Ikaris spaced out for a long time after this procedural slaughter. There was hardly any blood around him and all those boarlets seemed to be just sleeping. But then why did he feel so shitty inside?
A few minutes earlier, these little boars were carelessly following their mother, eagerly chomping on chestnuts. Now they were dead and he could still read the distress and agony in their eyes.
"What are you waiting for Ikaris?" Magnus roused him from his torpor without any tact, completely unconcerned with the carnage that had just taken place. "Time is running out and those boars aren't going to transport to the village by themselves."
The teenager quelled his guilt and settled into a frown.
'Such is life. To survive, I need meat, that's how it is. Their only mistake was crossing my path...' He repeated to convince himself, but at his contrite expression he was not at all persuaded by his own words.
" Hey! Are you listening to me?" The Vampire grew impatient as he ranted in his head.
Ikaris winced, but it helped him to put his mind back on the matter at hand. Brushing off his internal dilemma, he carefully examined his game, but his countenance suddenly changed when he noticed a striking detail that he had been ignoring until now.
"These spots..." He muttered as he crouched down next to one of the boarlets. "Magnus, doesn't that remind you of the Runes in the booklet?
"Hmm, let me check."
There was a short silence during which only the sound of the boy's breathing could be heard, then the Vampire confirmed,
"You're right. These are the same runes."
Ikaris examined the other boars and came to an incredible conclusion. All of these animals had spotted coats, which at first glance were nothing special. But if one paid attention to the spots, one could see that they formed complex inscriptions identical to those engraved on the cottage.
He thought back to the flower he had picked earlier and a bold theory began to simmer in his mind. What were they to conclude? That these Demonic Beasts had been created artificially or that...
They had adapted! If Darwin could have been there, he would have yelled "Natural Selection!"
The beasts that originally possessed these spots had survived this nighttime evil and by reproducing they had successfully passed them on to their offspring. It was an interesting theory, but it suffered from one big flaw.
What was the probability that such a complex combination of rune-shaped spots would appear randomly in nature? One in a billion, trillion, or even more? Even assuming that these Warring Lands had been around that long, the entire local fauna and flora would probably have been eradicated the day this evil first spread.
'In that case, there is only one possibility.' Ikaris realized with surprise. 'Someone, or these creatures themselves cast a spell with their Divine Sparks to alter the patterns of their furs.'
If it wasn't a human who had cast that spell, then all the animals and plants on Cutthroat Island had very powerful ancestors. Perhaps they were even prominent Spirit or Saint Beasts in their day.
Now, it was to be hoped that none of these behemoths had survived to the present day. Otherwise, this island was much more dangerous than he envisioned...
Repressing his worries, Ikaris suddenly got an idea while observing these spots. In a joking mood, he said to Magnus,
"Do you know a good tattoo artist around here?"
Sadly, the Vampire didn't get his joke.
"A tattoo artist? What's that? Some kind of Sorcerer?"
"Erm... Someone who paints our skin permanently by injecting pigments into it to draw and dye whatever is asked of him." Ikaris summarily explained.
"Oh, I've heard of some Creation Sorcerers doing this. They are often pseudo-artists with limited talent for magic. They don't have a good reputation in the Forsaken Lands." Magnus chuckled openly as he thought back to the few tattooed Sorcerers he had met.
The boy didn't join in the laughter and grunted flatly,
"Well, maybe that's about to change. At least in the Warring Lands."
Magnus stopped cackling and asked in amazement,
"What, you're serious?"
Ikaris nodded grimly,
"I need a good tattoo artist."
He had never been a big fan of tattooing in his former life. He had always been convinced that most people who got tattoos did so out of immaturity, following a trend or proving themselves. They thought that by being tattooed, they might have more personality or become badass, but it wasn't so. As they got older, many would end up regretting their youthful tattoos.
And basically, for a rational man like him, a tattoo was useless. One had to suffer to get a tattoo and most of the time one came to regret it. Of course, reasons such as aesthetics, remembering a person or a promise, or showing one's belonging to a specific community had never been valid reasons in his eyes.
But this time, he had a perfectly justified reason to get a tattoo: To be able to walk outside at night without fear of harm. It was more than enough to take the risk.
Sensing that he would not easily change his mind, Magnus tried to think along with him and suggested,
"In that case, we can probably ask around once we get back to Tartarus Shade. This town is teeming with so many Sorcerers that there must be one hanging around somewhere in need of recognition."
"Let's do that, but first... How am I supposed to get all this meat back to the village?"
Magnus was silent for a moment, then exceptionally agreed to make a concession,
"Exceptionally, let's store them in my Spatial Ring."
Ikaris' eyes sparkled with joy as he watched the boars disappear one after the other. A few seconds later, there was no trace of their confrontation except for a few rare traces of blood and hooves.
He couldn't wait to be able to use this ring by himself. Reading his thoughts, Magnus explained,
"Your Soul Strength is more than enough, but you need to raise your Soul Spark to level 2 or develop a Secondary Spark that allows you to perceive and mobilize your spiritual energy.
The boy took the opportunity to ask the questions that had been bugging him,
"You said that Primary Sparks follow a rule of three. With a Soul Spark of 101, shouldn't it already be level 5? And my Life Spark level 3?"
"That's not how it works." Magnus scoffed gently. "They have to evolve for that. Even an innate Sorcerer is born with a level 1 Divine Spark and not a level 2. Only with diligent practice of magic for a few years can evolution take place."
Ikaris didn't like that answer.
"Isn't there a way to speed up the process?"
The Vampire snorted.
"You think it's easy to evolve a Primary Spark?" He retorted contemptuously before answering with more patience. "But it's not like there are no methods. Primary Sparks are tied to our accomplishments and more directly to our Secondary Sparks. If you develop your Secondary Sparks appropriately, your Primary Sparks will follow.
"However, certain choices will favor the evolution of one Primary Spark over another. Body Sorcerers evolve their Life Sparks more quickly and easily than others. Psychist and Knowledge Sorcerers have an advantage with their Soul Spark, while Creation and Destruction Sorcerers are generally a bit more balanced, but there are exceptions.
"Now stop asking useless questions and hurry back to the village. Unless you want to miss the spawn of your first citizens."
Ikaris' eyes widened as he realized he had completely forgotten about the impending summoning of his first batch of citizens. He stuffed his backpack with chestnuts in the same fashion as before and ran back to the village.
Moments after leaving the forest, a monstrous black boar with tusks larger than those of a mammoth barged into the crime scene. Sniffing the scent of the blood of its mate and offspring, a furious roar echoed through the forest. Then the creature picked up another unfamiliar scent and traced it back to the murderer of its family. With a murderous gleam in its red eyes, the colossal boar slowly began to trudge toward Last Saint Village.
