by Aaron Oster
Gold went on to explain how the air was different. “You can be attacked from anywhere, and there are no obstacles to place between you and your opponent. The sphere, a three-dimensional circle of space, is in your direct reach.” Everything within the sphere had to be in his control at all times when up in their air. Otherwise, he was liable to be killed.
“I still don’t see where the sphere comes into this,” Morgan said. “My direction is still obvious. It’s not like I can hide my actions when I’m flying straight at someone.”
“Again, you’re thinking too literally,” Gold said, starting to work on his sore muscles. “How about we change the angle of approach? What advantages do you have in the air?”
“Mobility, for one,” Morgan replied. “Since I’ll mostly be fighting opponents that are grounded, I’ll also have the height advantage and can attack from an angle that most wouldn’t know how to defend against. Of course, this comes at the price of being obvious as to where my attacks will come from.”
Gold let out a sigh, knowing that he would have to explain it. It had been so long since Morgan couldn’t actually figure out an issue after being given hints that it surprised him. Then again, Sarah had always been the smarter of the two, and likely would have figured it out for him, so it did make a sort of sense that the more complicated and obscure things would go over his head.
“The trick to not being obvious is to make your opponent think they’ve figured you out. Then use something in your arsenal to change direction and attack an unguarded spot.”
Morgan’s body stiffened suddenly, and the lesson finally dawned on him, though he could hardly be blamed for not figuring it out sooner.
“You sneaky bastard,” Morgan accused. “How the hell was I supposed to know that when all you’ve allowed me to use is a staff?”
“Hey, I never said the solution wouldn’t be one of your skills,” Gold replied with a self-satisfied smirk.
Morgan let out a snort but didn’t otherwise reply. He now knew the solution, though Gold’s smugness would be on full display every time he used it. Still, he wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing it annoyed him and would maintain his same level of apathy as before. It wouldn’t be too hard when dialing back his emotions, so Gold would get no satisfaction from this. That much, he could promise. If not to Gold, then at least to himself.
4
Morgan lay on his back, staring up at the night sky of the Beast Zone that had been his home over the last two years. It was beautiful, as always, the sky clear of all clouds and shining with the light of billions of stars. No matter how many times he saw it, it never ceased to amaze him. It also never ceased to sadden him.
This was the time when he’d allow his emotions to slip a bit, just so he could remember his loss and the reason he was fighting. Even at only ten percent, the pain of loss felt heavier than the chains he wore every day. It was crushing, all-consuming, and rendered him incapable of rational thought.
Looking up at the stars helped, as he could imagine that Sarah was up there somewhere. He had no idea if there was an afterlife or if her soul was simply in limbo, under the power of the Author, awaiting the time when their agreement had either been fulfilled or he died as well.
Despite how much he hated to admit it, he was beginning to forget her. He could no longer remember the sound of her voice, nor her scent or feel her touch. Her features were still burned into his mind. That, he knew, he’d never forget. But it was the little things that were going, and every time he lost one, another small part of her disappeared forever.
A heavy scaled hand landed on his bare chest, and Morgan turned to see Lumia staring back at him. She could always sense when he was sad and had been there for him every time to remind him that he wasn’t alone.
“Do not burden yourself overmuch,” she said in a quiet voice. “You will succeed in bringing her back, and I will be with you for every step along the way.”
Morgan gave her a grateful smile, placing his hand on top of hers. It was quite different from the hands of a human — large, scaled, and tipped with long and sharp claws. It didn’t matter, though. Just the fact that it was supportive helped immensely. Lumia stayed with him for the full half an hour that he allowed his loss to be felt, even minutely.
By the time he’d closed himself off to his emotions once again, the hand had grown heavier, signaling that the drake had drifted off at some point. Turning his head, Morgan could indeed see that her eyes were closed, and her chest was rising slowly and evenly. He gently lifted her arm off himself, placing it on the ground and shifting to a more comfortable position.
His time here was coming to an end; he could feel it. He didn’t know how he could feel it, but his time training had yielded a lot. It didn’t only manifest itself physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. Morgan concentrated inward to the glowing violet core at the center of his chest.
Gone were the glowing patterns and whirling colors. Gone was his ability to call upon his core to numb or heal his pain. All he could do was create a shield, just as a normal mage would be able to. Well, that, and call upon his status. Concentrating for a moment, Morgan did just that, and the violet screen flashed before his eyes.
Name: Morgan
Advanced Supermage: Rank - 65
Energy to next rank - 7,224,000/105,000,000
Ability Advancement - 15,000,000/15,000,000 (Max.)
Ability - Natural Disaster
RP - 7,060/7,060 (Regen - 71.4 per second)
Strength - 692
Agility - 1,040
Constitution - 820
Intelligence - 706
Wisdom - 714
Skills - Hypersonic Flight, Maximum Increase, Stormforge, Earthen Shift, Nature’s Wrath, Compression, Gravity Tear, Sunblast
Traits - Dense Body Max., Recovery Max., Aura Sense (inherited), Aura Flare (inherited), Perfect Self, Soul Stealer, Suppression (inherited)
Extra - Gravity Storm (7th category), Starbreaker (7th category), Collapsing Star (HyperNova), Shooting Star (Comet), Massive Meteor (2nd category), Continental Crush
His entire status had changed drastically over his time here. Attribute points could no longer be gained by killing Advanced beasts or ranking up. The only way to do so now was through rigorous and backbreaking training. There was, of course, still a limit to how much he could gain per rank, but until he hit that limit, he refused to move up another one. He was getting close to the limit on this one, as he had only increased a few points in the last month.
He’d maxed out his Ability Advancement as well, though his Perfect Self was still far from perfected, and thus, prevented him from reaching the Pinnacle of his power. Still, his constant work at self-improvement had yielded some results.
His skills had gone through quite a few changes in the last two years as well. So much so that he barely recognized them anymore. Some had been combined, while others were new. All had been improved upon, though he spent more time training his hand to hand skills than anything else. Morgan was about to pull up the expansion on his skills tab, when he felt someone enter the Beast Zone.
This wasn’t something to be alarmed about. Over the course of his training, many had entered this particular Beast Zone, though no one stayed for too long after discovering the power of the beasts within. Beast Zones were now permanent fixtures in the Five Kingdoms – in the whole world if he wasn’t mistaken. So, there was little he could do to keep anyone out.
This Beast Zone had ended up in a remote location, according to Gold, so their visitors were few and far between. Morgan was about to go back to his status when he noticed something odd. The person who’d entered the Beast Zone had just killed something.
This made him sit up and actually pay attention. In all the time he’d been here, no one had managed to kill a beast here. No one other than him, of course. The mere fact that this person had the power to kill a beast here meant that they would be at rank 50 at the very least! This was a big Beast Zone, though, and t
he further in one got, the more powerful the beasts became.
He wondered if he should do something, maybe move to a better hiding spot. He ultimately decided that he probably had nothing to worry about. Still, there was something about this person that was strange. Morgan could feel their Aura, but it felt strangely muffled, as though he were sensing it through a mental fog.
At the current power of his Aura Sense, nothing inside this Beast Zone should be able to escape his sight or even partially hide itself. It was one of the main reasons he was willing to stay here, despite the abundance of unfriendly beasts. Not all were as nice as Lumia. In fact, all except for Lumia would try and kill him on sight. They seemed to have a visceral hatred for him, which probably had to do with the fact that he’d been living here and killing so many of their kind.
His ability to sense all within this Beast Zone gave him the security needed to continue living here without fear. Another beast died, its light vanishing from his sight, and just a few moments later, another vanished as well.
This particular Beast Zone held beasts ranging from rank 48 at the entrance, all the way to rank 70 at its deepest parts, where he was currently located. The beasts had stopped mutating and growing over a year ago, stabilizing into what they were now. Morgan knew he probably shouldn’t be worried. Just because someone managed to beat the easier creatures didn’t mean they’d be able to make it all the way here.
Still, this person’s general direction seemed to be leading straight to him, and Morgan wasn’t one to take chances.
“Hey, Lumia,” he said, reaching over and shaking the drake. “Get up. I think we’ve got some company.”
Lumia stirred sleepily, unwilling to get up. Morgan had discovered that she became quite lazy once relaxed and even more so once asleep. It took him a further five minutes of shaking and coercing to get her to rise, by which point their mystery guest had covered nearly half the distance towards them.
By now, it was abundantly clear that they were here for him, and no one else. Still, Morgan didn’t think he should be too worried. Katherine may very well have found his hiding spot and come to try and drag him back to the North Kingdom. Or maybe someone else had discovered where he was and was trying to get him to join them on some pointless mission.
Still, as the figure grew closer, Morgan had to wonder how they were homing in on him with such uncanny precision. No one, as far as he knew, could locate him this easily. Sure, they might find out where he’d been staying, but actually finding him would have been the work of weeks, not minutes.
“Who do you think it is?” Lumia asked, her form rippling and bulging as she grew to her full size.
“I have no idea,” Morgan replied, his eyes narrowing. “Whoever it is, I’ve got a feeling it’s trouble.”
Gold was, of course, nowhere to be seen. The man vanished every day after training, only showing up at the crack of dawn to begin his torture anew. Morgan had no idea where he got off to, and frankly, he didn’t care. It was much easier to sleep knowing that the sadistic excuse for a teacher wasn’t in his vicinity. Right now, though, Morgan could have used some insight, and Gold’s absence was very much felt.
“They just killed one of the Arcs,” Morgan said, noting the figure speeding up. “At this pace, they’ll be here in just a few more minutes.”
“Do you think we should be worried?” Lumia asked.
Morgan shrugged.
“If they can find us this easily, there’s probably no point in running. Besides, I was never one to run from a fight.”
A distant explosion rocked the night air, the sounds of the stranger’s fighting finally reaching them. At this point, it wasn’t a question of if this intruder would reach them, but of when. Judging by the increased volume of explosions, Morgan estimated another minute at most.
He readied himself, summoning a spear made of violet energy. He normally trained with a staff so as to keep injuries to a minimum, but if he was going into a fight, he would do so with the weapon he’d been training to use. Lumia let out a low growl, the ground rumbling beneath Morgan’s feet.
The intruder was close now, sprinting up the side of the mountain astonishingly fast. A blurred figure flashed over the rim of the mountain and made a beeline for Lumia, singularly focused on the beast, and not even seeming to see the smaller figure.
It was then that Morgan interjected. The stone beneath his feet splintered and cracked as he launched himself forward, intercepting the figure and taking them by surprise. His spear whistled through the air, the haft cracking hard against the attacker’s head and sending them hurtling back. They slammed into the ground several times before being launched off the top of the mountain and out into empty space.
“Nice shot,” Lumia said as Morgan replayed the scene in his mind.
The intruder was unlike anything he’d seen before, though he’d only glimpsed it for a brief instant.
“They’re not down yet,” Morgan replied, summoning his shield.
“How do you know?” Lumia asked as the surrounding area was illuminated by the violet light now cloaking his form.
“Because they managed to move quickly enough to turn it into a glancing blow,” Morgan answered grimly.
Even now, he could feel them coming back up the side of the mountain. This time, there was no opposition, so they’d be here any second. The mere fact that they’d moved quickly enough to mitigate the damage of his blow, even from a sneak attack, meant they were very strong. Just how strong, remained to be seen.
The intruder pulled themselves over the side of the mountaintop, this time keeping a wary eye on Morgan. Now that he could see them clearly, Morgan was even more surprised at their appearance.
They were humanoid, that much was obvious. However, there were some stark differences between this thing and regular humans. Morgan was fairly sure this creature was male, judging by the way it was built. He could have been wrong, but he could hardly be blamed if he were.
The creature was about six feet tall, his chest bare and covered in brown fur. His arms were well-muscled and tipped with short, blunted claws. His face was vaguely human, though far more bestial in appearance, and a pair of rounded ears opened from the top of his shaggy head. If anything, this creature looked like a hybrid between a human and some sort of bear, and though Morgan didn’t appear to be entirely human either, he didn’t look nearly as bestial as this creature.
Morgan was just beginning to wonder if this might be some new type of beast when the creature’s eyes locked onto him.
“Hmm, so you’re the supermage. Good to know.”
Morgan had heard beasts speak before, so it didn’t exactly shock him that this one could. What surprised him was the fact that the creature wasn’t bothered by his presence.
He narrowed his eyes and tried to see the bear-man’s status. But for some reason, it failed. He could still hazily sense the creature’s core. It was a super, judging by the red light leaking from its center. However, that was all he knew.
“Mind telling me how you found me and why I can’t seem to get a read on you?” Morgan asked, figuring it didn’t hurt.
The worst thing this creature could do was simply not tell him anything, so what did he have to lose?
To his surprise, the creature drew itself up, folding his arms across his chest and flashing a predatory smile.
“My name is Bart of the beastmen tribes of Faeland, member of the Alliance of Races Bounty Guild, and super trained in the art of Swift Combat. I have been sent here to eliminate powerful threats to our great race, and you have been chosen as my first target!”
5
Bart, as Morgan now knew him to be, had given him quite a bit of information. So much, in fact, that Morgan had to wonder what sort of advanced scout this idiot was. Morgan figured that if Bart was going to offer free information, he may as well take advantage of it.
“That doesn’t really answer my first question, does it?” he replied.
Bart simply grinned all the mo
re.
“The races of Faeland do not give up their secrets so easily. In fact, you will find that any attempt at such in our great lands will fail utterly and completely!” the beastman boasted. “I found you quite easily, as my tracking prowess is legendary, even amongst my kind!”
That wasn’t good. The fact that the enemy had advanced scouts who could locate him at will made Morgan a much bigger target. If they could feel out his power at a distance, it meant that hiding would be much more difficult. Still, Bart had inadvertently revealed at least one weakness to his tracking, and that was that he only got a general location, not an actual person.
He’d shown this by attacking Lumia instead of him. So, in that regard, at least, Morgan knew he was safe, although he was bothered by the fact that he couldn’t read Bart’s status. He also noticed something else that troubled him immensely. Bart’s eyes were burning with a double set of bright red rings. This meant that on top of all the unknowns, he was also an Intermediate super.
“Care to explain what this Guild of yours is?” Morgan asked, trying for more answers.
“The Guild is a symbol, a sign of the times changing! Founded by the rulers of our great nations, the Guild stands as a beacon of hope and prosperity for all in Faeland!”
That hadn’t really answered his question, and judging by how the man was beginning to fidget, he was growing impatient.
“So, Bart, I think we have a problem,” Morgan said, taking up a fighting stance. “You see, you might have been sent here to kill me, but I have no intention of being killed.”
“It matters not what you wish,” Bart replied, his voice still way too loud for the distance separating them. “The human scourge must be cleansed, and it will start with you! Though I am surprised at how similar we appear, I must kill you all the same. Prepare yourself!”
