Venturings (2)
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Shanks Pov
I destroyed the earth surrounding the herb carefully, the ground cracking under my magic. The poisonous plant I'd been searching for—Venomshade sat there, nestled among dry roots and dust. The name alone gave away its nature.
I leaned down slowly and gripped it by the base of the root—only the root. Touching it anywhere else could've spelled a nasty reaction, and I wasn't in the mood for a personal venom trial.
From the magic-engraved bag slung over my shoulder, I summoned a small glass jar filled with saltwater. I gently placed the herb inside. That was step one in properly handling Venomshade—immersion. Letting the saltwater leech out its more aggressive toxins.
I sealed the jar and sighed.
"Should I really bother looking for that village?" I muttered, more to myself than anything else.
This was already proving to be a long day. The sun glared down from above, baking the desert terrain. Still, something in my gut said to keep going. I decided I'd search for the rest of the day. If I didn't find anything by then, I'd head home—to Magnolia, to Fairy Tail, and to my sister.
I pressed on.
The desert was relentless. Just endless dunes of brown and gold, stretching far beyond the horizon. Wind whipped at my clothes, and every few steps, I'd sink just slightly into the dry sand.
The only constant was the color brown. Brown sand. Brown rocks. Brown sky, almost, from the dust in the air. Even my brain was starting to feel brown.
And then -
Another Venomshade.
I knelt down again, repeating the same process: extract carefully, saltwater immersion. The liquid in the jar shifted, turning a dark, sickly shade of purple.
It was poison, no doubt about it.
That meant I was on the right track. Venomshade only grew near high concentrations of Ethernano. And the only place that matched that kind of saturation in this region?
The rumored Sun Village.
I kept walking, the terrain shifting gradually. Sand turned to cracked dirt, then to jagged stone. The wind grew quieter, but the tension in the air built up like a bowstring drawn tight.
And then I felt it—a subtle disturbance in the air.
I stopped, closed my eyes, and flared my magical power just slightly.
Snap.
There it was. A strange fog lifted from my mind, as if someone had thrown a blanket over my thoughts and tried to convince me to turn around.
"Yeah... no," I muttered. "Nice try."
A weak mind-control spell. Subtle, but effective—at least for most people. If I hadn't flared my magic, I might've walked away without even knowing why.
The mental suggestion was crafted with precision. It was not forceful but still was very effective.
I opened my eyes.
'I would've fallen for it if I couldn't sense the Ethernano.'
Ever since I'd been born into this world, I'd had a heightened awareness of magic—probably because my past life had been completely devoid of it. In a world where magic didn't exist, the moment I reincarnated here, the presence of Ethernano had always stood out to me like an electric buzz in the back of my head.
"Some kind of magic to manipulate thoughts and discourage exploration, huh?" I said aloud. My voice echoed slightly off the rock walls. "So that's why nobody knows where the Sun Village is."
It made sense. With a barrier like that, they didn't need walls or warriors to keep people out. Most folks would just give up and forget the place existed.
A grin pulled at my lips.
"Well then," I muttered, "let's see what all the secrecy is about."
With renewed focus, I headed deeper into the rocky landscape. The air practically hummed with magical energy now. The concentration of Ethernano was dense—thicker than anything I'd felt since leaving Magnolia.
And then, as I rounded a bend in the canyon...
I saw it.
Large, tower-like homes carved from glowing stone. Buildings that shimmered faintly under the sun, arranged in circular patterns around an enormous plaza. Even from this distance, I could feel the power radiating from the area. It was ancient, alive.
My eyes widened.
This was it.
The Sun Village.
I stepped forward, and just then, the familiar chime of the System rang out in my mind.
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[Mission Completed]
Name: Venturing!
Reward Obtained: [Improved Senses - Lvl 1]
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The notification rang in my ears like a whisper on the wind, but I immediately felt something shift within me.
Unlike most of the other Passive Skill- I had obtained—ones where the changes were subtle to the point of being almost unnoticeable—this one hit different.
This time, I felt the change.
It was like someone had taken a cloth and wiped clean the glass through which I viewed the world. My vision grew sharper, more refined. The tiniest grains of sand that once blended into the endless desert terrain now stood out, individual and distinct. The sky's faded blue seemed deeper, the shifting rocks cast longer, more defined shadows, and even the shimmer of heatwaves in the distance took on a new clarity.
My nose caught scents I had previously missed—the lingering iron of blood on my boots, the earthy scent of disturbed sand, and even the faintest whiff of something ancient in the wind, something I wouldn't have noticed just minutes ago.
I became keenly aware of everything. The way my clothes rubbed gently against my skin with each step. The weight of the saber on my back felt more pronounced. I could hear the subtle whisper of the wind as it kissed the rocky terrain ahead and even detect a slight rhythm to the vibrations in the earth beneath my feet.
But that wasn't all.
There was more—something deeper, more instinctual.
My sixth sense—the Magical Sense—sharpened. I had always been sensitive to Ethernano in the air, but now? Now it was like tuning into a higher frequency.
And then there was my seventh sense—Danger Sense.
A chill ran down my spine, not from fear, but from clarity. I could feel the difference between a threat and a mere shift in air pressure. It was like I had developed an internal radar, an instinct honed to perfection. If someone were to strike me from behind right now, I was almost sure I'd react before their hand even moved.
Most wizards didn't talk much about these extra senses, maybe because they weren't always obvious or easy to explain. But every mage knew about them. The stronger the wizard, the more refined these senses became. And now, mine had just taken their first real leap forward.
The changes were subtle in isolation, but together, they stacked up into something undeniably significant.
"This is actually... really handy," I muttered, a small grin tugging at the corner of my lips.
"I should move forward now." With that I started walking towards the Village. My body quickly adjusted to the heightened senses. I knew I was cheating...
The system was helping me very much and to be honest I was really grateful for it and this single skill seemed to have helped be very much.
'Let's confirm this, shall we?'
'Status'
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Name: Shanks Clive
Power Level: C+
Magic: Destruction (+)
Skills: Cooking (+) - Level 3, Improved Breathing System (+) - Level 2, Improved Senses (+) - Level 1
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As I had expected, my power level had jumped from C to C+ just from gaining this one Skill.
It really was handy -
SWISH.
I froze mid-thought. A faint breeze brushed the side of my face, not natural wind, but the aftershock of something slicing through the air.
My instincts screamed.
Killing intent.
My eyes widened as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up like they were being pulled by an unseen force. Every fiber of my newly enhanced senses flared like alarm bells going off all at once.
I twisted my body to the side - just in time.
THWACK.
A blade embedded itself in the sand right where my chest had been a second ago, sending up a plume of dust. It vibrated violently, a low hum resonating through the air.
I looked at the place from where the blade came and though my vision told me there was nothing there, but my sixth sense told me everything I needed to.
I 'saw' the thick coating of Ethernano forming a human body but way bigger.
"To think a Giant would be fighting me so dishonorably. Tch Tch how the society has changed." I had heard the various stories of Giants and how they were the warriors of honor, and I poked the Giant right in its soft spot, or I hoped it was a soft spot.
Then once again I saw the Ethernano dissipating and what revealed to me was a male giant, he was around 13 ft and was very muscular, but I could tell he was fairly young.
"I was just testing you human. I find you worthy, now let's clash our blades." Although the Giant carried a club.
To his challenge, I-
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Author's Note: Chapters are getting Longer, just like I said.
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A bit of Rant: Idk how you got that idea, but I assure you all, this story is definitely not AI generated so yeah. Sure, I do use Grammarly along with other software since English is not my first language, but the most important part is I don't generate this story.