by Aaron Oster
The woman blinked, wondering how dense a person could be.
“Are you sure your friend is in the right state of mind to be fighting?” she finally asked.
“She looks fine to me. Just let her fight. She needs to, in order to keep her rank in the class.”
The referee looked back once more at Frush’s lewd display and at the girl’s rigid body; and decided that it wouldn’t be fair if she deprived her of the opportunity to take her revenge.
She knew she would have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn’t kill him, however.
“Very well. We’ll begin the fight right away,” she said, motioning to the two healers on standby to be ready.
“Thanks,” Morgan said, and moved back around the stage so he could have a better view.
He debated wishing Sarah good luck as he passed her, but decided against it. She looked really focused and he didn’t want to ruin her concentration.
The referee walked out into the middle of the stage and raised her arm in the air before dropping it.
“Begin!” she called out, running anxiously to get clear of the stage.
Sarah’s arm shot out in front of her and Morgan watched in awe as no fewer than eight icicle spears formed in the air at once.
“Take this, you sick minded piece of shit!” she screamed and sent all eight spears flying at him.
Frush, who was still in the middle of thrusting his hips, was suddenly impaled in eight different places. The force of all eight spears hitting him at once threw him off his feet and clean off the stage, where he lay writhing and shrieking in pain in a spreading pool of blood.
None of the spears had been lethal. Sarah had made sure of that. Instead, she had carefully placed each of the spears where they would inflict the most damage and pain.
Morgan stared in shock as she darted across the stage, condensing a large ball of water into ice as she did. She came to a stop at the edge of the stage, where the healers were already working on stopping the bleeding.
The referee, who was also crouched over the wounded boy, opened her mouth to give her a warning, when she saw where her attack was aimed.
She deserved this much, at least. She would issue his warning only after she acted.
Frush, who was now whimpering softly as the spears were being removed, suddenly jerked up. His body froze in a half upright position for a few seconds before crashing back down and howling in agony. His voice was pitched quite a bit higher than before and the healers looked up to see Sarah with a smug look on her face.
They didn’t quite understand what had happened until the referee spoke up.
“This is your warning, Sarah. If you attack again, you will be dropped by ten ranks.”
She was smiling while she said this, however, and Sarah bowed respectfully to her.
“My apologies. It won’t happen again.”
It was only once she left that the healers noticed a large ball of ice lying on the ground between their patient’s legs.
28
Morgan stretched, feeling the wonderful relief of having his bruised and battered body fixed by a healer.
“It’s been almost a month, but I still can’t get used to this training!” he heard Sarah complaining as she was healed as well.
“He just makes it harder whenever I rank up. You’re lucky it’s taking you so long, otherwise you’d be getting the same treatment.”
She just stuck out her tongue at him and the two of them headed to the dining room for breakfast.
What she said had been true. Over the last month, Gold had been methodically destroying them on a daily basis. And while he’d managed to rank up twice in both abilities, Sarah still hadn’t reached rank 9.
Apparently, breakthrough ranks required triple the energy of the previous one, so it was taking her a while to get there.
Gold had also begun teaching Morgan how to work on gaining his supermage ability. Apparently, he would have to slowly combine his mana and chi inside of himself, until he’d converted it all into reiki.
It was a slow process, but he already had a small core of reiki in the center of his chest, between his mana sphere and chi-heart.
When he’d asked what would happen when his chi ran out, Gold explained that the process was less than pleasant. Apparently, when he was converting the last five percent, he would begin to feel unimaginable pain. He would only pass out once it was all converted and would remain that way while the reiki took over functioning as his heart.
Gold also explained that he would need to be at rank 8 in both abilities for it to work and once he completed the merging of his mana and chi, he would wake up as a rank 9 supermage.
“Do you think Gold will take us to a new Beast Zone soon? I’m getting tired of killing sheep,” Sarah said, cutting into a very large stack of pancakes.
“Don’t know,” Morgan answered, his mouth full of the fluffy and syrup drenched breakfast treat.
Whoever had invented these should be raised on a pedestal and be crowned King of the world, Morgan thought as he chewed happily on his massive stack of pillowy goodness.
“He’d better! It’s taking me forever to reach the next rank!”
“I don’t know what you’re complaining about. Before we left City Four, you were still rank 6 and it took you three years just to reach it!”
“I know,” she huffed. “Guess I’ve just become spoiled with how easy it’s been to get energy.”
Morgan grunted in reply, too busy with his food to give her his full attention.
Sarah, seeing that she wasn’t going to be able to talk to him until he was done, sighed in resignation and concentrated on her own food.
∞
Morgan reclined back on the plush couch in the living room of house Q87. Their lesson with Gold would be starting soon and he had a feeling that they would indeed be going to a new Beast Zone today.
Gold had been hinting at it for weeks and he’d let slip in their previous lesson that he and Sarah should wear a few extra layers, as they might be going somewhere cold later on.
He didn’t have any clothes for cold weather, as it was still the summer when they’d left the North Kingdom. Since it was warm in the Central Kingdom year round, he hadn’t bothered to buy any, either.
So after eating lunch with Sarah, the two of them paid a visit to their favorite shopkeeper, James; who had been more than happy to supply them with cold weather gear.
Since there wasn’t a high demand for it, they got it at a great price as well. Not that they would have to pay for it, as their scholarship covered all clothing expenses.
Now he had a thick canvas coat lined with wool and threaded with steel mesh, a pair of thick pants of the same material and boots suited for colder climates. He also had a pair of gloves and a warm woolen cap.
Morgan looked over to where his clothes were lying in bags against the wall.
He really hoped they were going today. Just the thought of another Beast Zone was exciting enough; but one that required equipment like this…
Morgan decided to go through his status one last time before Gold arrived, just to check how much further he had to go until his next rank.
Name: Morgan
Super: Rank - 7
Energy to next rank - 534/5,700
Mage: Rank - 7
Energy to next rank - 497/5,700
Super ability - Gravity
Mage ability - Air
CP - 310/310 (Regen - 3.2 per second)
MP - 310/310 (Regen - 3.2 per Second)
Strength - 30
Agility - 36
Constitution - 31
Intelligence - 31
Wisdom - 32
Super skills - Fly, Heavy handed
Mage skills - Wind blade, Tailwind
His agility was still his highest attribute, easily outstripping the others, but he wouldn’t be able to continue this increase for much longer. Once he reached rank 9, it would be slowed down. Not to mention that if the cost to rank
up was tripled between 8 and 9, it would take a whole lot longer to reach each new rank after that.
He next checked his skills to see how they’d improved.
Fly: Manipulate gravity to make yourself lighter and move through the air
Cost - 1 CP per second
Maximum height - 37 Ft
Maximum speed - 20.7 Ft per second
Maximum carry weight - 57 pounds (carrying any more weight will decrease speed by 0.1 feet per second for every additional pound)
Heavy handed: Manipulate gravity to make your blows land harder (currently X2.07)
Cost - 20 CP
Duration - 17 seconds
Wind blade: Manipulate the air around you to create whirling blades sharper than steel
Cost - 40 MP
Duration - Until dismissed
Tailwind: Manipulate the air around you to increase speed (Currently X2.07)
Cost - 20 MP
Duration - 17 seconds
So, his skills were increasing in power and duration. He could now use heavy handed or tailwind pretty much non stop. With his regen and the duration of the skill increasing, he almost felt like he had too much CP and MP for his low cost skills.
Gold had told him that skills evolve over time, and that if a skill is used a certain way, it would eventually offer a change or upgrade.
Maybe when they upgraded or changed, his CP and MP wouldn’t look as enormous as they did now.
He closed his status as he heard Sarah’s door open. She was dressed in her usual combat clothes and had her hair in it’s now customary single braid.
“So, what do you think?” she asked, flopping down next to him. “Will we be going to a new Beast Zone today?”
“We will indeed!”
They both turned as Gold walked into their living room. He was wearing a thick pair of pants, winter boots and had a coat slung over one arm.
“Really?” Morgan asked, shooting to his feet in excitement.
“Yes, really. Before you rush off to change into warmer clothing, I have a few things to tell you about this particular Beast Zone.”
Morgan, who was already pulling the winter clothes from the bags, stopped what he was doing and went back to sit on the couch.
“The place we’re going is a Beast Zone ranked from 6 to 31,” Gold began, then held up a hand to forestall any questions. “I will explain and if you have any questions at the end, I will do my best to answer them.”
“Yeah, right,” Sarah muttered under her breath.
“This Beast Zone is very special, as it is only one of two under the academy’s control that is staged. What this means, is that this Zone has several stages, with a different Patriarch or Matriarch in charge of each. Each stage will be more difficult than the last, with more dangerous and higher ranked beasts on each one. These Zones are also unique, in that exiting will be impossible until the end of the stage is reached.”
“We will be going to the first stage which is ranked at 6. We won’t be going here every day as it is a popular Beast Zone and in very high demand, but I will try and get us in at least once a week.”
“How exactly do the stages work?” Sarah asked as soon as he finished with the explanation.
“This Beast Zone is set on an arctic mountain. What that means, is that it will be very cold and have a lot of snow. There are nine stages in this Zone, the first of which is set at the base of the mountain. Once you defeat the Matriarch at the base, you will have the option to move further up or leave. The further up the mountain one goes, the higher ranked the beasts will be.”
“Is it possible to go directly to the top?” Morgan asked, fascinated by all this new information.
“It is possible,” Gold answered with a smile. “Staged Beast Zones are unique in more than one way. While a regular Zone only has one key, a staged Zone had multiple keys, each one leading to a different stage. They are also unique in another way. Once you defeat the matriarch on the final stage, a portal will automatically open, whether you have a key or not. This portal can take you pretty much anywhere, so powerful supers and mages have used it as a form of transportation in the past.” He finished.
“I’ve been curious about something for a while now,” Sarah said. “It doesn’t have to do with this Beast Zone in particular, just something I wanted to ask.”
Gold looked to the clock on the wall.
“We have time for one more question, then you will need to get ready.”
“If Beast Zones are accessible, why does it take people so long to reach the max rank of 50? I know that the energy from a rank 1 beast isn’t much, but the energy from a rank 29 beast should be plenty.”
“The answer is quite simple, really. Aside from the fact that high ranked Beast Zones are rare and that most people don’t even have access to any Zones at all; once you reach rank 19, you will no longer be able to absorb energy from beasts below your rank. So even if someone reaches rank 29 in a decade or so, they will be very hard pressed to find beasts of a higher rank.
“The South and East Kingdoms each control a very high ranked Beast Zone, but they charge an exorbitant fee for any wishing to enter. They do have high ranked cores for sale as well, but they charge even more for those than entry to the Zone.”
“What’s the highest rank Beast Zone you’ve been in?” Morgan asked, as the two of them stood up from the couch.
“The academy has one rank 37 Beast Zone. I’ve been to the Zone in the South Kingdom once, but that was many years ago.”
He smiled ruefully as Morgan pulled the warm clothes from the bags on the floor.
“That was a rank 39 to 49 staged Beast Zone. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I nearly died on the first stage and was forced to call for help so I could leave. I didn’t even get the chance to see the stage Patriarch, as the men who came to save me stopped me from entering the final room until they killed it.”
“Seriously?” Sarah asked. “How much does it cost to get in?”
“Why?” Gold asked with a puzzled expression. “It’s not like you would survive a place like that.”
“No, but if I can afford to send you there, maybe the beasts will finish you off for us,” she replied with a wicked grin.
29
The cold was the first thing that hit Morgan as he exited the portal. An icy blast of wind tore straight through his layers of clothing and chilled him to the bone. He shivered lightly as he took in the new landscape.
He was standing in the middle of a wide, open area. Snow blew across the area and collected in huge drifts, making visibility difficult at any distance.
He could see the shadow of a mountain some way off and figured that was where the Matriarch of this stage was located.
He turned as he heard the sound of crunching snow, and saw Sarah and Gold emerging from the tear in space.
“It’s freezing!” was the first thing she said as she exited the portal, followed by, “what the hell, Gold!”
“I did warn you,” was his only response. “Now come on, time is wasting and we’ve got a long ways to go before we can fight the Matriarch.”
With Sarah grumbling under her breath, they started walking towards the distant mountain, feet crunching through the hard packed snow underfoot.
“What kind of beast will we run into on this stage?” Morgan asked, stomping his feet to keep the blood flowing through his limbs.
“There’s more than one type in this Zone,” Gold answered in a chipper tone. “The Zone we normally go to is meant for beginners. So there is only one type of beast. Here, you’ll run into loads of them, though there are only three different types on this stage.”
“I think I see something up ahead!” Sarah called out.
Shading his eyes, Morgan could just make out something moving though the large snow drifts.
If all the beasts blended into the landscape, it would be a lot more difficult to fight them. He really hoped that this was the only one.
As they made
it closer, he could begin to distinguish some type of four legged creature with white fur and a big fluffy tail.
Maybe a fox?
There was a loud growl and Morgan turned to see three of the creatures coming up behind him.
“There are more behind us!” he called out, eyeing the three beasts.
They weren’t that big, maybe coming up to his knees, but they looked quite dangerous. They looked like foxes, but their fur was white instead of the usual red and brown. They had large glittering green eyes, long snouts and mouths full of razor sharp teeth.
Morgan took up a fighting stance and activated his mage shield.
He needed to be careful. He hadn’t heard anything from Sarah, and Gold wouldn’t intervene unless it looked like he would die.
These beasts looked fast, so his mage skills would likely be more useful here. He also had to keep in mind that they could be up to rank 6, so he would need to be very careful.
He tensed as one of the foxes let out a bark and launched itself at him. It didn’t escape his notice however, that as soon as it leapt, the other two moved to flank him.
They weren’t just stronger and faster than the sheep, they were smarter as well.
Morgan used wind blade twice in a row, hearing the familiar rush of air, as two lances formed on his arms. He then used tailwind and nimbly dodged to the side, avoiding the lunging beast and plunging a wind blade into one of the foxes that was trying to flank him.
He was surprised when the lance of air didn’t immediately kill the fox. He felt actual resistance for a second or two, before the blade sunk in and killed the beast.
He jumped back, narrowly avoiding a mouth full of sharp teeth, then rolled to the side to avoid a set of wicked looking claws that sprouted from the other.
He came to his feet, quickly assessing his situation.
He could vaguely make out a humanoid shape off to his right; probably Sarah fighting some foxes of her own. One fox was down, but killing it hadn’t been as easy as he’d thought it would be. Their fur was tough, so maybe they had some sort of resistance to mage abilities.