect entrance has been completed.' Zhen can't help but admire his acting skills.

The girl was in a daze before replying, ".... Uh, Yes, Thank you for saving me."

'Hehe, she is stuttering, and my goodness, her clothes are truly attractive.'

She wears a long sleeve with a short dress that reveals her dazzling legs despite it being covered by dirt now. The long brown boot shows her slender figure to perfection.

If she were to compete against those Miss Universe, she'll win it no doubt.

Zhen got to keep his appearance and composure so he continued to have a conversation with her.

"My name is Zhen and fighting the Likra now is my beast called Kuro."

The girl was lost in thought as she just realizes the eagle fighting the Likra is a rank 5 Drake but the color is different from a normal Drake.

A Drake is a subspecies of a dragon and with enough cultivation, they can be transformed into a true dragon which is a rank 9 calamity being.

Only the girl knows this because Zhen always assumed Kuro was an eagle so he never bothered to ask his actual species-being.

Can't blame him as Zhen didn't want to mention it to Kuro just like how he didn't want to mention his parents.

Zhen was just looking out for Kuro and not trying to rip his painful memories.

The girl who was still in a daze, snapped out of it because the other person introduced themselves but she hasn't replied.

She hurriedly said "Ah, My name is Sara Ruiz with Ruiz being my family name. Nice to meet you, Zhen....."

Sara just realizes that Zhen didn't say his family name so she assumed him to be an aristocrat undercover as most aristocratic families send the youngster to adventure around while hiding their surname.

This is to train them to be the eligible successor and hone their skills.

Even though her thinking was wrong but with Kuro being this unique, she could only think of the aristocrat family giving him this strong beast to protect him from danger.

While she keeps thinking, her injury starts to get into her mind and the pain starts happening because she is no longer in crisis with Kuro, a rank 5 Drake fighting a rank 3 Likra.

Each rank is separated by low, middle, high, and peak before advancing to another rank, and the Likra is only a middle rank 3 but she can tell Kuro is a high rank 5 Drake.

The differences are as huge as the sky and earth. Meanwhile, at this time, Zhen notices her pain from the expression showcasing in her face so as to take advantage of this time.

Zhen started touching her leg which shocked Sara to awake from her thought process but before she could even process another thought on what happened, she heard.

"Don't worry, I'm just healing your injuries and I know how to cast healing. Just stay still and allow me otherwise if a scar is to appear due to late treatment, it'll be a shame for a beautiful girl like yours truly."

Sara started blushing from his words and just stood still while Zhen continued to touch around her dazzling legs while healing them.

Once the treatment was done, Zhen was a bit reluctant to let go of this leg that is shining like a jewel but he still let go in the end since Kuro finished killing the Likra.

Right after the Likra fell down, Zhen was thinking about what to do with this Likra.

'If my thinking wasn't wrong then this Likra should be a rare being that is worth a lot of money.' Zhen needs to know the worth of this beast in this world.

At the same time, he wondered, is his meat tasty as he was starving from using a lot of magic.

Zhen didn't know how lucky he was to simply starve as he just started using magic.

A beginner would almost 90% of the time faint due to overuse mana but he has the hidden core inside his body to prevent that from happening.