Silverspear (Rise to Omniscience Book 6)

by Aaron Oster

  “However, the Patriarch or Matriarch of a Zone is the last line of defense. They are the ultimate challenge of any given Zone, so they are not replaced by a similar creature upon death, but they are reborn. For most, this isn’t a big deal, but for those who gain a modicum of intelligence, the repeated deaths are something that weighs on the psyche.

  “For years, I faced challengers. Sometimes I won, other times I lost and was killed. Each time, I returned with just a bit more of my sanity lost. It was agony, an eternity of pointless death, whereupon I would be returned, only to have to do it all over again. It was a fate worse than death, dying over and over, remembering the pain and fear, followed by nothingness. I could never leave, as the magic of the Zone bound me to stay. I had no purpose, no drive, and at a certain point, was reduced to little more than a rabid animal, snapping at any who came near.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Grace said, repressing a shudder.

  She couldn’t imagine having to go through something like that. Dying time and time again, with no end in sight, and no purpose for which to fight… That was a prison the likes of which she couldn’t imagine surviving.

  “What changed?” Grace asked, although she already felt she knew the answer.

  “Morgan. He came to me, just like all others, seeking to better himself at the expense of my death. However, when he saw me, saw that I was more than just some beast, he offered me something that I hadn’t had in all my years. He willingly gave up a rare resource, praised my beauty, and then promised that no one would ever return to hurt me again.”

  “Why are you telling me all this?” Grace asked, now feeling even worse about how she’d acted.

  “Because while Morgan saved me from a lifetime of misery, you’ll likely hear stories of thousands more whose lives he’s made better. If not directly, then through his actions. He is the only human in the world that I would call a part of my family, and I believe that you can grow to protect him one day, as he once protected me.”

  Grace let out a snort at that.

  “He’s not going to teach me. Not after the way I acted. And what makes you think that I’ll ever have enough power to save someone like that? He’s a freaking monster who knocked me out so quickly that I don’t even remember it happening! Hell, just hitting him turned both of my hands black and blue!”

  “One does not need physical might to save someone,” Lumia replied. “The mere act of simply being present can be enough, given the circumstances.”

  Grace snorted once again, wondering if this lizard had even been there during their fight.

  “Even as we speak,” Lumia continued, “The human Queen Katherine is convincing Morgan to give you another chance. Judging by the way he’s spoken of her over the past two years and the affection he harbors towards her, he will listen.”

  Grace perked up at that, now sitting up a little straighter.

  “I still don’t understand why you’re telling me, or how you even know.”

  “Let’s just say that Katherine will do whatever she can to keep Morgan around for a bit. Seeing as she used you to lure him here in the first place, logic says that she’ll use you again.”

  “That sneaky bitch!” Grace exclaimed.

  “Yes, from what I can see, she is quite devious in her attempts at seducing my friend, although I doubt she’ll have any success there. Using guilt and logic to make him stay will be the most likely outcome.”

  “How do you know it won’t work?” Grace asked curiously.

  Much as she disliked the North Queen, she couldn’t deny that Katherine was a rare beauty. Morgan would have to be an idiot not to go for her.

  Then again, she thought, feeling her heart flutter a bit.

  Grace had only seriously started noticing boys about a year ago, when puberty had begun to set in. And Morgan had to be just about the best-looking man she’d seen in her life. It had been easy to ignore him before, as she’d allowed her anger to drive her to the exclusion of all else. But now that she was a bit more clear-headed, she could appreciate just how stunningly handsome he was. So perhaps it was easy for someone that good-looking to turn Katherine away.

  “Because Morgan has his heart set on another,” Lumia replied, immediately shattering her daydream. “I would advise you against seeing him as anything other than a mentor. From what I can gather, his physical appearance is very pleasing to behold, and I’ve overheard several of the female servants discussing how best to, and I quote, ‘jump his bones.’”

  Grace made a face, showing her disgust at the crude behavior. She was at the point in her life where admitting to liking a boy was something to be embarrassed about. At least, to anyone but the boy in question. Then, it went from simply embarrassing to mortifying.

  “Hey!” Grace said, as Lumia’s insinuation finally hit her. “What makes you think that I like him that way?”

  “The fact that you are female and clearly prefer males. Well, that, and the fact that I can practically smell it oozing off you.”

  Grace had to resist the urge to sniff herself to see if it was indeed true, and instead, fixed the small lizard with a glare.

  “I see that we have gotten off topic,” Lumia replied, stretching lazily. “Morgan will return in the morning to offer you a trial run. I suggest that you be ready and willing when he arrives. An apology wouldn’t hurt either.”

  “Right,” Grace replied, suitably chastised. “Thank you for coming, I suppose.”

  “I did this for Morgan, not for you,” Lumia replied simply as she rose from the chair. “Don’t disappoint him again.”

  That said, the small lizard headed for the window, neatly flipping the latch and exiting into the cold night air.

  Grace followed her a few moments later, closing and shuttering the window against the chill. She knew that she had Katherine to thank for this second chance, even if the woman’s intentions were less than honorable. Still, she now had a chance to assure that her father maintained the good life he’d been promised. And, she had to admit to herself, learning from someone as strong as Morgan probably couldn’t hurt.

  Had Grace been able to see into the future, she might have reserved judgment on that particular thought.

  14

  Morgan arose just as the first rays of the sun became visible on the eastern horizon. Well, they weren’t so much visible as they were there. One would actually have to leave the comforts of the warm palace and fly four-hundred feet up to actually see the rays of the sun. However, Morgan’s internal clock didn’t allow him to sleep past that time. Sleep wasn’t actually much of a requirement these days, but Gold had insisted that keeping a consistent schedule while training was important to both the mind and body, and after this long, it was so deeply ingrained that Morgan didn’t really feel like making any changes.

  He rose, being careful not to jostle the bed too much and wake Lumia. It was a bit strange for her to snuggle into him when it was usually the other way around, but Morgan didn’t mind either way. Her presence was calming in a way that he couldn’t explain, so no matter her size, he was glad to have her with him. That said, he didn’t much feel like disrupting her sleep, mistakenly or otherwise.

  He’d learned from bitter experience not to wake a sleeping drake, especially before the sun rose. Lumia would wake when she was good and ready. Besides, he didn’t really need her until later, so for now, he’d leave her alone.

  Katherine had only let him go at about one in the morning, and only after he’d promised not to leave in the middle of the night and that he’d stay out the full week. He still wasn’t sure about giving Grace another chance but figured that a week spent here couldn’t hurt too much — or so he hoped.

  He dressed quickly, sliding on some light garments that would still allow him ease of movement. He wished he could go around without wearing too much, but now that he was back amongst the humans, he had little choice. Besides, showing up to his would-be student’s room wearing nothing but a pair of baggy pants probably wouldn’t set the b
est example.

  Katherine had told him that she was already having a new set of armor made for him, one that would far outstrip anything he’d worn previously. Seeing as Katherine had always gotten him good, sturdy armor, he wondered how she might outperform that last set. It had been a while since he’d last been here, so there was bound to be some progress.

  Morgan opened the window, taking off into the freezing morning air. Though it was the beginning of spring, winter was still struggling to hold on, if just for a little longer. Still, Morgan hardly felt it. It was perhaps thirty degrees out, not even close to the minus two-hundred something he’d endured while facing Octagon the Bitter. Morgan often wondered how that evil bastard was doing.

  He was now chained to a block of ice and borne beneath the waves for all eternity. Well, not all eternity. As soon as this was all over, Morgan would hunt that bastard down and finish the job. Back then, he’d only been strong enough to seal the Pinnacle King away. This time, he’d have more than enough strength to kill the monster for good.

  When that was done, Morgan was going to hunt down the other Pinnacle Kings, the ones that had yet to be awakened. According to what Samuel had told him, there was one in each Kingdom, and the one in the Central Kingdom was supposedly the strongest. For now, they remained frozen, inanimate, and at the same level of strength as the day they’d been sealed. He, on the other hand, was growing.

  Morgan floated over the empty expanse of the dark sky before angling further north and using his Gravity Tear. Within a few seconds, he was over fifty miles from the city and exiting the strange tunnel of whirling lights. He emerged into an open plain, untouched since the defeat of the Pinnacle King. There, in the center of a destroyed village, lay the pieces of the adamantite block from the Ruined City.

  After he’d left his dinner with Katherine, Morgan had made a few trips back and forth, collecting all the pieces and hauling them here. It was an extremely valuable metal, though he planned on leaving it with Katherine once he left. She’d told him about the Kingdom’s financial troubles, and seeing as she’d refused to marry because of her feelings for him, the least he could do was leave her with something to help out.

  That wasn’t the only reason he’d brought the metal back, though. Adamantite was extremely dense, and in place of Gold’s usual training chain, this metal would do. Floating down to the ground, Morgan grabbed a piece of metal. Shaping it with his massive Strength wasn’t too difficult, and before long, he had a crude sash that he slung over a shoulder.

  The weight was substantial, but not so much that he couldn’t move. Another crude sash increased that weight by more than double. Morgan could already feel the strain, which meant that he now had a good amount of weight to begin his training. He wouldn’t be able to get in nearly as much as he would with Gold, but even a little training was better than none.

  Two hours later, when the sky had lightened and the sun was clearly visible, Morgan finally stopped. Sweat-drenched and panting, he removed the two heavy weights, dropping them carelessly to the ground. They hit with a muffled crash, sinking in several inches before stopping. Morgan stretched, groaning at the soreness in his muscles. Pulling up his status, he was glad to see that the training had yielded some results.

  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 - 693

  Agility - 1,041

  Constitution - 822

  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 Strength and Agility had both gone up by 1, and his Constitution by 2. He had been pushing hard for a while, though he was surprised to see such a massive growth from a single attribute. It heralded that his time at rank 65 was over and that he’d only start to see improvements once more at rank 66.

  He had a stash of cores back in the palace, so he’d increase his rank later today. Still, he’d have to travel to a powerful Beast Zone to replenish his supply soon. Increasing in rank was very expensive by this point, which meant the cores of many powerful beasts went into each one. He’d found a proper Beast Zone already, but that would have to wait. Right now, he needed to head back to the palace, bathe, and then go make his offer to the bratty girl. He could only hope that she’d take him up on his offer without any fuss.

  “I’m sorry for the way I acted yesterday. It was due to personal reasons, and I had no right to take it out on you.”

  Morgan was surprised. When he’d gone to knock on Grace’s door, he’d expected to be greeted by Shul. He’d been assuming that both of them would have to convince her that training with him was in her best interest. What he hadn’t expected was to find the girl in question already dressed and ready with an apology.

  He could tell she meant it as well. His Aura Sense gave him sight over more than just auras. By this point, weeding out something like a lie was child’s play, especially when the person in question practically was one. He didn’t know how she knew he’d be coming, but he suspected that someone had tipped her off.

  “Very well,” Morgan replied. “I will train you, but let me make one thing very clear. This is a trial. If you act rashly, refuse to listen, or purposefully do something stupid, I will end our training until a time when I believe you are ready. You will listen to everything I say. No matter what you think or how smart you believe you are, I am smarter. I don’t say this to be boastful. I am merely stating a fact. So long as you agree to these terms, I will agree to train you.”

  Grace looked up at him, her blue eyes practically shining in relief, and a wide smile spread across her face.

  “Yes, I agree to all of that,” she said eagerly.

  Morgan wondered if he should burst her bubble right now but decided that she’d have plenty of time to discover for herself just how grueling training could be.

  “Good, then brace yourself. This is going to be unpleasant,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

  Normally, he’d just use his Gravity Tear right away, but seeing as Grace was quite young and very unused to his method of travel, he actually gave her a few seconds. The world warped around him as he used a short-range teleport, bringing them down to the courtyard below. He didn’t even give her a second to recover before jumping again, this time using the longer-range one and entering the strange tunnel he used to travel.

  They were out of it in under three seconds, but by the time they landed back on their feet, they were some ten miles from the city limits, in an area Morgan had prepared before coming to get her.

  Grace, upon landing, immediately dropped to her knees and emptied the contents of her stomach. Morgan turned away to give her some privacy, sweeping his eyes over the area he’d chosen. It was mostly flat, with a few small hills and dips. All in all, it was a perfect place to train. The retching continued for the next couple of minutes, making Morgan think that he may have overdone it a bit with the double jump.

  However, if Grace was going to train with him, it was a method of travel she would need to become used to. The sooner she was able to do it without throwing up, the better.

  “That was, ugh, horrible,” Grace groaned as she wobbled up to him, swiping a hand across the back of her mouth.

  “In the future, I don’t recommend eating until after we’ve finished the morning’s training,” Morgan replied, holding a canteen out to her.

  The girl took it with a nod
of thanks, taking a small sip. She swished the water around her mouth before spitting, then repeated the action. On her third attempt, Morgan handed her a mint leaf. When Grace raised an eyebrow, Morgan shrugged.

  “I like to be prepared.”

  Grace took the leaf gratefully, crushing it between her fingers and proceeding to rub it on her teeth and tongue. Another rinse and the girl seemed to be back to herself.

  “So, what are we doing?” she asked, handing the canteen back to him.

  “You are going to run,” Morgan replied, pointing to the path he’d marked out.

  “Run?” Grace asked.

  “Did I stutter?” Morgan said.

  “Um, how far?”

  “Until I tell you to stop.”

  Grace gave him a dubious look before turning to the path and beginning to jog. Morgan let out a soft sigh, then sucked in a deep breath.

  “I said run! Now move!”

  Grace let out a terrified squeak, jumping a few inches into the air before taking off at a dead sprint. Morgan disliked having to use Gold’s training methods, but they had been effective. If he had to yell and use insults, he would do so. He watched Grace circle the area he’d marked and come running back, feeling an odd sense of nostalgia and déjà vu.

  He could almost imagine that this was a stone building, somehow larger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. It was as though he were looking into the past, to a boy and girl running while their instructor barked insults and dire threats. Despite himself, Morgan could feel a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He was forced to suppress that feeling, as Grace came barreling towards him, her form sloppy and her breathing ragged.

  This wasn’t a day for corrections, though. It was just a day to exhaust her, so she’d be more perceptive to his teachings come tomorrow. He held up a hand to stop her as she jogged up to him, and Grace gratefully came to a halt, leaning over and wheezing.