Zero Potential: Chapter 26 (Patreon)

Chapter 26

Having experienced the effects of auras already, Terra realized that there was something odd with the way animals saw her. At first the effects were missed due to how overwhelming the whole sensation shew as now experiencing was. But over time, she began to notice the patterns.

As she moved, a hush would fall over the forests, as animals instinctively became quiet in her presence. It was subtle at first, something that only a few creatures did, but soon every creature began following suit, as if trying to understand why the sudden silence filled the air.

Terra too, having had training to identify such events became quiet as she crouched low and got into a stance where she could react to the emergence of any creature.

Silence.

Was she being hunted?

It was clear that the start of the zone of silence centered around her. Focusing her senses to their fullest, she focused her will on trying to understand the events of the world around her. She felt the subtle way animals would silently begin to bob and move away from her, slowly.

Crack.

In the distance a squirl jumping from one branch to another caused a branch to snap. The sound was deafening in the overwhelming silence of the forest.

Following the example of the other creatures, Terra too began sneaking away silently.

At first, she was unnoticed, until animals seemed to become aware of her presence being much closer. That was when panic took over, forcing the animals to begin fleeing from her in a panic.

This was the moment when she realized the forest predator that had everyone frightened was herself.

Mentally she paused, as she tried to understand the cause for concern. Then she realized that the distance that animals would actively flee from her was roughly the same distance that her auras would cover.

This was a fact she was able to confirm when she enacted her Obfuscation Aura.

As soon as the aura activated, she felt the minds of the animals that had been agitated and fleeing from her due to some deep seeded impulse to flee, were now able to calm down as the direct threat they felt was gone.

To confirm the accuracy of the Obfuscation Aura, Terra began trying to stalk closer to different creatures. Getting so close to a plump rabbit that she could if she wanted to, reach out and pick up the creature. To test herself, she reached out and touched the rabbit.

The moment she did, a look of shivering panic overtook the creature as it sprung to life and began trying to desperately flee through the underbrush.

Terra decided to mentally note this as part of her recent changes.

The other major change she noticed was that her Aura, which she had been able to maintain nearly constantly in the past, now had a mental drain on her mana. Mentally she could feel the strain on her already slowly returning mana supplies.

Curious, she decided to test out her other auras as well. There was a drain on her Commanding Aura as well, but not at much as her Obfuscation Aura. Then she had an amazing surprise when it came to her Magic Aura, the one that improved both her magical casting abilities and decreased the magical prowess of others around her. While she had the Magic Aura activated, she felt a surge in her magical regeneration. As the mana within her body began refilling at a rapid pace with her Magic Aura activated. Surprisingly, Terra never noticed such an effect related to this aura before, well to be honest she never noticed any such effects related to mana with her auras before, making her wonder if these changes were something that only affected Immortals and their unique way of interacting with the world.

Regardless, Terra felt excited to learn, wondering if other Immortals would eventually just lose the ability to regenerate mana, which could cause a shattering of weaker cores. This was a concern that most novice magicians had, as those with weaker magical potentials would often risk tearing, or even fracturing their cores if they strained their available magic too much. It had been a while since Terra had to worry about such constraints, but all of these thoughts did come to her head as she began walking.

As she walked, she kept her Magic Aura activated. While walking, she noticed that there was a slight change in the speed at which she could absorb mana in new places, that would slowly seem to fade away the longer she stayed in area. Mentally Terra wondered if this was her just drawing in the ambient mana of an area, or if there was something more to it. One thing she knew for certain was the fact that every animal fled the area while her Magic Aura was activated.

While animals tried to quietly leave the area when she had no aura present, they made no such compulsions of being quiet while she had her Magic Aura activated. When the animals felt the effects of the Magic Aura, they had the impulse to leave immediately, at any speed possible.

At first Terra was concerned about this development, until she realized that there was a benefit, this meant that she could push herself as much as possible, and leave her Magic Aura on while she slept, all but ensuring that she would remain safe and undisturbed during her slumber.

Terra still had a few things she wanted to do, the first was find larger animals to kill. She realized food would be one of her first requirements, followed shortly by creating gear that she could customize. As the clothes she was currently wearing were breaking down, despite their having a repair rune function, such enchantments would gradually break down, particularly with how often Terra’s larger body was ripping apart the old uniform at the seams.

Also, Terra considered the idea of creating her own clothes a sign of true independence. For once she changed out of her clothing, then everything that would be on her body would be things she had earned or gathered herself. She had her staff, her two daggers, and her burning eye, all of which were items that set her apart as a powerhouse. The next thing would be for her to discard her previous uniform, at which point she intended to burn it, a sign that she had forever broken away from her prior timelines. A sign that she was now meant to move on to face a future that even she couldn’t anticipate, as so many things had already gone off course.

For starters, she was not the chosen protector of the Gods. From there, the changes became even more pronounced, starting with the fact that she had memories sealed away in her mind, and had awakened her Seer Bloodline, something that she hadn’t been able to do before due to her having been chosen as the intended hero.

There were also concerns about her being an Immortal, namely the fact that she could theoretically lose her ability to use mana if she pushed herself too far, a fear that was fortunately assuaged due to her having Magic Aura, an aura she was certain very few people, Immortals especially, ever managed to awaken.

Realizing there was almost no fear from using her own magical reserves, Terra, having her mana filled up, activated her Obfuscation Aura, and began her hunt to find prey.

***

Terra followed the subtle trails of a predator to a cave. At first, they were hard to identify, as these weren’t the traditional paw prints of a large bear, or even one of the many large cat variants that filled the forest.

Instead, the trails that Terra followed were smooth, and almost impossible to notice at first. This was because the creature that Terra was tracking was a large serpent. One that was so large that it not only removed signs of its passing due to its winding and slithering nature, but the creature also covered and removed signs of its prey as well. Only a few half prints left from large bears, or even larger herbivores remained. Even those prints that remained looked to be left by infants, only the size of the paws present gave any sign of the true nature of the beast she was stalking.

As she moved, she noticed how her newly heightened senses were designed to capture the slightest residue of life.

With her sight, she could see the outline and colors of the serpent. Terra could even see the fact that the creature she was stalking was cold blooded, due to the way it had an intense residual power, but lower body heat.

Having had to activate her Magic Aura while hunting the strange beast, Terra realized that her aura could remove all ambient mana left behind by the giant beast. Again, subtle signs to the fact that she was different, with the knowledge that she was truly pulling energy from her environment, she wondered if she could pull the energy away from a living creature.

If she could, then she figured it would make sense as to why animals within her sphere of influence actively ran away from her, while she had the aura activated.

Thinking to herself, she also realized that her Magic Aura might also make it easier to hunt down creatures that rely on magic to hunt and kill.

Mentally she wondered how much easier it would have been to hunt and kill the being of supreme evil, especially if she could get this aura to react this way in her past lifetimes. So many regrets, as so many failed attempts rolled through her mind. This time she knew she could do better, as draining a monster like the being of supreme evil would have been easy, particularly with the way her powers have all mutated since her change.

Following the trail, she found it went to a giant cave opening. If the trail of energy going into the cave was not enough for her, the piles of dead bones that littered the outside of the cave was a dead giveaway about the creature she was facing.

Immediately upon seeing the cave, Terra’s heart began to beat and pulse rapidly, as she realized what this creature, she had been tracking was.

Looking around, she took a moment to see if her thoughts were correct.

As she looked around, she saw all the signs. A hole about midway up a tall mountain. Large piles of bones, they all indicated one thing. “Slyvern.”

A slyvern, once named for believing that they were similar to wyverns, as these were snakes that could evolve to have wings and fly around. Their long bodies, and flexible necks and faces that resembled those of dragons instantly placed them within most initial scientists ranking as being descendants of dragons.

While the direct lineage to dragons had long been disproved, there were still creation myths that the blood of the ancient dragons fell onto serpent nests that forever mutated the unattended nests. Nests that would eventually form into the creatures that were the greatest fear to all mankind, for just as humans were considered the greatest due to their ability to kill and get stronger, so too were slyverns capable of doing the same. The more they ate, the larger they got, and given a large enough size, the creatures would eventually evolve to have large membranes for wings that could be used to first glide, and then eventually fly unimpeded in the air.

While wyverns and slyverns were natural enemies to each other, most tended to avoid each other. For while wyverns were naturally stronger than most slyverns, the strength of elder slyverns was undeniable.

Judging by the size of the cave she was witnessing, Terra was fairly certain that the creature she was hunting was not one of the truly ancient slyverns, but their level of activity did hint at one of two possibilities. The first was that the slyvern in question was preparing to metamorphosize into a larger more dangerous state. The second was that this slyvern might be nesting, where they would then release even more evolving monsters into the wilderness.

Terra thought for a moment, trying to figure out which option would be worse, but eventually realized that either option would be terrible.

For a moment, Terra had the idea of going back and informing the locals of the threat. The only problem with that option was that such an event would take time to go out and come back, during that time the creature could have either metamorphized into their next state, or the clutch could have hatched, meaning that every slyvern would then have to be hunted down individually.

No, given everything that was presented to her, Terra realized that even if she did go, her pleas for help might be met with suspicion given her new status as an Immortal. Which if that ever came to life, she would either be hunted, or imprisoned where she would no longer be a threat to the populace.

Pausing for a moment, Terra realized that for better or worse, she was the only one who could take on this threat. A threat that if she failed would likely have cascading ramifications on the countryside.

Then something else hit her, as she realized she was likely overthinking this, especially with her new status as an Immortal.

Mentally she went through different scenarios, and found that so long as she was not swallowed completely, she should be able to survive. Then again, even if she was swallowed, she might be able to survive a few rebirths, though the idea of being digested slowly was not one she would rely on.

“Guess you should do it right the first time.” Terra said to herself, as a pep talk.

Then with that thought pushing her forward, she smiled as she realized it was time to put herself against her first real test of strength as an Immortal. Honestly, she was looking forward as to what was possible.