World of dreams and nightmares

Kaelen stood silent, stunned by Lysandra's words. After a moment, he crouched down and picked up a dead plant nearby. "These plants died abnormally. If you take a closer look, the area where we are standing is the center of it. All vegetation within several dozen meters has withered unnaturally, as if they have been dead for a long time, even though the soil here is fertile."

Hearing this, Lysandra chanted a spell to observe the flow of mana in the area. "This is even stranger. All these plants died due to demonic magic. While phantoms are demonic creatures, they cannot use demonic magic unless they've evolved into a lich. However, the mana signature left behind does not resemble that of a lich at all."

Kaelen was taken aback by her statement. "If that's the case, there's only one explanation: the phantom was an artificial demonic creature. This must be the work of heretics. But why would they unleash a demonic creature here? There's nothing valuable in this village for them to target."

Kaelen sat down, deep in thought about the heretics' intentions. Moments later, Theron, the rogue, patted his shoulder. "There's nothing more to find here. Should we head back?" Theron asked.

Kaelen stood up and called his party members to gather. In a calm voice, he addressed them, "Let's inform the villagers that the phantom is gone, but warn them not to venture deeper into the forest unless absolutely necessary."

"What are you planning, Kaelen? Warning the villagers like that will only endanger them more, especially since we don't even know what happened to the phantom!" Seraphina protested.

"Calm down. I don't intend to endanger them. But telling them that even we, as hunters, don't fully understand the situation will only spread panic. It's better for us to head back to the guild and report this to the guildmaster. With his authority, he can consult the holy temple about this matter."

Kaelen's reasoning silenced the party, and they made their way back to the village. After a few dozen minutes, they arrived at the village gates, where the village chief was waiting for them.

Kaelen relayed the information as planned, then bid farewell to the villagers, explaining that they needed to return to the guild to report the incident.

When Lysandra, the party's mage, was saying her goodbyes, she noticed Alaric hiding behind his mother, Isolde. "That's the boy who encountered the phantom," Lysandra thought.

"Apologies," Isolde said. "He's shy and hasn't met outsiders before, so he's feeling a bit nervous."

Lysandra smiled, bowed slightly, and approached the boy. "Child, how old are you?"

"Twelve," Alaric answered softly.

"Twelve, huh? May I see your palm?" Lysandra asked with a gentle smile.

Alaric glanced nervously at his mother. Isolde placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Show her your hand, Alaric. There's no need to be shy."

Reluctantly, Alaric extended his palm. Lysandra studied it intently for a moment. Just then, Kaelen called out, "Lysandra, let's go!"

"Thank you," Lysandra said softly, patting Alaric's head before joining her party.

---

A few hours later, as they were far from the village, Kaelen approached Lysandra. "You looked at the boy who encountered the phantom, didn't you? Alaric, right? You stared at him for a while. What did you see?"

"It's nothing… just that there's something strange about that boy," Lysandra replied.

"Strange? How so? I didn't sense anything unusual about him. He seemed like an ordinary child," Kaelen said, puzzled.

"Alaric is only twelve years old, so he hasn't undergone Mana Awakening yet. But the mana around him behaves unusually. The energy flows around him, circling as if it's trying to enter his body, even though he doesn't have a mana core yet. Normally, mana ignores those without a core, as they can't absorb it. Yet, the mana surrounding Alaric seems as though it's eager to be absorbed by him."

Kaelen stood silently for a moment before speaking again. "That's certainly unusual from a mage's perspective. But why did you examine his palm?"

"You might think I'm joking, but I wondered if the phantom's disappearance was somehow related to him. When demonic creatures like phantoms die, they usually leave behind a curse on whoever kills them. That's why I checked his palm—since it's a part of the body connected to all mana pathways. I thought that even without a mana core, I might detect some trace of the phantom's curse. But I found nothing," Lysandra explained.

Kaelen said nothing more, falling silent as he returned to the front of the group to lead the party back to the Hunter's Guild. His face was filled with unanswered questions.