“Are you guys done, or do you want us to keep waiting?” Scott asked with a light smile.
Sophie lurched over, eyes twinkling as she clung onto Daniel. “Where are our serums, Daniel?” she mock-gasped. “Don’t tell me you prioritized Adam again!?”
Aureus paid no attention to Sophie and the others. He shared some thoughts about her with me before disappearing into my World to rest and grow.
“We’re done,” I answered in Daniel’s stead, opening the mission screen. “It was a C+ rating mission, right? Culling a Lionaer Fiend for disrupting the ecosystem in the Blooming Expanse.”
I had never heard of a beast called the Lionaer Fiend, but the others had already added notes and website links that made up for my ignorance.
“We have to deal with a Mid Evolved beast?” I inquired, not quite sure if I should be surprised or not. We had expected the first mission to revolve around Evolved beasts. However, this was only a single beast.
“Don’t look so happy. The strength gap between Blessed and beasts isn’t usually noticeable until a beast advances to the Unblemished Rank, but that’s not the case for the Lionaer Fiend,” Daniel grimaced.
I threw him a quick glance and went through the notes and sites the others had shared.
“A Lionaer Fiend has to be dealt with by groups of three, preferably more, Peak Journeyman-ranked veterans,” I quoted the warning at the top of one of the pages.
The warning was displayed in bold, red letters, covering the page’s header entirely.
“That’s bad.” I didn’t manage to say anything else.
“W-we should wait,” Fabienne stammered, looking a touch paler than her usual complexion.
She was still hiding beneath her hood, but I caught a good look at her brunette hair and incredibly pale skin that highlighted the scars covering most of her visible features.
“Wait?” Sophie shook her head vehemently. “I agree we have more than enough time to prepare ourselves, but I don’t want to wait too long. We have three Journeymen, each strong enough to fight decently powerful Evolved beasts. Our Soulkins are also powerful, and we have a bunch of neat tricks up our sleeves, like your boon.”
Daniel nodded subtly, though he glanced my way hesitantly. Understandably. I was the weakest. Fabienne was also an Adept, but she was at Peak as far as I could tell. Her core was large enough to meet Journeyman standards, and she’d tempered enough 2-Star Gates to leave me in the dust. No matter how tiny and skinny Fabienne looked, beneath those robes were corded muscles and raw strength leagues above mine.
“I don’t mind either. As long as we prepare thoroughly. A handful of countermeasures to deal with the Lionaer Fiend would be good.” I wasn’t quite truthful with the first part. I did mind.
As long as I was given some time, I could push myself and my Soulkins to advance to a Pseudo Journeyman in two, maybe three months. With a stroke of fortune, I might even become a full-fledged Journeyman in that time. After all, I’d have more Gates tempered, Nox would be an Evolved beast, his traits at my disposal, and Aureus would likely break through to the Evolved Rank alongside me as well.
“We should do it soon,” Scott added, and it took quite a bit of willpower to keep my poker face up.
“I’m certain everyone has been given similarly difficult missions, which is the whole point. Instructor Kalifer probably knows how difficult the missions are, and I doubt she wants us to rush at the Lionaer Fiend in a day or two. Most groups will wait their turn and return to the mission in a month or two. There’s no time limit after all.”
He pointed out the obvious when everyone turned to him.
“However, everyone in this group is after a good Rank. We want to make full use of the Grand Camp, don’t we?” Everyone nodded in unison, which brought a smile to Scott’s lips. “Perfect. In that case, we have to defeat the Lionaer Fiend as quickly as possible. That way, we’re part of the minority, giving us free control of the Mission Board. Once we kill the Lionaer Fiend, we can freely pick the easiest missions to reach ten marks and complete the Class with top scores. Or…” He looked at every one of us for a few seconds each, “Or we pick harder missions that fit perfectly to our skill set to gain the best possible rewards.”
Daniel was the first to agree. “We need coins, external resources, and some of us would benefit from completing harder missions. Our Ranks would increase, and all of us would gain access to the training equipment in the main district.”
He didn’t glance at me, but it certainly felt like Daniel was staring deep into my soul. Considering how Fabienne squirmed, she seemed to feel very similar.
I was bound to have access to the Grand Camp soon enough whether my Ranking increased or not, but the training equipment was another matter entirely. The regular Mission Board was a treasure trove in its own right, so Instructor Kalifer’s version of the Mission Board could only be better. It had to be, especially after the instructor praised the rewards so much.
“That sounds great and all, but how about we research a little bit more?” I asked, which everyone seemed to agree with.
This story originates from NovelFire. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“After that, we’ll work on our teamwork a little bit more. There’s no way we’re going to kill a Lionaer Fiend if we don’t improve in that area,” Daniel added.
I barely caught the milky-white hue coating Scott’s eyes.
“We will move out in four days to kill that forsaken fiend.”
A few more days to grow a little stronger is exactly what I need. I nodded, trying to untie the knot forming in my stomach.
***
Four days later, I was ready. As ready as I could be at the thought of facing a beast capable of besting an entire group of Journeymen. That was merely the difference of one whole Rank. What could possibly go wrong?
Trust your team.
Two days into consuming Gaia Suras, Aureus’ way of communicating shifted once more. He was prone to talk in short sentences rather than floods of emotions and memories, which was both good and bad.
“I should trust my team,” I murmured to myself and watched the others disembark from the cruiser.
Daniel leaped out, his scale mail clattering almost joyously as he landed. Purple arcs flashed occasionally across the dark armor, and I was half-certain Daniel had to feed it some of his lightning to attune it to his elemental Aspect. Then again, I could be wrong.
A double-headed greataxe manifested in his right hand, and he swung it as easily as I wielded my refined silvernit sword. He attached his weapon to the back of his scale mail, which appeared to almost fuse as more and more arcs poured out of him.
“What even is all of that?” I blurted out, pointing at the dark gauntlet, greaves, boots, and… literally everything Daniel was wearing. I’d never seen him wear any of it.
“That? Isn’t that kind of obvious?” Daniel raised an eyebrow at me. He smiled faintly, which was quickly replaced with a more serious notion. “Jokes aside, this is the best armor I was allowed to bring to the Grand Camp. Sure, those are expensive pieces of gear, but they’re within the guidelines of the Grand Camp. My parents made sure of that.”
Sophie turned to us and regarded Daniel for a while, her expression unreadable. “You see, my parents were really scared about those guidelines. They wanted to be as far away from the mere possibility of getting accused of breaking them. Your parents, on the other hand, must have been riding on those damn guidelines like they owned them. Everything I see you wearing screams ‘forbidden’ at me, yet here you are, still wearing it.”
Daniel actually had the courtesy to blush at that remark. He muttered some gibberish I couldn’t quite understand and followed the others out of the cruiser.
“Your swords are nice,” I pointed out to Sophie, who responded with a smile. She swung her blades a few times, and each time their color shifted a little. Once ivory, the shortswords transformed into vibrant, poisonous green blades. The same couldn’t be said about her leather armor. It didn’t look special, but it didn’t need to—as long as it covered her vital spots.
“Enough playing,” Scott called out, pressing the bottom of his spear into the ground. Unlike Sophie and Daniel, he didn’t have any great equipment. He spent most of his coinage on the spear, saying it was a necessity. As for the leather breastplates that Scott, Fabienne, and I wore, they’d been sponsored by Daniel.
While he wasn’t rich enough to splurge coins for no reason, Daniel had the necessary funding to ensure we wouldn’t be gutted the moment a beast reached us.
Fabienne arrived beside Scott, hefting a crossbow that was a touch or two too large in both hands. She looked over, and for the first time since I got to know her, her presence radiated something akin to confidence.
We are strong!
And we were. At the very least, we were stronger than we used to be four days ago. Putting aside teamwork, my personal strength had increased considerably. While Nox’s soul energy demands did not increase in the last few days, the Ferronox Mantis’ power did grow. So did our soulshare. It had already reached the first Stage, which strengthened our connection considerably. However, the bond with Nox was not growing as rapidly as my connection with Aureus.
I want fight!
I want you to fight as well, buddy, I reminded the Earthheart. Unfortunately, Aureus had yet to fully digest Gaia Suras, leaving him in a vulnerable state—almost as vulnerable as he had been during the evolution.
We can fight together, wielding your power.
Aureus’ power was within me. I felt it, raging through my cells, changing them—improving them. My words weren’t enough to calm the Earthheart, but he knew better than to endanger his own life—or ours.
Kill that thing!
“I will try, chatterbox!” I snickered.
Aureus snorted but said no more.
A clap rang out, pulling my attention to Scott and his little squirrel companion. Destiny stood stiffly on Scott’s shoulders, her head jerking in every direction. She let out a sharp squeak, and her eyes started to glow vibrantly. As Destiny stood there, I couldn’t help but stare at her. It was impossible to turn away, and I quickly realized that even my thoughts were affected.
Destiny’s presence had changed a little. She was the same excited squirrel as before, but there was more to her. Like her entire being had become more since I last saw her.
“She consumed the serum, didn’t she?” I blurted aloud long before my mind registered the thought.
Scott turned to me but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to; his eyes spoke volumes.
A squeal and a tiny paw pointing west later, we departed.
“I know you mentioned you have a way of tracking the Lionaer Fiend, but—” Daniel never finished. Scott’s head yanked toward him, silencing my chattery friend effortlessly.
“If we haven’t found our target in ten minutes, you can take the lead,” Scott said curtly.
Five minutes later, we encountered an Awakened beast charging our way. Daniel burst its skull with a lightning bolt.
“That’s odd. Awakened beasts should be sentient enough to tell their foes’ strength. They should definitely know better than to attack us,” he murmured.
His ears perked up, and he turned southwest right before an explosion shook the air.
“Prepare for battle.” Daniel reached for the greataxe, his body as stiff as cardboard. “What a fucking mess.”
Scott let out a low chuckle and stepped past Daniel, spear at the ready. Destiny vanished, probably returning to the World, and ether coursed through all of us. I stepped forward, my heart racing like it was trying to escape the confinements of my ribs, and I couldn’t blame it in the slightest when I stared down at the massacre unfolding in the distance.
“Oh, shit.”