Starbreak (Rise to Omniscience Book 2)

by Aaron Oster

  She stopped her pacing and her grin grew even wider.

  “You said that when you ranked up, you got a prompt asking you where you would like to distribute your attributes. Correct?”

  Morgan nodded.

  “Then it stands to reason that you should be able to apply energy toward your ability if you focus on it.”

  Morgan’s eyebrows shot up and he quickly dug into his pocket to retrieve a core. It was from a razor-shell tortoise and had a little over 10,000 energy. He looked up at Sarah, who nodded eagerly, and motioned for him to get on with it. Doing as Sarah had suggested, Morgan focused on absorbing the energy, but he visualized putting the energy towards advancing his ability, rather than ranking up. To his complete and utter shock, a screen actually popped up before his eyes, giving him the option to do so.

  Evolved Supermage: Rank - 20 - 55/3,800,000

  Would you like to apply 10,022 energy from razor-shell tortoise core towards your ability?

  Yes/No

  Morgan immediately hit yes, watching as the energy transferred to his ability, bringing him that much closer to his next evolution. He felt the core crumble in his hand, and only then remembered where he was sitting. Closing the screen, he looked down to see a small leather square sitting on his lap. He looked up, and judging by Sarah’s smug look, he knew she’d thought ahead where he hadn’t.

  Normally it would annoy him, but right now he was too excited.

  “You were right!” he said, a wide grin spreading across his face. “The cost is astronomical! Ten times more than it was when I moved to rank 19, but now I know how to advance my ability!”

  Sarah’s smug look grew, if at all possible, even smugger. She nodded in a very self-satisfied way and stuck her hand out.

  “Give me a core. I wanna try.”

  Morgan was only too glad to comply, pulling a core from his pocket and handing it over. A look of concentration overtook her face as she focused in on the core. She stood there for a good five minutes without any change, before letting out an explosive string of curses and tossed the core back to him.

  “Of course it wouldn’t be that easy!” she exclaimed, letting out another long and very explicit string of cursing that made even Morgan quirk an eyebrow.

  “You alright?” he asked, trying to hide a grin and failing miserably.

  “No! I’m not, Morgan!” she yelled, plopping back down in her seat and looking quite sullen. “Here I was, thinking that I might be able to find a way to evolve, and it just refuses to work!”

  She glared at him, as though it were his fault that it wouldn’t work for her, when it had for him.

  “Don’t blame me,” Morgan said. “If it were that easy to evolve, don’t you think everyone would know how to do it by now?”

  Sarah thought about it and eventually nodded.

  “I only evolved by accident,” Morgan continued. “I don’t even know how it happened, or if this was just part of the modifications done to me by whoever messed with my brain.”

  Sarah nodded again, and the two of them fell into a contemplative silence, as they both bent their minds towards figuring out what the issue could be.

  “What were Dabu’s exact words regarding the evolution of mages and supers?” Sarah finally asked.

  “He said that everyone’s path to evolution was different. That it was the main reason why no one even knows about it because the only people who evolved have done so by accident.”

  Sarah nodded slowly, thinking over the events leading up to Morgan’s evolution, and a crazy idea began to take shape in her mind.

  “If we went into another Beast Zone right now, how much rest will we need before tonight’s attack?” she asked, sitting up again and feeling her heart rate increase at the sheer stupidity of what she was about to suggest.

  Morgan checked the clock against the far wall, surprised that it was still relatively early.

  “It’s not even eleven yet.” He shrugged. “I’d say that we’d probably only need about three hours rest, so it’s doable. Why? Did you want to get in a little extra training?” Morgan asked, the usual battle hungry grin coming to his face.

  “Something like that,” Sarah said, getting up and heading to change. “I want you to try and find a key to an advanced zone. I know that there should be a few in the pouch, and there might be one that’s on our level.”

  Morgan’s eyebrows shot up for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

  “Who are you and what have you done with Sarah?” he asked.

  Normally he was the crazy one.

  Sarah flashed him a grin, but left his question unanswered.

  Morgan just shook his head, but headed to the room while Sarah headed to change.

  “Oh, one last thing,” Sarah called out, getting his attention before he went into the room.

  “Try and see if you can find a healer for when we get back. I have a feeling we might need one!”

  ***

  Morgan looked around at their new surroundings, getting a strange foreboding feeling. The landscape before them was blackened and charred, and he could see a smoking volcano in the distance. He looked over at Sarah and saw the same look of unease he felt reflected on her face.

  He’d managed to find a rank 22 advanced beast zone key. It hadn’t been hard to find, as all advanced zone keys were black, instead of silver, and marked with red numbers. He’d contacted Katherine and told her of their intentions, asking her to send a healer to wait for them. She’d tried to talk him out of it, but Sarah had insisted and Morgan wasn’t about to let her go in alone. After a few minutes of argument, Katherine had finally relented, sending for a healer she trusted.

  She’d wanted to come with, but was otherwise occupied. She did scold them both for being so reckless and putting the whole plan at risk. After she’d cut the connection, Morgan had given Sarah an odd look. This was very unlike her. She was normally the one who preached caution, and here she was, throwing herself into an extremely dangerous situation without explaining why.

  “I know that I’m not supposed to be the voice of reason, but I don’t think this is a good idea,” Morgan said, feeling the somehow oppressive feeling of this zone bearing down on him.

  This place was filled with beasts that they could technically defeat, but they would all be either intermediate or advanced beasts. This meant that every single fight would be extremely difficult, if not outright deadly.

  Sarah grimaced, but just shook her head.

  “This is necessary. Just trust me on that.”

  Morgan hesitantly nodded.

  She’d gone along with almost all of his insane ideas, so he would support her in this, no matter how much his instincts screamed for him to leave.

  “There’s a healer waiting for us, correct?” she asked, and Morgan noticed a slight tremor in her voice.

  Morgan nodded. He’d seen her come in right as he was stepping through the portal.

  “Good,” she said, blowing out a breath. “Good.” She said this as though giving herself courage for what they were about to do.

  “Alight,” she said, voice just a bit too loud for Morgan’s comfort. “Let’s go.”

  Morgan nodded, immediately using his storm blade and forming a lance of whirling purple and gold. Sarah jumped at the sudden sound of rushing air and glared at him before turning her attention forward again.

  She’s really on edge, Morgan thought, walking just behind and to the right of her. His eyes started scanning their surroundings for any sign of movement. The crunching sound of the porous stone underfoot was the only sound they made as they waded deeper into the advanced zone.

  Every time Morgan thought he saw something, his heart would jump into his throat. After the fifth time this happened, he forced himself to take a few deep breaths.

  He was too much on edge. His muscles were tensed and his breathing irregular. He had to relax, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to fight at peak performance when they did eventually run into something.


  Just as he’d managed to get his heart rate down, Sarah abruptly halted, forcing Morgan to stop as well.

  “What is it?” he asked, but as he looked past her, it became glaringly obvious as to why she’d stopped.

  A massive lumbering creature crested the rise ahead of them, and Morgan felt his recently slowed heart rate spike in fear. Every instinct in his body screamed at him all at once.

  This was not a beast they should be fighting. They should just open the portal right now and leave.

  Then the beast let out a roar that shook them both down to their very cores and charged.

  42

  “Morgan,” Sarah said, her voice carrying an edge of panic. “What are we looking at?” She was already conjuring two ice golems and sent them to hold off the monster.

  The beast was huge and had a vaguely bearlike face, but that was about the only similarity it had to one. In fact, the dire-flame bear they’d fought back in the North Kingdom was just a cuddly puppy compared to this monstrosity.

  It was massive, quite a bit larger than the aforementioned bear. Standing around fourteen feet at the shoulder and at over twenty feet long, the beast was extremely intimidating. Its fur was colored a deep black, streaked through with a swirling pattern of red and orange. Its body was a mix of ape and wolf, and it ran forward with the gait of an ape.

  Its front paws were a pair of massive fists, and Morgan could spot the glint of metallic claws every time it lifted them. The rear wolf’s paws didn’t look any less terrifying. Pitch black, with lines of red swirling through in a flame-like pattern, they were tipped with a gleaming pair of red claws that glowed with an eerie light. As it drew nearer, he could begin to see the rippling muscle that covered it from head to toe.

  The beast had the massive biceps and pectoral muscles of an ape, and he could see them rippling and flexing with each step. It roared again as the ice golems crashed into it, slowing it for only a moment. Then it swung out with a glowing red fist, shattering both constructs into a million tiny fragments. Then it turned its gleaming blue eyes on them, its shortened bear-ape muzzle bunching up in a snarl.

  “Morgan! Stop admiring the damn thing and tell me what we’re fighting!”

  Morgan was snapped out of his stupor as Sarah shouted at him, sending another pair of ice golems at the beast.

  “Right. Sorry,” he sheepishly said, using aura sense on the beast.

  Name: Chimera-flame ape

  Rank - 21

  Ability type - Super

  A red light flared around the beast as he examined it, and judging by its density, as well as the monster’s appearance, Morgan had no doubt in his mind that they were facing an advanced beast.

  And one that was a full rank above him, and two above Sarah.

  Morgan answered Sarah’s question as the ape tore through the newest set of golems and continued on towards them.

  “So, you got a plan?” Morgan asked. This was her idea, after all.

  “Yes,” Sarah answered, lifting her arms and grimacing for a moment.

  Morgan was about to ask what she was doing when a massive block of ice began rapidly forming the air. His eyes widened as he realized she was using her most powerful skill right at the start.

  Likely trying to end the fight quickly, he thought, watching the iceberg growing larger and larger by the second. He just hoped it would be enough.

  Morgan saw the ape’s eyes flick upward, then it stopped its charge. It rose on its hind legs, letting out a massive bellow and pounded its chest in challenge, sending huge shock waves over the open area between them.

  Its entire body began glowing red, then it crashed back on all fours and ran towards them, now twice as fast as before.

  “Shit!” Sarah yelled, seeing that she wouldn’t have her attack ready in time.

  “I’ll try and buy you a few seconds!” Morgan yelled, flashing past her and activating advanced flight.

  As he drew near the ape, he simultaneously used gravity impact and explosive movement. Time slowed to a crawl, and he lunged for the ape’s neck with his lance, charging it with lightning as he closed the distance. Purple and gold electricity flared across his lance just before impact, and Morgan was sure the attack would do some significant damage.

  Advanced beast or not, his attack would probably be strong enough to kill someone even over rank 29. Probably.

  But his attack didn’t hit its intended target. Morgan’s eyes widened as the ape’s glowing blue orbs suddenly swiveled, locking onto him. Then it shifted its body, not quickly enough to completely avoid the attack, but enough to avoid a fatal blow.

  Morgan’s lightning charged lance punched into the ape’s shoulder, tearing a bloody chunk from its hide and sending lightning coursing through its body. Morgan could already tell that the wound was superficial for a beast this size. He felt his skill timer run out, and just managed to throw his shield up before a massive glowing red fist collided with the side of his head.

  That one punch was enough to completely shatter his shield and send him flying more than a hundred yards through the air. He let out a pained gasp, as he heard a loud crunch when his body slammed into the rocky ground. The sharp stones turned into razors, slicing through his armor, and opening deep gouges in his skin as he bounced and rolled. He grunted in pain as his body finally came to a rest, and he began doing a mental check of his faculties.

  Both his arms and legs still worked, so at least there was that, but his entire body was covered in bruises and lesions. He was fairly certain that a couple of ribs were broken and judging by the blood pumping from his head, he may very well have a skull fracture.

  He winced, getting slowly to his feet and examining the damage that had been done.

  Yup. He looked as bad as he felt.

  His armor was completely shredded, the metal plates being the only part that still looked to be functional. He winced, feeling gingerly at his skull and finding the tender spot where the ape’s fist had connected.

  If I hadn’t thrown my shield up, that one attack would have blown my skull to bits, Morgan thought, as he tore one of the shredded sleeves off and wrapped it tightly around his head. He was still a bit groggy, which meant that he likely had a concussion on top of everything else.

  Sarah was definitely going to need to make this up to him when… Sarah!

  Morgan’s eyes snapped to where his friend was now facing down the towering ape alone, the massive block of ice hovering up in the air between them. Sarah’s face was pale but determined. She screamed something at the ape, likely some expletive about its mother, then brought her arms down, sending the massive iceberg at the towering beast.

  ***

  Sarah watched Morgan’s body go skipping across the ground, in a similar fashion to a stone skipped over a pond and felt her heart seize up. Then she shook herself. Morgan would be fine. He’d survived worse than that, and she had something to finish.

  The ape turned to her then, and reared up again, pounding its glowing fists into its chest. Sarah felt her skill finish charging then and shouted back.

  “Take this, you overgrown ass! It’ll probably improve your looks!”

  Sarah knew that what she’d said made absolutely no sense, but she was so full of adrenaline that she could barely think straight, let alone come up with a proper insult for the towering monster.

  She brought her arms down, sending the massive ice block crashing down on the ape. She watched with a sense of pride as the huge mass of ice and freezing water crashed down on top of the roaring ape, burying it in more than ten tons of the stuff. She sagged slightly as the skill released, and was forced to lock her knees to prevent them from buckling.

  She’d used nearly all her mana on that attack. She just hoped it had been enough to kill it, or at least weaken it enough that Morgan could finish it off.

  She watched the ice block tear a massive furrow through the ground, as momentum drove it forward. She then turned to see what had happened to Morgan and felt a huge sense of
relief as she spotted him on his feet. He looked quite worse for wear, but he was alive.

  She grinned at him, but he didn’t grin back. She watched as his eyes widened and he launched himself in her direction. Sarah activated her shield, blue light flaring around her, even as she turned to face what she knew to be coming. A glowing red fist crashed into her right side, and pain, like she’d never felt before in her life, flared throughout her body.

  She screamed as her shield shattered under the monstrous force of the attack and she felt bones beneath grind and snap. The next moment, her broken body was sailing through the air, barely conscious. This shitty plan better work, was her last coherent thought before she passed out.

  ***

  Morgan, who had a better view of the ape, saw Sarah’s attack hit, but her aim seemed to have been slightly off. Instead of burying the ape under the ice, it hit the ground just a foot away from it. The momentum from the gigantic block, as well as the protruding icicles were enough to cause some damage, but it was not nearly the devastating attack that it should have been.

  Sarah looked over at him and grinned, but he could already see that the ape had worked itself free of the attack and was sprinting towards her, streaming blood from numerous cuts, but still very much alive.

  He launched himself at her, desperately trying to use explosive movement, but it was still on cooldown for the next 5 seconds. He growled in annoyance, feeling his heart leap into his throat as he watched Sarah’s shield flare the second before the ape’s fist connected with the side of her head. He watched in horror as her body was sent flying through the air in a similar manner to his, but she was undoubtedly far more hurt than he had been.

  Her ability didn’t lend itself to soaking up attacks the way his did, so the attack would have done a lot more damage to her much more fragile body. Morgan clenched his teeth, forcing his burning legs to move faster as he launched himself into the air, catching the ape in the side of the head and sending it flying.