Ascension: Strongest Fateless Mage

"You must also combine your Blood Morphing Art's transformation with my shaman transformation in your way during this journey. Now let's get moving," Tarto said.

Zevien nodded before he started walking with silent footsteps. After five minutes, he descended from the hill without encountering any magic beast.

"I'll disappear now, but I will still be observing you. Also, don't expect any help from me. Just move as if you are truly alone," Tarto said before disappearing. "Good luck."

Zevien stopped moving and hid behind a tree, 'first, I need to kill one magic beast and store its blood in some container before returning to the hill and trying to superimpose both transformation powers.'

Before truly stepping into the forest, he decided to make himself as strong as possible.

First, he used his sharp nails to create a thin bowl-shaped stone by cutting a chunk from a boulder. Next, he used a nearby tree's firm wood and peeled off a layer from its trunk before cutting it to create strings to cover the bowl using a leaf.

Afterward, he crafted another thick and long string to hang the stone bowl at his waist.

"Done. Now I need to hunt a magic beast, preferably a 4th-grade one," Zevien muttered before cautiously starting to move again with silent footsteps.

A 4th-grade magic beast's strength spanned from 1500 to 5000 magic power. So, Zevien hoped to encounter an early-stage 4th-grade magic beast, which usually has 1500 to 2000 magic power.

But Zevien didn't have the means to determine the magic power of a magic beast yet. However, since he had memories of his previous life, he could still ascertain how powerful a magic beast was as long as he was familiar with that magic beast.

After silently walking for ten minutes and arriving at a small pond, he saw a 4th-grade magic beast.

Pyrus Maned Horse.

All attacks of this magic beast were fire-based as it was a fire-attributed magic beast. It had red burning manes, and its hooves were also on fire.

Zevien thought for several seconds before he consumed some mana to use a spell as a black bubble conjured on his palm. This spell was called Blackout Bubble. If this magic spell hits someone, their sense of touch, hearing, smell, vision, and taste are nulled for an amount of time, defined by the mastery of the magic spell and consumed mana.

At the 500 additional magic power mark, Zevien unlocked two magic spells: Nyxite Claws and Hellblazer. At the 1000 mark, he unlocked Blackout Bubble.

'Go,' Zevien lightly waved his hand as the orb shot towards the Horse.

The Horse noticed and turned around to attack whatever it sensed. Alas, the black bubble hit the Horse before it could attack.

*Neighhh!*…*Neighhh—*

*Dhooof….*

The Horse lost all of its senses and started panicking while attacking randomly. This was the difference between a low-grade magic beast and humans. If Zevien attacked a human, that human would likely choose to dodge instead of turning around.

Zevien emerged from the bush, his large claws gleaming darkly.

Somatic Anger: Internal casting.

He buffed himself before lightly dodging an incoming fireball easily as his physical and mental agility was enhanced in this cat form.

After dodging, Zevien waved his hands to release the Hellblazer by consuming 1000 mana.

A slash of darkness filled with red sparks shot towards the Horse before hitting it and spreading to its whole body.

The Horse turned frenzied as this attack hurt it.

Hellblazer was a pure offensive spell that could burn the target, weaken their defenses, and reduce their healing. Zevien could control the wave to make it as big as a carpet for an AOE attack or smaller like a projectile.

'It's tough…,' Zevien frowned as he saw that Hellblazer was as effective as he expected. The red flame on the Horse slowly negated the darkness with red sparks.

*Swooosh…*

Zevien waved his hands and released Nyxite Claws, straight towards the Horse's bum as it was the beast's weak part as far as he remembered the details about the Pyrus Maned Horse.

He wanted to cripple the beast by attacking its legs, but the problem was that Pyrus Maned Horse's legs, head, and belly were tough due to being coated in molten plates.

As this Pyrus Maned Horse was 4th-grade, Zevien was not capable of easily breaking its defense in those places in a short time.

So the only way was to hit its bum, which was its weakest point.

Another fireball shot toward Zevien, but he dodged it. There was no use conjuring a barrier with his Somatic Sadness spell because it would be useless; he won't be able to block the attack and would waste his mana.

*Neighhhhhhh!!*

The Pyrus Maned Horse cried loudly as the claws hit its back, especially one that hit at its most vulnerable spot. Due to this, the beast released an intense burst of fire from its hooves and flew up.

Right after that, the effect of the Blackout Bubble also wore off.

The beast calmed down after regaining its senses, but its anger was still present. It spotted Zevien quickly and dashed towards him from the sky.

'Shit!' Zevien cursed as he saw the beast regaining its senses. He used the maximum amount of mana he could when conjuring the Blackout Bubble, which was 1745 mana.

He could not consume more mana to increase Blackout Bubble's power as this was his current limit. Still, he didn't expect it to last only for seven seconds.

Covered in flame, Pyrus Maned Horse dashed towards Zevien with the intention to burn him alive.

But Zevien maintained his calm.

When the Horse was just five meters away, Zevien used Flash Curtain to blind the Horse for a couple of seconds and rolled forward.

After rolling behind the beast, Zevien again released Nyxite Claws towards its bum and quickly moved again.

*Neighhhh!!!!!*

This time, the attack hit the beast with even better accuracy since it was not moving chaotically like before.

Blood started to gush out from its back as the beast felt intense pain. Its anger increased along with its pain as the Horse turned around after regaining its vision.

But there was no one there. Instead, Zevien was behind it once again.

*Swoooshl…*

Suddenly, a condensed dark purple orb could be seen shooting directly into the injured back hole with perfect precision and…

*Booom…splat…*

It exploded from the inside.

...

After filling the stone bowl with Pyrus Maned Horse's blood and taking out its beast core, Zevien returned to the top of the hill.