The second female lead Dual Cultivates

"Let's go inside now. The forest is dangerous once the sun goes down. Sister once told me that there are various kinds of beasts in the forest that only come out at night. I don't want to become food for them" for someone saying those words, Yura did not look scared.

If anything, Maria would have categorized the expression on her face as eager and opportunistic. She had a feeling that the girl was actually excited to see those beasts that lived in the forest. How peculiar of her and also weird.

"Let's go in then" Maria agreed. She wanted to stop back and observe the child a little bit more. There was something disturbing about this place and it may have been because of the lost node. Generally, losing a node had a big impact but the world seemed to be holding up.

The child gave Maria a confused look when she looked back. Yura had not moved from her position for even a second and it made Maria stop and turn back to the child. She had to ask the question.

"Not going to follow me? Didn't you want us to go back inside?" Maria asked when the child still did not move after her probing. Yura's look just intensified at Maria's question before she held out a small hand.

It was Maria's turn to look back at her confused. The child wanted her to do something with her hand but Maria could not figure out what.

"Hold hands. I want to hold hands" the kid asked, tone almost whiny and Maria gave in. There was no point in arguing with a literal kid over this topic and Maria also had a feeling that her refusal would not be taken kindly.

The second she placed her hand in the kid's, she felt a weird sensation going through her. It felt like raw and uncontrolled magic that made Maria flinch. She unconsciously tried to pull her hand out of the kid's but Yura did not allow that.

The grip on Maria's hand tightened and the magic got a little harsher. It probed at Maria in a clumsy daze, as if it had no idea what it was doing. It was not painful but annoying.

Maria knew she could crush it easily if she wanted to. The magic was leaving its marks on her soul and she could use them to get back at the caster. But she could also allow the magic to fade away. Maria tried to pull the magic from her surroundings before an alarm sounded in her mind.

[Danger alert - depleted magic zone

The user is advised to be careful. Magic is a limited resource and User only has their reserves to pull from]

Despite having magic all around her, her system's warning was clear. The magic around Maria was hostile and should not be used under normal circumstances. Maira could not count on it to save herself.

And that also meant that normal means of fighting would be meaningless. As much magic, as she had in her reserves, her main source of magic was her surroundings.

"What are you doing?" Maria asked as she studied Yura. The child seemed as if she had no idea what she was doing. It made Maria wonder if all this was an unconscious play on the kid's part.

It would be surprising for sure but not impossible to think of. Especially not in such an imbalanced world where not everyone had access to magic.

"I made a wish. I like you and I think you'll make a good big sister. You don't get mad at me and you are also not afraid of my magic. So I've decided to keep you here with me" Yura's eyes shined as she proclaimed those words.

Maria could see just how serious the kid was. She also seemed stubborn and would likely not be swayed by logic. Maria would have to take some drastic measures against the child even when she did not want to.

Maria tried to jab at the child softly but the magic prevented her from reaching Yura. It had a small shield around the girl which Maria tested out.

It was strong. Too strong to allow normal attacks to pass through. Maria could tell that the kid had no idea how the shield worked. Nor how to invoke it as well. The chile was trying to follow Maria's moments as she moved about but she was having trouble keeping up.

But the magic had no problem keeping up. It acted as if it had a will of its own.

"Why are you resisting? It's better to live here where there is good food and nice shade. You also don't have to deal with wild animals and bad people chasing after you" the child pleaded. It was not a bad deal for most people but Maria could not afford to stay back.

The more she tried to hold back, the more she was pushed back. It was bad enough that she had no idea how to fight against the magic in front of her without her own.

It also made her realize how much she actually relied on her magic to save herself. Maria was not able to keep up without her magic at all.

So Maria had no other choice but to run toward the forest. That was the only place she could think of that would keep the kid out of her life. There was the chance that she would run into her first attackers there but she was willing to take it.

'System, any kind of help you can give?' Maria asked. She could feel her connection with her system as a faint line. Since it depended on her magic, the lack of it was causing all kinds of problems for her now.

[Analysing situation……

…. The system can provide the user with a 1-minute window to make their move. Users can activate the command by the yell of 'now']

Maria cursed. One minute was not enough but it was more than she had thought she would get. She knew that the magic was acting upon the kid's emotions. If she manages to get her out, then she'll be able to get away.

And Maria had the perfect thing to cut the connection temporarily. It might be a one-time thing but Maria was quite confident in it working.

'Now' Maria yelled inside her mind as she grabbed a handful of plants she had sniped from Imu's castle. They had weird properties that Maria hoped worked here. She was really counting the kid to have no fighting capabilities here since it was going to make her vulnerable as well.

And she threw her handful at the kid.