The Mysterious Black Magician

<All of the thorny plants also had their leaves eaten by a worm!> Sistela exclaimed.

"This is bad!" Yman uttered as he sprinted towards the thorny plants. In his mind, 'what if the Teardrop Magical Herb suffered the same?' With this in his mind, he quickened his steps towards it.

"Sistela, please!" Sistela heard his yell. No need to ask what he meant by it. She already knows his meaning.

<Okay, no problem!>

(RESONANCE!)

After their resonance, the holographic display that seemed like a monocle appeared on his left eye.

In his vision, different kinds of data were popping out at each of every plant information that could be seen around him.

When they arrived beside the thorny plants, one of the data took his attention. It was the data of an herb that was his reason for coming to the mountain.

<Partner, the Teardrop Magical Herb is over there!>

He heard Sistela's voice.

When Yman twisted his head and glanced to where she was pointing, his mouth hung open and was stunned at what he saw.

<What?!> Even Sistela screamed in shock.

In front of them, the Teardrop Magical Herb was being devoured by the culprit!

But what made Yman and Sistela to have such a reaction was the culprit! It has a body of black color and glowing crimson lines were visible on it, seemingly looking like veins. All in all, it was identical to a bee. No doubt, it was the scout bee-model enhanced fire doll of his.

<Partner, isn't that one of your enhanced fire dolls?!> Sistela asked in a slightly louder voice.

"Mhm," Yman was slowly nodding his head. But it puzzled him that it was here! "I am sure that I only summoned the bird-model scout today to guard Rea," Yman said in certainty.

<Eh? So what was this bee-model in front of us doing?> Sistela asked in surprise.

<Aside from that, it was devouring all the magical plants around him.> She continued.

Yman was contemplating, wondering what was happening. "Wait, could it be…" he said, a little skeptical.

<Hm…? What is it, partner?>

Sistela muttered in his ears.

Yman did not follow up his words and close his eyes. A moment later, the scout bee stopped then glanced at them.

He was trying to connect with it.

(However,)

<Partner, look!> The transmission with him and the scout bee was disturbed when Sistela suddenly screamed out. But he was sure that it was his scout bee. He was able to connect in a brief moment.

Yman stared back at the scout bee. Now that he had a second look at it, its size was a little bigger than his normal scout bee.

Regardless, some bees came and hoarded around it. Luckily, it stopped devouring the Teardrop Magical herbs.

It glanced at the other bee around. The other bees did not do something and just stared at it. Wait, they looked like they were conversing at each other.

Then all of them flew, climbing the mountain. And the one at the lead was his scout bee! He immediately rushed to take some Teardrop Magical herbs. Then he hastily followed after the bees.

They flew in haste like they were rushing because of something.

Yman had to leap to the tree branches. And jumped again to the closer branch.

After a couple of minutes, he jumped to the bushes to hide himself. 

<What is that fire doll doing, partner?>

Sistela whispered in him, but how could he answer her if he had no idea also of what was happening.

Ahead of him, he saw the bees led by his scout bee. 

Yman was at a loss, wondering how it survived this long. If he wasn't wrong, this scout bee was one of the enhanced fire dolls he sent out to scout around the campus the first time they arrived here.

But it was supposed to be dried out of mana already and was supposed to disappear by now. Yet, it was still here. Aside from that, it was acting so weird. And how did those other bees act friendly to it? How did that enhanced fire doll of him was able to move on its own without him transmitting his command ? He had so many questions inside him.

But as of now, he could only monitor it from afar. He needed to see what those bees were doing.

While he was peeking from the bushes, he saw them passing over the lake and proceeded inside the cave that could be seen not too far from it.

Yman immediately followed sneakily. But he needed to cross the lake too. He summoned magical energy on his feet and jumped into the air. Then he followed by using his Rapid Leap. His figure made a sudden dash in the air. Yet, it wasn't enough to cross the lake. If he didn't do anything, he would fall on it. Weirdly enough, no tinge of worry was visible on his face. He summoned one of his Type-B third version ant and let it bite him. After it bit him, he used another Rapid Leap. 

He landed on the surface, with his back facing the lake, a step away from it.

He was able to use two the same spell in a quick succession. It was a commendable skill. Thanks to his wild imagination of trying to improve the usefulness of his skills. He managed to widen his understanding on each of them. Actually, he could use his Air Dance as well, then followed by another Rapid Leap. But Air Dance needed more magical energy than using his Skill Bee. Yman decided to call it with this name rather than calling it with Type B Third Version Ant-model Enhance Fire Doll. It was too long compared to calling it with a shorter version. The Skill Bee!

Right, using his skill bee was more conservative than using his Air Dance skill. After all, only a little of the crimson mana he used in making it, and most of the mana he used to make it was from his black mana. 

Without wasting more time, he rushed forward inside the cave, following the bees who went inside not long ago.

Inside it was a narrower passage, Yman had to bend his body a little in order to pass it without a hitch.

<Why have they entered here?> Sistela was asking a question that none of them could answer. So Yman decided to stay quiet and focused himself ahead of him. He widened his perception to alert himself of possible danger that might lurking around them.

If he wanted to transmit to his scout bee, he believed with certainty that he would succeed. But he chose not to do it as he was curious to what was happening. He was afraid that if ever he transmitted to his scout bee, the whole situation would be spoiled.

He wanted to learn how this scout bee could act on its own without him transmitting onto it. And how it survived this long.

Though he had a little gist of its survival. Perhaps the reason was the magical plants and herbs that it devoured.

Since magical herbs and plants contain minimal magical energies. The scout bee was probably maintaining its vitality through it. Then again, how was it able to think of consuming it to extend its functionality? This was one of the questions that puzzled him at the moment.

In order to satisfy his curiosity, he decided to follow them in secret. Who knows, he might discover useful information towards his fire dolls.

With this in his mind, he advanced to the deeper part of the cave. Good thing that the deeper he went, the wider the space had become.

Right now, there's no need for him to bend while walking. And the space continued to become wider as he was advancing.

The atmosphere inside was chillier than he thought. It was also darker and hard to perceive using one's normal vision. But thanks to the new version of his System Interface, after Sistela's update, the new program was added into it. And the new program was called Night Vision. The holographic glass that acted like a monocle, glowed in green brilliance.

Yman's vision became brighter a second later, after he activated his night vision.

The greenish hue that in his surrounding was the effect of Night Vision's activation. Actually he could perceive his surroundings using his high senses of high perception. But there were many things he needed to consider regarding it. Like for example, he couldn't perceive non-living or any things that don't have magical aura within them. Like ordinary stones, rocks, woods, and etcetera.

He wasn't an immortal god that could see the whole surroundings even closing their eyes. He was just a newbie magician who wished to become strong to live a peaceful life in the future together with his only family.

In the distance, his ears picked some random noise. Like droplets of water, gushing wind, and echoing creaking noise.

<P-partner, what was that?> Sistela asked him.