Myths Reawakened

A breeze swept through the forest, rustling the leaves like low whispers. Wayne stood among nature with his eyes closed, rubbing the ring on his index finger as he listened to the voices and sensed the omnipresent vitality and energy.

He possessed two rings: a ring of fire element that pretended to have high affinity with fire, and the ring of thoughts Senna gave him.

The former wasn’t much to write home about. It was a third party that was so incompetent that it lowered Wayne’s affinity to fire elements instead. The latter was something to write home about. It contained mana that could communicate with nature to enhance the user’s faith magic, allowing the user to wield the same magic while cutting down on the cost of thoughts and mana.

Despite the lower cost of thoughts and mana, the magic was just as powerful, or even more powerful. Then what had been added to the formula?

Wayne pondered the whole night and concluded that the ring had added nature to the formula with its ability to communicate with nature. Although the ring might not be strong, nature was. Given how mighty nature was, it didn’t have to do much to overfill the formula.

Then he pondered another night and wondered if the ring, just like his fire element ring, had seriously limited the power of nature. Perhaps nature could’ve contributed more, but the ring was so tight that it limited the volume of input, thus resulting in a cream puff rather than oat porridge with milk.

Wayne wanted the latter!

It had always been his minor goal. In the past, he had had no inkling how he should go about it. Even after transforming into an elf, something seemed to be missing. Now...

“Still doesn’t work too well. I’m missing something, but what is it?”

Wayne rubbed the ring. Whatever it was, he should remember this feeling. Once he had mastered it, he would forgo the ring, and perhaps he would get nature’s oat porridge.

Who wanted cream puffs when they could have oat porridge?

Wayne nodded to himself. It was an easy choice. Even Filomina, Mona, and Kristen knew that oat porridge was much more filling.

Amid the rustling leaves, Wayne crouched down and studied the dappled sunlight coming through the canopies, forming messy, disorderly, and nonsensical patterns on the ground.

Wayne was certain that they were a language through which nature was making its voice heard. Throughout the four seasons of the year, nature was ever-changing, and so was the message it conveyed.

He extended a wisp of thoughts without using mana. Through the ring’s ability to communicate with nature, he used Nature’s faith magic.

A wilted blade of grass in front of him slowly lifted its tip like it was reaching toward the sky to embrace sunlight. It became greener and more alive.

Wayne wasn’t capable of bringing the dead to life. It was beyond human capability. He had simply considered the forest as one entity—a collective of consciousness consisting of countless lives. He conveyed the wilted shoot’s desire to live and gained the support of the other consciounesses in the forest, thus acquiring their nutrients and protection.

“Balance...”

Wayne once again recognized the importance of balance. A mage was balanced, and the forest was balanced. The same was true of nature and even the entire greater universe.

“The ring is only a means of communication—no, it’s a speaker amplifying my voice to allow me to communicate with nature. Remember the feeling. I can do it without the ring. However...”

It felt forced. Nature wasn’t willing, and the oat porridge was lackluster with not enough milk to submerge the oats.

Wayne didn’t want nature to be a married middle-aged man stingy with its essence. He wanted nature to be eager to explore the truth of life with him; better yet, he wanted nature to be virile like an athlete.

“So, what am I missing?”

Wayne transformed into a two-meter-tall elf. With the battle suit made of black drake scales, he was able to maintain his modesty.

His thoughts spread to resonate with the surrounding vegetation. With him at the center, a green domain emerged. There was no mana disturbance. The communication was conducted purely through thoughts. He opened his light green eyes and met the gaze of a bird in the forest. It jumped between different branches, cocking its head to inspect Wayne.

What a short, ugly tree. Not good for a nest.

Wayne slowly reached out a hand. His thoughts flickered, and the forest bird flew down to perch on his fingertip, pecking him lightly twice.

Behind him came careful footsteps. The forest bird saw a primeval monster in the figure and took flight in fright, shrieking.

Veronica looked blankly at the forest coming alive around her. The surging vitality captivated her. She strode up to the elf and stared at his delicate, beautiful face without blinking.

So pretty!

Wayne returned to his original form and sighed. “Look what you’ve done. I was so close to getting a bird on our dinner table.”

“Spare the bird. It’s still young.” Veronica snorted. Then she said with interest, “Wayne, I want to learn that.”

“Learn what? Transforming into an elf?”

That wouldn’t be possible. Veronica had dragon blood, and a great dragon was a higher lifeform than an elf. She would never turn into an elf in her life.

Veronica knew that well, and even though it was a little regretful, she didn’t really mind. She couldn’t transform into an elf, but Wayne could. She would consider that her feat.

“I want to learn the magic earlier...”

Veronica didn’t know how to put the feeling into words. The great vitality enchanted her. She believed that the vitality, paired with a Dragonblood’s style, would allow her to fight like a perpetual motion machine.

“It’s complicated to learn. And there’s a high bar for talent.” Wayne couldn’t go into it. While talent was important, the key was actually his cheat.

Veronica was talented, but without the cheat, she couldn’t learn to do the same.

“Fine,” he said. “We have time. It’ll be good for pushing progress.”

“What progress?”

“The progress of pushing you down on my bed.”

“...”

Veronica‘s face tightened. Without hesitation, she punched Wayne in the face.

***

It was afternoon tea time. Veronica received an invitation from their neighbor, Desiree, to make snacks at the number eight mansion.

In the living room, the warm-hearted young man with a bright personality sat across from the broody young man. When the snacks were served, each of them was served a portion.

Alex didn’t share his younger sister’s snack with Wayne, and Wayne didn’t do it, either.

The former knew how bad his sister’s cooking was and opted not to spread the misery, while the latter simply didn’t want to share Veronica’s cooking with anyone, even though she wasn’t good at it.

Both of them licked the plates clean, pleasing their sisters.

Alex wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. It was a valid speculation whether he had been so broody all the time because he had eaten too much of his sister’s cooking.

When Desiree kicked Alex, he slowly opened his mouth and said, “Wayne, as allies, don’t you think that we should get to know each other’s strength better?”

We should, Wayne thought.

Alex was mild-mannered and gentle, typical of someone with low desires. Wayne didn’t even have to think to figure out that Desiree was the one who suggested the sparring session.

Their allies wanted to show off their muscle. Since Wayne wanted that, too, he nodded in agreement without hesitation.

They stepped out of the mansion. Alex cleared a space of all the vegetation with his faith magic, creating a square arena. The two younger sisters didn’t participate. Their bodyguards were going to wrestle, and they would be cheering them on from the side.

“My brother’s amazing,” Desiree said.

“My brother’s more amazing!”

“My brother can take down a hundred guys like your brother.”

“My brother can take down a thousand guys like your brother.”

The conversation was childish, but it was in line with the naive character they were playing. And because they were supposed to be ladies, neither went vulgar and talked about eating shit.

As the one who suggested the sparring session, Alex listed the rules simply: they should avoid going overboard so that their relationship would remain amicable, but to make them more motivated, there should be some stake: the loser would provide the winner with one piece of information about the Holy Maiden selection.

Wayne had seen a mail carrier visit the number eight mansion, and Desiree had seen one visit the number four mansion. Both of them had support from high places. They should use this chance to exchange information.

It would be a battle of strength. If one side wanted more information, they should earn it by winning.

Veronica gave Wayne a look. For the sake of their hundred-year friendship, he had to win this fight and all subsequent fights.

She was way too competitive.

Wayne shrugged, stretching his limbs. “No faith magic or weapon? Alex, is that really alright? It feels a little unfair.”

It is a little unfair. Alex smiled awkwardly. His sister’s demand was unreasonable. He said stiffly, “How about you being allowed to make the rules for tomorrow’s sparring?”

The honest man was so good-natured that Wayne couldn’t help but want to bully him a little. He said with a smile, “If you’re so confident, you won’t mind letting me make the first move, will you?”

“No prob—”

Bam!

Alex saw a flash. Then he hurriedly crossed his arms before his chest to shield himself. A punch hit his face squarely, sending him flying out of the arena and disappearing into the forest behind.

So quick! And so powerful!

Is he really human?