Chapter 45 - Food?

"Let's stop here." said Arya as he noticed Teressa was lagging behind, the injury she sustained on her leg was slowly catching up to her. As Arya surveyed the area he realized they had reached a river stream. The river was about 6m wide and marked the end of the meadow terrain. On the other side was a forest so dense with trees that Arya could hardly see past the first line.

Arya tested the depth of the river by dipping one foot in it. His foot reached the bottom at about thigh length so he figured it would be okay to pass through it, however he was was a bit hesitant due to the possible parasites in it and the rather strong which current coupled with his fatigue could cause a serious accident. As Arya was about to pull out his leg to tell Teressa about their situation he saw Teressa taking huge gulps from the river stream.

"Are you crazy, what if the water is contaminated, what about parasites?!" shouted Arya shocked by Teressa lack of caution. "Contaminated? Parasites? What are you talking about, it's a river." said Teressa innocently between gulps as she filled he mouth with mouth with water.

Arya noticed an animal taking a drink from it on the other side, "Well if the animals drink from it then it can't be too bad. Maybe I'm being overly cautious for no reason." thought Arya as he took a handful and put it into his mouth.

As the soothing water went down his dry, parched throat he realized just how thirsty he really was and got on his knees to take huge gulps as well. Once he was done he wiped his lips with the back of his hand and looked around hoping to find food somehow. He noticed a flock of birds further upstream, however he had no means to catch any.

"If only I knew any high speed projectile spells." thought Arya as he tried remembering what he had read in Luca's book. Most of what he read were ice spells meant to restrict movement, the only projectile ice spells he had seen were tier 4 and since he couldn't use tier 4 spells with his old method of magic he never bothered to learn them.

"That's it! My old method." said Arya as he focused mana into the space in front of his palm and a ball of blue energy surging with mana began forming. As he chanted "Child of water heed my call, smite mine enemies." a beam of ice shot at the flock of birds. However due to hunger and fatigue he couldn't aim properly and missed them by a long shot.

Arya didn't seem to mind, he had just found a way to get food and even if he had to try one thousand times he would catch his prey at least once.

The method of magic Arya used made use of the mana in the atmosphere instead of that within his body, so it didn't drain his mana supplies. However it still used a small portion of his life force to focus the mana into a beam but Arya was too ecstatic by the prospect of food to notice the changes taking place.

"Cool!" exclaimed Teressa doing a spit take as she saw the beam shoot out. "Teach me how to do that too!" said Teressa as she stood up trying to imitate what Arya had done, however nothing happened. "How come you are able to use magic but I can't?" asked Teressa a bit sad that she couldn't do what someone two years younger than her could.

"Focus on the mana in your surr-" Arya was about to explain before Teressa cut him short. "What do you mean mana?" asked Teressa tilting her head in confusion. "This is hopeless Arya, if you waste anymore time here those men will find you before you even get to eat." said the pessimistic voice in Arya's head.

"I'll teach you later, let's get some food first." said Arya as he set his eyes on a flock of birds that had just arrived and landed further upstream. "You'll never catch any birds in this state. Best to just give up now." said the pessimistic voice in Arya's head. "Practice makes a great man brother." said the other voice in his head cheering him on.

Before Arya could take aim at the birds he had a thought. Instead of aiming at the flock of birds Arya turned to look at the trees on the other side of the river. "What are you doing, aren't the birds that way?" asked Teressa confused by Arya's actions. "My aim is a bit off." though Arya as he took aim at the center of a tree on the other side of the river. "Child of water heed my call, smite mine enemies." chanted Arya and a beam of ice shot towards the tree but hit the tree to the right of it.

"What are you doing!?" complained Teressa as she grew impatient by whatever Arya was attempting to do. "Just hold on." said Arya as he took aim at the tree to the right side of the tree he first aimed at. "Child of water heed my call, smite mine enemies." chanted Arya and another bolt of ice shot out, this time it just barely hit the tree he was aiming at first. "So a bit to the left." thought Arya as he readjusted his aim and fired again.

This time it hit close to the center of the tree he had been aiming for. "Good enough, but this tree is way bigger than the flock of birds I wonder i-" said Arya as he aimed at the flock of birds readjusting his aim taking into account what he had just discovered.

"Child of water heed my call, smite mine enemies." chanted Arya as a bolt of ice shot at the flock but missed a bird by a hair, but Arya wasn't done, he quickly shot another bolt into the sky before the birds could get too high this time he managed to graze one of the birds at its wing impairing its ability to fly. The bird lost control and began flying towards the ground, Arya shot another bolt of ice this time hitting it square in the back.

"You did it!" cheered Teressa before limping as fast as she could towards the prize, she was happy that Arya had managed to catch his prey and all, but food was the most important thing to her right her now. As she got to the bird she realized just how small it really was, coupled with the fact that it was now an icicle made he lose most of her vigor. "Say do you know any fire spells!" shouted Teressa but when she turned to look at Arya she saw him passed out on the ground where she left him.