"Jenna, how deep should we go? What if we encounter a junior rank magic beast?" A skinny man asked the woman leading the group
Inside the Drakery Forest, a group of four humans could be seen. All of them were on the skinnier side as if theycked enough nutrition from childhood until adulthood
They were only wearing worn-out beast skins to cover their private areas. Clearly, they are people with not much to offer
On the waist of these people, belts made from some unknown vines could be seen and on those belts, gem-like things could be seen
The gems seem to hold the power of elements inside them. Almost all of them has a single gem which was ocean blue in color aside from the woman called Jenna as she has two
One gem was ocean blue in color and the other was green
Based on how these people act and the fact that Jenna has two gems instead of one, it was inevitable that people would think that she was the leader of the group
"Just a little bit deeper, Borsus. Winter is arriving soon, we have to gather as much food as possible if we want to survive" Jenna replied while tightly holding the gems on her belts
The gems that they possessed are their lifeline. The chances of death would rise to almost a hundred percent if they ever lose those gems
"T-this is s-sca— ahh!!" a girl that looks younger than the other four spoke but before she could even finish her words, she identally tripped on a random root causing her to fall down
"Umper, you''re really too clumsy" Jennamented with a bitter smile as she and the other members of the group helped the younger girl stand up
"Tsk, tsk, it''s people like you that would cause our deaths!" Thest member of the group spoke with a tone of displeasure
He seems to be the grumpiest of the bunch, visible in the way he looks, act, and spoke
"Yvter, Umper is a part of our group. Be kinder with your words" Jenna retorted and the man named Yvter merely snorted in reply
Their group continued walking inside the forest, constantly being mindful of their surroundings in fear that a magic beast would suddenly arrive and attack them
If the magic beast that would attack them is merely at the level of beastlings then they could still fight them. However, once they encounter a junior-ranked magic beast then they are as good as dead
In their tribe, groups that went out to hunt for food that encountered magic beasts above their level are not umon. Those that were unlucky to experience such a thing mostly don''te back alive
Instead of hunting and obtaining food for their survival, they instead were the ones that has be another creature''s food
After minutes of walking, Jenna raised her hand, indicating for her group to stop. This is not the first time that these people went hunting and they already knew what they should and shouldn''t do
All of them stopped moving and they even suppressed their breath to minimize their presence as much as possible
Jenna continue to walk several steps and hid behind a tree, only her head was peeking
At a short distance from her, she could see a lone magic beast, and from the aura that it possessed, it seems to be a beastling
A beastling is a magic beast that has the strength equivalent to the apprentice mages of humans and they go from level 1 to 6
Beastlings are the only magic beasts that Jenna''s group can hunt considering that all of them were merely at the peak of magic apprentices
It was easy to reach the peak of magic apprentice rank but breaking through to the next rank is as hard as scaling the heavens
In Jenna''s tribe, too few people sessfully made a breakthrough and became a Junior Mage
Those people all have high statuses and unlike the apprentice mages, they do not need to worry about their food. Killing a beastling is too easy for them
"It''s a lone Twin-horned Boar. With its bulging stomach, we are in luck. It seems to be pregnant" Jenna said while licking her lips
She can already imagine the taste of delicious boar meat and a creature of this size could be smoked to turn into meat jerky that would not easily spoil
Winter would be easier to survive if they were able to hunt a beastling with this much meat
The Twin-horned Boar is not a magic beast that Jenna and her group would normally hunt
It was big and powerful. Even four apprentice mages at the same rank as the boar would find it hard to defeat and kill such a creature
However, the boar being pregnant is a blessing to them. With its pregnancy, the boar would be weaker than normal. It would also try to save its children
In thisnd where humans barely managed to survive because of the strong and overpowered magic beasts, people learned how to be cruel to magic beasts early on<novelnext> </novelnext>
Even if the boar was pregnant, these hunters wouldn''t hesitate to attack and kill it
The hatred that humans have for magic beasts was passed down from one generation to another
As such, a human might be the kindest person in the realm but still act mercilessly when ites to the magic beasts that are constantly pushing humanity to the brink of extinction
"Go around it silently, we''ll attack from four different directions to confuse it" Jenna gave the order as the leader of the hunting group
She was not a leader in name only and her members trusted her and they silently moved to surround the pregnant boar chewing on a poor bunny that it hunted
When the four hunters reached and stabilized their position, they swiftly controlled the mana that they possessed to use the gems on their belts
As soon as the gems were exposed to mana, they immediately floated in the air and resonated with the naturalws of the world, making it possible for apprentice mages to use magic
This is also how the mages from the earth realm essed magic but there were huge differences
The Mystic Gems of the earth realme from thews of the realm and are only usable inside. It was akin to taking a very small piece of the realm''sws as if a mage took a single grain of sand from a desert
As for the gems that these hunters and also the other apprentice mages of the universe, they are not called mystic gems but are instead called Resonance Gems
They are gems that were naturally formed by nature and they are something that only apprentice mage uses
With the help of resonance gems, even people below the Junior Mage rank have ess to magic
"[Water Stream!]"
"[Water Stream!]"
"[Water Stream!]"
"[Water Stream!]"
Whether it be the earth realm or the other realms, stream spells were still the most basic spells
In fact, even Jenna and the others first condensed magic circles to cast their spells
However,pared to the mages of the earth realm, their casting speed was definitely slower
Mystic Gems are condensed from thews of the realm which made it easier to cast spells with its aid
However, resonance gems simply hold the power of elements inside them. With its aid, apprentices would be able to sense what certain elements feel like which made converting their pure mana into mana with elemental attributes easier
The mana with elemental attributes would then be used by an apprentice mage to create magic circles that wouldmunicate with the world to achieve the desired effect
Four ocean-blue magic circles were formed from four different directions. From those magic circles, blue streams of energy were released
The energy undtions from the spells were naturally picked up by the Twin-horned Boar. It raises its head and ground its teeth ferociously
However, since beastlings have low intelligence, the boar merely dashed on one side to meet the stream spell head-on
With the help of its durable horn, the boar was able to crush one of the four stream spells with only its physical strength
However, it was not attacked with only one [Water Stream] spell. There were three more headed its way!
"Graaaghhhh!!!" The boar cried out both in pain and anger. The stream spells sessfullynded on its body, leaving bloody wounds
With its tough defenses, even with three stream spells, it still hasn''t died and merely received light to moderate injuries
"Immobilized it! Hurry!" Jenna shouted to her group and they hurriedly moved to cast another spell
However, because of their slow casting speed, they needed a bit more time to seed
Jenna is aware of that fact and that is why she shouted that loudly. She wants to gain the attention of the boar to give his members enough time to cast their spells