NOVPUB
Chapter 1084: The Sixteenth Pentagram
Days later, Vicente and his companions were in the Farthest Chain, the forest area that Vice had asked permission to enter and hunt his next pentagram.
With the authorization of the peak Grand Magus he had encountered earlier, his team had no difficulties on their way. After a few days of travel along the safe and organized roads of the Humfail Reef, they arrived at the identification point at the entrance to their target forest area.
The men from the local sovereign force didn’t stand in their way. A permit like the one they received was worth a lot, meaning that either the group was very strong, or had some very strong friends, or both. In a place like this, where hierarchy was everything, standing in the way of strangers with such permission would be stupid.
So the group arrived at their current situation, with them hunting together in the middle of one of the many magical forests they had already visited.
For magicians as strong and experienced as they were, journeys like this were always very similar to them. After passing through different planes and islands, Vicente and Larissa, especially, were so used to hunting that they no longer noticed the differences in each place they passed.
Surely, if they tried hard to differentiate a hunting area from Light Cay, Polaris Realm, Concordia, Humfail Reef, and Amae, they could say things specific to those places. But for them, all the hunting grounds they had been to were more or less similar.
There were living beings with absorbable pentagrams for magical beings like them, often in great density in these areas. These places were usually far from cities and operated according to the law of the jungle: the law of the strongest.
If one were in Light Cay, one would come across creatures that were usually stronger than the dominant magical beings in society, with a great contrast of technologies and raw powers.
In Amae, on the other hand, one would see special beings with powers more focused on their enchantments, with plants and animal organisms capable of presenting themselves uniquely.
In Polaris Realm, things were more physical, with the presence of Spiritual powers, but with mana used much more for physical strengthening for direct combat.
These particularities made no difference to Vicente. For him, no matter how the enemies looked, they would fight back and he would act to obtain the essence of his interest. This was also the case with Larissa, who only didn’t hunt on this island because she had already done so in Amae and got her eighth pentagram during her time away from Vice.
Anyway, given the great differences in the richness of elements and mana from one island to the next, the group soon found the tracks of the first of their targets, a peak beast of the 8th stage!
Following the creature’s tracks in the third hour since they entered this sanctuary protected by the island’s sovereign forces, they felt the signs of the 9-Star creature, even stronger than the serpent that had almost killed them on their arrival in Amae earlier.
Larissa and Rex slowed their steps through a densely wooded area, while Lyra jumped from one branch to another as if she were an ape. Vicente walked ahead in a relaxed posture, although his eyes were attentive to his surroundings.
He saw a butterfly the size of an ordinary human house door standing on top of a large red flower, acting as if it were a pollinating bee. Narrowing his eyes, Vicente recognized the almost violet essence in this creature’s body, but it still lacked a little more magical quality to leave the indigo grade.
"Sigh!" With a sigh, he gestured to his group that this was not the target he wanted.
Lyra looked in his direction with a somewhat disbelieving gaze. She knew he had a magical configuration that gave him the right to arrogantly disregard a pentagram as good as that silver-winged, golden butterfly.
Still, it was absurd for someone to despise something from the absolute peak of the indigo grade!
Larissa and Rex were more used to Vicente’s selective nature. They merely turned to leave in another direction, when suddenly something appeared.
Lyra looked almost at the same time as Vicente in the direction of the butterfly, using her heightened natural senses, which were so good that she was on a par with him in terms of perception. She widened her eyes in a different kind of surprise from Vice’s when he saw the same wonder as him.
"The appearance of a natural pentagram!" She opened her mouth, seeing such a thing for the first time in her long life as an elf. 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Vicente was much more surprised by the initial quality of the pentagram in creation, the first pentagram of natural origin that had already appeared in the cyan grade. The formation of natural pentagrams was no longer a mystery to him and he only paid attention to the essence, wondering if it would be of any value to him at the end of its formation.
’This is a pentagram of light... Will it reach the violet grade?’ He wondered, aware that the initial color of a pentagram in formation did not show its last quality. For a moment, he wondered if what had caught his eye in this area was the butterfly still there, looking in the same direction as them, or if it was this pentagram.
’Natural pentagrams form when the right conditions are present simultaneously. Among the conditions is a high density of mana and a given element... The area we’re in may have attracted me.
His eyes narrowed as he sensed sound, temperature, and pressure coming from different angles, with several creatures of the high level of the 8th stage approaching where they were.
’Maybe it attracted more than just me. These other creatures and the butterfly itself may be here because of this natural pentagram of light!’
Vicente moved his mana, preparing for the competition that would surely break out as soon as the pentagram finished forming.
A pentagram of natural origin basically served three types of beings. Firstly, those capable of absorbing them directly, such as magicians. Secondly, those capable of absorbing them indirectly—basically a mode of consumption that involved discarding the pentagram’s abilities and absorbing only its mana and element. Finally, the third type was that of creatures interested in preventing the first two types from strengthening themselves with such pentagrams. Their aim was simple: to destroy the magical essence before anyone absorbed it!
Vicente warned his companions, still unaware of what was about to happen. "Get ready to fight. Competitors will be here before the pentagram has finished forming!"
