Skyflare (Rise To Omniscience Book 3)

by Aaron Oster

  Skidding to a halt, Morgan stared down in wonder at his now slightly insubstantial body, and he finally understood the nature of his new skill. He could literally absorb the properties of an element and convert it to serve him.

  Dismissing the Storm blade, Morgan crouched, placing his hand into a puddle, and felt a cool soothing sensation overtake him. The jaguar, which had recovered by now, lunged at him, its front claws extending outward and glowing with an ominous red light. Morgan breathed deeply and moved his body an inch to the right, the new power thrumming in his veins urging him to do so.

  The jaguar’s slashing claws missed him by a hair, and Morgan slammed a fist into its side, absorbing the power of the metal once more. The beast was hurled back, skidding along the ground, but was back on its feet in an instant, prompting Morgan to charge once more. As he ran toward the jaguar, he felt a sudden sense of fatigue building in his muscles. He also noted, with some alarm, the rapid rate in which his RP was being depleted. He took another deep breath and his core thrummed, washing away the fatigue so he could continue fighting.

  He grinned, glad that at least one downside of his skill could be addressed. It was as though this particular skill was designed just for him. His reiki, on the other hand, was going at a rate of 160 per second and would double in cost in just three more. He couldn’t afford to let the skill go now, as it wouldn’t be usable for the next hour once he was done.

  The jaguar began turning to him, now sporting a new dent in its metallic hide. It was limping heavily on one leg, and the bleeding in its side had become worse. But it was still alive, and very much capable of killing him.

  Morgan only had a little reiki left now, so he decided to gamble it on an all-out attack. As the jaguar lunged at him, albeit at a greatly reduced pace, Morgan used the last of his RP to use Explosive impact. The timer had re-set while he’d been fighting, and now was his last chance at victory.

  He shot forward as the world slowed to a crawl, his increased body weight slowing him somewhat, and leaving heavy imprints in the soft ground underfoot. But the slight increase in weight didn’t tax him enough to impede his movements. Skidding to a halt under the beast, Morgan brought a heavy fist slamming into the jaguar’s throat, and felt a sense of satisfaction as his blow crumpled the metal beneath.

  He pivoted on his back leg, then slammed another heavy blow into its jaw, completely tearing it off and sending up a spray of crimson blood. Then he stiffened his fingers, and rammed them straight into the cat’s skull, penetrating deep into its brain. The entire attack had taken less than three seconds, and when Morgan tore his arm free, the jaguar fell dead at his feet.

  His reiki abruptly ran out, and Morgan slumped on the ground next to the dead beast as his metallic skin vanished, gasping for air. Since he wasn’t breathing correctly, his core had stopped sending energy to his wounded leg, and the pain was slowly returning. He forced himself to calm his breathing, noting the odd absence of a racing heartbeat to accompany it.

  “Looks like you could have used my help after all.”

  Morgan looked up with a tired smile at an exasperated looking Sarah.

  “Yeah, probably,” he replied, wincing as his leg throbbed in pain.

  Crouching down next to him, Sarah began wrapping his leg in an already prepared bandage.

  “Thanks for having my back earlier, by the way,” he said, leaning back on his arms and breathing deeply once more.

  “I wasn’t about to let some overgrown cat kill you,” she replied, pulling the bandage tight and tying it off. “But it looks like you finally met a beast that you couldn’t just kill in a single blow.”

  “Tell me about it,” Morgan said, lying back on the wet ground and allowing the warm rain to wash over his bare blood streaked chest.

  Sarah rummaged around next to the cat for a few seconds, and emerged with the core.

  “It looks like it was weaker than you, too. Though, it was an Intermediate beast.”

  Morgan nodded. He’d already known as much.

  “How much energy?” he asked as Sarah absorbed the core.

  “Enough to get me halfway to rank 26,” she said with a grin.

  “That’s good,” he replied, feeling the aches in his body slowly fading as his core sent energy through it.

  He didn’t move for the next fifteen minutes, allowing his RP to restore itself, before finally forcing himself back to his feet.

  Without the support of his Nature’s wrath skill, his leg still wouldn’t bear his weight. So he settled for floating instead of walking.

  “I’m not complaining or anything,” Morgan said as he and Sarah set off after their next target. “But I’m pretty sure that you would be a lot more effective in this particular zone than me.”

  Sarah grinned.

  “And it’s about damn time too!”

  21

  Arnold sat with his back to the small fire burning in the center of the shack. Although, calling it a shack was probably a generous way of describing the tiny wooden structure he and Grub had been forced to share over the last couple of weeks. His patience with the whiny brat had been tested to its limits. More than once, he’d been tempted to simply crush the idiot’s skull, just to get a moment of peace. But each time, he’d stopped himself. He was, after all, working for the moron’s family, even if he did suspect that Loquin would be getting rid of him soon enough.

  A sudden gust of wind rattled the small shack, sending the flames in the fire pit dancing out of control.

  “When are we going to leave this hell hole?” Grub complained.

  He was currently huddled under a thin blanket and shivering like a leaf in a storm, not that Arnold blamed him. It was so cold in this part of the North, that even he, a rank 38 super, could feel it. If he had to guess as to the current temperature outside, it was probably at least twenty below zero. With the wind, it felt like fifty below and growing colder by the day.

  He was convinced that the rapid drop in temperature had something to do with what they were guarding. It had only been a bit below freezing when they’d started guarding the entrance to the glacier, but it had taken a significant dip with each passing day. If it continued on for much longer like this, Grub would probably die of exposure, shelter or not.

  It was so cold that their breath didn’t even steam the air and when he breathed, it felt as though ice were coating his lungs. If it felt this uncomfortable for him, he could imagine that Grub probably felt like he was dying.

  “If I knew, don’t you think I would tell you?” Arnold asked, keeping his voice neutral.

  It wouldn’t do to show him that he too was uncomfortable.

  Another gust of wind rocked the small shack, sending white powder through the cracks in the walls, and sliding under the door. Grub cursed loudly, but Arnold only drew his coat around himself a bit tighter. This cold was unnatural, as was the sound the wind made when howling at night. He wasn’t a superstitious man, but he’d been having strange dreams ever since coming to this place.

  The dreams involved a creature that felt so ancient, it had existed since the dawn of time. A monster living in the deepest part of that glacier, and trying to break free. He shivered again at the memory of a pair of glowing amber eyes, and shoved down the sudden spike of fear.

  Dreams are just that, he thought, turning his attention back to the fire. He knew he wasn’t fooling anyone with his bravado, other than himself. That beast down there was as real as the wind howling at their door. And when it broke free, the world wouldn’t know what hit it.

  A sudden banging by the door caused them both to jump and a second later, Loquin stuck her head in, grinning widely at the both of them. She was dressed in a heavy fur overcoat, and her head was wrapped in a sliver and blue scarf. The colors of the South Kingdom, Arnold noted as she came in.

  “You finally here to take us home?” Grub asked sourly as Loquin closed the door behind her.

  “Close,” Loquin said, reaching into her coat and producing a pair of let
ters. “I’m here to take Arnold. You will be staying.”

  “You can’t leave me here!” Grub exclaimed, shooting to his feet and glaring at her.

  Loquin simply ignored his outburst and handed him a letter. Arnold noted the seal on the front, and when Grub saw it and paled, he figured it must be from his father.

  As Grub read through the letter, Loquin handed the other one to Arnold. This one carried the seal of the South Kingdom’s Queen, Beatrice.

  Arnold raised an eyebrow at her, but she just motioned him to open it. Shrugging, he broke the seal and read over the contents, his eyebrows climbing higher with each passing second.

  “Are you serious?” he asked, giving her a skeptical look.

  “Quite,” Loquin replied, already fishing a portal scroll from her coat pocket.

  “Is that bastard seriously going to make me stay here and freeze to death?!” Grub exploded, tearing the letter to pieces.

  “He can’t make you do anything,” Loquin replied with a shrug. “But if you don’t want to be disowned, I suggest you do what he says.”

  A portal opened a moment later and Loquin stepped through. “Remember,” she called to Grub, “if you spot anything, do let me know.”

  The last thing Arnold saw before stepping into the portal was Grub’s rage-filled face. He also didn’t miss the underlying look of fear that it barely managed to mask.

  ***

  “This is the last one,” Morgan said, holding up a glowing core.

  “Yup! Then we can finally get out of this place. I’m sick and tired of being wet all the time,” Sarah complained.

  She had reached rank 29 about five hours before, and had been eager to leave ever since then. Morgan however, still needed a good deal of energy to break through and they hadn’t had a lot of luck locating powerful beasts, even with his ability to track them.

  “Stop complaining,” Morgan said, as he rolled the core between his fingers. “All of those chi-infused adamant spikes will get us a fortune once we reach the capital.”

  “In case you’re forgetting, Morgan,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t need money!”

  “But I do,” he replied.

  Before Sarah could argue back, Morgan absorbed the core. He breathed deeply, feeling his core expand and flood his body as the energy fueled his breakthrough into rank 29. He reveled in the feeling of strength as his muscles rippled and expanded. He felt his bones hardening, his skin toughening, and his mind expanding. His reflexes grew sharper and he grew another two inches, bringing him just a couple of inches short of six feet.

  Sarah had gone through a similar transformation, and though she hadn’t grown in height, her muscle definition had become more apparent. She’d even pulled her shirt up to show off her abdominal muscles, which had become much more defined. Morgan could understand pride in one’s physical appearance when it came to combat readiness, so he hadn’t simply brushed her off as he did when she asked about her hair. That seemed to please her even more than her rank up, and she’d asked him if he would like her to cut her armor so it would expose her stomach.

  That was when he’d stopped complimenting her and told her that she was better off keeping the armor as it was. Mages didn’t have the same physical toughness as supers did, and a beast could easily damage her if she wasn’t careful. Despite his very reasonable and well laid out argument, Sarah had become annoyed with him. He knew what she’d wanted him to say, but he would hurt her feelings a thousand times before he saw her physically hurt.

  As the dark violet light faded from his skin, he heard Sarah whistle in appreciation. Looking down at himself, Morgan couldn’t help but grin as well. Next to Sarah, his extra height was quite apparent. Before, they’d been about the same height. Now however, she had to tilt her chin slightly to meet his gaze. All of his body now rippled with corded muscle and since he wasn’t wearing a shirt, he could clearly see every single one of them. Well, maybe not all, but most of them anyway.

  “Damn, you look good!” Sarah said, tracing her fingertips over his abdomen and chest. “Why can’t I have muscles like these?”

  “Because they wouldn’t fit for your body type,” Morgan replied. “Also, you’re a mage, so a physique built with a heavy amount of muscle wouldn’t do much for you.”

  Sarah pouted at him, but Morgan continued anyway.

  “I also believe that it affects men and women differently. Katherine is a prime example. She was near the maximum, yet she actually appeared to be slightly less muscular than you.”

  “So, you’ve been looking at other women?” Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I have been looking at other women, as it would be impossible not to. But if you mean looking at other women in a romantic way, then no, I have not.”

  “You’re not even any fun to tease,” Sarah said with a sigh.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Forget it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Just look over your status. We have an Arch to kill. We’re almost out of time in here, and you need to test yourself before we head into the capital. You’ll need to be fully aware of what you can do if we’re to sneak into the palace and steal from the Queen.”

  Morgan grinned at the mention of stealing from the Queen, but nodded and opened his status.

  Name: Morgan

  Evolved Supermage: Rank - 29

  Energy to next rank - 8,305/400,000

  Ability Advancement: 1,250,478/3,800,000

  Total Available AP: 0

  Ability - Natural Disaster

  RP - 2,230/2,230 (Regen - 22.5 per second)

  Strength - 210

  Agility - 244

  Constitution - 201

  Intelligence - 223

  Wisdom - 225

  Skills - Perfect flight II, Explosive impact II, Stormforger, Goldfire barrage, Nature’s wrath

  Traits - Gravity field, Recovery, Aura sense (inherited), Aura flare (inherited)

  Extra - Gravity storm (3rd category), Starbreaker (2nd category), Collapsing star

  The first thing Morgan noted was that his attributes had all gotten a boost, but he hadn’t actually gained any points to distribute. He wondered if this was a special exception of breakthrough ranks, or if he’d somehow lost the ability to assign attribute points. Judging by the AP counter still in his status, however, Morgan was pretty sure that it was the former.

  He noted that most of his skills had gotten an upgrade, something which he wasn’t sure would happen. He was quick to open them and view the changes.

  Perfect flight II - Manipulate gravity and air to reduce your weight and move swiftly through the air. You can now reach your maximum speed instantaneously.

  Cost - 20 RP per second

  Max. height - 140 Ft

  Max. speed - 95 Ft per second

  Max. carry weight - 1,000 pounds (Adding any more weight will reduce speed by 25 feet per second for each additional pound).

  Explosive impact II - Manipulate gravity and air to massively increase your speed and power for a short burst (Currently: Agility & Strength X3.05).

  Cost - 185 RP

  Duration - 4 seconds

  Cooldown - 50 seconds

  Stormforger - Manipulate gravity and air to forge solid whirling weapons in the shape of your choice. You can change the shape of your weapon without dismissing it. For an additional cost, you can charge your weapon with electricity.

  Weapon Cost - 550 RP

  Duration - Until dismissed

  Charge cost - 125 RP

  Duration - 3 Strikes

  Goldfire barrage - Manipulate gravity and air to create flames using your reiki. You can now fire multiple attacks at once.

  Cost - 250 RP

  Cooldown - 25 seconds

  Nature’s wrath - Infuse your body with the energy of the world and harness the power of nature from your surroundings. This skill has no time limit, but will cause significant strain on the body. It will also drain reiki in ever-increasing amounts the longer it is used.
>
  Cost - 5 RP per second, cost doubles every five seconds

  Cooldown - 1 hour

  His main skills had all had a marked improvement, aside from Nature’s wrath, but Morgan wasn’t about to complain. The one thing he’d been missing was finally in his grasp- the ability to create non-bladed weapons. He could now brute force his way through almost anything. He would never have to use his bare fists in a fight again, as he would now likely forge something over his hands to increase the power of his strikes.

  Not to mention that he could now deliver three lightning attacks with a single charge. He’d been having some doubts about breaking through rather than focusing on advancing his ability, but his new Stormforger skill was worth it on its own. He checked his traits next.

  Gravity field - Your body is surrounded by a dense field of gravity, making all attacks, both physical and magical, 20% less damaging.

  Recovery - The spirits of the air have blessed you with the power of healing. If you can survive for 10 hours after being wounded, no matter the injury, your body will be completely healed.

  Aura Sense (inherited) - You have been bestowed the gift of sight by an omniscient. By concentrating on a target and thinking the word ‘sense,’ you will be able to view the target’s aura. The aura will currently reveal the target’s name, rank, and ability type, provided that they are no more than nine ranks above your own. You may now also see and feel the flow of aura in the world around you. This can be activated by thinking sense, but not selecting a target.

  Aura Flare (inherited) - You have been bestowed the gift of power by an Omniscient. You can now make those around you feel your power, merely by focusing your intent. This is not a damaging trait, but rather, one of intimidation. This can help you to avoid fights where they are not necessary.