by Aaron Oster
Morgan thought that over while he finished eating. It was obvious that Sarah was trying to get him out by using one of his greatest weaknesses, his love of fighting. Then again, he didn’t really care. Exploring on his own would give him a good opportunity to gather more energy and rank up.
“Alright,” he said, finishing his meal and rising to his feet. “I’ll be back in an hour. Make sure you keep the fire going and have a hot bath ready for me when I get back.”
“I’m not your damn maid!” Sarah exclaimed as he walked over to the far ice wall.
“Then don’t,” Morgan said with a shrug.
He crouched and leaped up, catching the top of the ice wall with his fingertips. Then, in one smooth motion, he pulled himself up and over the wall. He landed gracefully on the other side and waved at her one last time before turning and jogging further down the tunnel.
Sarah glared at his retreating back, but when he didn’t turn around, she sighed and began stripping out of her remaining clothes. It was only once she’d completely undressed that she noticed that Morgan had forgotten both his coat and his armor.
Shaking her head at her friend’s carelessness, she quickly padded over to the shallow impression and sank in with a sigh of contentment. The water rose up around her as she sat and she could feel her tense muscles relaxing as steam rose around her. She undid her braid, letting her long red hair run free. She leaned back, placing her head on the lip of the impression and closing her eyes.
Morgan could take care of himself. Right now, she had more important things to focus on.
***
Morgan jogged swiftly down the tunnel, feeling the air growing cooler by the second as he approached the exit. He silently berated himself for forgetting his coat in his excitement, but decided against going back, as Sarah would likely be angry if he did- not that he’d understand why.
He shook his head as he neared the exit to clear his wandering mind.
Who cared why she acted so odd sometimes? Right now, he had a new stage to explore!
He came to the end of the tunnel and emerged onto another snowy landscape, but this one was vastly different than the last two. The ground was still set in an upward slope, but the temperature was a lot milder. That was not to say it wasn’t cold, but the massive wooded forest sprawling before him was likely the reason.
The abundance of trees would shelter him from the worst of the wind, making it effectively twenty degrees warmer. Morgan let his eyes flick around the wooded area, trying to catch any movement that would indicate life. After a moment, he relaxed and began jogging forward once more. He made sure to tear chunks out of the tree bark as he ran, to make sure he could find his way back.
He stumbled as another memory struck him.
“Always leave a visible trail. This way, you don’t get lost; and if you’re injured, it will be a visible sign to anyone who comes looking for you.”
He stopped, clutching at his head as the memory faded. The voice was vaguely recognizable, but he still couldn’t place it. Perhaps it belonged to the mysterious woman he’d seen in his first memory.
A light crunching sound brought him to full alert and he quickly turned in the direction of the noise.
“Oh crap. That’s not good,” he said aloud to himself, as three ice-bristle wolves padded out from behind the cover of the trees.
They were huge, every bit as large as the one that had nearly killed him all those months ago, back in the academy. Morgan could feel his heart begin to race as they padded towards him, blue eyes seeming to glow in the fading light. He was taking a step back when one of them suddenly pounced right at him without any warning, muzzle bunched up in a snarl.
Morgan, who remembered his last fight with these beasts well, was a bit surprised at how slowly it seemed to move. The last time he’d fought one, he could barely keep up, even with his tailwind skill active.
It hit him as he moved neatly out of the way, avoiding the attack altogether.
These beasts were likely rank 9, which meant that they were a full two ranks under him. He had nothing to be afraid of.
He let out a laugh, then dodged back from another wolf and rolled to the side to avoid a third.
Now, what would be the best way to kill them all? he mused, as he casually moved aside from each one. A wild grin stretched from ear to ear as he decided on his course of action. It was kind of overkill, but he owed these bastards for what their buddy had done to him last time.
“You’re all about to experience some nasty weather!” Morgan said, practically cackling with glee. He crouched, then launched himself a good ten feet into the air, simultaneously activating his most powerful skill, gravity storm, as he did.
He felt the skill take effect, leaving him hanging up in the air as purple lightning crackled over his arms. Looking down, he could see that the three wolves had conveniently crowded together, all looking up at him with snarls of rage. Their fur was glowing a bright blue and standing on end, just like the last one he’d fought.”
“Say goodnight!” he yelled.
Then the massive black funnel cloud slammed down on them. His arms shot out and the purple lightning arched into the gravity storm. He floated back down to the ground and watched in satisfaction as his skill tore the wolves, as well as a thirty-foot chunk of forest, to pieces.
He waited for the storm to wear off, a gigantic, shit-eating grin plastered across his face.
He’d likely have to run once the skill had run out, as every beast on the stage had probably seen it, but it had definitely been worth it.
The skill ran out and the storm dissipated, leaving a thirty-foot patch of clear ground in its wake. Walking forward, he could make out the charred and crushed remains of the three wolves.
Yup. Definitely worth it!
He tore their cores free and examined each, noting that they were all rank 10, not 9 as he’d originally thought. He quickly added up the energy they provided and came up with around 6,200 energy. He quickly absorbed the energy and examined his status, discovering that he had roughly 3,000 energy until his next rank.
“What the hell?” he said with a shrug, then dug out the azure-crystal wyvern core and absorbed 4,000 energy, leaving the core with 52,876/68,376.
He shuddered lightly as the rank up took effect and he felt himself grow stronger. He waited for a few seconds for more memories to invade his mind, but thankfully, nothing happened.
It would be bad to be incapacitated now, when he was out here alone.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he tucked the core away and opened his status.
Name: Morgan
Supermage: Rank - 12
Energy to next rank - 956/24,000
Ability - Divine Gravity & Air
RP - 680/680 (Regen - 6.7 per second)
Strength - 63
Agility - 76
Constitution - 67
Intelligence - 68
Wisdom - 67
Skills - Enhanced flight, Heavy impact, Gale force, Condensed wind blade
Traits - Gravity field, Recovery
Extra - Gravity storm
He decided to check his skills next to see if the rank up had lowered any of his skill costs.
Enhanced flight - Manipulate gravity and air to reduce your weight and move quickly through the air.
Cost - 9 RP per second
Max. height - 60 Ft
Max. speed - 40 Ft per second
Max. carry weight - 200 pounds (Adding any more weight will reduce speed by 1 foot per second for each additional pound).
Heavy impact - Manipulate gravity and air to make your blows land significantly harder (Currently X2.25).
Cost - 12.5 RP per second
Condensed wind blade - Manipulate gravity and air to create a dense whirling blade in the shape of your choice. The type of weapon you create will determine additional effects.
Piercing weapon - Double damage is dealt to mages or beasts with mage abilities.
Slashing weapon - Doubl
e damage is dealt to supers or beasts with super abilities.
Cost - 325 RP
Duration - Until dismissed
Gale force - Manipulate gravity and air to significantly increase your speed (Currently X2.25).
Cost - 12.5 RP per second
That was great. While the power of his skills hadn’t increased, the cost had gone down by a significant amount. Next he checked up on his traits.
Traits:
Gravity field - Your body is surrounded by a dense field of gravity, making all attacks, both physical and magical, 10% less damaging.
Recovery - The spirits of the air have blessed you with the power of healing. If you can survive for 24 hours after being wounded, no matter the injury, your body will be completely healed.
He sighed. No changes there, though he’d really been hoping that the timer on his recovery trait would have been shortened. Oh well.
Next, he checked up on his extra skill.
Extra:
Gravity storm - Create a storm of intense gravity, damaging winds and lightning in a targeted area.
Cost - 600 RP
AOE - 30 Ft
Duration - 30 seconds
Cooldown - 8 hours
No changes there either.
Morgan closed his status and examined his surroundings sheepishly. It hadn’t been very smart to start checking his status after the attack he’d just used. He looked up at the sky and judged it to be night already, though the absence of true darkness still unnerved him a bit.
He turned his back on the bare patch of earth his skill had left, and made a mad dash back the way he’d come.
He only hoped that nothing would follow.
23
Arnold stepped out of the portal and into a half-destroyed building, in what was now the main battleground of the war between the North and Central Kingdoms.
Good to be back, he thought sarcastically as the portal slammed shut behind him, effectively cutting off his only escape route.
Katherine had given him forty-eight hours to get the correct key, after which she’d threatened severe bodily harm. It was always fun working for an insanely powerful psychopath.
He quickly scanned his surroundings, noting that he’d come out in an area that seemed to be abandoned. Stepping through a gap in the wall, he emerged out into a destroyed plaza. A massive destroyed fountain occupied the center, and he could see the bodies of several North Kingdom soldiers lying on the border of the square. The bodies were rotting and the stench alone was enough to make him gag.
Katherine really had a sick sense of humor dropping him here.
His eyes roamed around the rubble-strewn plaza, noting the large brown spot where Morgan had stabbed Grub and left him to die. Oddly enough, the body of the other boy was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe Grub had come back for it before fleeing.
He started down one of the nearby alleyways, weaving in between half-demolished buildings and avoiding rotting corpses.
This place really was a mess.
He stopped for a moment, as the sound of distant fighting reached his ears.
Likely another battle in this ridiculous war, he thought to himself.
He continued on, heading deeper into the academy grounds, staying low and weaving in between more half-destroyed buildings.
As he wove his way deeper in, he began seeing small groups of soldiers either running to a distant skirmish or fighting in small groups in the narrow streets. He was forced to stop whenever a clash like this occurred and watch as one group killed off the other.
The battles were short and brutal, with neither side escaping uninjured. Arnold was a hardened veteran and had killed thousands in his lifetime, but even he had to suppress a shudder at some of the injuries inflicted by these skirmishes.
After nearly an hour of hiding and running between different sources of cover, he finally made it to the Beast Zone commission office, or what was left of it, at least.
The building had a massive chunk missing out of one side and the roof had partially caved in on another. Small holes riddled the walls and he could spot more than a few dead bodies buried in the rubble.
They really were all over the place here, he thought as he entered the building.
He quickly made his way to the back room and found that it was, thankfully, mostly intact. He quickly began his search, rifling through drawers, breaking through hidden compartments, and even tearing up the flooring.
He found the places where the keys had been kept, but every single one of them was empty. Arnold growled under his breath and kicked out at one of the desks, sending it crashing into the far wall.
If he couldn’t find that damn key, Katherine would have his head.
“My, my. Aren’t we in a bad mood today?”
Arnold whirled around at the sound of that voice and felt his stomach drop out from under him.
Just a few extra toppings on the shit sandwich that was becoming his life.
“I have to say that I’m surprised to see you here. After all, you’re the one who started this all,” Gold said, leaning against the doorframe and giving him a bright smile.
***
Morgan stamped out the fire as he and Sarah prepared to take on the third stage of the zone. He’d had a pretty good night of sleep last night, as had Sarah, though she’d seemed to be upset when he’d told her that they wouldn’t need to huddle together for warmth.
“You about ready to go?” he asked, pulling the magesteel gloves over his hands and cinching his coat shut.
“Yeah, just give me a minute to finish,” she replied, going back to braiding her hair.
She’d left it loose after her bath the previous evening and for some reason was only putting back into a braid now. He’d gotten to take a bath once he’d come back and it had been extremely enjoyable, though Sarah had insisted on leaving until he was done.
He knew that she didn’t like getting undressed in front of him, but he really didn’t care one way or the other, so he found it strange that she had.
Maybe he should stop trying to figure her out and just accept that that was the way she was.
“I’m ready now,” she said, tossing her braid over her shoulder and tucking their spatial bag inside her armor, before closing up her coat.
“Great. Let’s go then!” Morgan excitedly said, kicking out at the ice wall and shattering it into a thousand tiny pieces.
He’d already briefed her on what the third stage looked like and the kind of beasts they’d most likely be facing. She’d been a bit annoyed when he’d told her about reaching rank 12, but she seemed to get annoyed at most everything he did, so that wasn’t out of character for her.
“What other types of beasts do you think we’ll have to face?” Sarah asked as they emerged from the tunnel.
“No idea, but I bet it’ll be fun!” he replied with a grin. “Now come on, we’re burning daylight! If we move fast enough, we might even be able to clear the fourth stage today.”
He picked up the pace and began jogging through the calf-high snow, making Sarah cry out in protest.
“I can’t run in this!” she exclaimed, forcing Morgan to stop and turn back around.
“Do you want me to carry you?” he asked, half expecting an angry retort.
“Yes,” she replied with a smug grin. “Now bend down so you can carry me like a proper Lady should be carried.”
Morgan just shrugged to himself. He had offered, after all.
As soon as she was settled in behind him, he took off at a jog once more. Feeling Sarah’s arms tighten around him, he couldn’t help but remember their first day at the academy when he’d been forced to carry her so they would make it in time for orientation.
He’d only been running for about five minutes when he spotted a pack of ice-bristle wolves.
“Looks like we’ve got company,” Morgan said, dropping Sarah to the ground and taking up a fighting stance.
The four wolves growled in unison, then ran at
them, teeth bared in hatred.
What’s with these things? Morgan wondered as he used wind blade and ran at them.
A barrage of ice spears flew past him, taking one of the wolves down and crippling a second. The other two swerved out of the way just in time, but their change in direction slowed their momentum. Morgan crashed into one, burying his wind blade into its skull and killing it instantly. He spun in place, as he sensed the other coming up behind him.
Before the wolf could pounce, however, a ball of ice slammed into its side, cracking ribs and sending it to the ground with a pained yelp. Morgan’s blade put it out of its misery.
“Well, that was much easier than last time,” Sarah said with a grin.
Morgan was a bit surprised as well. He’d taken them down easily enough last night, but he’d used his most powerful skill to do so. He hadn’t been expecting such an easy fight once they went hand to hand.
Or hand to paw, he supposed.
Sarah collected the cores, keeping three and handing him one. She had killed three of them, so it was only fair. Once they’d absorbed the cores, Sarah climbed on his back, and this time Morgan used his flight skill.
The going was much easier after that. They ran into several more packs of the ice-bristle wolves, but none of them really put up much of a challenge. Their first real fight came when they ran into a massive blue and white bear. It was larger than the dire-flame bear had been, with a temper to match, but in the end, the two of them prevailed,
“I think I see a cave up ahead,” Sarah said from her position on his back.
Morgan had spotted it as well and angled towards it.
“Do you think this is where the Arc lives?” he asked, landing on the snow-covered ground.
“Like you always say, only one way to find out,” she answered, flashing him a grin.
