《Rise of the Omnimage》


 Prologue: Shattered

    A blinding flash lit the sky. In a moment a pitch-black morning at 0300 became day. Sorin Ekart or Sorin as his soldiers know him as, hit the ground knowing full well that the world as he knew it had been changed forever. "Get down and brace for impact!" Sorin screamed at the soldiers who were in complete shock that something like this could happen on US soil.


    The shockwave hit, ripping soldiers who didn''t listen or react fast enough completely off their feet and carried them off.


    Sorin''s mind was split in multiple different directions as he was in the prone in the Tennessee soil in the middle of the Fort Campbell training area. First of those thoughts of Brittanie and Kyrain at home. Then as the real blast hit, his mind went blank.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Gale force winds ripped over the top of Sorin grabbing tents, vehicles, equipment and people throwing them all as if they weighed nothing. Not but ten feet away from him, a humvee slammed into the ground crumpling like a soda can as it was ripped along the ground and thrown further.


    As quickly as the wind came, it stopped for the briefest of moments, then the wind reversed and everything began rushing right back filling the vacuum created by the nuclear blast. Objects slammed down all around Sorin, but he didn''t dare get up. After what seemed like an eternity, Sorin heard nothing but silence and debris falling in the distance.


    Slowly and shakily, he got to his feet looking in the distance at the mushroom cloud and that''s when everything in an instant went white and then black....

 Chapter 1 - New reality

    All was white and golden as Sorin slowly opened his eyes. In the center of his vision a blue translucent bar that looked like it was slowly growing. With everything out of color and spinning, it the only thing that he could consistently focus on.


    Sorin confused, just sat there on the ground in full gear, waiting until his vision slowly stop spinning and the gold to begin to recede.


    After what seemed like 10-15 minuted his vision cleared and he saw he was in a pure white room with table made of a black stone and chairs made of a yellow stone. Slowly and shakily Sorin got to his feet and began to look around. He was stunned, he knew he shouldn''t be alive right now. The second white light was the second nuke, and he got caught in it. He sat down in one of the chairs that faced what looked to be a door and he continued to go through his thoughts.


    So much had happened so quickly that needed to be sorted and put in its place in his mind. The USA had just been hit with nuclear weapons. Sorin knew the damage was to be catastrophic and the results were going to be much much worse.


    That being said, the cold, electric worry in the base of his being had him focusing on the thought of his wife and son. He was terrified that they were caught in the blast, but had resolved himself to believe that they had survived. Resiliency training kicking in to keep him focused and moving forward and not falling into despair.


    Sorin stood and moved to the door to try to get out, but after a single step in the direction, the door slide open and a man in black and gold silk looking martial arts robes walked in toward him.


    Immediately Sorin stopped and looked the man over. He had a casual aura to him as if this was a day in his life no different than any other, at least on the surface. He had a briefcase in one hand and glass of what looked like water in the other.


    "Mr. Ekart, if you would please have a seat, we have much to discuss and go over. Life as you knew it is over and you need to adapt quickly."


    The man set down the glass of water and his brief case next to it, to pull out a chair and sit down. He pushed the glass across the table toward Sorin who realized he was incredibly thirsty.


    "Sit and drink. Aether weapons have a way of parching the throat."


    Sorin not seeing anything threatening from the man and the conduct shown was that of a businessman that was as that of someone who meant him no harm. He took a step back, pulled out the chair, and sat taking the water.


    Smiling, the man opened his brief case and pulled out a transparent device that looked like a piece of pure plexiglass. It lit up at his touch and after a few finger presses, he set it on the table and spun it toward Sorin. Before taking his hand off the device the man spoke.


    "My name is Laxric an arbiter of the Serpent Empire. You are here because your little world has once again decided to use aether weapons beyond your full understanding. Without getting into the details aether is a substance that can transcend entire universes and now you are in another universe altogether. That being said, please read and let me know when you are ready to begin phase one integration."


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Still just rolling with the punches, trying to make any sense of what was happening, Sorin looked down at the pad and began reading.


    "As of this moment, you are a conscript within the Serpent Empire. As you have been thrown into our territory we will use you accordingly.


    This means you will be trained for a total of three full lunar cycles then assigned to an officer where you will serve the military for a total of three solar cycles.


    Once your service requirement is met, you will be released to do whatever you wish.


    Good luck conscript."


    Sorin set down the pad as questions and fury blazed through his mind.


    He controlled the fury as it would not benefit him in getting information.


    "English? Transcendent aether? Service? System? Sorin was beginning to wonder if those books he had read all the time had some merit, but let''s not get ahead of ourselves. System? It''s probably just a computer system for tracking citizens." Sorin rather than just speculating decided to go for it.


    "How is it that I understand you and vice versa? I speak English but it''s probably not a universal language."


    Laxric quirked a smile "That is a passive measure of the Infiniti System discussed in the read out. It automatically translates words, gestures, and text for each person into their native tongue."


    Nodding Sorin accepted it as is. "How do I go back home?"


    For the first time Laxric frowned. "Unfortunately rift walking is not easy unless you are a dragon. They are beyond powerful, hate other races, and are cunning beyond measure. They flow between dimensions and universes freely, but good luck getting one to help you."


    Sorin shifted gears. Desperation beginning to edge into his mind and causing anger to burn deep in the pit of his stomach.


    "What about this system? Can it help me?"


    Laxric nodded. "Absolutely."


    He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a neon blue stone the size of his head yet flat and laid it on the table.


    "Place your hand on the conversion stone. There will be no pain, and all questions will be answered."


    Sorin didn''t budge but looked back up. "I''d be a complete moron if I didn''t ask the catch. Service? I am already in the service. I''ve done contracts a time or two even got burned a few times one being a gym membership that still won''t leave me alone for some reason."


    Laxric nodded and became serious. "You have two choices. You can accept the integration or be destroyed. Due to the massive amounts of aether in this universe your body cannot survive without the transformation. You''re not special human. According to reports there are thousands just like you popping up all over our receiving sites and other training locations getting this same introduction." Laxric expanded.


    "The people born in this universe are born with the mana infused in their entire being and can live comfortably. The only reason you are not dead is because the system flagged your entry and sealed you off until integration can take place, or you decline and die. The service is because the emperor is stronger than you and he makes the rules. Either follow those or be executed anyway."


    Sorin wanted to laugh. It had certainly been a while since someone was courageous enough to say bold things like that to his face that it was refreshing really. He couldn''t keep the amusement off his face and Laxric noticed.


    "You find my words humorous? Perhaps a demonstration?"


    Sorin just smirked and stood. "Sure, let''s see what you have dude. Been in a scrap or two." He watched the robed man stand.


    Sorin dropped into a left-handed stance and grinned the grin that always unsettled almost every opponent he had ever had. There was a twitch and years of honed reflexes in Sorin kicked in, but it just wasn''t enough. The jab came in and Sorin couldn''t even see it save for the flicker. His body was moving automatically to diagonal out and bring his forearm angled up to deflect in hopes of getting overreach to destroy the man''s lower rib cage where they are the smallest and even attack where the kidneys are, but didn''t even get a chance. He had moved not even an inch when what felt like a piston of steel slammed into his face and all went black.

 Chapter 2 - A choice

    Sorin came back to consciousness with the smell of mint strong in his nose and the sound of light pouring. He sat up and saw Laxric pouring what looked like tea from an overly fancy tea pot. Slowly getting up on shaky legs with a jaw hurting like he took multiple full-strength hooks from Mike Tyson. He glared at Laxric.


    Laxric, who couldn''t be bothered to look up, spoke casually as if nothing had happened.


    "Feel like trying again or do you just want to do what is suggested?"


    He pushed the integration stone toward Sorin.


    "How...? How did you move that fast?"


    Laxric laughed to himself, a nerved scratching sound that burned Sorin something fierce.


    "You think that was fast? That was not even a fraction of my speed nor strength. If I had used any more strength than that light brush, I would have exploded your head like an overripe melon."


    Laxric looked up at this point as he took a sip of his tea looking bored with the conversion now.


    Sorin looked down and placed his hand on the integration stone. He needed more information. He had no strategic or tactical advantage. He wasn''t the strongest or smartest person in the room and didn''t have superior position.


    Initializing...


    Initializing complete


    Being analysis in progress. . .


    Analysis complete.


    Being Registered.


    Given name: Sorin Ekart


    Species: Humanoid


    Potential estimation: Extremely high


    Being is skilled in many topics both physically and intellectually. Outstanding candidate for integration.


    Physical condition: Defective


    Reason: Multiple chronic injuries in shoulders, knees, neck, and back. Extremely low aether saturation. Overall toxicity of body is extremely high due to poor food quality.


    Mental condition: Pristine


    Reason: extreme resilience and intelligence.


    Spirit condition: Pristine


    Reason: Spirit of individual has no defects or issues associated with neglect or mistreatment.


    Candidate selected for integration.


    Accept?


    Sorin read through everything and couldn''t believe what he was seeing. This is exactly like all the books he had read. He already knew he wasn''t going to be one of those whinny crybaby characters who would mope around and take forever to get tracking if he could help it. Oh no....it''s freaking game time.


    He followed what he had read and thought his reply...."Yes."


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Response received and logged.


    Integration commencing. . .


    Sorin didn''t see or feel anything and was about to ask Laxric when everything around him blurred and went to a bright white space with no walls. Just empty and white as far as he could see.


    "Welcome to your integration Sorin Ekart."


    Turning around Sorin saw a translucent orb floating 10 feet from him.


    "I am a representation of Infiniti. What everyone calls "System." Where I come from and what I am is beyond you and your understanding. Just accept it and follow my instructions for efficiency. This will be likely the only time you will have personal interaction with Infiniti."


    Sorin closed his mouth as he was going to ask those exact questions out of curiosity. The orb shot over top of him as three objects appeared in front of him.


    "I have analyzed your memories and come up with these potential paths for you to start on. Each path is a starting point for your growth. As is the Divine law, you have free will to pick any of these paths and do as you will. Your actions, as are the consequences associated with them, are entirely your own."


    Sorin looked around and began to examine each.


    Walking forward he saw what looked like a mirror. He focused on it and sure enough as he had hoped a screen popped up before him.


    REFLECTION - common


    The path of reflection is a path of adaptability. Many beings across the universes adapt themselves to the company they keep. This path gives them the ability to do it better. Take this path and gain the ability to blend into any environment and become anything or anyone.


    Pros: High social adaptability. Great for psychological operations, espionage, assassination, and thievery.


    Cons: Low combat power and path is heavily frowned upon by all but the Syndicate factions.


    Sorin had always been a social chameleon. He would always be himself, but would adapt depending on who he was around. He would manipulate people to get things done at work and even manipulate people to try to help them out. Putting ideas in their head they thought were their own to get them going in a better, safer, successful direction. He always liked playing a rogue in a lot of games and this path would set him on that path, but it didn''t seem like the type of path that would get him in a position where going back home could be possible so he moved on to the next. Which was a dark wispy vapor. Looking at it the screen popped up.


    Phantasm - Rare


    The path of the vengeful spirit. Offered by those with a strong spirit and strong emotional responses. These make lethal point target combatants and assassins. Feared across the universes for their ability to bypass many barriers and defenses to eliminate any target.


    Pros: High lethality. High physical defense. High speed. High adaptability. Strong aether strikes to spirit.


    Cons: Extremely low aether defense. Extremely low social acceptability. Extremely high aether consumption for all abilities. Very weak in open combat and multiple target engagement


    Sorin smiled and loved what he saw. This was exactly the type of class he would have picked in many games just because of the abilities and the way these classes flowed in and out of combat, in and around opponents. However, Sorin had an ultimate goal of going home. This might work, but wanted to see what is next. Looking at the last option, he saw a flame like that of a large candle.


    Pyromancer - Rare


    The path of the passionate and driven. The pyromancer is highly adaptable in both long and short range with offense and defense. These are used on battlefields when available for wide and massive destruction. Many battles will be often avoided when a Pyromancer is known to be present.


    Pros: Adaptability and massive power in both offense and defense. Focuses on aether attacks and defenses.


    Cons: Low physical capabilities. Highly vulnerable to physical attacks. Abilities consume massive amounts of aether and can leave the user defenseless when depleted.


    Sorin liked this one as well, but needed some clarification on something before he made his decision. Turning to the orb he spoke.


    "As you have seen my memories you know the books I have read. That being said, are these paths adaptablebor can they be evolved and made more powerful?"


    The orb bounced up and down in what seemed to be excitement.


    "We were hopeful that you would make a connection like that with little prompting. I am excited to see what you can do. Yes. As your connection with your path grows you can do more things or change your path entirely. A word of caution though, the path can change for good or for bad. Be very careful when accepting changes to your path."


    Sorin nodded and reached for the flame.


    Accept Pyromancer?


    Warning: once chosen you will be returned to standard time and original location. You may not take your decision back.


    Sorin accepted the path and everything went white once again. When his vision came back, Laxric was in the same exact position as before he chose his path. Mid sip.


    "If you have chosen your path, take the time to sort through your HUD."


    As if waiting for those words a neon blue screen popped up before Sorin and all he could do was grin.

 Chapter 3 - Infusions Part 1

    Sorin Ekart


    Path: Pyromancer


    Body: Defective (Infusion pending)


    Mind: Pristine (Infusion pending)


    Spirit: Pristine (Infusion pending)


    *values to be calculated after Infusion


    Abilities: N/A (Infusion required)


    Accept one of the following to begin:


    - Body


    - Mind


    - Spirit


    Sorin had no idea what an infusion meant, so naturally he asked the only other person available.


    "Laxric what will happen during infusion?"


    Laxric paused his drinking and set his cup down.


    "That is where your body, mind, and spirit get up to universal minimum or more. It''s going to be....uncomfortable for you. In summary, massive amounts of system aether will flood your system."


    Sorin nodded and selected Spirit first and immediately he began to feel full then over full then it felt as if his skin was stretching painfully but as he looked down he saw no outward signs but the stretching continued and became painful. Spikes of stretching pains shot through his body as he began to feel like raw hide stretched over a drum. Then just when he felt like he was about to break, everything stopped.


    He gasped and realized that not only had he stopped breathing but had closed his eyes. As he opened them everything was the same but somehow different. Everything was sharper somehow almost like looking through freshly cleaned glass after having it dirty for a while. Everything seemed more clear. Sorin stood up slowly and began stretching hoping to relieve the discomfort, but even after stretching the feeling just would not subside. At the upper right hand of his vision he saw a blinking bubble. He focused on it and the screen popped up.


    Congratulations!


    You have received full Spirit Infusion.


    Overall rating: 16/10


    Tier 1 passed!


    Tier 2:


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Overall Rating: 16/50


    Spirit controls aether capacity and connection with the system and universe. The greater the connection, the greater the benefits.


    Tier 2:


    Capacity: 1/320AP


    Please select infusion:


    - Body


    - Mind


    Sorin sat there and looked at the screen for a few minutes just absorbing. He had so many questions. He looked up at Laxric who was now reading a book completely unconcerned with the life altering events happening to Sorin.


    "Laxric, what does AP stand for?"


    Laxric set the book on the table pages down and looked at Sorin.


    "Aether Points. Yes, ask the follow up questions that are no doubt coming."


    Sorin becoming irritated hating the tone the dude was taking.


    "Are you paid to be here or forced to be here or what is your deal?" Sorin snapped.


    Raising an eyebrow Laxric let out a breath.


    "I am forced to be here by order of the academy as part of my graduation requirement. You have annoyed me as all of those who come from other universes for the most part because you always think whatever you know is going to work here in this universe and it NEVER does. How many integratees do you think have tried to fight me in the 2 lunar cycles I''ve done this? Too many. Then you do it too so now I have to answer your questions as you slowly remove your head from your ass in your new reality."


    Sorin nodded along and puffed out his cheeks in surprise.


    "Didn''t expect an honest answer if I''m also to be honest. However, I do have more questions. Do you know what the conversion rate is? AP to say I don''t know a joule where I''m from or horsepower?"


    Laxric pulled the pad closer to himself and swiped a few times and scrolled for a line.


    "An aether point is equal to.... huh....1 horsepower or 746 joules. If you go off your horsepower, it''s an easy conversion for you. I don''t know what type of military training you have but do not volunteer information about yourself. The Empire is a warrior society. Information such as strength and capacity are very nice things to have on an opponent. Unless you are making a point of showing you have literally nothing to fear from someone."


    Sorin tilted his head back and forth in a "makes sense" gesture.


    "Operational security....."


    Laxric squinted a bit.


    "What''s that?"


    "It''s a way in the military where I am from, we politely tell people to keep their mouths shut with need-to-know information." Sorin said as he looked back to his HUD.


    "What is the rating about?" Sorin asked his next question.


    "Every single point in your rating is your standard humanoid. So, if you rating is 1 out of 10 then you are the equivalent of the average human from your home world without any aether infusion. Once you achieve 10 in the first tier you will pass that tier and move to the next tier. Each tier will multiply the capacity and quality of aether in you. The higher your tier, the more powerful you become. For example, at my tier of 4 you can''t even scratch me with your measly 1 and I can''t hardly scratch someone at tier 5 and so one. Someone at tier 5 could slap you and splatter you across the wall."


    Gathering his courage, he selected mind not looking forward to the body infusion.


    As with the spirit, nothing happened at first and then it was like someone unplugged his senses. All five went down and he began to panic. Couldn''t feel, hear, see, taste, and smell anything then his feeling came back, and his head felt like it was about to split open. His sense of smell was more precise and could identify different things quicker such as his own unique scent.


    It wasn''t an unpleasant smell, and it reminded him of a cross between his dad and his son. Then taste came back, and he could taste the copper and he felt the pain in his mouth too as he realized he bit his tongue a bit. Then hearing and sight came back together. He began processing information what seemed so much faster. Connections and strategic thinking. He took in everything faster and noticed things much quicker.


    Laxric was watching and threw a spoon his way. It looked as though the spoon was thrown in slower motion than usual. Sorin causally reached up and didn''t catch it per say, but just grabbed it mid-flight. "What a strange sensation." Sorin thought to himself as he chuckled through the raging headache.


    Once again, the blue light was blinking in the corner of his vision and Sorin focused on it.

 Chapter 4 - Infusion part 2

    Sorin pulled the notification up


    Congratulations!


    You have received the full mind infusion


    Overall rating 10/10


    Mind is your mental agility and aether control. Being able to out think a threat will increase your survival. Precision with aether affects all offense, defense, and crafts


    Tier 1:


    Mind 10


    Please select infusion


    - body


    Sorin figured that was pretty self-explanatory. It lines up with strategy and tactics manuals as well as most video games. All the mages, spell casters, warlocks, shamans etc. always have a powerful mind state requirement. From what the system had to do with his spirit exceeding the parameters after it passed the 10 mark, he was feeling pretty confident in his strong mind stat. Here''s hoping he will have everything he needed to become able to do what he needed to in order to get home.


    Sorin sat there and looked down knowing what was coming. He had read so many cultivation novels and litrpgs when it comes to toxins and refining the body. It is ALWAYS horribly painful and the worst. It always seems like those jerks have immunity to pain. So unrealistic. Sorin had gone through the military gas chamber, OC spray course, and gotten fingertips cut off once and he just knew what was about to happen was going to be much much worse.


    "Well time to get a straw and suck it the hell up...." Sorin mumbled to himself as he initiated the body infusion.


    Sorin tried to relax everything as nothing ever had positive results when you were tense even when fighting you always want to relax and roll with the punches. Close to a detonation? Relax your jaw and separate your teeth so they don''t break. Like with the others nothing happened at first then it hit. It started deep...bone deep. He heard and felt all his bones condense down and break while filling the space. Tendons and ligaments ripped themselves and the muscles condensed pulling the muscles from the bones then all reconnected. The muscles in his neck and back seared and Sorin let out a silent scream and the white-hot pain ripped through him. His vision pinpointed. He released his bowels forcefully and couldn''t breathe. His heart hurt horribly, and it forcefully beat every hammer hurt as blood was slammed through what felt like exploding arteries and veins. Then everything slowly began to recede, and the pain lessened and then soothed.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Able to breathe again, Sorin just laid on the floor in his own filth gasping for breath getting his body under control. After a moment, he heard a chair slide back and footsteps coming toward him.


    Laxric looked down at him with a cloth over his face.


    "Rise, our job is done here. It is time to get you cleaned up, changed, registered, and brought to receiving."


    After speaking Laxric took a wide path around Sorin and opened the door heading out. Sorin went to get up, but his body jumped up. The sensation was going to lift something thought to be extremely heavy and it turns out unbelievably light. Sorin slammed into the table and hit the floor shifting the table into the wall. Once again trying to get up he moved more slowly and was successful in getting up. Taking a step his leg jumped up and he felt like he was walking on the moon the way he was jumping.


    He managed to get into the hall where Laxric waited impatiently keeping the cloth to his nose. Laxric continued down the hall and eventually came to a door.


    In there is a shower, a change of clothes mainly your uniform. You will wear that at all times unless told otherwise by appropriate authority or in your quarters. Violations of the rules as you will be advised of shortly are met with harsh and often violent repercussions.


    Sorin nodded started in to head in to ready to get his disgusting clothes off, when Laxric spoke again.


    "Your ring. Take it off before you report. Jewelry is unauthorized."


    Sorin frowned and turned to Laxric


    "No."


    Laxric smirked. "Still being stubborn. I''ll humor you a bit more. If you do not take that ring off when you report not only will you lose the ring, but the hand it is on with it then get a collar essentially removing your path. You will be little more than an indentured servant."


    Anger...pure anger ripped through Sorin.


    "I''m no better than a slave now dumb ass. I got nuked in my world, ended up here and conscripted by a government I don''t know nor support when all I want is to go home to my wife and son. Now you want to take my ring away?"


    Laxric shrugged then walked off and called back as he did.


    "You have been warned. You will head the direction I am going now. Do not turn at all you will eventually get to the stairs. Walk all the way to the top and you will know which way to go. Leave all your belongings in there where you shower. If you really want that ring.... hide it in a pocket or something; nobody cares as long as you are not wearing it."


    Sorin still fuming walked into what was nothing but a small shower room with a bench. Fuck these people and the horse they rode in on....

 Chapter 5 - Embrace

    Sorin stripped and got into the shower. Scrubbing all the bodily fluids off of himself. He looked down at his left hand where his silver ring sat on his finger. This little object he didn''t even notice half of the time, as he had worn it for a decade and a half. It had chips in it from his party trick of using it as a bottle opener. It was bought by his wife, and it meant the world to him. So few relationships survive military due to a whole host of reasons, but his Brittanie was a force of nature.


    If anyone could survive and keep their 5-year-old son alive it was her. He felt himself beginning to crack under the pressure now being away from any people in a confined space. Sorin knew he had to feel. He had to manage his emotions, or he wouldn''t be able to get what he needed to done in order to find a way home.


    The hot water cascaded off of him helping his mind and spirit soothe. As he just closed his eyes and breathed to relax his mind and let everything settle, he noticed a different feeling around him. Even with his eyes closed he could still see the blinking blue light. He opened it and gasped.


    Congratulations!


    You have received full body Infusion.


    Previous injuries and maladies have been cured and corrected.


    Overall rating 5/10


    Your body rating determines how strong, fast, dexterous,


    Sorin dismissed the box only for another to take its place.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Pyromancer


    AP: 13/320


    Body: 5/10


    Mind: 10/10


    Spirit: 16/


    Abilities:


    2. Minor fire manipulation (a) - can, to a small degree manipulate fire aether in your immediate vicinity. This skill does not possess enough power to bypass another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    Sorin dismissed the screen and went back to that feeling of the heat. He remembered a lot of the meditation manuals and even the cultivation fantasy novels required visualization. So Sorin began to imagine the heat as tiny points of red light around him. He could see them in a stream from the spout hitting his skin which he made a cooler shade of red. He began categorizing different types of heat all around him. He noticed everything had a different color to it. He could see everything in this room through now what resembled thermal imaging.


    *Bleep*


    A chirp sounded in his mind sharply and startled him knocking him out of his trance.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    He saw the blue light once again and opened it.


    Congratulations!


    You have taken a step on the Pyromancer path.


    You have obtained the skill Minor Fire sense


    Using your connection to fire, you may see everything according to temperature. Removes basic camouflage advantage Cannot pierce greater forms of camouflage or stealthing.


    Sorin closed the notification and felt in his mind the ability to bring it back using his connection to heat he had discovered. He noticed it came much quicker and he was able to shut off the water and go to his clothes without even opening his eyes. A screen popped up unbidden at the left of his vision in red.


    Warning!


    Aether under 10!


    AP: 9/320


    Sorin stopped his ability immediately and a new factor revealed itself. Though he could still sense the heat all around him and sense where cold pockets where he couldn''t see or feel in detail like when his new sense skill was active, but it took mana to use. Aether he didn''t fully understand how it replenished but theorized.


    Sorin filed those thoughts away as he put on what appeared to be white linen pants and shirt with a belt that resembled a GI belt from a traditional martial art gym. Next to the clothing was a pair of shoes that resembled slippers but had cloth sinches that hooked into a groove to stay tight. It was simple yet effective. These however, were black.


    He was about to leave the room when the warning crossed through his mind.


    Sorin held his hand before him and took off his ring taking the lace from one of his boots from his army uniform, slipped one end through the ring and tied the ends together. He flipped his trouser pocket inside out and tied the ring to his pocket tightly then folded his pocket back in.


    It was time to embrace the philosophy of the eternal student he learned about when he studied martial arts in his time in the Marine Corps. It had already paid off and he was about to push his new path to limit. Not only would his experience in learning, training, and growing come into play, but so would his reading and gaming.


    "Oh....I''m absolutely going to break this fucking system to get home."


    With a breath, Sorin left the shower room and walked down the hall and up the stairs.


    Where Laxric was speaking to another person, who was wearing a silky black outfit unlike the crappy linen white one Sorin was wearing. As he broke the top of the stairs they turned to him.


    Laxric was the first to speak.


    "Took you long enough conscript."


    Sorin closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose. "I was once a recruit for the Marine Corps and I was cool with that, as I had signed up for it. Now I''m forced to go back to that status. Whatever....let them try their stupid games. I''ve been here before as stupid as it is. Might as well learn the ropes to take all I can from these people."


    Sorin remained silent. Not even giving these two the satisfaction of a reaction.


    Laxric turned to his counterpart a man slightly taller and bigger than himself. "Better already than how he started out. I think this one has potential but will need significant military experience retrained as according to the system he was in his universe''s military for a while and Emperor knows how primitive that will be."


    The man snorted and raised his voice toward Sorin.


    "Come conscript!


    The man turned and walked away. Sorin followed. Absorbing everything constantly looking for any and all advantages.


    The man approached another dark door further down the hall. He opened it and gestured inward.


    "Take a seat and remain silent. Speak to none of the others in this room. When the Orientation officer enters you will follow all commands from them. It would be in your best interest to do as told when told. I heard how Laxric crushed you.  The officer makes him and I feel as you did against Laxric. In other words....you will die."


    Sorin nodded.


    "Thanks for the warning."


    Sorin walked in and saw a large amphitheater with what looked like around 200 people already filled in and others coming in from different entrances like him. Looking around he saw different types of people straight out of the rest of the books and mythology he had read.


    Dwarves with their beards, Elves with their ears, Scale people with fin like ears he guessed were probably going to be like some merfolk, ugly ass things with pig like faces he assumed were going to be ogres, orcs, or hobgoblins of sorts who really knew as those changed based off your author. You had insect winged elven looking things Sorin figured either fairy or pixie but who really knew. At this point he started looking for werewolves and vampires he saw a few people he figured might be vampires based off how pale they were, but who knew?


    Nobody spoke, rather just looked around then filed in and sat. Sorin sat down toward the top of the amphitheater at the end and began to wait.

 Chapter 6 - Conscript

    Sorin sat on the stone steps of the amphitheater and waited there for a few minutes expecting whoever the officer was to arrive, but there was nothing. Rather than just sit and waste time he wanted to jump back into discovery that had him feeling pretty excited about. This was essentially the beginning of the game and there were tons of large and simple gains early on in these games so why not see if this is the same.


    Sorin closed his eyes and began to feel the heat around him like in the shower. It came much quicker than before. His range was limited to what seemed like 100 feet in every direction. He could see all the bodies around him and oddly each race had a different temperature. He saw the elves, they were cooler than the humans by a few degrees, the dwarves were hotter as there the ogre/orc looking things.


    He kept looking at the people near him and noticed some of the people he was looking for didn''t show up at all. He opened his eyes and looked back and saw the pale people sitting unconcerned with anything. He zeroed his focus in on them and noticed they were at room temperature and his sense couldn''t detect them as they blended seamlessly.


    "Perhaps they really were vampires another type of undead he had heard about." Sorin thought to himself.


    Sorin couldn''t figure out why there was a limit to his sense. It was like it just cut off. He checked AP.


    AP: 24/320


    It wasn''t a lack of aether as he got a warning the last time he got under 10. He tried seeing if he could narrow down where the aether was flowing from within his body. He sensed around his body and saw the heat moving around his body as like everyone then he looked deeper and saw a line coming from his stomach just above his belly button flowing to his eyes and head. He zeroed in further and began to feel the flow of what he assumed was aether.


    "Aether....he had heard that word before in some books. He couldn''t remember exactly from where. It was on the tip of his tongue.... alchemy! That''s right, it was the mystical fifth element of alchemy from the lore books. Water, earth, fire, air, and aether. Sorin refocused on that flow of aether and tried to manipulate it. He tried to first slow it down and it in fact responded to his will and as he began to slow it down his sense began to grow shorter and shorter. He then stopped slowing and reversed it slowly and his range began pushing out further and further. He then reached the original speed but kept going. He felt a strain in his mind and stomach around the source of his aether. His range began expanding he kept pushing and pushing. 120 feet, 140 feet, 150 feet....


    Warning!


    Aether below 10


    AP: 9/320


    *bleep*


    Sorin saw the notification appear in the corner as the blinking blue light but before he could open it up.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "On your feet!"


    A booming voice filled the entire amphitheater and out of instinct honed over 15 years Sorin shot to the position of attention, and he saw he was among very few.


    The voice came again, but this time colder.... much colder.


    "I said.... ON YOUR FEET!!"


    Others began to stand, not many.


    "It would appear many of you need a lesson in instant and willful obedience to orders. Soldiers put them on their faces."


    Out of nowhere what seemed like a hundred metal and leather armored men and women straight out of a fantasy book with swords on their hip rushed in and slammed each person still sitting on the floor. Not a single one could resist. The result was teeth went flying and noses popped. Blood began to trickle in places as they were forced downward.


    "Now for those of you that are being rather stubborn, we have the means to control you. So now you can choose to do what we tell you or you will face consequences."


    He looked around.


    "My name is Captain Altivor and as of now you are less than people. You are expendable pieces of flesh. Should you survive training, your lives will then have some worth. That however, you will find extremely challenging. Those who fail to, will be stripped of aether and will work until their pathetic bodies give out."


    He looked at the gathering of people and saw faces that still didn''t understand that there was no other option.


    "I see that many of you still think there are options and that you have a chance to resist. An example then."


    Altivor looked around the crowd and chose one of the Ogre looking people that looked at him with a savage hatred.


    "Soldier bring that one up here and give him your sword."


    The soldier, clearly a woman not even half the ogre''s size, ripped the ogre up and threw him forward at the feet of the captain as if he weighed nothing. She then unsheathed her sword and placed it down next to the ogre.


    Altivor looked down at the ogre.


    "You''re one of the Ogrei and therefore known for great strength. Take up that sword and do your absolute best to strike me down. If you succeed you are free."


    The ogre grabbed the sword and without hesitating slammed the sword tip first into the man''s stomach. Years of training failed Sorin, and he flinched as the sword made contact, but to his surprise the sword stopped. The captain didn''t even flinch or block. He took it straight to the stomach. The cloth, Sorin could tell, was cut but the blade stopped on the captain''s flesh.


    The captain reached down as the ogre looked up at the man''s face in shock and horror. Altivor took the sword by the blade and plucked it from the stunned ogres had and faster than anyone could even see as it looked like a digital glitch or flicker a line appeared down the center of the ogre from head to crotch then fell to two halves blood cascading out of the corpse to the floor.


    "You are conscripts. Worth nothing because you can do nothing. So weak and untrained in the use of aether. You have no concept of war or survival. You shall learn or you will be stripped of any chance of growth or end up like him." He said as he pointed the still somehow clean sword at the two halves of the corpse on the floor.


    Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the fight leave all the still stubborn members of the audience and they were let up and moved to the same position Sorin was in falling into line. The captain smiled giving the sword back to the soldier who sheathed it and saluted moving away.


    Altivor snapped his fingers and soldiers in different styles of armor moved to each of the doors.


    "The door you entered is the same door you will leave in." Altivor said.


    "A Sergeant will meet you at the door and will be your training officer. You will obey their orders as if they came from my own lips. Any insubordination will be dealt with similarly to what you have seen."


    The captain looked at each door then when he saw all were in position.


    "Dismissed."


    He turned and left the amphitheater.


    As soon as he disappeared chaos ensued exactly like a memory from nearly a decade and a half.

 Chapter 7 - A new battle rhythm

    Everyone began to move to their respective lines in such a panic. Many still stunned with shock at the simple death of such a large creature. Even Sorin couldn''t believe how easily and how quickly a man''s life was ended. The amount of force required for that was unimaginable and Sorin had a taste of the new strength he was gaining. Even after his mental infusion he still couldn''t follow that strike.


    He moved quickly to his door lining up in the forming line with an overly large man stocky build but the size of a bear in patterned armor. The Sgt spoken about by the Captain


    The rest of the group moved to the line and when what seemed like around 100 or so conscripts were in the line they were led out into a hall and down it for what seemed like miles until they turned to a large set of doors that opened into a large sand arena with another set of doors on the opposite side. All around them along the walls were wooden melee weapons, shields, and dummies. Marked off training areas that looked like for person on person battles. The line stopped and the soldiers began pushing them into a formation and telling them to stand up straight and look forward.


    "My name is Sergeant Agron and this is the position and the formation you get into when we order you to fall to formation. You currently stand at attention. Around you...."


    There were tons of smacks ringing out through the formation as Sorin guessed and saw through his heat sense that people got caught looking around.


    "Is the location you will spend the next year of your miserable lives in. There are a few rules that will become your reality.


    One! You will do as told, when told. Insubordination will be met with execution.


    Two! There will be absolutely no intimacy between you disgusting creatures. You will be executed.


    Three! After training each day you will use the bathing pond located through the doors leading to the sleeping area.


    Four! If you break or displease us we will put a denial collar on you and send you to the salt mines to get some value from your flesh.


    Now...let''s begin."


    The soldiers attending the sergeant spread around in a ring around the whole of the arena.


    "Run laps ready, move!"


    A few reacted quick enough and began running where indicated by the soldiers other needed...incentives which were in the form of hits by a flexible rod.


    Sorin was surprised by the changes in his body. His stamina went so long. He didn''t feel tired after even 5 laps which seemed like a half mile each. His breathing came somewhat sharper, yet he wasn''t alone in the surprise. He didn''t know how long they would run but they kept it up. 15 laps then 20 then 25. At the 30-lap mark Sorin was beginning to feel the burn and his breathing was coming quicker and they continued to run. At the 50th lap people began to lag and want to stop and when one tried to walk, they took a sharp crack from a rod held by the soldiers. Sorin heard her sharp cry, and she began to run again. As they continued to run the hits kept coming. The soldiers never hit the legs but targeted the arms and torso. Sorin even took hits as his legs and lungs burned. By the 70th lap the weaker minded of their number succumbed to their exhaustion and they received beatings and drug off to the center.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    By the 80th lap the 20th of their number finally collapsed of exhaustion.


    "HALT!"


    Agron yelled out and the ones running stopped and doubled over heaving for breath save for those that Sorin could tell had paths designed for physical exertion. They were only slightly worn down and barely breathing fast. They were not doubled over like Sorin was. They were clearly divided into three groups based on their stamina and strength.


    There were the big physical guys that in games would be warriors and tanks designed for lots of strength, toughness, and endurance. The second group Sorin would guess are going to be your quick types. These people were your physical damage per second guys like rouges and duelists. Extremely fast but stamina lacks a bit as does their defenses. They have a few hits from the rods. Last group were the group Sorin belonged to. The mages and non-physical classes. His group had the most lash marks on them. Some were black and blue.


    "Those not in the middle of the arena, fall to formation!"


    The group stumbled over to the location in front of Agron with "assistance" from the rod bearing soldiers.


    They stood at attention and continued to breathe heavily as the sergeant began to speak.


    "If you didn''t notice, 20 of you are set aside. The weakest of you already whether weakness of flesh or mind they are not worthy of even to die in battle but will die in the salt mines."


    As he spoke collars were produced and clicked into place around the necks of the conscripts. Some tried to fight though it was futile against the soldiers. The moment they clicked into place the conscripts began to writhe agony before going silent and pale. As they stood with tears, breathing heavy, and sniffles they were led off.


    "Now you truly know the stakes you are playing at." Soldiers take them to wash and to rest. We begin again in marks."


    They were led to what they called the washing pool where everyone was pushed to the edge to strip and hold their clothes in front of them. They went into the water and used their clothes to wash their bodies they scrubbed out their clothes using the sand on the bottom. They then were rinsed of sand and marched out of the water to the lines of cots where matching set of clothes was waiting. They were lined up on a cot and told to change quickly. Sorin quickly pulled his ring out and put it in his new trouser pocket being clever to keep it balled in his fist. He swapped the shoes and laid out his wet clothes. He turned and stood waiting for further instructions.


    "Rest!" One of the soldiers called out and everyone rushed to their cot and laid down. Sorin secured his ring secretly in his pocket. He needed to find a new place for it because swapping it was too much of a risk and these cruel bastards wouldn''t hesitate to use it against him or even steal it. The cot didn''t have a blanket or pillow, but it was fine, he would get a straw and suck it up. As bad as this was it was survivable. He could use this to get stronger and hopefully learn about the combat system of this world to try to work toward getting home.


    Before he fell asleep, he opened up the blinking notification he had received in the amphitheater.


    Congratulations!


    Skill Minor Fire sense upgraded to Fire Sense.


    Based on the amount of aether pushed into the passive skill you can sense things further and away and adjust it.


    Sorin closed his HUD and laid his head down. He had a way to improve and move forward. Ideas were already swirling in his head based off what he had seen from the system. "I think I can abuse this system and find my way home, but I have to be smart, or I will never get there." He thought.


    He was going to embrace this new battle rhythm and train. He would break free and get home somehow. He would see Brit and Ky again come hell or high water in this life or the next.

 Interlude: Brittanie

    Brittanie''s world was ripped apart before her eyes. She had always listened to the intellectual ramblings of her husband concerning weapons of mass destruction. Most of the time she felt like a smiling gecko just happy to have things shared with her because it made her happy to see him so passionate about something. He never seemed to get the recognition she felt he deserved, but he tried to tell her it never bothered him. He''s a terrible liar though. He could never lie to her which helped contribute to the success of their relationship. Since day one Sorin had been overly affectionate and crazy about her even when it became far too much and overwhelmed her where she had to politely tell him to go do something. The thing is, that much love and devotion came with many benefits; one such is the absolute fury he could rain down around her if she was uncomfortable, upset, or heaven help anything... afraid. She was afraid now and for the first time in over a decade she was very afraid. All phones were dead. The blast she knew was a nuclear blast had rocked the entire area and ripped things to pieces. Luckily she was far enough away that their house was shielded for the most part. Her husband kept his issued equipment in the house and always had what he called "a bug out bag." She had arms, ammo, food, water, clothing, and other essential supplies. She just didn''t know where Sorin was or if he survived, but she had Kyrain to worry about and ensure he survived. If anyone could survive this it was Sorin. She had faith that he would find her so all she needed to do was survive.


    She had just gotten groceries and they had MREs in case of emergency. The power was out and she expected permanently due to what Sorin called an EMP that fried all electronics.


    A loud knocking came at the door causing Brittanie to grab the AR-15 they kept for emergencies just like this. Her husband always had a healthy paranoia and taught her to use it.


    She checked the chamber, tapped the forward assist, and safety. She looked through the door peep hole and saw it was her neighbor. An older lady who didn''t get around easily but she was very afraid. Brittanie opened the door.


    "What is going on?!" Her neighbor Carla asked terror all over her face and in her voice.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "We got attacked. I don''t know where Sorin is, but if anyone survived it would be him and hopefully he finds us quickly."


    Ky came around the corner. "Did you hear from dad?" He seemed very unsure but didn''t understand the gravity of all that was happening around him. All he knew is dad would always fix everything and make anything that scared him go away.


    "Not yet." Brit said to Ky bringing him close as she motioned for Carla to come in and make herself comfortable all things considered.


    "We should wait and see what is said around us. If we got slammed in this small town it''s probably worse in the bigger locations. It finally happened. DC got us all killed either through their scheming pissing off other countries or they decided to turn weapons of mass destruction on the people again. They tried bioweapons a few times so it wouldn''t suprise me if they just said "screw it! Nuke em."


    Carla nodded. Nobody in the neighborhood was a fan of the US government. The politics became more and more corrupt, taxes were increased. It didn''t matter if you were left or right you were suffering under DC. Sorin had already been sent down to Texas where he ended up being demoted due to "insubordination" for refusing to take someone''s property without due process. Ever since the US government removed posse comitatus and the other laws prohibiting federal troop use on US soil they have been putting troops everywhere. The older more experienced troops resisted the unlawful orders coming down and they have been getting demoted and processed out of the military, some even jailed. They can''t even appeal it and nobody can resist the government ever since they revamped the Supreme Court making it an elected position and setting term limits. The justices were now bought and paid for like every other politician all of this seeming to lead to this attack and the confusion wondering if the government had attacked its own people or was it another nation. The longer the two ladies talked and discussed they were beginning to think it was the government. Russia and China still didn''t want to destabilize the world markets last they knew and didn''t want the mutually assured destruction of the world.


    Brittanie had some back up fuel based heat sources that Sorin insisted in having much to her earlier annoyance and now gratitude and began cooking dinner for the three of them.


    As she began serving that is when the message popped up in front of her.


    Initializing....

 Chapter 8 - Embracing suffering

    *Crack* *crack* *crack*


    Wooden weapons slammed against one another and shields. The conscripts had been running laps, doing pushups, squats, dragging heavy objects, sit-ups, and getting hit nonstop. They were all black and blue as the soldiers conditioned them brutally for the past week. They were beat to harden the body, and they didn''t get a day of rest.


    Since the initial run they had lost 25 more conscripts and now they were being taught weapon handling and defense. They were shown spears for the first three days, and this was the fourth day of sword and shield. The combination came easily to Sorin who was very close to being ambidextrous. He could use the shield and sword equally as weapons and defense which made him formidable in the duels, they ended the day with. His aether training had come to a complete halt due to utter exhaustion. He had tried to get a way to supplement himself with aether to make his body more efficient or stronger and had gained only small amounts of progress. He did this during the few minutes they had to eat drink and relieve themselves as he was unable as soon as he hit the cot and passed out to be woken up too soon.


    "Conscript! Halt."


    Sorin instantly stopped mid swing and lowered his weapon as the soldiers came up and he bowed his head.


    "Drop the shield and take up another sword in your left hand. The Sergeant has seen you may be capable of learning dual wielding with swords."


    Sorin immediately turned and ran to get the sword and drop the shield as commanded. He returned with a wooden short sword in his left hand and stood in front of the soldier weapons down and head bowed.


    "Continue training. Learn to use the swords interchangeably in both offense and defense."


    The soldier took a few steps back and Sorin swung the sword to get used to the weight. He knew in the days of swords on earth sword masters who could duel wield were absolutely terrifying in battle but we''re exceedingly rare as it was extremely difficult to duel wield swords and had a severe drawback of defense especially against projectiles. The style of dimachaerus was used in gladiatorial spectacle but was still rarely used. With Sorin''s upgraded mind he was able to remember some of the techniques he saw from movies and TV shows that showed gladiators. He saw the patterns and movements and tried to replicate them. There had to be a flow of combat, and he had to predict his opponent significantly better than when he had a shield. Most of which he attempted ended in brutal smacks from his opponents'' weapon. His opponent was a man about his size beaten black and blue like he was and had significant skill with a sword and shield but was better with the spear. Sorin was slow in learning the patterns and what Hollywood had made look pretty and easy with its choreography of the battles was not the reality which led to a very painful day filled with constant strikes to his body some which drew blood in spite of wooden weapons. Sorin began to figure out that redirection and not interrupting the flow of your opponent until you could force them to overextend allowed for brutal openings. He saw that with two weapons he was able to disarm easier which he successfully did on a number of occasions before attacking his opponent''s footwork leading to his success.


    Every day the training day would end with each person getting 2-3 battles. Those who failed to win a single fight in those would be collared and led away.


    "Conscripts! Form for combat!"


    That was the que. They formed a large circle as the soldiers formed behind them.


    "You and you! In the middle!"


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    One soldier commanded two conscripts to the center. They obeyed, then they took up position.


    "Begin!"


    The fights were always so brutal. Each person here was desperate as the fear what happened to the collared conscripts was ever on their minds or the fear of death for poor showings. The fights were not pretty and there was not a lot of technical skill just brutal swinging until exhaustion. Like Sorin a few people were chosen to take up special weapons such as a hook blade, chakram, claymore, battle axe, and one person even got a flail to use. Some were even thrown back to the spear or even a short spear thing called a partisan which was more complex and had more slashing but not as much as a glaive or naginata looking weapon.


    The fights would go brutally until one slip up and they came to a sudden end with the other would be smashed to the ground so forcefully they would get sent backwards or downward. The increased strength of the conscripts from the aether made these fights seem like the martial art movies but without the grace.


    Then it was Sorin''s turn. He had never used the dual blades for real and was rather nervous and his opponent was one of the spear users.


    They took their positions, and he looked across at his opponent. A pale faced man smaller than he was, but the fear was there as it was in him. He could use that. He forced his fear down and grinned at his opponent as he raised his swords in what he had been shown was dimachaerus and waited for the signal.


    His opponents eyes widened as Sorin had hoped was him being psyched out. Hopefully it was the case because if it were then he had already won.


    "Begin!"


    His opponent rushed in as Sorin had guessed he would if his opponent was afraid and trying to rush in to stop feeling that pressure. Sorin slow jogged to the middle and met his opponent who naturally led with a thrust to the throat. Sorin turned to the left with the left sword up deflecting the spear letting it go by as he brought the right sword up and slammed it down on the back of his opponent''s neck as he went by. Had that been a real sword it would have been hopefully a lethal strike but only a brutal finish would do here and never were they given easy victories. Sorin continued to his assault as his opponent staggered forward from the quick deflect and stinging impact unaware that Sorin had closed the distance instantly shifting to his opponents left side where they were weak as his opponent was left-handed. With the left sword he slashed down on his opponent''s shin and with the right slammed into the back throwing his opponent into the ground. His opponents spear flew to the side as Sorin pounced on his back swords pinning him to the ground as he looked to the officiating soldier for command.


    "Break! Move away and back into position."


    Sorin immediately stood and careful to stay away from the soldier keeping his head bowed moved back to the circle. He had secured his spot for another day. Sorin saw the sergeant watching as he got up and used his heat sense to verify if he was in fact under observation by the man and he was talking to the soldier next to him who was taking notes while also looking at Sorin. He had done his best to not stand out, but he was starting to see that was becoming a thing of the past especially as more conscripts were weeded out.


    Sorin fought one more time that night but ended up losing to a pugilist who was given gauntlets. Sorin was unable to keep her out of his range. He tried to fall back to keep her in his ideal range, but he couldn''t. She would close and he just didn''t have the skill to fight that close with swords. She kept slamming punches through his guard and eventually Sorin said screw it, tossing his swords to the ground and take the fight to the ground which was a huge mistake as his opponent had been trained in ground combat and she proceeded to beat him into a state of near unconsciousness.


    He was ripped off the ground and shoved to the ring where his vision slowly came back. He picked up the swords that were tossed at his feet and stood there bleeding from everywhere on his face.


    The fights where eventually called. Five conscripts didn''t win a single fight. They were collared and taken away.


    "Attend!"


    All of the conscripts dropped their weapons and snapped to attention as the sergeant made his way out the arena.


    "This is your first week of training and we have gotten our core group. You will be given a day reprieve for healing and recovery once per week. This is the day that you can wash your clothing and ensure everything is ready for the following day. A healer will be sent to speed your recover for maximum training results. You will not be fully healed as you need to learn to embrace pain and suffering. Your internal injuries and soreness will be healed but the bruises and cuts shall remain.


    Dismissed!"

 Chapter 9 - Tactical Advantage

    "Rise and Fall to formation!"


    Sorin''s eyes snapped open, and he jumped out of his cot, body screaming in sore agony. It felt like he was one huge cracking scab as he got to the foot of his cot in the position of attention.


    "Today is a rest day. You get to have time to yourself so that you don''t go insane. You have two requirements. One! washing your disgusting clothes. Two! Receive healing." The soldier pointed to a slender older woman in a white and silver martial arts robe. Form cut with baggy legs to allow for movement.


    The soldier continued; "Failure to complete those two tasks will lead to your removal and collaring. Dismissed!"


    The soldier left the bay and Sorin immediately just sat down and hung his head letting his mind blank out.


    "I''m Ardwyn." A raspy male voice from his right said.


    Sorin looked over at the man, an elf exactly like the legends from earth said they were. Slender cat like build with slightly larger eyes there were in this case a greenish blue that were not obfuscated by the bruising and dark circles.


    "Sorin." was the reply that he gave back to the elf not knowing what else to say.


    "This is pretty.... rough." Ardwyn said rolling his hand forward in a circular motion during the pause.


    Sorin snorted a sarcastic laugh.


    "Yeah, no kidding. Way worse than anything I''m used to. More like gladiator training."


    Ardwyn tilted his head "what is a gladiator?"


    "Men who were usually slaves who fought sometimes battles to the death for entertainment." Sorin said. "Not too different from our situation. I was a farmer on my world, so i have little experience with this stuff. However, Chorus over there is military. She is a ranger from my city." Ardwyn gestured to an elven woman across the bay and down from them on the left who at the sound of her name looked up with a scathing glare and got up.


    She came to a stop in front of Ardwyn. "Did you ask if you could share my experience with a random stranger? No, you didn''t so how about you keep your mouth shut before I help you?"


    Ardwyn reeled back with shock and fear on his face.


    "Relax, nobody in this place has any more advantage than anyone else regardless of our experience. We have all seen each other in action and already know who has training and who doesn''t."


    Chorus snapped her eyes at Sorin.


    "You are not our kind human, and you know nothing about tactical advantages."


    Sorin giggled and shrugged her off


    "You disagree?" Chorus asked with a sarcastic air


    Sorin looked up at her and took her in. Slender cat like build, platinum blonde with light blue almost grey eyes and exactly what the legends and single nerds fantasized about elves would talk about. Sorin cut the thought off and responded.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Yes, I do. I am going to assume you''re older than me, in spite of the fact you look like you''re in your early 20''s, but mentally you''re probably younger than me. I have been in the military of my world for the better part of 20 years and have plenty of experience when it comes to tactical and strategic advantages. Knowing someone has training only makes one more cautious but doesn''t give anyone any insight into their skill especially when we are from different worlds and difference species. For example, do you know what types of martial arts I''m trained in or how far I can shoot a gun and hit a target accurately?"


    Chorus raised her eyebrows.


    "I don''t even know what a gun is so no."


    Sorin nodded.


    "Exactly. You know I have military experience so odds are you will be overthinking a lot what I can do which may slow your reaction time allowing me to target many of the standard human vital points I would try to exploit. So... you can relax and try to make allies to prop you up when this training period inevitably gets worse."


    Ardwyn seemed so lost at the exchange between Sorin and Chorus that he remained silent and picked at the blisters on his hands.


    "You suggest an alliance?" Chorus asked almost indignantly.


    "Yep. Running solo will only get you so far in environments like this." Sorin responded getting up and gathering his dirty clothes stripping out of the ones he had and wrapping a rag around to observe what propriety he could.


    Chorus and Ardwyn glanced away to respect his dignity.


    "You mentioned tactical advantage, but I mentioned that and strategic advantage. We would be stupid to try to match these assholes in standard brute power training in the same manner they do, using their standards. Why would I fight on a battlefield always chosen by my opponents?"


    Chorus seemed surprised and now curious.


    "Before I continue, lets wash our stuff and get to the healing line."


    The two elves went to their cots, stripped and gathered their belongings then met up with Sorin and went down to the bathing pool to wash their clothes.


    "As I was saying, we can''t hope to match these people playing their game. We have to flip the script and find an advantage using what we know from our own worlds. I have already messed with the system, and I think I have a path forward that might let me circumvent what they think is invulnerable. They are arrogant and I might be able to use that. If what I think I''m on to is accurate, I could render even a tier 100 person vulnerable to my attacks and even circumvent collars."


    Ardwyn and Chorus listened intently as the three tried to get the blood stains out of their clothes.


    Sorin continued, "What is the one thing that makes us all equals?"


    Ardwyn spoke up first "Humanoid?" Sorin Shrugged "Yeah...we all have that in common but that is hardly something worth taking into account right away."


    Chorus spoke up next "The system?"


    "Bingo." Sorin replied.


    "What?" the two elves said at the same time.


    "Just a word from my world we use when someone gets something right. You are exactly right though. The system. We are all empowered by it and bound to it. It runs off aether which if my theory is correct is called something else in my world and in time, I think I can exploit it. I don''t want to go too far and give you guys hope until I''ve tested it more but so far, I think what I have in mind will work.


    Sorin said as he scooped his clothes and began to leave the pool for healing now that the line had gotten shorter.


    The elves followed him up and into the line.


    "Look in my world there are more than the five elements, in fact there are 94 naturally occurring elements my world has discovered with 24 that are synthetic and all of those have something in common especially when you think of it in the terms of natural laws that bind our universe. If I''m correct...I might be able to use the system to undermine their strangle hold on us." Sorin explained.


    Chorus and Ardwyn looked at each other with a look of such confusion that Sorin just let out a sigh.


    "Look let me test things and if I''m right I''ll teach you what I know. We need to have allies."


    The elves just nodded and Ardwyn spoke up.


    "At this point, I don''t really care how we can get free and get home as long as long as it''s viable chance. We either die as fodder, escaping, mining, or we get free."


    Sorin nodded. "Exactly."


    They received their partial healing and went back to Sorin''s cot.


    "Let me work on things for the next few weeks and I''ll get you both an answer." Sorin said as he sat down getting ready to start in using the rest of the day off.


    Chorus nodded "Works for me." She walked off and Ardwyn followed suit leaving Sorin alone.


    Sorin took a deep breath and prepared to go internal and see if he could find some exploits.

 Chapter 10 - First break throughs

    All around there was heat. Motes of light all over giving off reds, oranges, yellows, ruddy browns indicating different temperatures. Sorin could see the bodies of those around him, but he needed more. He needed to find a way to gain an edge over those around him and he had two major theories that he needed to test and work toward. Aether is the mysterious fifth element of alchemy in his world''s history, but if he was right, it was no different than what he had been taught was just energy. Sorin began to look closer at the individual motes and saw how they interacted with one another. The brighter the mote the further it liked to be from other motes and the colder the closer, which makes sense when it comes to molecules that have been heated. Which is more evidence that what they called fire essence or aether is, in fact energy.


    He could move this fire aether around him and gather it, but it was not fire. It was just the heat energy. Heat is the vibration of molecules and the distancing from others, but what caused actual fire or what he knew to be the ignition point when fire was produced, but what is heat? Sorin looked closely at the molecules in his sense and saw there were streams of energy coming off the hotter molecules much more than the cooler ones he began to try to manipulate that energy and saw that it reacted to his desire. He began to pull it closer to him and started to slightly compress it into a ball.


    As he pressed, he saw that the energy resisted him and did not want to be kept close to the rest of that energy and began to heat up even more, but Sorin kept squeezing.


    Flash!


    In his sense there was a brilliant flash and Sorin could feel the heat radiating off the orb in front of him. It let of waves of heat and began to shrink becoming smaller and smaller until it went back to the disorganized essence of heat.


    *beep*


    Sorin opened his eyes and not only saw the notification in the corner of his vision but the stares of a few of the people around him.


    He ignored their looks and immediately opened the notification.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skills:


    Ignition - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    Skill upgrade:


    Minor fire manipulation has become Fire manipulation


    You may now manipulate the fire aether around you at less cost to you and with greater dexterity.


    Skill upgrade:


    Minor fire sense has become Fire sense


    You may now sense heat aether more clearly with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your Fire sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a)


    Sorin was extremely pleased with the results so far and settled in again.


    Sorin closed his eyes and opened up his sense and looked inward this time for phase two of his early plan. He had read many cultivation books and knew they could pull "mana" in those books into their core and do some sort of refinement, but Sorin had almost with complete surety that he was dealing with energy, and all was energy. Why couldn''t he draw that energy in to increase his own stores and recharge himself?


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    He saw the streams of aether leaving his core around his navel and going to the different points of his skin in a slow steady motion. He reached out and began to manipulate the aether around him and noticed a sort of grab or attachment to the ambient aether. He was grabbing small amounts at a time so using his internal aether as sort of tentacles was not going to be an efficient method. Sorin stopped and thought for a while on how to gather more aether or event do it continuously. He thought of a scoop, or paddles, or even a bucket but none of those would work. Then it clicked. what about a whirlpool?


    Sorin began letting his aether out and pushed it to begin swirling slowly at first but faster and faster in a single point and it started doing two things. first it began to heat the area around that aether "port?" then it began moving it to the entrance of said port and then Sorin began to pull all of that aether in as quickly as he could he found that getting the motion started worked with the laws of motion and the aether began to flow quickly through that channel and began to push into him. It warmed the channel he was using then it hit is core. It began to fill more and more. Sorin kept that motion going and began creating more vortexes at the other channel ports as he began to call them and the speed in which the aether rushed into him got faster and faster. He noticed his core was filling quickly at the same time.


    It was at this moment someone shook him.


    "Sorin!"


    Ardwyn shook him violently. "You need to stop whatever it is you are doing. You are creating a wind around you and dropping the temperature of the room."


    Sorin began looking around and opened his sense and saw the direct area around him had the air cooled to a teal blue and all the people around him had moved away staring at him uneasily. It was at this time Sorin noticed a notification that he had not even noticed.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill:


    Absorption - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves but no longer.


    Sorin smiled to himself. This was step one complete for what he was trying to do. He pulled up his full HUD.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Pyromancer


    AP: 390/400


    Body: 7/10 (T1)


    Mind: 10/10 (T1)


    Spirit: 20/50 (T2)


    Abilities:


    1. Fire sense (p)/(a) - sense heat aether more clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your Fire sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a).


    2. Fire manipulation (a) - You can manipulate fire aether in your immediate vicinity. May cause minor interference with another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    3. Ignition - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    4. Absorption - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves but no longer.


    Sorin was surprised by a few changes as he hadn''t look at his HUD for a while.


    His body had improved probably because of the physical training he had been doing and in spite of all the experimentation he had done, his AP was nearly full which he contributed to absorption. He closed his HUD and began to look around. As it turned out, others had begun to follow his example and work on themselves.


    "Its survival of the fittest." Ardwyn said noticing Sorin''s attention. "They all saw you working on your path, and it made them nervous enough that after they were done healing many started doing the same. In your effort to give yourself an edge, you might increase your level of competition. Even Chorus is working on herself. She wasn''t happy to see you make what appeared to be leaps and the fact you summoned flames."


    Sorin gave a single chuckle to himself.


    "I''m only getting started."


    Sorin with a very mischievous grin.

 Chapter 11 - Aether 101 part 1

    "Aether is the fifth element and the most important one that we use every day. The system is made up of transcendent aether. When we go to war, there is an exchange of massive amounts of aether with the intent to destroy everything in its path, most of the time in very flashy, pretty ways. This next week and the weeks to follow, you will begin training in not only your martial prowess with the weapons you have but will begin to integrate the use of aether."


    Sergeant Agron said as he walked slowly up and down in front of the formation. He took hold of a saber and began pushing his aether into the weapon.


    "What you see me doing is pushing my aether around this weapon increasing many aspects about it such as its durability and sharpness. Your aether types will flavor your attacks with different effects based off your will and path. I use a steel path, so my swords are more durable and extra sharp among other things that are none of your business."


    He turned to a wooden dummy behind him and lazily swung the sword and the crease between its next and shoulder and the blade slid through as if it were a red-hot knife through warm butter. As the dummy fell apart, he turned back to the formation.


    "There are offensive and defensive techniques. Corporal! hit me with one of our aether techniques."


    Sergeant Agron said as he raised his weapon.


    The corporal immediately drew in aether and stomped his foot in the ground forcing a spike of stone to shoot up and then he kicked it and launched it like an arrow at the sergeant. The sergeant stood there calmly drawing upon his aether as his skin went steel grey just before impact. With a very metallic ping, the stone shattered forcing the sergeant back a single step but left him completely unscathed.


    "Moving forward your fights and training will be with the employment of your path with your weapons and techniques you know or will soon develop. Healers will be available, but do not be careless. Failure to defend yourself or purposely moving to kill result in very undesirable consequences. Soldiers! Begin the day''s training!"


    The sergeant turned on his heel and walked away as the soldiers began dividing the conscripts.


    Sorin had a lot to try and with his increased ability to manipulate fire and aether in general he was curious if he could do a few things and now that they were training aether use he could put a lot of it to the test. He was also looking forward to throwing a few fire balls and detonating things around him. At this point his skills were so new every use of them was going to give him large jumps in skill and proficiency.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He was placed into a group of six. Two other humans were in this group with a vampire, two dwarfs and ogre.


    "Pay attention! I am Corporal Ries and I will be your group instructor for the foreseeable future. I will be here to help you train in aether use and in the integration with your fighting. We will begin by infusion techniques into your weapons. Something to keep in mind...if you put too much aether into your weapons you will destroy them as they will corrode or melt. You must find balance. I assume each of you can manipulate your paths and aether to some degree."


    All nodded but one dwarf who looked rather angry. He was slenderer and stockier than the barrel-chested dwarves you read about in the stories. Corporal Ries walked over. "You cannot?" He asked.


    The dwarf bowed his head immediately. "No corporal, I cannot. My path is an internal augmentation class." Corporal Reis smiled. "Thats fine, as long as you can use your aether to boost your offense and defense then it doesn''t matter. Ries said turning the group.


    "Behind the ogre is a whole barrel full of wooden swords. You will practice the infusion technique or its equivalent until I say stop. By the days end, anyone who cannot competently infuse or use their aether in a way that is beneficial is leaving to the mines."


    Sorin looked at his two short swords and opened up his sense. He pulled aether into the blades and trying to infuse them and as he pulled more, they began to heat until they caught fire.


    "Conscript! you use fire. coat the blades and give a burning effect rather than destroy your weapons. The hotter you can make the edges without destroying the weapon the better."


    Sorin bowed his head. "Yes Corporal!" Sorin got two more swords from the barrel. They were not as good as the ones he had just destroyed as they seem to be worn out rejects meant for this training. He pulled the heat aether to the edge of the blades and lowered the temperature of the sword compressing the heat between the two boundaries he set up. He compressed them until it ignited and then kept going. If he could press it down, he could get the flames so agitate that it looked almost like a laser, or at least that was his working theory. The flames when from orange then to white and began small around the edge of his blades. He turned to the dummy near him and swung. His sword made contact with the dummy. Smoke and flames billowed up from the dummy and then his sword snapped like a twig.


    "You did not infuse your weapon to add durability. Fill the weapon with aether and apply your edge. You must do multiple things at once." Ries said.


    Sorin looked up and saw the rest of his group in various stages of infusion. Of all of them, the vampire was doing extremely well. Around his weapon was a red aura that smelled of copper and when his blade hit the dummy he could see if visibly begin to wither like a plant left dry and, in the sun too long.


    "Good! well done conscript...Do it again!" Reis said to the vampire.


    Sorin tried many many times to get the balance right and went through weapon after weapon. He stopped pulling two every time and ruined one at a time. At about four hours in, it clicked.


    The balance was achieved and the flames around the blade settled more neatly and the sword itself felt sturdier. Maintaining the energy and control, Sorin swung cleaving the dummy in half searing it and setting it on fire at the same time. The metal that held the dummy in place was completely cut through and glowed bright orange.


    "Excellent! About time conscript! Continue practicing!"

 Chapter 12 - Aether 101 Part 2

    *Slash* *Hiss*


    Sorin continued working with the infusion technique into his weapon and then began doing it to a second sword to ensure that his training method was not going to be interrupted by an imbalance. After an additional couple of hours, he got the balance and control down to the point he could adjust the power up and down for power. As he was working with the swords and his techniques while channeling his abilities he kept an eye on the aether drain.


    AP: 337/400


    The drain was minimal for this technique. Corporal Reis had noticed him pausing and staring at something in front of him and advised.


    "The techniques we are teaching you are designed to be used in drawn out battles especially if you are using it sporadically and as needed. As a spirit tier one, you should have plenty left for the next phase of training."


    Sorin nodded knowing he wasn''t a tier one but a tier 2, yet he wasn''t going to volunteer free information. Knowing the endurance of an opponent is a critical piece of information. The more they believe he is a tier one the better for him.


    He continued going through the dual wielding forms making sure he didn''t make the few mistakes he had in the early hours where he had burned himself being clumsy. Heat manipulation and sense as well as his other abilities doesn''t mean he is immune to his own fire. At this point now he was working through the forms at a normal pace maintaining a good burn on the blades and keeping the durability at a strong yet slightly flexible state. He found that if he packed too much in but not enough to destroy the blades, they became super solid, but brittle. During this time Sorin had been trying to figure out how he was going to use his path in a defensive manner.


    He had a few ideas for defending against other aether attacks and only one for physical attacks. It required testing to see if it were possible to do what he wanted, and it required more information.


    "Halt! Fall to formation!" Ries shouted and the group of them formed a small formation in front of him.


    "I will now go over a few standard methods of defense that is commonly seen. The first method especially for those of you with a high spirit and mind rating is to pack aether into a wall in front of you to stop or slow aether attacks and even physical attacks. When done right you will see a translucent barrier in front or even a full manifestation of your element or sub element. The key to this is, are a few factors."


    Reis held up one finger "Speed of aether manipulation through a strong mind stat and practice." The second finger went up "Control also using the mind stat to make sure your aether is in proper alignment with no holes in the field that can be exploited by enemy aether." A third finger went up "Third is the amount and how tightly packed your aether is before impact." A fourth finger went up. "Lastly is tier. What tier someone is will determine how much power and defense someone can bring to bear against their opponent. Each point that is in your spirit rating is 10 aether.


    When you get to the peak of tier one you will have 100. When you break through to tier two your aether pool will double as will the gains from each. When you push into tier three it will double again. This is what makes battle so dangerous and why information is key. If you go up against a tier three as a tier one there is little chance of your survival because that person could be essentially ten times if not stronger than you are. That is in spirit alone and not factoring in the same when it comes to body, and they will be faster with greater mana control than you with a stronger mind stat. Now with all that said...YOU! Step forward."


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Reis pointed to the ogre. "I want you to attack me either with aether or physically as hard as you can. You will face no consequences as this is a training exercise and I''m a higher tier than you."


    The man stepped forward after acknowledging the command given. Corporal Reis stood casually watching the ogre. With a growl and a sneer, the ogre brough his wooden hammer down toward the head of Reis who raised a hand making a silver extremely solid looking barrier appear before him. With a crack the wooden hammer exploded against the barrier and the ogre was thrown backwards to his rear.


    "On your feet and fall back to formation!" Reis yelled as the ogre slowly got up and shuffled to formation. It seemed there was some sort of transfer when he struck the barrier. "There are infinite amounts of affects the barriers can take on and different types of defenses. Some of the greatest warriors have been known to maintain their defenses all the time they are awake. Now...spread out and begin working on your defense. Minimum standard is going to be a projection of a barrier. For you." Looking to the dwarf who could not project. "I need to see your internal aether used to strengthen your skin so that when impact does happen you can block it in the same manner that the captain did at receiving."


    Turning to the rest of the group he spoke once more. "You are on your own time until an hour before end of the days training. you will be tested. Failure to meet the minimum standard will result in removal as per usual. Begin"


    Sorin found his own area and sat down to focus. He opened up his sense and saw all around him doing different things to work on their defense ability. Some were throwing aether out which Sorin could see as heat of different temperatures. Sorin saw the dwarf sitting and working the aether inside and he could see the temperature within him in a constant state of flux as he was working how to strengthen himself. The vampire.... Sorin could not distinguish him from ambient temperature including any aether use. Looking at the vampire Sorin saw him actively moving what appeared to be red aether. Sorin had been brainstorming this and wanted to try a few things out, but before he did that, he needed to do the bare minimum before his other projects. Turning his palms to the ceiling he allowed aether to forcefully expel from the channels in his hands moving rapidly into a small, curved shield in front of him.


    He could see the molecules moving and lining up according to his will, but still stubbornly didn''t want to be close together, so like every good solution, Sorin forced them closer causing the ignition effect. Sorin brough up his aether points to make sure he didn''t let out too much as to give away his elevated tier. He was already down 15 points. Looking at the shield in front of him, it looked almost like a laser shield from a movie he saw where red shields would periodically open and close near a reactor the characters were fighting with their laser swords. Sorin reached into the sand and grabbed a small rock and threw it into the shield. With a shower of sparks the rock was scorched and shot back in his direction. Sorin yelled and dodged losing his concentration causing the shield to destabilize and break apart.


    "Easy enough." He mumbled to himself as he settled back in to begin work his other idea. He moved his aether out and around his hand about a centimeter from his skin and began pushing it tightly together. Before he pushed it to ignition, he put a barrier of cooler heat aether before the tightly packed aether to serve as a buffer then he ignited the aether. A smile crossed Sorin''s face as he held up a red gauntlet. Slowly he closed his hand careful to make sure the aether flowed and moved with him. He had to focus to keep it moving with him as it had the tendency to flicker when his concentration lagged behind. He reached his hand down into the sand beside him and the sand began to smoke as the bits of burnable items in the sand began to burn and other elements began to spark and interact. He pulled his hand back and there was a scorch mark where his hand was. There was plenty of room for improvement.


    Sorin continued to work with the idea he had expanding it and growing it, getting used to the mental gymnastics required for coordinating the armor he had in mind. He needed a way to get used to this, but he could only focus on some many things at once.


    "Halt! Fall to formation!" Came the call from Corporal Reis.


    Exam time! He said with a grin.

 Chapter 13 - Value

    " Form a circle around me, Move!"


    The six of them spread out evenly around Corporal Ries and waiting for the inevitable call out of the first set of combatants.


    "During this! you will observe the use of aether by your group and see where you can improve or use their ideas to strengthen your own techniques. Unlike the previous spar matches we will not be going for victory. You will be designated as an attacker or defender. Whoever is the attacker will attack until I say stop. As the defender, you will obviously stop your opponent from killing you. Attacker you will use at most half of your remaining aether so that you can defend with what remains."


    He slowly turned and looked at the group before settling for the first paring.


    "Dwarves! To the middle!" he shouted as he moved off to the side.


    The two dwarves went to the center. One had a set of gloves as he was a pugilist and the other had a halberd. "Halberd is the attacker! Begin!"


    The halberd immediately slashed from right to left with a green glow around it while the pugilist brought both his arms up to take the hit. A subtle grey sheen began to show on his skin as the halberd slammed into his arms a moment later.


    *smack! *


    The sound of wood on flesh was heard sharply by all as the sheen on the pugilist''s arms shone brighter then broke launching him backwards. He got up quickly and only a small line where the halberd made contact. The attacking dwarf continued to advance per the instructions and kept on swinging and striking. Each time the green met the grey the grey took some of the energy off leaving small marks either to the arms or the body where the weapon hit, and a few minutes of non-stop strikes Reis called it to a stop.


    "Good! you have figured out a way to defend yourself. I had counted you our as a lost cause. Good work dwarf, keep it up. Switch!"


    The dwarves reset their position and Reis gave the command.


    This time the pugilist with fists glowing brightly grey silver slammed into the green barrier and broke through immediately as if he were going through a gas mist. The dwarf blocked with the halberd and backed off to get distance and threw the barrier back up again. This time it held for a few strikes but then it faltered and fell apart forcing the dwarf to physically block and get more distance. The dwarf with the halberd kept trying to keep the shield up with the relentless fast strikes from the pugilist but it was a lost cause with the match up. The next time the barrier went up it was a hazy wispy thing that couldn''t block anything.


    "Halt!" Reis called out as the pugilist lowered his fists and took a few steps back.


    "You both pass. Move to the side, rest, and observe the others."


    "Humans! Get in here!


    Sorin and the other human a woman with a thin sword that Sorin thought was a jian, but honestly couldn''t remember. She was on the shorter side around 5''3 to 5''5. Short hair and dead eye look to her. "You!" Reis said pointing to the woman. "You are the attacker. Begin!"


    The woman flew at Sorin extremely fast with a forward thrust of her wooden blade with a hazy clear shimmer straight to his heart, with a flick of his hand and some will power a smaller shield sprung up over his chest angled outward to Sorin''s left. The sword met the barrier as Sorin continued to angle to his right for an angle on his opponent and to ward off easy follow-on strikes, but to his surprise the jian seemed to incinerate on contact and snapped. It appeared to Sorin that she was going to use the impact as a means to redirect but as the sword became a stump it dumped her, headfirst into the barrier.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Sorin didn''t even have enough time to lower his barrier, and he heard a blood curdling scream and a hiss. He was already lowering the barrier as he was angling out but in that brief moment the damage was done. He could smell the burned flesh and hair from the woman as she continued to scream. Reis had already called over the healer as Sorin backed away head bowed automatically in the absence of orders.


    After a few minutes the healers had fixed the womans face which was now a color of pink on one side like new flesh, but the hear on the right side of her head was still missing.


    "Well!" Reis started with a small chuckle. "It seems your defense works well on weapon and flesh. Now switch."


    Sorin brough his blades to the ready and looked across at the woman who had nothing but shock and fear on her face seeing the flames ignite along the edge. Had this been an actual battle, Sorin had won. Unfortunately, he had to strike and hard. Reis didn''t know he probably had more spirit than others in the group, so he should be able to pull the blows a little bit to make sure he didn''t cut through and injure her again.


    "Begin!"


    Sorin launched himself at his opponent with a double cut using both blades to from right to left at the nape of her neck and below her left arm. Her barrier went up as a hazy translucent almost transparent thing and his swords made impact. There was a slight slowing of the blades, but to Sorin''s absolute horror that was it. The blades met the intended area of attack and didn''t stop. The white-hot edges sliced clean through the woman as if they were actual steel. There was a sharp squeal then silence as she was thrown to the side and down by the momentum of the strike.


    Sorin stood there in shock waiting to see blood but as the blades went through, they cauterized and burned any blood on them. He looked at Corporal Reis who was looking down at the corpse of the woman with an amused look.


    "Well...your defense didn''t work." He giggled a bit to himself. The words snapped Sorin out of his daze and he glared at the Corporal.


    The corporal seeing Sorin''s look smirked. "If you want to end up like her conscript, keep looking at me like that." Sorin was burning with indignation and outrage at the callous regard for life, but loss of control was a weakness and Sorin bottled it and forced it down. He put his head down in a bow as he was supposed to.


    "Good conscript! at least you still know your place."


    "Ogre! Vampire! get out here!" Reis called the healers over to get rid of the body of the woman. As soon as they were gone, he gave the rest of his commands for the ogre to attack and vampire to defend and to being.


    The ogre lumbered to the vampire who waited mid swing and reached out with a hand coated in the red aether to the hammer. Sorin was expecting a block and the arm to get hammered to the side, but the vampire caught the face of the hammer and the red aether struck the hand of the ogre causing him to scream and drop the hammer. When Sorin looked at the hand he saw it wither a bit as if aging quickly. Looking at vampire, Sorin saw a cruel smirk.


    "Thats enough! I''ve seen what I need to. Don''t need to see you a withered husk before you can show me the minimum criteria. Switch and begin!"


    The vampire slowly walked up to the ogre with a rapier, drew his arm back and stabbed, as the ogre ripped a barrier of dirt up from the ground as a full manifest. Sorin couldn''t see the other side but when the vampire stabbed the wall the rapier stuck in with its blood red aether and the soil around it began to blacken. He tried to pull the rapier back, but it was locked in place as the soil hardened.


    "Halt! Fall to formation."


    The five conscripts dropped their weapons and ran to formation.


    "Five out of six isn''t a bad hall for a group. Turns out there were six others who didn''t make it. You seem to have forgotten that you have no value except what you can provide should you pass this training. If all five of you were to die right now, the empire would replace you in a day, but we have a schedule to keep. Keep your attitudes and emotions to yourself or you will be removed."


    Reis looked directly at Sorin who kept his eyes off the Corporal who was looking for an excuse to escalate things. Sorin had been in this position before and was not about to give in and lose everything including his slim chance of getting home.


    "Training is done for the day. Bathe... you are all disgusting. Dismissed."

 Chapter 14 - Inevitability

    Sorin sat in the water thinking about what had just happened.


    He could still see the eyes of the woman that he didn''t even know the name of slowly losing the spark and luster of life. The shock and agony still on her face with the smell of burning flesh and bowels.


    The movies Sorin had watched made those scenes seem so trivial as the bad ass main character just moved on and continued to stack up the bodies.


    All Sorin could feel is a cold emptiness inside. He could still feel his blades slicing easily through her flesh as if it were barely there.


    "I pulled the strike and everything." Sorin whispered to himself. His sense told him the energy was there and lined up as a barrier. He was assuming wind or air aether so it should have blocked or deflected the blow.


    Sorin reflected on the strike itself "Why did I target that specific spot? Even with a deflection, I left no room for it to deflect safety."


    Uncounted minutes went by until Sorin heard water splashing from someone walking out into the pool on his side.


    "Glernog told me what happened in your group." Chorus spoke and sat down next to Sorin.


    Sorin didn''t say anything.


    "First time taking a life?" She asked.


    Sorin looked down and breathed in.


    "Yeah. Was never in a position where I had to. I''ve always been a gentle man content to appear dangerous to keep my wife and son safe. In my military, I was never sent to a combat zone. It was always peace keeping missions after the peace making had been done."


    Chorus just listened and nodded.


    "I was 44 when I took my first life in service to my people. It was a hostile clan that tried to infiltrate our region. I shot him through the face. To this day still the best shot I''ve ever made. It was nearly from one side of our arena to the other in distance and slammed right through the eye. I knew it was the enemy as I could see their colors, but it was still one of my own race. Someone took my shift, and my patrol chief took me over to the body. He told me something that I will now tell you. So, take this advice or leave it, it won''t hurt my feelings in any way. "People die. Today, tomorrow, decades from now in our own bed we will all die. Do not seek to kill, but do not hesitate to defend yourself and others."


    Sorin sat there in the water just thinking. Chorus sat there beside him silently not saying anything. After a few minutes more water splashed as Ardwyn came up and sat on Sorin''s left also not saying anything, but just sitting.


    This was a concept that Sorin had wrestled with for years. He knew it was not murder. He did not mean any harm to the woman, but it was a training mishap. He had always thought about the day he may be forced to take a life should someone threaten him or his family. He had weapons strategically placed throughout the house should someone break in, and he had to "wrong house" them. His thoughts settled to who is responsible for the death. Yes, his hands were the ones that dealt the death blow, but it was on the command of another. If he had refused, Sorin would have been killed or taken to the mines with a collar and his chances of getting home to his family who may desperately need them.


    He knew Brittanie was strong and a force of nature in her own right and she would protect their son to the best of their ability. He taught her how to use the guns and how to read people. She is a northern gal and stubborn as can be. She was a medical professional and could care for injuries. They had bug out bags, food, water and survival gear ready should she need it. However, moving back to the situation currently in front of him, if Sorin let this bog him down and stop him, it would be no different that quitting and abandoning his family. He absolutely would not do that.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "Do either of you know what her name was?" Sorin asked looking across the pool.


    "Lunny. She was from a small town in the 43rd sector of the empire from what I was told. She was formerly bar maid." Chorus finished.


    "She kept to herself and didn''t tell too much to many so that''s probably about all you will get. We don''t even know the name of her town or village."


    Sorin nodded. He fixed her face prior to the test of his barrier in his mind and let everything else go. He would remember her but would keep moving forward. Responsibility is heavy and he is partially responsible for her death, and he would own that.


    "I have a mission to get back home to my family and I can''t let this stop me. I will remember her as I move forward."


    Ardwyn nodded and clapped him on the back.


    "I''ve been there. I had to defend myself once and shoved a man over a balcony. He landed neck first on stone. He didn''t shake it off." Ardwyn began to chuckle followed by Sorin and Chorus.


    Sorin looked up at Ardwyn. "Gallows humor?"


    Closing his eyes sagely "absolutely, gallows humor. If you have to live with a bad experience you need to find ways to laugh no matter how bad it is. Whether you laugh at the next person you kill or you laugh at yourself, you need to laugh and figure out how to cope with it."


    Sorin threw water at Ardwyn and chuckled. "You''re a prick dude."


    Ardwyn tried to block the water thrown at him and quipped. "Now that you''re done being a crybaby .... Chorus you''re an old hag. I''m younger than you and I''m 88.


    Chorus cleared her throat pushed Sorin forward down and out of the way and swung.


    Smack! *


    As Sorin came back up looking at Ardwyn he was him coming back up out of the water from his back holding his face as a welt was already forming.


    - Meanwhile -


    "I had two standouts from my group Sergeant the vampire Ambriel and the human Sorin. I think we are missing something with the human''s abilities. The vampire''s abilities are not outside the norm of a noble vampire, but the human''s has something off about it. It seemed too potent in my opinion."


    Sergeant Agron who was sitting in a chair watching different recordings of the training that day pressed two buttons on his display causing it to switch over to Reis''s group logs.


    He watched the application of aether then paused when the two humans, one being the one mentioned by the corporal. Agron zoomed in and looked at the shield as it destroyed the durable wood practice weapon and burned the conscript.


    "I had better hope for that female conscript when it came to the employment of the jian. I had her planned to be assigned to Prince Amaru. Her fighting style and use of the jian would have pleased him."


    Agron fast forwarded the footage to the reverse of roles and the double strike of Sorin and the death of the conscript. As the blades came in for a strike, Agron slowed the footage down and pushed it forward frame by frame.


    "Reis was there anything abnormal about the structure of his blades?" Agron asked with a perplexed look on his face.


    "No Sergeant. I noticed it sliced through the dummy we had placed for each conscript, but I took the ease of cut to what has been previously observed by other flame paths." said Reis.


    "What about the wind barrier put up by the other?" Agron asked.


    "It was one of the best formed barriers of the group. It even had a wind manifestation making it hard to see and I believe it had a cutting retribution effect this early on." Reis replied. Agron kept rewinding and slowly watching the frames as the swords passed through the barrier.


    "I''m perplexed. We need to keep an eye on this one a little bit. Don''t devote any extra time to watching, but a little extra attention to his techniques. From what we have found from the gear that was left in the changing room after Lieutenant Laxric oriented him, his world relied on technology and not aether. Perhaps something there has allowed him to modify his techniques. We have had strange manifestations before from rift worlds when introduced to the near limitless system." Agron explained.


    Corporal Ries right fist to left side of chest in a salute. "Yes Sergeant. Will there be anything else?"


    "No, you''re dismissed."

 Interlude - POTUS

    "Mr. President, we have received the rest of that report you ordered. It turns out that everyone seems to have received what many of the tech experts have been calling a system with the exception of anyone under 10 years old. At certain locations where some of the nukes have been detonated there are cracks in the earth and creatures we have never seen before have been coming up."


    President Hogan sat at his desk in the oval office flipping through the multiple reports from across the country.


    "What is the deal with these scorpion monster looking things? This report says bullets don''t really work on them. Have we tried...bigger bullets?"


    Matty, the presidents primary assistant and compiler of the report shrugged. "According to the DOD they have started using high explosives and bigger rounds. The success varies based off creature type and ammo type. It turns out these creatures are not a fan of the A-10. Whatever ammunition that plane uses shreds them and every single time the Marines on ground hear that they giggle like a bunch of maniacs and always say "plane goes brrrrrrrr." He said throwing up air quotes.


    President Hogan giggled. "Those bastards would. We have multiple fronts within the country, and we have re-established communication with most of those fronts. Have we any news from the SecDef about how this is progressing?"


    Pulling another file from the few he had in his arms, Matty handed it over to the president.


    This report was given to me by Mr. Robinson''s assistant. The SecDef does not seem to be a fan of not being able to, as the assistant put it "stack bodies."


    President Hogan threw his head back and laughed a full belly laugh. "That ass hole on day one of this, killed one of the cerberus monsters with a knife while half drunk in silky American flag shorts and crocks not even in sport mode, I think he will be fine."


    Stolen novel; please report.


    The president had been overseeing the establishment of "guilds" as many of his staff nerds spoke about for the gathering of jobs and future enforcement. They were talking about how this was like the "japanimations" they have watched. He just shrugged his shoulders and said "fuck it" why not as everything is in chaos and if these guys had seen this crap before the better for everyone. In his heart of hearts President Hogan still wanted to become a super saiyan.


    The president began looking through the file and comparing it to the logistics and "path" reports he had been receiving as people began to understand the system. The joint task forces he had set up seem to be containing the rifts and the monsters as he was hoping. "Any positive stand outs in classes I should keep an eye on?" He asked.


    Matty moved to the folder in front of the president.


    "Unfortunately, with all of the chaos, parts of the country have fallen into anarchy where these "warlords" have figured out how to use their path to ensnare whole regions under their rule. There is massive amounts of crimes and depravity. On top of the monsters pushing in from the rifts. The SecDef has deployed troops to try to "unalive those fucks" as he put it and he has had some success as the system is still new. The other points to pay attention to is the increase in the paths of healing popping up. Luckily there are many people in the health field prior to the rifts that have moved into healing paths. There are two we have heard about that take healing to a nearly miraculous level and the state military have moved to protect them. One is in Pennsylvania and the other is in Tennessee."


    President Hogan nodded completely not surprised by his choice of SecDef and his attitude, but that''s why he picked him. If something needed to die Tod would kill it.


    In positive news looking at the third folder in front of him they have gotten a head start in passing state laws concerning the use of these "superpowers" everyone was getting. Once the rifts are contained, they would have to figure out ways to regulate the hunting of them for parts for crafting paths that have popped up and use that to help the economy which led him to the healing point of the report.


    "What are the names of the two super healers?" He asked still shaking his head at the nerd speak.


    Matty pointed at the report


    "Justin Sanchez and Brittanie Ekart."

 Chapter 15 - Primary objective

    Morning came extremely quick with Sorin getting little sleep due to the previous day''s events. All the conscripts were herded out of the sleeping area and formed up.


    "Today! we will be instilling into you a primary objective. Protection of your commander." Came the instruction of Sergeant Agron. "When these few months of training are over, each and every one of you who make it through will be assigned to one of our cadets in the academy that is in operation far above us. The Serpent Empire is a warrior empire that does suffer the weak so every single citizen we have does mandatory period of service. The ruling class from nobles to royalty from each planet and region of the Empire is sent to this academy and given conscripts in their final exam where death is a real possibility. Now....you might be thinking of being spiteful or turning traitor to your commander.... I would not let a single hair or scale or whatever they have going on get touched for their life is linked to your life once assigned. In other words, If they die...so do you and any other conscripts with you."


    Though the conscripts did not move there was a change in the atmosphere from the tension, fear, and pressure now being felt by all in the formation.


    "Set up through this arena are different dummies that you will be responsible for protecting from other teams. There are 49 conscripts in front of me which gives me seven teams of seven. Before training ends for the day, there will be only a single dummy still standing otherwise it is mission failure for all and we will conduct a worse death run than we did on day one complete with additional work outs to make sure you do not fail your objective the next time. Those of you who fail to protect your charge will be penalized through a miserable round of what we will call "incentive training by the soldiers here until the training day ends. Do your best to refrain from killing blows. Surrender, knockout, or my assistant instructor''s opinion will be conscript death criteria. Soldiers! break them up and put them to work!"


    "Yes Sergeant!" came the reply and al the conscripts were moved in groups of seven to each dummy and given no further instructions.


    Sorin began to look around at his team. To his surprise, Ardwyn was on his team. Ardywn, Sorin had found uses a short spear and kite shield with a water path. Before he could say anything the vampire from his group yesterday spoke up in a silky voice.


    "Put your hand up if your path is primarily defense?" he said and quickly four hands went up. The vampire looked at each of them and pointed. "You two and I will be the defense for your dummy." Ardwyn was one of the ones chosen for the defense with a scaled looking dragonkin? Sorin wasn''t sure but the scales had to offer some defense he supposed. "The offense will be the rest of you led by Serene here and your entire job is to make sure we do not suffer today." The vampire said with an almost tired expression on his face.


    "Why should we listen to you undead?" came a deep voice from the side as a large ogre from the currently dubbed offense team stepped in front of the vampire.


    "Two reasons. one.... both her and I are over two hundred years old, and I doubt any of you have that level of experience and two because I doubt you could come up with a better plan." Sorin was now glad that he did not step up quickly. He had worked incidents for years and knew you were to always give way for someone more experienced and they had him by nearly 170 years'' worth of life experience...or unlife experience? Sorin tilted his head in a sort of shrug and spoke up. "He kind of has a point. I don''t know your name, but it was the idea I was going to propose if nobody spoke up."


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Sorin spoke up because if the vampire was to take lead, then someone had to be the first follower. Many times, people assume the leader makes the calls and does everything, but always misses the fact there is a first follower who is willing to give the would-be leader a shot and the plan was sound with a leader of offense who was older than them by quite a bit.


    "My name is Hagrasha and I come from a might warrior clan. I am larger and fiercer than this puny vampire wench." the ogre turned and spat and Sorin.


    "I don''t doubt it but let''s give a little respect to her. She has lived over 200 years where many people can barely last 100 before they get killed. Your clan probably has leaders who are not the youngest of you but older and blooded in battle. Let''s follow their plan and if it doesn''t work, we adapt and we go with your plan. It''s a win-win situation." Sorin explained laying on the placative words to manipulate the Ogre to being a willing participant and de-escalate any points of friction because quite frankly Sorin didn''t care who they followed as long as they had one objective, and everyone pulled their weight with a sound offensive strategy.


    With a grunt the Ogre nodded and trudged off as the other teams began to move and even one team was beginning to eye them. "Serene, do not overextend yourselves and fall back when needed. We have a full day." Said the male vampire who nodded. "Worry not Ambriel. This is no different than the house wars from my region. I will ensure victory." The offense group faced the group eyeing them down and the defense group settled into a triangle around the dummy in a defensive posture. Each dummy was spread out evenly around the arena giving equal footing to each team.


    With the soldiers who oversaw their training watching Serene moved to the front of the offense team and began moving forward. Seeing the action by the offense team the opposing force began moving in with their three personnel. They were favoring defense where we favored offense. Sorin flared his blades as the two teams met. Hagrasha swung his massive battle axe as the elf in front of him bent backwards to avoid it and rolling to the side away as a follow up kick was thrown out but that was all Sorin could watch of that fight because he had his hands full with a quick elf of his own moving toward him with twin curved blades glowing with a purple black aura.


    They read each other''s strikes and met both with strikes of their own testing the strength of their aether. Purple and white sparks erupted as they collided temporarily blinding the two combatants. This did not bother Sorin as much as it did his opponent as Sorin was using his standard fire sense and could see through it all. Out of worry from temporary blindness the elf did a back swing with his right arm trying to force Sorin back, but Sorin stepped into the arm next to elbow in the elf''s guard and hooked that arm against his body and twisted to his left cutting with his sword to the hand of the elf.


    There was a hiss of burning flesh and small yelp from the elf as he dropped the sword from his hand in order to get away and then he jumped back directly where Sorin was hoping because it put him directly in the path of the other human on his team who merely clubbed him in the head knocking him out. Sorin looked at the human with a smirk and moved to help their other two teammates.


    As Sorin and the other human moved into position Serene and Hagrasha finished off their opponents with a brutal knockout from the ogre and a surrender from the dwarf fighting Serene. With momentum other side Hagrasha charged the dummy of the other team who panicked a moment losing them any defensive advantage. Sorin and Serene flanked to the sides while the team became hyper focused on the massive ogre charging that they didn''t even defend themselves and were declared dead by the soldier around with Hagrasha and the human following up sorting out the final two and crushing the dummy for the victory.

 Chapter 16 - Smarter not harder

    Sorin moved up beside Serene. "Good work human. I appreciate the assist earlier with helping get things moving." Sorin smiled "Not a problem. Time is a resource that must be managed like everything else in warfare." She nodded to him. "Well said."


    She turned and looked over the arena and saw different battles taking place. They were not the first group to kill a dummy. A group with a team of three ogres and a werewolf had ripped through a team and was beginning to survey the arena like them for a new target they began eyeing Sorin''s group, but was watching them to see what they would do. "We are going to fall back to the rest of the team and be patient." She began moving and Sorin followed suit agreeing with the plan.


    "Why do we not attack vampire?" Hagrasha asked with distaste. Still walking she turned her head. "Why do ourselves what our enemy will do for us? Let the other teams bash themselves together. That team has a werewolf and three ogres who I assume are just as hot blooded as you are for battle. They will probably take up the offense and either destroy the other teams for us and exhaust themselves or mess up and lose members."


    "That seems cowardly!" the Ogre spat. Sorin seeing a potential issue spoke up. "In my world, we have a saying from a legendary commander who was feared for a while. He said, "Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake." As it stands you are our biggest bruiser, and we do not want to expend the massive resource you bring to the table by throwing you directly at three of your kind and werewolf. We do not want to meet the enemy where they are strong but let them expend themselves and meet them while they are weak. There is more to bravery and honor to just brute force. Do not forget that war is also a battle of the minds, and we will try to win that as well." Serene was watching Sorin now with great interest not expecting insights into warfare that she herself did not understand fully until she was nearly 150. She didn''t speak on it but kept her own counsel. If she was ever opposed to this human, she will have to be extremely careful if he were to be in command.


    "I like you little human. You use large and fancy words, but they are not the words of the coward. You would make a good war chief if you were to get big enough and mighty enough. I will follow your words and trust in the vampires. If you support their plan I will too."


    They met up with the defensive group. Ambriel was keeping a watch on the other teams. "Good work Serene on your quick victory. I assume you have seen what I do?"


    Serene nodded. The far side has that team with a very strong physical offense and if I were to attack it outright, we do not have a good chance of victory and even if we did win, we would suffer more loss and leave the whole team unnecessarily weak. I am recommending a patience approach for a while. We have a whole day and hardly an hour has gone by. If that team makes a move, I would like to keep our team together to repel them and minimize risk. I do believe with the amount of battle lust from that team they will not be content to sit idle but to push the fight leading to our advantage from their combat loss, exhaustion, and/or overextension."


    Ambriel listened quietly nodding along. "I agree. We wait, rest, and watch. Be ready for any attacks." Ambriel announced to the entire team. They took up positions to either side of their dummy to keep watch as they rested in the sand observing the other teams. In the next two hours the ogre heavy team defeated two more teams, losing one of their number to a soldier declaration of a cut to the inside of his leg where the femoral artery would be. The ogre tried to argue with the soldier but was immediately slammed to the dirt by the soldier grabbing his face and tripping him backwards by the heel before he could even hope to react. The general consensus is the soldiers were all tier 3 with the sergeant believed to be tier 4.


    With four teams out and a line of them running around the edge of the arena and stopping to do different work outs Sorin''s team continued to watch. To Serene''s surprise the Ogres went back to their team and sat down staring and making vulgar gestures toward them. Ambriel motioned Serene over and after some talking, they both nodded, and He began walking over to the team directly to their left who had just watched since the start of the battle. At about the halfway point Ambriel stopped and waited. Sorin who had an idea of what he was doing stood up and watched in case of attack or movement from the team across the arena who was also watching. After a moment a barrel-chested dwarf with two hand axes stepped out and met with the vampire. After a brief discussion they nodded and walked back to their camps.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "Attack team gather this way if you will?" The four of them moved closer and waited for the word while the two on the defense team kept watch.


    "Skozad has agreed to a temporary alliance to take down that team. That being said, do not lower your guard during the fight and after in case they decide to turn on us. You will head over to the middle and meet with their team and advance on them. They will have no choice but to meet you with their full might. We will be pulling what remains of their attack team as we are the only one with anyone that can match even one of them in the physical category. They will be sending four of their own to attempt to kill their dummy knocking them out of the fight. Are there any questions?"


    They all shook their heads, and the attack team moved out with Serene in the front backed up by Hagrasha with Sorin and as he found out during down time Evan who was the other human who used a standard sword shield combo. The other team comprised of two humans one male and the other female and two elves, both male, met up and began moving to the team they both wanted gone from the contest. The entire team consisting of six remaining members formed a "V" formation with both ogres and the werewolf taking up the front and with two humans and fox looking beast man.


    The three teams faced off against one another then Serene gave the signal and Hagrasha moved to the front with Sorin and Evan flanking him. Serene as the team leader took directly behind them trying to pull the ogres and the werewolf. The other team began to move to the right to force the enemy team to split in order to defense their dummy. It was a partial success. The werewolf, beastman, and human broke off to face the other team and the two ogres with a human remained to face Serenes team. Hagrasha charged filling his axe with grey aether and was right before they met the other team which had the first ogre starting to swing his spiked club Hagrasha stopped as braced behind his axe as Sorin threw a full power barrier in front. As soon as the spiked club contacted the barrier there was a fiery explosion throwing the entire team backwards knocking two of them down. Only one ogre stayed on their feet as Evan and Sorin swarmed in from the sides as the barrier dropped. Evan was fast touching the dazed human on the neck with his sword for a declared death. The ogre in front of Sorin tried to clear his head from the explosion and bring his weapon up which was batted easily to the side and another declared death coming right after. The Ogre still on its feet was locked up with Hagrasha as Serene moved behind slashing a dagger at the back of his calves with a maroon aether causing spasms which led to a distraction leading to a violent strike to the bottom of his chin knocking him cold.


    "Move to the dummy!" Serene commanded as the whole team collapsed toward the other team who was outmatched due to the ferocity of the werewolf and extremely fast beast man. Two of their members were down and only the human was down for the other team.


    Sorin reached the dummy first and slashed it.


    "Stop!" The soldier called as the dummy fell apart. "Your team has failed. Fall in with the penalty!" They dropped their weapons and disengaged moving to the penalty.


    The two teams kept their distance as they returned to their dummies and then both full teams moved to the middle where the agreement was originally struck. As they faced off Skozad stepped forward and threw down his hand axes.


    "We yield. They way you easily crushed the ogres with us unable to do our part save for be a distraction made it clear we cannot beat you especially down two members." He said as the rest of the team threw down their weapons.


    Two soldiers came forward looking at both of the teams. One stepped out and opened his arms up with a smirk. "Congratulations to the winner! You have earned a fabulous reward. You get to have the rest of the night off and get to train again tomorrow! All teams dismissed! Go get cleaned up."


    Sorin narrow his eyes.


    How often had he heard that from leaders? You do something you think is pretty awesome and they tell you that you did so well you can have Saturday and Sunday off of work.


    "Prick."

 Chapter 17 - Assignment

    The days passed as at the slowest possible pace. The more the conscripts suffered with brutal combat exercises and physical training the slower time would go. The soldiers pushed them even harder with continuous spars where the losers would be brutally punished for the loss with physical training and the winners would remain to fight the next in line while the rest not fighting would be maintaining a plank or doing some other exercise while they waited to fight.


    During this period of time mishaps did happen due to the exhaustion which left two dead, three crippled beyond the skills of the healers on hand, and two that just quit and condemned themselves to the mines.


    Finally, Saturday afternoon arrived and as Sorin exhausted had his swords slammed back into him and he rolled to the side throwing his barrier up against the follow-on attack by Hagrasha when the command came from Sergeant Agron to halt as training is done.


    "Fall to formation!"


    Once the conscripts were formed up in spite of their staggering and heaving for breath Agron began speaking.


    "Your training is about to take on a very large change fundamentally. So far you have been learning martial combat with melee weapons in order to survive in a standard battle as well as basic aether attacks and defenses. I am pleased with the progress so far."


    Agron went quiet for a moment as he swiped on a tablet until he got to the screen we wanted.


    "Beginning directly after this formation you will be moving to individual assigned groups with a specific instructor chosen to train your team to suit your assignee." As he said this, soldiers began lining up until the line reached 14.


    "I will begin calling out different teams at the assignee you will be matched with. As I call out your team number you will go to the corresponding soldier in line. Each of you have been assessed since day one here to be able to put you in a team for a cadet in the academy that is far above us for our soldiers and officers to receive their mandatory training and begin their service to the empire. Now, let us begin."


    Agron began calling off the teams and the names as well as who they were assigned to there were three conscripts per team so far and Sorin began looking in the corner of his eye for who he might be teamed up with. He didn''t have to wait long however.


    "Fifth team! Linx, Sorin, and Cain! You will be assigned to Euryale Aegis. She is the daughter of Duke Phorcys the 23rd of his name. She is a khopesh user and has a fire path. You all use a complimentary set of weapons and offer complimentary paths to her."


    Agron said continuing to move down the line assigning the teams


    "Ninth team! Ardwyn, Serene, and Glernog you will be assigned to Aello stormwind, the daughter of Baron Thaumas the 34th of his name. She is a dagger user with an undisclosed path. You were chosen to give her variety on the battlefield per her request." Agron said as he moved to the last group.


    "Last team is Chorus, Ambriel, and Sheth. Pay attention! you will be assigned to Prince Amaru 73rd son of immortal Emperor Ouroboros. He is wielding a twisted triangular rapier and like his father before him, he has a time path I saved you for last because you are to do whatever you are told, when you are told even if it is to fall upon your own blade. The orders of the royal family are absolute. Do not displease the prince. You were chosen for your variety, paths, and you wolf, were hand-picked by the prince for your ruthlessness."


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    There was a controlled chaos as the conscripts began moving toward the soldier they were instructed to line up on. Sorin moved to the fifth in line as two other members followed suit. At a glance it looked like a less pale vampire who didn''t have his nose as high as the others and a beast man with orange and black fur.


    "Good! Follow me!" They were led to an open part of the arena and told to sit which they all halfway collapsed to the sand.


    "My name is Corporal Varris and will be training you as a team until you are complete with your training." She said.


    Sorin looked at her a little closer careful not to look directly at her breaking protocol. She was an elf with darker sin and reddish eyes he was assuming was a dark elf, but like with every elf he had seen, perfectly proportioned and gifted in looks.


    Varris handed them each a folder and began.


    "Inside these folders is information I expect to become a permanent part of your memory. This is a basic description of your assignee and one day commander of your team. Knowing the information within will not only help you recognize them on sight which is good for them not just killing you and requesting a replacement, but gives you clues to anticipate commands and take the initiative to keep them safe or wining the day."


    Sorin Opened his folder and began to read.


    "Name: Euryale Aegis


    Age: 22


    Height: 5''8


    Weight: 140lbs


    Path: Sixth Ring Warden (Fire)


    Weapon: Khopesh


    Reach unarmed: 6''0


    Bio: Lady Euryale Aegis is the 19th Daughter of Duke Phorcys of the 3rd Region of the Serpent Empire. She has been thoroughly trained in tactics, politics, torture, and many other topics unrelated to warfare. She possesses a sharp personality and a no-nonsense approach to mission accomplishment. She tolerates those lower than her status, but expects orders to be carried out quickly, efficiently, and without hesitation. She has no patience for dull subordinates and care should be taken when selecting conscripts for final examination. They should be able to think strategically and offer humble recommendations based on information received to be actioned. She does not use the gorgon signature ability often as she claims in drains a lot of her aether, but she will not shy away to make an example of someone should it be required.


    She utilizes twin khopesh and requires soldiers who understand the movements of duel wielding to be able to supplement her strikes and cover her flanks when required.


    Her path gains strength when exposed to flames of others. Conscripts should be selected that are of a fire type aether to supplements her offense and superior regeneration abilities with at least one conscript of a decent to outstand defensive ability.


    As a bonus, should she be the victor of the exam and not just achieve a passing grade she has vowed to take the assigned conscripts into her service under the same contract for the remainder of it as personal guards. Should she fail due to them on the inverse, they will be executed for incompetence."


    Sorin and his teammates were left along for a few minutes to read the dossier. Once it was clear to Varris that they were complete she spoke.


    "Come Monday, we will begin pushing each of you to tier 2. You should be nearing the threshold now in all three ratings. By the time you are done with training you should be halfway to tier 3. At this time, you are dismissed for the day and recovery day. Be prepared for an increase in your training regimen as you will face me all day Monday and I do not coddle."

 Chapter 18 - Tier up and Exploit

    The following day Sorin was awake at the time everyone normally gets up due to his internal clock trained by years of service on earth.


    He sat on his cot and pulled his HUD up for the first time that day.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Pyromancer


    AP: 760/760


    Body: 10/10 (T1)


    Mind: 10/10 (T1)


    Spirit: 38/50 (T2)


    Abilities:


    1. Fire sense (p)/(a) - sense heat aether more clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your Fire sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a).


    2. Fire manipulation (a) - You can manipulate fire aether in your immediate vicinity. May cause minor interference with another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    3. Ignition(a) - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    4. Absorption(a) - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely on eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves but no longer.


    Conditions met for foundational tier up of mind and body.


    Body 10/10


    Mind 10/10


    Spirit >10


    Begin?


    Leaving his HUD up Sorin got up and went down to the edge of the pool and sat down. He had no idea what would happen or if it would be like when he had been infusion.


    He chose to begin.


    At first nothing happened then Sorin knew no more.


    The next thing Sorin knew he was being nudged in the shoulder and someone speaking extremely loud to him almost in slower motion than usual. He slowly opened his eyes, and everything was brighter than usual. There was a vibrancy of color that he had noticed the first time he was infused with aether. His mind felt.... emptier? There was a feeling that there is so much ability to his mind. His memory seemed much sharper, and his thoughts came quicker. He looked up and saw the fox beast man.


    "Human, you ok?"


    Sorin went to sit up and found that his movements were faster, he slammed his hand into the ground rather than just place it. "One second. My name is Sorin by the way."


    He pulled up his HUD again and smiled when he saw.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Pyromancer


    AP: 760/760


    Body: 11/50 (T2)


    Mind: 20/50 (T2)


    Spirit: 38/50 (T2)


    Abilities:


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    1. Fire sense (p)/(a) - sense heat aether more clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your Fire sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a).


    2. Fire manipulation (a) - You can manipulate fire aether in your immediate vicinity. May cause minor interference with another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    3. Ignition(a) - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    4. Absorption(a) - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely on eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves but no longer.


    Sorin was surprised by the jump in his mind stat. It seems that it was being blocked from moving up by his requirement to do the fundamental tier up and then now it shot up.


    "I''m Linx." The fox beastman said in a lighter voice. "I saw you getting up and then watched as you kind of just slumped backwards. You just tiered up so congratulations." Sorin looked at Linx warily. Linx recognized the look. "I''m on your team. Your fate is bound to mine, so it does me no good to give out your secrets. Luckily nobody is really up, and I don''t think anyone saw.


    Sorin let out a breath and relaxed a little. "I appreciate the honesty, and it makes sense. I am hoping our whole team gets to the second tier quickly."


    Linx just nodded and got up. "I have some work to do of my own. I''ve leave you to it in case you do some of the weird shit you usually do on recovery day."


    Sorin smirked and returned to his thoughts. He needed to see if his idea to catch his body up was actually viable. Logically it made sense, but there was no way to actually test it except on himself and he didn''t know the limits. He closed his eyes and used his fire sense looking at his own body. It was more vibrant than before by twice it would seem as there was more aether infused into him. He began looking himself over and saw many colors of aether all over him at various temperatures. He expanded his senses and began to look around at the others and saw varying levels of aether in them. Then he returned to himself and began to zoom in to himself and he received the confirmation he suspected when he made the connection between energy and aether. All matter is energy, but not all energy is matter. His flesh and blood are nothing but aether in different forms.


    So, looking at his pinky finger on his right hand he began moving more amounts of aether into that area trying to make the skin as tightly packed as his barrier and his swords and noticed slowly but surely his body began to respond to his will. The aether in his control moved much faster and seemed to follow the confines of his flesh. Each time the aether came into contact with a bone, ligament, joint, and skin it adapted to that specific part and began to soak into it. He kept pushing aether into it more and more until it refused and caused his pinky to ache then sharply hurt. Sorin opened his actual vision and looked down at his pinky. He didn''t notice anything different until he closed his hand. His pinky slammed down to his palm first before all of his fingers and much quicker.


    "Theory proven." Sorin mumbled to himself. He quickly checked his AP to see how much that cost him and he was shocked.


    AP: 111/760


    Sorin couldn''t believe his eyes. His pinky had nearly drained all of his aether in a couple minutes. He began using absorption to fill his aether back up and began to see his core fill up quicker than he was used to. He had an idea. "Why do I need to ever stop pulling aether in? Maybe I can do this and pull aether in at the same time and make it more efficient."


    He pushed aether into his hand and watched his aether drop much faster than before. "Larger area. Duh Sorin." So, he drew it back and began working little bits at a time and found he could in fact draw aether in and push it to his body little bits at a time and it broke even. The rest of his day was going to be a very long day.


    - at nearly wake up -


    "Done..." Sorin whispered to himself. He had gotten his usual healing and done his wash then laid down in his cot and pretended to sleep while he continuously infused slowly, but surely all of his body. His bones including the marrow, his joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles, veins, capillaries, nerves, everything was now packed full of aether. He didn''t touch his brain as he was tired already and the brain is not something you mess with on a whim. The image of a talking teddy bear came to mind talking about stuffing being put back wrong came to his mind causing him to smirk just a little.


    He looked at his stats quickly one last time.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Pyromancer


    AP: 173/800


    Body: 50/50 (T2)


    Mind: 20/50 (T2)


    Spirit: 40/50 (T2)


    Abilities:


    1. Fire sense (p)/(a) - sense heat aether more clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your Fire sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a).


    2. Fire manipulation (a) - You can manipulate fire aether in your immediate vicinity. May cause minor interference with another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    3. Ignition(a) - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    4. Absorption(a) - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely on eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves but no longer.


    Sorin felt like he was cheating, but he didn''t care. "I guess all those books on royal road paid off." Sorin said as he fell asleep for what little time he had left.

 Chapter 19 - Teaming up

    "Push harder!" Varris yelled at the group as they continued to sprint back and forth across their section of the arena. Sorin was keeping a very close eye on Cain and Linx to make sure he was near them and not standing out but doing somewhat worse than they were, but not by much that it was an issue. His body was now at the peak of Tier 2, and he could feel it. Each step was powerful, but he took so much out of the step to appear as strong as his teammates. His teammates were breathing heavily from the continuous sprinting they had been doing for the last hour. They were already exhausted. Sorin was only mentally exhausted from getting next to no sleep for as soon as he closed his eyes to sleep it seemed like the normal rude wake-up happened.


    "Stop!" Varris instructed and the three doubled over breathing like bellows. "Take up weapons quickly! Battle doesn''t care that you are tired and neither does your assignee." Varris had a khopesh in each hand. Its straight hilt and small guard into a curved heavier blade with a sort of point at the end for some sort of piercing. "Each of you will face off against me alone once each while the others observe the movements for the forms. While you watch see the range of the motions and look for weaknesses in the forms. Cain! You''re first." Cain came over and stood in front of Varris with his kopis. The short sword with a nice hand guard was held at the ready as he waited for the fight to begin.


    They lunched at one another as Varris led with one of her swords horizontally with another moving back for a low to high strike as she continued to move around Cain who blocked the first strike and was moved back and nearly clipped in the chin with the strike coming up. He tilted his head back and avoided it, but at the cost of losing momentum in the fight. With a backhand swing and a thrust Cain was put on the defensive. He blocked the heavier blade as it pushed him out of position then turned to the right slipping the thrust putting his kopis in close between his body and the blade. He was beginning to turn his blade inward for a stab across the body when the left hand deflected outward swung up and over smacking him across the cheek ending the fight.


    "Sorin you''re up." Sorin hefted his two short swords and moved across from Varis angling his body from left to right with the left blade forward and right blade set to strike. They stood there for a moment watching the other. It was Varris that moved first with a top to bottom windmill strike from both khopesh. Sorin didn''t even block as he angled to the left bypassing her right sword that was going down and once passed slashed with his right sword attempting to continue moving round. She swirled to her left bringing the right blade up to Sorin''s exposed flank. Sorin angled more forward and continued to press her with an "x" slash upward toward her throat causing her to fall back and try to swing under while his blades were apart and out of the way.


    Sorin slammed them down locking their blades together in the sand. With a quick rotation Varris reversed her grip on the swords and ripped one up as the other was stabbed with a spin to her right. Sorin saw it coming and could have avoided it, but need to stay under the radar. He deflected the sword from a stab which turned into a slash that slipped off his sword as he made it look like he was trying to guide into an over extension and a back cut with his second blade and he left it smash him in the rib cage and he went with the momentum.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Varris nodded "Linx." The Fox beastman rose and reached behind his back to pull twin cinquedeas these were daggers with a wide base into a triangle blade that were carried behind the back. They began but the fight was extremely one sided. The short range of the daggers could not get into the sweeping and covering cuts of the khopeshes. After a short exchange Varris spun hitting Linx with a twin slash to his chest sending him backwards.


    "Good! You now see the fighting style and the range of these weapons. For a sword type they are good at mid-range and passable at close range. Now we will do all three of you against me as I speed up and use more of my strength. Your mission is to disarm me or hit me with a kill strike. We are not using aether. Begin!"


    They looked at one another then went in different directions. Cain went straight ahead directly in Sorin''s way while Linx ran around the side to flank as a good dagger wielder should. Sorin had to flank to the left and come in but as he was about to get his first strike in, Varris shifted to her left as she swung her right sword horizontally into Cain''s shoving him into Sorin''s path again. Cain who had been in a thrust was directed into the incoming Linx and they collided. Varris jumped at the two who were exposed as Sorin jumped in and began to clash with Varris alone and she smashed blow into blow into him and even though he was not blocking, but deflecting, the power was well above his and sending him stumbling with every shot.


    His team was back up and rushed in forcing Sorin to back off to keep from hitting them, but unfortunately Varris deflected a kopis swipe away from her and into Sorin who barely managed to block it as a second swipe came down on Cain''s back launching him into Sorin bringing them both down. Varris turned to Linx who was immediately on the defense using both of his daggers to deflect and try to get into her guard. Sorin got back up and rushed in trying to pull some attention off of Linx so he could attack. Varris spun her blade using the hook and snagged Linx by the arm and flung him into Sorin slamming them together and then she followed it up with a slash to each of them.


    "What happened?" Varris asked lowering her weapons. "The human kept getting in my way and interfering with my attacks and strategies." Cain said glaring at Sorin. "I didn''t even get a chance to get in position before you started striking with a freaking shorter weapon than I have. I couldn''t even bolster your attack by trying to run a distraction because you just rushed in" Sorin replied kind of annoyed. "I wasn''t able to get into the guard again. I need to move faster." Linx responded. "You also need to be able to do something with your tiny toothpicks fox. You were next to useless even more so than this human." Quipped Cain. "Stop." Varris said already annoyed. "You all suck. You didn''t think. Sorin has more reach and better defense than either of you. Why didn''t you let him engage and tank the hits to set up your faster strikes. You two do not have the defense. We are going to do this the rest of the day so you might as well pull your heads out of your asses and begin using them or today is going to be even more painful." She lifted her swords.


    "Again."

 Chapter 20 - Again

    "Again." Came the hated word team five had been listening to for days. They were black and blue. Blood stains all over your clothes from split lips and clothing. The fight would begin, and they would go for a minute or two then all would be crushed by a single mistake made by one of them. One mistimed parry or dodge and a teammate was exposed and went to the dirt causing the rhythm to fall out of balance and they were still unable to adapt. They were going long and longer each fight, but it was by seconds only.


    "Again." Sometimes the speed would be higher. Other times it would be greater strength. They had to learn on the fly using Sorin''s higher defense ability to read the strikes overall weight. They were beginning to know each other''s speed and movement''s. where they would be and where they were going to strike It was slowly becoming second nature what the other would do and when they needed to fall back to press the attack.


    "Again." Every day between the sprinting and the log carry drills as well as the strength training to body numbness followed by hours upon hours of abuse the team began to come together to lessen the overall suffering of each of them. Yet the beatings continued Sorin was able to keep up and block for his teammates and deflect shots away with his blades, he began learning how to lock weapons in place using both swords, but at the cost of leaving himself exposed which led to another defeat without his teammates taking advantage of it.


    "Again." Sorin was beginning to go internal. The agony and exhaustion of every day sent him within his own mind allowing his body to go on autopilot especially with a tier 2 mind. He could keep track of his teammates and the opponent while trying to find some way around the issue of never having enough power or way to stop the hurting. It was like a constant acid drip everywhere on his skin...the burning all over from the exhaustion.


    "Again." Sorin had enough he needed to find a way through his teammates were looking ravenous for a way through. Cain had made the jump to tier two and eased the burden, and they knew immediately when it happened the following day because he ran faster and had less trouble lifting and training. Even the battles lasted longer causing Varris to add more to the fights. Leading to harder strikes and more brutal defeats.


    "Again." Sorin had enough. He began looking inside himself for anything that can help. He tried to infuse himself with more aether like he did before, but his body rejected it. He began looking desperately for anything. When he began noticing changes in his skin and muscles. Darker forms of aether. He pushed normal color aether to it and forced them to change places. These spots were everywhere. As the fights continued, and they went down again and again he noticed more of the dark motes would enter with every strike he took. He kept replacing the motes of aether moving faster and faster until it became automatic. It took his mind off the pain until they stopped. Came back to himself confused.


    "What did you do?" Varris asked him with a sword pointed to him.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Sorin looked around then down at himself and to his shock. He had next to not bruising. "I uh...I don''t really know Corporal." He didn''t technically lie because he had a hunch as to what he was doing but wasn''t going to tell her that. "It would appear you have learned a regeneration ability. Check your HUD." she ordered


    Congratulations


    You have learned the Skill:


    Aether revival(p/a) - A regeneration skill that restores the aether lost within your body. As cells become damaged, they lose energy. This skill replenishes that energy for AP. Can increase the rate of regeneration through increased aether flow.


    Sorin was absolutely ecstatic he had figured out a way to increase his survivability. He closed his HUD and nodded a confirmation to the Corporal. She smirked. "We might have a winner with you Sorin. Not a common skill at all and will please your assignee when she finds out she has someone like you. She lucked out picking you. Now...where were we? She brought her swords up.


    "Again." The strikes to Sorin were much much worse. Now that she knew he could heal she didn''t hold back near as much as she did with the others on his team, but it made little difference. They felt every blow and then just kept coming. The bright side is now they were lasting minutes at a time per battle before defeat. Their teamwork and coordination were much smoother and their strikes precise. They were beginning to land superficial strikes to the Corporal but nothing but scratches.


    "Again." Linx had finally succeeded in his tier up and it was apparent immediately like with Cain. The battles shifted and Varris was now putting more effort into her strikes. They were battered into the ground lasting five to six minutes per battle before they reset and did it again. Then it all came together. Sorin stepped further into her guard and locked both of her arms down causing Varris''s eyes to go wide with surprise as Linx and Cain came in from her blind spots slashing high from Cain and low from Linx. The low shots to the back of her knees caused her legs to give out and the shot going to her neck was stopped by gain on impact to not attempt to kill their instructor.


    "Finally...it would seem the pups have finally figured out how to walk. You are done for the day. Rest and be prepared for tomorrow as things only get harder from here. Dismissed."


    - A little while later -


    "What do you think Corporal? Does he fit the description given by your peer?" Sergeant Agron asked from his seat looking at the paused frame of Sorin stepping into her guard to the decisive move of the fight.


    "He is definitely different from others I have seen. I don''t think he is a genius, but he might be an elite of the class for sure, especially now that he has obtained a regeneration ability which is extremely uncommon for a fire path user." Varris said.


    "I am pleased that this class has a few like him. The Werewolf Sheth has developed a mirror image ability to double himself for a moment to deliver an attack that is just as strong as the primary and the Elf Chorus as developed a teleportation ability. We stand to gain honors this year provided we do well in the exam." The Sergeant took on a more serious expression.


    "I want you to keep an eye on that Sorin though. I feel there is something we are not seeing with him, and it makes me uneasy. I feel like he is concealing much." He said.


    "Yes Sergeant. I will let you know if I see or hear anything." Came the expected reply of a subordinate.


    "Thank you for the report, Corporal. Dismissed."

 Chapter 21 - Controlled Chaos

    Sorin awoke the following day with everyone else and to the envy of all who saw him...he was pain free. His new Aether revival skill worked passively in the background and while he was sleeping it repaired any and all damage to him and since he had a high AP pool and the ability to refill his aether efficiently, it was like he was getting a fresh start. This may not seem like much, but it was a very distinct advantage, but at the same time, since it couldn''t be hidden in this setting, his instructor was going to absolutely compensate for it.


    They went through their usual morning workouts. He pulled extra trying to use his regeneration and energy to give his teammates a breather, but as soon as Varris saw what he was up to she loaded him down with a pack full of sand coming up to around 150lbs and it became exhausting quickly causing him to be carried some by his teammates exhausting them further.


    Once they had completed, they were formed up and let to another section of the arena where another team was waiting for them. They looked horrific and exhausted just as Sorin used to be and his teammates still are. Corporal Varris stepped out with a taller man next to her. "You will be fighting one another from here on out in team-on-team battles. Aether is still not permitted and do not attempt to kill your opponents. Face your opponents." They all turned and brought weapons to the ready. "Oh Sorin...you silly bitch...did you really think you would get it that easy?"


    *SLAM!*


    A long staff was slammed into the back of Sorin''s calves by the large man who WAS next to Varris and then again to his hamstrings as he started to go down from the impact. As he continued down the same punishing hits came in four more times to his upper and lower arms followed by a shot to his lower back sending him sprawling.


    "Now...that ought to even it a bit." He said as he walked happily back to where Varris was standing with a smug smirk to her face too.


    "Jokes on you...This is nothing to me." Sorin thought to himself as he accelerated his regeneration by using the active part of his skill. Under his clothes the injuries he sustained began healing at an accelerated speed and would be gone in a matter of minutes not hours as would his passive do. "Begin!" Varris said and the teams rushed forward. Sorin led with Cain and Linx stacked behind him as the other team moved online with one another. Sorin had a warhammer coming in, but he was faster, he slashed in and slammed down on this opponents'' wrists as he moved in the direction the hammer was swinging. the hammer fell from the humans hands in front of him and as it fell Can who was behind him snatched it from the air and slammed it into the enemy elf to the right of the one who dropped it as Linx came around and delivered a killing blow to the same man leaving Sorin now mostly healed to begin slashing at the scaled beast woman in front of him who used a sickle and chain. She had the chain swinging at whistling fast speeds with a steel ball at the end which could 100% be lethal if taken to the head.


    She swung it out at him then ripping it back smoothly switching and lashing out with the sickle on the chain going around her like a wooden lawnmower blade. The team ducked and continued to slowly move in on her Sorin made the move causing her to lash out which Sorin thew a sword up to catch the chain around and ducked as it whipped around. To his surprise she yanked back on the chain ripping the sword from his hand and tried to fend of the two coming at her but was simply not fast enough. They had their blades to her neck.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "We will reset and fight again and again for the rest of the day. Take a little time to strategize with your team if you must between rounds. When you are lined up, begin automatically." The large man next to Varris said as they sat down in some chairs they must have found while they were fighting.


    They just looked at each other and nodded, they would slightly switch things up around Sorin who their tank for all intents and purposes. The enemy really had three obvious choices. they could try to take out the tank which could open up the formation to the two DPS conscripts or they could go for the battle of attrition and hope they were better against each other one-on-one. Sorin and his team were not going to let them decide, however. One of the enemies had a spear, the other had a sword and shield while the beastwoman had that sickle and chain which had a lot of versatility but needed to be free and clear if it were to be used. They commenced the fight and Sorin had Linx stack on him with Cain shifting out as soon as Sorin classed Linx literally ran up Sorin''s back and didn''t jump as much as dived over the man with the spear and even behind the back of the sword and shield bearer who was a pig looking orc. Before the orc could spin, he took a shot to the back and touch to the neck and was out followed quickly by the equally shocked spear user and then the three collapsed on the poor beastwoman for another victory. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the man give something over to Varris with an annoyed look on his face and she smiled rather smugly.


    They were about to start again when Varris called out.


    "Change of game. You will now do one verses two. Sorin and you scale woman. You are first to face two. Sorin faces their two and whatever your name is our two. Begin whenever."


    They shifted the battlefield for space and launched into it. The spear user kept soring back as the orc circled and tried to flank. Sorin waiting until he had them at the 12 and 6 o''clock positions then rushed the one with the spear who stabbed out. Sorin smacked the spear to the side and spun with the smack bring is outside sword across the man''s ribs. Who immediately doubled over. He spun behind the man about to go for the shot


    *Slam! Slam! Slam!*


    Sorin took the hits to his body like before they began fighting and this time it hobbled it and threw off the momentum of the battle. The orc came rushing in with an overhead chop. Sorin began pumping aether into his regen to get mobility back, but it wasn''t fast enough. He struck out at the orc who blocked with his shield can that is when things went from bad to worse.... his sword shattered on the shield. "Oh, fuck me running!" Sorin exclaimed as the spear user came in hard swinging his spear across. Sorin had no choice but to block it directly which continued to add to his problems as it ripped the sword from his hand.


    Disarmed and outnumbered Sorin shook his head and didn''t give an inch as the two watched him. "Well come on then!" he shouted as the Orc led with his Shield and the spear right beside him. The orc slashed across right to left, but Sorin figured that or a stab. Like he was trained in the military he stepped in slammed his forearm in grabbed the arm and twisted up, ducked under while holding pulling his hand and arm behind him ripping the sword from his hand kicking the leg out and touching the neck as the spear came in blistering fast.


    Before Sorin could react, it hit him square in the chest launching him backward for the loss.


    Varris gave back whatever she was given with an annoyed look at Sorin.

 Interlude - The first Wardens

    Josh was pissed.


    People in suits that had no problem trading lives for money had now unleashed death and chaos upon the world and like with nearly everything in his life, he had to clean up some else''s mess so that his family and friends could live safely again. He loved his path for many reasons and the fact that his wife, Amy, had a path that made him stronger and nearly indestructible made everything that much better. He had already crossed into the second tier with everything when the message came out near Clarksville where a rift had opened up from the direct strikes of two nukes.


    He and his wife got on a transport plane with the other volunteers to crush the outpouring of monsters trying to sweep over the area. The president was doing the best he could to set up guilds around the nation to begin quelling and combating these outbreaks and was getting some success while the SecDef had his hands full killing the inevitable tyrants that would pop up whenever order broke down. They had been given the message from the president requesting they went to Clarksville not just to stop the monsters but also to provide extra security around what the news was calling the Seraph. She was one of two insanely effective healers that was tirelessly working to keep warriors alive against all the creatures coming out of the rift and as the president had asked them to become the regional warden of Kentucky and Tennessee it was in his best interest to keep this super healer alive.


    Josh and Amy were flown in and disembarked to find the area in total chaos and people retreating to the plane.


    "A black fiery wolf is coming this way! its massive and has torn through our lines like it wasn''t even there." One of the remaining members of the old US Army soldiers said to the other next to Josh who took on a calm yet worried look.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "We need to repel this threat however we can, so it does not get further into the civilian population and to the hospital where people are getting healed and sent back to the fight."


    Josh nodded looking at his wife who had already began layering buff after buff on him. As each buff landed, he could feel his strength growing and growing. It was at that point they all saw the wolf following the fleeing warriors snapping a few of them in pieces and scorching them in its fangs.


    Josh launched himself forward with his sledgehammer and swung at the massive wolf before it could take another bite. The wolf didn''t react in time as it was sent sprawling into the side of a hanger and going through the wall. To the wolf''s credit it sprung to its feet with a slight limp to its left shoulder before it sprung at Josh who swung again with his hammer. The wolf caught the hammer and burned it with it flaming teeth.


    "Fine...we will do it another way." Josh said to the world and then launched a right straight directly into its nose and advanced. The wolf yelped and clawed at Josh who didn''t even try to dodge it. The claws slashed his clothing but as soon as the tips touched his flesh, they were rebounded not even leaving a scratch and yet Josh advanced. The wolf began falling back as the blows began to accumulate. The human in front of it seemed to become stronger and stronger.


    The wolf was bleeding and limping, so it began looking for a means to escape when it saw Amy. Using it remaining energy it jumped at her only to be stopped by a golden barrier that was as stone. It smashed it face into it and fell to the ground as josh jumped on its back wrapping his arms around its neck and began to squeeze. The wolf went into an instinctive panic and began to try to get up but there was too much weight on its head and neck.


    "Bad dog." Josh said as he heaved and twisted. With a loud snap the wolf''s neck broke and it fell dead.


    Breathing out Josh untangled himself from the beast as his lovely bride came up behind him and smacked his ass.


    "Good game."

 Chapter 22 - Monsters in your head

    In the following weeks Sorin was able to master all the gained skills as he knew them through constant use and training. His stats continued to tick up and now sat maxed out across the board. Unlike last time His spirit rating would not keep going to exceed the 50/50 mark like it had when he first was infused with aether.


    With everything maxed out he could control all of his abilities and multitask almost effortlessly. Day after day was a repetitive blur of brutal fights that kept becoming more and more brutal as everyone continued to improve with their weapons. The week before last they allowed the use of aether techniques in the defensive only and last week they went full power using their offensive techniques. Sheth, the black werewolf, became a true terror to behold with his ability to momentarily clone himself for a dual strike, sometimes quad strike that nobody could defend against without use of their aether and even then, only a select few.


    This week was very different than any that came before in this training program as they were led to a smaller amphitheater with a projector looking device. "Sit down quickly!" Came a woman''s voice.


    They all scrambled to find a seat and to figure out what is going on. Sorin looked down at the woman in black and silver Martial robes that were tailored to her. She was around 5''3 - 5''5 with a severe look to her. "I am Major Leanan and I will be teaching you about different types of beasts found throughout the empire that you will possibly face. Though there are thousands upon thousands of different beasts out there we will focus on a couple from each category."


    She pressed something on a small controller she had in her hand that operated the projector as a chart came up. Major Leanan began to instruct from the screen while not looking at it as if she had done it a thousand times over.


    Classes from Lowest to highest


    D - Small beasts that have minimal amount of aether in their cores and present the lowest risk to people and/or habitation. Used for food and/or labor as wells as for parts for potions etc.


    C - Medium beast with a low amount of aether in their cores and only present a rare danger to people and/or habitation. These are your scavengers or introverted beasts that have minor venoms/smells for defense. Often used to train new recruits, clan members, elites, nobility, royalty.


    B - Large beasts that contain a medium amount of aether in their cores and they present a clear and real danger to people and habitation. Will actively hunt people and destroy things to get at them. These possess minor levels of intelligence. Used to train soldiers and protection clans. Often the desired prey for trained nobility and royalty.


    A - Size varies with the type and the large amounts of aether in their cores. These beasts mostly appear near rifts and preferer areas of high concentration of aether. They are extremely intelligent. Usually requires a team to take down. Extremely dangerous to people and habitation. When these appear near civilization, evacuation is always a consideration.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    S - Size varies and is usually a rift champion. They contain massive cores with massive amounts of aether. They can wipe out entire teams easily and require true elites to bring them down. These creatures can be any creature that happens to get an influx for aether form the rifts and are allowed to grow. Evacuation is required before any battle with these creatures.


    U - Unique beasts. These often-mythical creatures vary in threat rating and power. Not always hostile but possess extreme intelligence and can take on humanoid form. Not to be confused with beastmen and bestwomen who have a humanoid form always. Hostile unique beasts can bring terror to entire regions. Believed to be able to use a system. Do not engage. Requires royal permission to engage.


    "As you can see, we have a wide range of categories for each beast that is found in the universe. You will soon be trained to take on both "C" and "B" range beasts in order for the final examination for your assignees." She pressed the button again and the screen changed to a list of beasts and their ranks.


    D - Beasts include horses, crabs, fish, cattle, certain birds and insects. Rule: If it can''t hurt you easily as a tier 2 it''s a Class D beast.


    C - Iron horned goat, Razor Boar, Sand Shark, Minor treant, zombie, ghouls. Rule: If it can injure you if you''re careless it''s a Class C.


    B - Elemental Lion, Unicorn, Thunderbird, Revenant, Minor wyverns, Spirits. Rule: If it can kill you if you''re careless and hard to defeat without a team it is a Class B.


    A - Golems, Sirens, Demons, Drakes, Treants, Wyverns, Wraiths. Rule: If your team cannot beat these beasts and you think you need additional teams it''s a Class A


    S - Rift champions are always massive and obvious. Depending on creature it may require few or many fighters. Do not engage lightly.


    U - Angels (Any) Devils (Any) Dragons, Phoenixes, Nephilim/Demigod. Do Not engage without permission of the emperor.


    She continued "This should be pretty straight forward, but this is not the complete list. There is a compendium available in every assignment location and clan hall across the empire that have the complete list of creatures. I do want to mention Class U a bit more. These beasts as mentioned on the first screen can be of any class when it comes to threat or can bypass the chart altogether. However, there are ancient and often transcendent agreements in place that the attack on those creatures can lead to horrific consequences. You cannot harm angels of any choir anyway. The emperor once attempted to kill one and even with all of his might was unable. Depending on the angel you could incur a harsh retribution in many different and unique forms."


    Sorin was shocked that they were legit talking about angels. He was a religious man, but never thought that stuff would have any participation in the physical universe. The major continued her lecture. "Moving forward until the final exam of your assignees, you will be taken to the bestial reserve we maintain in this academy to fight monsters at the C and B classes to ensure you are ready for which ever zone you are sent to for the exam. The days of wooden training weapon use here is over. You will be utilizing aether steel weapons and will be assigned the basic armor associated with your assignee''s house colors. Even with these upgrades, you can still easily be killed. Be observant and get to the exam. It is rather annoying to replace you conscripts at this stage. Dismissed!"


    The 42 conscripts go to their feet and were taken back to the training arena.

 Chapter 23 - Issue and Transmatter

    Before the conscripts were 14 tables lined up in a line with various pieces of clothing and equipment with a number in front of each table which Sorin assumed it was for each team. Looking at table five and it was covered with clothing that was green and black. Behind the tables were boxes with what could be believed was more equipment.


    "As you enter, go to the table that corresponds with your team." The soldier said and they all split to their locations. Sorin got to his table second right after Linx and Cain fell in right behind Sorin.


    "Listen up you three." Corporal Varris said moving up to the table. "You will be issued your new robes, armor-weave suits, boots, and gloves. Once we are done with that, I will show you how they work, followed by issuing your new weapons. Your colors are Black and Green for the Gorgon house. They are proud of their colors so make sure you keep them clean to not cause offense. You will be given four sets of robes. two we will use for training in the next two weeks and the last two will be reserved for meeting your assignee." She went to the third box in line and pulled out the robes, a body suit that had a scale looking pattern, gloves with reinforced knuckles, and boots that hooked and tightened along the side going up to the calves. She went to each box in line giving the same set to each of them. "All three of you look at your body suits. There is a tab just below the left armpit in the shape of your thumb. To remove any filth and clean the suits you will press that tab and infuse it with aether. It will engage the enchantment burning out any foreign contamination." They all looked as she spoke.


    "Now, go to the bathing area and wash. Change into your new robes with the armor beneath. Once done, grab all of your old robes and bring them out here and pile them up."


    Sorin and the rest of his team went into bathe and did as they were commanded. Sorin gathered up his clothes and went to the left foot of his cot next to his head and lifted it. It was hollow and it was where he kept his ring. He pulled his pocket inside out and tied it around the pocket tightly and then folded his pocket inward to conceal it. He gathered his clothing up and brought it out where they were all commanded. While they were in doing as they were commanded, packs had been brought out and their extra uniforms were placed. They formed back up in front of the table and waiting for the next command.


    Corporal Varris looked at each of them. "Now step up and get your aether silver weapons." She said as she hefted a box up and opened it. Inside were the dual weapons for each of them and the single kopis. Sorin picked up his dual blades and they felt way lighter than his training wooden swords. He slid one blade out and saw it had a faint blue tinge to the silver-grey metal. He slid it back in the sheath. The sheathes had a metal swivel on a metal clip that resembled a narrower carabiner for repelling or climbing that attached to the black belt still on the table. He put the belt on and saw it had designated groves for each sword to clip to and lock into place. once clipped the swords moved freely but were not allowed it swing inward by the curvature of the design and the leverage of the swivel pin which was nice because they would never hit his legs while running or moving.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Take your packs." Varris said as she moved around the table. "You will now follow me to the transmat depot."


    She began walking quickly with the team following her. She went down the hall and turned right into a set of doors. She pushed a button, and they waited. Eventually the doors slid open into a metal elevator. She pressed the button with a cardinal rose on it and the elevator began moving upward.


    They were in the elevator for what seemed like minutes until it came to a stop and the doors opened into a small crowd. People were rushing in many different directions, and they were all sizes and races. Different beastmen and women, humans or what he thought was human, elves, dwarves, and a host of other types of people Sorin didn''t even have a clue about. He thought one person was a dryad from all the books he had read, but there was no way to tell. They were led to a deserted platform labeled "Reserve C Area."


    They stepped on the platform after Varris and waited a moment then everything lit up. With a flash everything went white for a split second and then before he could blink, they were standing in a field with deep green grass and what looked like evergreen trees everywhere. Varris let them look for a minute before handing them a map.


    "Have any of you used a map before?" Varris asked.


    Sorin raised his hand and was the only one.


    "Good! You save me the headache of teaching it. You will show your team how to use a map."


    The corporal moved back toward the transmat platform before turning to them once again.


    "For the next week you are required to work as a team. You will see on that map that there are supply drops that will be luxury items. You are required to source your own food and water and survive in this reserve for the week. If your rescue is required, you will be punished severely. Follow the map. The basic supply drop is already marked on your map. Survival out in the trees and being able to locate different points is a skill that you need to learn and use especially when you are with your assignee. They are given survival training, but you will be expected to have an idea of how to survive. This first week is the test of your desire and commitment. On day seven you will report to pick up point marked on that map. Good luck."


    With that she stepped back on the platform and was gone leaving the team to look at one another in bewilderment. "Well, no time like the present." Sorin said as he shrugged off his pack with his spare robes in it. Those were 3 tightly bound rolls covered in canvas leaving two thirds of the pack open. He oriented himself to the map seeing they needed to move northeast to the first supply drop.


    Pulling a single sword from its sheath he back moving.

 Chapter 24 - Team effort

    Team five led by Sorin with his map in a northeast direction. They have been following the geographical features on the map for where they are and if they were on course. The supply point they were given was near a lake approximately seven kilometers away represented on the map by a single grid square conveniently enough. They began making their way across the terrain keeping their eyes open for beasts. All they saw were your small deer looking things and a few burrowers that would run as they came into sight.


    Sorin kept his eyes and ears well trained on his surroundings careful to not get tunnel vision. The group didn''t really say anything. Most of their conversations took place in the earlier weeks as they began to share in the suffering. Both of his teammates came not from a rift like Sorin, but as tributes from a conquered region of the empire as recompense for their defiance.


    Cain, Sorin found out, was a Dhampir. This is half human half vampire hybrid that are exceedingly rare. Sorin had thought vampires were undead creatures form all of the legends in his books form back home, but that just wasn''t the case. They lived, breathed, and even reproduced like other humanoids. The legends of needing blood were true in part as was the aversion to sunlight, but it was not for the reasons those stories said. They did prey upon other humanoids periodically to replenish their special regeneration skill each vampire had that relied upon using another''s blood held in a special organ they had called a hemato. If this had another''s blood in it, they could use this blood to heal themselves from the brink of death. Vampires had a bonus where they had their full strength in the dark, but had it cut in half during the day in direct sunlight.


    Cain had a little give and take. His mother was a vampiress and his dad was a knight commander in the war. He didn''t suffer from the daytime issue but also didn''t get the massive strength and speed. He did get the regeneration ability and the blood path available to vampires. He came from the Bathory house in his kingdom over in region 16 of the Serpent empire and when the empire expanded into their world, they couldn''t even slow them down. They had their defenses swept aside and their Patriarch which was their king named Orlock was forced to kneel or have his entire line destroyed.


    Linx was the son of the Tribe lord Yako. As he was the only child, he had no choice but to be given up as a tribute from region 12. They had long been conquered by the emperor so the act was a given and Linx knew from a young age he would have to go.


    This tribute system didn''t surprise Sorin as it was commonly done in history on his own world all though medieval times and before. It was also seen on a few popular movies and tv shows as well.


    *Snap!*


    The group stopped and dropped lower into the forest they had entered a whole kilometer ago. They had been walking and didn''t see or hear anything. They were not skilled in stealth save for Linx who had kept his nose to the wind, but as they were walking with the wind he wouldn''t get much of a warning and this was one of those times. A groan that sounded from deep in the chest of a large creature came from their left and was moving their way.


    Sorin told them to spread out as they had no idea what they were facing and didn''t know if they could avoid a fight or not. Sorin stayed upright as the main target as his teammates slinked into concealment. A large green bear at least twice the size of a grizzly bear from earth came out of the brush and zeroed in on Sorin who stared back at the bear careful to not show any emotion, but confidence. Sorin dropped his pack on the ground in front and quickly tossed the map inside it. The bear was watching Sorin seemingly deciding something. Sorin drew his second sword and started charging them with aether. He was going for that muscle memory balance he had grown used to, but it took more energy to achieve that balance due to the aether steel being able to hold more than the wood.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Whatever the bear had been contemplating Sorin guessed that it had made its decision. It jumped up on its back legs and slammed back down. Sorin, confused was rooted to the ground by literal roots. They coiled up his legs and solidified as the bear rushed toward him with large lumbering steps. Sorin slashed down seeming to not pay attention to the bear and cut himself free. The bear reached him and attempted to grab him with both of its massive paws when Sorin slammed his burning barrier into place.


    *Crack! Hiss! * The bear was scorched and thrown backwards to the ground and as it hit Linx and Cain attacked. Can slammed his short blade into the bear''s side as far as it would go and ripped causing massive blood to flow which he took advantage of. He fed on it and continued to stab. Linx leapt to the bears back and began to attack its spine moving his way up to the neck burning it. The bear tried to react but was overwhelmed with the pain and burning that it spun and bucked slashing randomly. Sorin slammed his barrier down over top of its body flat causing it to press up against it and burn itself brutally. Once his barrier was limiting its movement and causing hysteria, Sorin attacked the exposed neck of the bear when it was distracted looking at the aether that was torturing it so. Sorin slammed his super-heated blades down and the bear dropped. Its legs started kicking violently then slowly went still.


    The three of them looked at the bear then back up at each other. After a brief moment they all started to laugh. The adrenaline dump and the ease of their victory made for a humorous first kill as a team. "We need to gut this thing and cut it up." Linx said sheathing one of his daggers. He moved quickly infusing aether into his blade and slashed the stomach open and let all the guts spill out. he cut them out at the base and went to work like a seasoned professional. Sorin who had watched his brother and a butcher growing up was able to assist in the skinning and cutting of the meat.


    In a matter of a half hour, they each had large slabs of meat wrapped up in green bear fur and tied by tendon on top of their packs. They couldn''t possibly take all the meat from the bear so they figured it would be a distraction for other dangerous beasts in the forest.


    Linx stood up and tossed a green stone to Sorin. "Catch!" Sorin caught the stone that was approximately the size of his thumb nail. "Is this the core they spoke about in the class?" Cain walked up beside him. "Correct. They have all sorts of uses and are often used when pushing into the third tier of power. My father told me about them." Sorin paused and looked at him. "Did he say anything else? We should get to the third tier in a few months. Sorin said. "Yes, he said cores are used when you are full of aether and you need to stretch the capacity of your own core to as far as it will safely go and the channels throughout your body. Once they are expanded enough, you will be pushed to the third tier." After a brief pause and him looking at Sorin who was looking at the core.  "You only want to use cores that match your aether type or you risk damage or dilution of your own core. In other words, you weaken yourself and take away from your potential." Sorin nodded and put the stone in a secure outer pocke of his pack.


    They moved on and after another hour they came out to a rocky beach on the lake and began to look around for the gear that was said to be here. To their surprise there was another two teams here gathering large packs with different colors on it. The colors matched different colors teams were assigned to. One team in blue and white had their green and black marked pack.


    They all noticed at the same time and went quickly to head them off.

 Chapter 25 - One of the worst sins

    Team two


    Eldrin, Kael, and Phia were one of two teams that arrived at their place on the map first. The three elves looked at the gear around them and after a brief discussion and vote Eldrin had lost. They took as many packs as they could and turned to make their way into the trees to find a good place to set up camp for the night and go over their spoils.


    Shame filled Eldrin''s heart as he knew they had their pack. "This is a great hall especially since the other team took the remaining packs and didn''t try us." Kael said who seemed to step up as their would-be team leader. Phia always did as she was told by Kael due to their relationship leaving the vote always 2-1 should he disagree with something. He was a brute that didn''t take kindly to refusal and Eldrin was not near strong enough to stand his own against them.


    Before they took ten more steps fox beast kin faster than they would have thought possible from the tier 2 without aid flashed in front of them. Kael kept moving forward not stopping until the man pulled twin dagger. "You all know what you are doing is wrong. It''s nothing but pure greed. Set down the others and just take your own bag." he said.


    "Get out of our way rat before we skin you with your little knives." Kael said with nothing but smug arrogance. "You won''t make it two seconds if you were to try twig walker." Came a cold confident reply. They three elves froze at the name. They all turned and looked at a human with two drawn short swords blazing with white hot fire.


    "What did you just call me?" Kael asked with nothing but fury in his gaze. The human shrugged. In the lore on my world calling an elf a twig walker implies the elf is weak and lacks any sort of substance. Based on the fact you are not only threatening my teammate for confronting you for cowardly stealing other team''s supplies I figured it''s a good description of your lot. I don''t see why you get to insult my friend and not get an insult back." he said.


    Kael put down his packs and pulled his bastard sword and shield off his back. "There are two of you... and three of us. I''m guessing you weaklings already lost one to the little pets in the trees most of us elves have been hunting our whole lives." he said as Phia drew a thin short sword resembling a wakizashi. Eldrin set the bags down, but didn''t draw his hook blade, instead he stepped forward. "Kael, lets settle down. This is not beyond de-escalation. We just admit we were wrong and walk off. We are of an elder race and can admit when we were wrong unlike the fresh born." he implored.


    Kael turned a scathing look on Eldrin and snapped "You are a coward that would allow these mud dwellers to insult us and do nothing about it when the instructors are not around to save them. We have the advantage and can do as we like."


    The human sighed and spoke. "Might only makes right when in fact you actually have it. If you engage now...one if not two of you will die if not be crippled even if you win. Is that a loss you are willing to accept? The books at home always write about long lived elves being wise, but I do not see wisdom in you three choosing this hill to die on. Drop all the packs but your own and we part ways."


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The human increased the energy running to his blades where the air around them began to shimmer. The sand near the tips began to scorch and sparks began to appear as the flammable elements began to catch.


    Phia seeing the sparks looked up at Kael and over to Eldrich in concern. "Kael...maybe he is right. We don''t need this, and it would be better to withdraw and not risk this when it is not needed." she said, but Kael wouldn''t hear it. His pride and a sense of outrage would not let him walk away. "I don''t fear you human. You two stay here. I''ll deal with him." Kael launched himself forward as the human drifted backwards and kept going. Eldrin knew there was an obvious trap, but Kael was so blind. He and Phia turned to hold off the beast man, but he was already gone. They turned in and, in their horror, they saw a third step out from the trees and dart forward toward Kael''s sword side as the Fox darted toward his back as the human defended the sword strike.


    It was so fast Eldrin and Phia had time enough to take two steps before it was over. The bastard sword was sheered through, and an elbow slammed into his jaw. The fox beast man slashed his Achilles tendons just through his boots and just under his armorweave suit and the last that appeared to be a vampire slashed the tendons in his elbow causing his arm to go limp before his whole body followed suit in the most beautifully morbid synchronized attack.


    Once Kael was on the ground Phia attacked the Fox beast man who giggled at the sloppy technique of the out-of-control woman. Eldrich moved quickly and struck her in the back of her head putting her down unconscious.


    Eldrin knew they were out matched the moment Kael initiated the attack, and the human just casually drifted back. "I seek no further quarrel with you. I just ask you not strike them down." he said them.


    "Finally! We got ourselves a reasonable one." The Fox said. "It would seem to be the case." the off looking vampire said. The human sheathed one sword and then the other then walked up the elf. "I''m Sorin. This is Linx and Cain." Pointing to the fox beast man then the other. "We are quite reasonable. We just wanted our stuff and for your team to do the right thing."


    "You probably won''t believe me, nor would it matter at this point, but I was against them doing it." Eldrin said. The other team looked at each other with an amused smirk. "Yeah, it doesn''t really matter, because you still did it. On my world, as I''ve told you about already, there are countless cases of people "Just following orders" or doing something wrong because of a bully or brute. However, you did the right thing in the end and none of my team are injured so I say we part ways, and we do not fight again?" Sorin said.


    "I find your terms acceptable." Eldrin replied.


    "Good! Fellas let''s get our supplies and find us a good camp site. Sorin said. "Yeah, it''s a good idea, by my guess we have only a few more hours of sunlight anyway." Linx chipped in.


    They stepped around Eldrin grabbed their bag and walked off in the woods.


    Eldrin looked at this team and then around and saw multiple other teams coming toward him all probably looking for an explanation of what happened and where their bags are.

 Chapter 26 - Base Camp

    Team five quickly made their way away from the lake but plotted a course near another body of water and near a hill. It was approximately 12 kilometers away, which they could do, and they did. They saw a few more of the Florabears as they were named according to Cain who had read a beast compendium before being conscripted. Turns out they are not really known for their intelligence and attack things they don''t understand. They killed one that did attack them. They didn''t have time to harvest much on it save for the core which was put into Sorin''s pack with the other.


    They arrived at the base of the hill they were looking for with a lake at its base. In the center of the lake, it looked like water was being pushed up from a spring below, so they had access to water. They pushed up the hill and found a depression surrounded by trees where on top of this depression you had a great vantage point to see anything coming up the hill on all sides while offering concealment.


    "I don''t trust the teams here anymore." Sorin said as he watched around them for any signs of activity. "We will have to keep a careful watch. Though I don''t think that big elf will be trying to pick a fight."


    "I don''t either. That was a rather smooth take down of that team. We have fought them before, right? I ask because it just seemed too easy." Linx said as he watched Cain put the large rucksack down with their supplies. "I honestly don''t remember either. Maybe their instructor didn''t care as much as ours it." "Or was as maniacal..." Linx added under his breath causing the other to giggle a bit. "Yeah...Varris might have been effective, but a right royal sadist." Sorin quipped. "What''s a sadist? Cain asked. "It means someone who gets pleasure from another''s pain." "That would be an apt description of the woman. I feel sorry for whoever she may or may not bond with." Cain added.


    Sorin looked at the Dhampir curiosity on his face. "Bond with?" he asked. "Yes. When two or more people join together in in flesh and spirit. I don''t know what you call it on your world, but it''s symbolized by that ring you think neither of us knows about." Cain said. Sorin froze and looked quickly at Cain who just waved him off. "I''m on your team and wouldn''t turn a man in for valuing the symbol of his bond. It is a sign of honor among houses. Though we brand each other when it happens as those are not easily lost or taken. If you come to my world, you should probably wear that if you practice monogamy. Our women value strength and connection and will attempt to win you."


    Sorin slumped a bit in relief as Cain continued to pull items out of the ruck.


    In the ruck it had two rough spun blankets, water skins that were naturally empty, flint, some thin rope, two forest green waterproof tarps, and 4 vials of a red liquid that Cain said was a minor healing draught.


    "Well shit...that means that one elf will be back in the fight as soon as they get their gear." Sorin said in resignation. "You mean...if?" Linx said. "Yeah...If is good." They laughed quietly. "We need to set up a watch shift for the nighttime." Sorin said once more getting to business. "Agreed. We will also need to set up traps. You any good with those mister soldier man?" Linx chirped sarcastically at him. "Actually yes...I will need your dagger; some sticks and I need you to shit in a bucket for me." Sorin came back with a serious tone.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "What?!" Linx looked at him with complete bewilderment. Sorin just laughed and walked to the top of the ridge that helped conceal their camp. "He was kidding right? I''m not shitting in a bucket for him. He has me confused with the wolverine clan." he said to Cain who just shrugged with a smirk.


    Sorin spent the next hour walking all around the hill staying out of direct sight lines as much as possible. Dug out holes the size of a smaller foot with small stick size trenches to each cardinal direction of the hole where he stacked sharpened sticks and buried them leaving the points in the hole. On his map he marked the location of each and every one and ignited the bottom of each hole for a few minutes to nearly melting so that his team could sense it if they went walking. He would have to periodically refresh the burning effect so that it stood out to them in their heat senses.


    Sorin trudged back up the hill and found the camp had been set up. Cain and Linx had dug into the side of the bank at the bottom and strung up the tarps in a downward angle leading into the scorched trench that led away from the tarps and the top was buried into the embankment itself to keep from letting moisture into the sleeping area. Sorn looked and saw the roots of the trees reinforced the dirt roof over their head and kept it from collapsing on them in the night when they were asleep.


    Their packs were stacked in the corner, and they were currently using their aether to flash cook the meet into strips to keep from letting off a cooking smell, lighting up the area with a fire, and making smoke. "Jerky in a moment. Never seen that before." Sorin said. "It''s not ideal and takes away from the flavor that comes with spices and smoke, but it''s a survival ration. We will need to find some plants sometime this week to make it taste better and balance out our diet." Linx said not stopping his task. "In other news, make sure you follow the map and use any heat sense you guys have. All over this hill are spike traps. I superheated the bottom of the trap so we can sense it, but I have them mapped out just in case it rains, or you can''t sense it for other reasons." Sorin explained.


    "Who wants first shift?" Cain asked. Sorin looked down for a bit. He was thinking quickly how much he could let them know, without giving his secrets up. He came to the conclusion that he didn''t need to give anything up as he could just say he was working on his path and was close to figuring something out. Which was not necessarily a lie but wouldn''t explain what he was working on. "If it''s alright with you two, I''d like to get last shift. I''d like to spend tonight to work on my path. I am close to figuring something out that I think will help us here and me in the long run." They looked at each other. Then Linx shrugged. "I''m ok with it and will take first shift." "Same for me, besides any strength you gain only helps us in the short and long run anyway with our assignment to Lady Aegis." Cain added.


    "I appreciate it gents." Sorin said as he grabbed the three water skins. "Let''s go fill these up then get settled for the night then."

 Chapter 27 - 90s Kids dream

    Sorin sat in the middle of their shrouded camp and had started looking around him as he always did when he was going try to push for a new part of his path. He brought up his HUD


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Pyromancer


    AP: 1000/1000


    Body: 50/50 (T2)


    Mind: 50/50 (T2)


    Spirit: 50/50 (T2)


    Abilities:


    1. Fire sense (p)/(a) - sense heat aether more clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your Fire sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a).


    2. Fire manipulation (a) - You can manipulate fire aether in your immediate vicinity. May cause minor interference with another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    3. Ignition(a) - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    4. Absorption(a) - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves but no longer.


    5. Aether revival(p/a) - A regeneration skill that restores the aether lost within your body. As cells become damaged they lose energy. This skill replenishes that energy for AP. Can increase the rate of regeneration through increased aether flow.


    Sorin was frustrated. He wasn''t able to push into Tier 3 but was given clues from what Cain said about the cores. He needed to expand his paths and core. He looked inside and saw his core. As he looked at it was odd. It sat just above his belly button and was almost superimposed over part of his organs. That didn''t make sense as there was no actual space for an extra organ in the body, yet there it was. It must be an aetherial object that is not in the flesh but the spirit which is why the spirit rating determines my capacity. His aether was full and he needed to draw in more and expand his core and channels.


    So, he reactivated his absorption skill and tried to pull more in. He was resisted. It felt like putting to magnets together with the same polarity. So be amped up the draw and pushed harder. The aether began to push in harder in all of his channels. It was slow, like trying to blow up a tiny balloon and it took all of his willpower and effort. He had to fight every little bit and the aether was forced it. It pushed each of his channels outward and stretched and eventually after what felt like an eternity, he reached his core and continued to push. The aether kept trickling in so slowly fighting him every second. His head began to ache until his focus slipped.


    Sorin opened his eyes and reset himself. He couldn''t push on that project any more tonight, so he turned to his next project. He needed fire to truly become his weapon. He closed his eyes and opened up his sense. In a moment he conjured a flame. It had become almost like breathing to create a flame, but now he wanted more and be able to weaponize it. Using his Fire manipulation, he pulled on the aether that was the fire in front of him and it moved, then went out.


    There was a mass of fire aether in front of him but not enough to ignite. He pushed more into it and reignited it again then began to move it. It flickered so he pushed more aether. He slowly moved the flame back and forth maintaining the level of aether as he would the defensive barrier. He then began to push more aether into the fire before him causing it to burn hotter and brighter until he pulled some of it around him almost like a fiery serpent. It was slow work like training a new muscle. He finally wrapped the fire all around him and connected it back to the ball then evened it out creating a ring of fire that burned lazily. He increased the flow of aether into the ring and the flames began to become sharper and fiercer.


    It began to take on a small hum like a tiny jet lighter from earth. He broke the circuit of the flame and configured it into a ball once again. He used his sense and saw the hole that was dug to hold the water if it rained and pushed with all his might on the flame toward that hole. To his surprise, it not only worked it went like a streak and exploded once it hit the bottom of the hole. Sorin was thrown backwards, and the tarps were undone. Cain was rolled into the wall of the bank and their gear went flying all from the shock wave.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    *bleep*


    Sorin lay face down on the ground with his ears ringing. He felt hands turn him over as Cain was yelling at him. Linx was keeping watch all around. Sorin put his finger up and pointed to his ears. Sorin pushed more aether to his regeneration skill and the ringing started going down until.


    *pop*


    "Sorry. Didn''t know that was going to happen." Sorin said. "Well shit at least you''re sorry you dumb ass! Now everyone in practically a league around us knows where we are!" Linx said. Cain who was watching him looked equally pissed off. "What did you do?" He asked. "I was working on my fire control and had a ball of it. I launched the ball at our water runoff basin thinking it was just fire and would vanish on contact. For whatever reason the damn thing exploded." Linx and Cain looked at each other. "Can you teach it?" Cain asked. "Maybe? I''m using information from my world to do a lot of this crap and there is so much I don''t know."


    They nodded. "Are you going to continue? Cain asked. "I was planning on it. I need to be stronger especially now that our hill is probably known." Sorin replied. "Well, Go down in your new crater and practice down there. No more explosions!" Sorin looked over and saw that indeed there was a small crater like an artillery shell went off.


    Sorin flashed them both a "thumbs up" and went down into the rather large crater and settled in again. He saw a blinking notification.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill:


    Fire blast(a) - A dense orb of fire aether sent quickly into a target on impact all aether contained is released violently in an explosion. Range is determined by aether density and explosion lessens the further the orb is sent from user.


    "Well, that answers that question." Sorin mumbled to himself. He had more ideas to work on and so he set back in.


    He started with an orb of fire in front of him and rather than send it out he pulled a stream of the fire from his orb while maintaining the orb''s aether level and kept pushing it out toward the bank of the crater. As he watched a torrent of flames show and looked just like a gentle flame thrower. He pushed harder on the stream and the orb, and first part of the flame turned blue getting insanely hot.


    *Bleep*


    Sorin released the flames and pulled up the notification.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill:


    Firestream(a) - A low to high density stream of fire that burns the area directed. Short range and gets cooler the further from the user.


    Sorin was pleased, but had one more idea for the night and he could definitely not test it near the camp. He went to the back side of the hill facing the lake. He conjured a flame in his hands knowing full well he was sky line-ing himself but screw it. If they heard the explosion earlier, they knew he was there, and they were about to see this shit. Oh, he was about to bring some planet earth to this place.


    He compressed the flame down by his side with both hands tighter and tighter and tighter and began to live every 90''s kids dream. when he couldn''t pack any more aether into the ball and with all of his strength of will and forced a line of fire from the ball and fired it all downward into the lake.


    Vreee¡ª "ZING!" ¡ªssszzzz


    The forest was turned into day in a moment as the blinding white-hot beam slammed down into the water creating an ear-splitting explosion followed by a huge splash with steam billowing everywhere. The ground shook like an earthquake from the force of the explosion. Once the beam ended, the forest went dark again and all Sorin could see was popping lights in his vision and heard terrified screaming from down below and his team shouting from behind.


    Warning!


    AP below 10!


    Sorin smiled as his vision began to go dark and fuzzy.


    "Not the same color as your boy, but I tried. That one was for you Akira Toriyama."


    Sorin fell backwards and knew no more.


    AP: 0/1000


    *Bleep*


    - At the same time -


    Kael and his team had been tracking the sons of bitches that cut him down and made him look the fool especially in front of his girl. They had lost the spare supplies they were going to get and even forced them to use two healing droughts in order to reconnect his tendons.


    They were having a hard time following them and as it got dark, they had settled in for the night in the tree line near a lake. They were eating some berries and a few strips of meat they had cooked when an explosion ripped through the area. It echoed all around them in the trees and over the water.


    "Those bastards are close. With luck they got themselves in trouble from another team." Kael said. "I hope they didn''t. I want to make them suffer slowly for what they did." Phia said angrily.


    Eldrin remained quiet. How had he got stuck on the team of these idiots? "We will get them at first light. They are either on that hill or near it." Kael said.


    They settled in for the night, when movement at the top of the hill seen by the faint moonlight caught his attention. He tapped his team members and pointed.


    As they watched a bright white orb flashed into existence growing bigger and brighter. They heard a distant shout and to their absolute horror, their night turned into day and hell broke loose. A beam of light came from a man at the top and slammed into the lake. An explosion of heat, water, and steam threw them back into the trees which were ripped out of the ground and thrown backwards. The earth shook violently not allowing them to regain their feet. After 15 or so seconds the devastation ended and they slowly got to their feet. They were burned and blistered from the heat of the blast, with cuts and scratches from debris. They had barely survived that single attack, even at a distance.


    All they could do was stand there and tremble. The smell of urine hit Kael''s nose. To his surprise...it was him. The primal fear of certain death was paralyzing.


    "W..we need to get away.... now...." He said with a trembling voice. They searched quickly and snatched their back packs. They didn''t bother packing anything back up and just left the other gear behind, running as fast as they could away.

 Chapter 28 - Aftermath

    "Hey! Wake up! you have slept long enough!


    *Thud! *


    Sorin woke to someone shouting then a sharp kick to the side.


    "Oof! What was that for?!" Sorin said opening his eyes only to immediately regret it. His head immediately felt like it was going to split open. He squinted around as the light of the day was blinding. "What was that for...he asks. What do you think it was for, you daft bastard?" Linx replied. "You have been asleep for two days after doing the one thing we asked you not to do. Remember what that was?" Sorin sat up.


    "Umm....no more explosions?" Sorin replied. "Yeah, no shit! Then what do you do? You create the not only a bigger explosion, but one that I have not ever seen before, shaking the ground like a damn earthquake and ruining a supply source." Sorin just sat there quietly taking all of this in fighting a splitting headache.


    "I slept for two days. Why?!" Sorin asked concerned for the lost time. "We can only speculate as to why, but Cain thinks you severely overdrew your aether pulling from your body tier to make up the difference. Try moving and see if you feel weaker."


    Sorin pushed his hands down and went to get up and noticed an immediate difference. He pulled just his rating stats up and was stunned.


    Body: 38/50


    Mind: 50/50


    Spirit: 50/50


    Sorin just stared at his body rating. "How much did you lose?" Linx asked. "12 points." Sorin numbly replied still shocked.


    Linx let out a whistle. "Whatever you did pulled the remaining aether you had in your core but needed more so it pulled from your body setting you back from the sounds of it, quite a bit back."


    "No kidding, it was terrible getting to that point, now I have to do it again." Sorin said offhandedly. He knew it was a simple process, but tedious to infuse his body but wanted to see what his body looked like missing that much aether infusion. He looked and saw that his skin was drained of its aether and it pulled from his blood quite a bit. He needed to reinfuse that power, but at least now he knew he had a costly reserve that he could pull from for absolute emergencies.


    "Don''t make a habit of drawing power from your body." Linx said reading the contemplative look on Sorin''s face. Had you have reached zero in body; it would have killed you."


    Sorin nodded. It made sense, and kind of scared him a bit.


    "On the bright side." A voice from up above said. It was Cain looking down at them both. "We went down after you pulled your little stunt and found some additional gear from that one group we confronted at the lake. Apparently, they were following us. We now have two more healing droughts and some extra gear like our own. The tarps were damaged from debris but can still be used somewhat."


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Sorin slowly turned. He was back at the camp they set up. "I want to see the area for myself."


    "I have no idea what you did, but it was powerful. The lake is still recovering." Cain said. Sorin began to slowly make his way to the other side of the hill. The weakness in his body made him feel so heavy and slow.


    He eventually made it and was stunned by what he saw. There was a massive crater that was slowly filling up with water. The bank of the lake showed it was an extremely deep crater. He looked around the crater itself and moving 50-100 feet away from the lake all the trees were laid flat down. There was what appeared to be molten slag what was once a rocky shore.


    His teammates looked in silence with him. "Yeah...we still haven''t gotten used to this. A tier 2 shouldn''t have been able to do that." Cain said. "I''ve heard of devastation like this from a tier 5 maybe. Some of our house elites could pull something like this off maybe."


    Sorin saw a blinking in his vision and pulled up the notification. Perhaps there was more information.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill:


    Thermal Ion Cannon(a) - A super-compressed beam of superheated aether followed by a massive thermal detonation. Requires an extreme amount of aether. Requires a long charge time. Warning: Will overdraw into the body if not enough aether is present within core.


    Sorin smiled at that new skill, but then noticed a red icon blinking.


    Warning!


    Core unable to supply appropriate aether. Pulling from body.


    Aether required: 240 AP


    12 points removed from Body to sustain user.


    Sorin closed the notification. "Well, that answered those questions. Yeah, you were right Cain. It pulled from my body and gave me the notification for it. Apparently, it needed 240 more AP than what I had available. After all my testing and skill collection last night I must not have had enough for that."


    Linx and Cain both nodded as if saying "duh." Sorin turned and began to walk toward them. "Do we have any food still available? I''m pretty hungry and thirsty. I also need to begin restoring my body stats while I''m at it."


    "Yeah man, we have food. We had to range further to find food because of the blast, but there is food in the new pack we have, and your water skin is there. We topped it off while you were out." Linx said.


    "We also would like to move from this position as soon as possible. We have been here too long." Cain said.


    "That would be smart. We can leave the traps in place in case someone was tracking us." Sorin said. "I''m strong enough to move out after I eat and drink something. I will fix by body back up when we stop. I have my new techniques so I can fight from a distance now."


    Linx and Cain looked at him bewildered. "Absolutely not with us anywhere near that shit. Especially if you use whatever did that to the lake! If we fight, you''re not using any of those techniques man." Linx responded in one of the most serious tones Sorin had ever heard.


    "Fine....fine. I''ll run defense for you guys until I get back what I lost." Sorin said. "You act like it''s simple to get it back...you have to physically train it back. It set you back a long time with those twelve points." Cain told him.


    "Yeah, I have my ways, I''ll be fine." Sorin said as they returned to the camp.


    He went into the pack with their food and pulled some meat out and some water. He picked up his own pack with the rest of the guys as they snatched theirs''s up with the additional packs and they left their hill camp with Sorin munching and drinking away thinking about all the stuff he gained.

 Interlude - The Tidecaller

    Kody Ekart had spent a lot of his adult life on the water. When the bombs hit that is exactly where he was. He was working off the coast in Washington State.


    He had received his path choices like everyone else and the only one that he could go with was Tidecaller. It gave him what looked like was power over water not controlled by someone else''s aether. He didn''t know what that shit was. It was all overly nerdy which was something his older brother and his eldest brother were into.


    When the EMP went out it knocked the power and signal out of everything including the boat, so he got a crash course in how his abilities worked.


    When the power was cut to the boat everything went still for a moment then it went to hell. A rogue wave came out of nowhere and slammed the boat capsizing it. Kody wasn''t afraid as every fisherman prepares for if this happens and he was no different. The water was coming in and his captain Gary was down below and coming up. "What the absolute fuck just happened?!" He yelled at Kody who looked at him. "Well, if you look around it would seem that we got smacked by something and turned upside down." he responded with as much annoyed sarcasm as he could muster. Kody getting back to his feet in spite of the boat not having any of its normal stability especially with water pouring in from the side where the wave hit breaking windows. He crawled his way over to the door they always kept open where water was flowing it. He swam under and came up to the surface. He crawled up the back of the boat and sat on top with a resigned smirk that his entire family has known him for when everything has gone to shit and looked around.


    He had this idea in his head he couldn''t shake and a comfortability with the water he never knew until he picked his path. He used that knowledge and lifted his hand causing water to come up almost like a tentacle. It was at this Gary came up out of the water with a couple life vests, a beacon that wasn''t working, a jug of water and a bunch of glow sticks.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    "None of this shit works." He said looking up at Kody. "That sucks." Kody said with a laugh. "I think I might have an option for us though. Want your boat back?"


    Gary looked at him with an annoyed confused look. Kody kicked his boots and overalls off and dove back into the water. He swam back up toward the glow sticks. Kody could sense everything around him with the water somehow and he thought it was due to the third skill he had called Fluid Sense. He grabbed hold of more water than before and shoved up on the boat. He immediately got lightheaded and drowsy, but the boat flipped back upright but still had a lot of water in it. It was floating and low in the water, but it was better than nothing. Kody floated a bit, completely exhausted after whatever he just did. It felt like he did a week of fishing straight with no breaks and no sleep.


    With a little more effort, he managed to swim back to the boat and crawl with the captain grabbing him by the belt loops. "How....the fuck.... did that happen?" Kody was asked. "Didn''t you see that blue screen that popped up?" Kody asked slightly slurring his words from exhaustion. "Yeah, I saw it. It wouldn''t leave so I picked Fisherman. It said it was a profession that allows me to catch better fish and gave me something called skills for casting, current reading and other weird shit." Gary said.


    "My brother, the one in the Army, used to talk about books like this. I thought it was interesting, but never really got into it. I sure feel like a jackass now. He probably knows what is going on if anyone does." Kody said.


    "Slowly looking around Kody continued. If you give me a while to catch my breath, I might be able to do something about this water and get us back maybe using that same trick I did to flip this bitch. If we get back to shore, I can check for anything to communicate with and see if we can get news."


    Gary looked around exasperated.


    "What the hell am I going to do about this?! Do what you need to do."

 Chapter 29 - Restoration, and farming

    Team five traveled 16 kilometers west until they found a stream and an area on a slight incline that was flattened out and surrounded by large boulders to give some cover and concealment. Their sight lines were not near as good as the other location, but this area had what Cain and Linx were looking for. Signs of fire beasts.


    On the hike over they had discussed plans for how they wanted to finish this week out.


    Linx and Cain wanted to begin farming the area for beasts to obtain as many fire cores as they could to begin pushing into tier 3 in a few months from now. They didn''t actually know the next time they would get an opportunity to get cores in the future and wanted to stock up even if they didn''t need them. Sorin agreed with their plan.


    "I will watch our gear and work to get myself back in true working condition. I have an idea for getting back some of the loses, but I will let you know." He said. They set up the camp using brush and dirt to further camouflage the camp. After a brief area scouting session, the three split up. The Cain and Linx heading into the woods together to hunt and Sorin remaining behind.


    Sorin sat down and expanded his fire sense to the limit without it pulling from his aether and then activated his absorption ability to begin infusing his flesh once more. To his surprise it went even quicker than the first time. It was like his body had a memory of the infusion and what he thought was going to take him all the rest of the day and night, took him only a few hours. He looked at his stats again and sighed in relief.


    Body: 50/50


    Mind: 50/50


    Spirit: 50/50


    Sorin shut down his HUD and settled in for another round of the hard part. He ramped his absorption up and began pulling as hard as he could. He braced for the struggle this time. The usual resistance came, and he slowly began moving and compressing the aether down in his core and he pushed even harder with his will. He could slowly feel his core pushing at the edges what felt like a single micrometer at a time. He could feel the sweat pouring off of him in buckets.


    Hours passed as every single bit of progress was made. He eventually stopped when he saw two people crossing into his fire sense. He stood up and peered through the brush and verified that it was in fact Cain and Linx. They were looking a little ragged, but happy and smiling when they crossed into the camp with the sun starting to break the horizon.


    "How did the hunt go fellas?" Sorin asked wiping his own sweat from his face. "It went extremely well after the first couple. We had to figure out how to fight as two especially without our damage sponge." Linx said elbowing Sorin as he walked by. "How did your side go man?" Cain asked dropping down heavily taking a drink from his water skin.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "It went pretty well actually. I am back to where I was before I wrecked that lake." Linx laughed and Cain sighed, reaching into his pocket Cain tossed a red core over to Linx.


    "You assholes had a bet going?" Sorin said as he looked unamusedly at them. They both grinned at him. "Sorin, at this point, you have been doing crazy crap and after you decided to blow up an entire section of forest we are going to start placing a lot more bets between us. We even have a bet going whether or not you blow up our assignee." Cain said.


    Sorin snorted and smirked. "That bad, am I?"


    "Oh, the worst." Linx said. "Which of you bet on me blowing her up?" Sorin asked looking at both of them. They both raised their hand. "Cain said you will blow her up in the first week and I said it will be toward the end when you are fed up listening to the classic noble "wait til my father hears of this" line."


    Sorin groaned. "Oh no....that trope is real?!"


    "What''s a trope?" Cain asked. "A commonly reoccurring theme. In the books I''ve read about cultivation, nobility, LITRPG; whenever you have rich, noble, or royal children involved...every single time they don''t get their way they threaten to tell daddy, or they ask if the person knows who their father is." Sorin explained.


    Linx and Cain both laughed a little too loudly for Sorin''s comfort causing him to reactively hunch down.


    "We see you know the type. It''s just funny it''s in your books." Cain said. "It also looks like from your reaction, I''m the one more likely to win the bet." Linx added.


    Sorin shook his head.


    "When do you guys'' next hunt?" Sorin asked.


    "We plan to get a little shut eye, then we will head right back out. We found an area with a lot of cinderpaws and we can farm them for days all in a five-to-six-kilometer radius around here." Cain said.


    "Cinderpaws?" Sorin said looking at both of them. "They are C rank version of a wolverine. Instead of that white stripe they have on their face it''s just fire." Linx explained


    "Ah. yeah, count me in." Sorin said.


    Sorin kept up the watch since with all of his energy infusion and pushing he wasn''t tired, but in fact brimming with aether. After a few hours, Linx and Cain woke up, threw down some food and water, covered up all their supplies, taking a healing drought each, then they all left the camp.


    It was only about a half hour of walking before they saw their first cinderpaw and they sprang into action with their usual tactics. Sorin would rush in swinging and gaining its attention only for his team mates to flank and rip it apart.


    "Oh, this is so much easier!" Linx exclaimed as he ripped out the beast''s core. Cain nodded his agreement, and the team continued killing every single cinderpaw they could find. It felt like hours they cut down beast after beast at a rate Sorin was told was at least twice as fast as yesterday for them. They began playing games and trying to take one on by themselves after they memorized how they fight but like with everything...murphy''s law just couldn''t mind its own business.


    The group turned the corner around a rock outcropping and in front of them said the biggest cinderpaw they had ever seen. It was jet black with blue flames going along it''s back. The group was out in the open due to their complacency and the beast had already seen them preparing to attack.


    "Fuck....Complacency kills." Sorin said as he readied for what he was already think was going to be the biggest fight for their lives.

 Chapter 30 - S rank

    Sorin went cold as he looked at the massive Cinderpaw.


    "Well now we know why there were so many of those things." Cain said sounding just as nervous as Sorin felt.


    "I think we should fall back." Linx said as the other''s nodded and slowly began inching backwards. As they took their first few steps back the massive cinderpaw walked forward sniffing the air. It froze as it smelt them even from the distance they were at. With a roar the flames on its back grew in intensity and it charged.


    It was fast, way faster than any of the other cinderpaws they had faced. Sorin, Linx and Cain all threw up their barriers layered right after each other. It was a good thing because the beast slammed into them with the force of a truck. Linx''s barrier took the initial hit and broke after a moment causing him to stagger in backlash followed by Cain a few moments after and then Sorin''s. They dove out of the path of the beast and rolled up their feet as Sorin''s barrier was smashed by a burning claw. Sorin didn''t see any damage from the beast making contact with his barrier like was the case with each thing that had in the past, which made sense with this creature''s fire affinity.


    Sorin gave a hand and arm single for an attack patter as his teammates scatter to the side. They were going with their first usual attack patter. Sorin had the regeneration skill and could take some punishment. He rushed at the cinderpaw with both of his blades and the beast responded in kind slashing with a paw of its own. As his swords made contact with the claws, they were slammed to the side with him rolling right after it. It was at that precise moment that Linx and Cain slammed their weapons into its side where it''s heart should be.


    The beast turned quickly feeling the pain as the aether steel sunk in and shook them off. Cain''s blade went the deepest and had gotten stuck. The beast bite down toward him. Cain seeing the impending death coming at him let go of his sword and fell back into a roll flashing another barrier up between him and the beast''s jaws.


    Sorin was back on his feet and rushing toward the cinderpaw seeing the barrier go up. Linx ran up the beast and began attacking its spine but was immediately blasted off with a discharge of flames from its back with a scream as the front of him was scorched. Sorin could smell the fur burning on the fox beastman as he was slammed to the ground and slid into a tree near the edge of the clearing. Sorin swung his blades at the back of the beast slashing at the legs but was not getting very deep. The beast kept going toward Cain and was determined to kill him. Sorin needed to pull its attention away from his teammate.


    Not knowing what else to do, Sorin got a bright idea that made him laugh out loud. He slammed his sword right up the ass of the massive cinderpaw.


    With a sharp squeal the creature jumped forward and dragged its butt on the ground forcing the sword further in causing it even more pain. With this momentary distraction Cain was able to get up and ran by the beast grabbing one of Linx''s daggers from the ground where it had been dropped when he was burned and blasted from its back. They were falling back toward the man in question when the beast roared in fury, allowing its rage to overcome its pain. It turned on them, murder in its gaze as molten fire leaked from its jaws.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Cain, get to Linx, I''ll do my best to hold this thing off. Sorin said as Cain passed the dagger off to Sorin and took off. He had a sword and a dagger against this seemingly S rank beast.


    "Well no time like the present." Sorin said and began summoning orbs of fire all around him. Seeing the orbs the massive cinder paw stopped, giving Sorin all the time he needed. He compressed each of them and began firing them, one after the other creating more orbs in their place. They began streaking in and slamming into the Cinderpaw, exploding on contact. Smoke began to fill the clearing as pained roards, growls, and cries came from the beast.


    The cinderpaw disappeared under smoke and fire from the barrage of fire blasts striking it over and over and over again. After around 30 blasts Sorin halted his attack and check his AP


    AP: 705/1000


    Sorin was keeping his absorption running at full tilt and had gained back almost a full blast since the start of the barrage. There came a deep growling as the smoke began to clear.


    A burning snout made its way out of the smoke followed by the rest of the beast. Sorin didn''t thing the fire was going to do much to the monster in front of him, but had hoped the explosions would and he was somewhat correct. The cinderpaw was bleeding from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Wounds were ripped into its fur all over from the explosion, but it seemed to be ignoring all of the damage.


    It lumbered at Sorin and slashed at him with its claw. Sorin ducked under the swipe and stabbed at its shoulder with the dagger and ripping as he went back further hooking the handle of Cain''s Kopis, ripping it out. He glanced over where he thought his team was at then flung the blade back to the tree line hoping someone was watching. In that brief moment the cinderpaw slashed up at Sorin. He tried to dodge back but was not quite fast enough. The claws caught his chest and ripped the entire front of his robes and stopped at the armorweave, but scraped upward catching his cheek, caring a massive trench from jaw to scalp on his left side. Sorin fell backwards throwing up a barrier. The beast fell upon the barrier and was going around it as Cain returned and attacked from the other side. The creature didn''t even care about Cain even though he had begun using his race''s blood abilities. He wanted Sorin dead. Sorin was slowly regenerating, but needed some time. That''s when can slashed the left front paw at the joint digging deep causing the beast to stumble and fall. Sorin saw his chance and lanced a line of his flames compressed into a solid burning line around the beast wrapping it up like a large cord like he did with the circuit he created.


    *bleep*


    It was a spur of the moment move and Sorin, in his desperation didn''t even know if it would work, but thank God it did and worked perfectly. The beast tried to roar and struggled against he restraint around its snout, legs, and boddy. Sorin glanced at his HUD and saw his aether fall rapidly every time it struggled as hard as it could.


    They attacked in earnest. Sorin slashed with his sword and Linx''s dagger at its neck and Cain attacked the other side of its neck. In front the front Linx jumped and landed next to Sorin slamming his dagger into the rib cage of the beast before running up and over to the other side to the do the same thing.


    "I''m almost out the aether!" Sorin yelled seeing his AP hit 50.


    Warning!


    AP below 10


    He let go of his binding skill just as Linx slammed his dagger into the beast''s lungs again and shouted.


    The cinderpaw choked as smoke billowed out the side of it where the dagger was being held by Linx. Jumped back and with a pulling motion ripped a massive amount of blood from the beast, then with a pushing motion ignited the blood and pushed it right back into the creature.


    It was too much, the cinderpaw sank to the ground no longer able to breathe, with literal flames running through its veins.


    With a final gurgle it went still.

 Chapter 31 - Pushing the limits

    The three fell back on the ground breathing heavy. As Sorin sat there, arms draped over his knees he watched as the blood from the gash in his face dripped blood in front of him.


    "Well...that was...laborious." Cain said looking slowly over to Sorin at the head of the dead monster in front of them. Sorin let out a snort of laughter as his face began to itch from his regeneration skill beginning to kick in. "You good over there Linx? Took quite the shot earlier." He said glancing over at the fox beast man who was opening up a healing drought. "No....but this will help." he replied throwing it back like a shot of whiskey.


    They sat there for a while not doing anything but collecting their thoughts and going over again and again in their head how they had all made it with minimal injuries. For Sorin he examined his robes and saw they were shredded in the front, but thankfully the beast could not get passed the armorweave suit. For Linx, his body ached all over form the shot and fire blast he took singing his robes, face, and arms. He was looking at where fur used to be, now it was a bald patch. Cain on the other hand was the most fortunate being just dirty with slightly torn trousers where they got caught on rocks.


    Sorin pulled up the blue notification that was burning him up with curiosity.


    Congratulations


    You have learned skill:


    Infernal bindings(a) - Create a burning cords or chains that be used the same as any binding. With the added burning effect. If used to bind a creature it will use more or less aether per second depending on the body stat of the target compared to your spirit stat. Periods of struggle will always consume more aether to maintain.


    Sorin got to his feet. "You guys think that big ole bitch was B rank?" he asked. Linx was the first to respond. "No. It was a rift champion. See how there were all the small non-dangerous ones and then there was this great big thing with different features? That is what is known as an S-rank champion. They are so random, and we are beyond lucky. You might want to go try your hand in all the games of chance you can find after this." Linx went forward and cut into the beast, reaching his arm far in and tugged at something.


    Sorin walked around as he pulled his arm back with a fist sized red orange beast core. "The way I see it, this is yours." Linx said tossing the core to Sorin. "We would have died if not for you man."


    "Probably, but without you guys running distraction, I would have also died. So, I can take all the credit." Sorin replied walking to the rear of the cinderpaw.


    "So.....any of you guys want to volunteer to fish out my sword?" He looked up seeing his two teammates walking away throwing him the one finger salute. "We will see you back at camp." Cain said.


    - A little later -


    Sorin was in the creek washing the feces off of his swords and himself as with the rest of the blood and dirt. The other''s had washed off earlier and were now sitting and eating. Walking back to camp drying off his sword with the rag that was formerly his robe top. "We are what? 20-25 kilometers south-ish from the pickup point?" Linx grabbed the map from Sorin''s pack and looked it over for a minute. "It looks that way. We shouldn''t head that way for a little while, but we definitely want to move camp again now they we are cleaned off. We essentially made a pretty obvious mark in this area."


    "When do you guys want to move out?"


    "Probably in a few minutes would be best." Cain responded. "I can smell blood all over this area and there is about to be a power vacuum now that we have killed a champion. From the research I''ve done back home before coming here, the reserves track the rift champions in this place and will definitely investigate the death of one."


    They packed up and set off moving closer to the pick-up point by 7 kilometers next to a bend on the same water way they rested at earlier.


    As they walked and used their senses of their surroundings, Sorin asked the other questions on his mind since the fight.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "You guys have some savage skills I haven''t seen before."


    "Well yeah, when were we supposed to use these during training? I couldn''t just explode other conscripts by filling them with flames."


    "Yeah, somehow I don''t see our trainers looking too well upon me igniting my opponent''s blood and watching them burn to death from the inside as well." Cain added.


    "Yeah....fair point." Sorin replied. "Not going to lie though man, I''m glad you''re on our team. Nobody I know from my clan would have been able to survive and barrage you launched at that beast." Linx said side eyeing Sorin. "In fact, it was outright scary seeing that coming back up hazy as I was."


    "I have to agree. Only our tier 4 or 5 knights would have been able to defend against that. It would take probably our few tier 6 throne guards to shake it off in my opinion." Cain said.


    Sorin took in their words. "I have to become as strong as possible as fast as possible in order to get home guys. I have a wife and son to get back to in a world that I''m sure is ripping itself apart in a war, but I''m on your side." Sorin said flashing an eyes closed smile without teeth.


    They continued to talk as they hiked and eventually reached their destination. They quickly set up camp. Sorin used the water''s elbow as a border to their camp. Nobody should be able to sneak passed the water and not be heard let alone seen so he began setting up his spike traps in the opening. He came back as the sun hit its red zone and casting long shadows. His team used some brush to camouflage their camp somewhat, so it was actually hard to see at a distance until he was right up on it.


    "I''ll take first shift this time and covered the shifts while my lazy ass hasn''t taken a single shift this whole time." Sorin said.


    Linx and Cain furrowed their brows then they laughed. "You''re right!" Cain exclaimed with a laugh. "You almost killed yourself that first night then slept the other two nights, followed by a four night where you just watched the camp and meditated while we went out to play, so I''m not counting that as a shift." He added.


    Sorin got up and went to a nice, camouflaged stump and sat down watching everything in front of him while extending his range out as far as he could until he met the base level of aether regen with his absorption skill. He had gotten good enough that he could sense nearly 300 feet in every direction. Each of the traps still glowed as he settled in.


    - approximately 3 hours later -


    Sorin saw one of the guys get up and move to his position. He could see it was Linx by his ears and tail. "Anything crazy going on?" Linx low whispered.


    Nah it''s been still. Saw some smaller D ranks further out, but that was it. Sorin responded. "I was thinking I would develop my spirit a bit tonight to push closer to tier 3. Do you think we could stay an extra day in this place?"


    "I don''t see why not. I think Cain was working on his base stats too." Linx said.


    "Good. I haven''t slept for a while and will be tired after this so a break would be good after."


    "I hear you. I''ve got the watch. Do what you need to." Sorin got up only to have Linx grab his arm. "And no explosions this time." Linx said with a smirk. "Yeah, yeah..." Sorin said rolling his arm forcing Linx''s grip to fall away.


    Sorin went back to the camp and pulled the large core from his bag and went to the side of the camp away from Cain and sat down. He opened his sense and looked at the core which lit up like a beacon. He had never used a core before, so he reached into his pocket and pulled a small core. He felt around for the aether that was supposed to be inside. After around five or so minutes he found what he needed to do. It was like his orbs of fire, he reached in and tugged with his will.


    To Sorin''s surprise, not only did the aether come easily, but it forced its way into his channels and went straight to his core without the resistance. It went even faster with his absorption activated pulling even more aether with it. The aether from the little core seemed to just keep on coming until he could feel the usual strain on his core as it slowly began to push out. After around ten minutes the aether ran out of the core and it crumbled to dust and his core had expanded more in those ten minutes than in both of his struggle sessions.


    He definitely did not want to use the champion''s core. He had no idea how much energy was in that much larger core, but did not want to waste it. He got back up, went to his back and pulled the 13 cores he had earned earlier dropping off the large one.


    He sat back down and began to pull in one core after another. His core just kept expanding. He noticed the walls of his core were slowly growing thinner and thinner until they reached a point where he felt the same as he did when he first got his initial infusion of spirit. The aether was then directed outward from the core and began to push on the walls of his channels widening them out.


    As he began pulling harder with his absorption ability seeing he was down to 4 cores left and the speed intensified. Slowly but surely his channels were twice as wide as they once were before he couldn''t take in any more aether. He had one core remaining when he opened his eyes.


    Pulled open his HUD looking for the expected tier up.


    Body: 50/50


    Mind: 50/50


    Spirit: 50/50


    This didn''t make any sense. His core and channels were twice as big as before, yet he was still at 50/50. Logically it was not adding up. Frustrated he got up tossing the last core into his pack. He needed more information as he was missing something.

 Chapter 32 - More than meets the eye

    "Who could have done this!?" Elowin exclaimed. She was known as a forest Nymph charged with helping care for the reserve maintained by the academy. She was accompanied by Faelan. He was a forest Fae charged with the care of the various beasts that roam the reserve. They were dispatched along with various others to investigate a couple of anomalies that had been detected within the zone.


    They stood at the edge of a devastated lake surrounded by a former beach now made of slag.


    "Spread out! Begin looking for clues as to what took place here! Faelan commanded to the soldiers under their charge. He was irritated because their tracker in a prize champion Cinderpaw was reading as dead. The S-Class beast was extremely difficult to capture and transport. It took several high tiered warriors to subdue and served as a barrier in the fire part of the region to keep one area from expanding into another.


    There is nobody in this reserve currently that should be able to take one of them down. He was thinking it was another champion in the reserve that for whatever reason wandered over and they fought, but that didn''t even make sense because it had never happened before. They were always careful in keeping the champions separate and their regions filled with their food sources, so they had no reason to wander. In his over 30 years of beast management, this had never happened. They tracked their age and always swapped them out when they were about to die.


    Faelan was broken from his thoughts by a blood curdling scream from the hill overlooking the now decimated lake. There was shouting and running then another scream of agony. Elowin and Faelan got to the base of the hill using their tier 6 speed. There were two of their soldiers staggered up the hill with a single foot stuck in the ground with another rooting around. They slowly made their way up the hill and peered into the hole. They were traps of spiked sticks with hardened edges through burning.


    When the unsuspecting soldiers had their foot fall into the trap it pierced the front of their leg and caused them to fall either to the side or backwards ripping the front only to stab the spikes into the side or the back of their legs dealing more damage.


    "Keep your eyes on the ground!" Elowin shouted. "If there are these two, there are bound to be more. Get up this hill and look around. There has to be something left behind."


    A shout came from the edge of where the lakes crater was causing the two leaders to turn around. "Let me know if you find anything up the hill. You two, get them to the skiff and get them to the medical center."


    The two made their way over to where they heard the shout as one of the soldiers was walking this way with a pair of white and blue half burned trousers.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Ma''am! Sir! I found this buried under a fallen tree over in that direction. I looked up the upcoming assignee list and found these colors come from Sergeant Agron''s batch of conscripts. These are the colors of Baron Winterhart of the Cocytus Barony." he said.


    Elowin pulled up her own data pad and began scrolling looking at the batch of conscripts belonging to the sergeant. As she read up on the instructors and the 14 remaining teams, she was interrupted by the soldiers that came back down the hill. "Ma''am we found nothing up on that hill save for signs of a camp and a medium sized crater that seemed scorched on one side. On this side of the hill over on that side." the soldier pointed to a gap in the trees. "We found tracks where someone stood, laid, and seemed to be dragged off. It looks like the perfect spot for the launch point of a massive AOE attack by my estimation."


    Elowin nodded and scrolled through the teams. "Fire...Fire....hmmm." She stopped on a team. "Here. This is a whole team of flame path users. They were hand chosen by Lady Aegis." She showed Faelan her screen. "It''s a stretch, but if these tier 2s can do this." she said pointing to the devastation around them. "I think they might have a chance against your champion."


    Faelan seemed unconvinced. "Three tier 2s taking down an S-Class that took six tier 4s to bring in? Come on Elo...that''s hard to believe." She looked up at him. "First off, we are on duty, Its Elowin. Second, it would make sense that tier 2 users would be headed up into the fire area to farm up fire cores, wouldn''t it?"


    "It would make sense, but that would make these conscripts geniuses if they could kill the beast, and we don''t get geniuses with conscripts often at all. The geniuses are always the nobility and royalty. Once in a generation we get a standout, but nothing like this." Faelan said.


    "Look at this area though? We are Tier 6. Are you confident in walking away from a strike that could do this?"


    "No. Let''s head to the champion''s body and see what we can find."


    - A short ride later -


    "Look." Faelan said pointing down. "You see the cinderpaw bodies all over?"


    "Yeah...I''ve been counting them. I''m at 43." Elowin said. They looked at each other. Suprise written all over their face.


    They eventually came to a stop over top of the clearing where the beacon said the champion was and there was its massive body.


    They set down and Faelan went to the body of the beast. He was shocked by what he saw.


    "There are stab wounds, cuts, and it looks like massive chunks of its flesh were forcefully ripped out." He said.


    "Spread out! Find anything that doesn''t belong!" He then moved behind the beast seeing scorch marks and a massive crater looking to be made up of many smaller craters. The front of the cinderpaw''s lair looked halfway blown away.


    "It''s core is gone." Elowin came up alongside of him. "Other wounds are pierced lungs, and its insides have been practically incinerated. Which makes sense because the beast only has the massive heat resistance because of its fur."


    She saw a puzzled look on Faelan''s face as he walked up to the rear end of the beast. "What?" She asked.


    He just pointed looking at a bloody messy hind side of the beast in disgust.


    "There may be more to this team than meets the eye. They shoved a weapon up it''s ass for some reason."

 Chapter 33 - Realizations

    - Hours before -


    "Sergeant, what can you tell us about team 5? Elowin asked.


    Sergeant Agron who was standing with his hands behind his back for the superior officer and seemed surprised by everything being said to him. Even more so when she mentioned that one team.


    "Team 5 Ma''am, is actually one of the teams I have been keeping a closer than usual eye on. There is something off about one of the members on that team that I haven''t been able to put my finger on."


    "How so?"


    "It''s not a very good answer Ma''am, but it''s what I''ve been going off of for a month now and its I have a feeling that one member on that team is not like the rest. He is definitely an elite of the class, but I feel like there is something off about him. I hate to operate off of feeling, but unfortunately, it''s all I have been able to put together." He explained.


    "Can you bring up his file and any footage you have that would make you feel this way?" Faelan said walking forward intending to get on the Sergeant''s quantifier while they were talking.


    "Yes sir!" Agron said as he went to his desktop and drilled into his files on the conscripts bringing up Sorin''s file. "I have it separated by his profile, notes, and footage of his training. May I ask, what happened?"


    Elowin took back over. "The reserve your batch was sent to experienced two anomalies. One that affected an ecosystem that was in my area of supervision and the death of a champion beast in Captain Faelan''s area of supervision. What we have found were a medium crater with a high intensity scorch mark on the side, traps with burned spiked sticks with a superheated scorch mark at the bottom of the hole, and a lake that was completely destroyed and is currently still filling up with water. The beach used to be rock and now it is slag. On top of that the trees around that lake have been blasted away."


    She paused watching the Sergeant''s reaction. His brows scrunched up. "Ma''am, I mean no disrespect, but are you sure it was someone from my batch that did that?"


    "No, as a matter of fact, we are not sure. The amount of aether required for that attack would be enormous. In my mind it would require a tier 4 core to be able to inflict that level of devastation." Elowin said.


    "To make matters worse, we followed a trail of cinderpaw bodies moving into the fire region of the reserve until we got to the champion, and we found it not only dead, but practically chewed up and burned alive."


    Agron looked extremely perplexed. "At first we thought maybe it was another champion that wandered for some reason."


    "But in my over three decades as a beast manager of this reserve, it has never happened. Faelan cut in. "when we examined it further there were blade wounds all over the beast and a crater made up of smaller craters and scorch marks everywhere. We found a smaller pool of blood that didn''t belong to the beast, so we know one of them was injured in the fight, but none of them died which is beyond impressive." Elowin continued.


    They stood in silence as Faelan was watching clip after clip from the training sessions of the team. He paused on one that led to the death of another conscript. He stopped and rewound the footage, slowing it down over and over again watching it.


    "Captain Elowin. I think I might see what the sergeant is talking about. I''m getting the same feeling, and I don''t know what it is. It makes me uneasy."


    Elowin walked over and watched the footage of the female getting cut down and slamming into the red barrier after the sword disintegrated in her hand. Something seemed off. Like it was just a tough too powerful.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "What tier was this conscript estimated to be at the time of this footage?


    "We believe he was tier 1 about to transition to tier 2 Ma''am." Agron said.


    "Odd, his strike seems a touch too powerful and has too much control. It reminds me of the Purgatory knights of Count Vernon Ifrite." She replied.


    "The fire elementals? Ma''am I have only ever seen glimpses of their combat prowess, but that seems to give the conscript too much credit if I may be bold?"


    Elowin nodded as Faelan turned in his chair.


    "That''s what bothers me. Captain did you find anything about his background?"


    "Yes, he is a universe transferee. His world seems to be technology centered based on the clothing and gear he had with him on arrival. So, he could have scientific insights that have been assisting him. It''s nothing we haven''t seen before from transfers." Faelan said.


    Elowin looked at Faelan and they nodded to each other.


    "Impressive work Sergeant Agron. You have a good team of conscripts to be able to take down a champion. We appreciate your time helping us close this anomaly report for the Academy board. Carry on."


    Agron put his fist over his heart in a salute and turned to his quantifier as the officers left his office.


    "I''m on to you Sorin." he mumbled to himself looking at the paused footage of his burning wooden blades.


    - presently -


    "Cain...Question for you." Sorin said as he saw his teammate coming back from the water after getting up and washed up. "What do you need?"


    "I was thinking about what you said about going from tier 2 to tier 3. You said cores are required?" Sorin asked.


    "Yes. You have to expand your core capacity and channels according to the lessons I received. There is also the unknown requirement when your body and mind have to break through requiring more space to continue to grow. That usually requires almost a full solar cycle after maxing out your rating."


    Sorin thought to himself. Are they talking about the infusion process he did? Sorin thought over all of his actions and the state of his body.


    "You said the body and mind?"


    "Well yes, the body and mind are always paired together because the brain is part of the body but has a separate function that is not always physical, but it is."


    Sorin''s eyes went wide.


    "Son of a bitch!" he said as he snapped his fingers.


    "Son of a what?" Cain asked. "Nothing, nothing, don''t worry about it. I appreciate you helping with my curiosity." Sorin said.


    Cain shrugged used to Sorin''s random and delving questions at this point, so he just shrugged and went to relieve Linx on watch.


    As soon as Cain walked off Sorin closed his eyes and looked inward. He had completely forgot that he had yet to infuse his brain. He was still hesitant to begin, but knew it must be done. He started low. He had left the spinal fluid alone and the biochemical lines that filled his spinal column moving outward helping with the electromagnetic signals all over. He slowly pushed aether into that area.


    As he did, he felt a severe tingling sensation all over his body. It scared him so he kept wiggling his toes and fingers and kept the aether coming. He opened up his absorption skill to full blast and kept pushing. He got to his brain stem and felt as different parts of him began to become different. He couldn''t place his finger on it. The fluid around his brain began to change. It took on a more reactive fluid. He could sense that on impact it would absorb much or kinetic energy letting less through to his brain. As he moved into the brain itself, he would stop periodically as he would temporarily forget what he was doing. Sometimes parts of his body would stop. His lungs would burn, his heart would ache, his stomach would relax and other muscles. He his bowels released momentarily and then came back.


    At that point he had to stop and press the cleaning feature of his suit. No way was he going to deal with that.


    Once clean, he said back down and continued.


    For the next two hours Sorin pushed the aether into his brain until...


    *bleep*


    Sorin opened his eyes. His senses were dialed up even more. It seemed so overwhelming. He took the next 15-20 minutes getting used to everything. Walking around he had the spacewalk effect on his body. After a while he started getting used to it all again. He opened his notification.


    Conditions met for tier 3


    AP: 2300/2300


    Body: 51/100


    Mind: 51/100


    Spirit: 60/100


    Upon reaching the third threshold, you are no longer required to have your stats move up together. With your foundation now set, you can specialize or continue to grow each section accordingly. The mysteries and growth of your path is completely yours.

 Chapter 34 - Final week

    After Sorin reached tier 3 he slept for a few hours until it was time for watch. They rotated watches for the rest of that day as each of them worked on their paths and rested.


    A few times, some animals tested their perimeter and one time a team moved through the area, but didn''t spot them. On the day after team 5 rose and began moving toward the pick-up point. They only had a couple of days left, and they were completely recovered from the champion battle, so they figured it smart to finish moving within easy range of the pickup point.


    They walked along the western edge of the pick-up point. Sorin kept his fire sense expanded all the way out as far as his absorption would break even with. His ability to draw in aether was significantly increased with the doubling of his previous mental power allowing him to see all the way out to 600 feet in every direction without losing any aether from his core.


    He didn''t say anything to his teammates about hitting the next tier, because why would he volunteer information? They found a ridge overlooking a wide plain that was their pick-up point. They could see the deactivated teleporter sitting in the middle of the field. They set the usual traps up coming up their ridge and settled in for the wait.


    The next couple of days passed with no excitement. During the day, Sorin began showing his team how he manipulated fire into his firestream. He told them just enough information that they could achieve the skill but left out a lot of the information from his world. He trusted them to watch his back, but at the end of the day, being the smartest and strongest person in the room increased his chances of getting home.


    They didn''t want to work on the fire blast skill that Sorin used and didn''t even mention his thermal ion cannon skill. They saw what it did and then did to him, an accident with that skill would be lethal and they wanted no part of it. That worked for Sorin. As for Sorin he began to tweak his barrier with his new mental stat. He expanded it into a globe almost touching the ground creating a true shield around him. He had only one problem...it sucked the air out form within so it would be a temporary thing and couldn''t keep it up or he would risk suffocating which was fine as the battles he was going to be facing would only become faster.


    He made the intensity of his new shield much higher causing it to burn white-hot and be even more solid.


    To work on his overall control of heat aether by causing ignition points further and further away from himself. He was met with different success as the further away he was from the point of ignition the more it would cost as his aether had to influence the aether that far away. It also took a little longer depending on how far away. The laws of nature still applied and that aether that far had to have an external force act upon it.


    He would create tens of orbs of fire and have them all rotate around him getting them to go faster and faster without having them go out. He then switched to the infernal binding technique and began to manipulate it in more and more intricate patterns even having it lash out like a whip and grab different objects. It became clear he could never lash out and grab something delicate as it scorched everything it touched.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Finally pick up day arrived. They were all awake and watching the entire morning and as the sun came up, they saw it activate and teams began coming out of the trees onto the plains. They watched how the teams interacted with one another. To their surprise, nobody attacked anyone. So, they made their way down to the point themselves.


    They saw a few other teams coming with them as they began walking on the flat. They remained warry of them but kept moving.


    "Sorin! Fancy meeting you here!" came a familiar voice.


    He turned and saw Ardwyn making his way up with team 13. They seemed somewhat gaunt and tired, but alive and happy to be leaving finally.


    "Hey! how did it go for you?" Sorin asked. "Horrible. Some team ran off with our gear before we could even reach that supply point."


    "Yeah, we saw two teams doing that. We had to prioritize one of those teams, so we picked the one that had our gear. We gave them a "talking to." Sorin said making the air quotes.


    "Bad luck for us then. We got pretty hungry for a bit until we were able to kill some beasts and always keep near the water so we could drink. We would go almost a whole day between water sources." He said as he began looking at the rest of Sorin''s team. "You have someone else''s pack?"


    "Yeah, the same group we...talked to, decided to follow us. Some things happened and they ran leaving this behind, so we made out like a champ." Sorin said.


    Ardwyn just laughed as they began to pick up the pace. "Let''s get out of here and see if we can get washed up and somewhat more comfortable away from the bugs." They reached the teleported and all stepped on initiated the transmat. They were taken back to the large atrium room with all the crowds of people. As they stepped of the teleporter the soldiers began to move in and escort them back to the elevators and back underground.


    "As you come in, drop off your weapons on the racks where you placed your wooden training weapons. Transfer any gained items from the ruck to your personal packs. Leave the gear that came with the rucks with the rucks including any unused healing droughts. If you are caught with one in your possession after today you will be severely punished." Came the command from one of the soldiers.


    They followed the command given and after they were done, they saw Corporal Varris standing in their usual training spot. They made their way over.


    "Had a little fun, did we?" She asked.


    "Yes corporal!" They responded. "I could tell. I''ve had to answer a lot of questions concerning the three of you. Wrecking an eco-system and killing a champion causing not one, but two captains to come all the way down here to talk to Sergeant Agron. Anything you want to say?"


    "No corporal!" They all said. They knew that there might be someone watching or some sort of repercussions from the cinderpaw champion or the destroyed lake, so they agreed to keep silent unless they were truly forced to talk about it. Varris narrowed her eyes.


    "Uh huh...I''m sure." She said sarcastically. "Anyway, congratulations on your survival. Hopefully you did a lot more than sit around out there for a week. This week will be about making all of you civilized. So, in the morning you will train as you did prior to the survival exercise then you will be attending classes about etiquette for military, civilian, nobility, and royalty. You will learn how to conduct yourself as soldiers. When are in the service of the empire you will conduct yourselves accordingly. Any questions?"


    "No Corporal!" They gave the required response.


    Good. Get out of my sight and get cleaned up. Dismissed!"

 Chapter 35 - First meetings

    The recovery day was a total bust. He had ideas on how to do things, but didn''t have the right circumstances and could exactly ask without tipping people off what he was working on. He tried infusing his body with more aether, but it did nothing. He couldn''t remember everything about those cultivation books he read about where they would go after reaching that "body refining" stage they spoke of but even thar didn''t translate cleanly what he thought he was doing.


    The following week was a slog of increased physical training, etiquette clases, close order marching and drilling. How to salute properly, when to bow, and when to speak.


    The instructors went over times to automatically draw weapons to protect your assignee. Watching long range site lines for snipers. Sorin had don''t security operations before and was good at reading people. He had once read "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin De Becker in his spare time reading to help read people and learned just how important it is to listen to your intuition or "gut feeling." If you thought about it, your entire body and mind is dedicated to keeping you alive.


    Listening to how people speak and how they conduct themselves gives so many warning signals of impending attack. From the dossier of Lady Euryale Aegis there may be times her mannerisms will cause anger and he didn''t want his journey home cut short over something stupid such as an errant strike in anger.


    That Friday morning things were very different.


    "Fall to formation!" Sergeant Agron commanded. "Today you will not be training. From now until mid day you will wash yourselves throughly. Extra soap has been provided. Hygiene kits have been provided. Men, you will attend to your beards if applicable and have your hair trimmed if it''s appearance is unprofessional." Agron said as a female soldier stepped forward.


    "Women, likewise you will attend to yourselves and be made presentable. A culture is defined by it''s women and the Serpent Empire is no differnent even down to our conscripts. A culture of powerful women is a culture that endures, regardless of what our counterparts might thing." She said looking over at some of the men. There was a subtle laughter across the formation.


    "We will see you here mid-day in full armoreweave and new robes. Make sure you look sharp as you will be meeting your assignees today. Dismissed."


    Agron said as he walked off soldiers following behind. Sorin and the rest of the conscripts went in and on each of their cots was a small canvas bag with various materials. There will multiple men and women standing by with chairs offering haircuts to both men and women.


    Sorin felt his hair and saw how it had become rather unruly and long. For his entire adult life he had always had short hair and he didn''t like it when it was long. Brittanie didn''t like it either, so he jumped in the chair and got it drastically shortened. It was a scizzor cut so it wasn''t his usual, but it worked. He grabbed the canvas kit and went down to the pool. He pulled the razor out of it and the bar of soap. He shaved everything and looked into the provided palm sized mirror. He was way more slender than he remembered him being. He cheeks were more sunk in and his eyes were different, but to his suprise, he looked like he did when he was 25 but sharper.


    They didn''t have the same dark blue, but now contained a red shimmer he assumed from his aether. He scrubbed down and got out. He moved over to his clothing and after activating the cleaning circuits on his boots, gloves, and suit; he out everything on lastly tightening his boots. He stood up and after a moment he looked down at his old trousers. He pulled the ring out, snapped the lace it was secured to, pulled his glove off and put it back on then replaced the glove to hide it. He opened and closed his hand smiling to himself. Such a simple thing, but it meant so much to him.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    He threw his pack over his shoulder and headed out to the arena again about a half hour before mid-day.


    "Gather your weapons and ensure they are cleaned and in their sheaths. You will then form up with your teams in sequential order!'' A soldier said. Sorin went to where his team kept their weapons. He was the first one out it seemed. He took his swords and pulled them from their sheath one at a time to inspect them. For the abuse they had been put through they had no damage to them. Looking at their structure he wasn''t suprised. They were aether steel and followed an internal circuit that pulled ambient aether in and seemed to repair. He wondered how it knew what to repair, but figured that was a question for later when he could explore more things. He ensured they were clean of dirt, blood, and sand. Once complete he secured them to his sides and waited for his team.


    It didn''t take them long and they did the same.


    "What do you think she will be like?" Linx said standing on line shoulder to shoulder with Sorin. "I don''t know man, I''m going to prepare for the worst and expect her to be a snot nosed brat that has not be disciplined enough. Definitely expecting her to throw daddy around a time or two." He answered.


    "Ugh....I hope not. I''m glad pretty boy over there doesn''t do that." Linx said.


    "I''m not deaf Linx. I''m also a conscript or tribute just like you. How is throwing "daddy" around going to help me? Besides it would be "mommy" for me. She is the matriarch." Cain responded with a flat look at the fox beast man.


    Sorin looked him over. It really did look like he was going for almost slicked back look with some hair falling forward.


    "It''s a joke not a punch man, don''t have to take it so hard." Linx said to Cain.


    It was at that time Corporal Varris came up.


    "Pay attention you lot. Remember your etiquette and manners. Lady Euryale is just that. A lady. You will conduct yourselves appropriately. With luck...she wont hate you or turn you to a useless lump of stone. You will now follow me." She said.


    She led them out of the arena and down the corridor they took when heading for the reserve. They went to the elevator and pressed the star button. It took a good 10 minutes of going up before they finally stopped. They were led into a giant entry way that opened into an even larger atrium with banners depicting a purple and black snake eating it''s own tail. They were led through the atrium where a bunch different people stopped to watch the group.


    After five or so minutes they were led through a hall and a door. Varris pushed it open to a very large parade field. It was made with helix shaped stones fitted together with statues of different people in various states of combat. Banners hung all over the edges of the parade field. Sorin looked around and eventually saw the green and black with the symbol of a snake with read eyes and open fanged mouth he assumes was the Aegis house symbol.


    "Stand here hands behind your back always away from weapons as you were taught when in front of superiors." Varris instructed.


    "You will remain here until told otherwise to move." She said as she walked off.


    Sorin breathed out through his nose.


    "The classic hurry up to wait." He said.


    "Whar does that mean?" Cain asked. "It means we hurry up to get to a location where we proceed to wait for God knows how long for nothing to happen until when privileged people decide they are bored and don''t want to be here anymore."


    Linx giggled. "Hurry up to wait." He repeated. "I''ll have to use that.


    Over the course of the next half hour team after team lined up making a corridor of 7 teams on each side with 50 years between the lines.


    Sorin began to notice different people in elegant suits, dresses, martial arts robes, and even full armor began to fill the parade field.


    Then far to Sorin''s right a set of double door''s opened up.


    "Presenting this years Senior Cadets!"


    Sorin saw what he guessed were 14 young looking men and women walking in line 7 and 7.


    They kept walking more marching until they were lined up exactly on each conscript team where they stopped together then faced outward together simultaneously.


    That''s when Sorin, Linx, and Cain came face to face with Lady Euryale Aegis at last.

 Interlude - The Wanderer

    Mitchell or Mitch as everyone called him wasn''t much of a communicator. He had his circles that he talked in, but he lived his usual quiet life.


    He would play Magic Cards with his older brother and hang out with his family when he could.


    He would do his sword demo''s online and show different things you could do with a sword. His brother always told he needed to go to a Rennaissance Fair, but he never actually went. He had always sort of a competition with Sorin about weapons and martial arts just because it was his brother''s lifestyle, but his hobby.


    Of all people, Mitch was probably the most prepared person for the system. The moment the screen popped up and he read his choices it was a piece of cake for him to pick. Tempest Blademaster. He had checked in with his family and made sure his nephews were good, then immediately went out to train on his path and he excelled...


    - 4 months later -


    "Clarksville Tennessee was experiencing an outbreak of monster activity. Wardens Josh and Amy arrived on sight to put down the giant flaming wolf that was closing on the rest of the population including where the Seraph who is tirelessly keeping that rift contained through her work on warriors in the guild there. Since the death of the wolf, activity has been slowing down......."


    Mitch was sitting in the Adventurers Guild. This location he could take jobs for cores which were used as money now in this world and he had been while he trained every day. These guilds houses were set up all across the United States by the President as he found out when he first joined two months ago. He had been getting news and slowly making his way across the United States taking jobs on stronger monsters that would travel and escape rifts. A few times he had to cut down violent criminals that had overrun the enforcers who were slowly getting stronger but at best were a C rank adventurer. He had finally crossed into A rank and was one of 7 across the States. He had become known as the wanderer. The guild had been tracking his jobs and saw him moving from state to state. He was headed to Clarksville exactly where the news report was from to find his brother, Sister-in-law, and nephew. The family had heard nothing from them and were beyond worried.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    There was so much happening, but if anyone knew how to deal with it all, it would be Sorin. He always had the answers, even if he didn''t like it. His wife made an outstanding sister to all of them and was just as tough if she could remain married to that stubborn ass of a brother he had. He had become more worried since the news report came out after they got the power up again and he didn''t see or hear from his brother. Vehicles being back up increased his speed of travel.


    Two days after he saw the report, he was standing on Ft Campbell, Blvd looking at where the base used to be. He walked down the road up a hill where some metal eagle was and continued up to a gate manned by soldiers.


    "Civilian ID or Guild ID please." The soldier said to him. Mitch pulled from his back pocket his wallet and his guild ID. The moment the Soldier saw the ID he went ghost white.


    "W-wanderer. Please go on through. Is there anything we can help you with?" the soldier asked shakily almost star struck at the A ranker. Mitch put his wallet back and looked up.


    "I need a directory or a way to find my brother. He works on this base or at least did." He said. "Yes sir! This is common and they set us up with a database after they got the power back up. What is the name?" the soldier asked.


    "Sorin Ekart." came the reply. The soldier typed in the name and pressed enter then froze. "Wanderer, Sir. He is listed as MIA from the initial attack on the base." Mitch was stunned. Of all people he expected survive and do well, it was his older brother, but this would explain why he had heard no word. "What about Brittanie Ekart? Thats his wife."


    The soldier typed a few more keys and then his eyebrows went up when he saw a stunning connection.


    "Your sister-in-law is the Seraph?"

 Chapter 36 - Euryale Aegis

    "Cadets, you will be going out and receiving your conscripts. As you have been informed they have been trained for the last three months with the last month specifically for you. Hopefully each or you have read up on them and can recognize them. Even if you can''t they will be in your colors." Major Epsilon said to his group of the senior class for the academy.


    Euryale had read the profiles of hundreds of candidates before settling on the batch and team she had. She selected them to boost her and she was extremely uneasy. Though she chose them for their martial ability and fire affinity, there was no guarantee that they could use fire to add power to her paths passive ability.


    She had spoke to their trainer on a few occasions and this group had solid defensive abilities and they had seen evidence of massive fire damage from the team during their survival exercise so it did bring some comfort to her.


    If they didn''t have true fire skills she could push them a little bit as they were trained in soldier development to make them suit her. Though the Empire didn''t see too much value in these conscripts they were some of the best assets they could give the Cadets because they were trained from the ground up often with no political connections. It was also in their best interest to do well so they could be free and go back wherever they came from if possible.


    Reviewing the information of her soon to be team she thought back to her two tributes and knew they were going to be as expected, but she also took a gamble on a wild card. The one that came from another universe. Corporal Varris was pleased with his progress and overall raw skills in both offense and defense plus he was a soldier in his world.


    "Get ready, we are about to move out. Perception is reality and impressions are a good part of establishing your authority." The major said taking position at the front of the two lines.


    Then the doors open. "Forward, march!" Came the command and they began marching. Euryale marched with the practiced precision trained into her for the last four years. She kept her eyes forward and putting on a fierce focused face pushing a confidence she didn''t actually feel. They were only conscripts and she was a young elite of her family. She shouldn''t feel apprehensive, but it was new.


    "Detail!, halt! Ready....face!"


    With a snap and click of her heels she turns and looked directly at her three conscripts. They wore her families colors. They were crisp looking and seemed to be disciplined. The fox beast man and the dahmpire didn''t meet her eyes, but the human Sorin had no trouble. She already could tell, he had military experience and a lot of it. She refused to look away from them and projected that fierce confidence.


    "Cadets! Inspect your troops!" They saluted and then marched forward.


    Euryale walked forward sharply and when she reached the 7 pace mark all three of them gave the salute and bowed their head to her silently. Sorin broke his gaze and showed the capitulation required of him and she relaxed a bit.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "Rise and stand at easy conscripts." She said and they immediately stood up and placed their hand behind their back as customs and courtesy demands.


    "My name is Euryale Aegis, Lady of House Aegis. For the next year you will be assigned to my family. You WILL perform to the proper standard. I demand the best from each of you and will accept nothing less. Do you understand?"


    "Yes Lady Aegis." They responded appropriately. She smiled and continued. "You''re primary purpose and assignment will be the guarding of my person. As I''m sure you have been made aware. When we are deployed to the final assement you will be required to help me achieve my mission while adding to my protection."


    Euryale paused here. Breathe in.....breathe out.


    "I demand the best. Insubordination will be met with immediate death. You are nothing and will be replaced in a moment."


    Breathe in...Breathe out. Confidence. She kept going over the public speaking skills and methods.


    "At the same time, loyalty and competence can lead to rewards and boons given by myself and my family. If I win this I will keep you all as my personal guards. If I pass you will remain on as my families warriors as you would normally be, if you cause me to fail, I''ll kill you myself. Do you understand?" She said making a point to cause her eyes to go from red to yellow using a touch of her families special skill.


    "Yes Lady Aegis."


    "Good. Follow me. We need to begin getting you situated and I need to integrate myself within your movements and do some training."


    She began walking and the three men fell in behind Euryale.


    She was breathing heavier and started to sweat a bit, but she was pleased with her introduction speech. It was much harder than she thought it would be, but she did it. Now...she needed to whip them into proper shape for her plan to be executed properly.


    They walked and walked until they reached her housing accommodations. They stood in the small courtyard associated with it and the guard house meant for additional house soldiers and her conscripts. Her family sent security, but only until she recieved her own troops so now the guard house was empty.


    "There will be one of you standing security at any one given time. Nobody is to enter without your knowledge and challenge and I mean nobody. I don''t care how you set up shifts." She said waving her hand in a not caring, dismissive nature.


    "Which one of you has been the sort of team leader?" She asked.


    She saw Sorin step forward head bowed.


    "Good! You will be first on shift and meet me in the conference room. You two take his pack and get settled in. We will begin our team training tomorrow." She commanded.


    Sorin kept his head bowed and waited until her next command.


    "Come we will go to the briefing room and you will tell me about the team and your different abilities as you know them." She said starting to walk into her assigned quarters. Her lady in waiting was waiting inside the door. As she passed she did a shallow curtesy and followed directly behind her as is proper.


    She led the small detail into the conference room where a large rectangualar table with six six chairs surrounding it was. Another servant came in with a pink drink in a pitcher and placed it down on the table then backed up.


    Euryale went to the head of the table, poured a drink then sat down. She looked up at the human known as Sorin who stood at ease hands clasped behind his back.


    "Sit. We have a lot to discuss." She said.


    Sorin took the chair at the other end of the table and waited.


    "Tell me about my team."

 Chapter 37 - Leader-follower relationship

    Sorin looked across the table at Euryale. She had red eyes like that of a raven but with a slit like that of a cat. Her skin was pale and her hair to his surprise was jet black and not the snakes from legend. Her face looks like it was computer generated to be absolutely stunning. Everything about her face and figure was like it came out of a very detailed character creation model. She was objectively beautiful for a person. He took all of this in as he sat and in the brief moment after she asked about the team.


    "The team is more offensively oriented. We offer high martial offensive but are still lacking in our aether abilities variety and flexibility. Linx, the fox beast man had the ability to conjure flames and can inject those flames directly into a target destroying them internally. Needs a little setting up and a brief opening. He is fast enough to slip in and out. Cain has the ability to conjure flames as well, but also had the ability to manipulate blood from his race. He can set that blood on fire and send it through an opponent''s veins. He needs to draw blood and a lot of it for true value." Sorin began to detail.


    "And you?" Euryale asked.


    "I have more flexibility in my aether abilities. I can conjure flames, fireblasts, and immobilize targets. I also have one skill that one would describe as a last resort skill. It''s powerful but can leave me weakened." Sorin said.


    Euryale seemed more intrigued by these skills. "Your fireblast skill, is it the standard fireblast skill where on contact it spreads fire or is it the one that explodes and sets fire?"


    "Explodes and sets fire, Lady Aegis." Sorin said. Euryale pulled a pad and a pen out of an inside pocket of her jacket and began writing. She kept writing for about five minutes before she looked up again.


    "You said you have a skill that can immobilize?" She asked.


    "Yes ma''am. It creates a burning cord or chain, and I can use it almost like a tendril to bind a target dealing damage per second to that target based on resistance."


    She nodded and started writing again.


    "Describe to me this skill that is a last resort as you put it?"


    "It is called thermal ion cannon. It had a longer preparation requirement and a huge aether cost, but the damage is beyond anything I''ve seen since being in the world. It is a super-heated beam of fire. If I do not have enough aether available in my core it will pull from body." Sorin said.


    Euryale looked at him with a contemplative look. "If I try to employ this skill of yours then, is it going to endanger me?" She asked.


    "I do not know the Lady''s power and do not wish to be seen as disrespectful for boastful. I think it could present a threat to tier 3 and tier 4 especially at close range or a direct hit. It does have a shockwave and blast radius when it hits so it could knock down and hurl objects. To answer your question, If the lady is within tier 3 or 4 it might present a threat if used at closer range."


    She nodded again and wrote more.


    Sorin needed to establish a professional relationship and begin to earn this woman''s confidence. To do this will require a little manipulation in the form of earnestness and charm. He had to take a chance and angering her, but it''s a necessary risk to be able to advise her in the final exam.


    "Permission to speak Lady Aegis?" Sorin asked.


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    She stopped and looked up at him with narrowed eyes seemingly perplexed.


    "Yes conscript, speak." She snapped.


    "Thank you, ma''am. Speaking plainly, your success is in our best interest. I have significant experience in small unit tactics and development. With your guidance, I am confident I can do more to help achieve your goals if allowed to operate more freely than our initial training allows, if you will entertain the idea?"


    Euryale''s gaze never left Sorin for a moment save for a couple slow blinks. She set down her pen and leaned back.


    "Brave. I''ll give you that conscript. Continue."


    "Yes ma''am. In my world I was a leader of troops with an officer always over me as I worked to achieve their intent. There is much about the Lady that I do not understand and never wish to offend, but if allowed to make decisions and move freely within your intent we could have this team become autonomous and smarter than other teams." Sorin explained.


    "In theory that sounds impressive, but what is to keep you from working against me or undermining me in ways to strike back at the organization that has more or less enslaved you?" She asked.


    "The Empire has left me a path forward. A cornered animal is significantly more dangerous because it knows it has no way out and will either accept death or fight to the death. If I work hard and complete my service requirement, I will be free and live as I wish. So, it is within my best interest to not work against you and the same is true for the others. With this design, if you should so choose it, it begins to establish a basis for true loyalty and buy in not just with me, but also among the other two who have trained and bled alongside me through my word of mouth."


    Euryale''s eyebrows went up a bit in surprise. She looked down a bit, crossing her arms in the process.


    "This is not how the academy has instructed us, but at the same time some of what you say is in line with some of the greatest commanders in history. You surprise me conscript. How would this dynamic work?"


    "You would set your end state and an end date for any and all tasks. You still have all final decision power, and your hand never comes off the helm, but it allows you to focus on other tasks without having to micro-manage your subordinates in the completion of theirs. It becomes a decentralized command structure. Historically in my world, it created some of the most nightmarish situations for the enemy when they think they can target the head and when they try the body grows many more heads and fights harder. One such group gained the nickname of Hellhound because of their mentality." Sorin said.


    "Hmm...." Euryale continued looming down in contemplation.


    "This also offers a mutually beneficial relationship between the two of us" Sorin said quickly


    "Tread careful conscript. You and I have no relationship. To suggest otherwise could get you executed for even saying it and I''d do it myself." She snapped.


    Realizing the error of phrase he quickly corrected "I apologize. I do not mean to imply that, but a professional relationship that is mutually beneficial where we interact with a unified objective as commander and subordinate." He explained.


    "How is this beneficial to me outside of the clear efficiency?" She asked.


    "Experience ma''am. I do not know the level of leadership you possess in comparison to mine and would never assume to risk insulting you or being disrespectful and would prefer avoiding the chance of that misunderstanding altogether as it is not in my best interest. I''m thinking about it like this. If you, having the education that I believe nobility in the Empire receives, you bring significant experience that you can teach us with. In teaching you also grow in your mastery and your subordinates become better through your instruction. If this is your first command, having this structure provides you with a subordinate advisor that you can learn from if you happen to see something I do that you particularly like."


    Euryale got to her feet taking her cup and went to the window in the conference room. She was quiet for a while. Sorin remained silent as she contemplated.


    "This could work. It''s unorthodox according to the academic methods of command but my mother has instructed me to be open minded in leadership. This could be better as you know the team better than I currently. I have conditions if this is the way I move forward with your plan. First, in public you will appear as the other teams are. You will not appear to have this much freedom of action. Secondly, if this doesn''t produce the results you say it will, I will have you punished severely."


    She came back to the table and sat again.


    "I have an idea how this works, but let''s see what else you have in that head of yours conscript."


    Sorin was dancing inside. He wanted to grin ear to ear, but luckily, he could still maintain his military bearing.

 Chapter 38 - Burden of family and command

    Euryale was absolutely ecstatic inside. All she was feeling was pressure and fear of failure. She didn''t fully know how she was going to train this team to work with her because the academy didn''t go overstep by step what to do. They always talked about discipline and strength of command and blah blah blah power, but sitting before her was the answer she needed.


    She couldn''t however, let on that she would actually like his help out of inexperience or insecurities because she represented her family, and she could never face her father if she let slip to anyone, she needed a mere conscript''s guidance. This Sorin seemed to know a lot more than he let on and held bearing perfectly. She couldn''t read anything from him.


    He had given her a way to accept this under the pretense of him learning from her which she didn''t understand hardly half of what he said. She recognized things from leadership classes she half listened to, so she had pretended to be following. She asked basic questions to learn more, and it helped. There was no break in his bearing or any sign he was trying to undermine her.


    He did say he had done this before so perhaps he knew what she was going through and was helping her already. She wanted to believe that, but she was always taught these conscripts would do things to hurt the Empire if given the chance. She would watch closely and if it didn''t work, she would crush him and be like the other groups.


    "The next step Lady Aegis is you provide your team with your intent. You let me know where you see your team at a specific date and my job will be to see it done under your supervision." Sorin said.


    "That''s it?" She said. Euryale couldn''t believe it was that simple.


    "Yes ma''am. Once you give me your intent, I will take care of the small tasks that are necessary to meet that objective. I provide you a plan in a timely manner for your review and approval. Once approve we operate from that. Should you see adjustments needed you easily flow around the team making those objectives. It gives you freedom to do so and gives the appearance of easy competency which instills confidence in your troops."


    She was screaming and dancing inside. She liked where this is going and if she could truly rely on this man and he could deliver, she will have very very high marks in the exam that those instructors refused to elaborate on.


    "Very well. My immediate concern is integration of my path with the team and its amplification. I want you three to be able to support and amplify my strength when needed." She said with a projected confidence and a tone that she was hoping sounded as if she was testing him.


    He nodded.


    "It will take time but can be done so that by the weeks end will have a competent group supporting your strength. That being said, do you want to have the amplification going non-stop or as required if we conscripts become outmatched and must rely on your strength? We can keep this form of amplification in reserve as a sort of secret weapon to bring out for a decisive stalemate breaker."


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    She liked this. Her passive is called burning regret it made all of her stats and regeneration increase the more and hotter the flames around her. She had a passive immunity to fire from her path so she just needed to be drenched in the honest flames she could, but he had a point. They didn''t need to reveal her full power unless needed, but how quickly could they generate the desired inferno.


    "How quickly can you generate your hottest flames?" She asked.


    "May I demonstrate Lady Aegis?" Sorin asked.


    "Proceed, but don''t break anything." She said putting on an unconcerned look.


    Sorin stood and backed away from the table. In a moment white hot orb after orb after orb became popping into existence around him and started moving around him. She was honestly surprised, and she felt her brows go up a bit. She had to control that reaction. It gives information away. At tier 2 or 2 and a half have this level of control was nothing short of impressive. She stood. "Hold them still for a moment." She commanded.


    She grabbed one of the orbs with hand.


    "Ma''am!" Sorin called out in warning then in confusion he went silent. He didn''t know she was immune to fire. She wouldn''t tell them and just let them believe that she at peak tier 3 was just that much above them their attacks did nothing.


    As she grabbed the flame however, she felt like a little girl on Founding Day getting that gift she wanted.


    Burning regret activated


    Stats increased by 30%


    She grabbed another orb, and her stats went up by 20 more percent. With just his flames alone her boosts will work.


    "This is acceptable. Extinguish them." She commanded and walked away.


    She turned and sat at the table once more. "Can the others produce that quality if flame? she asked.


    "Not quite yet ma''am. They are learning to make it more powerful without expending more aether than required." He answered.


    She thought for a moment. She needed three things off the top of her head. One she needed an understanding of their martial skill and to work with them for cohesion and effectiveness. Second, she needed to get their fire skills as hot as possible in the week they had. Third she needed to train them in boosting her quickly.


    She pulled her note pad in front of her. Turned the page and wrote those things down.


    She ripped the page and held it up. "Come. We will test your method. We start today. Here are my three top objectives."


    Sorin stood and moved quickly taking the page his right hand still behind his back. He nodded.


    "This is more than achievable. With your permission, I''ll leave and get the men ready to begin the demonstration and begin to integrate you within the formation centered around you." He said with a salute.


    She smirked. She wanted to smile and be her usually self where she did smile freely, but she had a job to do.


    She just waved her hand in a dismissal.


    "Make yourselves ready quickly. On the right of your quarters is the training court." She commanded.


    Sorin bowed over his salute, turned on his heel and left.


    - a few minutes later -


    "Gents! We got to move. We have training to get to. She wants to start immediately. I think we will be OK with her as a commander. She surprisingly is willing to listen. I''ll fill you guys in on everything tonight."


    Linx and Cain looked at him nodding with hopeful looks. They grabbed their weapons and ran out to the training court.

 Chapter 39 - Cohesion

    Sorin, Linx, and Cain stood in a line waiting for the new commander for tense and purposes. She had their weapons sheathed and were at what Sorin knew to be standing "at ease" in the military. Relaxed with hands behind their back away from weapons always in the presence of their superiors.


    After a few more minutes she appeared walking down the path in a martial artists robe of the same colors as their but more extravagantly decorated.


    Next to her was another servant carrying a leather wrapped bundle. They stopped both in front of the men and she flipped the top of the leather off the bundle revealing new practice weapons.


    "Set steel to the side gentlemen." Sorin said. They all took off their steel weapons and, in a line, went before Lady Aegis and waited for her command.


    "Take weapons. You each will spar with me to determine for myself your prowess. Sorin, you''re first." She said.


    Sorin saluted and took the twin short swords from the bundle and backed away from Euryale.


    "Begin!" She commanded and Sorin leapt forward. He slashed low to high catching some of the manicured dirt with his blades and swung up and Euryale who flowed to the side away from weapon and dirt and flowed into her strikes at him. He angled out quickly guiding the blades through looking for an over extension, but there was none save for a back swing at his neck then a reversal for another swing from the other side. Sorin took a step back out of range then attempted an x-cross scissor slash upward under her guard only to be met with twin blades downward. He pressed the blades together and heaved. He outweighed Euryale and forced her to give ground to keep from getting bowled over. She seemed to float backward then darted in close, flipped her swords with razor hook points down coming at the sides his chest looking to rip into him from the armpits inward.


    He met them sword for sword and went to strike with a kick but was beat to the punch by Euryale who sent him sliding backwards then followed up with short fast slashes coming faster and faster. Sorin was in tier 3 and could see if all but did not want her to know that. He timed all of his blocks at the last moment each time and screwed up his face to demonstrate a sort of worry from being outmatched. With a shout and a heavy swing from the side, Sorin let his blades get ripped from his hands.


    "Good! Corporal Varris has instructed you well. She will receive a good review concerning you. Fall back. Linx!" She said and called out.


    He fell back and the man in question went to work. He flowed in and out of her range being close in her guard forced her to stay falling back until she had seen what she wanted to then matched him for speed but way more strength. He was smashed to the ground with a dual hammer strike with her swords. The fight with Cain went more or less the same except she caught his blade with her swords curve and ripped it out of his hand and forced a surrender.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "I''m pleased by the efforts of your trainer. She will receive a very good review concerning you there. Well done."


    She stuck her swords in her armpits and clapped her hands. Four men who had shown up during the individual spars stepped forward on the court with a hook sword, great sword, sword and shield, and a spear. They took up positions across from them. Euryale took up a central position behind Sorin as he motioned for the team to take up the arrowhead formation.


    "Begin!" Euryale said and the two teams rushed together. Right before impact Sorin called out "shift right!" He Linx and Cain shifted right collapsing on the spear user. Linx was on the left and took up position reinforcing Euryale who stepped forward to reinforce Linx in return.


    It was fast for Cain and Sorin to defeat the spear user. Sorin locked his spear, and Cain delivered the training death blow as Sorin efficiently timed switched targets pushing into the enemy formation as Linx shifted with them out of habit through training. Euryale picked up on the tactic and shifted with the team forcing the team to split their attention. Linx ducked a strike over his head and darted in before the one with the great sword could bring the blade back.


    Reading, Euryale slammed the blade, boosting the momentum into the sword and shield user who blocked it and charged. Linx couldn''t counter or strike from the side as he was finishing ending the claymore and he bowled Euryale overexposing her to strikes. Linx shifted and attack the shield user but took a shield swing ruining his attack trajectory and swung down at Euryale at the same time. Cain and Sorin disarmed and crushed the one with the hook blade and were moving quickly to protect their charge.


    They couldn''t get there in time as he touched the wood blade to her neck. "Dead my lady."


    Everyone stopped and he backed away. "Thank you for the lesson, Arms Master Reeger." She said. She immediately glared at the three of her troops.


    "What is your primary objective?" She hissed.


    "To protect you ma''am." They said together. "Well, do I look protected?" She responded. It''s all peachy that we were winning that battle until they broke through and took me out. That is a loss in training and death in real life!" Not off to a good start in your primary objective. Reform up! We will restart and continue until we are moving as one organized unit." She said.


    The two teams formed up. Sorin had heard what she said. Arms master. He looked at Linx and Cain. "We go with primary strategy target number 3." Sorin said.


    "Do you command this team conscript?!" Came the seething rebuke. Sorin immediately turned and bowed his head.


    "No lady Aegis. I apologize for overstepping."


    She struck him on the side of the left arm with the flat of her blade making a hollow smack. Sorin felt it, but it should have been harder.


    "Explain your strategy." She said coming closer.


    "Yes ma''am. We have different formations, and we designate largest left to right numbered. If we want to focus on a target for whatever reason we number, it. We used a balanced arrowhead formation first and it didn''t work because we had a higher threat, and we were complacent trying to end it quickly as we were used to against other conscripts. We were wrong.


    This formation has higher defense and allows for defense of objective with minimal risk. It''s new to us because we have had a wooden dummy that did not fight along us. So, this will be the best adaptation since you will have higher speed and offense than me who will be taking the beating.


    She nodded. "Very well. Continue. It is sound strategy conscript. Begin!"

 Chapter 40 - Burn it!

    Team Aegis formerly known as Team 5 reconvened early the next morning in the training court where they fought time and time against the mach team comprised of servants of house Aegis including as they found out, Euryale''s weapon trainer. They were battered and went to bed exhausted at least this time they had actual mattresses. Thinner but at least mattresses and showers.... blessed showers with hot water they could just enjoy.


    Euryale came out in plain robes today and looked at everyone. "Good morning conscripts. Your efforts are pleasing to me and my family. Keep it up." She said.


    Sorin, after showering and changing, had a meeting with Euryale going over progress of the day. To Sorin''s delight she was absorbing information and giving guidance as a young lieutenant would in the army back home.


    They hammered out today''s plan of literally turning up the heat. They were going to bottom out aether pools and work on techniques including codes to call for different things. Sorin was nervous about today because she wanted to see his final skill. She said she had a location designed for massive skills like that.


    He spent the last bit of last night going over what he and Euryale discussed and there was a good amount of hope in the team. They were buying in and following Sorin''s lead.


    "Behind you are metal dummies that are extremely heat resistant. Our goal today is to melt them down. There are five of them. They are all peak tier 2 and the center one is a tier 4. The tier 4 is for other testing. I was informed each of you have a fire conjuring skill that we are going to refine. I require the hottest flames you can muster, and we will need to bring them about quickly for one our team''s trump cards. We each have skills that are devastating if able to be applied, but we do have a team ability that you were briefed on."


    She looked at each of them explaining.


    "For now, each of you line up on a dummy and your objective is to melt your dummy before mid-day."


    Sorin walked up to his. He needed to temper his flames. His power exceeded tier 2 and would destroy this target extremely fast if it were truly peak tier 2. He unleashed his firestream skill at a less than compacted level. The dummy was engulfed in flames. The drain on his aether was nonexistent like this as his absorption skill brought in aether as soon as it left his body with this little drain.


    An hour and a half dragged by, and he was noticing the others on his team began making progress, so he ramped up the fury of his flames and his target began to glow.


    "Push harder Sorin! More aether!" Came the command from Euryale.


    She was watching. He grits his teeth as if in great effort and then ramped his flames up further and the steel dummy began dripping metal.


    "Good! Recover your aether. Based on your skill set I expected you to finish this quickly. When you are recovered enough assist the others."


    "Yes ma''am!" He said pretending to be a little winded. After a few moments he went over to his teammates.


    "Showoff..." links said gritting his teeth with effort.


    "Yeah...yeah. I know. Take your aether motes and compress them. It takes a little more aether but it intensifies the heat." Sorin instructed.


    He watched the dummy as Linx''s flames grew more intense and brighter. After a moment the target began to glow. He moved to Cain and told him the same. After a little while longer his target began to glow as well. They kept compressing and after a break to allow their aether to recharge they went at it again and achieved meltdown shortly before mid-day.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Once they achieved it, Euryale looked at Sorin and gave him a nod.


    "It would seem she is beginning to have some confidence in me already." Sorin mumbled to himself.


    "School circle around me, move!" Euryale said as the conscripts made their way over to her.


    "I have a passive that amplifies my power the more I am in flames and the hotter they are. There may be times we need to use this ability to overcome obstacles. Compared to all my peers save for the prince I am even about with them and this skill will push me passed them when we need to be should we find ourselves in trouble. The code we will use will be "Burn it." In combat or in the field if you hear that, I want as much focused fire on me as you can manage without getting yourself killed. Don''t worry, I''m immune to fire. Make sense?"


    "Yes ma''am."


    "Our target is the final of the tier 2s in order to show the power in comparison to your own. Ready?" Euryale asked.


    "Ready ma''am!" Came the expected response. As they moved back off of her position and prepared for the code.


    "Burn it!"


    In a moment three torrents of white hot flames slammed into Euryale. She vanished. The flames began to swirl around and sunk lower revealing a brilliantly burning Euryale with flaming serpents for hair and burning red eyes.


    She grinned menacingly and flicked her hand as a torrent of flames from her slammed into the target and in a moment, it was reduced to nothing.


    "Cease fire!" Sorin shouted and they stopped burning her.


    She walked out of the flames allowing the flames on her to go out and her skin, hair, and eyes returned to normal. The robes she wore were gone replaced by small coverings over her to protect her dignity. Sorin looked away but saw the others not.


    Turning to them Euryale noticed Sorin averting his gaze and the usual expected response from the others. She frowned a bit at Sorin but let it go. Going to the edge of the training court grabbing another robe and put it on.


    "Now you see the strength we can have as a team." She said. Sorin and the others looked at her and nodded.


    "Now I''d like to see the other skills you possess Sorin." Euryale said backing away from the final target.


    Sorin also moved back as his teammates moved even further back causing Euryale to smirk in amusement.


    Sorin did one last check of the area. He extended his aether range and summoned orb after orb after orb raising his arms as they just kept appearing. With a flex of his hands as a trigger of his will, he compressed the orbs into motes of blinding white light and then they went blue. Euryale immediately moved back as Sorin moved his arms forward. Each mote of blue fire shot forward one after the other as a barrage of around 50 and slammed into the target.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    The flames and detonation were non-stop, and the target vanished in smoke and fire. When the final mote detonated, the team relaxes. They smoke cleared and the target had been damaged with flecks missing out of the metal and it sat in a glowing crater.


    Sorin glanced to Euryale who had a contemplative look. He had hoped he didn''t go overboard. It was a tier 4 target, so he upped the power more than he had before.


    Sorin flicked his hand and Serpent of white flame lashed out grabbing the target. He ripped his will, and it came up out of the crater and stopped at his feet. He let the binding vanish.


    He turned to Euryale at this point. "Good! Come with me you three. I need to see this last skill."


    They followed her as Linx and Cain looked at Sorin in concern. "Does she know what happened with this skill last time?" Cain asked quietly. Sorin nodded. "I told her, and she said she had a place."


    They nodded and followed. They were led under ground to a bunker with a balcony with what appeared to be a jumping board of stone as a ledge to work from.


    "That is a tier 5 target with that level of fire resistance. Collect your aether and when you are ready, let''s see it. I don''t want you weakening your body stat this close to the exam."


    Sorin nodded and sat down. He pulled his AP up.


    AP: 1720/2300


    He had enough but wanted to up it a bit. He sat there and absorbed aether until be reached 2000.


    He stood and walked out to the ledge. He saw the target 50 meters below. He pooled the aether in his hands by his side he kept his HUD watching his aether level plummet. He kept pressing and condensing. 20 seconds later it compressed into a blinding orb of white light causing the lights in the bunker to seem dim. At 1000 AP left Sorin fired it.


    It left his hands instantly slamming down into the target down below with such violence shaking the ground. The explosion and the Shockwave wrapped up the walls down below and whipped the superheated air upward where a circuit stopped it and cooled it. The target vanished under the explosion, fire, smoke, and dust. Sorin staggard backwards a bit then caught himself. Euryale ran forward to the railing like a kid on Christmas. His grin painted across her face. Linx and Cain looked on with the look of shock.


    The dust cleared and they could see below.


    The target was gone and in its place was a crater made of green glass.

 Chapter 41 - Society

    The following days passed until two days before the final exam. They reported to the training ground for their usual routine.


    Euryale came out not in her training outfit and not weapons. Her attitude had changed over the course of the week. She had taken ownership of her team and had leaned into the leadership concepts that Sorin had been pushing slowly over to her in their daily meetings to discuss training.


    After the power demonstration, she had treated Sorin differently almost as if he was a prize pig at the fair, but the care and treatment she gave to the team was improving.


    "Gentleman, there will be no training today. I feel we have met our objectives for training well enough for the exam. I will be attending a social mixer this evening and we are required to bring our conscripts. I have ordered each of you dress robes for the event. You have the day to get yourselves prepared. There will be a briefing about expectations, so you do not embarrass me or my family. You are excused until midafternoon." She said as she walked away.


    The three stood there somewhat confused.


    "Oh no...." Sorin said.


    "What''s up man?" Linx asked.


    "It''s a party for nobles and royalty to strut around like peacocks as if they have done something amazing. We will probably hear the "Do you know who I am" line a few times and maybe a few duels.


    The day flew by. Their robes were delivered. The black was accented by the green which was a bejeweled encrusted green. Sorin shaved and got cleaned up. Linx was brushing out his fur and Cain was dealing with his own hair. Sorin always kept his short for convenience and that gave him time to clean his blades. He placed them on his sides in their usual spot.


    As midafternoon came, they moved out to stand in front of Lady Aegis''s quarters as the soldiers they were. She had begun to earn their loyalty through good food, care, and treating them more and more like they were human.


    They turned as Master Reeger came out. "Gentleman, please follow me to the conference room."


    The three have come to respect the silent arms master who continually bested them in training and showed them weaknesses in their forms. He didn''t lord over them but was efficient and effective.


    They followed him in. "Please be seated, the lady will be in momentarily." They did as he requested.


    "Sor, you think this will be that, as you said "cringey?" Linx asked.


    Cain jumped in. "Yes. I can answer this. Before I was sent as tribute, we would get these young elites and lesser nobles who would posture and use their parents'' names."


    "In social circles maintaining good relationships and playing the game is a way to further their riches and outmaneuver a family. Humiliated families that lose face and position in the eyes of nobility and royalty. With the possibility of the prince being there I can almost promise there will be problems." Sorin said.


    "There is the added issue that our charge will be approached much. Not only is she extremely fair, but well connected. Sorin you''re our sharpest and most defensive. If we all cannot move with our lady, you should always be there." He said.


    "That wa..." He was cut off as the door opened.


    "I appreciate the compliment Cain. I didn''t know you found me as such." Euryale said walking in with her lady in waiting.


    Cain just looked down as color rushed to his face. "Stating facts my lady preparing for your security tonight." Cain said quietly.


    Euryale moved to the head of the table. She was wearing a form fitting dress that accented her curves and features without being suggestive. Sorin looked over the dress and thought of the birthday balls he went to with his wife, and she would take his breath away.


    "What are you smiling at Sorin?" Euryale asked sharply. Sorin blinked coming back to reality.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "Memories ma''am. Your dress reminded me of birthday balls I would attend with my wife, and she would wear lovely dresses and be stunning as well. I believe you will be breaking hearts tonight."


    "Gentleman, I appreciate it. To business."


    She said taking on a more serious look.


    "You are my security. You are there for the defense of my person. Where I go, at least one of you will go with me with my lady in waiting. You may be degraded and insulted tonight, but you are not to react. You might have personal honor, but you do not have family honor here and you may not engage in duels without my consent which I have no intention of giving it. It''s best if you keep your mouth shut and do nothing unless I am in danger. I have my skills but no weapons. You are my weapons. Am I clear?"


    "Yes ma''am!" They said.


    "Good! Let''s go then." She said moving out the door holding the front of her dress.


    - a little later -


    "Do you know who my father is?!" Came the shout across the room. Sorin looked at the other two. "That is four. Cain pay up. You''re out."


    Cain who was frowning took the two fire cores out of his pocket and handed them over one each to the two still in the running.


    "Are you imbeciles seriously gambling?" Euryale hissed at them.


    "Yes ma''am. Makes it less painful to hear." Sorin spoke up.


    "What are you betting and what are the wagers?" She asked curiously.


    "The only thing if value we have. Fire cores. Cain said we would hear it three times tonight, Linx said four, and I''m at seven."


    "Very well. I will wager 2 cores as well that it will be exactly 6." She said.


    "My lady, I must protest that it is far beneath you to gamble with those far below your station Belkah Euryale''s lady in waiting said.


    "It will be fine." Euryale replied.


    They had made it to the party and had found themselves their assigned tabled toward the front and had placed themselves around Euryale as members would come up and introduce themselves.


    Sorin was constantly scanning the crowd. He wasn''t looking for anything in particular. He knew he would recognize something off if it did pop up. So far it was spoiled nobles insulting one another and dueling with their tiny rapiers to first blood then a round of applause after. It was insufferable.


    Sorins attention snapped to a tall silver haired man approaching relaxed with three what Sorin assumed was his own conscripts. Sorin was positioned at his lady''s right hand to make sure he could respond to any threat.


    "Lady Aegis! You are absolutely breath taking this evening as you ever are." The man said with a flowing bow that seemed overly done in Sorin''s opinion.


    "Lord Aeon, you flatterer. However, it is appreciated." Euryale said with a courteous smile.


    "It would seem our houses have finally agreed upon the unification of our houses through our mutual siblings. Ebrietas will make a fine wife to my brother." Aeon said.


    Sorin saw Euryale''s eyes sharpen. She didn''t let her smile fall, but he could see it stung. He didn''t react.


    "I am hoping their union will bring about a lasting peace between our families and strengthen our region of the empire." She responded.


    "Mmm....yes of course. So, these are your conscripts huh?" He said showing disregard for Euryale''s response.


    "I still don''t understand why you chose these ones. You''re the daughter of Duke Phorcys and had the pick of the liter." He continued.


    "I had my reasons. Perhaps in the exam you will understand if it comes to it." Euryale said.


    "Oh, I sure hope not for your sake. I made sure to get the most refined in martial skill and aether I could after our prince of course. Your rejects wouldn''t last a moment." He said.


    "Careful Lord Aeon, someone once told me that pride often goes before the fall." She quipped sharply.


    "Hmm...what an interesting saying. I haven''t heard it before. Who said that?" He asked.


    Euryale just smiled looking at her conscripts.


    "Couldn''t tell you."


    He was about to say something


    "Do you even know who I am!?


    Linx let out a barely audible sigh but stood fast. Sorin cheered inside. Only one opponent left.


    They watched the quick duel and the next round of applause.


    A sadistic smile crossed Aeon''s face.


    "My lady, I grow weary of these duels. Let''s spice it up. Let''s make a wager." He said.


    Euryale looked up at him. "Oh? What did you have in mind?" She asked.


    "One of my conscripts against one of yours." He said.


    "I don''t believe that worth the risk so close to the exam." She replied.


    "It would just be a friendly spar to first blood like each of these battles. Low risk, unless the blood in your family runs thinner than that of Duke Phorcys."


    Euryale stiffened. "That is out of the question. Very well, but let''s up the bet. If my conscript wins you give up Orochi Hungers."


    "Hmmm....a legendary weapon. A lot of value. Very well, but if my conscript wins. You will spend the next year courting me." He said.


    "Any or mine could beat any of your untrained mutts." She said agreeing to the wager.


    "Oh, I love your fire. Let''s put that to the test, shall we? Orvius!"


    Sorin saw a scaled beast man that was definitely not snake, but he was thinking dragonkin. He would definitely have fire resistance.


    She looked to Sorin with a smirk. "Fine I pick..."


    "Excuse me, your boast was ANY of yours could best mine. I saw the readout of this one. I want you to prove your boast with your fox beast man. Unless house Aegis doesn''t keep its work?"


    Linx went rigid this time. It was a horrible mismatch. Sorin glanced at Euryale from the corner of his eye. She was furious. He had taken advantage of her anger and desire to shut him up and put her in a corner. She had no choice unless she was to shame her family.


    "Linx, show Lord Aeon the error of his ways!"

 Chapter 42 - Errors of their ways

    "Attention everyone!" Aeon said raising his hands. "House Aegis and house Pallas have agreed to provide some extra entertainment for the evening. Two of our conscripts will duel to first blood."


    The crowd applauded and cheered at the presentation.


    "That is not all! A heavy wager has been placed upon this duel. If Lady Aegis wins, I will give up Orochi Hungers, but if I win, Lady Aegis has agreed to be courted by me." Aeon proclaimed to the crowd bring even even more cheers and sounds of suprise.


    "Clear an area for the two warriors!" He said as Linx and Orvius walked to the cleared area of the floor.


    Linx pulled both of his daggers and settled unto his stance and the dragonkin pulled his glaive from his back.


    "Begin!"


    - linx pov-


    Linx knew it was rigged the moment that snake spoke. He was at such a severe disadvantage because of the scales of the dragonkin. They were notoriously difficult for breaking through.


    "Begin!" He moved to the right as quickly as he always moved as the glaive swung around and missed him by an inch. He couldn''t get touched by that thing. The dragonkin were not known for speed as much as brute offense and defense. Sorin would have been a better match up, but stupid politics.


    He darted in and slashed at the dragonkins stomach. He turned and let the blade spark off his scales. Linx got his distance and dropped to all fours for a moment with his daggers baring his fangs. He looked at the dragonkin who just tapped his belly and grinned a reptilian grin. Then they clashed in earnest.


    The glaive came in and Linx went to deflect it bracing for impact. To his surprise it was easily deflected. It felt like he was facing someone slightly stronger than Cain. Sorin his WAY harder than this.


    He hesitated causing his opponent to set up another strike. He deflected this one easily too. He began to move faster and faster weaving lines around the dragonkin. Scratches and sparks began flying all over the dragonkin from strike after strike. He felt if he kept striking he might get through, but that is when it came out of nowhere.


    A serpent like tail tripped him up causing him to stagger as the dragonkin swung down with the base of his glaive into the leg of linx. He felt the impact then the snap, then the tingling sensation. There was no pain. We slashed at the tail which uncoiled and letting Linx go. He shot across the ring they had or he tried. The moment he placed weight on his right leg it collapsed and then he felt it. His leg was done and broken bad.


    The corner of his eye he saw another swing incoming. He had first through it was the blade for the first blood strike but it was the blunt end. He tried to deflect it, but couldn''t without his base. He mitigated some of the impact. Then the strikes came faster and faster. Without his leg he couldn''t keep up. Another impact got through slamming into his upper arm. He felt it break and then pain. Then it got much much worse.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    - Sorin''s pov -


    The moment he heard the break, he knew it was done. Linx kept fighting and they had first thought he was going to cut the beastman nut they were wrong. He kept swinging the blunt end of his glaive and finally got through breaking Linx''s arm.


    This wasn''t a spar. This was a set up, sabotage, and act of cruelty. He felt his hand curl around his blades knuckles going white as his anger built. A hand touched his and pushed it off his blades. He looked back at and saw it was Euryale. She nodded her head.


    He looked at her, she was white with anger. "Be still. If you do anything and violate the sanctity of the duel, you will be executed."


    He let his blades good and continued to fume.


    - Euryale''s pov -


    What had she done? In the short week she had these three she had grown to like them even though they were conscripts. They were hers. With Sorin''s help and she thought begrudgingly, his guidance she had grown to see them as part of her family. She had grown to begin to care for them. Now in her arrogance and foolishness she had let herself be outmanuevered.


    She had lost. It was now just a message being sent to her. She was now going to have to court this insufferable ass, but worse, Linx was going to be severely injured and out of the exam. He will maybe even be crippled all because of her.


    The room was silent now. She looked up at the fight. Linx had gone unconscious.


    Nobody clapped. Aeon stalked over aggressively. Sorin shifted quickly in front of her, hand on his blades.


    "Out of my way slave!" He shouted.


    "I''m sorry my Lord. Your current emotional state is potentially a threat to Lady Aegis and I am charged to protect her person."


    "You dare defy me?!" He shouted.


    "He but follows the command of the one who has charge over him." Euryale said.


    "Cain! Reeger! Retrieve Linx and take him back to the estate. Fetch medical personnel."


    She then looked back at Aeon. "I will honor my word as I am of house Aegis. You have acted very shamefully today and you will not enjoy the courtship that comes." We go.


    "Don''t walk away from me! Aeon said reaching for Euryale.


    Sorin stepped in and deflected the hand away. As he did a naked blade came flying in. Sorin instinctively put his barrier up. The sword slammed against the barrier causing a sharp retort and the blade was deflected away and into Aeon.


    "I''ve been attacked! Euryale''s conscript attacked me!"


    "Be silent! I saw what happened!"


    The assembly immediately bowed low. As Euryale and Sorin saw who it was Sorin dropped to his knees and bowed his head as a slave does when approached by royalty. Euryale bowed low.


    Prince Amaru.


    "Lord Aeon. What I witnessed was disgraceful. Get out of my sight." He said to Aeon who rose looked at Euryale with a read seared face and ran from the prince.


    "This could have been something rather enjoyable, but marred by politics and cruelty. Rise Lady Aegis."


    She rose as commanded. "You have my condolences. Your exam will be much much harder now, but i think you will manage well enough. Your family is powerful.


    Euryale bowed "Yes your majesty. I shall persevere."


    "Good!" He looked around.


    "This is a party! Get back to it."


    Euryale and her party began making their way to the exit.


    "Bastard, do you know who my father is?!"


    Sorin had lost the bet, but nobody was in the mood for games now.

 Interlude - Seraph

    She was tired. She had dark circles under her eyes like how she did before the attacks, yet she couldn''t stop except for short periods of time. The others who could heal did the best they could, but they couldn''t do what she could. In the last months she had her life completely uprooted and destroyed.


    Exhausted as she was, she kept going in order to keep her son safe. The more guild members she kept between monsters and these new thralls as they have been called the better for all.


    When her system initialized she laughed at how dumb it was. It was something her husband would talk about. She had no idea what he would talk about, but he was always excited about it.


    "Brittanie! We have another one beyond us." A nurse stuck her head in the break room. With a breath she got to her feet and followed after.


    The man before her had a gash in his torso going from collarbone to navel. He needed a the use of one of her most powerful skills to live.


    Seraphic rewind activated and the wound began to flow in reverse until it eventually vanished. Her AP was cut down by a third.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    She used to go patient to patient helping all, but now that more had healing paths, they could share the work load and keep people alive with these damn rifts.


    Her wrist vibrated and she looked down. Her shift was over for the day. Collecting her things she left the hospital with her usual security team. The thrall had taken a very unusual interest in her, but the wardens were not having it so they assigned a security team and provided for her and her son. She was taken home and as she entered the door she heard the little feet come running. "Momma! Look what I made! Ky exclaimed holding what looked like a clay tablet handprint of his little hand. She could help but smile. His joy was infectious. "Can I get a hug and kiss?" She asked picking him up. He leaned forward putting his forehead to her lips and then leaned into her.


    "Any issues?" Brittanie asked her baby sitter for Ky. "No ma''am. He was a model citizen per usual." She replied.


    "He did talk about his dad and wanted to see the pictures more today." She said.


    Brittanie nodded. They all missed Sorin. She had hope.


    Seraphic gaze activated and her eyes glowed golden and she had an overlay of him. She saw him doing many things usually always fighting some form or another. For the first few months he was covered in injuries and hurting. He was now wielding fire in terrifying amounts the likes that could wipe out the rifts.


    She smiled letting the vision go seeing he was OK and looked to be doing security for some bimbo.

 Chapter 43 - Secret

    Sorin was furious. That piece of shit had done serious damage to Linx for no good reason. He was innocent in their game of politics.


    Linx lay in his bed. The healer had done what they could. They reset and mended the bones and began the healing process, but the tendons and ligaments needed to heal and they didn''t really have a solid understanding of anatomy in that way like in his world.


    Sorin had an idea, but it had a big risk. He had been playing his cards close to his chest, he needed to try. Failure at this point would set his plans back and he didn''t need that.


    He closed his eyes and reach out with his senses looking at Linx he could see his flesh was not fully infused in the tier 2, but was getting closer with the standard training. He pushed his vision in closer and worked to looking his flesh. There was a repelling effect and a strong one at that.


    He knew this to be the NAF or Natural Aether Field everyone has thar serves as a safeguard against your standard energies through the world however he knew he could push passed it as you do for damage dealing effects. With a force of will Sorin slammed his vision forward and it worked.


    *bleep*


    He was now looking at Linx''s bodily structure and the damage wasn''t as bad as he figured but still was going to take time to heal. His leg where he took the first shot wouldn''t heal quickly at all with the amount of damage to the muscle, tendons, and ligaments.


    Sorin didn''t know if he could, but tried to push a tendril of his aether into Linx through his fire sense path. It took the same effort of will as his sense needed but once in, it was free. He began swapping out the damaged motes with fresh ones. The damaged ones he pushed into the blood to get moved away from the body and filtered out naturally. He continued swapping them out just like he did when he obtained his regeneration ability.


    *bleep*


    He worked for who knows how long replacing the damaged cells and molecules with fresh energy. Before he knew it he had replaced all the internal damage he could find. He drew back and let his sense go letting out a breath.


    "What did you do?" Sorin stiffened and turned to the voice. Reeger stood in the room watching him.


    "I did nothing." Sorin replied.


    "Do not lie to me. The bruising is gone. There was a flow of aether going from you to him and a lot of it. Way more than should be in the core of a tier 2." The older man said.


    "Each of us have secrets Arms Master. Will you rob me of mine?" Sorin asked.


    "Some things need to be kept and other things can not be kept. They will ask questions when he is up and moving."


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I know. Will you keep what you saw to yourself then?" Sorin asked


    "Under one condition." Reeger said. "Should Lady Euryale need healing. You will not hesitate to use that on her regardless of how much you wish to keep it hidden."


    "I can agree to that." Sorin agreed.


    "She is a good person. Which is rare for a noble woman. They are usually spoiled and vile. She must live up to the hard expectations of her house." Reeger explained.


    "You have known her for long?"


    "Yes. I am one who essentially raised her. I see her as one would their own daughter. She is a gentle heart trying to figure out a cruel world. What happened tonight cannot go unanswered. That man has been chasing her since he met her." Reeger said.


    "It won''t go unanswered. A price will he paid in due time. Once that moment presents itself you will see the bill come due." Sorin replied in his fury.


    "I believe you about her. From the first day I had suspicions about her when she was so open about the philosophy I pushed her way. She is like almost every lieutenant from my world I have ever met. With the proper nurturing, she could grow into a very powerful benevolent leader."


    Reeger nodded. "You''re definitely not what I expected you to be. You notice her, but do not hunger after her as other men and even women do."


    "No, I have a wife and son I am working to return to. I have no time or desire for young girls who are meant for another." Sorin said getting up.


    "I am invested in her though. Her success moves up my time line to go home and if I can do some good in the passing, I will."


    Sorin gave the arms master a nod and walked over to his bed and threw himself into it opening up his notifications.


    Congratulations


    Skill upgraded:


    Fire sense(p/a) ----> Greater Fire Sense(p/a) - Your sense of the aether of fire has grown so powerful you can see further and deeper into the fabric of reality. You can easily bypass other NAF provided you are of same tier or higher than your target. Skill can pierce lesser graded stealth and cloaking.


    Congratulations


    You have obtained skill:


    From the ashes(a) - Using fire you mend even the most severe injuries of another. Cannot mend mental or spiritual wounds.


    Sorin closed the notifications and smiled a bit. Another tool in his arsenal and upgraded. With those two skills he increased the survivability of his team and increased his chances of winning this exam thing.


    He just needs to keep things under wraps. The less people who know he can heal the better. His enemies know a lot if not all his attack skills. They do not need to know that he can do this. They would target him even harder.


    Sorin heard the door open and steps enter.


    After a moment he heard the voice of Euryale speaking to Reeger. Then she stopped.


    "I could have sworn he had severe bruising Reeger."


    "I thought so too. However I came back in here and noticed it seemed to have cleared up. The healers they sent must have been more powerful than they thought." Reeger said.


    "Reeger! Do you think he will be fully healed?! Her voice came with a higher pitch with the sound of hope in it.


    "There is only one way to find out my lady. We just wait for him to wake." He said.


    "You''re absolutely correct. Send for me when he does wake." She commanded as she headed out.


    Sorin rolled over and smiled. The old man was a man of his word. He would take it.

 Chapter 44 - Plots and Schemes

    "Father, I have succeeded in reducing her chances of passing the examination. She was easily goaded into it."


    Aeon Pallas said to the projected image of his father. The 2nd Duke of the 3rd region of the Sepent Empire Duke Belloraphon Pallas 22nd of his name looked at his son thinking over everything.


    They were deadlocked in the eternal arms race with those disgusting Gorgons. He had already put one of his son''s in position by marrying him off to that family. The next part is to ensure the spoiled witch didn''t recieve her true commission and have the ability to command forces of her own any time in the next decade as it was all they needed.


    "The academy always likes to think their exams are secret, but they really are not. Without their third member it will be next to impossible for her to pass." He said.


    "I plan to take further steps to make sure she does not succeed. Leaving things to chance is too risky of a move. What is the exam father?" Aeon asked.


    There was a pause as the duke considered the angles, risks, pros, and cons.


    "Yes I agree. Let''s leave nothing to chance. The exam will come in three stages. First Is the defense mission, followed by the leadership test, followed by the offensive operation. Failure in any one of these is a failure overall."


    "Understood father. I will make sure she cannot succeed and interfere with our future plans." Aeon said.


    The image cut out and Aeon left his conference room. He went into his office where the three people stood shaking with nervousness.


    "Is it done?" Aeon asked sharply.


    "Ye....yes my lord. We followed your instructions to the letter. We mended things that can easily be mended, but left the harder things. That conscript cannot participate in the exam let alone properly move for weeks." The oldest of the healers said.


    "Good. Do i have to remind you what happens should you say a word of this to anyone?"


    "No my lord." The healers all said.


    "Good. Get out." Aeon said pulling his aether tablet from his desk and began looking at different data.


    He needed to do more. As it stood there was a slight chance that they could still succeed. The human bothered him. Sure the dahmpire was skilled, but he didn''t see anything in his record nor did that meat sake agron say anything about him. However.....the human always gave him pause.


    Euryale took a big chance on the conscript since he was a huge unknown. His world could have been a bunch of pacifists with little sense of aether and technology. Or on the inverse, he could be from a world with get knowledge of one or the other or both.


    Thinking back to their final confrontation made his blood boil. "That piece of trash actually put a hand on me and got in my way." He thought. Oh....he would bleed for that. Sooner or later that conscript would bleed, but in the way he stood up and didn''t even flinch suggested he was well versed in conflict.


    He looked down at the report.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    - BEGIN REPORT -


    Sorin Ekart believed to be in his 30s of his local solar cycles is a confirmed military. He adapts quickly. According to Lieutenant Laxric of infusion, the human tested the waters yet adapted extremely fast.


    He is driven by desire to return to his own world for a family. When in proximity to females of decent stock, he did not appear tempted by the flesh. Manipulation of this person through carnal desires may not be effective.


    He possesses a path based in fire. It is definitely not an ordinary path as the skills he has received are not ordinarily seen in a path of fire. He possesses an extremely powerful regeneration skill that made training rather difficult in the final month.


    His skill advancement is impressive. He is assuredly an elite within this batch of conscripts. His skill potency has led to an erroneous death of another conscript due to what we believe is an underestimation of skill strength and trusting in defense of another. Upon the creation of his base offense and defense aether skills we have been noticing something off about the human. We believe that he is hiding either abilites or knowledge from those around him and us.


    Update: Survival trial results


    We recieved inquiries from the beast manager and reserve manager. One of their beast champions had been slain by a group of our conscripts. The beasts in the fire area had been systematically killed and their cores removed. The champion beast was a Cinderpaw. [ view images]


    We have provided images of the corpse of the beast in question. The damage to this champion is extensive and should have been beyond the ability of early to mid tier 2 conscripts.


    Further, there was extensive damage done to an area within the reserve [see images] the lake had been evaporated and the area turned into a massive crator.


    Another team was a witness to the event unquestion and claimed it was a skill by a single person. They had been tracking team 5 (team of Sorin Ekart after a violent altercation earlier) It was at night and they couldn''t identify the individual on the team. The report claimed an orb became a beam that turned the night into what they described as mid day. They were almost killed by the blast even though they were removed by their estimation 50-60 meters.


    Our suspicion is that the human Sorin Ekart is potentially a Savant. If this is indeed the case great care must be taken to preserve his life and report any further evidences to the academy as is the royal edict concerning savants.


    - END REPORT SERGEANT AGRON, AMADEUS LEAD INSTRUCTOR - CONSCRIPT BATCH 7 -


    - COPY OF REPORT SENT TO HEADMASTER -


    Aeon opened the first image and was suprised. His usual guard contingent would have been challenged by the beast and he didn''t know if his current team could take that down. He wasn''t sure if further actions needed to be taken until he opened the second imagine.


    Aeon paled. The damage was catastrophic. The entire lake area looked as if it was struck by the tier 7 meteor summoning skill he had seen from the recordings of the front lines of the hellscape battle lines. There was too much of a risk. There was no way to tell which of the conscripts on that team was it.


    He reached into his pocket and pulled 3 coins made of what appeared to be bone.


    "No I am not leaving this up to chance."

 Chapter 45 - Coin for the ferry man

    Sorin had long mastered the art of guard shifts. Though it had been a long time since he did security operations, but it was straight forward.


    He showed Linx and Cain the ins and outs of personal security. When the week first started he briefed them on site lines making sure every angle was covered or observed. Making sure food was monitored for poison, and people didn''t get unusually close.


    He had a really bad feeling since the end of the social gathering earlier this evening. His gut feeling told him it wasn''t over. When Cain came back from his shift, he told him about his bad feeling.


    When Sorin walked passed Reegor, he could see the arms master was feeling the same pressure. Many times in his career and in life Sorin had bad feelings. Normally he could just remove himself and any VIPs from the situation, but this time he knew it wasn''t going to be possible if they chose to attack.


    It just bothered him not having all the information. He noticed the last names and the species. In lore Athena didn''t like the Gorgons. Perhaps the mythology on earth was a spill over from this location.


    In his classes they did say there is such as thing as demigods. What if that''s actually what Athena was. A demigod and she hated the Gorgons for reasons he couldn''t remember hence why they were at oddsfor region three? Who knows. He had known Euryale for not even a week and things were already going sideways.


    Sorin had his Greater Firesense stretched out to its break even limit which covered the majority of the estate that was a full kilometer in each direction. He was hoping for a quiet night and let the problems come from inside the exam like he was thinking they most likely would.


    "Reegor, I''m headed to sleep. At some point tonight when you can relax try to sleep as well. Sorin, wake me if there is just cause." Euryale said as she and her lady in waiting went into her bedroom and closed the door.


    He could still sense inside the room, but for the sake of propriety he paid it as much attention as one would the corner of his eye.


    There was a lot wrong with what had happened today. It seems too plotted out for it to be like the nobles in the books who just do it for their narcissistic tendencies. No there was something at play that might be bigger. Perhaps, he should ask Euryale tomorrow about everything.


    After a few hours Cain came and relieved Sorin who went to his bed to lay down. Sun up was only a few hours away and he could afford to get a few hours. He was just about to sleep when something shifted.


    There were 3 shapes with near ambient heat signatures moving quickly toward the houses. His gut was right, it wasn''t over. They picked the worst time of the night when the watches are generally the least watchful. Yet they couldn''t have counted on Sorin. There were three shapes moving not toward the main house, but to the guard quarters they were in. Sorin got up, taking his two swords from their sheaths and put them at chest height points down in front of him and walked with a sleepy appearance toward the restroom as the shaped entered.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    He could see them clear as day. They stopped and looked around. First he could see them gesturing with their hands and arms a code he didn''t understand. They first looked at Linx who was still asleep. Sorin while in the bathroom readied his binding skill to snag them, but they turned away from Linx and began making their way to him in the bathroom.


    He faced the toilet in the event they had a similar skill than he but hoped it was less refined than his.


    The door silently opened as they 3 figures appeared to draw weapons seeing him. They approached from behind and the two angles out. They had taken one more step moving them within 5 meters.


    "You guys, will have to do much much better than this." Sorin said as he snapped his fingers for the sake of appearance as the binding wrapped itself around the offendeds and began to smoke and burn.


    The screams of suprise and pain were horrific. The blood cuddling sound of someone burning and can''t get away filled the building causing further shouts of alarm.


    As they fell screaming their stealth skill dropped off revealing two teenagers and someone about his age. The shock and agony made it clear they were expecting little opposition or difficulty with the mission. The older man stopped his screaming and flexed attempting to break the binding on him casing Sorin''s aether to drop like a stone in water. He must be tier 4 or 5 with that much power. Sorin moved quickly and struck him on the temple causing him to go limp, but he wasn''t done. He grabbed him by the jaw forcing his mouth open to check for temperature variation of his teeth.


    Sure enough he found a false molar. He reached into the unconscious man''s mouth and ripped it out. Too many times spies or assassins would pull out the tooth then bite on it, ending their life before they could he questioned.


    Sorin honestly had no idea if they did it here, but was glad he looked.


    A large bicolored molar popped clean out.


    The screaming had woken up the entire estate. Reeger, Cain, and Linx came into the room weapons drawn. Linx moving but you could tell he was stiff from the healing. Cain and Reegor assessed the situation and moved to secure the two Sorin had bound. They saw the men coming and pulled the tooth and bit down. Not to the suprise of Sorin but the horror of the other two they began foaming at the mouth and convulsing before they went still.


    Euryale came in khopesh in right hand, left hand up ready to cast, but Sorin had it all taken care of. Euryale pulled a collar seemingly out of nowhere and buckled it on the unconscious man''s neck as reeger manacled him.


    Sorin let his skill drop and hauled the man up and set him into a chair where Cain tied him down.


    Everyone paused and began to look around. Reeger, after a moment went to work checking the two dead bodies for anything. All he found were papers and a sort of wooden poker chip.


    Reegor handed the paper and chip to Euryale.


    "We need that one to talk." She said handing the page to Sorin. He looked down and his eye brows went up.


    It was a drawing of himself.


    "Seems you had a coin for the ferryman." She said solemnly tossing the chip to him.

 Chapter 46 - The price of power

    Impacts and the sound of waterboarding could be heard coming from their shower location as the commanded "interrogation" of the would be assassin.


    The wooden chip which Sorin later found was assassin currency called ferryman coins. Apparently, they were made from the bones of targets and inscribed with a scythe on one side and a boat on the other. They were used to purchase different things within the underground or black market as Sorin would know it to be.


    The dead bodies of the ones that killed themselves were stripped and hauled off to he disposed of, but the yet living on was taken into the guard house showers where the torture for answers had begun and was still going off and on for the last hour.


    "Has he given us anything yet?!" Euryale asked angrily.


    "No my lady. He has a water path and can regenerate very quickly rendering our ability to torture information out of him rather difficult." Reegor said wiping flecks of blood from his fists on a towel he had.


    "Take a break Reeger. We will come up with something. Sorin you watch the prisoner. If you can get anything out of him, I''ll reward you." She said looking at Sorin who was walking into the shower.


    Sorin was not amused with the torture. It rarely ever worked right and what information you recieved was always unreliable because you could never tell if they just broke and told you whatever you wanted to hear.


    Upon entering the shower he saw the assassin strapped down to a sturdy table with water pouring over him. Sorin turned off the water and went to the only chair in the shower.


    He put a smirk on his face and looked at the assassin who looked exhausted from the pain and torture.


    "Looks like you''re going to be returned to your guild. Hopefully they treat you well knowing you gave up client information." Sorin said.


    Nothing came from the assassin so Sorin continued to lay it on pulling the bone coin from his pocket.


    "It''s ok, you don''t have to tell us anything. We are in the process of doctoring security footage showing you told us that Aeon Pallas hired you to kill me." He said tossing the coin up and down.


    "I wonder how your little group takes to its members being so open to giving information so easily. Do you think they would welcome you back with open arms when we send a copy to Aeon Pallas himself?" Sorin asked.


    He watched the face of the assassin for any changes and he got it when he mentioned sending a copy to Aeon.


    "The shadows won''t believe you." The assassin muttered. Glancing at Sorin.


    "They don''t have to believe it. There just has to be doubt. When we lay your dead companions at your feet too with a little letter to Aeon and making fun of the sensitive little noble and his inability to even select a group of assassins that couldn''t even keep from turning on themselves, I''m sure it will plant even more doubt." The assassin shifted uncomfortably.


    Sorin took put an envelope he had taken from Euryale''s office with her families crest in it letting her know had an idea.


    "Lies." Came the response.


    "Oh absolutely, but that''s the thing about the mind. You can see something with your own eyes and still not believe it sometimes. Now with an organization such as yours that deals in death and deceit; what could be worse than someone that turns on their own and gives up secrets?" Sorin said


    Sorin put the envelope into the inside of his robe where there was a pocket.


    "There are things much worse than death as I''m sure you know. I think giving you back to your little group will be amazing for your with the information or we can come to another arrangement."


    Sorin knew backing an animal into a corner with no way out never ends well. He had gotten the man talking and it looked like the man believed he was refusing to give information, but people will often find it''s not what you say as much as how you say something. He was already sure it was aeon thar hired them. It''s too obvious it was him and with the assassin speaking after saying they would give the information over to him it essentially confirmed it, but Sorin wanted more. He needed to leave the man with a way out.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The assassin looked at Sorin with a look of perplexity. "Your master would never allow it." He whispered.


    "She trusts me enough to leave me here alone with you and try for answers. So that also means she will believe anything I tell her you told me as long as I give a plausible explanation. So let''s say for example you tell me everything and I mean everything about this kill order and I tell my lady that you broke free, suprising me knocking me to the ground, tried to kill me again, failed of course, and then left when you realized you had failed again."


    Sorin said looking down at his hands. Sorin watched the assassin carefully. He could see the thoughts going through the man''s head trying to reason out everything and play the odds. Then settled on an answer.


    "No. I''ll take whatever death awaits me." The man said.


    Sorin got to his feet. "I had secretly hoped you would say that. He turned to the door and locked it then fused the lock closed.


    "I don''t need others getting my own secrets." Sorin said.


    "Here is the deal. I''m rather..." Sorin rolled his hand as is looking for a word. "Rather upset with you. See my life is already hard enough without more people actively trying to kill me that you add to that pile so now you''re going to become a catalyst for my growth. I''ve had ideas for how to expand my path, but don''t know how to do it and now you present yourself."


    Sorin walked over to the man who didn''t even flinch. Sorin opened his Greater Fire Sense and looked into the man. His core was different than Sorin''s own with his aquamarine blue compared to his own orange-yellow. The aether within was different than Sorin''s as it was not the gaseous type that he had. His channels were very wide, and the amount of this liquid aether infuses the man''s flesh.


    "Density might be an issue, but I find the different forms of matter will still interact when pressure is applied."


    Sorin said as he touched the area of the assassin just above his core and began to pushhis aether into the man like he did when he healed Linx, but this time he wasn''t healing. His aether pushed its way into the man''s channels causing the man to wince in pain then push with his own aether ejecting Sorin''s own.


    "Hehehe! You are below me in tier. You do not have the will nor capacity to use that technique set." The man said with amusement.


    "So this is a known technique?" Sorin said.


    "Oh yes." The man chuckled. "I don''t mind giving this to you. Its known as hollowing. It''s used to burn out another''s core and channels. You invade with aether not of the person''s affinity and destroy them from within. Fate worse than death you said earlier, but you''re too weak and pathetic. You will never get through." He said with a smug derision.


    "Sorin nodded. "You see that is extremely useful information. Where I come from we have a saying "Knowledge is power."


    "You may be right, I can''t push my way through and destroy your core or channels that way, but perhaps..."


    Sorin reached down and began to wrap his aether around the man like tendrils and began to push slightly in multiple places. The man laugh and pushed. Sorin acted.


    Sorin wrapped his aether immediately around the aether of the man and activated absorption. Sorin knew aether was nothing but energy. Energy could neither be created or destroyed, but changed. Sorin ripped at the man''s aether quickly snaking his own aether down and around the man''s aether and pulled more and more.


    The assassin was confused, by the tactic and did resist, but continued to push as Sorin had his aether try to burrow into the man''s channels who then pushed out more that got entangled in Sorin''s aether. It went like that for few minutes until Sorin had a good grip on a massive chunk of the man''s aether.


    "Hahaha! You are rather stubborn and stupid are..." The assassin started, but stopped


    Sorin ripped.


    The man went pale with horror and panic as he felt his aether begin streaming from him on its own accord. He tried to pull it back, but to his horror he could only slow the stream leaving him. His channels that were not slowed he pulled back and that is when tendrils of foreign aether slam into his own channels scorching them.


    The assassin bucked and screamed then pushed causing his aether to stream out faster trying to purge the foreign aether.


    "What...are you doing?!" The man screamed


    Sorin was too focused to care as he gave one big pull and had his aether invade the liquid aether of the man changing its color slowly but surely into fire aether and then began to absorb it.


    *bleep*


    He felt the heavy aether hit his channels and they bowed out from the pressure of it. It began to change the aether around it, also making it liquid. Great amounts of pressure within his channels as they began to further expand and reinforce from the influence of the higher tier of aether.


    Sorin kept pulling and slamming his aether into the man''s channels causing him to expell more and more. The aether hit is core and Sorin let out his own scream as agony erupted with him as his core took on a fundamental shift. He couldnt stop pulling now, but he didn''t change the aether type and he began to absorb the water flavored aether and it changed his own becoming a lighter purple and still Sorin pulled.


    *bleep*


    The man''s voice went horse from the screaming. Sorin could feel his own core expanding and condensing reinforcing as was the case with his channels. He was right in his idea and it could be done. He could control different aspects of aether.


    *bleep*


    The man''s core was entirely empty, but Sorin had one more idea that was given to him by the man himself. He took his now liquid aether, formed it into a sharp lance within the man''s core and slammed it into the edge of it. With the feel of shattering glass, the man screamed and passed out.


    *bleep*


    Sorin withdrew from the mans channels and just sat there trying to regain his balance. His stats had been altered and drastically. He was about to pull up his HUD when the banging started. Then the smell of fire as the lock was melted through.


    Sorin looked up at Reeger and Euryale''s confused and angry faces.

 Chapter 47 - Agreements

    - Euryale -


    Euryale and Reeger heard the screaming intensify beyond anything that had been done before and they bolted in. They reached the door of the show to find it sealed shut.


    The screaming was so loud and it was coming from two voices then stopped. They banged on the door and shouted for it to be opened.


    Euryale realizing nothing was being done used her Advanced Fire manipulation skill and melted through the latch on the door and forced it open as Sorin slumped back into his chair.


    "What happened?!" She commanded looking at both Sorin and the assassin who was unconscious.


    Reeger stepped forward looking at the body of the assassin checking for injuries and there were none.


    "My lady, there are no injuries to the man whatsoever. Whatever was happening looks like it may have been aether based." Reeger said.


    Sorin looked up and her


    "Ma''am I heard you were having a hard time getting answers from the man since he could regenerate. I wanted to fix the problem so I tried something I read in a fantasy book from my homework. I think it might have worked."


    "What did you do?" She said with guarded curiosity.


    "I used my aether to destroy his core." Sorin said wearily.


    Euryale and Reeger looked at eachother with shock and horror written on their face.


    "You did what?" Euryale said not really believing what she had heard.


    "I destroyed his core Ma''am." He should be able to use his skills anymore to resist questioning or hurting anyone ever again." Sorin said and further expanded on.


    "You remain here. Reeger, my office." She said and they walked out.


    - Sorin -


    The look of shock and horror on their face suprised Sorin as he didn''t think what he did was uncommon since the assassin had a name for it.


    With them gone for a moment Sorin pulled up the multiple notifications


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill


    Aether conversion(p) - all is Aether. Through your understanding of this foundational principle you may now convert all forms of Aether into the form that best suits you.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill


    (L) Aether Reaver(a) - Forcefully rip Aether from another being and add it to your own. Caution: someone of a much higher tier may be able use this to destroy your own channels and core.


    Congratulations


    Your skill Greater Fire Sense has become Greater Storm Sense - by absorbing and integrating water type Aether you may now sense it now as you would Fire aether.


    Your skill Fire manipulation has become Storm manipulation - by absorbing and integrating water type Aether you may now manipulate it as you would fire aether


    Notice: You now walk the path of the Stormbringer.


    Storm bringer - Epic: A aether weilder of opposing fire and water aether aspects. This warrior calls down the fury of storms and decimates all in their path.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Congratulations


    You have achieved Spirit tier 4


    100/200


    AP: 3500/3500


    Sorin was stunned and ecstatic by all that he had gained. He had moved into the fourth tier in mere minutes. He was shaken because if the assassin had been anything but startled he could have used that Reaver skill against him and destroyed him and his chances of going home.


    He was now on a new path and could now manipulate fire and water which means more skills and new things to learn. There were so many possibilities now open to Sorin that he had to figure out.


    If his imagination was accurately reflecting reality, he could very well be on a path of unstoppable power.


    It was at this moment Euryale walked back in.


    "Come with me, we need to talk."


    - Minutes earlier in Euryale''s office


    "Reeger, you heard what I did right?" Euryale asked.


    "Yes my lady. He said that he destroyed the assassin''s core. Which shouldn''t be possible for a tier 2 even at peak. My lady, there is no possible way that man is tier 2." Reeger said.


    Euryale nodded her head. "He doesn''t even understand how advanced that skill is. My eldest brother heir to my father''s dukedom only learned that technique a decade ago. Being able to sunder someone''s core is a terrifying weapon and valuable asset."


    Reeger stood with his hands behind his back as Euryale paced back and forth thinking. "If this cowardly attack is indeed as we suspect coming from Aeon Pallas then we need to let father know, but NOBODY can know about Sorin being a core sunderer. My family would take him in an instant and I would be left with the dregs having only you for competent soldiers in my company."


    "My lady, I must play devils advocate. What if he gets it into his head to use it on you and escape?" Reeger asked.


    "Sorin has been talking to me a lot about interpersonal relationships as he calls it and philosophy of different leadership which after doing my own research into different texts about the topics are correct." She began.


    "The thing is, we know what the man wants. He wants to go home. Rift walking is extremely dangerous and one would need the help of a dragon to actually do it which is next to impossible. If we can get Sorin to truly buy into our house and we can secure his loyalty, I think not only do we protect ourselves from exam failure and betrayal, but I gain a potentially unmatched member of my retinue." Euryale said as she paused her pacing to look up at him.


    "It is a gamble for someone we have only known a year my lady."


    "It is, but I think it is worth the gamble." She responded quickly.


    "Very well. As always, you have my support my lady." Reeger said.


    - Presently Euryale''s office -


    Sorin sat almost knee to knee with Euryale as she looked at him with her raven red eyes.


    "We have to come to an understanding Sorin." She said.


    Sorin was taken aback by her casual use of his name. "Ma''am? I''m a little lost." Sorin said.


    "What you claimed to do is beyond rare and powerful. People would kill you if they found out or worse, abduct you from where you are. I am here to offer you some roads forward." She said.


    Sorin paused a moment keeping up, but nothing thinking multiple moves ahead as he usually was. So much had happened he felt like he was back before Lexric trying to make sense of it all. However, he was just told he is a true asset beyond the passing of the exam and that was leverage. How much leverage was it though?


    "Can we be two people for a few minutes Ma''am and speak freely?" Sorin asked.


    She nodded. "Within reason of course."


    "I know I''m asset especially now that you have told me about this ability. There is more that I can do and more I believe I can do. We are here because you want to keep my arsenal to yourself and for your family am I right? Sorin asked.


    Euryale nodded, but said nothing.


    "So far, you have not been the uppity brat that I anticipated that I would have to manipulate into getting what I need to accomplish my goals."


    At this Euryale, Euryale flinched back almost like struck. "You''re edging close to that "within reason" point."


    Sorin nodded and continued. "I told you earlier about buy in. Leadership is about getting others to do your will of their own free will and to embrace your vision. I have but one objective and many steps to get there and that is to get home."


    Euryale was about to speak, but Sorin spoke quickly.


    "I will be of assistance to you to the best of my ability as long as you promise to me that you will help me get back home and act within good faith and in the spirit of that goal." Sorin said.


    Euryale got up from her desk and looked out the window behind it. Thinking.


    "Very well Sorin, however there are a few things that still must be done for us to help one another. First you must continue to act as a lowly conscript in spite of the fact I will no longer view you as such and will sign you to my personal retinue regardless of what happens. Second, nobody....and I mean nobody but Reeger and myself are to know you can sunder cores. Do you understand?" She asked very seriously.


    "Yes ma''am, that works well enough with me. Knowledge is power and the less people know about me the better my chances of survival." Sorin answered.


    "Third, I will help you get stronger and get home so long as I can, but I cannot be seen showing you favor outside of what is obviously earned. You will need to help me in the meantime by being loyal to me and my family. Fighting for me and my family. If I''m to help give you your old life back, I will need a form of equivalent exchange."


    Sorin nodded. "That is a fair assessment. You did not put here. You are like I am. A small part of a bigger plan trying to make the best of what we are given."


    Euryale looked at Sorin with a host of feelings running through her.


    "Then we have an agreement? Your loyalty to me primary and my family second in exchange for my best efforts getting you home." She asked.


    Sorin stood and held out his hand. "You have an agreement."


    Euryale looked at Sorin then at his hand.


    "Good, but what are you doing with your hand extended like that?"

 Chapter 48 - All war is deception

    "Wake up!" A sharp smack rebounded through the shower where the assassin was still bounded.


    With a jerk and hoarse cry he woke. Euryale saw his blood shot brown almost black eyes, yet couldn''t find any petty for the man before her.


    "I think it''s time you tell us....exactly what we want to know." She said arms and legs crossed putting on an air of true superiority and power.


    "And if I dont?" Came the croaking voice of the man.


    "Sorin!" She shouted in response.


    The man''s eyes widened in pure absolute horror. "Get that demon away from me!" The assassin shouted thrashing weakly at his restraints.


    "You could just tell, me what I want to know and he doesn''t have to inflict more pain. Did you really think what he did to you was all he was capable of?" Euryale asked allowing smugness to drip from her voice.


    "He...he was just supposed to be a conscript. A nobody. Had we known this man was a demon in human form the price would have been so much higher." The man said.


    "Name. I want the name of the one who paid for your services." Euryale said. With her hand hidden she tapped her side giving Sorin the signal to posture.


    Sorin responded in summoning a lazy flame in his hand, then slowly increasing the intensity until it became a blow torch and then a jet of blue.


    "I recommend answering my lady, before I begin to cut your channels out and add them to my own."


    Sorin said making his voice as cold and lifeless as he could careful to keep any emotion off his face. He had already broken the man, taught the lesson, and stopped any threat. He couldn''t figure out why he was emotionally confused. What he did earlier was so much worse than this and he didn''t feel squeamish, but somehow this made him uneasy?


    "It is as that fiend said! Aeon Pallas hired us to kill him. He didn''t tell us anything else except the target was a tier 2 and it had to be done tonight!" He said voice still cracking and breaking.


    He kept struggling weakly all his aether gone with the destruction of his core.


    Euryale turned to look at Reeger who had remained silent watching the proceedings. "I have detected no falsehoods my lady."


    She got up and looked back at the man. She knew she didn''t want to be responsible for his life, but as a lady in a noble line she could not shy away. "Reeger, see it done. Then come to the conference room. We have planning to do."


    She walked out of the conference room with Sorin in step. Linx and Cain were not far away who also stood and followed.


    - a half hour later in the conference room -


    Rubbing her temples Euryale knew she would have to take time to process the command she gave. For all her life she had been sheltered and seen people ordered to their deaths, but it seemed so far removed from her and it was never something she was personally involved with. She now had blood on her hands the same as if she had cut the man''s throat herself it made things....personal and heavy.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    She shelved the thought and bottled the emotions for the time being.


    "The first test is a secret.....so naturally the nobility know." She said letting a little smirk show through. She could see Linx watching her every move.


    Of her conscripts, she could tell the fox beastman was the one most smitten with her. In her life, she had been manipulating people through their carnal desires the lastfew years and it became a game and way to get things from people. She would tempt and lead them on, but never commit anything. Her mother taught her sisters the art, but gave so many warnings and things to avoid.


    Cain she could see was always trying to play it cool and indifferent, but she caught him sneaking looks. Sorin....he frustrated her.


    She knew she was the popular girl sterotype the noble ladies always talked about that loved stringing people along, but were irked when someone didn''t give the attention she was used to. It made her want to try that much harder. No matter what she did, sway her hips, cross her arms pushing her breasts up further, slowly uncrossing and recrossing her legs, etc it didn''t matter.


    Sorin wasn''t distracted or showed any signs of wanting her. Made her wonder, who was this wife of his and what did that woman have that she didn''t? It was like a fairy tale in the books she read as a girl. As a noble lady, Euryale knew she could never have that type of love.


    She shook herself refusing to go further down that trail of thought.


    "We need a plan gentlemen and I think we can manage it with Linx back to full health." She said moving to an aether writing board.


    "Sorin, you''re our best defense and AOE damage dealer. The downside is your skills use up a LOT of aether. We need to use sparingly."


    She put an "x" on the board.


    "With Sorin running point for us that leaves Linx and Cain free to destroy targets at your leisure. This will be marathon and not a sprint. We need to keep Sorin from being overwhelmed and give him time to breathe. If we have a constant stream of creatures, we will exhaust him and leave ourselves open." She continued.


    Sorin raised his hand.


    "Yes?" Euryale asked.


    "Your plan is sound when we are on site, but what do we do concerning aeon and his plans. He is targeting us conscripts and not you, suggesting he doesn''t want you dead, but to fail. I''d go a step further and say he wants to own and control you hence why he had you wager courting him with the battle with Linx." Sorin detailed.


    At the mention of that fight and courting, Linx soured and growled deeply from his center.


    Euryale nodded.


    "There is a bigger play, but that is for my father and uncles to deal with and not you. They have been informed of the events and are now taking action." She said.


    "If I may make a suggestion ma''am?" Sorin asked.


    She waved him on.


    "Tomorrow at the ceremony, only Cain and Reeger accompany you. Reeger can''t compete and everyone knows that. If you show up missing two out of three conscripts it will be noticed and get back to Aeon. Linx and I will stick to the shadows and remain hidden from the public and follow you to the zone giving the illusion of you having only a single conscript."


    "What will this accomplish?" Euryale asked.


    "We have word spread by word of mouth that you are down 2 conscripts. You are of course at full power, but they need not know that. Aeon will become emboldened and will overreach hopefully making a fatal mistake the likes of which we can end his plans brutally and permanently." Sorin continued.


    She sat down at the table and sat thinking. It made sense. If aeon placed hands upon her, or did something that breached proper law, he could be crippled or executed especially since she was the daughter of a duke and ruling member of her region. It would be an attack on the region itself.


    "Of course it would mean receiving abuse and not giving anything up information wise. Acting furious and stubborn when mocked and then giving it back when you pass the exam with hopefully ease with publically known a single conscript and he will have needed all of his. He is the type that if you anger him enough, he will lose control and make a fatal mistake. Fixing a few problems in one move." Sorin said.


    She tapped her manicured nails on the wooden table as she thought. There was a bigger plan in motion back home. Taking aeon out might make a difference if he is acting on her here.


    There is the possibility that her sister''s husband could be a plant. She would need to send an encrypted communication tonight to her father on the secret channels.


    "Very well Sorin. We will go with your plan until we arrive at the objective point then we switch to mine. We will go back to your plan on return and set the snake up for foolishness and failure." Euryale said with a solemn nod.

 Chapter 49- Exam Start

    "Cadets! This is your examination brief. Each and every one of you with your teams will be inserted along strategic points that you will be required to defend by any means possible."


    The academy senior announced.


    "This exam comes in two parts. The first part is the individual team objective and your entire class objective of holding off creatures. There are a finite amount of creatures that must be stopped, killed, or redirected from the heart of the operation. Should the final defense fall, each team will lose a full 25% of their grade regardless of how exemplary you each performed."


    Sorin and Linx watched from a distance as they shadowed Euryale and Cain. They had agreed to stay out of sight to give the image of a depleted team.


    "Cadets, are there any questions?" The official asked. A few hands went up in the air and had minor questions about how or where they would be placed only to find out it was at random.


    "Can we reinforce other points of defense?" Came a question. The official looked back and smiled.


    "Yes. You absolutely can reinforce another''s defense or even help with the final defense should it fall under attack. Bear in mind, forsaking your own objective and allowing it to fall to quickly will result in your failure."


    The official answered a few more questions until a chime sounded.


    "Cadets, take your teams and make your way to the hover skiffs for insertion.


    Euryale turned and made her way in the indicated direction putting the final defense point danger signal she was given in her bag. Cain followed closely behind her on watch for any potential threats to her person.


    "Where is the rest of your team Lady Aegis?" Came the expected annoying voice of Aeon Pallas.


    Euryale turned and faced him. "It would seem your cowardly attack at the social wasn''t the last of my misfortune. With my fox beastman down recovering another round of misfortune struck leading to the demise of another of my conscripts. Someone sent assassins after me. We killed them all, but at the cost of my human. "You would know anything about that would you?"


    There was a twinkle in his eye, that didn''t line up with his next words.


    "Assassins?! Here in the academy?! The insanity and absurdity. Lady Aegis you must be seeing things from the stress. It was probably your own undisciplined conscripts fighting one another." Aeon said.


    "That is is not what happened! I am not seeing things. What I said to you was the truth. I have the bodies and coins for the ferryman." She insisted.


    "Oh yes, you lose a conscript, have another one attack a second then blame "assassins." Lady Aegis has your family''s blood grown so thin over the years you must invent stories? What did the academy investigation turn up?" He asked.


    Euryale balled up her fists in a look of outrage and made her face redden. This moron was eating it up and it was fine by her. Their plan was going better than she thought.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    He laughed and began turning away before stopping and looking back. He did one obvious look at her up and down before licking his lips lightly.


    "I look forward to our time together after the exam."


    He laughed again then walked away.


    Euryale shook her head and they made their way to her skiff marked with her family''s colors and sat down. She looked around and saw dozens of other on their''s waiting to take off. Including his....She kept an eye on his skiff continuing to look angry.


    Then the command went out and they lifted off moving faster and fast over the terrain toward one of the many vast training areas maintained by the academy.


    The other skiffs drifted down moving away bit by bit. Euryale noticed Aeon''s skiff move south of her position closer to the final defense than her own position. She made a mental note the direction. Sorin''s never ceasing mind might want that.


    After a half hour the skiff came down next to a cobblestone bridge. "Lady Aegis, you are ordered to defend this bridge. No creatures must be permitted to make it across for the period of three days." The man on the skiff said.


    As he spoke Euryale saw a buddle of canvas skiff covers move silently then two men hiding under it slunked away into the nearby trees. Carefully controlling her face, she nodded. The driver nodded turning to the pile of same covers. He pulled it back revealing a heavily loaded pack.


    "This is your equipment for the exam." He said as Cain stepped forward to take it.


    They disembarked and moved to the trees where they saw their othere two go. Once the skiff vanished from sight Linx and Sorin came out from their place of concealment.


    Euryale couldn''t help but smile.


    - Sorin -


    "That went well ma''am." He said from his concealed location. "


    I am going to assume there will be passive measures of surveillance on you during this as it''s what I would do if I were plotting against you." He continued.


    Euryale nodded.


    "The arrogant pig, knew exactly what had happened as was absolutely terrible at acting or just didn''t care enough. He knew it wasn''t going to be proven against him, which is fine."


    Sorin went to the pack Cain was holding and helped him put it down to set it up in the trees hidden away, but still able to see the objective.


    "Were either of you able to see how far away others were to our position?" Sorin asked.


    Cain spoke up this time. "It seems everyone is surrounding us and are separated from us by three to five kilometers including Lord Aeon who is south of us by about three kilometers."


    Sorin paused and looked up at him with the single most devilish grin that he or anyone had ever seen.


    "Oh...this is great!" He said.


    "I don''t see how that''s a good thing considering we can''t use our entire team without giving up that information." Euryale said in an annoyed tone.


    "Ma''am, if we think about it rigidly then it''s bad, but now we go on the offense. We will be prepared to give up the information that Linx is back up. If I were him I''d suspect some sort of hidden information and trick, but I would hope at least one of my plans went through. Total failure at the lengths he went to would be suprising." He said.


    She thought for a moment then smiled quite large. "You mean to attack him and sabotage him?"


    "My skills are very well suited for this type of work and I can remain out of site. I need a little time to prepare leaving Linx and Cain here with you to build up the bridge. Cut down some of the trees and drag them over to the bridge to block it off forcing the creatures to go over where Cain and Linx can just post up on them and crush them with you ma''am running safety to clean up anything that gets passed them." Sorin said.


    The team nodded.


    "With your permission ma''am, I''d like to be autonomous for at most a day and a half?" Sorin asked.


    She looked at him and smiled again.


    "Granted and happy hunting."


    Sorin took a couple steps then stopped. He reached into his pocket grabbed a collection of cores and walked back to Euryale.


    "Oh ma''am, let it be known that an Ekart always pays up."


    He gave the collection of beast cores to her then slinked off, leaving a very confused Euryale standing there.....then it hit her.


    "Ooooh!" She exclaimed with an amused grin.

 Interlude - Guildmaster

    Mitchell had found his sister in law and his nephew. He spoke to Brittanie fearing for his brother until she revealed that he was in fact still alive.


    He had taken up the post of Guildmaster in the very active Clarksville adventurers guild. It wasn''t a bad gig. His days within the guild were fairly care free with very few people ever getting too out of hand where he had to step in.


    He had met the President last month when he was formerly asked to be the guild master of the clarksville area. He had met Wardens Josh and Amy at the same time. They told him he was a judge in the area to help maintain order and discipline within the local area which suited him nicely as when his sisters, mother, and rest of his family on his mother''s side learned of his position they had moved out there and were living alongside of Brittanie who everyone called the Seraph.


    The vast majority of the Ekarts remained in the pacific northwest where his little brother who had become known as the Tidecaller was the Warden along the coast stopping any sort of invasions from monsters and people alike. Many pirating groups and even other nations probed the coast of the USA only to be repelled by Kody in sometimes the most bad ass manner.


    Mitch and Kody didn''t always get along as was the case with siblings, but man he had to hand it to Kody, he was good at what he did.


    Mitch had his own problems managing the dual rifts in clarksville where monsters had been slowly but surely increasing in power. More and more aether was filling the atmosphere of their planet beginning to affect even normal animals.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    *Crash!*


    There came shouting in the main hall and then silence.


    With a sigh Mitch got up, grabbing his sword.


    He walked out to the guildmaster''s perch where he could see everything while remaining out of sight at his mostly empty guild hall.


    With the morning rush over the guild was deserted save for the applicants waiting to test out.


    "We want the cores! Either give them over or we start ripping this place apart!" A group of masked people stood at the counter of the guild hall intimidating little Eliza his new hire.


    *smack!*


    That was Mitch''s signal.


    "Gentlemen, put your weapons on the floor and lay down on your face." He said calmly.


    They all turned and looked at him and snorted.


    "Get out of here you little bitch before you get yourself killed." The leader of the group said.


    Mitch drew his sword silently from it''s sheath and with what appeared to be a flicker of his hand the leader of the game fell to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut and a startled scream. Gravity was immediate, but the pain was not.


    Nobody saw what happened, but all that happened was Mitch severed all the man''s tendons.


    The group was stunned.


    "Lay down your weapons. Last warning. You have broken guild law and the penalty is confinement provided you obey commands of the guildmaster. Otherwise, with the state of the world...it''s death." He said holding his signature red and blue sword out to the side.


    In their anger they charged.


    Stories of that day always claim the Wanderer didn''t even move. The moment the group of vandals raised their weapons, their bodies fell to pieces and never again did anyone dare draw a weapon in the clarksville guild.

 Chapter 50 - There be monsters

    Sorin checked the map he recieved from Cain and flew as fast as his feet could silently carry him south.


    He remained off the dirt road and continued moving south along the small river that required their bridge when he came across a small that narrowed into a choke point where he saw what he was looking for. He lowered his silhouette and pushed closer. He checked the wind and noticed a problem if he got any closer. He was upwind and there was a wolf beast woman on Aeons team. He couldn''t approach from this angle, but he was in a valley. He withdrew and needed time to think or wait for the wind to change.


    After a few hours the wind NEVER changed. It always came from behind him. Sorin got up and began to look around. None of his skills could help him with anything except to give away his position. Then he saw the river and he had an idea.


    Sorin went to the edge of the water and began to push his sense out to it. His new and improved skills said he can manipulate water now. He reached with a tendril of his aether and tugged on the aether that made up the water and it reacted as if it had a mind of its own.


    With a flex of his will he pulled a ball of water up from it and began to move it around him. He let the water flow back in then had another idea. He ripped a tentacle of water up out of the water and snapped it out to grab a small tree on the side of the bank, but the branch just went right through it. He tried moving the water and make it so there was no give as you feel when wake boarding or knee boarding. There was some resistance, but still didn''t work. He sped it up and cut the tree down.


    Sorin looked up feeling stupid. Water has been used to cut things for thousands of years he should have known better. "Stupid shiny penny syndrome." He muttered then continued to think through the problem.


    How did it work with his fire binding skill? He pressed energy into it enough that the bonds of energy. He wanted to say covalent bonds that have been amplified through more energy pushed into it. Water used the same type of bonds though he thought. What if I push more aether into it and try to super charge those bonds. He pulled a tendril of water back up pushed more aether into it and it immediately went transparent as if it were a clear pool of water with no ripples. It flowed around him and then he lashed out around a small try then Sorin smiled....it held and he ripped it out of the ground.


    He was ready to start his plan of attack.


    - Team Pallas later that night -


    Aeon was feeling extremely confident in his defense and with things in general.


    They had diverted the small river and have begun to use it as a barrier for their valley. One of his conscripts the Dwarf he picked had an earth path that he used to set up more barriers to funnel any threats into a killing zone that he fully planned to use with his metal path. He was going to absolutely eviscerate anything that comes through to the point he didn''t even need the creatures assigned to him beyond their aether.


    He had made sure they understood they didn''t speak at all. They spoke to one another one time and he had them beaten to make sure they never did it again. Tools are all they were, but it was fine. After he was done with this exam process he would be returned to proper company and his prize.


    Euryale...though she was a gorgon, Aeon liked how she looked. To him she had all the curves in all the right places. He just needed to keep some petrify block on hand while he broke and tamed her. It wouldn''t be that much a problem as her house would be so busy fighting to even be able to spend a second rescuing her.


    He knew she was hiding something. He figured she got Linx up on his feet and wouldn''t be suprised if that rat was at their defense point. However, he was guaranteed by the Oversoul who led the local chapter of assassins that it was a done deal so that troubling human was at least gone.


    He was going to be here to finish shoring up the defense here to the point one could easily hold it then leave for Euryale''s defense point to ensure her failure.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    The Dwarf waddled up to Aeon and kneeled. Waiting for the command to speak. "What?"


    "My lord, the defense is awaiting your inspection and further guidance." The Dwarf said.


    Aeon got up and inspected everything over the course of the next ten minutes. Once satisfied, he scouted the area a little bit checking for creatures who could he lurking then went to lay down. Once he rose he would head out to deal with Euryale ensuring her failure.


    - a little later -


    The Dwarf sat at the defense in the dark listening intently to his surrounds at the sound of the water flowing by with the wolf beast woman.


    He had noticed her. She had scars all over her fur which some found distasteful, but to a Dwarf scars were rather pleasing. He wouldn''t take her as a tunnel mate, but that didn''t mean she wasn''t pleasing to look at. He didn''t dare speak to her after what that fiend did to them the last time they spoke to their teammates.


    *thunk*


    The three of them turned at the sound. The dragonkin wind user and the wolf beast woman got up and moved in the direction of the sound. The Dwarf shifted backwards leaning out over the water and that''s when it happened. A tendril of water snaked up so fast, wrapping itself around the Dwarf pulling him into the mud where the water was removed then the water flowed back and it covered the drowning dwarf making not a sound to alert the others.


    The other two looked around for a moment, sniffing the air for traces of a creature or person lurking about.


    They began noticing the water beginning to rise over their diversion trench in a few places. To make sure the ass hole of a lord didn''t get pissed at them for perceived laziness they looked for the Dwarf to fix it, but they couldn''t find him. They both looked at eachother in alarm.


    They knew they should wake the lord, but knew they would be beaten should they be right or wrong there was was threat. They pulled their weapons and waiting listening.


    Hours went by of them feeling tense listening to the lord snore. Eventually they whispered as silently as they could to eachorher near the river to hide the whispers. "Perhaps he ran away?" The wolf beastwoman said.


    The dragonkin nodded. "It''s the only thing that makes sense. He just vanished."


    She nodded. "That is what we will tell the lord then."


    They began to walk over to their posts to get their supplies when they noticed it was all gone. The pack, the rations, the small shovels, all of it. They felt true panic set in at what the lord would do to them they separated and began to frantically search for the missing gear.


    The dragonkin began going down the river seeing if it got washed down stream somehow and that is when his foot felt like it was ripped under him. He had water envelope his his had and was dragged down the river. Until he felt like he was able to get to shore. Coughing and gagging the dragonkin clawed his way to shore heaving.


    "I have a score to settle with you." Came a cold angry voice.


    The dragonkin looked up and saw a familiar looking human. "You...you''re the human from the Lord''s rival''s team."


    There came no answer. With a flash of searing pain a binding was wrapped around the hands and feet of the dragonkin with water across his mouth.


    He screamed as it burned, but Sorin flashed swinging his blade reinforced with aether into the upper leg of the dragonkin. All that was heard was a snap and greater screaming followed by a continuous beating lasting several minutes.


    The dragonkin lay there every breath excruciating.


    "Do you regret beating the fox beastman?" A gurgling laugh escaped the man. "No....he is weak and the weak are always trampled."


    With a flick of his wrist Sorin slammed spikes of water through the mans eyes killing him then using the tendrils dragged his body into the water allowing it to drift off before slinking off for the next target.


    The wolf woman came back to the middle of their guard position and listened. It was completely silent save for the snoring. She looked around for the other on her team and saw nothing. Something was horribly wrong. The dragonkin she knew had a thing for her and wouldn''t have left. She could smell the desire coming off the dragonkin to mate with her and though she didn''t want the lizard looking man, she used that to her advantage for extra security. This had her so on guard.


    She remained on guard looking over the water her heart beating like a running horses hooves. A sound drew her attention to her left, she took one step that way then came a sharp impact to the base of her skull and everything went black.


    Sorin caught the body of the wolf beast woman. It didn''t feel good to take the two out like he did, but there comes a time when good men feel forced to do bad things and he was at that point. He transfered her body to a tendril of water and let her flow off into the river.


    Sorin briefly considered making a statement by detonating the defenses, but he decided it would be a very rude waking the arrogant idiot. So Sorin decided to let him get his beauty rest before his life became much much harder.


    Sorin smiled to himself and slunk back into the trees.


    With a brief use of fire aether he flash dried his clothing and re warmed himself then decided to sit and watch.


    He dozed briefly then the early morning was shattered by an angry shout.


    "Traitorous cowards!!!"


    Sorin laughed and began heading back to his own team.

 Chapter 51 - First contact

    Sorin didn''t take long getting back and at a few hundred yards Sorin heard and saw signs of combat. He picked up the pace and looked across the open area.


    The bridge was packed with many row upon row of brown beetles trying to get through the barricade of logs created by his team who stood at the top sending lines of fire down into the horde burning them. Screeches from the insects were coming out continously as they were cooked within their own exoskeleton.


    Sorin saw there were hundreds of the small dog sized bugs all being herded onto the bridge. Sorin from the trees formed a tightly compressed ball of fire and when it turned blue he fired it as fast as he could moving low on the ground up over the head of his teammates as if from them toward the back third of the trail about 20 feet above the ground. When it reached the appropriate location he stopped it and forced it to detonate.


    The entire third of the beetles were vaporized leaving their nearly indestructible cores behind. Those that survived the flames were tossed into the water or into the flames of his team ending the wave of monsters in a few minutes after. Sorin saw the beetles struggling in the water so he pressurized tendrils of water into spears and had them rip into the softer mouths of the bugs ending them as they flowed down rivet to him.


    He waited in the trees as they agreed to keep his presence hidden. During his wait he saw a bright red skiff making it''s way quickly to the south, headed toward aeons point. With luck that ass already failed, but we will see.


    Linx, after about an hour made his way to the treeline and looked around.


    "Hey buddy!" Sorin said.


    Linx looked up and grinned at him. "That was one heck of an entrance letting us know you were back." He said.


    "Got to have a little style right?" Sorin laughed before getting to business.


    "I removed all of Aeon''s team, but let him alone. I don''t know the ramifications of taking out a noble so I refrained. I also don''t know if I could be traced but assumed I could be. I made it appear as if his conscripts abandoned their posts and took the given supplies with them."


    Sorin explained.


    "You can let Lady Aegis know that to the best of my ability, I was not seen nor were any abilities used that could be traced back to her."


    Linx nodded following along. "Any injuries on your part?" He asked.


    "No. I''m fit and ready for combat. I plan to remain here out of sight and will work to destroy threats as I can. When I can." Sorin responded.


    Linx smirked. "Good man! I''ll report back to Lady Aegis." They clasped arms and went their separate ways.


    Sorin watched Linx made his way back to the point of look out where he waiting for 10-15 minutes before Euryale came up to him and engaged in a conversation. Sorin could see the amused smile and look on her face.


    He turned away keeping his storm sense open which encompassed 500 meters naturally now at tier 4. He settled in to begin pushing his body and mind to the same with infusing his body with the new liquid aether.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    - hours later -


    Sorin saw a mass of four legged creatures with sharp looking spines on their back. He flicked a blue tiny tiny orb of light out away from himself low that darted over the top of the crestures and then detonated it which gave the sound of a gunshot going off getting his teams attention.


    They moved to their barricade and readied themselves for another wave.


    Cain use a lance of what looked like blood that slashed into the creatures causing more blood to flow from them and then it was set on fire while Euryale created serpents of fire that ripped through the group and Linx played clean up this time with a more intense torrent of flames he unleashed from his mouth.


    "Seems like they are developing their paths more too." Sorin muttered then settled back in. They didn''t need his help. He was making progress


    Body: 77/100


    Mind: 80/100


    - hours later


    *bleep*


    Sorin opened his eyes with a huge smile. He had done it. Ripping the aether from from that assassin led to a windfall of strength in figuring out the path forward. Sorin pulled up his HUD for the first time in a while.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Stormbringer


    AP: 7650/12818


    Body: 101/200(T3)


    Mind: 101/200 (T3)


    Spirit: 221/500 (T4)


    Abilities:


    1. Greater storm sense (p)/(a) - sense fire and water aether more clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your storm sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a).


    2. Storm manipulation (a) - You can manipulate fire and water aether in your immediate vicinity. May cause minor interference with another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    3. Ignition(a) - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    4. Absorption(a) - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves, but no longer.


    5. Aether revival(p/a) - A regeneration skill that restores the aether lost within your body. As cells become damaged they lose energy. This skill replenishes that energy for AP. Can increase the rate of regeneration through increased aether flow.


    6. Aether Reaver(a) - Forcefully rip Aether from another being and add it to your own. Caution: someone of a much higher tier may be able use this to destroy your own channels and core.


    7. Aether conversion(p) - all is Aether. Through your understanding of this foundational principle you may now convert all forms of Aether into the form that best suits you.


    Sorin was pleased so far with his growth. He was nearly as powerful as Laxric claimed to be. It shocked him now just how lucky he was to be alive after fighting that man and how outclassed he really was. It still shocked him how strong Altivor was. It was insane the difference between the tiers. He had to reach 500 points in that tier...


    However, he was making progress.


    Sorin got up and started getting used to his new senses and strength. He flowed through his forms and put his mental agility to the test using both fire and water together creating steam which amusing Sorin to no end. He had a grand idea for that should it be needed.


    He thought about his path and how it said stormbringer. The thing is, storms sometimes had lighting and lightning was a cousin to fire. He needed to figure out how to convert fire into electricity.


    He wanted the classic RPG skill Chain lighting.

 Chapter 52 - A little unstable

    Sorin watched from a distance as they had agreed he would, but continued to work out the problem of electricity.


    He understood that aether is energy as his world knew it and that fire and lighting were like cousins. The issue is that fire in of itself was much easier to create in large amounts and can grow, but electricity is a very precise force of energy that without a continous supply of force behind it, it would die out or just become fire through setting something else on fire.


    Sorin couldn''t create and carry a generator around with him for the electricity made from a mechanical function. He didn''t know all the math and equations that went into it, but he did understand what it needed at a very surface level.


    Imbalance. He began looking closely at a single mote of aether. He kept looking closer and closer at it trying to figure out, how he was supposed to create an imbalance.


    Sure he could condense a bunch of electrons in one area, ionize a section of ground until it electrocuted anyone within it....oh....that was good. That will come after he figured the project he was currently working on.


    The human body gives off an electrical field, but that field was so tiny compared to a lighting bolt for a human. Sorin paused,


    He was no longer the average human. He was exponentially more powerful. At every threshold he would have his strength doubled and then added to with the power per threshold point. 30 points for his mind and body and 40 points in his spirit. Per Point in spirit he was getting 4 times what he would as a first tier and 3 times in his other categories.


    With his mind upgraded as much as it was he could recall memories from when he looked into energy out of curiosity he knew 1 horsepower was somewhat equivalent to 745 watts which means....


    "Damn!" Sorin wasn''t even remotely close to being able to channel that much power from his own body using all of his AP. He would need around 50 gigawatts which came out to around 67 million AP which he wouldn''t get until 14th or 15th tier by his math. That''s including his absorption skill and pulling from his body. Trying to create a bolt of lightning would kill him.


    So that was completely out of the question and a huge let down, which means he would need to use the forces that be to do some sort of lighting technique.


    Sorin looked at his storm sense and saw the blue and red motes all over they flowed together and intertwined. Different water aether and heat aether of various concentrations.


    He looked in on a group of motes and went in as close as he could. His aether cost overcame his absorption, but he couldn''t see anything new about the mote of aether, but that checked out. Even with the technology we couldn''t exactly see an atom, but perhaps he could measure the energy cycles of the rotating electrons and protons.


    He kept feeling for fluctuations and after a few minutes he began to feel insanely fast motions. He reached with his will to slow that down. It resisted him. As he kept feeling it grew easier and easier to.


    He then pulled the motions away from their orbits and began to gather them. As he pulled more and more away, stopping them, he felt the area become charged and seemingly frustrated by the imbalance in nature. He kept pulling them together. Small cracks of electricity began arching in his general area. He kept pulling more together.


    *bleep*


    *Flash! Boom! Rumble!*


    Sorin was sent flying backwards burned and tingling unable to move from the electricity coursing through his system. He slammed into the ground and tumbled until he was stopped not so gently by a tree. He lay on the ground twitching unable to catch his breath until the energy left his system and he gasped for air.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    As he lay there panting, he began berating himself for the stupidity. His body was scorched, clothing burned. His regeneration skill was already at work restoring his body.


    He began pulling himself up and changing locations. He expected people to come over and check out the disturbance, but oddly nothing.


    - at the same time -


    The three of Team Aegis snapped their heads to the right, where they believed Sorin to be.


    "We need to check and see if we are under attack!" She started to move. "Lady Aegis!" Cain shouted over.


    "There is nothing to worry about. I would bet my life on the fact that is Sorin coming up with some another bullshit skill."


    Linx was shaking his head as cain spoke looking down.


    "He does this a lot?" Euryale asked.


    The two conscripts nodded with exasperated faces.


    Euryale looked over to the trees then looked over at their defense point seeing the next wave inbound.


    - Sorin -


    Sorin shrugged and began moving. He pulled his new notification up.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill


    Lightning zone(a) - by destabilizing the energy of an area you call down massive amounts of electricity that randomly strikes an area. Direct hits can deal massive AOE damage.


    Sorin knew he had to try again now that he figured out the method. He left the area he was at and went to a new area where he could see their defense point.


    On his arrival he saw why nobody can come to check. They were dealing with the latest wave of beasts attacking their point.


    Sorin smiled and began channeling his ability away from his team toward the middle and end of the beast line.


    *Flash! Flash! Flash!*


    *Boom!*


    Electricity arched through each of the beast that resembled frozen bears ripping them to pieces and throwing others out of the way.


    He kept bringing the strikes down on the numerous beast that were beginning to thin out as they were incinerated, electrocuted, and slammed into the river where he used water to spear them to death, and the last were sent into the wall of death that was his team.


    Warning!


    AP under 10


    9/12818


    Sorin stopped his attacking, stunned at how much aether he was using for his lignting strikes. He would have to be significantly more careful about his new skill and it''s use, not just for the danger of those around him...and himself, but it''s consumption. As he grew he was sure he could refine the technique and make it more lethal, but for the time being he was satisfied.


    - Team Aegis -


    Euryale, Linx, and Cain just looked at eachother.


    "Sorin is a complete ass hole. He gets a little alone time and learns to smite people. What''s next he learns to walk on water?" Linx said.


    Cain didn''t miss a beat.


    "Don''t say that too loud. He just might do it."


    Euryale just looked at the spot where dozens of bear corpses were added to the rest of the beasts they had killed in bewilderment.


    Sorin was beginning to scare her with his rate of growth. She trusted that he would keep his word about being loyal to her and her family as she helped him get home.


    Perhaps, she needed to be take some precautions to ensure he did not turn on her. If he continued to grow in power, which there was no way he was tier 2. He was at least mid tier 3 putting him dangerously close to her own tier, could she continue to rely on him?


    "Stop." She said to herself. She was allowing her emotions to guide her steps. She tabled them and thought about it objectively.


    Sorin wanted more than anything to get home. It''s his driving force and as long as he knows I am working with him to get to that goal, he has no reason to betray me. That removes motive. He''s not stupid. He knows there is a literal army behind me not just my own family, but the empire who could crush even a rogue tier 10.


    So he doesn''t have the means. He has already had plenty of opportunities to betray me especially with me letting him run off. He fought for me and reported total destruction of Aeon''s team. I suppose that will be the true test. If I don''t see Aeon I''ll check the official standing for his status. A team wipe would make this test impossible.


    She took a breath.


    Sorin though becoming a force to be reckoned with, is in her team and her ally. Until he does something that makes her doubt him, she wouldn''t let her fears of what if? Cloud her judgement and poison their working relationship.

 Chapter 53 - Defense complete

    Sorin had it pretty nice where he was. He had a great view of his team and the defense point. It was twilight on the seventh day of the defense portion of the exam and he was ready for things to be over with.


    He had spent the days refining his control over his skills and fine tuning them. All of his fire techniques were now so compressed they were blue and white. He could incinerate anything near him within seconds and even burned his way into a large tree in case it rained and he wanted to nap. They were well passed the three-day minimum mark and he had not noticed any signal from Euryale to move to the final defense point, so he was pretty content with that.


    *Thud* Sorin snapped up and began to look around. He looked across at the bridge and saw the largest turtle he had ever seen in his life. *Thud* each step it took was massive and though it appeared to be slow it ate up the distance. This turtle must have been at least 60 feet tall. He saw the three members of the team cross the bridge knowing full well this monstrosity, would not be stopped by their tiny,  in comparison, barricade.


    This beast was well outside of his normal range at over a kilometer away so he just sat back and waited. His team had stopped approximately 100 meters in front of the bridge and looked to be gearing for the team trump card. There was something they knew that he did not if they were preparing this early for it.


    *Thud* It was nearly within his range. He didn''t want to wait much longer so he moved down toward the river further and prepared to attack the turtle with fire at a distance and if it made it to the river begin ruining its evening with water. Sorin began drilling underneath the riverbanks with streams of water creating many weak points where something of significant weight would cause a collapse and sink into it. *Thud*


    Sorin hopped others were not seeing one of these too. If it were the case hopefully, they could bring theirs down as this was going to probably be a brutal task for them. Sorin kept drilling with this water and weaking the ground further and further out on both sides of the bank until Team Aegis began their assault. With one hand Cain and Linx fired a superheated stream of blue fire directly at Euryale who began to glow with her passive skill. She took on her burning image of the gorgon of legend and raised her hands to the sky where a swirling vortex of flames formed quickly. Larger and larger it grew lighting up the night sky until she sent the massive sheet of blue and yellow flame spinning violently at the turtle. On contact it flowed around the beast revealing the mini forest upon its back and began to set it on fire. The turtle slammed down to the ground while beginning to glow green causing gouts of dirt to spring up and begin to dowse the flames. With the same glow, Sorin saw the plants on its bag begin to visibly grow back as if they were snakes slithering from the shell itself.


    Euryale didn''t stop. She slammed the ground with her hand sending a sheet of what seemed to be magma shooting out covering the once very green clearing and small plain they knew in what seemed lava. The flames licked up the legs of the beast and caused it to bellow in pain and stagger, but shook itself as dirt forcing mud to begin sluffing off his back and expanding as if it had a mind of its own putting those flames out as it had the other flames.


    Then Sorin smiled as she and the others on his team pulled a page straight of his own book and raised their arms, summoning a massive amount of bright white condensed orbs and began launching.


    *Thoom! Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!*


    Explosion after explosion hit the turtle, but seemed to do very little to the beast and it kept coming. It was almost on top of them, so Euryale called for a hasty retreat, moving quickly across the bridge and that is when Sorin began to grin the insane grin he was known for in times of crisis or pressure. Over atop the turtles head the air became charged with electricity.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    *Flash!* *Boom!*


    A lightning bolt slammed down on the turtle''s head. The turtle pitched forward head impacting the ground with a rumble that was felt all the way near Sorin as it began to spasm which looked like massive movements being that creature was so large. His team began to push away as Sorin lined up a second lightning strike, but the turtle was smart. It pulled its head back into its shell and the bolt impacted it shell and did nothing to it. It was channeled into its shell and dissipated somehow.


    As the turtle hid its head, fire began slamming  into it again from Sorin''s team members from a safer distance, forcing it to come back out and keep walking toward them and that is when it stepped directly onto the weakened land causing it to fall forward for the second time and it began to sink down.


    The massive turtle raised its head and took a huge step up placing it''s foot on another part of the weakened ground it held for a moment then crashed inward. The turtle groaned in frustration sinking deeper into the ground. It began to glow and manipulating the earth to firm up, as Sorin pumped more water in fighting against the beast.


    Fire continued raining down on the turtle as it tried to focus on the ground to get itself unstuck. He looked over at his team. Euryale seemed to be the only one not looking to be running low on aether.


    Linx looked in Sorin''s direction and mimed putting his hands together and pushing outward again and again.


    Sorin smirked and sent a small flash of light where they could see it as a sort of confirmation, then he moved swiftly down and around the turtle where he could see a very scaley tail and a less armored hind end.


    He had seen a funny video once about a dragon being completely impervious except for one spot....yeah that''s right....it''s butt.


    He began charging his thermal Ion cannon. The bright orb condensed down further and further adding more and more aether the turtle tried to turn but was stuck in the mud trying to turn and then it raised it''s tail to slam down in frustration.


    With a smile, Sorin fired.


    Vvvvrrrmm....thoooom! The beam of condensed fire flashed up and slammed right into the butt of the turtle. It hit like a wrecking ball lifting the turtle up slightly and continuing to burn. Smoke billowed from the turtle and he could already smell the flesh being burned.


    It let out a high pitched squeal as the beam began its slow burn through its massive body. Sorin pushed even more aether through into the beam. He pulled his AP up to check and got a little worried seeing it down to 4500, he cut off the beam and darted backwards.


    The turtle was making horrible sounds of agony as the flesh continued to burn. Sorin darted back as the turtle with a massive heave of rage and aether shifted the earth under it toward Sorin.


    The rest of his team darted in on the heavily damaged and distracted turtle. Cain began drawing out his blood techniques as Linx began working on boosting Euryale as his expertise in vital point strikes was proving less than useful.


    With a bellow, Sorin hear# the moment that Cain began to set its blood on fire while also causing the blood to lose its ability to transport oxygen to the beaat. Sorin could see blood begin to drip from the eyes, nose, and mouth of the giant beast as it grew weaker and weaker.


    His job was done. He darted back into the trees and watched as the beast finally collapsed dead to the ground.


    - Team Aegis -


    *huff...huff*


    All three of them panted as sweat poured off each of them in buckets.


    "My lady, I believe this beast must have been a higher tier or a champion. We might need to fall back to the main defense as I don''t think every team can face one of these." Cain said beginning to regain his breath.


    Euryale stood up to her full height wearing and began looking around.


    "Agreed, but first we want that beasts core. Linx, you''re the most skilled at extraction of cores. That''s your job. Cain, you''re to check on Sorin and let him know we are about to fall back. I''m going to pack up our stuff and get some robes back on." She said.


    "Yes ma''am!" They both said and darted off in their different directions.


    "Attention! Attention! The defense portion of the exam in now complete. Remain in location for extraction!"


    An extremely loud voice carried across what seemed the world at the magnitude it was blaring.


    Euryale breathed a sigh of relief and got dressed waiting on their ride out as she saw Cain and Linx return.

 Chapter 54 - Tally

    Upon the teams return, Cain and Euryale were shown immediately to a place they could shower with robes waiting for them. It separated Cain from Euryale who naturally went to a location befitting a noble lady away from men to observe propriety.


    Sorin was unable to sneak onto the skiff so he was running back to the academy using the map he had.


    It wasn''t long before they were in another room, Cain and Linx standing at attention with Euryale sitting before a table legs crossed with her hands in her lap.


    "Lady Aegis, we would like to congratulate you on a job well done. We will now go over the results of your examination.


    For completing the minimum defense time successfully earns you a passing score of 60%. For complete annihilation of all beasts sent to you you recieve another 15%. Lastly as a whole the final defense did not fall which gives you a perfect 100%.


    With that the proctor pulled a small wooden box from a case next to him and presented it to Euryale.


    "As the headmaster was impressed by your team''s victory over the siege turtle which is a B rank beast and not usually defeated by a single team in the examination he has awarded you the academy badge of merit."


    She opened the box and saw a purple serpent coiled up with fangs exposed.


    "Please wear this proudly so others can recognize superior achievement."


    The proctor said.


    "Now to other business. The next phase of your exam depends solely on your conscripts. This is the test of loyalty to yourself, your house, and/or the Empire. During this test they will be cohersted through different methods to abandon you. They all do, you will fail. If even one conscript makes it to the end loyal, you pass. Do you understand Lady Aegis?"


    She looked briefly at her two conscripts still standing at attention. In her mind, she had confidence in them remaining loyal. She had taken Sorin''s advice in leading through obtaining buy in and getting them to accomplish her will of their own free will, but would it be enough in the face of what the academy could offer or threaten?


    "Understood Proctor." Euryale said.


    The proctor got to his feet, grabbing his bag.


    "You have approximately one solar cycle until the next phase begins. I recommend taking this time to make sure your conscripts remain loyal. Good if there is nothing else my lady, I will take my leave?" He said.


    "No proctor, that will be all. You have my thanks." Euryale said.


    With a bow he turned and left, leaving the door open. Euryale got up.


    "Come, we will head to the estate and discuss plans moving forward."


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    - meanwhile -


    "What do you mean I failed?!" Aeon screamed at the proctor.


    "My lord, your position was completely overrun and you have to be extracted to preserve your life. You can''t even partake of the next phase of the exam." The smaller proctor said sitting before him nervously.


    "You understand who I am and what can happen to you for displeasing my family?!" He continued.


    "My lord I do not have a choice as this was not my decision. It is the decision of the academy. I am but one proctor who helped tally scores without knowing who did what. This handwriting isn''t mine so I didn''t even tally your score. This grade is given and signed off by the Academic Board of Elders. I advise you speak to their office for an appeal." The proctor said trying to maintain an air of professionalism.


    Displeasing noble houses even what it had nothing to do with you could lead to death of himself and those he loved. It was the way of the Serpent Empire. The strong did as they liked within the rules of the empire. Small families like his were routinely crushed by the noble houses.


    "Fine! Give me that damn report and get out of my sight!" Aeon snapped.


    "Bring me a long range communication array." Aeon ordered after briefly looking at the report.


    The man got up, bowed, and rushed out the door. A few minutes later he came back with a large case. He set it down before Aeon, opened it, bowed, and left.


    Taking a silver sliver of inscribed metal he plugged it into the center of the case causing a projection to appear before him with his house symbol of a gold shield with a sword behind it standing straight up.


    A man appeared in the image a moment later smiling imperious.


    "Good news i assume?" Aeons father said. Aeons face continued to sour. "No father, it would seem the academy is failing me."


    "What!!" He shouted smiling falling quickly from his face. "How could you fail?! We set you up from the inside with easy beasts, a good route and ensured the final beast didn''t come your way, but to the Aegis bitch!"


    "The conscripts I was assigned fled like the traitorous cowards they were taking the supplies and leaving me to face the hordes on my own which with the numbers of even c rank beasts was too much for me at peak tier 3. I brought this up to the Senior Proctor that it wasn''t my fault, but that of the academy for giving me I''ll trained cretins, they ignored me and failed me for this exam and also for the next phase as it requires conscripts." He explained.


    "You had two jobs! Two! Ensure you pass and the Aegis welp failed. Tell me that she at least failed." Belloraphon said furiously.


    Aeon winced and shifted uncomfortably at what he knew he would have to tell his father.


    "No father. She passed somehow. I had thought to have crippled her first conscript at the social, but it seems that he recovered enough to fight on. I was successful in having the human I told you about that gave me pause. In spite of those set backs she not only passed, but killed the B rank siege turtle we ensured went her way and achieved a perfect score."


    He braced for the verbal impact he knew was coming, but what came scared him even more.


    "You...failed at both tasks. Thousands upon thousands of C and B cores were spent to make sure those two small tasks were done. It was a forgone conclusion, yet somehow you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. You get one final chance....one. if you fail us again I will personally see you executed for incompetence."


    Aeon swallowed as a cold sweat broke out all over.


    Belloraphon continued


    "The next part of the exam has the highest failure rate. If any of her team passes it, she will have less defenses and allow for more flexibility in any plans you make. The final part of the exam is the duel of the commanders. Euryale will face another cadet and must win at least 2 out of 3 contests to graduate. You will find a way to ensure she fails or has a fatal accident."


    "Yes father, I will not fail the family again." Aeon said quickly.


    "It''s unfortunate that you have failed as even I can''t overturn it with you not even having conscripts. There are never any in reserve."


    Belloraphon growled angrily.


    "See it done. End state is the Aegis bitch is dead or fails." He said then hung up.


    Aeon put his head on the desk in front of him. After a second he centered himself then rose to his feet. There was work to be done.

 Chapter 55 - Where one stands

    Sorin made it back late that same night the rest of his team got back. Through some math Euryale knew approximately what time he should be back give or take a half hour.


    Sorin moved as quickly as he could the 120 kilometers back from their training site. He was a sweaty, gross, hungry mess that Euryale kept extra far from.


    He was escorted back to Euryale''s campus estate where he washed up and was able to eat real food. As he was eating at the guard house table Reeger came in with Euryale behind him.


    Linx and Cain were excited to see Sorin and they couldn''t wait to pick back up on their conversation of the battle with the turtle when their superiors walked in ending the conversation.


    All three of them stood up and saluted.


    "We all need to have a serious discussion." She said.


    Sorin saw more into her words and body language. She was uncertain, even nervous.


    She gestured for them to follow and they did. A few minutes later they sat around the conference room table with Euryale at the head and Reeger standing behind her left shoulder.


    "Gentlemen, first off, well done on a perfect score in the defense. I have spoken with each of you about what you are working toward and what you ultimately want to do after your conscription is over." She paused and Sorin could see her breathing and gathering herself.


    "The next test is completely on whether you remain loyal to me and my house in spite of everything the academy offers you or tries to coerce you with. I have not treated you three as what is traditionally done where we use absolute fear to keep you in line. I have offered you a path to get what we both want in spite of what our lives have become."


    The three of them remained silent watching and listening to the young woman that sat before them.


    "I will keep my word to you. You have given me what I believe to be your trust and loyalty so far and I hope that is better than trusting the word of an admittedly unknown organization such as the academy. There is a saying I''ve been told for a while now. "The devil that you know is better than the devil you dont." Even if you hate me, you have come to known a version of me that gives you hope of getting what you want or need."


    She took a deep breath in closing her eyes.


    "I would ask, that you not forsake me or my family and this is the hard part gentlemen. Things on my home world are more precarious than I have let you know and members of my family would be cross for me telling you this, but I''d rather leave the information on the table for you to see the whole picture. If you all abandon me it won''t be just me that suffers, but the people my family cares for."


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Sorin tilted his head a bit at this information. "What do you mean ma''am? He asked.


    She looked down and started fumbling with her hands.


    "The Pallas family and Aegis family rule the planet of Odyssey. There have been savage wars between the two factions for thousands of years. For the last 200 years there have been a tentative peace my father and grandfather tried to ensure would last through the marrying of my sister. However, intelligence and even the actions of Aeon all suggest the Pallas family is preparing to break that peace depending on the success or failure of him and I."


    Sorin, Linx, and Cain looked at eachother and nodded which did not go unnoticed by Euryale.


    "What?" She asked.


    They looked to Sorin who shrugged and spoke up.


    "With the social being the way it was, the attempt on my life, and the obvious cruelty of Aeon it made sense to us that a bigger game was in motion. With you confirming it for us it completed the picture."


    Euryale looked at them. "I have been learning things and when to be honest. So here it is. I am a noble woman. The daughter of a duke whose grandfather ruled before him. I cannot afford to be weak and fail my family. I am asking each of you to remain loyal and fight for us and our people. I will ensure you remain assigned to me so I can keep my word to each of you."


    She looked meaningfully at each of them.


    "I''ll leave you to consider everything as nothing more I say will add to this. If you have any questions, please direct them to Reeger." She rose and walked out of the conference room.


    The three men sat at the table looking at one another.


    Linx expectedly spoke first.


    "I think this is a simple decision. Of course we stick with her."


    Cain looked at him with a smirk. "Linx you know you have no chance with her right? She is the daughter of a duke and will not have a choice but to marry for the benefit of her family and planet. You''re an OK man in my eyes, but I''m not her father."


    Linx scrunched up a bit. "Not pulling punches tonight huh?"


    Sorin jumped in. "We know you are pretty smitten with her man, but you need to think further on down the line and sadly I think Cain is right on this one bud. However, personally I''m sticking with her. She is right about the devil you know."


    The other two looked at him. "I''ve been thinking pretty hard about this and if she will honor her word then I can have the time I need to get stronger and stronger while being part of her retinue. You might not be able to get Euryale, but that doesn''t mean she doesn''t have women who emulate her within your reach if you work with her."


    Cain spoke after a short pause. "Personally, she has been up front with us and I sense no malice from her. Working for her family will be a safer bet for me than the front lines or the mines."


    They all looked at one another and nodded.


    "I think we are in agreement." Sorin said.


    They all got up and went to Euryale''s office. Sorin knocked.


    "Enter!" Came the response.


    The three walked in and stood hands behind their back.


    Sorin had a very evil idea.


    "Have you decided?" She asked. Sorin could see the nerves all over the poor girl.


    "We have ma''am. We are here to deliver unfortunate news." He said letting a breath out.


    Linx and Cain looked at him confused out of the corner of their eyes.


    Sorin saw Euryale droop eyes starting to go pink around the edges from threatening tears. Now he felt bad.


    "It looks like you''re not getting away from us any time soon as we have elected to stay on. So respectfully, I suggest you get used to us." Sorin finished.


    Euryale was looking down at her desk and Sorin saw what he said starting to sink in. She snapped her head up with a furious glare.


    Taking the aether lamp from her desk and she threw it at Sorin.


    "You ass!" She shouted.


    Sorin caught the lamp with a laugh.


    "You will pay for that Sorin Ekart!" She continued.


    Reeger who had entered after them was laughing loudly behind them.

 Chapter 56 - Exam phase 2

    Sorin was relaxing in the guard house. They were left to their own devices for the day just resting and waiting for the command to meet or just any directions for the exam to start.


    Euryale had taken on a happier mood with the confidence she had succeeded in her role as a small unit commander. Sorin was glad for her.


    That was the thing about being a teacher or instructor. When a student, whether they know it or not or can admit it or not, does well and succeeds it''s an amazing feeling that doesn''t need the attention.


    Many times Sorin had been in this situation with young non commissioned officers and even commissioned officers who have found success in leadership through listening to him. If any of them asked Sorin where he learned to do this, he didn''t have a problem telling them that he was a thief.


    He steals leadership techniques and philosophy from every single great leader he can find and puts its back to work. It just takes effort.


    Sorin paused in his musings because everything was quiet. There is a thing called too quiet. It''s an unnatural quiet. Sorin''s storm sense was open and he couldn''t see anything out of the norm.


    He could see all the servants of the main house, reeger was in his own room writing. Euryale was in her own room looking at some sort of box and gesturing wildly as he assumed she was talking.


    Cain was....wait....where was Cain?! Sorin looked for Linx next, but didn''t get a chance as a dart appeared in his arm and three people dressed in black appeared out of nowhere right next to him. He couldn''t sense them.


    He pushed aether into his recovery, trying to burn off whatever he was injected with as he lashed out with a firestream. The men put up simple barriers which Sorin worked to bypass by lashing them with his fire bindings. They actually let the wrap hit only to reach up through the smoke from their clothes and rip it off as if it meant nothing. It took as larger chunk out of Sorin''s aether having it ripped like that. Behind them Sorin was already summoning fireblast orbs. He launched them all at their backs putting his own barrier up as protection from his own attack.


    *Boom!*


    Sorin slammed them all into the people who were just standing there completely unconcerned.


    "The reports were right Number 1, this one is most certainly not a tier 2. He is easily mid tier 3 or above. Lady Aegis has chosen well with these conscripts." Sorin heard one of them say after the explosion that blew out the side of the guard house and they casually used an aether skill to disperse the smoke and fire.


    "Number three, if you would?" One of them said as one of them moved. Sorin instinctively moved to defend himself from the individual, but was so slow it felt like the encounter with Laxric all over again.


    He felt something go around his next and click into place then sharp pain as needles pushed into his neck. Sorin saw all the aether around him get pushed away and the aether within his body get pushed down. His connection to everything around his was completely cut off.


    His body immediately felt heavy, his mind became sluggish and that''s when the shot to his head came in and Sorin''s vision went black.


    - Euryale minutes earlier to present -


    "Mother! I''ve so much to tell you! Euryale exclaimed the moment Maia, the fifth wife of the duke entered the projection.


    A brilliant smile lit her face seeing her one and only daughter safe and sound.


    "It''s so good to see you Eury! I trust you have been as well as you sound? She asked.


    "Oh I have! I am currently waiting for the start of the second phase of the exam. It is nerve racking to say the least as it all depends on the conscripts I have selected." She answered her mother who took on a more serious look.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "They would leave the grade of a cadet up to what amounts to as slaves?" Maia asked.


    "More or less, but it is testing my ability to instill loyalty into my troops be it through fear or other means."


    Maia tilted her head.


    "You don''t seem as concerned as I thought you would be."


    "I''m honestly not. I have gotten extremely fortunate. I selected two that were skilled and extremely dangerous when paired up as one boosts my passive. The last member is the one that our family would be very wise to keep as long as we can."


    Euryale''s mother just listened excited to hear her daughter''s voice after she had been so busy as of late.


    "Oh! Is your encryption key turned on mom?" Euryale asked.


    Maia pulled a silver sliver from her pocket, inserted it into the machine on her side and turned it.


    The projection turned red across the top indicating it was now an encrypted conversion.


    "Mom are you by yourself?


    Maia nodded after getting up, sealing the doors, and activating the soundproof circuitry of her chambers.


    "I believe this man is a Savant. His name is Sorin Ekart and he grows faster than anyone I have ever seen and now I believe his strength is already nearing mine, if he hasn''t passed it already." Euryale explained.


    "Why hasn''t he tried to break away? Conscripts have been notorious for trying to overtake their masters." Her mother asked sounding extremely concerned.


    "That''s another benefit to this conscript. He was a member of the military in his world. He was also a leader of sorts who also trained leaders. I have spoken to him at length and he has shared much information that goes with some of our own philosophy that some of our greatest commanders used in the early parts of the wars to push back the creatures."


    Her mother nodded along knowing there was more to come. She and her daughter were always close as she was only blessed with a single child to fight the loneliness of the duchy.


    "He has never told me what to do, but has just mentioned what had worked for him when "telling some of the best officers he has worked with" had done." She said in air quotes."


    "The other conscripts have taken to this form of leadership very well. Cain the Dahmpire I chose, and Linx the fox beastman who is smitten with me have been loyal to a fault. Reeger even approves of their work ethics."


    "What of this Sorin then? If he is this versed in war and tactics then he is extremely dangerous." Her mother asked.


    "That was a concern of mine as well, but he asked to speak openly one day when we were talking and he and I came to an agreement. He has a wife and son in his universe. He only wants to get back to them. He said he would faithfully serve me and our family under the condition that we do everything in our power to try to get him back home." She explained.


    Maia nodded. "Were those the exact words of the agreement?"


    "Yes, he was specific about the "try" part especially as he knows rift walking is rather difficult." Euryale said.


    "How do you feel about this man? Like really feel about this man?" Maia said suggestively.


    Euryale looked up with a shocked look on her face blushing at the suggestion of her mother.


    "Mother!" Euryale exclaimed.


    "Oh don''t "mother" me, Euryale! I am a woman still and know the allure of new, mysterious, and powerful." She said.


    "Even if it were possible for me to bond with the conscript.." Euryale said pointedly. "He shows absolutely no interest in me. It''s actually frustrating. I know I am beautiful. To say otherwise would be false modesty and arrogant. Yet he looks at me as if I''m a younger sister to him. It kind of hurts to know that even with his wife in another universe he loves her so much that he doesn''t even look at other women."


    Euryale started playing with her hands.


    "I know Eury. Being born into high society has the unlimited privileges it does, but it comes at a cost and that us usually the ability to actually marry for love." Her mother said.


    Euryales eyes started to get pink with tears and she sniffed then looked up steeling herself.


    "I have a duty to the family and our people though mother. You''re right as much as it hurts. His story is something out of those fairy tales you would read me."


    Maia smiled. "It certainly sounds that way. Though it''s not commonly done, when the man is free of academy control, keep your word nut go further. Free him and ensure his loyalty. If he continues to be powerful and grows powerfully then he could be an ally that we can call on especially if he truly does end up becoming a Savant."


    Euryale smiled mischievously.


    "I was thinking of running off with the man to his universe and becoming a second wife to him."


    "Don''t you dare!" Maia said eyes going wide.


    Euryale just giggled laying back then coming back up right.


    "He is a one woman man. It came up in conversation about his culture and he is content. Besides, Iknow what father would do if we damaged his standing like that."


    *Boom!*


    Euryale looked up.


    "Mom I have to go something happened! Love you!" She hung up taking her encryption key and ran outside.


    Cain was gone and she was sure linx was as well. Sorin, would be the issue in this part of the exam. He was too instinctively good at combat and she had warned the academy of this.


    She got outside to see half of her guard house was completely blown away and still smoking. As the academy tier 8s selected for the "supposed to be" silent kidnapping of the conscripts walked out with an unconscious Sorin over on of their shoulders.


    She wishes them strength and prayed they remained true to their word.

 Interlude - King of the Pacific

    "This goes two ways ass hole." Kody said from his perch on a massive water Serpent he caught attacking fishing vessels off of the coast of California.


    "You take your ships and leave, or.....I drown all of you and take everything for myself." He finished.


    "You do not scare us." Came the heavily accented response for an Asian man from the bow of a warship with the Chinese flag on it.


    Kody looked at the smaller ships around the large one in front and could even see the two submarines that were slowly moving around him.


    Water pooled into his hands and he squeezed. With a very loud ping there was a mass of bubbles and oil coming to the surface on his right.


    He flicked his hand out to the left in a grabbing motion and lifted forcing the large submarine on the left up out of the water.


    He then looked at the Chinese military force in front of him with a maniacal grin he was known for.


    "Do you wish to continue to play?" I am the Warden of the Pacific Northwest and have been dubbed by my Country as the King of the Pacific. I don''t want to kill any more of you, but I will unless you return to your country. The USA has enough problems without you trying to move in on it."


    Kody saw the man didn''t even flinch rather he smirked and jumped into the water and began controlling the water himself coming to stand on it directly across from him.


    "I am Shangxiao Liang Wei. A colonel in your language and i do not fear a mere child like you pretending to be an uncrowned king of the ocean I have sailed my entire life." He said as he raised his hands summoning water that turned into hundreds of ice spikes.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Kody grew serious then grinned even bigger. "It has been a while since I stretched my legs. Lets see what you have."


    He tapped the Serpent. "Dive Neptune!"


    The Serpent dove as Kody stayed on a single disk of water.


    "There is a reason the Russians didn''t push any further than they did you know? Oh well." Kody dropped into the water as the Colonel whipped his hands forward sending the spikes moving like arrows shot from a bow. Kody went further and further down until it was extremely dark.


    He sensed and marked each of the 14 ships that were with the Colonel. With a flex of his will he sent a shockwave out from his body. It was subtle, but the call would be clearly heard.


    Kody went back to the surface of the water and launched himself up on a swirling vortex. Making his hands into claws he reached out toward the spinning Colonel and stopped him dead in his tracks.


    "What?! What have you done?" I figured everyone knew the human body is mostly water. I learned this trick from a cartoon I used to watch with a bald monk. Shut your mouth and watch." Kody instructed spinning the man around.


    Kody sensed it coming. It took him months after he had a great handle on his path to find it. The Kraken.


    It sensed the ships he had marked and one by one it''s tentacles rose and slammed down on each ripping them in half and dragging them down in a screech of metal and screaming from the men and women. Some dove into the water only to be attacked by the sharks and other crestures he summoned for this job.


    Kody watched as the ships began to vanish leaving only black and red water in their wake. With a pulse of his aether he sent a message to the Kraken to come closer. The giant tentacled Serpent raised its head from the water and opened its jaws.


    Kody moved the water torrent he road around so the Colonel could see him.


    "The penalty for invading a kings, threatening all he knows and loves....is death." Kody said coldly without the usual smile on his face.


    He flung the arrogant Colonel into the massive maw of the Kraken. With a loud thundering booming snap it''s jaws closed and it looked at Kody.


    "You did so good boy!" Kody said flowing over the giant beast that was now acting like a puppy that wanted some loving from its owner. He rubbed his giant snout and sent a jolt of aether into it as an award.


    "Go on now, go back to having fun buddy and thanks." Kody said as the giant beast sank beneath the waves and vanished.

 Chapter 57 - Let the games begin

    "Wake up Mr. Ekart." Tapping to the side of his face as he slowly opened his eyes. Sorin felt blind as his Storm sense was cut off by the collar around his neck.


    He was sluggish it was like all of the effort he put into his mind, body, and spirit was stripped from him. He moved his hand to his neck where he felt the heavy plastic smooth seemingly metal collar.


    "That collar stays on for you. Gave our team more trouble than should have been possible for a tier 2 or 3. Suggests cunning and skill that should have been recognized from the beginning by those imbeciles in receiving and training." The voice he now recognized as female.


    Sorin slowly looked up meeting the sapphire blue eyes of a very attractive woman who appeared to be around his age.


    ''What is with this universe and everyone being so damn attractive?" Sorin grumbled.


    The woman, hearing him leaned forward showing her assets a bit more. "You think I''m attractive?" She said.


    "Really? That line is the most overused in any sort of manipulation scheme. You''re going to have to do much better than that." Sorin said looking back down.


    "Then you''re into men more?" She asked with a slight pout. Leading to Sorin letting out a snort of laughter.


    "You guys are not very good at this. You capture me, collar me, then put a woman in front of me dolled up to try to appeal to me. Sorry guys, I''m a married spud who has a woman many times greater than any woman you can put before me." Sorin mocked.


    The door to the room he was in opened.


    "That''s unfortunate Mr. Ekart. We didn''t realize you were well versed in interrogation techniques and manipulation. Licillia you may go. It was a text book performance." The man said.


    "I''m Yixillian. I''ll be taking over." He said revealing a folder which he set down before Sorin.


    He opened it in front of him and even tossed out pictures of himself and his team over the last few weeks.


    "We have been keeping an eye on you. There is a lot about you that has been of great interest to us here in the academy and will be to the Empire." Yixillian said absently as he looked over what appeared to be growth charts and stats.


    Sorin reached over to the pictures. He saw a great shot of him firing his Ion cannon up the rear of the giant turtle.


    "Can I have this? It would go great on the wall." Sorin asked giving a tone of uncaring amusement.


    "You mean the wall you blew up on extraction? Let''s talk about that encounter shall we?


    "No, there isn''t much to say. Your thugs showed up, attacked me, I fought back, your men were stronger, I lost. Everything else was collateral and not worth discussing further." Sorin said.


    "I disagree. See you were hit with a tier 5 tranquilizer that knocked your teammates out in under five seconds. How did you pull that off?" Yixillian asked.


    Sorin reached out and pulled a piece of paper from the stack and flicked it over to the man.


    "What does that say?"


    Yixillian picked it up and skimmed it. "Pretty strong regeneration skill for it to resist a tier 5. So let''s stop beating around the bush. We believe you are an elite and want you for the empire."


    Sorin raised an eyebrow and laughed. At this Sorin saw the man''s eye twitch with fury at his laugh.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "You want to get home to a wife and son according to our files."


    Sorin put his hand up causing the man to perse his lips. Sorin couldn''t believe he was getting to this man. How was he being interrogated and being put through this by someone who couldn''t control their emotions. What amateurs.


    "Look dude, the empire rather than treat me right, enslaved me, beat me, treated me like garbage. Rather than help me get home, it told me I was nothing but fodder. Then I get to feel the collar you put on the slaves who didn''t make the cut to this exam then...pause for effect...you sit here and tell me the empire all of the sudden gives a shit about me? Yeah nah dude, get bent." Sorin said switching to his true personality where he is nothing but brutally honest.


    "You will watch how you address me conscript! You will watch your tongue how you speak about the empire! Yixillian shouted standing.


    Sorin calmly watched the man who was now white with fury. Sorin just giggled.


    "Do you know the key to manipulating someone?" Sorin asked.


    "I''m sure you will tell me." The man said mockingly.


    "No, now I won''t. You''re being discourteous. I''m just going to be quiet now." Sorin said as he started to hum the music from Mauville city from a generation 3 gameboy game he played as a kid.


    *smack!*


    Sorin was rocked from his chair and sent into the wall. The door opened and the man walked out.


    Sorin got to his feet shakily and looked around. The room was straight out of a Hollywood interrogation room complete with what he believed was a 1 way glass.


    He just sat down and began to poke around at the collar. There was a barrier that felt like concrete around his body keeping all ambient aether out, and all his aether in. There was no connection with the world around him. He experimented with the barrier trying to find a weakness, but it was a complete barrier with no perceived weaknesses or seams.


    Sorin was convinced it was a form of energy and was about to really zero in on it when the door opened again.


    "Sorry about that." A different woman''s voice said. She was different than before.


    "Nice! A bad guy, good guy routine. Let me guess you''re about to put food and a drink out in front of me?" Sorin asked as the woman bent down to a bag beside her only to freeze on the way up.


    She continued up with sure enough and plant wrapped meat sandwich looking thing and a cup of something hot and sweet.


    She just looked at Sorin he could tell rather irritated.


    "I know unsolicited advice is usually unwelcome, but here is some anyone for you and your boy toy out there. When in an interrogation, interview, etc it''s best if you can keep your emotions in check." Sorin said taking the cup of what he realized was hot chocolate.


    "Preciate you by the way, but doesn''t earn you any report with me." Sorin said flippantly.


    "So is this the part where you tell us what will happen?" The woman asked.


    "No actually, what you did was another psychological tactic where you try to give me the false sense of control. I already know, I''m not in control. I haven''t been since I got nuked." Sorin said putting the cup down and taking a bite out of the wrap.


    "What do you need to leave the team of Euryale Aegis?" The woman came out and said it in the open.


    Sorin paused caught off guard by the straight forward response.


    "Huh...unexpected actually. I didn''t expect you to just come right out with it." Sorin said.


    He set down the wrap.


    "Two things actually. First this collar off."


    He turned and went back to eating not saying another word. The woman snatched the plate and food from Sorin.


    "And the other thing?"


    Sorin glared at her. "Can''t seem to remember. I have this collar on still and you''re being rude like the other child was." He said.


    She narrowed her eyes. She slapped the wrap on the plate. "Either tell me or I''ll have your whole family executed!" She shouted.


    "Hahahaha! You guys suck!" Sorin exclaimed laughing outloud.


    *smack!*


    Sorin went tumbling again but this time the lady didn''t leave as Sorin got back to his feet.


    "Lady...do you know the golden rule of hunting?" Sorin asked.


    "I don''t actually care." She said.


    "Well you should. See the golden rule of hunting is to ensure that you are in fact the hunter and not the prey." Sorin said coldly to her.


    "Is that a threat conscript?" She asked growing very serious.


    "Oh not at all, but a warning. See I''m not that strong, I''m just smarter than you and it turns out that people who are smart tend to live better lives than those who are stupid. Think about it. Life is hard in general, but when you''re stupid...you not only have to go through what the rest of us do, but also have to deal with your own stup...


    *smack!*


    "Ouch!*


    "OK that one hurt." Sorin said staggering back to his feet.


    "If we were not prohibited from killing, you would have been pasted across that wall." She said.


    "It is better to appear stupid, that to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Sorin said.


    "Fine!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small disk. She touched it to the front of the collar causing it to retract the needles in his flesh and fall away into her hand.


    "Now! What is the second requirement to leave the team of Euryale Agis?" She asked.


    Sorin looked her cold in the face.


    "Bring me a dragon that will rift walk me home." He said.


    The lady got up.


    "Not possible."


    She got up and opened the door leaving Sorin alone in the room.

 Chapter 58 - Getting down to business

    Sorin sat alone for what felt like hours recirculating his aether feeling the sense of everything around him like he went from blind to seeing again.


    With his storm sense upgraded as much as if was there were very few things that it couldn''t penetrate or see through so he laid his head down on the table and just watched as different people walked around him. The area around him was filled with little cells just like his own with what he assumed were conscripts being offered things or threatened.


    Over the course of the next hour Sorin watched as many conscripts were let out after appear to sign something. There were quite a few who didn''t and stayed in the cells.


    He watched as a man began walking toward his door. The man paused took a deep breath in then out, then walked in.


    "Mr. Ekart, you have been nothing but trouble for us in almost every category." The charismatic voice said.


    Sorin looked up pretending to squint as if waking from a nap. "Well, you were not the one taken from your universe, family, and home to be enslaved by a seemingly hostile empire. Then forced to go through this whole process with nobody to actually rely on to get you back home because nobody here truly cares if you get back or not."


    Sorin said affecting a very sarcastic tone.


    "Well when you put it that way I can understand your frustration." The man said who opened up his brief case pulling out different pieces of paper.


    "In front of me are three offers. These offers are actually realistic for you to live out our life in this new universe as a citizen and live remarkably well." He said pushing them to Sorin.


    "On this first one, you do your time as a conscript and when that time is up, the Empire pays you an extremely large one time lump sum and agrees to never talk to you again."


    He reached for the second piece of paper.


    "On this, the Empire offers you the chance to attend this very academy to learn as a cadet and become a commander of your own forces and live a military life within the empire. You have demonstrated a cunning mind, resiliency, and tactical genius as well as elite levels of growth. You will be paid well and even get the opportunity to become a hero to the empire."


    He reached for the final piece of paper.


    "This is the last offer and we offer it to you after receiving permission from Duke Phorcys Aegis, he has offered to sign you himself as a free citizen of the Empire. A writ will be drawn up upon signing this to give you a title of nobility.


    You will become a noble under the 3rd Region under Duke Phorcys who has offered a daughter to you for marriage, including Lady Euryale Aegis.


    There is a requirement, you must serve as a vassal of the duke and must manage an area for him, fight for him when called, attend the academy here, graduating with distinction, and provide at least one male heir."


    Sorin took the pages and read over the long contracts that the man in front of him summed up.


    "You have been straight forward with me and not tried any amateur manipulation tricks. I expected someone to try the many other manipulation tricks, but just buying me was further down the list. Unfortunately I will have to decline all these offers as generous as they are." Sorin said stacking them and politely handing them back.


    "Any reason you want to give why?" The man asked.


    "No." Sorin said simply leaving the man to look on expecting a longer answer.


    "No?" The man eventually said.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "No. There is no reason I want to give."


    The man nodded getting to his feet and putting the contracts in the folder.


    "Very well. I wish you luck in what follows."


    The man left leaving Sorin alone once more. He wondered if the others got the same contacts. Linx would have definitely had a hard time resisting the first or last contacts if offered. Cain he actually didn''t know. The man didn''t really talk much about what he wanted.


    The door opened again as three men walked in. Sorin didn''t even try to fight them as they put a collar back on, cutting off his senses once more then hauled him out of the room. Sorin was taken to a tile room that resembled a showered with a drain. He was strapped to a metal table.


    "Well I''m glad I didn''t take the deals. Doubt you all would have honored them." Sorin said.


    Before he could even prepare he was punched in the stomach.


    "The only time you speak is when you say you are leaving your current team." The first man said.


    Sorin moved his hand in a back and forth motion until he saw one of them loom down at it and when they did he gave them the one finger salute.


    They looked at eachother confused, then one shrugged and punched him in the stomach again.


    Over the next who knows how long, Sorin was subjected to all sorts of tortures from nail pulling which was horrific only to be force fed a healing drought, then water boarded, then locked in a box in the fetal position for hours at a time...which Sorin admittedly didn''t find that bad as he just went to sleep. He was burned, cut, electrocuted, then put into a freezer all of which given minimal water and no food.


    None of them seemed to work for Sorin. He kept the imagine of his wife and son firmly in his mind and kept going.


    Sorin was finally dumped unceremoniously into a room devoid of all light and sound. As tortures go it wasn''t the worst.


    He sat down wanting to figure out the collar around his neck. There was a very real possibility it wasn''t going to be the last time he had to deal with them because of this empire.


    He found the same firm barrier stopping his aetheric interaction with the world. He saw the collar opens and closes at the from of his throat. He felt with his hands and scraped along the color and found the tiny seem where the collar joined together. With his internal aether he created a tendril and felt around seeing if there was a similar weakness in the barrier. He didnt feel anything, but kept at it. After a great amount of time went by, Sorin had no idea how much he finally gave up.


    The collar wouldn''t let anything through. He became frustrated and rammed his aether like a spear into the barrier only for nothing to happen. He began spinning it like a drill and pressed into it then to his suprise something actually happened.


    The smallest fleck of whatever the barrier was made of came off and went into his aether and vanished. If he hadn''t been paying half as much attention as he was, he would have missed it.


    He slammed his aether back into the barrier drilling and saw a few more flecks come off, but at such a tiny amount it would take him a while to get through it. He pressed even harder and harder.


    Warning!


    AP under 10


    9/13800


    Sorin stopped and saw the barrier had more damage, but not much.


    He pulled up his HUD...or tried to He just received a message


    Warning!


    HUD disabled due to aether repulsion field. Emergency messages are all that are available to user.


    Sorin just sat and looked at the red text in front of him. He was completely cut off from his skills and the system itself.


    "What a clever means of controlling people."


    He was tier 3 and 4 so he was curious how people at tier 10 and above got locked down if he could cause some damage to that aether repulsion field.


    The door opened blinding Sorin. He was grabbed by a couple people and dragged outside where the sounds around him were incredibly painful to his unadjusted ears.


    They put him back in the office he was before the torture began.


    "Do you want more or will you leave the team of Lady Aegis?" A man asked him.


    Sorin politely lifted his hand and gave him the bird. "You guys suck at all of this. I''ll take more."


    The man nodded and began to smile.


    Sorin might have said that, but it was out of bravado and in no way honest about how he felt. He didn''t know how he was going to keep going, but he would if it meant having even the smallest chance at getting home.


    The man reached forward with a small remote and Sorin''s collar fell away.


    "Congratulations Mr. Ekart. You have completed You will be escorted out to get washed up, healed, and fed appropriately." He got up from the table and started walking out but stopped.


    "You were her last hope you know. The others of your team didn''t make it. She will be informed a single member of her team made it through. This part of the exam is why our academy only graduates less than 20% of our students per year."


    He then walked out.


    Sorin felt aether flood his body again rejuvenating him and healing the damage.


    *bleep*


    Sorin pulled the notification up and smiled.

 Chapter 59 - Reunion and Ramifications

    Sorin sat in the conference room looking at the notification he had recieved.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill


    Minor Artificial Gravity resistance(p) - By being exposed to and absorbing an artificial gravity aether, you have begun to obtain a passive resistance to unnatural gravity aether exerted upon you.


    Sorin closed the notification again. It made sense that it would be a form of gravity that could repel energy like that. There were a lot of questions such as how had others not found a way to bypass this or how many people walked gravity paths?


    He was sure many people would walk the gravity path especially scientists who now would probably be some of the strongest aether users in existence with their knowledge provided they had the fortitude to push and risk their lives for progress.


    The door opened. Reeger and Euryale walked in both looking extremely solemn. Sorin sat at the foot of the table with his back against the wall while Euryale took her usual spot at the head of the table.


    "Reeger, could you actually give us a few moments to speak? I''m in no danger I believe." She said looking at Sorin with uncertainty on her face.


    Sorin just nodded which was the signal that got Reeger moving. Once the door closed Euryale went to speak, but was cut off.


    "Before you say anything I''d like to speak freely." Sorin said as Euryale closed her mouth.


    "I think that''s more than earned at this point." She said folding her hands in her lap.


    "If there were any ideas of not keeping your word to me about helping me get home, I hope you have cast them far from you. I have now suffered and bled for you on the hope of your word being kept." Sorin said.


    Euryale stood up and walked toward Sorin sitting on the side of the table diagonal from Sorin.


    "Before you went into that, I mean everything I said to you and I will keep my word to the best of my ability." She said.


    "What happened to the others?" Sorin asked.


    Euryale''s frown deepened into seething anger.


    "They took the phony contracts." She said with disgust on her face.


    "Now I wouldn''t have been upset if they took the first two. As getting left alone by the empire or serving in the military of the empire are fine things, but they both chose the last one." She said.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Sorin shook his head. "The last contract did offer a lot of perks that every man would find enticing. Money, power, and women. One of which they''ve seen and enjoyed working for."


    She looked at him narrowing her eyes and snapped.


    "Why didn''t you take it then?!"


    Sorin looked at her and matched her glare.


    "Euryale, you have nothing to offer me that my wife back home hasn''t already given me. It''s that simple."


    She relaxed sitting back in her chair and thinking.


    "I admire that level of devotion and loyalty Sorin. In fact one day, I hope my own husband will give me even a potion of that, but it''s doubtful with how political marriages are." She said crossing her arms.


    "Like I said, I will be keeping my word amongst other things. I plan to do for you for this. By you refusing to cave you have done a lot for my family and I. I have already send word home to my mother and father about the completion of this test. We were asked if we wanted the contract for Linx and Cain, but my father outright rejected them. They failed to keep their word and there are some families in this universe that do value one''s word."


    Sorin nodded.


    "When is the next part of the exam?"


    "Tomorrow." Euryale replied.


    "It''s a duel between the remaining Cadets where we have to win two duels out of three in order to pass."


    "What happened to Aeon?" Sorin asked.


    Euryale froze a moment looking at Sorin while thinking.


    "He failed the exam after losing his whole team, but he has been extremely quiet. It is concerning now that you mention it." She said.


    "If I were a betting man I''d say he will pay or coerce an official or get someone to make a blow fatal and get you killed or rig the battles so that you have no chance at passing. Their plans really do hinge upon you not making it. There is little chance they don''t know I''m still alive now after going through the exam." Sorin said breathing out in the end.


    Euryale smiled mischievously.


    Sorin looked at her.


    "I might have paid someone to leave the names off of the reports and only report a single conscript of mine made it through." She said.


    "Well done madam. Good thinking. Now we certainly have the element of surprise. Do these duels have the requirement for a second?" Sorin asked


    "They do. I was going to have Reeger do it as you are going to be recovering."


    "I am recovered and that will not be required. I do have a plan." Sorin said with a grin.


    - The day prior -


    Linx and Cain sat at a table together. They had mixed emotions about what they had done.


    They knew they had betrayed both Euryale and Sorin, but comforted themselves in the idea that they had to look out for themselves and what better way than to get riches, position, and a high ranking wife. It was the contract of a century.


    The door opened and in walked the last people they expected to see. Euryale and Reeger.


    She sat down with the grace of a noble woman and looked coldly at both of them.


    "Sorin passed." She said.


    Linx and Cain both looked at eachother beginning to sweat.


    "I expected more from both of you. I am suprised and disappointed. I would have honored my word to each of you, but you have have broken your own to me."


    There was not a trace of the woman they had come to know. She was now cold and indifferent.


    "Your conscription will be given over to the mines and far away from my family and I. Should you seek redemption, it can be given after the end of your conscription." She said.


    "I''m sorry my lady!" Linx exclaimed.


    She just put a hand up. "You were warned. I was there when Sorin specifically warned that each offer was most likely fake and it was. I had hoped neither of you would take them, but never in worst nightmares did I think you would choose the third offer. The first or second? I would have understood."


    She got up from the table. "Good luck."

 Chapter 60 - Exam part 3

    "Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the final part of the three part exam. These Cadets have been meticulously trained for the last four years. They have been tested in their ability to defend an objective, instill loyalty, now they demonstrate their own courage and ability to stand before an opponent on their own!"


    The announcer said to the massive essentially sold out crowd that had come to watch the fights between the remaining Cadets.


    "Those who win two out of three of their fights today will recieve the title of lieutenant within our Empire''s military!"


    Euryale and Sorin were meandering their way through the the crowds on their way to the center of the stadium where they would make an appearance. Sorin wore a sad face mask that is seen in dramas and tragedies according to the plan they had come up with. Reeger being older and stronger would be watching all site lines for long range attacks on her while Sorin dealt with close range attacks and refusal to stop matches by officials.


    Euryale pointed to one of the painted circles and they went toward it. Sorin held both of Euryale''s khopesh swords with one of his short swords on his hip. They arrived and saw a man in red and blue robes. Neither he or Euryale cared what house he was from.


    Euryale took her blades and went through and warm up routine and some stretching until the official called for the two. Sorin followed behind her left shoulder as the other man''s second did the same on the other side.


    "Lady Aegis and Lord Mooska as well as seconds. Welcome. My Lady and Lord, congratulations on making it to the third phase of the exam. The rules of the duel are as follows. You will raise your weapons and bow, take position on my command, then fight on my command. The fight stops when the opponent yields, is disarmed, or it is commanded to be stopped by myself. Seconds are to observe and intervene at the jeopardy of their primary. This is not a duel to the death. Any questions?"


    The fighters both shook their heads. "


    "Very well, return to your starting points and prepare for combat." The official said.


    Euryale and Sorin turned and went to the start point.


    "I didn''t notice anything wrong with this official. My shield is primed in the event of underhanded tactics. Straight shots to your life in the midst of the duel I can''t help with ma''am, but blatant attemps on your life I can 100% defend you against so please watch yourself." Sorin said.


    Euryale nodded then faced her opponent.


    "Begin!"


    Euryale walked slowly toward her opponent who was sprinting in toward her glowing green every step hissing with an acidic nature.


    Euryale stomped her foot launching a small wave of liquid fire outward away from her. Droplets of fire sprayed everywhere. Lord mooska threw a small barrier up as he rushed passed he pushed more acid down toward his feet and was able to stand on it like Sorin could use his water ability. Euryale launched herself into the air with jets of fire from her feet swinging her swords at her opponent who brought up his sword and buckler to stop the strike, but underestimated the weight of the strike and his opponents strength.


    He also didn''t see the supercharge of aether put behind the blades of his opponent as he was smashed not only downward into the flames but bounced and flew out of the ring.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "Ring out! Winner is Euryale Aegis!"


    Euryale flew back to her side of the ring and set down. She turned and bowed her head to the official and went back to Sorin handing him her blades who was watching all directions with senses open covering the whole stadium.


    "Nothing to report ma''am." Sorin said as they headed to the stadium rest areas where they were wait for the next match.


    - Meanwhile -


    Blood painted the top of the stadium as reegor flicked his jian free of blood. Three men were targeting his charge. They were correct to take action in her defense.


    He was glad Sorin had suggested he move about the area looking at all sight lines and dealing with those threats as the stronger fighter of the two.


    Of all the things Reeger had expected to take place during his assignment to Lady Aegis while she was at the academy, being assigned someone like Sorin was a God send that seems to have saved more than just Euryale''s graduation, but potentially the people under the rule of the Aegis family.


    - Sorin and Euryale -


    "Lady Aegis it''s time for your next match." An attendant came to her waiting room and declared.


    She nodded and rose to her feet with Sorin moving in front of her in the defense.


    They entered the bowl of the stadium and were guided by the attendant to their ring across from them looked like a woman with feathers on her arms and a very hawklike face.


    The official called to the fighters who went to the center with their seconds.


    "Seconds you''re not permitted!" The official stated. Sorin looked across and saw a familiar face. The vampire woman he had teamed with Serene. She looked at the official puzzled.


    Sorin simply ignored him and continued to walk with Euryale.


    "Did you not hear me second?! Get out of the ring!"


    Euryale spoke sharply to the official. "My second will depart the moment you can provide for me a single time in the history of our empire that a second was not permitted in a duel."


    The official seemed shocked then regained his form. "You are a cadet here Lady Aegis and you will follow my directions."


    Sorin spoke this time from behind his mask as the feathered woman finally arrived with her second.


    "The only reason, you would demand the removal of seconds is if you are corrupt and about to cause the injury or death of one of the fighters. Should we send for the senior official of this event?"


    The official swallowed nervously. "That...that won''t be necessary. Fine! You can have seconds. The fight will end on my command."


    Sorin spoke again.


    "Or upon disarm, unconsciousness, ring out, or yield. We seconds will step in only when to save the life of our primary."


    There was a pregnant pause as the official seemed stunned.


    "Don''t worry Mr. Official, I''ll do your job as you don''t seem able to or are paid by house Pallas to ensure death or failure of my primary."


    The official rocked back as if struck.


    "How dare you! The official said.


    "What other reason could you have to trying to keep seconds out and trying to change the rules for a fight containing Lady Aegis and Lady Stormwind that could lead to their serious injury or death and it not be sanctioned by the senior official?"


    Aello Stormwind put her hand in the air waving to an adjacent official that had their attention drawn to the duel. He hurried over.


    "Yes my Lady?" He said.


    "This official is banning seconds and removing the conditions of victory to be only his word. Is this sanctioned by the senior official?" She asked.


    He seemed shocked and looked at the official in question. He pulled a small remote looking device out of his pocket and pressed a button on it. After a very awkward minute of silent waiting one of the largest women Sorin had ever seen stepped into the ring.


    "What is the issue junior official?" Said the woman in a surprisingly light voice for her size and more melodic.


    "Senior Official, this official has been witnessed by these four attempting to remove seconds and chance victory criteria and we wanted to ensure it was ruled by you." He said.


    She turned toward the original official who had gone extremely pale.


    "It is against imperial law to corrupt an academic examination."


    She reached behind her and pulled a collar out and handed it to the original official.


    "Put it on, or die."


    She said. After a brief hesitation he put it on and with a left side kick the massive senior official launched the man like a rocket out of the ring, skipped once and impacted the wall with a splatter of blood.


    The lady winced.


    "Too much. The headmaster will be displeased."


    She looked at the official that summoned her.


    "Officiate this match. I must go recieve my punishment."


    She took three steps and was out of the ring.


    "Well....shall we ladies?"

 Chapter 61 - Cats out of the bag

    "Lady Aegis and Lady Stormwind, the loser is the one who is disarmed, knocked out of the ring, knocked unconscious, or yields. I reserve the right to declare the end of the duel in the event of probable death. Seconds will observe and defend your primaries in the event of believed death. Should the second step in, it will be a loss."


    The official looked at both sides who nodded agreement.


    "Very good. Please return to your starting points and seconds make your way to your places."


    They did as instructed. Euryale looked at Sorin and nodded with a smile as a brief silent conversation of knowing what had just been avoided passed between them.


    "Begin!"


    Euryale and Aello moved as quickly as they could to the center when a flash of fire and silver wind smashed into eachother billowing around eachother. Euryale stomped pushing her liquid fire around her feet setting herself on fire in an instant activating her passive and shifting to her burning form. Her hair became serpents that lashed out against Aello who flapped her wings backward and spun shooting herself to the sky.


    Euryale just looked up and continued to pour aether into her ever expanding lake of fire. Aello took on a silver sheen and flapped her arms now covered silver feathers sending silver feathers streaking down toward Euryale. With a flash of she slide across the flames beneath her avoiding the vast majority of the razor sharp silver feathers and batted a few out of the sky with now burning khopesh swords.


    Euryale''s hair rose with fire aether coalescing at their mouths then firing beams upward at Aello. She fluttered quickly to the side dodging all the beams...so so she thought, a single serpent delayed it''s beam after the others which allowed it to hit Aello burning a small hole through her left arm. A scream came from her as she began to lose altitude. She flew quickly down and right before hitting the ground she slapped the ground causing a sheet of what seemed like liquid metal to slam into and over the liquid fire.


    Where they combined they bubbled and popped. Aello put her hand over the wound and began to fill it with silver. She rotated her arm as if it was never injured.


    Aello took on a shimmer of silver and began to blur at the edges causing Euryale to widen her stance and bring her blades up in ready for an attack. She darted forward and Aello did the same. At inhuman speeds they flashed around the arena with their weapons.


    Flashes of fire and silver interspersed with sparks lit the ring in which they fought. A blast if silver sent Euryale flying backwards and before she exited the ring she flashed her fire stopping her momentum and allowing her to return to her burning lake of fire and darting back into the fight.


    The exchanges continued one would slam the other backward then the other. Aello was slammed into the ground and Euryale was knocked skyward by a silver wind uppercut that impacted a molten barrier hastily thrown upward.


    A pause in the fighting came minutes after as each the the fighters breathed heavily, cuts all over their bodies.


    Euryale moved first. She raised her arms in a very familiar fashion causing dozens of white specks to appear around her. Aello flicked her arms covered in silver feathers out causing flecks of silver to appear all around her. They launched at the same time and the world was rattled with explosions.


    When the smoke cleared both women were on the ground not moving.


    "Both duelists are unconscious thereforit is a double loss!" The official declared.


    "Healers!"


    Sorin seeing his primary defenseless, he slammed a barrier over the top of her. Nothing happened, but he couldn''t be too certain.


    Two healers ran out to the ring between the silver and flames. Sorin lowered his barrier and stood over top of Euryale watching her and the surroundings with his senses.


    The bodies of the women were heavily damaged with cuts and bruises. Their energy levels were extremely low. Sorin saw the healer begin working on Euryale and rather than seeing the flesh begin to revitalize it began to darken.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Sorin launched a kick at the healer sending him flying backwards with a cry. He looked at Euryale and saw the channels in her legs were already heavily damaged from the sabotage.


    The official seeing the healer go flying ran over.


    "What is the meaning of this?!" He shouted.


    "Sabotage. That healer has damaged the channels within Lady Aegis''s legs." Sorin said.


    The official called the other healer over who had just completed with Aello.


    "Who did this?!" The lady said looking in horror at the channels.


    The official looked at the healer clearly unable to sense the damage. "What happened Lady healer?"


    The lady went down and Euryales body began to rejuvenate save for the channels. They remained damaged.


    "The channels in Lady Aegis''s legs are severely damaged. This was clear sabotage."


    The wounds on Euryale had been healed and she appeared perfectly healthy.


    "I''ll take it from here. See to it that the healer over there is interrogated and punished for his crimes." Sorin said carefully picking up Euryale and walking off the the waiting room.


    Sorin had left the ring as Euryale woke up and cried out in agony. "Ma''am contain your pain. We are headed somewhere you can let it out."


    She closed her mouth and clenched her jaw. In a few minutes she was laying on a couch within the waiting area looking internally sobbing uncontrollably.


    "I can''t fight like this! I''ll be lucky if this even heals." She said through the tears.


    The door opened and Reeger rushed in.


    "My lady, I came as soon as i heard." He said.


    "Reeger, my channels are completely damaged. I''ll fail now." She cried.


    He paused for a moment then turned to Sorin.


    "You. You swore to me you would if it came to it." Reeger said to Sorin.


    Euryale looked between the two men.


    "Would what? What are you talking about?" She asked.


    "I had come to the same conclusion. I had promised you, agreed to be loyal to her and her family, and if I looked selfishly at this, her failing does me no good." Sorin replied.


    "Stop ignoring me!" Euryale said in frustration.


    They both looked at her, but Reeger spoke.


    "Sorin has another skill he can use. It''s what actually brought Linx back to fighting shape."


    Euryale looked at Reeger as is she were slapped and at Sorin with hope.


    "You kept this from me Reeger?!" She asked angrily of Reeger who merely nodded. Then she turned to Sorin.


    "Could it work?"


    "I don''t know. Never healed channels before, but theoretically it could. I''d have to try with your permission of course." Sorin replied.


    "Absolutely! I have nothing to lose, what do i do?" She said clear desperation in her voice and eyes.


    "You stretch out your legs and lay back and try not to distract me." Sorin said as he expanded his senses punching through her NAF.


    He saw her channels from her knees up as the healthy channels they were supposed to be, but below the knees were almost jet back and damaged almost to the point of collapse.


    He saw the energy barely able to be contained in them. He pushed his absorption technique to the max and began pushing aether into her body. He began replacing the remaining damaged aether in her body with fresh aether. Her channels were a different color and he slowly changed something within her trying to get the consistency. He would raise and lower the output or what he was thinking was frequency of aether of each mote that he would call a cell in his world until it went to such a high frequency that it took on a spiritual light and matched with what he saw up above.


    *bleep*


    He began swapping the out the damaged "spirit aether" as he dubbed it with new aether and began reconstructing and reinforcing her channels. He pushed on the inside spreading them back to match the size of the channels above until at last, he was done.


    He came back to himself and breathed. He opened his eyes and saw Euryale''s red eyes staring at him.


    "Do you have any idea what you just did?" She asked in a hushed tone.


    Sorin went to answer


    "Shhhh! Don''t speak. Not here." She interrupted.


    She moved her legs and felt no pain. It was as if she were never injured.


    "Save for being mostly depleted of aether I''m nearly ready." She said happily.


    Sorin expanded his sense back out, punched through her NAF again to her core and began pushing Aether into her core. The fire aether hit her and she tried to resist but it bypassed her defenses and went straight to her core where it filled it to nearly two thirds full. .


    He came back to himself and looked at the sitting and blushing Euryale.


    "What?" He asked.


    "Sorin you must NEVER do that to anyone except your wife." She said.


    Sorin sat fully as Euryale continued. "What you did was share your aether directly with me. In the culture of this empire, that is as intimate as nearly sharing a bed. In other words, if my family found out, they would probably kill you for that act."


    Sorin sputtered. "No it was a tactical decision. You needed aether and I have plenty. There was no intent behind it other than that."


    "I know. That is why I didn''t have Reeger gut you. I understand your intent and it is appreciated, but again, never do that to anyone except your wife."


    Sorin shifted uncomfortably. "Can we move on passed this please? It''s comfortable." Sorin asked handing Euryale a fresh set of robes.


    "Yes. Luckily for us, my next opponent will be expecting a withdrawal. It''s not happening now. They will expect exhaustion after that, but it won''t be the case. I''m ending it as fast as I can." She said putting on the robes.

 Chapter 62 - Desperation

    "My lady, it is time for your final match. Do you intend to withdraw?" The official asked.


    "No." Euryale said affecting a pained voice.


    "I will fight if it''s the last thing I do."


    Sorin with his mask back on moved to her side and allowed her to take his arm in the respectable escort position.


    They walked to the arena she would find in. She saw some smug looking man in white with black accents. Some nobles son she didn''t know from one of the many other classes.


    She walked with Sorin to the center when called for by the official who looked worried at Euryale, but didn''t say anything to risk offending the duke''s daughter.


    "You have heard the instructions. This is both of your final match. Seconds, ensure protection from lethal blows. Please return to your starting points." The official said. Euryale and Sorin made their way back where Sorin gave over her khopesh blades and walked to his circle on the outside. She slowly turned and looked at her smug opponent on the far other side bouncing from from to foot.


    "Begin!" Euryale dropped the act charging multiple fire blasts and sent them to the show-boating air head whose eyes went wide.


    "What the he-"


    *Boom! Boom! Boom!


    The explosions went off as a barrier snapped up in front of the ducking noble.


    "The match is over! Use of second protection!


    Euryale turned and casually walked away to her assigned waiting area to wait for word of the next phase of the exam.


    - meanwhile -


    "Impossible!!" Aeon screamed at the top of his lungs and flicked his hand sending a steal line out decapitating the healer before him in rage. The man''s body slumped to the floor.


    There is no possible way that woman should have been able to pass this exam. Her leg channels were nearly destroyed and she was nearly tapped out of aether from her last match it didn''t make sense. He had to take action of he was dead.


    Aeok steeled himself. He would have to take matters into his own hand and deal with the bitch himself. He wanted to court her through her own foolish bet with him, but she couldn''t he allowed to live or he would die at the hands of his father.


    He watched the bitch walk to her waiting area with her remaining conscript. He didn''t fear her little tier 2 or low tier 3. He was peak tier 3 and would crush them.


    He got to his feet and strapped on his rapier and began to move down to where he knew she would be.


    - Sorin -


    Sorin, Reeger, and Euryale sat in their waiting room as the final matches came to a close with Price Amaru crushing his last opponent in a casual manner that was to be expected by royalty of the Serpent Empire forged by war.


    Sorin opened the waiting notification.


    Congratulations


    You have learned the skill


    Spirit Artificer(a) - You have an understanding of aether and can mend, adjust, and build channels and cores of other beings recognized by the system who have cores.


    Sorin knew this was good and had a LOT of potential for experimentation and growth not just in himself, but others.


    The door opened. "Lady Aegis, the award ceremony will begin soon. Your presence is requested beforehand for practice for the ceremony."


    Euryale nodded getting up. The official left the room as Reeger and Sorin got to their feet.


    Reeger left the room first blocking the way forward and tunnel where the lady could he ambushed. He then moved ahead of her as Sorin took the back and they escorted Euryale to the gathering point.


    She had reached the gathering when a shout came over everyone causing them to turn.


    Aeon came rushing in. Sorin saw something in his hand and a craziness about him that felt off. He moved in front of the nobody who was reaching out.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Sorin grabbed his arm, pushed it inward and shoved him away from Euryale.


    "You dare lay hands on me conscript!" Aeon said drawing his rapier and charging his aether. Sorin had his senses expanded and saw the silver aether gathering.


    Without thinking Soring ringed his hand with flames and slammed it into Aeons core and ripped used Aether Reaver. The shock and agony was written all over Aeon''s face as his aether was forcefully ripped from his body.


    Sorin absorbed the metal aether.


    *bleep*


    Aeon fell backwards and dropped to his knees.


    "What....What have you done, he said blood pouring from his mouth and stomach. He pulled his rapier, and lunged toward Sorin who pulled his weapon.


    "No!!" Came the cry from Euryale, but it was too late.


    A single swing of the blade bisected Aeon. He fell to the ground his top half falling away from his bottom with blood pooling over the ground.


    "Seize him!" Came the command. Before Sorin could even think to react he was on his face disarmed and a collar slammed around his throat.


    "Bring him to me." The same voice commanded.


    Sorin was lifted up and dragged over to a man between 18-24 years old who had an obvious authority.


    "This is an official proceeding!" He shouted.


    Sorin was confused as everyone in the stadium bowed. Even Euryale bowed. A strike to the back of his knees placed Sorin in his knees before the man and his mask ripped off and crushed.


    "I take it, you do not know who I am." The man said reaching out. A file was placed into his hand with a bow from an elderly man. "Thank you headmaster." The man said.


    "Of course your majesty." Came the response.


    "I am Prince Amaru, if you didn''t know conscript...Sorin." The prince read through his file then tossed it away.


    "You have violated imperial law twice over conscript and by that I can take your head without even a royal decree." He said.


    He looked around.


    "Does anyone speak on behalf of the condemned?" The prince asked as Sorin''s blood went cold. He was collared and outmatched by the ones who put this on him before he could even react.


    At first Sorin heard nothing and then a voice spoke up.


    "Your majesty, I would speak on behalf of the condemned." Euryale said.


    The prince looked at the young woman.


    "Rise and come speak with me." He said.


    Euryale did as commanded. She removed her weapons from her hips and dropped them to the ground. She marched over to sorin kneeling on the ground. Took his sword and slammed it into its sheath and tossed it away from him.


    She approached the prince.


    "You have corrected one breach in imperial law of no naked weapons outside of sanctioned duels in the presence of royalty, but the act was committed. On top of that, this conscript killed a member of a noble house when apprehension was more than an option with a sundered core. His death is called for twice over Lady Aegis." The prince intoned.


    "You are correct your majesty as always. I would seek mercy on his behalf for services rendered to my house. He has saved my path and many of my people through loyalty and perseverance. In spite of not being from our universe this conscript has embodied many of our heroic traits including the two afore mentioned."


    The prince tapped his chin thinking.


    "This man killed a man from a house that your house has went to war with countless times over thousands of years and you wish for me to spare him. Seems rather...convenient."


    "It has been an ongoing issue with the latest event happening just today with the attempts on my life and my path." Euryale said.


    "Those are some serious accusations that would shame house Pallas greatly. Evidence? The prince said with a wave of his hand.


    "Witnesses, a ferryman coin, and a perpetrator your majesty." She replied.


    The prince snapped his fingers and servants brought a chair out where he sat.


    "Bring out the first witness then." He commanded.


    "Of course your majesty. The first witness is in fact yourself."


    The princes eyebrows went up. "How so?"


    "On the night of the social in which you attended, Aeon used a duel as a cover to target my conscript beyond what was agreed upon embarrassing all present. The damage done, if not for a healer would have increased my chances of failure." She said.


    "Ah yes! I do remember that. I didn''t know it was you two. Very well. Accepted as evidence. Continue."


    " The second piece of evidence is this." She bowed and opened her hand presenting the ferryman coin.


    "The same night that my conscript was severely injured assassins attacked. The conscript condemned before you fought them all and captured one which when interrogated admitted their hiring by Aeon Pallas."


    The prince took the coin. "You speak honestly. My royal blood knows when there is a lie coming from the lips of another. Accepted as evidence. Continue. He commanded yet again.


    "Next I offer my servant and weapons master Reeger Forlorn. Today he struck down multiple assassins who were targeting me." She said as Reeger stepped forward and bowed.


    "Rise and answer. Is what she said the truth and complete truth to the best of your knowledge?" The prince asked.


    "Yes your majesty. " The prince nodded.


    "Accepted as evidence. continue." The prince commanded.


    "The final piece of evidence I offer before your majesty is the healer that attempted to destroy my channels if not murder me." She said and the healer is question was slammed down before the prince with a collar.


    "Who ordered you to harm Lady Aegis." The prince asked of the former healer.


    "No...nobody your majesty." He stumbled out.


    "You would dare lie to your prince?" Came the coldest deadliest reply Sorin had ever heard with his own ears.


    "Please forgive me your majesty, it was Aeon Pallas who paid me a massive amount of cores to do it." He said spilling his guts.


    The prince waved his hand and the head of the healer hit the floor. A man appeared next to the healer flicking the blood from his sword then re sheathing the sword and vanishing again.


    "I have heard enough and will render sentence upon Sorin Ekart." The prince said.


    Sorin was lifted to his feet and forced to look upon the prince.


    "Recieve my judgement. You will be confined to the mines for a period of 10 years. Once you have completed your term in the mines, you will live out the rest of your days in service to Lady Aegis who now is the sole owner of your contract that from this day forth shall never expire. She may not have this contract taken from her or dissolved. She has saved your life and now you will dedicate it to her and her wishes."


    Sorin slumped to the ground.


    "Lady Aegis, I have heard your voice and have spared him. See that my judgment is carried out." The prince said rising to his feet.


    "I declare this proceeding concluded. Carry on!" The prince said moving on to the front of the line of those awaiting their rewards for graduation.

 Chapter 63 - Resolve and Promises

    Sorin sat on the couch he had healed Euryale on not but two hours ago about to be able to really move to his goals of figuring out the best way to get home.


    He would have had access to awesome information, equipment, training, and a host of other benefits....but now it was gone for at least 10 years. His son who was now 5 would be around 15 years by the time he left the mines and who knows how old he would be be the time he got back home if ever.


    He looked up at the floor to ceiling mirror across from him and didn''t see the man that had left his world, but a much younger version of himself.


    He looked like he did when he was in his early 20s. He guessed that had to do with the infusion process, he might have an extended life span, but that didn''t mean he wanted to spend much time away not being able to watch his boy grow up.


    If he went back, would he retain these abilities? Would he outlive everyone? He looked down at his left hand where a silver ring sat on his ring finger.


    Tears came quickly and wouldn''t stop. He had been bottling everything up for months now. The stress, the worry, the heart ache. He had to keep it together, but now at the end of everything where all he thought he was moving toward was ripped out from under him, he cracked and let the tears fall.


    For minutes he just sobbed and let everything out for a time and just let himself feel. He was unguarded and by himself so he felt no shame.


    Euryale and Reeger knew Sorin wouldn''t and couldn''t go anywhere so they had just given him space after everything and to be able to recieve her graduation certificate and rank.


    About an hour later Sorin was laying across the couch tears had dried and he had returned to his usual composed self looking at the energy field that collar produced. It moved and flexed more than it did before, he assumed it was due to his new artifical gravity skill that he couldn''t see for details currently.


    The door opened as Euryale and Reeger walked in. Euryale snagged a chair on her way and Reeger slapped Sorin''s legs to make room, which Sorin did as he liked the older man and he sat up as Reeger sat down.


    Euryale wore a new gold bar on a special section of her robes over her heart denoting her new rank of a 2nd lieutenant.


    She placed the chair in front of Sorin and sat down crossing her legs with the regal manner he had become used to with her.


    "Congratulations ma''am on your graduation and promotion." Sorin started.


    Euryale smiled, but it didn''t reach her eyes. Too much had happened that overshadowed everything else.


    "I appreciate it Sorin, but it''s hard to be happy about all that right now. I''m going to call a spade a spade and cut to the chase. You''re good man and incredible asset to my family and myself. On that note I have spoken directly with my father the duke. I explained everything you have done for us. He will petition the Empire to adjust your sentence to the mines and push you over to our care. The royal family can be fickle so it''s a coin toss for success." She explained.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Sorin nodded and tugged a little on the collar that had needles into his neck that constantly hurt.


    "Is our deal still good ma''am?" Sorin asked.


    "Euryale." She replied. "You have saved my life, my path, and helped my family. I count you as a friend of mine and my family many times over. Our deal is good for a few reasons. One because you are a friend to me and my family. Second because you defended me, you are headed to the mines. We will repay this debt to you. My mother even spoke to my father about the petition and she hasn''t spoken to him, but a handful of times since my birth and has asked for nothing. She explained.


    Euryale continued. "Lastly because you have honored your word I graduated as an elite of my class second only to the prince himself. I will honor my word and do everything to figure out how to get you home and see it done. Perhaps even meet this wife who has inspired you so and this son you have told me about."


    Sorin looked at Euryale. "You''re a good woman. Since being in this universe there are few I would label as such, but you are it. I hope and pray you get the best of what life has to offer and should I make it back home, you and yours will always have a place at our table for what you are doing for me."


    Euryale blinked a few times not sure what to say. Before she could come up with something to say the door opened.


    "Lady Aegis, the mine transport vessel is here." The official said.


    Euryale nodded and waved him off.


    "I suppose we are out of time. I know you will probably feel abandoned in there, but please hold on to hope."


    She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bracelet with symbol of her house.


    "This is a bracelet given to those who have earned the favor of our house. It should offer protection. Each on is inscribed with the name of the one made for and is recorded by serial number in our logs."


    Sorin took it and placed it on his right wrist where it liquefied and became a cuff with the viper fangs bared in the green and black.


    "Thank you. I suppose we shouldn''t drag out feet Euryale. The sooner I''m off the sooner I''m back. When we do get back to earth, I loom forward to introducing you to everyone. Perhaps you will even want to stay."


    She smiled. "Perhaps."


    They all got up and walked out the door to the ship headed to the mines.


    - 3rd Region -


    *shatter! Clink clink clink!*


    The aether tablet exploded in the hand of Belloraphon when he recieved the news that his son had been killed by a conscript no less, but worse he had failed to stop Euryale Aegis from passing. She was to return with empire assigned troops to their planet under her command and his house had nothing. House Aegis now had the advantage and what made matters worse, Prince Amaru got involved in a proceeding concerning his son where it was proven that he targeted Lady Aegis. Word had no doubt gotten to Duke Phorcys.


    "My Lord, there is a delegate from house Aegis requesting an audience with you." Said a servant kneeling in a salute.


    Belloraphon put his palm to his head as he felt a headache coming on which shouldn''t be possible for him as a tier 7.


    "Show him in." He commanded.


    After a few minutes a dignified Gorgonian man stepped forward and bowed.


    "On behalf of Duke Phorcys Aegis, we offer greetings and well wishes in the presentation of a message from him to yourself." He said presenting a sealed envelope arms outstretched still in a bow.


    Belloraphon''s personal attended rushed forward taking the message and giving it to the duke. Who cracked the seal and began to read.


    After a moment he let the letter fall from his hands.


    "As expected....we are now at war."

 Interlude - Kind concern

    It was a rare day off from the hospital for Brittanie. She was home with Kyrain eating lunch.


    "Hello!" Came the call from the driveway. Looking up she saw Sorin''s brother Mitch who was this famous "Wanderer" and the guild master.


    "Hey mitch. How are you today?


    Kyrain heard the voice of his uncle and went running out to him.


    "Uncle Mitch!" He jumped at his uncle who snatched him up for a hug then put him back down.


    "I spoke with Kody today about news that gets passed by guildmasters. Apparently he demolished a small Chinese armada that didn''t want to back down and just go home." Mitch said shaking his head.


    Brittanie sighed with annoyance. "There is absolutely no reason for them to challenge borders. They just need to stay on their side of the fence in a manner of speaking. Kody doesn''t bother anyone."


    "Except what he calls "nates." Mitch said quietly.


    "Nates?"


    "Yeah it''s a grudge he has held from the pre-system days when the natives apparently could fish and keep whatever they wanted while he always needed a permit." Mitch continued.


    "Of course his unreasonable ass would be that way. I''m suprised Kassie hasn''t wrung his neck over his antics." Brittanie said.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    "Oh she has, but you know Kody...he learns slowly and now that he is the "King of the Pacific" he is even more cavalier than before. He''s a great warden though." Mitch explained taking a seat in one of the lawn chairs.


    "I came over because it''s been a while since I heard about the status of my older brother and I worry." Mitch said.


    Brittanie turned her gaze up and activated her skill then froze. She saw him sitting on a couch with a collar around his neck looking down at his wedding ring. Tears were falling. She wanted so badly to reach out to him.


    "He isn''t doing well it seems. He has a collar on. Something happened. I''ll keep and eye on him and see if I can''t figure anything out. He was guarding that same bimbo he always is, but I don''t see those wierd looking dudes with him anymore." Brittanie said, just enjoying seeing his face.


    Seeing him always brought back memories of when they first dated and got married. He was so goofy and silly.


    "I''ll let the family know. When I told them that Sorin got taken somewhere they have always been curious how he is. Kody is convinced nothing can keep him away forever. I''ll even let mom know this time. We so appreciate you taking that one for the team last time." Mitch said.


    Mitch got up and adjusted his light armor and sword. "Well Ky, I''ve got to get back at it. Pretty soon you will get your own path and start working for the guild."


    "Not even close." Brittanie said.


    "We have started a young adventures program where they take care of tasks around the city with their teams such as cleanup or humanitarian effort where they can earn cores and gain experience. They get a wooden adventurers badge and learn how we operate. They cant actually start proper jobs until they achieve an Iron badge at the age of 16 minimum and can pass my test. He will he fine Lady Seraph." Mitch said with a smirk.


    "You know I hate that name. Keep using it, I''ll have Sorin kick your ass when he gets home." She said back.


    "I''d love to have him home to see what he has become and if he can keep up. Who knows...maybe he can deflate the head of his majesty out in the ocean.


    They laughed and Mitch headed back on his way.

 Epilogue

    Those in the mines knew never to go to the deepest sections. The rumor was that it was haunted by a wraith that would destroy anyone and anything that went down there.


    A few miners were coerced to attack a miner years ago, but none of them ever came back and that is what is believed to have started the haunting.


    The reality however is often more plausible than what people have thought up in their wildest exhaustion filled minds.


    A man was down there, he had somehow been down there for years now working on a project. A deep seated conviction drove him.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    He was angry...so angry. His plans had been set back and would continue to be set back because even now he had to get stronger in order to do what he had to.


    He would do everything in his power to never again be made this powerless.


    The man wore a plastic smooth metal collar and sat in a state of meditation.


    Fire, water, electricity and liquid metal flowed around this man carving out more and more of the cavern he was in.


    With a growl the collar his, cracked and fell to ground.


    The swirling aether slowed to a stop as the man opened his eyes that burned with the light of a dying sun...Sorin was done with the mines, weakness, and collars.

 INTRODUCTION TO BOOK 2 - Rise of the Omnimage: Spellbreaker

    Hello everyone!


    For those of you that have followed me through book one and the building of the universe, giving me advice in tweaks and correction, I extend my most heart felt thank you!


    Moving into book two, it will not be centered around Sorin this time. See Sorin isn''t actually the true main character. He is ultimately a lesser main character to the actual main character that is taking after my son which his characters name as many can surmise is named Kyrain as I said from the beginning this series is written for.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    I will be introducing new characters that I''ve been brainstorming with my closest friends and family as well as some paths that we think are cool and good for the kids who will be a part of this series.


    In this book and some to follow, I will be adding a concept that is very rarely seen in any media and might lose me some followers, but I''m ok with that.


    I hope you guys end up liking it and hopefully it makes you think as I love making people think. ??


    Book two will be coming out slower as I''m still correcting book one but you can expect a chapter to drop for book 2 by Friday.

 Prologue

    3...2...1 beep! Beep! as soon as Kyrainsaw his watch hit midnight he saw the letters scroll out over his vision.


    Initializing...


    Initializing complete


    Being analysis in progress. . .


    Analysis complete.


    Being Registered.


    Given name: Kyrain Ekart


    Species: Humanoid


    Potential estimation: Extremely high


    Being has turned 10 solar cycles in an integrated world.


    Physical condition: Pristine


    Mental condition: Pristine


    Spirit condition: Pristine


    System note: Genetic marker is flagged by Infiniti for direct intervention


    Proceed to path selection now?


    Kyrain or Ky as his mother and friends called him watched as the first messages appeared from the system he had been taught about by his Uncles, Aunts, and Mother.


    His mother who everyone knew as the Seraph sat across from him waiting for the verdict of what he chose.


    He selected "yes"


    Response recieved and logged


    Integration commencing...


    At first nothing happened, then everything blurred around him and when it came back into focus he was in a white room.


    "Welcome to your integration Kyrain Ekart!"


    Ky turned quickly and saw a translucent orb floating in front of him.


    "You''re Infiniti!" Ky said excitedly. Walking closer.


    "You are correct. It would seem your family has prepared you for this day. I have you marked, as something special will be required of you. As it stands right now, a being is gaining power extremely rapidly and in time your power will be needed to counteract this threat." Infiniti said.


    Ky tilted his head. "This is starting to really feel like a fantasy book I read." He said with a smile.


    "Your dad was extremely similar when he and I had a conversation about his path selection." Infiniti said.


    Kyrain train of thought came to a screeching halt. "My dad? My mom says he is still alive? Is he ever going to come home.?"


    Infiniti paused and moment.


    "Inquiry has been passed to administrators for clearance to answer." Infiniti said and recieved an answer a moment later.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Clearance granted with additional information to be delivered to Kyrain Ekart."


    Ky was confused at what just took place as it seems the system that they had thought was omnipotent apparently had administrators.


    "Kyrain Ekart, your dad is not only working to return to this universe. Should he return without the proper balances in place here, the destruction he brings will consume the planet. This is the threat posed to your planet. As one whom has a close emotional tie to Sorin Ekart, a unique path is available to you given by one of the chief administrators to slow or stop him until he regains himself."


    Ky saw a flicker in the corner of his eye as an ball of black that was blacked than he had ever seen took shape.


    He was excited to share that news with his mom. He knew she missed him every day. He had early memories of his dad with letters and emails he left before he was somehow sent to another universe according to mom. The thought of his dad being a threat to everyone stunned him.


    His dad was always a gentle fun loving person from what he remembered and what mom told him.


    "The paths are awaiting your review and selection. The administrators have requested you carefully consider the unique path provided, but acknowledge the divine law of free will." Infiniti said.


    Ky shrugged off his thoughts about his dad being dangerous and ran excitedly over to the area with pedestals. He looked at each of the paths before him.


    First up was a caduceus. He looked at it as the expected text came up.


    Celestial Mender - epic


    Due to your close proximity with massive amounts of light aether focused in the healing arts you have the opportunity to follow the path of healing.


    Pros: High aether control, and output. High aether reserves. Healing coming easily and naturally with less drain on core.


    Cons: Little to no offensive capabilities.


    Kyrain had seen how awesome his mom was with her ability to heal. She was respected and desired by a lot of people, even guys that he found absolutely creepy with how they hit on her.


    Kyrain shivered with disgusted at the thought and then moved to the next path.


    The object before him was a burning sword


    Spellblade - uncommon


    Aether runs thick in your blood as does a vast amount of training in weapon arts. You have an affinity with any edged weapon. Aether is used to increase your body to higher levels than other users. You rely on aether abilities and blades to rip any enemies apart.


    Pros: High offense in both aether and weapon arts. Uses minimal aether per attack.


    Cons: Low defense and limited range compared to other paths. Relies on weapons for full power use.


    Ky liked this one. It combined both his Uncles essentially into one. His uncle Mitch was a master of edged weapons and nobody could touch him in speed or power and his other uncle Kody was the best aether user he had ever seen. The legend is that he owns and rules the entire Pacific Ocean which was crazy. No wars were ever fought on the ocean as far as anyone could tell, because nobody dares cross the Tidecaller.


    Ky knew better than to select a path without seeing them all.


    The next was a flame like that on a large candle


    Pyromancer - rare


    The path of the passionate and driven. The pyromancer is highly adaptable in both long and short range with offense and defense. These are used on battlefields when available for wide and massive destruction. Many battles will be often avoided when a Pyromancer is known to be present.


    Pros: Adaptability and massive power in both offense and defense. Focuses on aether attacks and defenses.


    Cons: Low physical capabilities. Highly vulnerable to physical attacks. Abilities consume massive amounts of aether and can leave the user defenseless when depleted.


    Kyrain loved this class. Nothing like throwing fire balls everywhere. He had his number one choice if the last one didn''t "wow" him.


    He looked over and saw that ball of black. He moved toward it and felt an extremely strange feeling almost like an emptiness.


    Spellbreaker - Unique


    Utilize antimatter to neutralize the aether around you and targets of your choice. This is the only path of its kind and little is known by the mortals of the universes about antimatter save that it does not work well with aether. This path was specifically created by the chief administrator for the being Kyrain Ekart.


    Pros: Unknown path


    Cons: Unknown path


    Kyrain was absolutely in love. He had read books and seen shows about antimages or mage breakers and loved watching them destroy people or cause the smug little faces 9f bullies to fall. Since everything ran on aether, being the only one capable of neautralizing aether would be so overly broken.


    He selected it.


    Accept Spellbreaker?


    Warning: once chosen you will be returned to standard time and original location. You may not take your decision back.


    He selected yes and instantly his entire world, body and all knew only pain.

 Chapter 1 - Initiation

    - 2 years later -


    "Kyrain! Come on dude are we going or what?" Sebastian, Kyrain''s cousin from his oldest aunt, shouted along side Tobias from his youngest aunt.


    They were getting ready to head to the bus stop where they would be picked up by a guild official and taken to their first day of training at the guild.


    "I''m coming! You''re always impatient! My mom says you''re just like your mom." Ky said coming out of the house with the garage remote clicking the button so it would close.


    "Well, you act like my mom when it comes to getting ready?" Sebastian said lightly punching him in the arm.


    The three boys headed down the road to the bus stop next to the old grocery story that had closed down a few years ago next to the gas station.


    According to the brochure that came with Kyrain''s official invitation, when a child turned 12 they were invited to attend their local guild training to learn about how they can do their part and grow their power within the guild.


    When a child was born now, there was a registry that tracked when they turned 10, 12, 16, and 18. Each of those points marked a milestone in the life of a new adventurer. At 10 you picked your path. Then at 12 you first get the chance to join up with the guild as a Initiate. Then at 16 you become a junior adventure where you get to do more dangerous missions. Finally, at 18 you become a full fledged rookie adventurer with a true guild license and guild rank.


    A red bus stopped in front of the gas station as the three boys arrived. They showed their invitations to the driver which also served as their payment.


    "I''m kind of nervous guys, do you think uncle Mitch is going to be extra hard on us, because we are related?" Tobias asked.


    Kyrain and Sebastian both looked at eachother as worry began to crawl across their face.


    "I hope not. I''ve heard horror stories of how brutal he can be." Sebastian said as Ky shook his head not in any sort of surety, but in silent prayer.


    After about a half hour and a dozen stops later they arrived at the guild hall. The three boys looked up at the massive dome shaped building with adjoining domes connected by covered walkways. As they got off the bus, they marveled at it as they did every time they visited.


    Once everyone was off the bus, they were led toward the front and through the front doors where it was a controlled chaos of guild members going to and fro conducting their business.


    On the outer edge around the inside of the dome was a walk way all the way around with hundreds separate screens with tons of adventures tapping and changing the views. They would find what they were looking for, tap the screen, scan their guild license then walk away and someone would take their spot next.


    Kyrain''s uncle had shown him that''s how people viewed the jobs, learned the details, then accepted them. From those screens he learned that they could manage their profiles, their teams, request a party or party member, and even pay guild fines for failing a job.


    The guild had doors that led up one level and separated into rooms that people would take different items, equipment, and goods to get appraised and managed in privacy.


    If they continued to head up you reached the main administrative floor where the screens, adventurers, jobs, and all the other important information flowed to and from the guild.


    Then if you went one floor higher, you would find the the Guild master''s office where the legendary Wanderer worked. It was a spacious office filled with papers and screens that kept his uncle up to date with the happenings of not just the guild but the city itself that he was in charge of and had been for years.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Underneath it all, sealed off from everyone but properly cleared maintenance workers was the massive server vault. Out in the smaller domes were the training areas.


    "Initiates! Please follow me!" A lady in her mid 30''s Kyrain guessed led them back outside to one of the smaller domes where there were chairs set up in rows for the incoming Initiates and a large screen set up for what seemed to be a presentation.


    "Please fill in the chairs starting from the front." She said as they all entered. By Kyrain''s rough count there were between 25-30 Initiates. Once they were all seated she continued.


    "In a moment, you will watch a video from the guild master, then we will begin filling you all in on what will be happening for processing and classes going forward. Are there any questions before we begin?" She asked.


    Nobody said anything so the woman brought up a remote and pressed the start button.


    In his Uncle''s very spartan style the video started with little theatrics or artistic flair and with the social awkwardness that led people to underestimate him.


    Kyrain sat up straighter with excitement.


    "Is it recording?" Mitch was saying looking off screen before jumping quickly realizing it was, clearing his throat.


    "Welcome Initiates! My name is Guild Master Mitchell Ekart. You might know me by my nickname "The Wanderer." You have been invited to begin contributing to our society and gain a vast amount of opportunities to not only recieve world class training, but to also earn a little money for yourselves while you take on jobs to help out the community.


    Behind Mitch, Kyrain could see the wall of screens and people going to and fro behind him.


    "Behind me." Mitch continued


    "Are the kiosks. These screens are set up to manage every administrative requirement with the guild including setting up other meetings to handle business that can''t be done through the kiosks within the guild. These screens."


    The picture changed from Mitch to a screen shot of the screens with details of different buttons and what they were for showed.


    "Are where you will spend most of your time while in the primary building of the guild hall."


    It flashed to a massive list of names of jobs with their guild rank requirements Kyrain could see were filtered down for the initiates.


    It flashed back to Mitch who continued.


    "To access the jobs menu, you will scan your license. You will recieve your license today before you leave, but the jobs will be blocked on it until the end of this week''s training. This license is very different looking from a guild license. Had some trouble a few years back when we started this program..."


    Mitch looked off screen at someone who was clearly talking to him. He nodded then snapped back to the screen.


    "Yes...that''s a story for another day. Anyway, your license is coded to your specific profile and cannot be altered without setting alarms off in the guild once scanned. It will only show jobs you are rated for. As an Initiate, you get a month of guild sponsored rides to begin building up a routine and steady cash flow to earn your own ride and begin to earn your way in the guild.


    The screen changed again showing a schedule


    Week 1 Initiate Training


    Monday - Processing, Background, Licensing beginning


    Tuesday - Profile management and Licensing complete


    Wednesday - Guild instruction: jobs, monsters, ranks, paths.


    Thursday - Physcial Assessment


    Friday - Aether Assessment


    Saturday - Examination (80% or better required to get jobs unblocked )


    After around 10 seconds of that on the screen Kyrain heard his uncle again.


    "This is the schedule moving forward. Everyone who wishes to join the guild is required to have a background check done on them. If your background cannot be conclusively verified, you will be unable to join the guild and you will be required to go to the national registry of the US government to fill out a profile there."


    The screen went back to Mitch.


    "The world is a hard dangerous place, but you have to take risks to continue to move forward. We will give you the best chance of success and survival if you follow our guidance. Study hard. If you work hard, you will be rewarded. Stick around this week and we will show you how." Mitch said with a grin as the screen shut off and the lady returned.


    "Under your chairs are pads. Please do not break them, or you have bought them. Please fill out the questionnaire in preparation for the background check." She said and walked back to the side of the room and sat down.


    Kyrain pulled the tablet and got to work.

 Chapter 2 - Deep dive

    Kyrain filled out the questionnaire. It was your average government questionnaire asking if you had committed crimes, or if you are a terrorist. It asked for parent names, and general path information, which he was all to excited to share.


    Ky loved his path and the terror he could be with it. There were guys who would come around trying to show off for his mom thinking that she would be amazed and instantly fall in love with them.


    They didn''t know that she could see his dad and was waiting for him. She was always sad after seeing him. That changed when he gave her the information from Infiniti about dad for sure coming back.


    Ky didn''t like dudes coming around flirting with his mom and trying to be all buddy-buddy with him, with his path he could, in a manner of speaking, turn their path off by cutting the aether flow to them and they had no idea as he would do it so fast.


    One time in particular there was a guy who had the ability to fly. Ky found it absolutely hilarious when the guy was shooting his shot and out of nowhere had his aether disrupted for the briefest of moments and fell flat on his face. Ky started smiling at the memory as he almost peed himself laughing. His mom was not impressed with the guy and didn''t even bother healing the scrapes and bruises before walking away shaking her head.


    "Mr. Ekart!" A man in button up shirt and slacks called out with a tablet in his hand.


    Ky quickly stood and made his way over.


    "Please come with me for your background interview." He said.


    Kyrain was led down the hall and into a small conference room where he was directed to a chair. The man sat down across from him.


    "My name is Allen and I''ll be verifying information with you,  making sure all is in order for verification.


    Your name is Kyrain Ekart.


    You were born here in Tennessee to Sorin and Brittanie Ekart.


    Mother is an adventurer with a healing focus who works at the hospital.


    Your dad is not an adventurer?"


    Kyrain nodded along until the Allen got to the question.


    "No. My dad was listed in the missing from the bomb drops here. He was in the Army and was doing a training exercise." Ky answered.


    "I''m sorry to hear that. That seems to be the unfortunate fate of many of the more modern initiates we get now." Allen said as he continued reading.


    "You path is Spellbreaker at tier 2. Your path gives nullification abilities. That''s incredibly interesting and depending on how it works, you might actually do exceedingly well in the guild and might even get invited into the bounty hunter program."


    Ky''s eyebrows went up.


    "Bounty hunter program?!" He said excitedly.


    "Absolutely! Many people decide to use their path to harm society and so the guild trains, deputizes, and dispatches adventurerers called Hunters to hunt them down and take them either dead or alive depending on the warrant that is made out for them." Allen replied watching Kyrain''s excited face.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    "That would be awesome! When can I begin learning and training for that program?!" Ky asked.


    Allen laughed. "Unfortunately, they only take bronze rank adventurers as candidates so you have to work within the guild, train and rank up in the guild then submit and wait for an invite if they want you for the program." He said.


    Kyrain frowned at that.


    "You can however, begin studying the laws, rules, and regulations governing the use of paths, the history, and methods of the bounty hunters contained in the guild archives here. The bounty program was started actually by our previous Secretary of Defense Todd Robinson and now I believe his oldest daughter just became a bounty hunter." Allen said trying to bring the boy back around.


    Kyrain''s frown went a way a bit.


    "Let us continue. You put here that you have no criminal record, you get great reviews at school with only minor altercations from bullies which you have claimed self defense and defense of others." Allen read off.


    "That''s correct. A few of the people at school like to use their paths to pick on people and the teachers are not always around to stop it. They sometimes target my cousins and I because of who my mother is and our uncle." Kyrain explained.


    Allen nodded and tapped the screen a few times, before turning it around.


    "That is a perfect segway into final item before the guild sends a copy to your parent or guardian for their signature as you are not 18 and begins verifying your information. Please read the following and sign. If either of you do not sign this, the guild cannot process you and you cannot join."


    Kyrain took the pad and began reading.


    I, Kyrain Ekart, certify under the penalty of perjury that all information provided is accurate. I acknowledge that while in the initiate and junior adventurer program I will be required to maintain a clean criminal record and graduate from high school in order to become a full adventure.


    I also have read and understood that being an adventurer is an inherently dangerous occupation. I understand and accept the risks associated with becoming an adventurer.


    Applicant Signature:


    Parent/Guardian Signature:


    Kyrain signed his name in the proper location then handed the pad back to Allen who saved swipped the screen away bringing up a new screen. He reached down into a bag and pulled out a small machine and a box.


    In that box had smooth stainless steel cards. He put one into the machine then plugged the pad into it and tapped a button. The machine began making noises consistent with laser etching. After a couple of minutes the machine stopped and spit out the metal card.


    Allen took the card and reviewed it against the screen, nodded, then handed it to Kyrain who looked it over himself. It had some information in the front and smooth on the back with the guild symbol and a smart chip.


    Guild Initiate Token


    Name: Kyrain Ekart


    Age: 12


    Path: Spellbreaker


    Tier: 2


    Parent/Guardian: Brittanie Ekart (Silver Rank)


    <em style="color: rgba(45, 194, 107, 1)">Bus fare allocated: 31 days


    <em style="color: rgba(45, 194, 107, 1)">Holder is an Initiate and is not authorized any jobs, but Initiate only once unlocked. Damages caused by holder are to be directed to guild which will be directed to Parent/Guardian.


    <em style="color: rgba(45, 194, 107, 1)">If this token is found, please surrender to nearest guild hall or place in any mailbox.


    Allen stood up and held his hand out. "That will be all from me Mr. Ekart. Good luck in the rest of your process. You will recieve an email from the guild about the success of your background check or you will spoken to in person in the event of it being unsuccessful."


    Ky was shown out of the room and back to the main lobby where he was instructed for what time he was to report back the following day.


    As it was still somewhat early in the day, he decided to head over to the hospital to see what mom was up to.

 Chapter 3 - Taking a ride on the Ativan

    "Lady Ekart, the final team is on its way in from dealing with the hydra outbreak. The incoming reports are saying they were a particularly nasty type. It was more of a smog spewing nest of the creatures rather than the usual bite and spit with the toxic blood." An assistant healer said looking down at a tablet she was reading from.


    "Do we have next batch of antidotes ready?" Brittanie said as she looked over and sent her healing aether into the final member from the team, fixing the conventional injures from fighting monsters.


    "Yes ma''am. They are being brought up as we speak." The assistant said.


    "Good. Let me know when that team arrives and are given the antidotes as needed. I''m headed to make my rounds to check on the other healers."


    Brittanie headed down the hall checking the status outside of patient rooms and seeing that everything was in order. Nothing needed her attention and she had helped where she was able.


    She went into her office to sit down and take a breather.


    "Hey mom!" Came a familiar voice that warmed her.


    "Hey! How was the guild?" She asked.


    "Not too bad. I had hoped Uncle Mitch was going to show, but they played a video of him instead." Ky said.


    "Is it still the same video where he goes off script a couple of times? Brittanie asked sitting at her desk.


    "Oh, so you have seen it?" Ky said laughing.


    Brittanie just laughed shaking her head.


    *Beep! Beep! Beep!*


    Brittanie''s pager went off. She looked down at it, then out one of her windows as there was some crashing and shouting.


    Brittanie rushed out and saw an adventurer with his eyes rolling and arms swinging while on fire as this adventurer clearly had a fire path.


    He was about to crash through another patient room when Brittanie threw out a hand flashing one of her skills, Celestial shield, and a golden barrier blocked the trajectory of the man as the orderly team worked to safely bring him down.


    They tackled him to the floor but couldn''t hold him as the flames burned hotter and began to spread from his arms. It was beginning to burn things around the emergency room. Brittanie flashed more shields over the flames and smothered them out.


    Moving quickly to a medicine cabinet. Brittanie pulled a drawer and grabbed a pre-loaded syringe. She pinned the adventurer down and injected him or tried to. The moment the needle went into his flesh it melted the plastic and evaporated the fluid.


    "These cases are the absolute worst!" Brittanie exclaimed annoyed with the predicament she found herself.


    Brittanie continued to hold down the squirming adventurer. It wasn''t that hard for her due to her much higher tier of power, but she couldn''t effectively treat him. She furrowed her brow letting the dots connect as she saw Kyrain in the corner of her eye.


    "Ky! I know you are an initiate in the first week, but can you help me with this one?"


    "Mom, I''m not allowed to take jobs until next week." Kyrain said walking forward.


    "It''s fine, I will deal with it all."


    Nodding, Ky knelt down quickly beside his mother and placed his hand on the man''s stomach in order to keep his spellbreaker skills from hitting anyone that was close. He then activated two skills.


    Aether sense and Aether Nullification. Through his sense he could see the bonds of aether holding the skill of the man in front of him together. He pushed his anti-aether, as he had called it, as soon as his skill made contact with the man''s skill structure it broke causing the fire to immediately die out.


    Brittanie was given another syringe, and she injected it immediately after the flames were snuffed out as she had hoped. The medication hit the system and after a half a minute more, he relaxed as did everyone else in the room.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    She let the other healers come in with the orderlies to take the man to a room to continue treatment for the psychosis venom that sometimes is used by the monsters causing someone to completely lose it.


    She turned to Kyrain. "Feel like putting in your first day early as an initiate?"


    Kyrain smiled at his mom and nodded. "That was cool! I want to help more."


    - The next day -


    Kyrain, Tobias, and Sebastian walked through the doors of the guild hall to continue the initiating process.


    "Mr. Kyrain Ekart, if you would follow me, please." A man in a guild hall uniform said. Sorin nodded nervously while glancing at his cousins who all had curious looks.


    "What did you do this time Ky?" Tobias asked. Ky had an idea what it was about, but his mom said she would handle it.


    He was led to a door that said, "Floor manager." The man in the uniform opened the door and gestured for him to enter.


    Once inside Ky saw screens across both sides of the office, with a desk on the other side. It was rather spacious in spite of so much happening.


    "Please take a seat, I''ll be with you in a moment." A man said who was sitting on the other side of the desk. Doing as he was told, he crossed the room and sat in one of two chairs in front of the desk. He began to fidget nervously while he waited for the man to finish typing something. With a final few clicks of a mouse the man closed the laptop and looked at Kyrain.


    He flicked his hand, and a file zipped across the room into his hand. He opened it and breathed out his nose then spoke.


    "My name is Matt Hogan, I am the Senior floor manager of this guild, and it has come to my attention that you, as an initiate in the first week right after you were informed that you were not authorized to take jobs, have in fact, taken a job at the hospital."


    Kyrain spoke up. "Yes Sir, I was told that the guild would be notified, and everything would be taken care of as I did not go looking for the job."


    "Who was the one that told you that?" Matt asked. "It was my mother, Brittanie Ekart. She had a problem with someone on psychosis venom and she had me use my path to help limit patients so she could better treat them." Ky said.


    "We have received no communication of the sort from either the hospital or Mrs. Ekart on your behalf."


    Kyrain forcefully ran his hands through his hair. "I have my mother''s number. You can use it to see that she did ask for my help."


    He could feel the frustration and discomfort of the situation starting to head toward his eyes in the form of tears as he pushed his phone with his mom''s number over to the manager; who pulled his own phone up and began dialing and placing it on speaker for transparency. After a couple rings he heard his mom''s voice.


    "Hello."


    "Good morning, this is Matt Hogan with the Adventurers guild. We have Kyrain Ekart in my office for violation of the Initiate guidelines. He claims that you solicited his help at the hospital. You are on speakerphone ma''am."


    "Shit! I completely forgot to call you guys yesterday. Yes, I asked for his help as he has particular set of skills that helped us effectively treat a lot of patience yesterday." Brittanie said.


    "That being the case, you were fully aware of his status of initiate within the first week and not authorized to accept any jobs?" Matt replied.


    "I was and still asked of his help. I accept any penalties on his behalf. My thing is, the benefit he provided to the hospital was worth it." She replied.


    "I understand your feelings ma''am, but there are rules for a reason and as such there is a fine imposed of five b cores."


    There was a pause on the other side as a conversation in the hospital took place.


    "Im sorry about that. Im currently working. Yes, that''s fine. Please deduct the penalty from my guild account." Brittanie said.


    "Very well, we would impress on you that you remember the guild rules and set the example for initiates as a Silver rank adventurer. That being said, no job was posted so a review form was not sent to you for the initiate. I will send you the form in the email you have listed with the guild. Please fill it out and send it back as soon as possible. Not to insult your intelligence, but the form must be completed objectively, and in your role as the Senior healer of the hospital and not as the mother of the one in question." Matt explained.


    "I understand and I apologize for the inconvenience. Is there anything else Mr. Hogan?" She asked.


    "No Ma''am, thank you for your time and understanding.


    With that the call was ended.


    "You dodged a bullet Mr. Ekart. We have rules in place for a reason. We do not permit initiates to take jobs in the first week, because we have not given you the classes for conduct and rules on these jobs. Had she have not accepted the penalty on your behalf it would have fallen directly on you and as you''re new to the adventurer''s guild, I doubt you could have afforded that penalty which means you would have taken the alternate form of payment which includes hard labor on behalf of the guild without pay until penalty is paid." Matt explained.


    "I understand, and I am sorry for causing problems." Kyrain replied.


    "From the sound of it, you acquitted yourself quite well at the hospital. The job you did was not contracted, so we cannot offer any payment as is normally the case. When a job is posted the money is kept by the guild to be paid upon completion. All we can do is, once we receive the review form is give you credit for a complete job and your first job rating."


    "That is fine. I did not expect to be paid for the job, but it is good to know all of that." Ky said feeling much relieved.


    "Well, had the rules have been followed, you would have known that from tomorrow''s classes."


    Matt opened the laptop in front of him back up. He clicked around a bit. "While you are here, it looks like your profile and license are done. It also looks like; your background is complete. There is actually nothing more for you today from the guild. That is all I have for you Mr. Ekart. I wish you a good day and please stay out of trouble."


    Kyrain smiled as he got up and wished the manager a good day in return then headed out back home.


    He was already mentally over today.

 Chapter 4 - Education and the Harmacist

    Kyrain sat in the classes the following day, absolutely bored out of his mind. He already knew about alot of the monsters and their rankings. A few times the guild instructor called on him thinking he wouldn''t be able to answer the questions, but his uncles drilled him on monsters.


    Once that classes ended, they had a small break then went into the class he did kind of need which was "Guild Rules and Regulations."


    It was boring for the most part. They talked about the general guidelines. He was raised in a Christian home so he knew the golden rule, he knew the commandments, and didn''t ever plan on breaking those rules, at least on purpose. He knew one day that he might have to take a life in the line of duty. Luckily, his dad had left him many emails that he didn''t even know about until a few years after his dad had been taken to the other universe.


    One such email went in depth into the philosophical and moral difference between killing and murder. The class shifted into how the guild was set up.


    As he knew from school, the US government still operated much the same as it did before the rifts with the introduction of the Regional wardens, which answered to the Supreme Court and the SecDef, who answered to the President and Congress.


    Below the Wardens were the governors of each state with their legislature. They made the rules and regulations for each state, that the mayor would enforce with the help of the multiple guild masters who served as state justices now that there were so many super powerful people that must be kept in line, sometimes through force.


    Each guild master answered to the Regional wardens. Ultimately everything worked back in with the Constitution and the people as the founders intended with Congress and the President being elected, though Kyrain seriously doubted the founders saw this all coming.


    He learned how the guild recieved and verified jobs. In order for a job to be posted someone would fill out a work request detailing what needed done. Based on the level or danger and effort estimation it would be given a guild rank requirement. The higher the rank requirement the more the job would cost the requestor.


    Money had shifted years ago from dollars and coins to cores. It took 10 cores of each rank to equal the rank above it. From rank D to S each core had a size and power to it. Each core could be used to fill ones personal aether or be used as a battery for new technology coming out, so a renewable energy source that he had read the world always seemed to need.


    They were also recommended to invest in adventurers insurance for not just themselves as medical services were not free and could get expensive if massive amounts of aether and medicines had to be used to keep someone alive on top of if you have a battle with a monster or outlaw that causes massive collateral damage.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Insurance was harder to get the higher tier you are, as your capacity for damage increases. They said it was best to lock on a rate early when you are a lesser tier so the companies can''t weasel out later.


    After about an hour and a half, that class ended and they were turned loose for a ten minute break.


    Ky saw Tobias and Sebastian talking to a darker skinned kid with dark curly hair around their age. He went up to see and maybe make an introduction.


    They looked up as he approached. "Hey Ky, this is Elijah. He is someone we were talking to yesterday. You will LOVE his path." Sebastian said with a giggle.


    Ky looked over holding out his hand. "Hello! It''s good to meet you man. What path you got?"


    Elijah smiled mischievously. "Want to see?"


    Kyrain shrugged. "Why not?"


    Elijah reached into his pocket and pulled out a folding pocket knife and handed it over.


    "Prick your finger." He said.


    Ky nervously took the knife and looked at his two cousins who gestured him forward. Trusting them he pricked his finger and blood began leaking out. He handed the knife back holding his hand cupped as to not drip blood on the floor.


    "Ready?" Elijah asked. Ky looked up confused.


    "For wha..."


    *Wham!*


    Elijah punched Ky in the jaw sending him backward to the floor. His whole body tingled and he immediately got back to his feet, pissed as his cousins rushed forward to stop him from retaliating.


    "Ky! Relax! Check yourself over. Does anything hurt?" Tobias said on his right side holding him back.


    Ky reached up to his jaw and felt....nothing. He felt great actually. He looked down at his hand and saw the blood was still there, but the prick he made was completely healed. He looked up at Elijah who was grinning like a mad man.


    "What?!" Ky said with a higher pitch to his voice so beyond confused.


    "My path is called the Harmacist. It''s like Pharmacist, but without the "P." The more I kick the crap out of someone the more I can heal them." Elijah said.


    Sebastian and Tobias were smiling like they pulled the greatest trick of their lives.


    "Could have just told me." Ky said grumpily.


    "Yeah, but where''s the fun in that dude!" Elijah said.


    "Besides, if you had any aches, soreness, or tired, it fixed everything."


    Kyrain moved around a bit and realized Elijah was right. He was definitely awake. Whether it was the dudes path or the fact he just got punched in the face, he wasn''t sure.


    Ky looked around and saw there were a few people watching and even a guild official watching.


    "We are ok, no animosity here. I asked him to test his path on me was all." Kyrain said to the onlookers.


    The official just nodded, shook his head, then walked off.


    "I don''t know how my mom would like your style of healing though. Dad might though. She always tells me that he was strange and always got a kick out of the odd or unusual and loved to laugh." Ky said.


    "Yeah, my dad was a medic in the Army. Actually used to work in the 101st Airborne here for a while. He was pretty proud when I got my class and laughed hysterically when he found out how I heal." Elijah said.


    The four of them laughed and began to make their way back to the classroom as the break was about to be done and the classes for Guild ranks and paths was about to start.


    Kyrain was actually looking forward to this class as he had the most peculiar path and neither he nor his cousins knew how it worked.


    Ky had his uncle and mother look at his path. They offered some ideas, but didnt honestly know. Kyrain was hoping that maybe getting the whole class could offer him some clues about what was going on with him and how to make his class better.

 Chapter 5 - Paths

    Kyrain went into the class with the rest of the group and took his seat as the instructor moved back to the front.


    "The next part of the classes is going over the paths each of you have chosen. We have had many questions in the past about hiding your path from people. I''ll answer them now to save time. Sure, you can hide your skills and paths, but it will limit your jobs as you can''t be effectively added and integrated into a team for jobs.


    Years ago, this was fine as the aether was only concentrated around rifts and all anyone ever had to do, is fight on the front lines. Now, with aether permeation at way higher levels across the world we have many different jobs and concentrations of aether creating what we have been calling dungeons. How many of you have heard of dungeons?" The instructor asked.


    A few hands went in the air. Ky had learned about dungeons from his uncle Kody, who patrolled the Pacific Northwest and the ocean.


    They had a crystal in the heart of dungeon from condensed aether. The crystal begins to feed however many monsters in the dungeon grow way more powerful than they rightfully should be. It''s not uncommon for many higher tier dungeons to have multiple A and S rank monsters.


    "Dungeons, for all but the strongest among us, require a team or multiple teams to defeat and destroy the crystal. If we do not, the crystals will begin to spawn smaller crystals which will pull more and more aether leading to bigger and stronger monsters. However, those crystals and their shards are extremely valuableas it is,more or less, a universal core that can be used to push people up tiers."


    Kyrain and the other boys looked at eachother and smiled at how fun that sounded. They had read books about dungeons, though these crystals were not the sentient ones that built trap filled dungeons, it was still exciting to know there was so much variance across the world rather than just war on the riftlines.


    The instructored continued.


    "That all being said, it''s in your best interest to let the guild know what you can do so it can assess you for different programs available. That being said, we have broken down the skills into four categories. Offense, defense, utility, and speciality.


    Offense and Defense skills are exactly as they are skills that are primarily focused on offense and defense. Utility skills are any skills that can accomplish many differeny tasks, but are not focused on offense and defense. It doesn''t mean they can''t be used in those ways though.


    Take manipulation skills. They are utility skills, but can also be used for offense and defense. The last skills are specialty skills. They do things that fall outside of what we can classify, sure they might have offense and defense built into them, but their affects are so great that we can''t really classify them as an offensive or defensive skill. These are the skills that become legendary." He said.


    Kyrain knew these skills. For his Uncles and mom each had some. Mitch had his flicker, Kody had Call of the ocean king that summoned his Kracken or Sea Serpent, and mom had her Celestial Blessing which healed vast groups of people over a wide area.


    "Now! Open up your HUD and take a look at what each of you are working with." The instructor said.


    Ky did as instructed.


    Name: Kyrain Ekart


    Path: Spellbreaker


    AP: Null/ AM: 20pps


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    NOTE: All parameters are based off the flow of antimatter the user can channel per second.


    Body: Null/ (T2)


    Mind: Null/(T2)


    Spirit: Null/(T2)


    Skills:


    Antimatter Wellspring(p) - A unique skill that allows the user to tap into the beyond and allow antimatter to flow into the user. The larger the tap the more powerful the user becomes.(increase tier)


    Antimatter anatomy(p/a) - A unique skill that renders the user''s entire being to be created out of antimatter in such a way that it resembles aether. Everything functions as it would as built by aether, but with a flex of the users will they can nullify chosen types of aether around and within them.


    Aether sense(p) - A unique skill that allows the use to sense all aether around them. Range grows as new tiers are obtained.


    Aether Nullification(a) - A Unique skill that allows the user to use anti-matter to disrupt the flow of aether whether in nature or pertaining to another user. Can be done within close line of sight (15 meters) or through direct contact.


    Ky had nothing, but specialty skills. He had unique abilities that only he had he assumed from the fact the system called them all unique and based off what it had said to him when he got the path.


    He had been working on opening his "tap" to what the system called "the beyond." It took a lot of effort to get that small trickle he felt in himself leading somewhere to go wider. He was barely able to expand it as much as he had in two years and only recently crossed into tier 2. He worked on it for an hour every morning and every night. It expanded by less than a milimeter each time during that whole hour and it was exhausting work.


    Kyrain dismissed his HUD and looked around as others were discussing their paths with the people around them. Elijah who had moved over to sit with them was looking his stuff over based on his eye movement.


    "Are any of you guys healers?" Elijah asked.


    "Nope." Sebastian said.


    "I''m a bezerker. The more I get hit the more damage I deal. A healer would be very welcomed for my path."


    "As would it be for my path." Tobias spoke up.


    "I''m a Juggernaut. I can take massive amounts of damage both aether and physical. I''m hard to damage, but also hard to heal back up."


    Kyrain saw it was his turn.


    "I''m a specialty user, I guess. I nullify aether."


    Elijah looked at him confused.


    "If you nullify aether then how do you live, get stronger, or let me heal you?


    "Honestly, I don''t know what antimatter is. The system had identified it as something from "the beyond." It works with aether, but can also nullify aether through breaking the formations that make up skills. My skill lets me decide what goes through and what doesn''t go through to me as well." Kyrain explained.


    Elijah''s eyes opened wide.


    "Dude! You could be the perfect shield! He almost shouted.


    Ky looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"


    "Activate your nullification ability and I''m going to punch you." Elijah said excitedly.


    "I don''t know man, I don''t really want to get punched again." Ky replied.


    "Then nullify the kinetic energy. Aether just energy as we were told in school. So it should work."


    Kyrain thought about it for a moment with a scowl on his face then his eyebrows went up realizing he never really thought outside the box like that.


    "It makes sense! Let''s try it!" He said.


    "Let me know when you are ready." Elijah said bringing his hands up.


    Kyrain paid attention to his Aether Sense then he activated Aether Nullification seeing all the aether around and in Elijah.


    "Ready." He said and Elijah punched. Kyrain could see a bulging on dark aether then it switched to a lighter aether. As it crossed the space between them he reached out with his Nullification and latched on to it.


    Instead of bleeding it, when nhe surrounded it with his antimatter, he noticed something odd. When he enveloped it the aether had nowhere to go. The bonds broke for the punch and skill contained and stopped everything dead in it''s tracks. Momentum was energy and he contained it.


    He held Elijah''s hand in place for a second more when


    *crack!*


    The energy backlashed sending Elijah flying using his own force.


    Elijah immediately got to his feet shaking his arm out.


    *bleep!*


    Kyrain saw a system notification pop up. He opened it up and jumped up and down excited.

 Chapter 6 - Ranks and First assessment

    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill:


    Aetheric Redirection (a) - Unique skill for the user where he encapsulates incoming aether and redirects it. Certain actions with the aether leading to a variety of effects. Caution: If aether exceeds Antimatter PPS you will be unable to contain the target and backlash can occur.


    Kyrain was ecstatic about this skill. It made him within his tier and maybe two up, an immovable object.


    "What?!" Sebastian asked excitedly.


    "It''s a skill called Aetheric Redirection and it basically traps aether used against me, and I can redirect it." Kyrain explained.


    Elijah came back over after getting blasted backward by a shockwave of his own aether. From what he could tell was condensed and directed into a small area.


    "That hurt...a lot." Elijah said


    "Sorry man." Ky said as he looked around at a room that was quiet and watching, but that''s when the instructor spoke up.


    "Gentlemen, I would appreciate you not using your skills. You were only meant to look at them."


    "Sorry sir, we just had a good idea and wanted to test it while it was fresh." Tobias said on their behalf.


    "Yes, I figured that by seeing one of you go flying across the room, but my point still stands." The instructor replied.


    He then directed them all to take their seats and went into the tiers of power and the ranks of the guild.


    For Kyrain it was mostly a refresher of how there was option to start as an initiate. One thing Kyrain didn''t know, is that if he successfully completed the initiate program, he would receive the initiated badge, which not only helps in the act of moving up through the ranks of the guild, but also guaranteed a 5% increase in pay from every job from the guild.


    Clients are also told that an Initiated took their request which to them signified that the request is more likely to be completed quickly and successfully than other adventurers who did not grow up in the guild.


    They went over the old news of them getting their probationary license when they reached the age of 16 and were above tier 2. You were a junior adventurer at that point and you could handle lesser monsters in a few marked off zones or help with security at a few approved businesses such as schools and hospitals as your first combat jobs to gain experience. This is the time you would begin harsher combat training than when you were an initiate. You worked with real weapons against one another as well, under careful observation of specially trained healers.


    Then finally once you reach the age of 18 and achieved tier 3 or higher, you could become an Iron rank Adventurer, able to take on any iron rank jobs and the seriously true danger begins.  You are more on your own and the training wheels are off.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Eventually the class ended.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! Ensure you come in ready for strenuous activity. We recommend physical fitness attire. You will need to be at the guild the same time you were here this morning.


    - Next morning -


    The entire initiate class met in the classroom they used before in various forms of workout clothes. Many seemed rather jittery. Kyrain on the other hand was rather excited with his new skill to see how much of a change it would be in the assessment. He had a feeling it would add so much to any team he was on. He already frustrated his two uncles whenever they stopped in for training. Neither of them could help him build out his path because they had no idea about antimatter. The internet didn''t offer anything except vague ideas.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen, would you please follow me. We are going to get this party started." A large man with scale looking armor and scars across his face and arms said.


    They all began to move toward the exit and went into one of the attached smaller domes, used for sparing and guild training. Once inside, the large man turned around.


    "We are now going to separate you into a few groups. On my right side, all those who are already trained or being trained in a weapons, multiple weapons or unarmed combat."


    A solid 70% of the group went to this group leaving only a handful of those not trained in weapons remaining. A woman stepped up at this time.


    "You who are not trained in any form of combat, please come with me so we can assess you physically in a different way." She said as they all followed her out of the area.


    The big man stepped back in and began to direct people. In one group, he put all of the ranged combatants who would use bows, guns, throwables, and even one kid used chains. In the other group he had all of the melee specialty people, be they armed and unarmed as was the case with Elijah. During the sorting, a group of guild official began to set up targets with a bunch of aether circuitry.


    "Each of you will step forward. You will demonstrate three primary tests. The first is strength. This will be based on how much damage you can do to the target in front of you using only your body. No active skills are permitted during these exams. The next test will be your reflexes where you will adapt to something done and how quickly you can. The final assessment will be a durability exam where you will take a series of blows until you yield. This assessment will be used later on in the initiate program to help you train and develop yourselves physically for the jobs and tasks of the guilds. It is necessary for your safety."


    The large man clapped his hands and the other guild members began getting groups of Initiates in front of targets who were then directed to hit the targets with a weapon of their choice that was to the side of the line. To Kyrain''s delight he saw varying numbers pop up on the screens next to the targets when they were struck. No damage was done to them, as he saw an aether shield appear to stop the impacts. He saw trends in the numbers though. Nobody seemed to get to 100 or above, but plenty in the 70s and 80s.


    It was finally Kyrain''s turn. He chose a short sword like he would use with his uncle. There was something about the balance in weight and speed. His uncle Mitch used either a long sword or a katana and was so unbelievably fast and strong, whereas his other uncle Kody used what he found out later was called a bident.


    Kyrain walked up and go ready with his weapon down by his side in a relaxed grip. He took one breath in and darted in. He moved for all his tier could allow then swung allowinghis passive nullification take effect. The aether shield appeared, but as soon as his sword made contact with the shield it popped like a soap bubble, causing his sword to cleave right into the target causing the screen on the side to go out.


    The attendant came forward looking extremely unhappy.


    "Right....you''re the anti-aether kid. You''re going to go with the other group for physical assessment. We can''t really measure you here."


    Kyrain just sighed and went off to find the other group as he heard the attendant''s clearly angry muttering about something.

 Chapter 7 - Arrogance can hurt

    "What is the point of a physcial assessment? Couldn''t you just look at the tier for how strong someone is?" Someone in the group said as Kyrain walked in.


    "That''s a great question. This is to help us, help you determine your role as a guild members. These roles are broken up into 2 categories which are broken down further. The first two categories are front line or back line. Then it''s broken down further into tank, dps, and support.


    Some can take on multiple or all roles. These assessments let us gauge where to train you or help you reach your goal of becoming one of those roles." The assessor explained.


    Ky joined the back of the group.


    "Since none of you are combat trained or know really anything about fighting yet, we will test your strength, speed, and resiliency. We want to see you attack the dummies in front of the group with a punch, a kick, then attempt to tackle it.


    After, we will put you through an obstacle course, then you will be pelted with rubber balls at increasing speeds until you can''t take it anymore, testing both physical and mental resiliency. Aether isn''t permitted as that will be tomorrow''s assessment. Passives, naturally, are allowed."


    They were formed up and Kyrain watched the pitiful attempts on the dummies as people did as instructed. Eventually it was his turn.


    "I was sent over from the other side as my passives don''t allow them to test properly." He said as he stepped up.


    "Name?" The attendant asked looking at his pad.


    "Kyrain Ekart. Anti-aether path." He replied.


    "Oh yeah, that makes sense. I''m assuming by who you are related to that you have combat training?"


    "Yes. The role I''m planning to take is a DPS/Tank role. I can do both extremely well with my abilities." Kyrain said.


    The attendant nodded. "Let''s see it. One punch, kick, then tackle."


    Kyrain walked up got into a basic stance then with a push, twist, and roll he launched right straight into the middle of the dummy causing it to rock back. The energy that would have been transfered back to his hand where injuries come from was nullified. He reset his stance and threw a rolling kick into where the rib cage of the dummy would be rocking it sideways.


    He hopped back a step then charged. He lifted the surprisingly heavy dummy off the ground then slammed it down then mounting it out of habit for more attacks.


    "Good!" The attendant said. "More or less to be expected. You can get in the course line over there for speed testing."


    Kyrain jumped up and went over to the indicated line. He didn''t have to wait long for the obstacle course. He didn''t do anything out of expectation when it was his turn. He was a tier two and had an advantage as he had run the course before, but that was really it.


    When it came time for the resiliency test, he really stood out. They had a pitching machine set up with an "X" where the initiate would stand. Since the addition of his new skill he recognized potential and kinetic energy so his passive worked to nullify it. He could feel the antimatter points nudge with every hit taken and it took more and more per shot to nullify.


    After about ten minutes the attendants had the machine as fast as it could go, but none of the energy that would cause damage to him could make it through.


    The group was brought back together once the assessment was done for all of them and they were given the guild recommendation for their roles.


    At his feedback he was not really suprised.


    "As you have probably assumed, you are good at offense and unparalleled in defense. We recommend you become a tank. With your ability to bypass aether, you have a great aptitude for offense as well." The attendant said.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Kyrain nodded and thanked the man, heading out of the room where he met up with his group. His cousins and Elijah seemed to be in pretty good spirits where it looked like they did pretty well for themselves.


    - The next day -


    "Ladies and Gents! Bring it in!" Came the call from Andrew the guild representative that had been running the assessments.


    "We need you to break up into offense, defense, and support groups. For the aether assessment." He said.


    The group was directed to three areas to wait. Elijah went to the support group, Sebastian went to offense, with Tobias and Kyrain heading to the defense group.


    They were led into a similar room as before, but now there were a whole variety of people waiting for them.


    "As we call your name, you''re going to come to the table and verify that the information for your path is correct. At any time you can end the assessment and you can be dismissed from the initiate program.


    The objective today is to rate as high as you can for defense. The higher you can rate, the more we can advertise you around the city for different jobs be they strength based, or things that require lower tiered defense such as weapon forging, some construction work, or even things that an elemental defense is required." He said.


    After that they all went and sat down and they began calling names. As they came up, there was a short conversation about what their defense was about and how it worked. One or more of the guild members around the room would step up and begin using their skills to test the defense and get maximum use out of the initiates skills until they broke.


    "Tobias Patterson!"


    Kyrain slapped his hand in a stort of high five as Tobias got up.


    After a brief conversation he went to the ring as three of the guild members stepped forward. Two had wooden swords and one was preparing aether skills.


    They darted in with the weapons and began pummeling Tobias. At first the weapons were hurting him then with every strike, they did less and less damage. They darted backwards as a fireball launched. It slamming into Tobias who shrugged it off with minimal damage to him. His shirt on the other hand, was incinerate and fell to dust.


    The guild members darted back in and tried to pummel him again only to have their strikes stopped through brute strength by a heavily empowered Tobias casually catching them.


    The attendant called for a stop. There was a brief conversation, then Tobias was on his way back. Kyrain tossed Tobias''s backpack at him who caught it, reached in and grabbed another shirt.


    "Good job man! I can''t wait to see how much stronger you''re going to get with your Adaptation skill combined with your Juggernaut''s  Steadfastness." Kyrain said as another initiate was called up and tested.


    After another 15 minutes Kyrain was finally called. Tobias gave him a pat on the back and a thumbs up.


    Kyrain went up like everyone else.


    "Your path is spellbreaker where it nullifies aether right?" The attendant asked and Kyrain confirmed. "It has a lot of us confused how to test you Mr. Ekart."


    Kyrain looked at each of them and smirked.


    "Send them all." He said as the attendant juat shrugged, signaling to the healer present to be ready just in case.


    Kyrain walked to the center and stood, preparing all of his skills.


    Once he was in position, the signal was given and the members all launched their strikes. Fire, water, earth, wind, and a few variations of those elements and even a light pink mental aether slammed into him.


    He felt his Wellspring of antimatter bottom out from the influx of attacks. He pushed back immediately regretting his cocky attitude. He felt the damage begin to come through and he winced not used to taking damage in general. He tried to pull harder on his wellspring for more.


    Water tried to wrap itself around him, but sloshed away, the mud stabbed toward him, but collapsed back lifeless. The wind was sent in a whirlwind trying to suffocate him, only to have it dissapate. The variants all returned to their natural states and the mental attack, stunning him for the briefest of moments, to his suprise at the minor effectiveness, dissipated as well, but the fire stream partially got through.


    In spite of his harder pull on the wellspring, it didn''t respond any different, as his usual amount kept coming through. The pain was getting worse. He wasn''t about to be a quitter. He could never look uncle Kody in the face. He dodged out of the way, as points refilled.


    He reached out with his Redirect skill scooping the fire and pushed. The flames stopped, concentrated, then redirected against its user. The flames canceled eachother out leaving the other users attacking him. He took the attacks again, but with the fire aether out of the way it was breaking even and nothing got through until a few seconds later when the fire user rejoined the barrage.


    He prepared for the pain again when a signal came in to stop.


    Kyrain slumped to the ground, breathing heaving. Burns covered his body and he felt rather embarrassed, but proud. He pushed himself to the limit even after biting off more than he could chew.


    Perhaps, he should pick his fights better as uncle Mitch and his cousins always warned him to do.


    He got himself back up. After a brief round of congratulations from the guild attendant for a good showing, he went back to his cousin who was shaking his head knowing Ky had almost made a complete fool of himself.


    Arrogance is rather painful.

 Interlude - Sorin: Arrival

    - Two days after the graduation of Euryale from the Academy -


    The ship he was on, landed and he was led out with the rest of the former conscripts from the academy.


    As he left the craft he looked around and saw he was in a red dust covered area with the sound of machinery everywhere. Many different races were around him in various states of abuse and exhaustion.


    *zap!* *crack!*


    An electric shock prod went off with the power of a taser, causing one of the miners to scream and go down.


    "Keep your eyes off of me, slave!" Said a large man that resembled what Sorin believed to be a troll as a smaller Dwarf laughed behind him at the twitching slave.


    "Move!" A voice growled behind him as he and the others were shoved forward into a line.


    "Stand up straight for the foreman!" Came a shout as some of the conscripts had their hair grabbed and lifted straight as a short extremely fat human with greasy hair, waddled up looking at all the new arrivals.


    The man began to speak and Sorin couldn''t contain himself and laughed out loud. The man had a high pitched nasally voice straight out of an anime.


    *wham!*


    A rod slammed into Sorin''s lower back knocking him forward as the foreman came stomping over.


    "What....could possibly be so funny for one in your position?" The fat man said, but all Sorin could do is bite his lips together and shake his head to keep from laughing more.


    "You will answer when I speak to you, slave!" The man said snapping his fingers. Sorin was hauled back up to his feet and led over to a stout metal pole and anchored to the ground and chained to it.


    With a wave of the foreman''s hand, whips held by two guards, came down across Sorin''s back and immediately the laughter inside Sorin died out.


    White hot lines of pain scorched down his back seeming almost amplified somehow to hurt worse. After the tenth strike, he was unchained and thrown down in front of the foreman.


    "Not funny now, is it?" He asked with a cruel sneer on his face.


    "Get back in line!" He shouted as Sorin slowly got back to his feet, hurting and furious.


    The man looked back up at the rest of the arrivals. "My name is Foreman Gisbon and as you can see through your fellow slave''s very generous volunteering; I am the law here. If you fail to meet meal quota of aether iron ore, you will not eat. If you don''t get that quota long enough you will not be strong enough to get it and you starve. Luckily the mine never stops or closes so take as long as you need." He said with that cruel sneer again.


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "We never run out of workers and don''t really care if you live. Just do us a favor and go down to the deepest parts of the mine to die so we don''t have to deal with the body. Rebellion is met with execution and it''s easy to follow through with since everyone is collared."


    He looked around at the group before nodding at the silence.


    "Put them to work." He said waving his hand dismissively.


    They were shoved forward where they went through a couple of stations. The first station they each got a pickaxe and the next gave them a canteen and a leather backpack which they were told was their meal quota once full of ore.


    They were led to where they could and were instructed to fill them up with what was murky muddy water.


    Once the group had water, they were marched off to different parts of the mine and one or two were left at each part instructed to find the others to be shown where to trade quotas for meals.


    Sorin was the last and was led further in than anyone. The guard stopped and turned to Sorin with a grin.


    "I was asked to give further regards of our foreman." With a blur of motion that Sorin with his collar couldn''t match, he felt a major blow to his stomach then the blows really rained down. Punches and kicks until he could barely move.


    "Good luck getting your quota." The guard said leaving the bloody Sorin laying in the middle of the tunnel with a dim red aether light.


    Sorin''s regeneration skill though severely curtailed still worked and began patching his injuries. After about a half hour, he was healed enough to begin moving without excruciating pain lancing through him.


    He grabbed the pickax and began to work on the wall. He grabbed the aether light and looked closer at the wall after some stone came away. All he saw was just dark rock. No ore at all.


    He began looking along the wall with his light going further and further down. Everywhere he looked it was just dark stone. There was no change and Sorin didn''t have a clue what he was looking for.


    After about an hour of looking for any changes in the wall, he just sat down and began thinking through everything as he felt his wounds hurting less and less.


    He knew he needed to figure out the collar. He had damaged the artificial gravity field according to the system before. He closed his eyes and began to use his internal aether to work the collar. He spun his aether and began to drill into the collar.


    After what seemed like a couple of hours, he got a single fleck off the field and it remained gone, until his aether was withdrawn and the field was repaired.


    Sorin sat and looked at the part he was drilling on, realizing what had to be done in concert with drilling and dreaded it, but got to work anyway.


    Sorin didn''t know how much time went by, but he drilled and pushed and pushed until he felt his strength slowly begin flowing back into him. He looked closely and saw a threat of his aether had managed to drill through making contact with the outside world.


    His head ached beyond anything he had felt before and with access to the aether outside again, it began to recede.


    He activated Absorption and pulled aether in as hard as he could trying to widen the small path in the collar''s gravity field and slowly, ever so slowly, barely able to be seen, it expanded.


    He kept maintaining that path. The strain on his mind was immense, but he kept it up.


    Sorin tried to pull up his HUD.


    Warning!


    HUD disabled due to aether repulsion field. Emergency messages are all that are available to user.


    Sorin guessed he didn''t have quite enough aether to bring the HUD back. He couldn''t sense more than an inch off of his skin, and his strength wasn''t coming back quickly at all. He was breathing essentially out of a needle in a manner of speaking. He smiled though.


    He had a way forward and maybe this collar could be used as a training tool now that he knew he could get through it.


    He got back up maintaining his mental and aetheric effort and began digging into the wall for his quota. He would test this and see if it actually was feasible.

 Chapter 8 - So it begins

    "95% huh? Freaking show off!" Came the shout as Ky was getting his initiate license unblocked.


    Kyrain turned around seeing Sebastian, Tobias, and Elijah coming in. Ky scratched his head with an embarrassed smile.


    "Yep, missed one." He said to the group.


    "You getting ready to head out and get to work for the guild?" Elijah asked.


    "Yeah, my mom already put in the request specifically for me. She always knew it would be helpful having me around, but when I helped her get patients treated the other day, she absolutely wanted me around. She also said, I could really work on my path by coming up with new ways to use my powers." Kyrain explained as the others presented their pass tokens to get their own initiate licenses unblocked.


    Once they were all unblocked and they could legally take the initiate jobs, they headed over to the screens.


    They all stepped up, placed their license on a upraised portion of the front of the screen until they heard the beep.


    Good afternoon Initiate Kyrain Ekart!


    - Profile


    - Initiate Job requests


    - Turn in jobs


    - Appraisal


    - Team finder


    - bounties


    Kyrain touched the job requests.


    Job requests


    Rank: Initiate


    1. City Laborer: Strength based [Details]


    2. Water Purification: Spirit/Mind based [Details]


    3. Crop production: Strength/Spirit based [Details]


    The jobs went on down the list for a while until he saw what he was looking for.


    37. Medical Assistant: Nullification [Details]


    Kyrain selected details on the job. His mom said she would put in the request when he said that he was interested in doing more work that helped people.


    She was ecstatic being able to have him work along side her, that she didn''t hesitate getting it cleared with human resources and finances to bring him on as her assistant in treating the harder cases.


    Medical Assistant Details


    Requirement: Possess path in Nullification of aether.


    Description:


    Clarksville Main hospital has requested the services of one who can nullify aether to allow for treatment of the more tricky and difficult cases. Upon acceptance of job, guild member will he assigned to Brittanie "Seraph" Ekart until job completion.


    Work time: 0530 - 1630 Mon - Fri


    Completion criteria:


    1. Termination by hospital through unsatisfactory performance


    2. Services are no longer required


    3. Guilld member is ready to seek employment elsewhere.


    Payment:


    Initiate rate: 1-5 D rank cores.


    Requestor has offered 1 D core per patient treated through guild member assistance.


    Accept?


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    [Yes] [No]


    Kyrain accepted the job by touching the screen on the "Yes" button.


    You have accepted initiate job 37.


    Another transaction?


    [Yes] [No]


    Kyrain pressed "No" which reset the screen. Turning back he saw the others were still not done yet so he waiting patiently for them.


    After a few more minutes they all completed one after the other.


    Elijah got a job with the hospital as well. Turns out his dad, Alex, works there on the surgery floor with a blood based healer path. He wouldn''t be working with his dad, but would be handling minor training injuries where his healing skills could be used and developed further under the careful watch of the hospital.


    Sebastian took a job with the guild as a training understudy. He would come to the guild every morning and work as an assistant for the guild trainers. As an added job perk they would train him in combat, aether use, and other skills on top of cores which was an awesome gig.


    Tobias selected a job with the Crafters hall. They specialized in weapons and armor made from monster parts. He would be helping with the heat and forging processes. With his path, he could shrug off the heat and damage regardless of how strong the forges got. He could really nurture his path there as a Juggernaut.


    "We still meet here once a week to do training as a team right?" Tobias asked once they were done showing eachother their jobs.


    "Yes sir!" Ky said as the others nodded. "We have a solid adventuring team and in a few years, we will be able to take on missions as a team. Weekly we meet up so that we don''t have a problem later integrating new skills and abilities."


    They made some small talk and plans to meet here and there, but eventually they all set off including Kyrain to head home to get ready for the next day. His mom wouldn''t be home yet, she didn''t get home until late afternoon, but he would be seeing enough of her in the coming years.


    - 4 years later -


    Congratulations Kyrain Ekart!


    You have achieved 16 years of age and exceed tier 2 in power.


    Junior Adventurer rank is now available.


    Accept?


    [Yes] [No]


    Kyrain couldn''t press "yes" fast enough.


    Please insert Inititiate guild license into slot


    Below the screens lit up with a blue color indicating the slot. He pushed his license in like he did at the ATM.


    There was a heavier click followed by machine whirring then a click again.


    The screen changed.


    Congratulations!


    By the authority of the Clarksville Guild, you are hereby recognized as a Junior Adventurer.


    The following is available to you:


    - Junior Adventurer job requests


    - Increased guild training intensity


    Would you like another transaction?


    [Yes] [No]


    Kyrain selected yes and went down to the "Team Finder" option.


    Team Finder


    Please select role:


    - I am looking for a team


    - I am building a team


    He chose the second option


    Do you wish to select guild members?


    Do you wish to advertise?


    For this, Kyrain selected the first option. The day before each of them had met up and determined he would have the administrative task of setting up the team.


    You have selected the following for your team


    Leader: Kyrain Ekart (Self: Will automatically accept team invitation.


    Tobias Patterson


    Sebastian Rose


    Elijah Rayner


    Confirm and send invitation?


    [Yes] [No]


    Kyrain selected yes.


    He returned to the main menu then went down into jobs which had the new jobs.


    - Junior Adventure job requests


    1. Security Jobs [expand for locations]


    2. D rank monsters EXTERMINATION [Expand for locations]


    3. Material Retreival jobs [Expand for job listing]


    4. Low risk job requests [Expand for job listing]


    Kyrain selected the second option as the guys had agreed. They wanted to get out into the Junior adventurer areas and start exterminating monsters.


    Extermination


    1. Zone 1: Monsters in this area are D rank of the FIRE variety


    2. Zone 2: Monsters in this area are D rank of the WATER variety


    3. Zone 3: Monsters in this area are D rank of the Earth Variety


    4. Zone 4: Monsters in this area are D rank of the WIND variety.


    Zone 5: Monsters in this area are D rank with (1) C rank of all primary varieties.


    They had agreed to start with something simple.


    Kyrain selected zone 3 and accepted the extermination request. Which gave their team a quota of 10 of each beast for a total of 20 monsters. It paid 20 cores and they even got to keep the ones they earned. So 10 cores per person for a job completion. They had done their homework already and knew that the area they were headed to had mostly Pebble boars, and Stonescale Armadillos.


    Their defenses would be pretty high, but offense wise, they just needed to worry about the tusks of the boars and the claws of the armadillos and the scales it could shoot.


    Content with everything, Kyrain headed out and went home to rest up for tomorrow. They had been training together as a team since they were 12 and 13, now tomorrow they would finally start hunting monsters as actual adventurers and he was excited.

 Chapter 9 - Make it look easy

    "Zone 3!" Came the call from the rail attendant.


    Kyrain and the boys stood and got off the guild rail line.


    This rail line connected all the zones and was built a few years after the appearance of the rifts. It circled the rifts which also were divided into zones. The closer to the rifts, the stronger the monsters become.


    The rail line was pushed all the way out far enough that the Junior adventurers could defend the rail line through their extermination missions, which leaves the full adventurers free to push deeper toward the rifts to accomplish their extermination requests. They wouod cull the stronger and stronger beasts keeping them away from the surrounding cities.


    The group disembarked and immediately headed out into the field excited to start killing these monsters and getting cores, but were quickly disappointed. They couldn''t find a single monster anywhere.


    Finally after another hour they heard it. The tell tale grunting of a pebble boar.


    "Finally!" Sebastian shouted as he drew his sword and hand ax.


    The boar grunted and turned toward the group with a sharp squeal. It charged Sebastian who laughed and swung his ax down with ease.


    *ping!*


    The ax was deflected off its rocky pelt as the beast continued its charge and sank its black obsidian like tusks into his leg.


    With a scream he felt the boar rip it''s tusks out of his leg, which allowed him to limp away as Tobias and Kyrain stepped in to block the way for further damage.


    The boar charged Tobias only to be stopped by a shield he carried and then Tobias tried to press the boar to the ground.


    To his suprise he wasn''t able to. The boar just kept coming until he pushed off the shield and got around the boar out of the way.


    "I''m back!" Sebastian shouted coming back into the fight.


    "Having someone able to whip us back into shape is useful." He said throwing a thank you wave back at the Elijah who just waved and continued to watch the boar.


    Kyrain saw it was his turn. He targeted the boar with his antimatter skill and tried to get rid of anything in boar, but found it really wasn''t an aether ability. It was just it''s actual flesh. He did drain aether from the beast, but it wasn''t near as effective as when he disrupted people.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    He did succeed in tiring the beast out a bit by draining the aether away. Kyrain darted in with his sword toward the beasts face, a risk he knew, and lunged. The beast turned it''s head at the last moment causing a tusks to hit the blade and letting it rip up cutting through the side of its face and through an eye.


    With a squeal of pain, the boar twisted it''s heavily muscled neck and ripped the sword from Kyrain''s hand and flung it to the side.


    Tobias shifted in front of Kyrain and swung a flanged mace down on the head of the boar which seemed to do some damage. Parts of the boar''s rocky hide when flying from the impact as it continued to squeal.


    Kyrain ran around the side of the beast, grabbed his sword and went in for another strike on the boar. He looked underneath the boar and saw a lighter tone underneath. He did a baseball slide up next to the boar and slamed the blade up into its front armpit.


    He expected the blade to stop, but when it didn''t, he overcommited tons of strength and the sword went clear through the inside of the beast until it was stopped on the other side by the hard outer armored flesh.


    There was a new panicked squeal that was deafening. Kyrain ripped his blade straight back toward himself and out ripping more flesh and causing even more bleeding before getting clear of the new adrenaline saturated beast that had begun thrashing and kicking.


    "How is this a low level monster?! There is no way these should be this hard to kill!" Sebastian shouted irritably as the monster began to weaken more from blood loss.


    After another minutes the boar began to sway on its feet and become almost dazed with lethargy.


    Sebastian darted in and slammed his sword through the pebble boar''s remaining eye. It dropped and began to kick until the nerves finally stopped.


    Elijah came up and looked it and everyone over. "Perhaps it''s like those beast hunting games where some beasts are strong to different kinds of damage. I noticed Tobias smashing it with his mace did some damage where the swords and ax needed soft points to have any effect."


    The four of them looked at eachother then started laughing.


    "Yeah...almost like we got classes on this in school too." Tobias said.


    After a brief pause they got the core out of the beast. A green and brown D rank core. They pushed on and continued hunting around. The following hours went by like they were carried on the back of a snail.


    The armadillos were way harder to kill as they would curl up and they had to be bludgeoned to death and exhausted. Sebastian was also bored with those as he couldn''t get through the creatures armor and they didn''t set his class off.


    Tobias had a mace and beat them to death agonizing slow.


    They had finally killed the final D Rank monster as the sun began to crest the horizon on the following day.


    "We see videos of these extermination missions and they make it look so darn easy, but this was rough and miserable." Kyrain said bone weary tired.


    Elijah pulled the core from the beast and put it into their core pouch for the full 20 they needed to take out.


    The boys then made their way back to the guild. After a quick stop at the screens they turned in proof of mission and recieved 20 more D rank cores which they split evenly ten each.


    They were not interested in any conversation or additional jobs. School would be starting up soon again with the end of the summer and they were about to be juniors in high school.


    They were all excited because they were initiates with their first job done and that meant bragging rights and looking cool.

 Chapter 10 - First rule of hunting

    Kyrain rolled out of bed as his alarm went off.


    He was pretty excited for school. It was his junior year and he was hoping it was going to be an awesome time. Before the world changed it was the first year that his dad really came into his own with sports.


    Mom on the other hand, for whatever reason, has herself convinced she was an ugly duckling. He disagrees, but he had learned a while ago that when mom gets a thought in her head, there is no changing it.


    He got up and got dressed in an outfit he had specially picked out for his first day of school, brand new shoes, new backpack, he was ready. Had to look cool as he went in.


    "Kyrain! You''re going to miss the bus if you keep moving at your pace!" His mom shouted from the kitchen.


    Kyrain frowned. He didn''t want to take the bus to school. Nobody looks good getting off of a school bus. He didn''t want to run. Even at his current tier it was still far enough that he would show up sweaty and he couldn''t have that.


    "Mom....can''t you just drop me off on the way to work?" He asked.


    "No. Your dad and I rode the bus and you will as well." She replied quickly brokering little argument, but Kyrain pressed anyway.


    "Mom it''s embarrassing to be on the bus. It makes me look poor and lame." He said.


    "How much money do you have? Did you buy those clothes, shoes, pack, anything?" His mother snapped back.


    Kyrain looked down as he walked into th3 living room not looking into the kitchen realizing he just made a huge mistake.


    "No....." He said weakly


    "Then you are poor. We have enough in this family and you should be content with the good things we do have. If you want more, then you get more jobs from the guild and earn them."


    Kyrain was red in the face from the embarrassing dressing down. Nothing she said was wrong and he knew it, but he was not going to take it laying down. He was 16 years old now and almost a full member of the guild.


    "I am taking jobs now mom! I''m almost an adult and shouldn''t be reduced to ridding a bus or having to look stupid." He yelled at her.


    His mother''s green eyes began to switch colors taking on a golden glow and the color of her powers began to leak off of her in anger.


    "Kyrain Ekart! I don''t care if you are 30 years old. As long you live under this roof and depend on me for clothing and food, you will do what I say when I say. You are beyond lucky your dad isn''t here. He would have come across this house and crushed you for this." He snapped back.


    "Oh yeah...I''ve heard that before. Dad this, dad that. He isn''t coming back mom, and even if he does, what is he going to do? Nobody can touch me!


    Chairs slid back from the kitchen and heavy steps could be heard coming toward the living room.


    "You think so?" Came a very familiar voice.


    To Kyrain''s absolute horror, not just his uncle Mitch came into view, but his uncle Kody both white with fury.


    "You want to test your powers for real boy? Ok...after school today, you will come to guild and we will see just how "untouchable" you are." Kody said with a the most evil grin Kyrain had ever seen.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Sorin always knew this day would come when you got too big for your britches. Extremely unlucky for you to run your mouth with both of us here." Mitchell said.


    Brittanie just shook her head. She was nervous for her only son and dreaded what was to come, but knew it had to be done.


    "Kyrain, I will also see you at the guild. I''m insanely disappointed the morning went this way. Kody and I both came to check on your dad as your mother is the only one who can see him and we have to deal with this, but so be it. We will see if the little cub actually has grown teeth." Mitch said walking out the door.


    Kyrain felt shock and horror at the mess he quickly found himself in. Two of the most powerful people he had ever seen were about to get their pound of flesh out of him.


    "You will report to the guild like they said Ky." His mother said. He could see the disappointment and another set of emotions on her face as she walked out of the house.


    She poked her head back in. "The bus is almost here."


    - a little while later -


    "Dude....what happened?" Tobias asked the still very pale Kyrain.


    "I screwed up. I didn''t want to ride the bus and back-talked my mom. I didn''t know Uncle Mitch and Uncle Kody had stopped in when I said what I did." He said.


    Tobias''s eyes went wide. "Holy crap dude, what did you say?!"


    "Well my mom said I was lucky my dad wasn''t here because he would have came across the house and dealt with me. I wrote it off, because she keeps saying he is coming back and he never does. I may have also said that I was untouchable anyway." Kyrain said weakly.


    Tobias stopped walking, leaving Kyrain moving forward.


    "Kyrain....our whole family knows that you are anything but. We know how your abilities work. Why would you even say that?" Tobias asked.


    "I don''t know man! I was angry and mom was being difficult. Now I have to report to the guild. Both uncles will be there and they said they were going to test if I''m really as untouchable as I said."


    If Tobias wasn''t surprised before, he was now.


    "You are so dead dude. Do you want me to get Seb and go with?" He asked.


    "I would be grateful guys. This is the most scared I''ve ever been in my life. They wont kill me I know that, but Uncle Kody was more pissed off than I''ve ever seen and I know how close he and my dad were, not to mention Mitchell." Kyrain replied.


    Tobias nodded and followed quietly.


    Kyrain went through the first day of school in a sort of daze. Luckily it was all welcome back sessions and didn''t really mean much, but before he knew it, the final bell sounded and it was time to go to the guild.


    He went to the locker room and changed into his adventurer armor then met with hus cousins who waited for him at the guild bus stop.


    Kyrain, Tobias, and Sebastian rode the guild bus in silence for the 20 minuted it took to get there.


    They got off the bus and headed into the guild itself only to be met by an attendant.


    "Mr. Ekart, your reservation is ready for you. Please follow me. Gentlemen, it was said you two would probably come and I have been instructed to request you to wait outside. This is a private reservation with specific personnel."


    Kyrain looked back at his two cousins and fist bumped them then followed the attendant. Kyrain wondered if the feelings running through him were what those on death row felt.


    The attendant opened the doors and led him in. The training area had been modified with the moat providing thousands of gallons of water all around the edge of the area. The attended moved off to the side and he saw both of his uncles sitting in the chairs off to the side chatting with one another. They stopped as he came in.


    "Come here kid!" Kody shouted.


    Kyrain not wanting to make things worse, ran over. As he arrived his uncle asked him a very strange question.


    "Do you know the first rule of hunting?"


    "No sir." Kyrain replied in an uncertain confused tone.


    "It''s to make sure that you are actually the hunter and not the prey." Kody said.


    He pointed to the other side of the training area and to Kyrains complete shock, his mother came walking out in her armor carrying her signature twisted golden spear.


    "She''s first boy. Then you will face us. You will pay for your disrespect to your mother first and then we will sort you out for disrespecting your dad." Kody said.


    "Good luck. She''s pissed." Mitch said with a small shudder.


    Kyrain shakily drew his sword. He had never faced his mother. He didn''t even know his mother could fight. He took his place across from her.


    "I''m sorry mom, I messed up. I won''t ever do it again." Kyrain said to her, his voice echoing through the room.


    Her only response was activating her powers causing her legendary golden wings to sprout from her back, then dropped into a stance Kyrain could tell she was extremely practiced in.


    Kyrain was in serious trouble.

 Chapter 11 - A lesson in humility

    So many emotions were going through Brittanie as she looked across at her suprised and clearly nervous son.


    He tried to apologize, but she knew the lesson had to be taught. If this attitude of arrogance and superiority appeared like it did, words wouldn''t work to make sure her son didn''t become a tyrant or worse.


    His powers had too much potential for good and bad and it was on them to make sure he used his strength properly.


    "Begin!" Mitch shouted.


    She took a single step and her vision blurred for a split second and she was behind Kyrain who didn''t even see her move. She knew, to him, it would be as if she vanished.


    She swung her spear across his back. On impact she could feel just over half of her impact drain out from the strike. The impact itself still threw Kyrain forward.


    Brit flashed to his front and launched a front kick to his chest with the same effect. He still staggered backwards trying to follow her speed. Then she really began.


    - Kyrain -


    He couldn''t even see her move. It seemed like teleportation to him for those first two strikes and then it seemed like she was everywhere at once. He brought his sword up trying to defend himself and that''s when he felt a searing pain lance across his left calf.


    He turned and a cut appeared on his right tricep, then right calf, left tricep, and then all over his body in ten seconds. He was so completely outmatched it was laughable and he knew it.


    He tried to extend his antiaether field to lock on to his mom. She must have noticed, because she stopped right in front of him.


    - Brittanie -


    She felt what he was trying to do and to prove her point that his strength was meaningless to much higher tiers of power, she stopped and let him.


    The drain on her increased, but she was a tier 7 and shrugged through the effects and extended her light whips from her back. Thin lines of pure gold light attached themselves around all four of Kyrains limbs and dragged him to her. His eyes went wide as his skills meant absolutely nothing to her by appearance alone.


    Seeing him like this was killing her inside though. This was her baby boy. She held him so close when he was born and taught him everything. She nursed him when he was sick. Tears streamed down her face from how much it hurt her, but she knew Kyrain needed to learn that he isn''t untouchable and that he can''t walk through life thinking he was or he would get himself killed.


    She wished every day for Sorin to return as this was a dad''s role when a child got to this point, but they would do it themselves to make sure he became a good man. Sorin always told her when he was here.


    "A good man is a dangerous man, but a gentle one. Any boy can use their strength for selfish gains, but a man uses their strength to shelter those around him."


    Brittanie reared back with her right hand, spear in her left and punched. She felt the usual amount leave her strike, but it was still enough.


    *wham!*


    She smashed Kyrain square in the jaw. She saw his eyes roll back and he went down unconscious.


    She scanned his body making sure there were no major injuries. With a twist of her will she healed the cuts to him and the fracture to his jaw, but left the forming bruises.


    - Kyrain -


    Kyrain opened his eyes and slowly got up. He had a headache already. The last thing he saw was his mother immobilize him even at his full power like it was nothing and then casually punch him in the jaw, putting him to sleep.


    "Get ready. I''m next." His uncle said as water began rushing over his feet and his uncle stood on the water as it moved him across the arena, his bident in hand.


    "I''m not as fast as your mom, but I promise it won''t be an issue." He said as the water all around them exploded into needles of water and shot toward him.


    Kyrain reacted as he had seen this technique before in their training, but never to this level. He curled up pushing his nullification to the max, but it stopped maybe half of the water needles as the rest stabbed into him.


    To his horror, they flowed out of the wound mixed with his blood and flowed around his joints before freezing. He panicked as he couldn''t move anymore. He needed more. Tier 3 wasn''t cutting it. He struggled against the path to the beyond. He needed more.


    He pushed harder than he ever had before in his desperation. It didn''t move any more than it usually did, but in Kyrain''s panicked, desperate mind he didn''t even care. He pushed and pushed and pushed.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He struggled like an animal caught in a trap and then it jumped.


    *bleep*


    A rush of strength pushed into his limbs. The water and ice locking him in place fell away.


    Kyrain looked up and saw the suprise in his uncles face, then a manic grin. "Now we''re talking!" The water grabbed him and pushed him forward quickly with ice forming around Kyrain''s feet even through the new tier upgrade.


    Kyrain could feel that he had reached tier 4 and he was going to use it. Kody slashed out with his spear with a still unimaginable speed as Kyrain used his newest skill, he was quickly overwhelmed, but it slowed the strike enough allowing Kyrain to lean out of the way and release what aether he had caught in the strike.


    There was a kinetic shockwave as his uncle was ripped up and out of the water, throwing him across the room. Before he could crash, the water caught him and he gracefully flipped to his feet.


    "That''s a new trick." Kody said as he completely drained the water reservoirs in the arean and sent them all at Kyrain, enveloping him in a dome of water.


    He nullified the water around him, but it had nowhere to go. It was recycled back into the water outside of his sphere then it turned into ice lances and they launched all over him.


    Cuts appeared all over his body and he was running out of oxygen. Spots began to appear in his vision and he exhaled. The fight quickly left him as did the water around him.


    He slumped to the ground as the water was all returned to the reservoirs. He lay on the ground coughing and sputtering as a guilld healer came running in.


    "Heal only the cuts and more serious injuries. Leave the bruises and aches." He heard his uncle Kody direct the healer.


    Kyrain just lay there thinking about how he got into this mess. He knew he would never cross this line. He was nothing to both his mother and uncle. They were still holding back and could have crushed him in an instant.


    After a few minutes, he heard the rasp of a sword being drawn from its sheath. He looked over as his uncle Mitch took his place where Kody once stood. Sword by his side in a relaxed posture he commanded his nephew to get to his feet.


    Kyrain got up, walked over to retrieve his own sword and stood shakily across from one of the deadliest swordsman in the country.


    There was no signal given and Kyrain had no idea what was happening. One second he was looking at his uncle and the next he was spining through the air, sword leaving his hand shortly before smashing back into the ground with three cuts across his lower back that seared right after impact.


    "Get up! You are untouchable right?!" Kyrain pushed himself up grabbing his sword again. He couldn''t even register his opponent to even use his own skills. He was so horribly outmatched it wasn''t even funny.


    "You want to disrespect your mother and dad thinking that just because he isn''t here there are not consequences? Child you may be born into a family that has turned out rather extraordinary, but that doesn''t mean you get to be arrogant and think you''re better than anyone!" Mitch said.


    *wham!*


    The impact came out of nowhere. It looked like his uncle took a single step then vanished only for that impact to land at the same time, launching him across arena with three more cuts, this time to his right leg.


    "You are strong boy, but you are on track to end up as an abusive bpy who will oppress those around you with your power rather than help them. Get up!"


    Kyrain got up, placing his weight on his other leg and trying to face his uncle. He vanished with a line of dust going to the side. Kyrain was now being launched to the right, tumbling, then sliding with three more cuts this time to his left tricep.


    "If you keep on this mindset, you will end up getting put on the wanted list with hunters coming for you. Is that what you want?! Get up!"


    Kyrain had tears streaming down his face and blood dripping down his body as he slowly got back to his feet. Left arm hanging uselessly.


    His uncle vanished again.


    *wham!*


    Everything went dark.


    The nrxt thing Kyrain knew, someone was running their hands through his hair and his pain was completely gone. He opened his eyes and saw his mother.


    She smiled at him, but could still see the traces of tears on her face.


    "Welcome back little dude." Kody said when he saw him move.


    Kyrain turned his head and saw both his Uncles sitting on the ground around him with him laying in his mother''s lap.


    "We love you kid, but you can''t continue down the path you were. The world we live in now is far too dangerous for you to walk around thinking you''re the baddest guy around." Mitch said.


    "I''ve even had to call for help from time to time when I''ve been outmatched by enemies trying to press into the USA from the coast. I even had to run once when I disturbed the leviathan." Kody commented.


    Kyrain scrunched his brows.


    "Leviathan?" He asked.


    "Oh yeah...turns out the Bible was telling the truth about that thing. I was screwing around exploring and found this chasm in the ocean and this massive snake dragon. I thought I could do what I did with Krakentoa and Neptune, but I was very very wrong. It was completely impervious to anything I did."


    All three of them were now looking at Kody with their eyebrows way up. It was Brittanie that spoke first.


    "How long ago was this?" She asked.


    Kody scratched his head, smiling with embarrassment written on his face.


    "Remeber that string of tsunamis last week?" A new voice spoke up.


    They looked up as Kody''s wife and Kyrain''s Aunt Kassie and his little cousin Kalypso walk in and walking toward them.


    "That was this idiots fault. He came limping back to the house bleeding everywhere from that thing causing massive damage along the ENTIRE Pacific coast. Drained our entire bank account and then some in order to pay back damages." She said coming over and smacking him upside the head.


    Kody sputtered "It wasn''t that bad. I wasn''t able to even scratch the dumb thing though. Turns out the stories about that thing were dead on about nobody being able to kill that thing and human weapons being useless against it. Besides, I''ve said I''m sorry every single time you hit me."


    She kicked Kyrain''s leg lightly.


    "Learned not be a moron yet?" She asked.


    "Yes ma''am. I won''t be trying that ever again."


    Kassie smiled up at his uncle Kody. "If only your uncle had that ability to learn. I overheard him talking to one of his guild masters about giving it another go with precautions this time not to drain our account."


    Kody got an evil look on his face as he looked at Kassie, who had a mental path.


    Kassie paused for a moment then scrunched up her face.


    "Kody you''re absolutely disgusting! I hate when you do that. I don''t want those images in my head you pervert!"


    *smack!*

 Chapter 12 - More than nullification

    Kyrain drifted through his following days of school, mind in a haze after he was so thoroughly grounded in reality that he was not near as far as he was in power.


    He had been so humbled by three of his closest members of his family which in hindsight he realized embarrassingly, that they were right. It hurt his pride to get crushed like that and he didn''t even want to discuss it with anyone even though his cousins, Elijah, as well as others from school when he came back without his usual energy had asked.


    He moved into his science class and it was going over theory of time, space, and matter in reference to motion and thermodynamics.


    The teacher was talking about the parts that made up an atom when Kyrain raised his hand. The teacher stopped and called on him.


    "If matter is made up of nothing but energy or now as the system calls aether, does that mean that time and space is also a form of aether or energy?"


    She paused for a moment and thought. "That is the current theory. We know that the system can manipulate time and space so it is thought that they are an aether type." She said.


    She continued on down that same line of thought. "There have been experiments done on the rifts of the world as to where the monsters are coming from, and it''s believed that the energy from the weapons dropped that it ripped a tear that was never able to heal because so much is pouring through from the other side.


    That has led us to believe that aether can, in fact, connect two points of space. So far, nobody we know that has gone through the rifts has ever returned."


    This got Kyrain thinking. His path is anti-aether. If time, space, and matter are all aether, can''t he affect them?


    Kyrain dropped deeply into his aether sense and looked around. He saw his usual where everything was red, light green, blue, brown, but as he looked he saw each mote was actually connected and bound by a black aether. With his aether he reached out next to him and connected those millions of dots of black.


    *bleep*


    Immediately Kyrain heard and felt a crackle which came accompanied with a startled scream as a rift opened up next to him. Panicking Kyrain used his aether as a cover and blocked it which sealed it and the rift vanished, leaving the entire class looking at him with some shock, some horror, and a lot of curiosity.


    "Mr. Ekart! Was that you?!" The teacher asked with a worried tone.


    "Yes ma''am! I''m sorry I had no idea that would happen I just had an idea and didn''t expect or mean for anything to happen." He replied with a worried tone.


    "Do not do that again. You know path use without permission is not allowed within class." She said reprimanding him.


    "I''m sorry, I won''t do it again." Kyrain replied.


    The teacher then worked the next few minutes getting the class back on track trying to continue with the lesson. It was hard because even that small crack let out a pulse of ominous energy that felt like the rift. They were lucky other people within the school didn''t rush in.


    Kyrain pulled up his notification.


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill:


    Rift Walk(a) - This extremely rare skill is known only to exist with the dragons and usually requires a massive amount of aether to perform. With antimatter, the user may tear holes in space and bridge the gap with that same power creating a wormhole between two points the user can see or has been to. The wormhole is as long as a step. Warning: Distance depends on tier. Current max distance: 4000 miles


    Note: Tier 10 offers a bonus.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Kyrain eyes went wide. This was a skill shared by dragons. He couldn''t believe it. In all honesty, it shouldn''t suprise him that dragons were a thing, but this was a transportation power. He didn''t have to ride a bus or go anywhere in a vehicle ever again provided he did some testing and mastered the skill.


    Kyrain dismissed the notification and pulled up his full HUD.


    <em style="color: rgba(53, 152, 219, 1)">Name: Kyrain Ekart


    Path: Spellbreaker


    AP: Null/ AM: 40pps


    NOTE: All parameters are based off the flow of antimatter the user can channel per second.


    Body: Null/ (T4)


    Mind: Null/(T4)


    Spirit: Null/(T4)


    Skills:


    Antimatter Wellspring(p) - A unique skill that allows the user to tap into the beyond and allow antimatter to flow into the user. The larger the tap the more powerful the user becomes.(increase tier)


    Antimatter anatomy(p/a) - A unique skill that renders the user''s entire being to be created out of antimatter in such a way that it resembles aether. Everything functions as it would as built by aether, but with a flex of the users will they can nullify chosen types of aether around and within them.


    Aether sense(p) - A unique skill that allows the use to sense all aether around them. Range grows as new tiers are obtained.


    Aether Nullification(a) - A Unique skill that allows the user to use anti-matter to disrupt the flow of aether whether in nature or pertaining to another user. Can be done within close line of sight (15 meters) or through direct contact.


    Aetheric Redirection (a) - Unique skill for the user where he encapsulates incoming aether and redirects it. Certain actions with the aether leading to a variety of effects. Caution: If aether exceeds Antimatter PPS you will be unable to contain the target and backlash can occur.


    Rift Walk(a) - This extremely rare skill is known only to exist with the dragons and usually requires a massive amount of aether to perform. With antimatter, the user may tear holes in space and bridge the gap with that same power creating a wormhole between two points the user can see or has been to. Wormhole is as long as a step. Warning: Distance depends on tier. Current max distance: 4000 miles


    Note: Tier 10 offers planes bonus.


    Kyrain couldn''t wait to get out of school, which now seemed to drag by now that he actually had something to do.


    As soon as class ended he ran to his locker and got his phone to message his mom.


    "Mom! Just learned a new skill. Rift Walking. I can essentially create a path between two points and I can move between the points. My max range according to the system is 4000 miles. Apparently it''s tier based and at 10, I get some sort of bonus. Do you know anyone that can help me test this?"


    He sent the text and went off to lunch. His mom never had her phone on her except when she had lunch, so it would be at least another hour.


    - Brittanie -


    She had a rough morning. A team from the front lines had a overly nasty group of monsters come through. They were classified as lesser demons, but they were still horrific.


    They went incorporeal and could phase around the team then become solid again and slash at the adventurers with claws infected with a green fire aether that transformed the body into a black withered form. One member couldn''t be saved and he became a thrall that fought against his own team with his full physcial tier with the same effects of the claws.


    She was able to purify their corrupted body parts and save them with minimal long term effects, but they would definitely be referred to therapy as was the policy for team member loss.


    She sat down at her desk, pulling out her lunch from the mini fridge she kept and pulled out her phone. She froze when she read the message from Kyrain.


    "Rift walking."


    Her heart jumped when she read those words. Could this be the answer to bring Sorin home? Tears started to form in her eyes.


    "Besides the distance, are there other restrictions? I will reach out to the Sage. If anyone can help it will be Mr. Shephard. He is teacher and a good friend of your dad if you remember. He would be overjoyed to be able to help."


    She didn''t have to wait long for a reply.


    "Yes. It has to be line of sight or somewhere I have seen or been before. I would like to test this today and have as much information for the Sage as possible. I''ve heard new stories about him and am extremely excited to see him if we can. If we master this ability I can use this ability to get to him. North Carolina is within my range."


    She sent a confirmation reply of thats what they would do then began to eat. Her heart felt much lighter as this could be a plan to get her husband back. She knew she shouldn''t get her hopes up, but she couldn''t help it. She missed him horribly.

 Chapter 13 - The Sage

    Chris "Sage" Shephard was reading the latest path report from the research division of the US government when the call came in from a very unexpected person he hadn''t heard from in years.


    "Mrs. Ekart! It''s great to hear from you!" He said over the phone.


    "Chris, it''s good to hear from you. I hope you and Elena have been well as always." Brittanie said.


    "We have! We have! What is the reason for this very pleasant suprise?" Chris said eager to know what the Seraph and wife of one of his good friends could need from him.


    "Kyrain developed a skill that quite frankly is baffling and we could use your help in figuring out how it works completely and we figured you would have a genuine curiosity about it as you had when we first contacted you over his path those years ago." Brittanie explained.


    When Kyrain was ten and got his path nobody knew what to do. It was so outside of the norm and it sent Kyrain down in absolute agony going through the transformation from matter to antimatter with almost no change in his appearance or the way his body functioned. For the first few months Chris had taken Kyrain under his wing and helped him through figuring out the basics.


    "I''m intrigued. Are you guys able to make a trip out sometime in the near future?" He asked.


    "As a matter of fact, we are working that out. We can get you an answer hopefully by the end of the week. We have some testing to do. We think this is big. I''ll send you the details over text." Brittanie said and a moment the system read out of what the skill said hit his phone.


    The line was quiet for the period it took Chris to read the message and then stayed quiet for a good 15 seconds after where Brittanie checked to see if they were still connected.


    "Yes, I''m here. This is huge. In two primary ways. One of those ways is terrifying to imagine and the second way is impressive." Chris responded.


    "Chris, I''m hopeful that we can develop this skill to be able to get Sorin back. Yes it''s good for Kyrain to master this, but it would be better for the family to have Sorin back. He has been abused and has been miserable in every single use of my skill. The last years he has been in some underground facility with this white and red collar on. A few times I saw him in chains." Brittanie explained emotion leaking through her tone.


    "I know Brit. I wish I could offer more as always and will do what I can. It does say when Kyrain reaches tier 10 there is a bonus and it could be distance travel multiplier or even a way to travel into another world altogether, there is just no way to know. See if you can get that skill running then come on over. Elena and I would love to have you guys over." Chris responded in a solemn tone.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Thank you guys. It means a lot to us. We will be in touch when we are ready to "walk over" as he calls it now." She said wrapping up the conversion.


    He hung up the phone and looked back up and his lovely bride Elena, the woman of his dreams, her path is Canticle of War. Her every movent is a final song for her opponents or she can add enjoyment to her every day tasks as life always has a musical rhythm to it if you listen.


    "Everything ok?" Elena asked.


    Chris smiled at her. "It is and hopefully we can get even more good news in the future if this works like we want it to. That was Brittanie Ekart." He replied.


    "The Seraph. I''ve heard of her exploits and the mother of the child who we helped out years ago, with the unique path." She said.


    "Well he developed a very peculiar travel skill, which comes with some terrifying system text. It said that this skill called "Rift Walk" is shared by dragons."


    Elena looked up quickly woth her eyebrows going up in suprise.


    "Dragons....mythical creatures that breathe fire and fly dragons?" She asked


    She continued. "Do you think these dragons could come through the rifts like other monsters?"


    "Honestly, I wouldn''t be suprised, but from what it sounds like, dragons don''t need to. They existence of this skill and the text suggests dragons not only do not require rifts, but might explain why we have dragons in our legends dating back thousands of years." Chris explained.


    Elena nodded. "So are they coming here? If so, don''t forget to take some time from the academy. You took that trip a few months ago and forgot to let any of your staff know. There were a few classes you were supposed appear in and left hanging." She said.


    Chris hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. "Yes that was uncomfortable when I came back. Thank you for reminding me. The other thing I have to wonder now is how much of the mythical legends are actually true. What about a Phoenix, fairies, elves, dwarves, excalibur, etc. If dragons are real then what about giants? We have legends all throughout human history that have stories of these creatures. Some were even worshiped as dieties."


    Elena knew how her husband became when it came to knowing things and his passions. She had watched his video gaming days where every single loading screen, he was doing burpees. He was always quirky as was that gaming group he was in. She did have a question for him that might help.


    "Couldn''t you just ask the Seraph if she could use her vision skill to confirm if those creatures were real?"


    Chris paused for a second, then shook his head.


    "Unfortunately not. It would have to be someone she has seen that is still alive. She was as suprised as I was about the dragon piece, so she hasn''t seen a dragon. Plus we haven''t heard any of those other creatures save for giants coming through the rift."


    Elena shrugged. "It was worth asking. Hopefully you can figure things out concerning this rift walking ability for them. I think it could help you with a lot of questions. If you can get Sorin back, I''m sure he will be able to answer a TON of questions."

 Chapter 14 - Rift walk and reintroduction

    Kyrain was once again in the guild training arena with his mom, but this time he wasn''t about to get it handed to him.


    He was fine creating the first tear in the world, but for whatever reason the rift he created opened into darkness. From what his skill said, he should be able to open it up to another location and essentially "step through."


    Tobias was the only other person free to come with, as Sebastian and Elijah had picked up a short two man job from the guild.


    "I don''t get it." Kyrain said becoming frustrated with the lack of progress. He knew where he wanted to go, but could get it to appear on the other side.


    "Have you tried fully picturing the other side clearly in your mind before you open the rift?" Tobias asked trying to be helpful.


    "Not really, I have an idea where I want to go, and it''s more of a flash in my mind." Kyrain replied.


    "Well, some of your dad''s old books we used to read always talked about holding the image in your head the entire time."


    Kyrain just shrugged as he had nothing to lose. He closed his eyes and pictured his front yard then reached out and, as he had begun to call it, tore. The rift opened with a howl and tons of pressure. On the other side he could see his front yard and a car driving by, but couldn''t hear anything from the other side due to all the interference.


    He had a bag of apples he picked up on the cheap on the way over. Taking one he tossed it in, but there was a resistance and the apple was thrown in a black gap between the points and disintegrated. He looked at the text of his skill again trying to see if he was missing anything.


    Rift Walk(a) - This extremely rare skill is known only to exist with the dragons and usually requires a massive amount of aether to perform. With antimatter, the user may tear holes in space and bridge the gap with that same power creating a wormhole between two points the user can see or has been to. The wormhole is as long as a step. Warning: Distance depends on tier. Current max distance: 4000 miles


    Note: Tier 10 offers a bonus.


    A part caught his attention, "bridge the gap." Using his control over the antimatter, he felt around the inside of the rift and connected the two points with a tunnel of his power and the rift went silent. He could hear the birds singing on the other side and the pressure was gone seemingly help back by his power.


    Kyrain took another apple and tossed it through. There was no resistance this time. He tossed another apple, but this time on the short gap between the points. It hit solidly on an invisible ground.


    Kyrain wondered why there was even that gap. He pulled his power back and the rift collapsed sealing itself off. He went through the same process and this time a little faster knowing what to expect. He bridged the gap as it opened on both sides.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    However, with what he wanted to happen fixed in his mind, the gap between the two points of the rift was nearly non existence and it became more of a portal than a tunnel and that was much better and what Kyrain was after. It turns out visualization was the key.


    He practiced over and over for the next half hour making sure he was proficient in his rift walk powers. His mom asked questions here and there about difficultly, AM drain, and if there were any other affects he could sense.


    Finally he was ready to give it a shot. He opened up a rift to the front yard, and stepped through. It was strange to Kyrain going from one place to another instantly with absolutely no sensation save for that of walking through a door. He closed the rift and waited for a minute, before opening it back up and stepping back through where he left the guild.


    "I''ve got the basics figured out." He said to his mom.


    She got back up from the bench she was on, doing some reading for work. "Nice! Do you remember what Mr. Shephard''s yard looks like?"


    "Kind of, it''s been a while. I''ll give it a shot." Kyrain said as he began to remember what the yard looked like. To his suprise it came back way clearer and way easier than he thought it would. A possible perk from becoming tier 4.


    He tore the rift open and he could see the yard he was looking for. It looked a little different than he envisioned, but it was the same yard. Kyrain stepped through and felt the temperature change as did the humidity. His mom was behind him, she slowly pushed her hand, then arm through before she just came through. Tobias was on the other side, looking through like he would a window.


    "I''ll stay here guys. Good luck." He said as Kyrain shrugged and closed the rift.


    They turned as a man with short dark hair, dark skin, and looked like he should be at a lifting competition from the amount of jacked he was, came around the corner with the biggest friendliest smile Kyrain had ever seen.


    "Mrs. Ekart and Mr. Ekart. It''s great to see you guys again." Came the friendly and incredibly polite greeting. The memories Kyrain had of Chris Shephard always showed him being the friendliest most polite individual he had ever met, almost like a jolly giant.


    That kindness was certainly not weakness though. The Sage is very protective of his students and one time he was lumped in during one of his classes when he got to see a taste of what monster was kept under that friendly demeanor.


    A boyfriend of one of the children''s mother came by to pick up one of the children, but he wasn''t on the list of authorized personnel to get her. Mr. Shephard had to tell him no and the man became angry and threatened violence.


    After minutes of attempted de-escalation the man was asked to leave, but rather than being an adult, he tried to actually intimidated the Sage. It didn''t go well.


    According to the guild public records as Kyrain didn''t know at the time, Kris Shephard''s path was the same as his nickname "Sage." With the knowledge he possesses he had learned how to control all five elements and done so in a way that is unmatchedas far as anyone knew. The only downside to his path was his lack of path support in the  physcial stat,which is part of why he trained so hard physcially. However, his spiritual stats and mental stats were off the charts.


    The belligerent, violent boyfriend was frozen, thawed out, encased halfway in rock, lifted up and tossed into the parking lot where the guild came by and collected him. No charges where brought, but he was highly encouraged never to return to the school.


    "Come on in! We were getting ready for dinner and would love to have you guys! I''m already excited to hear about this skill! It clearly works well." Kris said with his huge friendly smile.


    Kyrain and Brittanie followed him into the house greeting Elena as they went in.

 Interlude - Sorin: Baring the fangs

    A year had gone by as Sorin worked hard at breaking through the barrier the collar generated to separate a user from aether and the main functions of the system. He had passive access to his skills, which helped him reach his daily quota every single day even when he was sabotaged by the guards by having him placed in a thought barren part of the mines.


    It had gotten easier to push through the barrier to gain access to a small part of his powers and didn''t feel like his head was going to burst from effort anymore.


    He was down in the mine working toward his quota pressing through the barrier when a loud group of people came down the mine. Sorin didn''t think anything of it, as he usually was never bothered by other miners. Unfortunately this time was different.


    The guy in the front of the group, a large ogre who didn''t seem like he had any issues with nutrition unlike so many others, stepped forward.


    "You.. Sorin? Yes?" He said in a deep voice.


    Sorin turned around setting down his pickaxe. "You got it in one! What can I do for you?" He replied projecting nothing but friendly intentions to the group.


    "We couldn''t help but notice, you ALWAYS have your quota. We think you might have found a stash of ore. Nobody is THAT good." The ogre said.


    Kyrain didn''t think anything of it, he went in, used his newest sense of metal and found pockets of the ore, dug it out with his full strength stat and got done for the day.


    He had gotten careless in his pursuit of working through the collar and routine.


    "No stash fellas, just mining as you can see." He said as he gestured to the wall he was burrowing through for the pocket of ore he could sense a few feet further in.


    "You lie." The ogre said stepping forward and grabbing the filthy scraps of fabric he called clothes.


    Sorin reached up, grabbed the man''s hand and with whatever his full strength stat was, as Sorin could not tell, he twisted and removed the man''s hand.


    *Crack! Crunch!*


    The bones in th3 ogre''s hand, wrist, and arm broke and crunched as Sorin drastically underestimated the difference in their strength.


    The man bellowed in agony and cradled his arm close to his body.


    "I am so sorry! I didn''t mean for that to happen. I just wanted to remove your grip and used my full strength on account of your stereotypical high physcial stat your race is known for." Sorin quickly explained as the group looked at him first with suprise then with anger.


    This situation had taken a very bad turn and Sorin was now wondering if he was about to deal with a sort of prison mob attack. He began to prepare for true combat mentally and spiritually. He felt around for anything around him and senses metal ore in the packs of some of the members of the seven strong group.


    It would do.


    "Kill him!" Came the command from the agonized ogre. There was no hesitation from the seemingly second in command.


    Until he stopped abruptly. He reached up to his chest then a few moments later had his eyes roll back into his head and fell forward without even the smallest attempt to catch himself.


    The group looked around completely shocked and stunned.


    Sorin spoke acting with suprise. "What?!" He looked around affecting an afraid look on his face. He took steps back as if something came out of nowhere.


    *Thud!* from the back of the group, another body hit the floor causing the group to scatter.


    "We are being attacked you fools!" The leader shouted. They all turned and faced the direction they had come, thinking the threat was coming from where they had come from.


    Sorin had taken a gamble on the majority of the group having problems reasoning due to the lack of quality food and the collars and it looked like it was a good bet. Ogres are not exactly known for their intelligence and once he was in pain, that lack of intelligence should have dropped further and he was right.


    Sorin, grabbing his pickaxe, silently stepped away.


    "Stop! You''re not going anywhere you rat." The ogre said surprisingly noticing Sorin was trying to leave.


    "You guys head down that way and find the one we will gut like a fish later while I deal with this waste of air." With an evil grin the leader walked heavily toward Sorin who kept slowly moving backward away seemingly afraid.


    The others went in the other direction away from them, setting things up nicely. They went around a small bend, then Sorin dropped the act.


    "You''re not very intelligent coming alone." Sorin said coldly. "The two that died, were by me."


    With a flex of his will Sorin manipulated the ore into the leather pack of the ogre causing it to elongate into a spikes that he sent first through the spine and then through the heart.


    The ogres legs collapsed under him and he fell forward on his hands as he felt his racial regeneration trying to keep him alive, but it wouldn''t help. Sorin left a chunk of ore in his heart.


    He wasn''t cruel though, with a swing, Sorin brought down his pickaxe on the head of the ogre ending his suffering before running off deeper into the tunnel.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    - later -


    Sorin stopped after what he thought was an hour of moving through the tunnels. He sat down. He had been thinking about everything not just as he was dealing with the group, but as he moved deeper into the mine.


    He had food and water issues, but got thinking. Why did people actually need to eat and drink?


    He sat down and looked inward as he always did when he had an idea for self-modification or skills. He took in aether like he did for his usual regeneration and focuses on his fat cells. He began to add to his fat reserves by manipulating the frequency of the regeneration of cells. Once he was done, the skill snapped back to the regular skill he was used to. Unfortunately, he wouldn''t actually stop being hungry, but he wouldn''t starve if he always had a reserve of fat. It would be very miserable, but he wouldn''t die of starvation. Water on the other hand, would be an issue.


    Water did far too many things in the body and he needed a way to get more. He looked at the half full water skin he kept on him. He needed to find a source of more. This was never an issue before, because water was always available. He thought for a second then remembered something.


    "Duh!" He exclaimed to himself facepalming.


    He opened his sense up again and looked at the motes of water aether in the air. He condensed them and controlled them. No matter where Sorin went there was moisture in the air a lot or a little it was always there.


    He continued down the tunnel with a huge problem mostly solved. He was in for some misery with hunger, but wouldn''t die from it. He can use it as a mental training method.


    - Later -


    Sorin found a larger cavern deep in the mines where he was certain nobody have been for an extremely long time. He sat down and prepared to get back to work getting the collar''s effect all but nullified on him.


    He would drink, restore his internal energy reserves, and train his skills by fighting his way through the collar and using what he could. The pain got easier and easier. Many times through mental exertion and spiritual exertion he would get bloody noses or pass out from aether exhaustion until finally one day.


    Aether minimum achieved!


    System HUD restored.


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    Sorin opened up his notifications.


    Congratulations!


    By absorbing metal aether you have gained the affinity. Path has changed from Stormbringer to Elementalist. Elementalists are born from the ability to use three or more elements. Rare across the universe, generally deployed against major beast outbreaks and the greatest of battles.


    Congratulations!


    Your skill Storm sense has changed to Elemental sense. It retains all effects from previous skill with the added ability to sense elements within the earth primarily metals with extremely weak earth.


    Congratulations!


    Your skills storm manipulation has been changed to Element Manipulation with the addition metal and weak earth affinity.


    Congratulations!


    You have achieved Tier 5 in all stats.


    Congratulations!


    You have achieved tier 6 in mind and spirit.


    Congratulations!


    Your skill Minor artificial gravity resistance has become Artificial Gravity resistance and now offers higher levels of resistance against artificial forms of gravity.


    Congratulations!


    You have achieved tier 7 in mind and spirit!


    Sorin dismissed the notifications and pulled up his HUD for the first time in what felt like forever.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Elementalist


    AP: 77820/104000


    Body: 680/1000(T5)


    Mind: 1220/2000 (T7)


    Spirit: 1000/2000 (T7)


    Abilities:


    1. Greater Elemental sense (p)/(a) - sense elemental aether more clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your elemental sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a).


    2. Elemental manipulation (a) - You can manipulate elemental aether in your immediate vicinity. May cause minor interference with another''s NAF. (Natural Aether Field)


    3. Ignition(a) - You can create fire from the aether around you. Intensity of the flames depends on environmental factors, will power, and aether control.


    4. Absorption(a) - using your connection to the world you have discovered a way to draw in ambient aether. Normally you have to rely eating in order to replenish your internal aether reserves, but no longer.


    5. Aether revival(p/a) - A regeneration skill that restores the aether lost within your body. As cells become damaged they lose energy. This skill replenishes that energy for AP. Can increase the rate of regeneration through increased aether flow.


    6. Aether Reaver(a) - Forcefully rip Aether from another being and add it to your own. Caution: someone of a much higher tier may be able use this to destroy your own channels and core.


    7. Aether conversion(p) - all is Aether. Through your understanding of this foundational principle you may now convert all forms of Aether into the form that best suits you.


    6. Aether Reaver(a) - Forcefully rip Aether from another being and add it to your own. Caution: someone of a much higher tier may be able use this to destroy your own channels and core.


    7. Aether conversion(p) - all is Aether. Through your understanding of this foundational principle you may now convert all forms of Aether into the form that best suits you.


    8. Artificial Gravity resistance(p) - By being exposed to and absorbing an artificial gravity aether, you have obtained a passive resistance to unnatural gravity aether exerted upon you.


    9. Spirit Artificer(a) - You have an understanding of aether and can mend, adjust, and build channels and cores of other beings recognized by the system who have cores.


    Sorin smiled huge. He had nothing but time now to train and get stronger. He needed to keep pushing at the collar. He was convinced there were different collars out there and perhaps some were probably much stronger for higher tier users. He NEVER wanted to feel powerless again and he wouldn''t.


    He wasn''t going to leave these tunnels until he was sure he could crush absolutely everyone in this place.

 Chapter 15 - Unconventional requires Unconventional

    They stayed over night and the next morning after a solid breakfast of waffles, bacon, and eggs; Chris and Kyrain went out to the yard to work on his new skill while the ladies stayed inside and visited.


    Kyrain opened rift after rift as the Sage observed every single angle of it asking questions and annotating different things.


    "How do you plan to use this skill man?" Chris asked.


    Kyrain looked at him knowing there would be a lesson following depending on his answer.


    "For travel." He answered. Not knowing where Chris was going with his question.


    "That can''t be all? Unconventional warfare and unconventional skills require an unconventional thought process. You need to be able to think outside the box. Your path has unlimited potential, but you keep thinking in a box and not using your imagination." Chris explained.


    Kyrain thought for a second then answered.


    "Sure my path is useful, beyond useful, but it''s just essentially a mage breaker class that we have all read about. That''s why this skill is so suprising. There is not much I can do besides become a super shield or utility."


    Chris smiled and nodded. "This is what I''m talking about Ky. You''re not using your imagination with the information you have just recieved from your rift walk skill. You don''t just disrupt aether, but you affect it in ways none of us can due to the manipulation of antimatter which none of us really know anything about either."


    He continued as Kyrain fell into though and listening to his words.


    "Really ask yourself, what does your path do? Does it eliminate aether? Does it weaken it? Does it just move it? I looked over my notes and read over your first skill. Antimatter comes from what the system calls "the beyond." The only conclusion I can draw is antimatter comes from beyond our universe and doesn''t exactly play well with our universe without the system''s intervention on your body."


    Kyrain was nodding along and thinking as he was told to. If he got fast enough, he could use the rifts for fighting. Almost like those anime teleportation skills. Kyrain looked down in front of him thinking how he would pull this off.


    Chris sat down in a chair he brought with him and waited patiently, knowing that look Kyrain had.


    If Kyrain were to open up a rift directly below him, he would have to focus on a location. The tunnel system he didn''t like at first, might have a bigger part to play if he were smart.


    Kyrain opened a rift below him and dropped into it using natural gravity. He was in a rift tunnel that he had imagine creating a "L" with the long side laying down. Once in the tunnel he sealed off the side leaving the other side open which he put behind Chris. As he got to the other side of the "L" he stepped through silently.


    Chris turned with a smile. "Took a bit, but wouldn''t be bad in stealth operations. Can you speed it up?"


    Kyrain thought a bit more. Why can''t he just manipulate placement of the otherside. He wanted to exit feet first as he entered.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    He ripped another rift open below him and fell through only to immediately appear in the top of the house. He ran forward and dove, opening another rift a rift on the ground shooting himself up and onto his feet.


    "There! That''s better! That is a usable combat skill. What other things can you think to do?" Chris asked.


    The Sage had come up with many ideas of his own if he had this ability, but he needed the kid to think for himself as that was how paths are truly made powerful and not on borrowed hollow power.


    Kyrain wondered a bit and though. His rift walk was a mode of travel, but he was told to think outside the box. Yes, the system gave him information and that is what he ran with.


    He came to the realization that it was something called "embedding." He just went with it. The rifts were means of moving objects, but was there a limit. He had an idea.


    "Mr. Shephard, could you send a stream of water at me?" Kyrain asked.


    A sly grin was plastered on the Sage''s face as if he knew what Kyrain was up to.


    With a flick of his hand and deluge of water was whipped at Kyrain who responded by tearing open an even bigger rift in front of him and the opening back at the Sage.


    It vanished through the portal in front of Kyrain who opened another rift below him and next to the Sage on the other side. He stepped through and timed him stepping through with that of the water rushing in.


    Chris casually stopped the water, forming it into a bubble in front of where Kyrain stepped through shielding himself with his own redirected attack.


    "Now we''re talking!" Chris said excitedly. "I think with more practice you will be more of a force to be reckoned with. I will give you another hint to get you thinking outside of the box more. Can you use antimatter offensively?"


    Kyrain thought and thought, but nothing came to mind. He would have to do more research in the future.


    His uncles and mom made it clear that not only did he not have a high enough tier of power, but he lacked any sort of offense. Apparently Chris had an idea of what he should do, but as was the case when he was a little boy, he wouldn''t just give him the answer.


    Mr. Shephard always insisted on people coming to the correct answers through their own efforts and critical thinking.


    "The journey to the answer was just as important as actually having the answer as it leads to further discovery and improvement." He would always say when Kyrain would complain about having to think.


    "I don''t expect you to get the answer right away, and maybe not until you have to or even stumble your way into it. This is one of the reasons I wish we could get your dad back. He knew so much random stuff that to this day, even I don''t know where he got it all. Used to make me laugh on xbox parties." Chris said laughing and smiling to himself.


    They went inside and had lunch with the ladies already at the kitchen table.


    "Mrs. Ekart, do you have any updates on Sorin?" Chris asked hopeful.


    Brittanie''s eyes flashed golden and continued as Brittanie was watching something seemingly in the distance. She had a look of complete horror.


    "He is fighting. He is angry. Beyond angry tearing through people. Fire, water, metal, electricity. He is using them all and destroying everything. This skill doesn''t give me any context or sound. It just let''s me see what is happening." Brittanie said face going pale.


    "What has been happening usually?" Elena asked reaching over to Brittanie.


    "He has been in this underground facility for years, in meditation. I''ve never seen him use any skills other than his fire abilities until now." Brittanie responded.


    Chris spoke up this time. "If I still know Sorin and I know there are a lot of variables, the only reason he is the way he is and acting like this, because he has been forced to."


    Brittanie nodded. "I dont think anyone can take that spark from Sorin nor would he give up his tactical thought processes. The rate in which he is ripping through them suggests an extremely high tier of power. He is flowing through this fight as well as Mitchell, using energy like Kody and with your multiple elements." She said.


    "Sorin might need help coming back. If he has serious trauma when he returns, the guild will have to be extremely careful with him. They usually do not like unregistered super users wandering around." Chris said.

 Chapter 16 - Surge

    Kyrain opened a rift back to the front of the guild for both him and his mother, but when they stepped through they found complete chaos waiting for them.


    There were personnel moving all over with teams on standby waiting for news of some sort with a warnings being shown on the primary big screen for announcements within the guild.


    They checked their phones now that they were back in the area. They had surge notifications.


    Brittanie and Kyrain looked at eachother, Kyrain ripped a rift open to the hospital for his mother who ran through. He moved to the counter and began to get the information for the beast surge.


    He ran up to the screens and scanned his junior ID.


    Beast Surge protocol in effect. All normal systems are suspended until conclusion of the surge.


    [Find team]


    [Recruit for team]


    [Desired Skills]


    Kyrain selected desired skills and saw a whole list of skills that were primarily combat oriented.


    He got down to the bottom


    Any and all skills that assist with travel are needed! If you possess a skill that aids in travel, report to front desk.


    Pay: 1 C rank core per person transported.


    "How convenient... " Kyrain said with a flat look. He gets a fancy new skill and immediately it is needed.


    He closed the screen and went to the front desk. He wouldn''t have access to C rank core jobs for another 2 years and there was no way he could pass this up.


    During his time as an initiate before becoming a junior adventurer he had been on tours to every zone and had even seen the massive rifts in what used to be the Ft. Campbell training areas.


    So he was familiar with where people would need to go. He went and jumped in a line for the front counter.


    He didnt have to wait long before he reached the front.


    "Hello! What can I do for you Kyrain?" Said the lady who Kyrain embarrassingly didn''t know the name of, but she clearly knew him.


    "Im here for the travel skill job?"


    The lady looked at Kyrain with a strange look. "You are still a junior adventurer, you understand and accept all risks with the job you''re about to take?" She asked.


    "Yes ma''am." He answered with a nervous smile.


    She made an adjustment to his profile then gave him a pin for one of the travel members. The pin would track the amount of people he took to the surge lines through a simple scan.


    He went to the lobby where others waited to ferry people. He didn''t have to wait long as people began to come over looking to head out.


    They would come up, let him know which zone they wanted to be and how close to the rift. After they scanned the pin he opened the rift and after a hesitation from each they stepped through and he closed the rift.


    As soon as people saw his skill they immediately started coming over in groups and going through.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Kyrain couldn''t believe it. Some still went with the other people with the usual travel skills of flight and being ferried, but the amount of people Kyrain sent to their perspective zone and areas they wanted to fight in was shocking.


    The ease in which people were moved to the lines began affecting the amount of beasts rapidly trying to break the inner perimeter and push into the next ring and could trigger an evacuation of all weaker tier users.


    "We need to dispatch some of you movers! We have injured that need to get evacuated!" Came the call and everyone looked at Kyrain who had stolen the show.


    He put his hand in the air. "I can go."


    The attendant who brought the news of mass casualties looked at his status as a junior adventurer and pursed his lips.


    "You will be heading to the innermost section of zone 1 escorted by one of our top teams. You understand that this exceeds the level of danger usually permitted by the guild?"


    Kyrain nodded feeling nerves begin to rise as he wasn''t sure exactly what he was getting himself into, but he could help.


    "Yes. I already spoke to the administrator at the counter."


    The attended nodded solemnly as a team of unknown adventurers stepped forward as Kyrain tore a rift where he had once been on tour in zone 1 that close to the rift.


    He stepped through with the team into straight chaos. Massive beast hoards and flashing abilities everywhere. There was waht seemed to be a dust storm overcast as reds, blue, green, and yellow lights predominantly would flash through.


    Roars of beasts would sound and the ground would shake from steps and impacts.


    "Stay in the center of us! Move with us and stay on your toes! Defend yourself however you can, but do not hinder us. Laurence! You''re up front!" The apparent leader said as a surprisingly slender man with a shield and spear stepped forward.


    Another order came.


    "Chester! You have the kid! Keep him safe. A tier 3 or 4 should definitely not be here, but we need to get him to the casualties! Follow me, the beacon is taking us this way!"


    The tank and the leader moved together. The tank had an ice path of sorts that would redirect some of the strongest strikes from beasts Kyrain had ever seen. These beasts were at least B rank and above. The tank would freeze things over and let the slippery nature of ice deflect the blow rather than take it head on.


    "Almost there! I just sent the pager signal for a star cluster!" The leader of the team said.


    Kyrain looked up as a brilliant red cluster of flares shot into the sky marking their target. A woman, and two other men, clearly all DPS were fighting off panicked creatures next to him as the tank continued shrugging brutal huts. Explosions and minor earthquakes continued all around.


    They finally reached the location where they had casualties. A few bodies were covered in thin blankets and sheets, clearly dead, but there were MANY others writhing in agony.


    "We are another group here to get casualties out!" The team leader said.


    A man marked with the healers symbol looked up and nodded. He was sweating perfusely from effort.


    "Excellent! How many can you take?!" He asked looked at the group members for the traveler.


    Kyrain yelled stepping forward fighting passed the shock of horrifying this field of battle was.


    "With the defense and cover this location gives, I can get all of them with help!" He shouted over the chaos.


    The healer looked perplexed so Kyrain opened the rift. On the other side was the helipad to the hospital with many healers on standby. They all looked over as the sounds of battle exploded from the opening of their side of the rift.


    The healer was a true professional. After a quick assessment he began giving orders and users began moving through the portal.


    In combat like what Kyrain was currently experiencing, each second seemed to drag by at an excruciating pace. After the first few casualties went through many higher ranked members began pouring through the rift to guard and reinforce the medical area they had closed off from combat and dig in defensively.


    "Incoming!!!" A scream came from nowhere as a burning jet of blue fire swept toward them. Kyrain could see injured going through the portal and so he couldn''t close it. He stepped in front and pushed his nullification to the max.


    The tank from the team he came with, slammed his spear into the ground causing a massive wall of ice to form beyond Kyrain''s Null range and it shuddered on impact and parts shattered coming through slamming into Kyrain''s defense causing it to bottom out quickly and begin to burn him.


    Had he taken that hit directly, there would have been nothing left of him. "Last casualty for now! Extraction team lets go!" The healer shouted as he went through followed by the healer from the team, and the damage dealers.


    A slap hit Kyrain''s shoulder.


    "You''re up kid! Move!" The team leader ordered. Kyrain''s years of training in the guild took over and he went through. His quick reaction to orders allowed the leader and tank to follow right behind.


    Kyrain closed the rift and immediately cheers and clapping went up and was quickly silenced as a familiar voice cut in.


    "We can celebrate heroism later! Get these casualties to the ER now! I''ll treat those on the edge of life and death right here. Get me aether cores! I need C rank as I''m burning through my aether! Kyrain! Get to the guild and continue helping, but please, please be careful baby boy!"


    His mother said as she looked at him meaningfully and then snapped back to healing mode, saving as many as she could.


    Kyrain ripped open a rift and was about to enter when a strange system message was put in front of his and everyone''s eyes.

 Chapter 17 - When legend collides with reality

    Important system message for planet: Earth


    ¡ñ Aether levels have reached the nominal levels. Beasts will now begin inhabiting your world and spawning more frequently in areas of higher aether density with more variety in ability and strength.


    ¡ñ Populated areas are not locations in which beasts can spawn as users take the ambient aether.


    ¡ñ Dungeons and cores will spawn at higher rates and can move toward sentience creating trapped Dungeons. Caution! Trap Dungeons will award any item(s) it has devoured, but be warned they are incentivised to kill every user that enters as they grow through infusions of aether.


    ¡ñ The rifts will now stabilize allowing for travel between rifts when appropriate conditions are met. 5 local solar cycles until full stabilization achieved.


    ¡ñ Serpent Empire notified of new world per Infiniti agreement A09


    Kyrain read through the system message and was shocked by what it all could mean. He would have to sit and think it through a little more later.


    He stepped through the rift and took up his job transporting users to the battle lines.


    - Meanwhile: Emergency meeting of the Numbered -


    "Finally! Our plan for the seal on Eden to be undone is complete. It has taken us thousands of years, but it is done." Said number 1 behind his mask.


    Before the rifts a group of secret people who controlled the happenings across the world in secret worked tirelessly on a plan.


    Number 1 controlled all the conflicts and wars across the world. Civilizations rose and fell based off what he needed and what he was ordering done.


    Number 2 controlled all the media and flow of information. It was his responsibility to make sure the people never unified to find out why things were the way they are. The numbered didn''t need people snooping and getting into things.


    Number 3 controlled the underground. Every single illegal transaction fell under her jurisdiction. The other three expected things to happen under her gaze including the removal of people and other nefarious acts.


    "Indeed. The next phase can begin with the impending invasion from the other side. We will need to prepare." Number 2 said.


    "We need to push this entire world harder to get stronger. With the revelation of an empire on the other side of this rift being notified of our status and the people knowing of the empire, we need to prepare for war if we are to maintain our hold." Number 1 said.


    Number 3 raised her masked face up and tilted her head.


    "I have paths that the guilds have begun to categorize and push out that are to be limited or even eliminated as they are used only for acts of depravity. I maintain them in the underground for things like this. I will begin pushing them to assault the countries." She said.


    There was silence for a moment.


    "Yes, I think supreme adversity works wonders on a population. We will need to make sure we keep our places and restoring our previous power." Number 1 said.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    He continued to elaborate. "We need to make sure we keep on top. We knew the general population would have majorly powerful people when the system restored finally on this planet it could be a problem with us so weakened from lack of aether for so long. 2, is there anything we need to keep an eye on?"


    Number 2 paused for a moment looking at some reference only he could see. "Each country has their elites and front runners. East Asia has the annoying sects that the traitor Number 4 created with them training harshly to unlock human potential through cultivation of what little aether concentration there was before." He said


    "Have we located Achilles? I refuse to call him number 4." Snapped number 3.


    "No luck. It does make sense considering who he is and how he was somehow able to convince the world that somehow he of all people could be killed by an arrow to his leg."


    A throat clearing came through.


    "Number 4 is inconsequential at this point. He will be nothing but an elite compared to the others. He can be killed like everyone else especially now. I like the plan of pushing for higher conflicts. 3, put that into action.


    I think a cultural theme would be good for this. Focus on the major powers. For Asia we will need some power, release the Russian necromancer. For Europe, I think we should release Morganna. I think it would be amusing to see an English legend let loose across the world. With Merlin and Arthur gone from this area of the multiverse it should be fun. Slam north america with the ripper. They don''t have any legends really there, but the ripper would do nicely.


    For South America let''s send Mictlan. He has been wasting away for long enough. Australia....oh let''s just send a couple bunyips. A classic." Number one said.


    Number 3 shook her head.


    "Something to say Number 3?" Number 1 asked.


    "Rasputin, Bunyips, and the Ripper I can understand. Morganna will be super distracted. She hates Arthur to this day. She will leave straight for the Serpent Empire to try to kill him again. Mictlan....what safeguards do we have that he won''t take a rift and go straight for Kukulkan in the royal lands? The last thing we need is personal attention from Ouroboros and the other Elder dragons." She said.


    "I forgot about that feud." Number 1 said. "It makes sense since Kukulkan destroyed his feeding grounds and nearly destroyed him in the same move." Number 1 continued.


    Number 2 spoke this time. "A solution perhaps. Gilgamesh. He has been content to exist in Lemuria beyond the ice wall. Perhaps we could entice him back over here to monitor Mictlan."


    There was a snort of laughter.


    "There is little chance of that. He loves the women of Atlantis and will be hard pressed to leave them." Number 3 said with a laugh.


    "He can be enticed, besides making the intercontinental trip to the one next to Lemuria must get annoying. He has not been in the Eden lands since the flood. Once his kingdom was destroyed he didn''t much care to remain here, but since the openings were here and the multiverse seals were placed here, he could definitely be made to come back now that he can gain power again from cores of monsters as they begin to push into the S rank as they were once long ago and as for Morganna, I know the green knight still lives he takes on different identities and lives with the general population. He should be gaining serious power back from his time with Arthur, have him keep her from escaping to the rifts." Number 2 clarified to the smug number 3.


    "Then we have our plan. Number 3, push those users we have discussed. Number 2, you are responsible for Gilgamesh and I''ll find the green knight. See that they keep a close eye of Mictlan and Morganna, but mostly the former. I cannot stress enough how much of a problem having Kukulkan return would be."


    The screens went out.


    - Meanwhile Imperial Palace -


    A well dressed man in purple and silver prostrated himself before a massive throne with light blue aether swirling around obscuring the being who sat upon it.


    "My Eternal Emperor, we have recieved a notification from the system that the seal on the land of Eden had been lifted. The rifts will stabilize again in 2 of our solar cycles."


    There was silence in the black shimmering throne room that was speckled to look like a starry night over a glass-smooth watery surface.


    "It is of no concern to me. The only reason for that world to exist was for the garden itself. It has been sealed off from all beings by command of the Ruler of Heaven Himself. The beings that were sealed there may be problematic when they come over. Monitor the comings and goings of that world and let me know if there are problems." Ouroboros said with a slow, deep, voice that seemed like a deep chested growl.


    "Send an imperial knight and a legion with him to subjucate the planet and add it to the empire. We will figure out a ruling family later." He continued.


    To the side of the throne room, someone became very excited about the news and left in a hurry to prepare for a trip to the new frontier.

 Chapter 18 - Iron

    Beast surges never last long, a few days at most then comes the pay out and recognition that comes with their conclusion as well as the memorials for the fallen.


    The surges, when they happen, are always an exciting yet risky affair. Insurance companies get a lot of work as do the crafters, banks, markets, and guild for jobs. The hospitals get to ease their tempo back to the usual pace associated with user life.


    Kyrain was no different. After the beast surge finally relented, he tore open one more rift to his bedroom. Many rifts and three or more casualty trips none as dangerous or as close as his first one, he had completely lost track of how many people he transported back and forth.


    He knew it was hundreds not counting the casualty trips, but that was a problem for another day. He stripped out of his combat gear, showered, and was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.


    He was awoken abruptly by his alarm....school.


    He slowly dragged his body out of bed and got dressed. He was a total zombie of weariness as he trudged onto the bus.


    "Good job during the surge Ky! Everyone is impressed with your place on the leaderboard for transport." The bus driver said excitedly, too excitedly for so early, but it got Kyrain''s mind working a little faster. He nodded and found his seat pulling out his phone.


    The guild had an app for tracking available jobs, stats, profile, and even leaderboard. Sure enough when he switched to the surge leaderboard tab he saw his name at the top of the transporters list and the number was staggering.


    1. Kyrain Ekart: Earnings 798 C Rank Cores


    Guild Award: Silver Wings first award


    Personnel Transported: 734


    Casualties Evactuated: 64


    "Silver wings!" Kyrain exclaimed to himself. The guild silver wings was an award given to those who performed beyond expectation and came with a bonus guild sponsored cores per job by 2% per job. On top of his Initiate certification he would be making much more than your average guild member.


    At school he was met with people smacking him on the back and congratulations. He felt like a hero, for a non combat role. He wondered if this is what his uncle Kody talked about when he was praised for his football and wrestling exploits. He always talked about the thrill of running out on the field on Friday nights under the lights.


    School had changed so much since the bombs and the system that it had to become more adaptable. It was primarily in person, but the rest was online and by the end of the established year, each student had to pass the end of year exam with the topics published three months out. Some people couldn''t go to school and caught in class lectures online where they were posted.


    When he got to the guild later that day, he was super excited. He was brought into the guild award room and presented his first set of wings. Then he went to the front desk for his pay. Giving them back their travel pin scanner and they gave him his pay. Over 1000 C rank cores. They were converted into 10 B rank cores and a few C rank cores and sent to his account.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    He immediately went down to the crafters union. His new money was burning a hole in his pocket and he wanted to upgrade his weapon from the standard steel into something stronger.


    Upon going through the door of the weapons shop, he was met by a huge gaggle of people. He should have known better than to go shopping right after the surge. He would pick this up later.


    He headed back outside and decided to see if mom wanted to go out for dinner. He tore a rift to her office. Conveniently enough, his mom was grabbing her jacket and was about to leave.


    "You ready to head home?" She asked.


    "How did you know I was coming." Kyrain asked.


    "I was watching and saw you look at the hospitals direction and take a step toward it." She said with a smirk.


    "I was thinking we went out tonight mom." He said.


    His mom gave him a knowing look.


    "Burning a hole in your pocket?"


    Kyrain just grinned. "Can''t a good son take his mother to dinner?"


    "I''m thinking Olive Garden." Kyrain said causing his mom to smile and shrug. He opened a rift.


    Once seated his mom spoke. "I''m proud of you. Scared for you as any mom heading to zone 1, but you did amazing and earned those wings. Your uncle had to be convinced to give you wings as he has always been harder on you than others because he never wanted to be accused of nepotism. The local guild board forced him."


    "Hello! My name is Cora I''ll be your server." A young waitress came up to the table.


    Kyrain ordered his usual Dr. Pepper and his mom went with a margarita.


    The entire time they ordered the waitress kept making eyes at Kyrain that he seemed oblivious to, but mom noticed. A string of aether from her thread skill snaked out under the table and latched around her shoe. As she stepped away making more eyes at her son, not paying attention, the thread caught and she tripped and fell. Without looking back she ran off embarrassed and couldn''t even look at Kyrain the rest of the night out of embarrassment.


    Brittanie smiled to herself.


    - 2 years later -


    Congratulations!


    You have been selected for full guild membership with initiate merit.


    Please place your junior adventurer license in the slot.


    Kyrain who had just graduated high school, which was the requirement to be a full member of the adventurers guild, put his license in the slot indicated.


    After some wirring and laser etching his full identification popped back out. He took his nee full Iron rank license. He looked at the screen again as the message changed.


    Congratulations! You are now an Iron Rank Adventurer!


    As a full member your menu has now changed and different programs are now available to you


    You have (1) message waiting for you.


    [Open] [Back]


    Kyrain opened the message and his eyes went wide.


    Good day Mr. Ekart,


    Your skills have been on our radar for quite a while and through negotiation with National Guild Headquarters, DC we have recieved a waiver for you to be able to join the Bounting Hunting program as a hunter.


    This offer is not usually extended to Adventurers until they are at minimum, bronze rank adventurers, but as your skills are an exception, HQ has made an exception for you.


    So at this time, we would like to extend to you an official invitation to the bounty hunter program. If you are interested please select the affirmation at the end of this message and one of our liasons will be in touch.


    Thank you for your consideration and congratulations on becoming a full member of the guild.


    Respectfully,


    Tod Robinson


    Grandmaster Hunter


    [Accept] [Decline]


    Kyrain didn''t hesitate, he accepted.

 Chapter 19 - Eclipse

    Kyrain and his cousins with Elijah over the next few days, took a few extermination jobs from zone 2 and 3.


    In the last couple of years the beasts have gotten stronger. Training had been much more fierce. His family and the guild trainers had pushed him way harder.


    Lately his uncle had been away from the guild on a few missions that even his mother didn''t even know the details of. Apparently in the bigger cities there were people being murdered like crazy. It was always the same, women were being targeted, but it was happening simultaneously in New York, Chicago, LA, Detroit, and in Seattle. It was becoming a bigger and bigger problem and the guild was releasing little news except they were actively working on figuring out what was happening.


    As a result, people had been training harder in their paths, moving in groups, and not doing it as much at night.


    Kyrain and his team were walking in to cash in on their job. They separated to the screens and began to log their work.


    Kyrain scanned his ID, but instead of the usual screen he got a message notification.


    He immediately opened.


    Mr. Ekart,


    My name is Eclipse and I am the liason concerning your entry to the bounty hunter program. I have arrived in Clarksville to go over a few legal requirements and induction.


    When you have arrived back at the guild, please call me using the enclosed number.


    Respectfully,


    Eclipse


    Kyrain input the number into his phone then logged his job success seeing the reward transfered to his account. After logging off he pressed "call."


    The phone rang twice on the other side before a woman''s voice answered.


    "Hello." Came the voice on the other side.


    "This is Kyrain Ekart and I''m trying to get in touch with Eclipse." Kyrain said.


    "Outstanding! Good to hear from you Mr. Ekart. If you are still at the guild we can meet and get straight to work." Eclipse said getting straight to business.


    "Yes ma''am, I''m still here and am willing to get started immediately." Kyrain responded.


    "Excellent!" Came the same voice that was on the phone, coming still out of the phone, but also behind him.


    Kyrain turned. A woman in a white and black fox mask stood before him. She was approximately 5''6 athletic build, but carried herself with an extremely lethal poise.


    Kyrain hung up and reached out a hand. "It''s good to meet you miss Eclipse?" Kyrain said and asked.


    She reached out and shook his hand. "Eclipse is good. It''s my code name. If you are brought into the program you will recieve a code name and a mask to protect your identity. It is required as we hunt users that have broken the law."


    Kyrain nodded as it all made sense to him. In the world they lived in now, people lived a long time, kept eternal grudges, and could do a lot of damage to a person, friends, and family.


    "Come I have a conference room reserved where we can speak and go over a few things." She said walking toward the conference room.


    Once they were in the room they were seated at a table with a few forms on it.


    "These forms are the legalities before we can get you in the program. We have done the background check through the guild and saw your record is clean. This first form here is the Bounty Hunter program''s official invitation with your written acceptance. Please read this form as it includes the risks associated with being a hunter. When you sign, you acknowledge the risks and accept them with the invitation." She explained pushing the form over to Kyrain.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    It read similar to the message he recieved on the screens, with the addage of potential being injured or killed by targets one may be sent after.


    Kyrain had done more research into the hunters and was going to work as hard as possible to get to Bronze rank and as high as tier as possible. He was currently at tier 5 as he was able to push himself up another tier in the 2 years and get another skill out of it that would help deal with dangerous criminals once and for all.


    He signed his name on the bottom of the invitation.


    "The next form is a non-disclosure agreement. Many of the things you will see, learn, and do will be confidential, sensitive, or instrumental in the success of the hunters. For example, the identity of other hunters. Not only must you protect yourself, but you must protect other hunters. This form is your understanding and agreement to remain silent about such things unless given written consent by appropriate authority." Eclipse said


    Kyrain quickly read through the form that was devoid of lawyer speak that always was so confusing and hard to understand. Kyrain asked about it.


    "The Grandmaster was the founder of this program. He isn''t the type to play games or bullshit people. He is brutally honest and will tell you as it is. He insisted the contracts and forms to be simple like that as it dealt with people''s lives." She answered as she pulled another form.


    "This form is the consent of training. It has a list of the courses and training you will recieve. Some of these courses possess the risk of injury and will be harsh in some cases. This form outlines to you these courses are not done out of cruelty, but necessity."


    Kyrain read over the form and saw classes such as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) as well as advanced water survival, counter surveillance, Behavioral prediction, criminal code, and use of lethal force. He signed it and handed it back.


    "This is the last form. This is your agreement to obey all lawful orders given by your seniors in the program. This is your agreement to follow the orders of your appointed trainer and here at the bottom is your understanding and consent to become the assigned trainee of the programs appointed trainer." She explained sliding it over.


    "When will I meet this trainer?" Kyrain asked as he started to look the form over.


    "You already have. The guild assigned me as your trainer as it''s the next step in my progression within the program." She answered.


    "Stapled to the back of that form is my commitment to you as your trainer to prepare you for as many eventualities as I can and give you the tools to handle any that will pop up on rare or unique occasions."


    Kyrain read the form and looked at the back. It was as she said. He looked down at her signature expecting to see her code name, but it appeared to be her real name. Emma Robinson.


    Kyrain flipped back to the front and signed.


    "Excellent! You have the rest of today and tonight to set your affairs in order and say goodbye to friends and family for a time. Once you have completed the training program, you will be able to return to this area, should you desire, and make it your home base of operations as a hunter.


    From here on out you will not address me or another hunter as anything but Sir or Ma''am. You will use code names to get their attention, then continue to use Sir or Ma''am. Hunters are recognized by the symbol over their heart of the hawk. Trainees do not have the hawk. All orders and tasks will come from me. Failure to follow all lawful commands from me will result in punishment or dismissal from the program."


    She opened a bag on the floor by her side and took out a white mask that had the look a mutated sharp angular skull and pushed it toward him.


    "Whenever you are on official business of the program you will wear this mask to conceal your identity. At no time will you take it off unless ordered by appropriate authority in secrecy. In other words. You will arrive to the guild tomorrow wearing the mask. It''s been specially crafted to attach to the face and cannot be removed unless you deliberately want it off or is broken. Do you have any questions?" She asked.


    "Yes ma''am, do I have a name I go by and what time should I arrive tomorrow?" He asked.


    "She nodded. Good you learn quick. The program had given you the codename of Erebus. You are shadow, darkness, nothingness. Your path removes all that people know and you will be here no later than 0600." She replied.


    "Yes ma''am. Is there anything else?" Kyrain asked.


    "No. I will see you in the morning. " Eclipse said putting the forms in a case that locked and put them into her bag.


    Kyrain left the room and went to the hospital to see his mom. He was uneasy. This was the first time he was truly being taken from home and her. He could use the reassurance she always provided.


    - Eclipse -


    "Hello."


    "Grandmaster, he has been inducted into the program. There were no issues." Eclipse said.


    "Good. That one will be an extremely good addition to the program and can stop a lot of high powered individuals if we train him right."  Tod Robinson said.


    "I plan to do my best. He seems sharp and is eager." Eclipse said.


    "Good. Be careful out there Emma. Let us know when you are back in the area and can break away. Jess has been training Mads, but i don''t think she wants in the program. She spends all of her time in the ocean exploring the shallows and messing with the different fish and beasts. She might just remain an adventurer when she gets there." He said.


    "That sounds like her. Alright, I''ll keep you posted. Love you dad."


    "Love you too." Came the response and then the call ended.


    She took of her mask and laid down on the bed in her guild provided room to rest up for the hard task in front of her.

 Chapter 20 - Departure

    Kyrain hugged his mother the following morning. They had spoken at length last night after he delivered the news.


    He could tell his mother wasn''t pleased with him leaving and he felt bad. As soon as it showed on his face she jumped in letting him know that he shouldn''t. It''s just that a loving mother never wants her children far from her or outside of her reach.


    She hugged him tightly then stepped back as he put on his new mask. As it touched his skin it sort of magnetized to his face and he couldn''t remove it. He would have to ask Eclipse how to remove it later.


    "I will contact you when I can with updates. I love you mom." He said as he headed out the door a swirl of emotions.


    He opened a rift to the front of the guild and walked in. The few users there, turned and looked at him.


    "Punctual. It''s appreciated Erebus. We have a lot to get done. Our ride is here. We will be moving to Nashville for a target." Eclipse said as she walked over to him.


    She ushered him outside to a waiting car. They got in the back and the car took off destination already known by the driver.


    "We are on our way to the Hunter training facility. In the meantime we will be picking up some low threat targets. Take a look at this file and pick out things you think are important." Eclipse said handing over the referenced file.


    Kyrain opened it up and began to read.


    Warrant of Capture


    Name: Gregory Lee Eastman


    Status: Alive


    Crime: Grand Larceny


    Bounty: 5 B Rank Cores


    Path: Light manipulation


    Last known tier: 3


    Threat level: 1


    Notes: Person of interest does not have a known current address, but is often seen around the White Bridge Pike Target in Nashville, TN. He has not resorted to violence or threats of violence. He is capable of focusing light or scattering it in order to hide himself, but could be able to use it in an attack both with aether and/or physical.


    Kyrain looked over the form and noticed a few things. "First this is a warrant, which allows us to legally apprehend this person Ma''am."


    Eclipse nodded. "What else?"


    "Status I assume is the state in which the individual needs to be brought in. It would make sense considering his crime is grand larceny and has no record of violence. Which implies other warrants can read like the old western posts of "dead or alive." Kyrain reasoned.


    "You are correct. Now that status can change very quickly based on the actions of the person in question. If they present a clear danger to the apprehending hunters or people around them, they are authorized higher amounts of force, even lethal force." She said then tapped his forehead.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "In our masks are recording devices that store data then transmit it to HQ at the end of the day to each of our serialized databases for evidence to protect us or even hold us accountable. Should greater force be required, the camera is our evidence of that force escalating when it is taken to court."


    Kyrain nodded. "Understood ma''am. Is that why the mask is hard to take off?"


    Eclipse nodded. "Correct in part. We will go over removal procedures later tonight in privacy." She said.


    "What else have you noticed about the warrant?" She asked.


    Kyrain read it over one more time. "This gives a brief overview the individuals path which correlates with the threat factor which is given a score of 1 which i assume is the lowest."


    Eclipse nodded again.


    "Correct. It''s that simple. The rest of the warrant has a bunch of nice to know information." She said as she handed him a picture.


    The man looked to be around as tall as Kyrain based on the background and was around 180 lbs. Brown hair, brown eyes, haggard, gaunt look suggesting some drug use.


    "Pretty simple in theory right?" She asked him.


    "Seems so ma''am." Kyrain said


    "Not in practice. The people we go after know they have broken the law and expect a hunter to come after them sooner or later. The more dangerous ones usually have safegaurds against us that we must navigate to get to them. These can include other people, traps, use of still lethal weapons like guns and explosives. So we move intelligently on each and every target, even one such as this who appears to be a thief." Eclipse explained.


    It all made sense to Kyrain except for this target. "Ma''am, this guy''s description doesn''t seem like he is that great of a threat. Why so much extra caution?" He asked.


    He couldn''t see it, but under her mask, Eclipse was smiling. "Two reasons primarily. First, he could be working for someone who actually is dangerous and on that note the second reason is threat of a hunter trap. Users that have taken to crime naturally hate hunters. When they can make us disappear or kill us it''s better temporarily for them as they get more time to work and prepare for a stronger hunter, hence why they use weak front men." She explained.


    Kyrain was shocked by the level of planning in this very subtle war that was going on without many people knowing.


    "So how would we go about this Ma''am?" Kyrain asked thoroughly stumped. He felt paralyzed with indecision and lack of options.


    "We wait and watch. You will recieve a class when we reach Quantico, VA called "Behavioral Prediction where you will learn to reach humans better. Everything a living creature does is NEVER random. There is some cause to it. Violence can ALWAYS be predicted if you pay attention. For the next couple of days, if not longer, we will watch our person of interest or POI as we say in the program."


    Kyrain absorbed the information like a sponge. There were so many new things in the world and he had barely gone a half hour out of Clarksville where he had spent most of his life.


    "What do we do if it turns out this person is a front man?" Kyrain asked.


    "We begin surveillance operations." She said as she reached down on her leg to a pocket near her ankle. Tightly packed into it and padded was a small device. She unfolded it into a camera.


    Kyrain nodded. It made sense.


    "This camera sends all pictures directly to the US government path registry for recognition. Once we identify all persons and we get a job threat level, we adjust accordingly. If this job escalates beyond Level 3, we pull back. I''m only qualified to level 3 jobs, but even then I might pull back even at 2 because I have a trainee. If this is just a thief as indicated in the warrant, we will make the apprehension." Eclipse explained.


    Content with the information he had recieved, Kyrain read over the warrant a few more times and looked at the POI''s picture. In the next half an hour they reached their scheduled stop. The driver was paid and they moved to the Trader Joe''s right next to it.


    They walked into the store and found a manager. Once Eclipse showed her credentials and after a suprisingly polite conversation that didnt seem the down to business brutish sterotype of hunters, they were shown to maintenance area that had a set of stairs and ladder than led to the roof.


    Once out of the roof, to Kyrain''s shock, Eclipse just sat down, laid back, and crossed a leg over her knee and began to wait.


    "Uh....Ma''am? What are we doing?" He asked.


    "Waiting. Sit down and wait. We keep a low profile on arrival in case there is surveillance over the area. We need to wait for the human condition to kick in. Keep watching the sky and looking around. Tap your right temple. Your mask has built in binoculars. Look for anyone constantly watching this area. Keep your sensory skill open too." She said.


    "Yes ma''am." Kyrai said as he did as instructed

 Chapter 21 - First Job

    Whatever Kyrain was expecting over the next few days was not rotating shifts of watching a store and parking lot with the surrounding area.


    A few hours after their arrival Eclipse set up small short range cameras all over the Target for monitoring. The amount of items she kept in her pockets and in her bag were astounding.


    A small tent went up behind a HVAC system on the roof hidding it from the main points of observation where they watched the cameras and then they would slink out and watch the surrounding area.


    The back of Kyrain''s head was getting sore from the slaps to the back of it from growing what Eclipse called "complacent." He would grow so bored of looking at everything. To keep his mind engaged, he started counting different cars that went by on the road and people watching.


    What she said would be a couple days turned into a whole week until something finally changed. He was on his break dozing in the night when she nudged him.


    "Look." She said pointing the camera.


    There was a flicker on the high resolution. A shadow moved unnaturally along the ground independently of the back lot streetlight.


    "Ma''am, aren''t we going to move in?" Kyrain whispered.


    She shook her head. "Not yet. We will let what''s happening continue. We will just follow him when they are done and see where he goes and what he does. We want to make sure it''s just greed and doesn''t go any further than that." She said.


    Kyrain continued to watch the screens. With a small flash a small beam of light projected from the shadow onto the lock of a door. The brief light revealed the gaunt face of a man. The lock melted and fell away allowing for the latch and deadbolt to slide back easily with nothing stopping it. Then he went inside the store.


    "Let''s move. He came from the far side. We will put ourselves on the other side and see if we can''t follow him."


    Kyrain looked at the other roof and created a rift on the floor in front of them that allowed them to crawl onto the roof on Target.


    A silent breath out in a laugh came out of Eclipse. "Useful." She said quietly and then continued to move silently to the other side of the building and waited.


    It was approximately a half hour before a shadow slinked out of the back door it had gone in this time with a high priced wagon filled with boxes.


    "Keep up with that shadow if you can." She said as she dove into a shadow and vanished.


    Kyrain quickly shook off his suprise and watched the shadow head across the street to the college. He opened a rift to the roof he could see and dove through. He found the shadow again and watched it move to the White Bridge Pike road. Kyrain saw the man come out of the shadow and get into a car after loading everything, but the wagon.


    The car began driving away down the road, it turned on the highway. Kyrain dropped into a rift and had the opening appear on the top of the car where he waited half in, half out as the car sped along. Eventually it took an exit and went down a road before turning off at an autoshop. Kyrain redirected his rift to the other side of the street to be able to watch from the back slope of a roof.


    He watched a bunch of cardboard boxes be offloaded and stored into the shop. The man got into the car and drove off after locking the shop. Kyrain however, didn''t follow. He went to the shop and found a window where he could see in. He watched inside for about five minutes. After not seeing any movement, he opened a rift and went inside.


    Looking at different containers and boxes. Some were labeled as Acetone, Painthinner, draino, and even ammonia. He had looked through some of his dad''s old HAZMAT textbooks and recognized some of the chemicals as being required for the creation of methamphetamine.


    His eyes went wide and he opened a rift out as fast as possible. Meth labs were always explosive and extremely poisonous to breathe. He took a good last look around, remembering the location before he took a rift back to their makeshift camp on the roof of Trader Joe''s.


    "Find anything interesting?" Eclipse asked with a smug tone.


    "Yes ma''am, I went in after he left and found a ton of chemicals I believe are what my dad''s old HAZMAT books called precursors to methamphetamine ma''am." Kyrain explained


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "Good! What''s the next step?" Eclipse asked.


    Kyrain crossed his arms and looked down.


    "Going off what you said to me earlier. We still need to figure out if he is working alone or if it''s a bigger operation." Kyrain suggested.


    "Top points. Our next course of action would have been further observation, but luckily I''m here and my path let''s me follow and observe extremely efficiently. This guy has a few other people he has deal for him, but he is no real threat to anyone. He is too high on his own supply to get what he needs properly and gets too much. We move tonight to get him." Eclipse said starting to load the equipment from the makeshift camp back into her bag.


    She dropped back into a shadow and a few minutes later returned with the cameras.


    "We are going to go back to the autobody shop then walk away couple blocks down the road and get him." Eclipse said.


    Kyrain furrowed his brows behind his mask. "Ma''am, how did you get back here like I did if you don''t mind me asking?


    A giggle escaped Eclipse. "I rode your shadow of course. I didn''t actually know if it would work until I tried it. Turns out you actively have to nullify things you want to stop. Convenient to say the least. Once I followed our POI I shadow jumped back to you, then caught a ride. Again, nifty little ability that portal thing." She said.


    She zipped her bag up then stood. "Mind opening another back to the roof across from the autobody shop?"


    Kyrain nodded and waved his hand creating the dark rift showing the other side. He walked through followed by Eclipse to the rooftop.


    She darted off silently moving so that Kyrain could keep up, until they reached run down house with junk and trash all over. They snuck up to the window.


    "Do that thing you did at the shop where you got in passed the doors?" She said as she dropped back into his shadow. He found an unblocked window then peered in. After checking for movement or any obvious traps, he opened a rift in and stepped through.


    The first think Kyrain noticed was the stench. It physically hurt his nostrils it was so bad. He held his composure, but only barely. With the mask over his face, he couldn''t even plug his nose. He tried to breathe out of his mouth, but he could taste the stench. He vowed to develop a power to destroy smells in the air.


    Kyrain opened up his aether sense which spread throughout the house and helped them locate their target, he was asleep in the room next to where they were in what resembled a living room, but was hard pressed to be that with the amount of trash.


    "Do you want me to lock his path down ma''am?" Kyrain whispered. Eclipse looked over at him.


    "What does that entail?" She asked quietly back.


    "No path at all. Anyone under tier 5 once I''m, what I call, locked on them, they can''t use their path." He replied.


    "Do it." She said as she slowly made her way to the room he indicated to her their target was in.


    Kyrain extended a tendril of antimatter and enveloped their target. As soon as it locked into place he gave a thumbs up.


    Eclipse darted into the room and had Gregory Eastman on his face with only a squeal leaving his mouth. A pair of handcuffs went on and then she spoke.


    "Gregory Lee Eastman. You are under arrest for Grand Larceny and are suspected of drug possession, manufacturing, and distribution. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to have a lawyer present when questioned, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand?" Eclipse said.


    Rather than respond Gregory scrunched his face and moved his hands trying to do something.


    "What have you done to me?! I can''t use my path?!" He screeched in terror.


    "Do you understand your rights?" She simply replied with shaking him a little to get his attention.


    The man nodded like crazy this time oddly a blubbering mess which Kyrain chalked up to drug use.


    My name is Agent Eclipse of The Hunters. We have a warrant for you. The last thing you need to worry about is your path. Now stand up and walk." She said lifted the man to his feet and pushing him out of the house.


    Once outside, she sat him on the porch steps and made a call. In about 10 minutes a few police cars showed up.


    "Good evening officers. I am Agent Eclipse working on authority of this warrant for the capture alive of Gregory Lee Eastman. He has been arrested for grand larceny, but i suspect that he has been making, using, in possession of, and ether distributing or assisting in the distribution of methamphetamine based on the chemicals from this address." she said showing them pictures obtained from the investigation.


    The officers looked over her license, the warrant, and the pictures. "Thank you Agent Eclipse." Said the senior officer with two stripes on his arm after running her license to verify she was in fact a legal hunter.


    "I assume these will be available to our department by the usual timelines between the program and law enforcement?" He asked.


    Eclipse nodded. "Absolutely officer. Upload then forward to your office will be done within 8 hours per Program operating procedure. You will also have access to my body camera footage for the case within that forwarding of information."


    The officers shook her hand and collected Gregory who was drooling from shock at still being locked down under Kyrain, even though he didn''t know it was him.


    "He has a light manipulation path. He can create beems of light hot enough to cut locks like a torch and can create a sort of shadow active camouflage." Eclipse said.


    The officers turned on a mirror feature on the glass in the back of the car that would stop beams of light and stuffed him in.


    "Thank you again Agent." The police officer said placing his thumb on a pad held by Eclipse. With a beep, she thanked the officer and they both left.


    "What was that last part ma''am? Kyrain asked.


    "That was police confirmation that the job was completed and the hunted suspect was apprehended and delivered. It''s also how I just got paid.'' She responded happily.


    She began walking to the road as another car pulled up.


    "This is our ride. It will be a longer one. We don''t have a job until we reach Virginia." She said getting in.

 Interlude - Sorin: Fraying mindset

    - 1 year later -


    Sorin spent the better part of the next year working on suppressing the effects of the collar more and more. It was convenient that the mines were a labyrinth of different tunnels. A few times, roaming bands of mine guards or miners would come down around where he was, but he would seal the entrance and let them just move by. As for the collar, the more he pushed back on the device the harder it was to keep going. It was like it knew what he was doing and would adapt to his efforts after a while. The field around him he could suppress about half way and hold consistently while doing other things.


    During that year Sorin developed a new use of his element manipulation skill. He had gained inspiration from a few characters in movies he once saw as a boy and figured, why not? While he was training everything like he usually did, he reached out to the aether ore around him. He forced it to become almost like liquid metal and flow around him and allowed it to form around his body.


    He hardened it slightly, but not enough to where it would break and heat up when you bent metal until it broke. He just maintained it like armor. He had to really practice with it to get it to solidify quickly where he wanted. The nice thing about it, when he would fire rocks at himself the metal would work like water. If a high speed object hit it, it would be firm because the liquid couldn''t get out of the way, nor catch the object delicately, which was the down side.


    He still felt the impact, but the object never got through. Sharp points still did on the rocks until he mastered solidification. Then he practiced and practiced until wearing the suit and manipulating it became second nature.


    With the massive increase to his strength and spirit stat, he could do so much more at once and it just took a little practice. Multi-tasking was simple at two, three, and even four things at once, but he wanted more. To practice he would swirl metal and rocks around himself and launch it at himself and use his metal exoskeleton, as he had begun to call it, to cut the object down by high speed manipulation or just outright block it.


    It took months for that project alone, not mentioning his body enhancement project. Sorin knew the muscles in the body had a limiter to keep them from doing too much. They were way stronger than what the body could usually handle. He wanted to take that limiter off.


    He started by using aether to match the frequency of flesh and build cells. He reinforced the tendons and ligaments. After he was done he condensed the muscles further through a stronger mind stat reinforcing them with even more aether. The muscles he found had the fiber issue that the had to address. The bones were not strong enough either and at one point during his modification process, he moved too quickly and the muscle snapped his arm bone.


    He waited for it to heal thanks to his regeneration skill then he made the bones way more dense then had an idea with inspiration taken from another TV show. He had noticed aether iron that he refined with his earth manipulation into steel never rusted. It was almost like stainless steel, but way more resilient.


    He fed a trickle of aether steel into his hand and began to coat the bones in it careful to avoid the joints. He separated the fibers and then connected aether re-enforced fibers around the metal coated bones. Once he had his entire bone structure in his hand coated, he let the metal solidify fully.


    He moved his fingers and made a fist. He made sure to keep the dimensions of his hand the same so it didn''t change and let off to his opponents what he had underneath. There was no issues and he could undo it later with time and effort if he needed to.


    Sorin got to work with the rest of his body. He left plenty of spots in the bone so that they could still complete their natural functions of producing blood from marrow, but after weeks of effort and a lot of pain which he numbed, he was finally done.


    He stood up feeling the huge amount of weight added to his body. It would take some time getting used to, which he had plenty of. The next few weeks he ran, stretched, and went over his fighting forms until he had gotten used to the added hundreds of pounds added to himself. Sorin was certain he was at least 400lbs now with the appearance of 180plbs.


    Sorin opened his HUD to see if the system recognized his metallic reinforcement.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Elementalist


    AP: 382778/434610


    Body: 1370/2000(T7)


    Mind: 2850/4000 (T8)


    Spirit: 2200/4000 (T8)


    Skills {Focus here for drop down}


    It did work, but he couldn''t tell if the system took the metal coating into account or just the biological reinforcement.


    He got up and began moving out of the cavern. He was pretty confident now that he could head out with little fear. Most had probably forgotten about him in a year and he wanted actual food.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    - an hour later of walking -


    Sorin could see light up ahead of a glowing aether source. He continued passed it and heard the distant sound of picks hitting the walls creating the iconic tinkling sound.


    He continued walking heading passed individuals digging. Some would glance up, but most wouldn''t pay him any attention. As he walked, he formed traces of aether ore he formed into pure clumps of the unrefined iron that he tossed into one of the packs he had taken from the group that had tried to murder him.


    He kept walking upwards and upwards feeling throughout the tunnels through his elemental sense and saw it begin to open up far above him. His mind was so quick he was analyzing all the routes and moving up. Up ahead the light changed from the red to the outside white light. The entrance got bigger and bigger until he finally stepped out into it.


    Things had not changed in the slightest since he had left. The same lines for water, tools, and finally food. He went over to the line and stood in it. He had metal layered around his legs and the part for his upper half of his body around his waste and hidden under what remained of his shirt, hidden away to be called on at a moments notice.


    He had to wait around 10-15 minutes to reach the front where he handed the pack off to a mine overseer who peered inside and saw the metal he had in there and looked confused.


    "Where did you get this?" The overseer said with a sneer. "Steal it from somewhere?"


    Sorin shook his head. "No. It came from the deep part of the mines. Been down a long time looking for good amounts ore and came across that." Sorin said in a sort of raspy voice that was that way from a year of silence.


    "Whatever, I don''t honestly care. You made quota. Go." The overseer said dumping the metal into the bin then tossed the pack back.


    Sorin continued and got a bowl of gruel which as bland as he knew it was, but it smelled amazing for not actually have eaten in over a year. He sat down and began eating keeping his sense open for any threats, but he paused as two people he recognized...sort of, were coming his way.


    "Sorin? Is that you?" The grubby Linx asked coming over with Cain right behind him.


    "Holy crap! It is him. You''re still alive! We had heard you were lost in the mines nearly a year ago." Cain said sitting down with his bowl across from Sorin at the wood table with Linx next to him.


    "Yeah, I''m alive fellas. Lost myself down there." He replied.


    "There were rumors you were killed down there too." Linx said.


    Sorin snorted. "I''m harder to kill than that guys, you know that better than anyone in this universe." He said.


    "That''s for sure." Linx said before going quiet and starting to eat.


    "Hey, I wanted to apologize for lying and betraying you and Euryale man. It felt horrible and we knew it was wrong when we did it and the results were made manifest after it was done." Cain said with Linx''s ears folding flat and his head lowering in shame.


    "I know why you guys did it. She is a beautiful woman and we did have it rough, but you needed to realize that at our station, you guys had no chance with her. She is a dukes daughter and we are but slaves. What hurt the worst was you gave your word and I trusted it. Could have really used your help toward the end before I ended up here." Sorin explained.


    Linx tilted his head. "You said "you guys" had no chance. Did that have any meaning behind it?" Jealousy leaking through.


    Sorin laughed. "Fellas, she had no chance at me. I''ve told you guys many times before I have eyes for only one woman. Even if that were not the case, she is too young for me. I see her as a child learning her way in the world." He said taking another bite.


    A shout rang out across the mines causing Linx and Cain to stand up immediately and Sorin to look around confused.


    "Sorin! Stand up! One of the..." Cain didnt get to finish before a man trudged over throwing Sorin''s bowl to the ground.


    "Stand up as you were commanded slave!" Some mine guard screamed at him. Sorin didn''t move as he could peer into the core of the guard and see he was merely a tier 5.


    "I wasn''t done eating. Go get me another bowl." Sorin said slowly looking up and glaring at the guard. He could feel his frayed self control slipping from being hungry and in the mines for as long as he was. He wanted to vent his anger and nobody in this place was at the highest tier 6.


    The guard was stunned that a slave would dare talk to him.


    "Did you hear me? I said go get me another bowl. I earned that with a quota and you threw it." Sorin repeated getting to his feet, pulling in massive amounts of aether bring his core to full in spite of the different manipulations running.


    The guard began trembling with rage as he pulled out and swung his baton at Sorin who didn''t even try to dodge. He just reached up and grabbed the guard''s arm.


    "You could have just not been a complete moron and gone to get me the bowl of food I asked you to get me, but fine, let''s play a game of force then I''ll get it myself." Sorin said as he squeezed.


    Bones crushed and flesh bubbled from pressure between Sorin''s fingers then exploded like a ketchup packet.


    Then came the screaming. Sorin shoved the guard away using the mangled arm, then went to the line and got another bowl. The server was so terrified he just handed him the serving spoon. Sorin got a serving then found a new table where he sat and began to eat again completely uncaring about the screaming guard and the other guards making their way over to their comrade with the apparent big shot behind them looking angry.


    The other slaves at the mine stared at Sorin in complete shock.


    "Who did this?!" Came the yell from another of the guards and immediately Sorin saw a bunch of others rat him out with pointing fingers. Cain and Linx didn''t do anything, careful to look away causing Sorin to smile and little.


    Rather than deal with it, Sorin got up with his bowl, refilled it to the top and began to walk off through a clump of people watching the guards move quickly where the others were pointing at nobody.


    He began making his way to the mine about to go back down and continue to work on his path. This trip up had been rather helpful in many ways.


    He was nearly to entrance of the mine when shouts came up and a crowd of guards ran over and the tier 6 began slowly making his way over.


    Sorin, was through being stepped on and he knew where he was going after this. He set his bowl down with his water and pack, then turned and headed toward the guards.


    They rushed toward him about to restrain him when he flashed his liquid metal armor up over his upper body, face and eyes leaving eye holes and the ability to breathe. He created blades on his hands and went to work.


    Faster than the guards were ever ready for, he flashed forward and sliced at the tier 6 who was also caught completely off guard by a supposed slave who was wearing a suppression collar.


    The crowd that day, would speak of what happened with confusion as nobody could tell what had actually happened. Some would say it was ten guards and a supervisor others say more, but they all agree that not a single one of them was able to move as their bodies fell to the ground in pieces and incinerated.


    Sorin let his armor fall away back to where it was before the "fight," grabbed his belongings, and went back down into the mines where nobody would see him for a long time.

 Chapter 22 - Final Exam

    Eclipse and Kyrain traveled across the lower states hitting the Carolina''s then they shot north until they reached Marine Corps base Quantico where the FBI used to be trained until it was dissolved and reformed into the Hunters by former President Hogan toward the end of his second term.


    During that time they managed to apprehend a couple more targets similarly to the first one. Eclipse was smooth in her captures and with Kyrain locking them down it was even easier for her.


    He was given a barracks room to stay at while he attended the required courses for Hunting. It didn''t take long to get used to his mask. Most days, he didn''t even remember it was there unless he saw his reflection and it startled him.


    Kyrain was not thrilled about more classes and training. He still trudged through them starting with criminal law, but not the same as what the police dealt with. It was more constitutional law with the final amendments created after the development of paths and the hunter program which allowed for dead or alive contracts to be created through strict court ordered guidelines.


    One class was about practical applications of the masks which were the same as Eclipse showed him, save for the built in flash light that Kyrain didn''t need nor care for.


    Kyrain went through use of force classes and scenarios daily to make sure that he didn''t get himself in trouble with the law or worse through improper use of deadly force, but also helping to prepare for when that force is required. It was so difficult and was glad he wasn''t an actual police officer who had it much harder and dealt with that scenario way more than Kyrain would have to.


    His next month was taken up by classes in scenarios and tracking with how to analyze behavior of people using programs developed by Gavin De Becker. In other classes, he was shown different practices used in the past and even currently by people to move substances, weapons, and even people.


    The exams were a sinch now that his mind was tier 5 and could remember everything with complete clarity. Finally he got to the end of the course where the practical application came in.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen, each of you have done exceptionally within this course and now we have come to our final exam. It is a practical examination with a deadline of a month.  Each of you will be given a file of a target. You will track this target and capture them ALIVE. All information will come from the packet you are about to recieve. Your targets were specifically chosen based on your strength and path." The instructor said as his aids began handing packets out to each of them.


    Kyrain got his packet, but before he could open it the instructor spoke again. "Your sponsors and trainers will be accompanying you on this hunt. They will not be helping you in the hunt, but grading you and in extreme cases, step in to keep you safe." He said.


    "At this time, you may begin your hunts. Your final grades will be tallied by your sponsors. Oh...and if you think you''re going to be cut some slack by your trainers/sponsers, think again. Their reputation and progression depends on pushing the best candidates forward. If they push a garbage candidate through, they will suffer just as much. It''s in their best interest to grade you harshly." He said as he walked out.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Kyrain saw Eclipse step out from a shadow as if she had been standing there the whole time.


    He got up and was about to open his packet up when she grabbed it. "Not here." She said and motioned him out of the room and to a small private briefing room.


    "Now you can open it. Sharing a hunt with another hunter that isn''t contracted with you can lead to them making the capture or kill before you, thus getting them the reward." She explained.


    Kyrain hadn''t been told that in the classes. "That seems rather cut throat." He said.


    "It is competitive. You are not to share assignments with others unless you contract with them in writing and backed by the Program." She said gesturing toward the packet to begin.


    Kyrain opened up the packet and pulled out two documents. The first was a picture and it made Kyrain stare. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen was in this picture.


    Blonde almost silver hair, dark blue eyes nearly sapphire blue with not quite pale skin, but light in color.


    *snap!* *snap!*


    Eclipse snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Come back down lover boy. Do not let yourself be distracted as some paths are mesmer paths. They let you see them as beautiful or even enchanting. This might be the case, because sure she is pretty, but not to the point you should be drooling." She said rolling her eyes where even Kyrain could see them roll.


    He pulled the dossier out and began to read.


    Warrant of Capture


    Name: Nyx Sabel


    Status: Alive


    Crime: Fellony evasion and general disorder


    Bounty: 2 B rank cores


    Path: Time Warp


    Last known tier: 5


    Threat level: 1


    Notes: Person of interest''s last known address is 582 University Avenue New York City, NY 10001. Little is known about person of interest save for she became a US citizen a year ago and quickly moved up in the ranks of the guild. She has had many altercations with her neighbors and when the officials attempt to address the issue she ignores them, is belligerent with them, and then will flee when detainment is attempted. No violence or threats of violence in any interaction. Extreme flight risk in all situations. Detain first before identifying and questioning or risk losing target as many have had happen.


    Kyrain looked up from reading then handed the page to Eclipse who took and read it. After a few minutes she handed it back.


    "For this last piece, you will remove your mask. I will be observing you from a distance. You may only reveal that you are a hunter when you attempt to detain and make an arrest.


    There may be times you have to blend with society and work as one of them. Sometimes, targets are so good that if they see a mask, they are gone in a second." Eclipse explained as Kyrain slowly went up with a single thumb under his mask. He placed his thumb over the indent and waited five seconds. There was a click and hiss as the mask came away.


    "At this point, I will offer no more assistance and will be observing every step." Eclipse said as she dropped flashed brightly and was gone.


    Kyrain could have sworn she had a darkness or shadow path.


    Kyrain went to work. He pulled out his phone, input the address. It took him to a massive apartment building. He turned on the satellite feature giving him a detailed view of the area at the street view. Honestly, he didn''t know if it would even work, but he tore.


    He peered through the rift and sure enough, the city of New York was on the other side like the GPS showed. Kyrain stepped through. He looked at building labeled 582 then walked in. There was a directory of rooms for delivery service and he checked the names.


    They were listed by last name with the first letter of their first name, but not a single one was Sabel. It wasn''t going to be that easy. So it meant he would have to do things differently and be patient.

 Chapter 23 - Nyx

    Kyrain found a stairwell, then opened his phone. He zoomed out to see the roof. Finding a clear spot in the satellite picture, he opened a rift and looked out. It was clear so he stepped through.


    He sat down next to a vent and thought. He could try multiple different ways of going about this hunt. This person''s last known address was here, but that didn''t mean it was there currently address. He would need to do some fact finding, but he would have to be careful.


    He found a nearby hotel where he would stay as he tracked down his POI. After checking in with a moniker, he placed what few belongings in the room with his packet in the safe then jumped to the top of the hotel in order to watch and wait to see if his target would show. If by a week of observation he found nothing, he would begin a new strategy.


    - Nyx -


    Nyxara, or Nyx as she was known, was on her way to New York City. Her target was a peculiar one. With a nullification path that nobody had ever seen. She took pride in the amount she knew of the system and paths, but in her years, she had never seen a nullification path or knew how it worked.


    It was her Hunter program graduation exam hunt and they assigned her a low level target to hunt. She knew it was the requirement to capture a target on her own under observation, but felt it rather tedious to capture a level 1 target. She had aced everything in the hunter''s course and it was way more exciting than she had anticipated.


    One of their guest speakers, a man by the name of Gavin De Becker put the icing on the cake in the human condition and behavioral prediction.


    A few quotes he said stuck out to her that he had even repeated in his book "The Gift of Fear." They shocked her because,where she was from, it was even true.


    "Most men fear getting laughed at or humiliated by a romantic prospect while most women fear rape and death."


    In her former country she was rarely the target of these actions, but she heard of it and even saw justice handed down to men who commited these acts. She knew that if some men had the opportunity, they would have tried for her, but she and her family never gave them a chance.


    Mr. De Becker was right about a lot of things including


    "intuition is always right in at least two important ways; It is always in response to something. it always has your best interest at heart."


    Many times, she had been saved by nothing more than a gut feeling that she didn''t understand, but didn''t ignore. When she looked back she realized that she had all the signals and answers to why she felt that way.


    It was crazy how locked down that man had the mind and behavior of people.


    She looked down at her warrant again for the umpteenth time.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Warrant of Capture


    Name: Kyrain Ekart


    Status: Alive


    Crime: Fellony evasion and general disorder


    Bounty: 2 B rank cores


    Path: Spellbreaker


    Last known tier: 5


    Threat level: 1


    Notes: Person of interest''s last known address is 582 University Avenue New York City, NY 10001. Little is known about person of interest save for he became a US citizen a year ago and quickly moved up in the ranks of the guild. He has had many altercations with his neighbors and when the officials attempt to address the issue he ignores them, is belligerent with them, and then will flee when detainment is attempted. No violence or threats of violence in any interaction. Extreme flight risk in all situations. Detain first before identifying and questioning or risk losing target as many have had happen.


    She had an idea of how she would track this guy down. Humans are creatures of habit. They frequent the same places, they like their routines, and detest deviating from them. Once she confirmed the last known address, she would begin narrowing things down.


    She had to be extremely careful, this person was extremely flighty and with his nullification path, which she had no idea how it would stack up against her strength. Under normal circumstances she wasn''t concerned with a lot as her strength tended to make everyone seem beneath her and often led to arrogance which she should never be as that was her sister more than her as well as the rest of her family.


    She activated one of her skills to make the wait go much faster to her. Time dilatation was activated slowing her perception of time, but leaving everything around her moving at normal speed which made it seem in fast forward. What was a 16 hour trip, was over in 30 minutes to her perception.


    As soon as the bus made it to the destination, she rose and went into the hotel she had picked out for her hunt. She watched her surroundings very carefully.


    After she checked in under a moniker, she went to her room, dropped her few belongings off, locking her packet in her room safe then began to get to work.


    - Kyrain -


    Kyrain waited on top of the roof of the hotel watching the front of the apartment complex. He would see the sidewalks all around it and though there were many people, none of them matched the description of the woman he was looking for. Days went by and nothing. He decided to head down and walk the streets a bit and ask a few people if they had seen her using the picture he had or her.


    He figured he would ask a few in the hotel lobby. Unfortunately they all shook their head no. He looked up at the worker behind the counter who had a perplexed look on his face.


    Kyrain set the picture on the counter. "Excuse me sir, have you seen this woman?"He asked.


    The man looked at the photograph then spoke. "I can''t say either way I''m afraid. The hotel policy states I can neither confirm nor deny if someone is in the hotel."


    Kyrain just nodded. In his mind only one phrase came to mind. "Verbage matters." He didn''t ask if the person was staying here or not, just if this man had seen her. It could be a mistake of speech from the man, but he had time. He went to the nearby ladder well and went back to his roof.


    He stepped out and began looking down at the people passing by when he heard steps behind him. He turned around and his eyes went wide as he looked into the deep blue, very familiar eyes from his the picture of his target. Her eyes just as wide as his.


    "You!" Was all they could say as they activated their abilities to keep the other from fleeing and exploded toward one another.

 Chapter 24 - Lifes suprises

    Kyrain immediately latched on to Nyx with his nullification ability, causing her to stumble forward, but with an exertion of more aether she forced her way passed his ability for a moment to slow time around his feet causing him to stumble.


    They both fell and immediately jumped back up and rushed toward one another. Kyrain was at a complete loss. Everything he read in the warrant was going wrong save for her path. He felt the time change on him briefly before he canceled it out.


    He jumped up as she did and they rushed at eachother. They both tried to apprehend the other. Every time she touched Kyrain he would drain her aether before she pushed more through, which was suprising because she was supposed to be a tier 5, but she was definitely well beyond that.


    For Nyx she was bewildered. His path was reducing her tier artificially and now she was at his level and being pressed by him, which was completely ludicrous.


    They began grappling and with a feint upward Kyrain dropped down sweeping an ankle only for Nyx to put all her weight on that leg then try to slam his head down. With a shrug and twist he swipped her wrist and twisted only for her to roll her wrist and they reset their position to a state of neutrality.


    Kyrain began allowing his nullification ability to flow around them. With his manipulation ability he had learned he could seal people and drain an area. In a matter of moments he had created a dome around them and was shrinking it.


    Nyx immediately began to feel the pressure. She could feel her aether draining even more than before and to make things worse, her family''s aether absorption technique wasn''t working. He had somehow cut off her access to the world and the aether it held to be abke to sustain her.


    She activated her time sense and was shocked. Somehow, her targets ability was cutting off every ounce of aether and had them separated from the rest of the world. She didn''t even think he realized that he had effectively cut them off from time and her path. She could see a dome around her and the world outside sealed off from them almost like they were in a rippling bubble.


    Kyrain watched his target, he was draining her aether as fast as he could, but she had so much of it. It felt like he was facing his uncle Kody who was believed to be above tier 10. That''s insane, because it would mean a few things. First that she was holding back, second that she was certainly not a level 1 target or even a level 3, but beyond.


    He could see the beads of sweat on her forehead as his aether drain was taking its toll. He darted in, not tired in the slightest and began to strike. She blocked all his strikes as if she had been fighting her whole life and began to counter-attack. For every punch thrown, he had two coming back that he would try to nullify, but he was still being overwhelmed.


    Kyrain pushed even harder to nullify more of the world around her. He began to nullify the air aether. Nyx began to breathe extremely heavy now unable to get enough oxygen in her system.


    Nyx began to feel the pressure redouble and knew she had to end this now or she was going to be in extreme danger from this criminal. She punched with every ounce of power she had left. Only to have the momentum in her blow not only leave her punch, but was turned back on her in a sort of concentrated shockwave directly to her shoulder and gut, doubling her over with a wheeze as the breath left her.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    She staggered backwards as Kyrain advanced still draining as hard as he could. He did a front kick which she tried to grab and move with, but Kyrain had expected that. With her lack of oxygen, he was hoping she was going to begin making mistakes. He was wrong, it was a feint. She punched at the inside of his knee so fast that Kyrain couldn''t drain the aether as fast as he needed to and he felt the impact knocking him sideways.


    He was getting frustrated. He pulled even harder on his wellspring harder than he had to in a long time. He wanted to completely seal her off. In his frustration he used his path to obliterate all aether around his target and she froze completely and he felt his mind begin to fatigue faster than he thought possible. Be was beginning to get dizzy.


    *bleep*


    *bleep!*


    Nyx was in a full panic. She had never been this terrified in her life. She couldn''t move, breathe, anything. Her father had a similar ability, but it never stopped her or anyone he had used it on from breathing. She had never been immobilized to this degree in her life and at this point she regretted leaving home. It wasn''t that bad, she was just bored. Now, she was at this criminal''s mercy and she was terrified on that level too. She blacked out.


    Kyrain held his target in that field for as long as he could, which was maybe a minute and a half before he had to release everything. Blood was leaking from his nose and he fell backward. If she attacked, he was far too tired defend himself. He laid there expecting the sound of an attack or even movement, but heard nothing.


    Slowly, he lifted his head and looked over at where he thought he saw her fall forward only to see she was still laying on the roof face down. He slowly got up, used his shirt sleeve to wipe the blood from his nose away. His body was so fatigued he could barely use any of his skills, but had everything he could do on standby as he exhaustedly approached.


    He could see the steady rise and fall of her back from breathing. He pulled a set of re-enforced handcuffs from his back and put them on her, moving her hand''s behind her back then set her upright. He looked at her and even in this state, she was absolutely beautiful it was hard to see this woman as a criminal. It just didn''t fit the profile. Something didn''t seem right. The words from Eclipse came back to him about the path ability, but that would mean she had a dual path ability.


    He sat down across from her and waited to regain some energy and for the pain in his head to stop. He pulled up his HUD.


    Congratulations!


    You have achieved Tier 6


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill:


    Stasis(a) - By removing all aether from a specific area you freeze that area and anything within that area completely in time and space. Though a perfect prison, it takes a massive amount of antimatter to sustain and drains the stamina of the user. Caution: Significantly stronger users can overwhelm stasis causing backlash that is potentially lethal to the user.


    He had tiered up and gotten a cool new skill. This one was better in more situations that a skill he had learned against beasts which at his tier and below made him instantly lethal to them, but at a cost. He looked at that skill too.


    Core annihilation(a) - Use your antimatter to disburse and crush the core of a beast or user. For users, if it doesn''t kill them through shock, it permanently removes their path and makes them into a pre-system human with a severely shortened life span. For beasts it instantly kills them, but removes the ability to harvest the valuable core.


    Kyrain was pulled from his HUD by a drowsy moan and a shift from his target.


    "Welcome back. You are under arrest for felony evasion and general disorder. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to have an attorney present for any questioning. Do you understand your rights as they have been said to you?" Kyrain said tiredly.


    Nyx didn''t say a word, but scrunched her eyebrows in a look of pure confusion. She slowly looked up at him, tilted her head.


    "What the fu..."

 Chapter 25 - Partner

    Nyx was flabbergasted at what Kyrain had just said. He was a hunter who had just read her the miranda rights.


    "What the heck is going on?!" She asked extremely upset.


    Kyrain was slightly confused as well as this wasn''t the reaction he had expected either. Nothing matched the warrant save for her path and he believed name.


    "Take me to my room here in the hotel and I''ll show you that you were my target given to me by the program." Nyx said frustration, confusion, and embarrassment all over her face.


    Kyrain nodded then latched back onto her with his skill to cut off what aether she had left and helped her up. They walked down the stairs to the 3rd floor. She indicated to her pocket where Kyrain found a key and slid it into the lock and the door opened adding more to Kyrain''s confusion. Why would she have a room here if her last known address was the appointment complex?


    Twisting her hands around to the front and pointing to the closet. "Go to the safe and type in 200200# and pull the packet out. I have a feeling it will be just like yours." She said.


    Kyrain pushed her shoulder down so she sat on the bed. "I''m not moving." She said with a straight annoyed face.


    Kyrain nodded then went into the closet, punched the code and pulled out the packet. He closed the safe door, walked out opening the packet to pull out his picture and a nearly identical warrant of capture.


    He looked up at Nyx then with a sigh he focused on his shadow and all the others in the room where Eclipse could be watching and nullified all of them.


    Sure enough, she materialized from the corner. "Ma''am, what is this?" He asked. Just then Eclipse''s cellphone rang. She answered it and put it on speaker.


    "You''re on speaker Phoenix. " Eclipse said as she looked at both Kyrain and Nyx.


    "Well done to the both of you. Not only did you successfully find eachother, even by accident, but you reacted in accordance with the warrant. We didn''t have to step in and stop a killing blow, though whatever you did at the end there Kyrain was rather scary....anyway, you also kept an open mind to the evidence and collected more evidence while remaining mindful of deception. Using what information you had on hand with the evidence provided, you more or less called higher command to confirm information." Eclipse explained.


    Phoenix chimed in at this moment. "I was watching from another perspective and saw everything. You have all done spectacularly. We will send our observations to Quantico, but now begins your probationary period. We are responsible for you and will be assigning you specially selected targets outside of the level 1 targets that will be available to you in the guild screens. We might even call you in to assist us in a capture." She said.


    "Ma''am sorry to interrupt, but can I get out of these?" Nyx asked shaking the handcuffs.


    Kyrain pulled the keys without being prodded by anyone and undid the cuffs on the disheveled woman''s wrists and taking them back.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Rubbing her wrists she looked up. "So what now? We just go our separate ways and wait on a call?" She asked.


    "No, you and Kyrain are assigned partners for the next year. Any job that is assigned, is assigned to both of you, with the profits split the same." Phoenix said.


    Kyrain and Nyx looked at eachother then turned to Eclipse. Where do we go in the meantime? Nyx asked.


    Eclipse just shrugged. "You''re grown, figure it out. Just make sure that if we call, you respond or show."


    After a brief pause Eclipse looked at Kyrain. "Can you unblock the shadows now, I don''t want to have to force my way into them. It takes so much more aether to do." She said.


    Kyrain took his antimatter from around them and gave her a nod. "It''s done Ma''am."


    She looked between the two of them. "Good job and we will be in touch. Oh, one last thing, you may not take any jobs alone. You must always go together. Once you''re out of your probationary period then you can go solo. " She said with agreement of Phoenix. She then hung up the call and vanished back into the shadows.


    Kyrain opened up his aether sense and looked at each of the shadows. Though he couldn''t see Eclipse directly, he could tell when she was there due to the higher aether levels in a specific shadow, but there were none this time.


    "She isn''t in any of the shadows anymore." He said looking up and Nyx.


    "Do you have plans for where you want to go?" He asked her.


    She just shook her head. "Not really. You?" She asked.


    "I''d like to return to my home town where I plan to make my main area. If it''s all good with you?" He replied questioningly.


    "Yes, that would be suitable." She replied.


    "Suitable? Alright your majesty." Kyrain laughed.


    She gave him a deadpanned look. "Please don''t call me that." She asked


    Kyrain shrugged then tore a rift open and walked through it to the front of the guild hall before looking back.


    "You coming?" He asked as he saw Nyx looking at the opening to the rift.


    "Yes, I''m coming, it''s just impressive that you can do this." She said as she stepped through.


    "How far did we go?" She asked.


    Kyrain just pointed up to the building drawing Nyx''s attention.


    Clarksville, TN Guildhall


    She seemed rather impressed.


    "Well let''s go check in and you can see if they have a room you can check out. I also need to call my mom to let her know I''m back in town. She will want to have dinner." Kyrain said.


    Nyx held up a hand. "My code name is Eon." She said quietly. Then walked off to get a room. She was still beyond exhausted from her fight with Kyrain and needed to recover from the shock of what his skill did to her mentally.


    After checking in with the guild and looking at the available bounties, he went and met up with his mother.


    At dinner his mother was laughing at the ridiculousness of his final exam. After a bit, she stopped laughing she looked back at her grown son with nothing, but pride and love then got serious.


    "What does she look like?" She asked.


    Kyrain knew that tone. "Mom....she is just my assigned partner." He said defensively.


    "Is she pretty?" She asked.


    Kyrain stammered. "W-what does that matter? I don''t know." He said ears beginning to go red which did not escape her attention.


    "She comes over tomorrow for dinner." Brittanie said.


    "Mom....no way!" He exclaimed drawing some eyes around them at Texas Roadhouse.


    "I thought she was just a partner?" His mom said with narrowed eyes causing Kyrain to reel a bit. "She is mom." He said firmly.


    "Mmmhm. We will see tomorrow night. She will be there or I''ll call your uncle and tell him you have a girlfriend." She said.


    "That would be a lie though." He said confused.


    "Do you think Uncle Kody will care?" She responded casually taking another bite of her streak.


    Kyrain froze then his face began to morph into a state of pure horror. He knew his uncle would do everything in his power to embarrass him no matter if he liked the girl or not. It happened once.


    "Dinner tomorrow then mom. She will be there." He said.


    Brittanie just smiled and looked incredibly smug.

 Chapter 26 - Dinner plans

    Nyx didn''t know what to expect from Kyrain''s mother. She knew that the lady was extremely famous as a top rate healer in the country and was one of the biggest contributing factors to the stability of the region in the early days.


    She could tell that Brittanie Ekart was more than that. The aether that came off her was massive. For over a decade of training, she was definitely one of the most powerful people she had met so far and it made her rather nervous especially when from the corner of her eye, she could see the woman scrutinizing her every move as if she were a serpent about to attack her son.


    "Where is home Nyx?" Brittanie asked politely.


    "Just across the border from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. There is a tiny town called Heyden." She replied.


    "No kidding?! I was born in Traverse City." Brittanie replied. "I haven''t been back there since Sorin was sent away years ago, but maybe one day we will head back for some vacation time when he returns."


    Nyx had seen photos of a man with brown hair, blue eyes in a military uniform around the house that looked just like Kyrain. She had assumed he was Kyrain''s father, but didn''t know a gentle way to ask.


    "Sorin is your husband?" Nyx asked gesturing to the ring on her left hand.


    "He is. Kyrain never mentioned him?" She replied.


    "Just met yesterday mom when we tried to beat the snot out of eachother." Kyrain said sarcastically, but honestly which Nyx nodded to.


    "Ah. Yeah, he was caught in the initial blasts and I had thought him dead, but found out later that he was just sent to another location that every time I try to sense it or track it feels like it''s not even of this world anymore." Brittanie said.


    "Was he the only one to be sent away?" Nyx asked.


    "No actually. I found a bunch of pictures of different people caught in the blast and they all seem to be in the same area, but different locations within that area. Some died quickly in some sort of battle or training or whatever is happening. Every time I''ve seen Sorin, he is always brusied, cut, beated, or fighting. A few years ago he looked like he was in a red, dusty mining area. Now he has been traveling through different cities, meeting different people I haven''t seen since he was first taken from us, including one black haired bimbo with red eyes." Brittanie explained.


    "Black hair, red eyes. Ever seen weapons she uses or a path?" Nyx asked curiously.


    "Yes actually...Khopeshes. I had to look them up when I first saw them. She also likes to be set on fire for some reason. I assume it makes her stronger." Brittanie said.


    Kyrain was quiet up until this point.


    "Why haven''t you ever told me all of this before?" He asked.


    "You never seemed to care. I''ve told your uncles because they always like their updates on him. I''ve also told many family friends as its not like its secret information." Brittanie said before she took another bite of the Cream cheese and spinach stuffed salmon she made for dinner that night.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Though his mother wasn''t paying attention, Kyrain didn''t miss Nyx freeze, look up then down quickly schooling her features back.


    Before Kyrain could ask his mom spoke up again.


    "So what do you have planned with my son?" She said causing Kyrain to almost spit.


    Nyx who didn''t think anything about it answered quickly. "Unfortunately, I don''t get to make plans. They are essentially made for us within this first year save for level 1 bounties." She said taking another bite of her fish.


    "Forgive me if this is too personal a question, but why does it seem that every single person in Kyrain''s family seem to be both insanely strong and in a position of power?" She asked.


    Kyrain giggled. "That is always the running joke in the family and amongst our friends. My aunts and uncles will joke about my generation having kids in case more wardens are needed or guild masters." He said.


    "Strange. Then there is a distinct possibility that Sorin is just as powerful as the Clarksville Guild Master and the Warden or the Pacific Northwest." Nyx said thinking more out loud than to anyone.


    "Odds are, and it''s as both of his brothers and lately his sisters are suspecting, Sorin is even stronger. He has always been a blend of the three brothers with a mind that always thinks outside the box. Kody, his youngest brother, suspects Sorin will do everything in his power to "break the system." Brittanie said.


    Nyx let the topic go with a few nods to herself and a glance over to Kyrain. She had no idea what was up with this family, but it''s definitely on her watch list.


    Dinner was uneventful for the rest of the night and the following morning Kyrain and Nyx met at the guild hall, masks on to look for their first job.


    They checked the bounty hunter screen and saw a few jobs. A couple were grayed out meaning they were already being actively hunted, but there was one that was open. It was for a small gang and had four warrants associated with it.


    He opened the details and scooted over for Nyx.


    This small gang has been officially charged with with the following: Beaking and Entering, Trespassing, Burglary, Larceny, assault and battery, brandishing a weapon.


    Group is not above tier 2, but they can prove difficult for their area to deal with. They are extremely hard to lock down, due to their impulsive behavior.


    Kyrain looked at Nix. "Eon, I have an idea of how we can get these guys." He said.


    "Let''s take the bounty. They are low tiered and present minimal risk to us especially with our path and how little threat they pose overall, then lets head somewhere in private and hear your idea." She said in response.


    Kyrain scanned his ID, then screen prompted for the second ID to be scanned in order for the job to be accepted due to their probationary status. Once Nyx scanned her ID, the screen beeped and showed a green acceptance border and directions to the bounty counter that was on the other side of the guild hall outer ring.


    Once they reached the counter the attendant had a steel tube prepared for them. After he verified their IDs, he passed the warrants to them and then they went into a conference room and locked it.


    "In my experience, you attract more bees with honey, than with vinegar."


    He went to the smart screen in the conference room, connected his phone then projected a map of Clarksville.


    "This group likes to hang out over here on Rafiki drive. Let''s talk to the area manager and see if we can rent out a place and get Rent A Center for temporary furniture delivery. The program will pay for the sting operation. The thing is, we need to pretend to be severely injured." Kyrain began to explained then Nyx took over.


    "These are like those fish that were from the Amazon." she said snapping her fingers trying to remember. Then pointed


    "Piranhas! They are cowards. However they are hunters of opportunity. So if they see us weak and moving in. We will have to keep the act up for a bit, but I think we can pull it off. Any time we have to leave we mask up, and portal out otherwise we will be an injured meducally retired crippled couple ripe for the picking." She said.


    They both nodded and smiled. They had their plan.

 Chapter 27 - The newly cripples

    It didn''t take long for the arrangements to be made and they found a place that was recently remodeled between South Senseney and Rafiki drive on the corner.


    They showed up to the showing of the house by the realtor with Kyrain in a wheelchair being pushed by his "wife." Nyx was acting with a bad limp and only able to move slow with her arm tucked close to her hidden away as if it was lost in a fight. The clothing she wore did a good job of hidding any signs of a hidden arm.


    "The place is completely accessible and all one floor as you both requested." The realtor said opening the front door to allow them in.


    "The property itself is 1 S rank core. It''s competitive in the market. As shown it''s three bedroom with 2 bathrooms. Convenient for a family with space to grow if I''m not being too presumptuous." She said.


    Nyx walked next to Kyrain who wheeled in and over to the back door to look out at the yard as she hobbled her way around the house as if really looking through.


    She came back out where Kyrain had pushed himself to the kitchen and was looking around. Nyx went over to Kyrain as if discussing it. Kyrain affected a nod then Nyx nodded to the realtor who reached into her briefcase for the necessary paperwork.


    "Can we just get a receipt of sale?" Nyx asked.


    They had already cleared the sting operation with the guild and it will take ownership of the property for use in the future. If not, flip it for profit when complete. To the guild 1 S rank core was nothing.


    The realtor smiled amicably and reached in her briefcase for another set of documents with a carbon copy. Nyx handed over a single S rank core from a champion and began signing with her one good hand. She held the pen out to Kyrain.


    Kyrain just waved showing that he was content with Nyx signing. His face was painted with very realistic burn marks and didn''t put any signatures down per instruction from the guild as they were legitimately buying the property on behalf of the guild. Nyx was signing on behalf of them which the guild lawyers would take care of with the contract she had signed before the sale of the property.


    Everything was legal and straightforward. They had their house and now all they had to do was wait. Once the realtor left Kyrain sighed and got up to stretch a bit.


    "That went rather smooth. All I had to do was shut up and look dejected." He said.


    "Not hard to act that out at all. It''s like we learned back in Quantico, most people only see what they want and run with the first bit of information they get as long as their desires are met." Nyx said smiling.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I''m taking the master bedroom. It has the bathroom attached to it and I''m the lady of the house so....my rules." Nyx replied putting her nose in the air sarcastically causing Kyrain to smirk and raise an eyebrow.


    "Fine, fine, you''ve convinced me. The rent a center people will be here in about a half hour. I just sent them a message." Kyrain said sitting back down in his wheelchair and headed to the porch to make a show to passing cars that they lived there.


    Nyx stayed inside because it would be weird to see a lady with a limp just standing around. It was fine with her anyway. Before long the rent a center truck arrived with an entire furniture set for a house. After an hour of moving and setting everything up, the house was done with the big stuff.


    After a couple trips back to Kyrain''s mom''s house for blankets, sheets, and some household items. They needed to make a trip to the store for other items which they used a car they had also rented for the operation. It was a fancier car, but not too high end that the coverage would be crazy for if the targets went after the vehicle.


    It was almost sun down when everything was finally and done and this time, Nyx joined Kyrain outside on the porch just relaxing.


    "So is this what people dream about here?" Nyx asked.


    Kyrain thought for a second. Then spoke.


    "Mom doesn''t talk about it much, but the few times she did, she would talk about things like this as plans she had with my dad before the system showed up. She said they wanted another child or two. She said, with us being longer lived they still might, but doesn''t know." He said.


    "Your parents really loved eachother." Nyx said sitting back on the wicker weave recliner they had gotten for her to sit out with Kyrain for her part of the act.


    "Yeah, I used to wonder why mom never dated or anything, but when I found out about her skill to see dad and read the emails he had written to me when he was deployed, you can see my dad was crazy about her. I hope he still is when he returns." Kyrain said looking down.


    "What about your parents? If you dont mind me asking." He continued changing the subject.


    She looked down scrunching her eyebrows a bit with a frown.


    "Well...it''s complicated. My dad wasn''t really around for us. He is a powerfully placed individual and doesn''t really care about family matters much. It was mostly my mother and I. I learned most all I know from her. When I got older, I got bored of the drama and didn''t feel like being a part of the family business." She explained.


    Kyrain nodded along.


    "Time Warp?" He asked.


    "You can call it that. It''s not the actual name of my path, but it suits well enough. Spellbreaker?" She answered then asked right back.


    "That''s actually what it''s called. I know little about it. He is brought up a lot, but my dad read a LOT of these books in the LITRPG and cultivation genre that mom said was a lot like what we live now. He was also a nerd who thought outside the box and probably could have helped me figure this out. Maybe if he makes it back, he can help me." He replied.


    Nyx slowly got up to act injured. Quietly she spoke.


    "I''m tired of this bind on my arm. I''m going to shower, get some food, then probably turn in. I''ll see you later."


    Kyrain just nodded then spoke up. "I have pizza coming. Papa Johns is not far. Should be here in the next ten minutes.


    She paused for a moment.


    "You''re not bad for a make believe husband Kyrain Ekart. You know the way to a woman''s heart." Nyx said with a giggle then went inside.

 Chapter 28 - Embarrassing life

    Kyrain and Nyx fell into a day to day lifestyle where they would pretend to do things around the house that each of them could reasonably do with their specific injuries. A few weeks went by of them hobbling around the house, but they when they needed a break.


    Over the course of the weeks, both Kyrain and Nyx came to truly respect people who were truly injured especially veterans. They didn''t get to riftwalk away from their injuries. They dealt with it every day with no break.


    Kyrain could tell that Nyx had little to no home making skills which made sense considering her dad was so powerfully placed and they sounded well to do. She would wash dishes as that was simple enough, but laundry and other things around the house, she was hopeless. She even got bored and tried cooking something. When the smoke alarms went off Kyrain did his absolute best not to laugh, but failed when her face went red and she started huffing in frustration.


    Nyx glared at him and then threw a plastic cup at him when he had to inform her that whatever she was making was beyond done by the time that particular timer went off.


    Nyx still frustrated pulled out her phone and sent a text. After a few minutes she looked at Kyrain. "I''ll be back." She said as she put her arm back in the disguise and limped out the door to the car leaving Kyrain to fix everything back up.


    - Nyx -


    She never cooked or did a lot of the stuff around the house. She always had staff and servants that did that thanks to her dad. Now, with none of that, she needed to learn to be on her own. After she burned the simple biscuits, she needed to figure something and their was one person who she thought she could ask.


    She messaged Brittanie Ekart. She arrived and went up to the door which Brittanie had open save for the screen door.


    Brittanie looked at her still upset look and raised her eyebrows. "You guys are not even dating yet and you''re already coming over to get away from him?" She said with a smirk.


    Nyx looked up at her confused then it clicked. "No we''re not...it''s not...well not completely him." She said collapsing into Brittanie''s couch.


    Brittanie was in her loungewear watching some mental game show where people had to figure out who was the murderer and if they did they get tons of cores, but she stopped and listened to the young girl.


    "Then what is the problem?" Brittanie asked.


    "I have read books and watched videos about things people do at home like cooking and whatnot, but I tried to do biscuits and gravy and burned it all. Then rather than be graceful about it, Kyrain started laughing and said when the smoke detector goes off the food has been done for a while." Nyx said with a huff.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Brittanie just smirked and giggled. "You expected to be good at things right away? You said the other day that you were well to do and didn''t do much of this stuff. If you can''t laugh when you mess up, you''re in for a hard time." She said.


    "It''s embarrassing." Nyx responded.


    "Uh...yeah. Many things people deal with especially us women are embarrassing. You get used to it. It was pretty embarrassing having a kid. I''m on a bed, legs up...." Brittanie started, only to have Nyx close her ears and shut her eyes.


    "Mrs. Ekart! Please no! I would be grateful just to take your word for it." Nyx exclaimed going extremely red with the blunt honesty from the woman.


    Brittanie got up, went to the kitchen. She opened up a cabinet and pulled a small book from it. She walked back in to the living room and handed it to Nyx.


    "Here if you want to learn to cook, just follow these recipes. I copied these down for the kids and maybe one day grandkids. This is one of the many copies I''ve made." She said.


    Nyx smiled and thanked Brittanie and began to leaf through the book and ask questions.


    - Kyrain -


    Kyrain was scrubbing out the oven after he opened up the house to get the burn smell out of it, which was annoying in a wheelchair. He wanted to just get up, but didn''t in case someone was looking into the house. Which was currently the case.


    With his Tier 6 aether sense he could see a car parked down the road with two people in it seeming to watch the house. They had been there for about a half hour. He was outside when they pulled up. He slowly pretended to stand out of the wheel chair and affected a small fall for them to see that he couldn''t even walk and was a sitting duck.


    Kyrain''s gut feeling was telling him these might be the people, but he didn''t want to react too early. He needed to draw them all in so they couldn''t get away. If things continued and he kept being watched it was a matter of time, before they did more. Another twenty minutes went by when the car pulled into the driveway and Nyx slowly got out, limping into the house.


    "You see we are being watched?" She asked.


    "I see them. They have been there for about an hour or so. Certainly didn''t take them long to scope us out. It could be our gang, or another group altogether. In case it''s a new group we will take them down when they enter." Kyrain responded.


    He turned to her. "Where did you go?" He asked.


    "Just on a drive. I was frustrated." She replied walking toward the kitchen where they had the viewing screen of the cameras they had around the property, one camera of which, was pointing down the street.


    "Are we following them tonight?" She called from the kitchen.


    Kyrain closed his eyes and opened up his aether sense and watched the two men in the car.


    "I don''t think we need to. If we are patient and let them continue coming to us, they may do the work for us. Worst case scenario they move on from us and we track their car. If we follow them and it turns out they spotted anyone tracking them they will go to ground til they are comfortable." Kyrain said.


    Nyx nodded and continued to watch the cameras for a few minutes longer before dimming the screen.


    "I''m headed to bed." She said letting her hair down and walking down the hall.


    Kyrain couldn''t help but watch the nearly silver haired woman walk away. He looked down narrowed his aether sense to give her privacy as attractive as she is, he was raised to be a gentleman.


    "I might be in trouble..." He muttered to himself.

 Interlude - Sorin: Men fear monsters

    - 6 months later -


    "What do you mean, you don''t know where he is?" Euryale Aegis asked in an extremely dangerous tone to the fat foreman of the mine.


    Gisbon had been drooling after the young lady. It''s not often he had something pleasant to look at and boy was she.


    "My Lady, we have people disappear all the time in the mines. It''s an extremely dangerous profession." He responded calmly with her tone not intimidating him in the slightest, but having the opposite effect.


    "That doesn''t excuse how you don''t have records when Sorin Ekart arrived nor where he was assigned to dig, not to mention how I have been sitting here another hour while you look for two other people who may or may not be still alive in this mine." She snapped back anger beginning to show with her path beginning to heat the ambient air.


    Euryale was not happy in the slightest. The disgusting lump in front of her was so repulsive that she wanted to incinerate him on the spot, but held back. She had spoken with her father who, in turn had achieved an agreement with the prince to recind the rest of Sorin''s time in the mine and begin his employment with her family sooner, but according to the foreman, he had not been seen anywhere.


    The door opened to the office as a guard led two filthy men in. Those they were covered in dirt and grime, but Euryale could still recognize Linx and Cain. They saw her and immediately turned their gaze down, shame still showing on their face. Their betrayal burned them to this day.


    "Gentlemen, two things have come up and you will be required." she said. "First, we are looking for Sorin; have you seen him?" She asked.


    They immediately looked up at one another. "Yes ma''am, he is somewhere down in the mines. We saw him briefly about six months ago when the incident concerning the guards and overseer took place." Linx said.


    Euryale frowned. "What incident?" She asked turning to Gisbon.


    The foreman stammered "I-It is nothing to concern yourself with. Minor issues that was quickly solved. Minor case of rebellion that happens from time to time."


    Euryale turned to the fat man. "Who rebelled?" She asked.


    "We don''t actually know. All I heard from who returned from the team is the situation was handled." He responded, sounding so smug with his nasally voice.


    Euryale turned back to Linx and Cain. "Pack what items you have. You''re going to work for my family. I want you both on my ship within the hour." She commanded.


    The foreman jumped up quickly.


    "You won''t stay for at least dinner with me?" He asked hopefully.


    She looked at him with a look of pure distaste. "Absolutely not. You''re disgusting and incompetent. There is nothing I detest more than incompetence, save for sheer stupidity, and you have it plenty of both." She snapped and began to walk away only for the guard at the door to not move to the side.


    Euryale stopped and glared.


    "Foreman, remove your man before I remove him myself." She ordered.


    With a snicker the foreman spoke.


    "When I last looked you''re a tier 5 and not strong enough and you came in here insulting me and the mine. I think I''ll take my recompense." He said with a nasy grin.


    Euryale began to smile with a smile she had learned from Sorin that seemed to really make enemies uncomfortable, causing the guard to step back.


    With a flash or movement, she flicked her wrist and a push dagger was released from the inside of her sleeve and was plunged beneath the guards chin up into his brain. With a gurgle the man slumped to the floor.


    Euryale turned to the foreman, who at this point was rather suprised at how quickly his guard had gone down. Linx and Cain were next to useless with their collars so they took cover.


    "Foreman, if you were willing to do this to me of all people, it means you have done this to others who have gained your unwanted disgusting attention. For this, your punishment will be a reminder to future foreman of this mine." She said as her eyes glowed white.


    Gisbon began to scream, but it lasted only a couple seconds before his entire body, clothes and all became petrified in stone.


    Her eyes returned to their usual red and she staggarded back a step and shook her head. She walked over, picking the now statue of the fat man up with a slight huff of effort and put him in the corner before sitting down at the desk. She composed a letter of warning for the next foreman.


    "Let''s go you two. I''m sick of this place." She said as she walked out.


    - Months earlier -


    Sorin sat down in a new cavern that had water that bubbled up from below and drained into a crack that went further into the mines.


    His latest project on top of further his progress on completely nullifying the effects of the collar, was fixing a travel issue.


    He couldn''t do chain lightning for a long time yet, but he could do lesser things. He opened up his elemental sense and began looking for a specific type of energy. He poked around for days on end until he was able to isolate a mote that transitioned between white and blue. Electromagnetic aether he called it.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    As he began to look around and saw that electromagnetic aether was absolutely everywhere and always in fields. Looking at his own body, he could see the lesser version of a field around him that he theorized would be the key to chain lightning later.


    He began to push aether toward the bottom of his field trying to make part of his field stronger, what he didn''t expect is his field began to grow not just in size, but power. It was become more dense like when he infused his body with aether. It took every ounce of aether he could give it. It kept condensing then expanding for weeks with only it becoming more and more dense. Sorin had no idea what it even meant, but he was going to go for it.


    *bleep*


    Sorin pulled up the notification.


    Congratulations!


    Your spirit stat has reached tier 9!


    "Well....I guess in a manner of speaking it makes sense that it is connected to spirit." He said to himself.


    He smiled then focused back in trying to push more aether around to affect the electromagnetic energy around him. It was resistant at first, but then he thought about it.


    The resistance is what he was after. He pushed even more. Blue and white electrical arcs began sparking. Pushing harder and he could feel the resistance push him away from the ground exactly as it feels to push on two repelling magnets. He pushed harder causing his aether to drain a little faster and he rose more.


    Keeping his focus he raised a hand and pushed the same energy through his hand and he drifted to the side. He cut that power and switched hands slowing then stopping the drift and causing him to go the other way. He cut the power to his lower half and he fell the foot to the floor with a smile.


    *bleep*


    He pulled the notification up


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill:


    Lesser flight(a) - By manipulating the forces around you, you have discovered a way to overcome gravity and propel yourself through the air. With this lesser form, you are more floating in a direction, but it''s a start.


    Sorin was about to push even more power through the skill to try to improve it when his senses picked up a group of armored personnel searching again.


    Since he had massacred the group of tyrannical guards and the overseer, they have sent bands after him. He used them as practice. His earth manipulation had grown drastically because of it.


    He walked into the wall which rippled around him like water accepting some of it''s own. Time to start a legend.


    - Connor -


    They had all volunteered to go after the man that had murdered so many of them. They knew he had a collar so they were a little confused how he had done it. They were not there that day so they assumed the miners were lying or embellished the story.


    Other groups had gone down and more guards were brought in from the empire to take up spots of the other groups. So far they had not found anyone from the other groups, but the mine was massive and some areas had beasts.


    They found a cavern with tracks in it. It had seemed that people had been here. There was a pool of water in it, which was a very strange sight underground.


    "Any signs of the rat?" Came a voice from the back.


    "Spread out. This cavern would be a great place for someone to hide." Connor said.


    They separated. They had upgraded white lights to search for the groups and even the murderer.


    The pool he could see fed into the wall and drained away. There was a twist in the cavern and a group vanished from sight. Little did he know, they were already gone.


    He turned away and continued looking around at the extremely sparce campsite. He saw a trail leading out another side and the sound of footsteps. He quickly whistled for the others to follow and they did.


    He continued down the watching the tracks closely careful to not lose sight of them for a second. After about 15 minutes or so Connor stopped and held up a fist for the men behind him to stop, but he heard nothing from behind him.


    He quickly turned around and saw only a black tunnel save for his own light. In his state of hyper fixation on a trail and looking for the source of the sound, he completely missed the disappearance of his men. He ran back down the tunnel looking for them, but found nothing.


    He returned to the huge cavern and found a pile of lights, armor, and weapons with not a mark on any of it, or even blood.


    Then he looked to his left and saw the heads of all his men sticking out of the ground as if buried....dead with the look of horror on their faces. He staggard back a step, then he scanned the cavern again seeing nothing but a dark head in the middle of the pool starring at him.


    He looked away then froze. He quickly looked back as the head vanished from within the water. Drawing his blade and summoning fire into his hand, Connor prepared for combat thoroughly shaken from the silent destruction of his group.


    There was a heaving grinding of stone behind him as the entrances to the cavern closed sealing him in. Connor felt sweat break out all over him and he felt his death approaching.


    A voice of nonchalance rang through the cavern.


    "Why Mr. Guardsman, you look like someone just, walked your grave..." said the voice from seemingly everywhere and nowhere.


    Connor felt his aether begin to drain out of him slow at first then much faster. The flames in his hand were torn away and flew to the center of the pool where they remained in spite of nobody there. Then the flames grew into the shape of a humanoid.


    "Why did you come here guardsman? Did you think to invade my terrority and there be no price?" The voice continued.


    "First there was the one. Strong he might have been, but died the same. Then all the others after. Why shouldn''t I satiate the rock with your blood too?"


    Connor was shaking like a leaf. He was prepared to face his death as any in the empire, but not like this. He thought it was an A rank elemental, but he was wrong. This was a monster of monsters and he couldn''t face it.


    He looked down, as the metal from his armor began to melt away and slicing into his leather backing causing it to fall away. His sword melted from his hand slumping to the ground then flowing into the pool where water, metal, and fire met and sparks began to fly as the amalgamation of elements came together gaining size and fury.


    "I AM SORRY! PLEASE SPAR ME! I WILL TELL NOBODY OF ALL I HAVE SEEN!" Connor screamed as he soiled himself in pure terror.


    "Noooo......tell everyone. I will let you live as the one who speaks of my story." The voice said


    "Wha-what do I call you? Connor asked still shaking.


    The amalgamation didn''t speak. It just compressed itself into a ball and flew toward the sealed entrance and melted it. Leaving the way open once more.


    Connor had dropped his light in fear. He slowly picked it up, but before he could, he felt a sharp pinch as his right hand stayed on the ground as he stood up.


    "My payment for your life." The voice said as a raspy whisper that echoed.


    Connor screamed as the nerves finally registered the lost appendage. He scooped up the light and began to leave pressing hard on the bleeding stump of a wrist.


    "I am Harbinger...."


    - Sorin -


    The man went screaming from the tunnel as fast as his tier 5 legs could carry him. Sorin laughed and laughed.


    He had to go full edge lord, but had to throw in some class with a line from "Tombstone," one of his favorite movies.


    "Val Kilmer is still the best Doc Holliday in my opinon." Sorin said sinking the bodies and useless junk into the ground and out of sight.


    He floated up and out of the water to land using his new skill.


    "I accomplished a lot today. I think either a really big threat will come now, or they will stay away. Men don''t usually fear death as much as they fear monsters." He muttered.


    He also thought back to a funny saying he heard once.


    "It''s not that people are afraid of the dark, they are afraid of not being alone in the dark."

 Chapter 29 - Shadows in the night

    Kyrain and Nyx saw them coming from a ways off. The last few days they had noticed a rotation of people watching the house and them almost all the time.


    Kyrain had a few clever ideas that quite frankly surprised Nyx at their effective simplicity. They already had a baited trap. Everyone knew the compensation that US government and the guild paid out to adventurers of the guild. So with two cripples with severe looking wounds, the payout must have been nice.


    Kyrain took it a step further. He not only had a small safe delivered to the house, but asked a money truck to stop by and pretend to drop off money while the group was watching the house.


    Kyrain also opened a rift to the Clarksville jail and set up an arrangement with the police that he could just drop wanted people directly into the cell they designated specifically for him to do it with the request they go into the cell bound if possible, with all evidence being sent from the program to their office in the usual time frames. Kyrain naturally agreed.


    It was a small group of four and they came from multiple different angles. They didn''t want them to rush the house as a group so Kyrain left a window open in plain view to try and funnel them in one at a time seeing the path of least resistance.


    They still split up and circled the house, which suited Nyx and Kyrain just fine. Nyx froze one of the people long enough for her to sneak over and knock him out by a swift strike to his carotid artery. Meanwhile Kyrain dropped down on another, cutting her path off and draining her core of any aether it had, but was careful not to crush the core while cutting off any air aether to silence her from warning the others.


    Once she was cut from her path, she gave up quickly. She was zip tied and dropped into the waiting cell. They would gettheir miranda rights read to them in the jail on arrival per the negotiation too.


    Nyx and Kyrain met up back in the house through a rift. They set up decoys in the master bedroom bed as a married couple would look sleeping.


    These two did not do the predicted thing and go through a window. Nyx had heard them refuse the window as it was too easy. The apparent leader activated an ability and his flesh began to flatten and stretch allowing him to unlock the door and slowly move inside.


    As he entered, Nyx accelerated the time of the wooden floor beneath his feet and with a snap, he fell into the floor up to his waist as the one behind startled and jumped back.


    "What?! We saw them remodeling this place...how could it have a bad floor?!" The clearly young teen said pushing up with his hands starting to extract himself from the hole and giving up all plans of silence as the floor was loud enough.


    He was pushing up, when all of the sudden his arms went limp like noodles and he slammed his face into the wood with a crack and moan from the impact and his body lost all its control. He couldn''t access his path any longer.


    His partner behind him, was gone.


    "You coward!" He yelled back thinking he was abandoned, but another voice came in its place.


    "A letter my dad once sent me had a rule in it about hunting. It''s actually the number one rule of hunting. It''s make sure that you are in fact the hunter and not the prey." The man said coming into his vision wearing a hunters mask.


    The next thing the little thief knew, he was dropped into a cell with the others of his gang.


    "Keep an eye on that one, he can change his size and works like that one DC character 0 the rubber limbs." The same masked man said.


    "Thank you Erebus. Here is your completion status." The officers said followed by an electionic beep.


    Nyx and Kyrain went back to the house and crashed out for the night, job well done.


    - Meanwhile -


    Austin, TX


    Henry Pulcine and his wife Jennifer had a problem on their hands. They had just been appointed the Wardens of Texas and Oklahoma by the current President after a tournament for the job. Henry and Jen possessed extremely potent paths that were, on their own, on parr with the Tidecaller if not stronger in many ways, and even Todd Robinson the former SecDef.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Together as a dual Warden team they were as powerful as Josh and Amy of the Tennessee/Kentucky region. They feared little.


    Henry had the path called "Blessing of Thoth." His path gave him the ability to teleport both short and long range to places he had been before. With his path he absorbed information and had an umatched control over aether boasting an insane mind stat allowing him to create physcial constructs with aether.


    It was developed and powerful, he could do it insanely quick with the limit only of what he could imagine. It was an absolute nightmare for people especially when paired with his wife''s path.


    Jen obtained the path called "Sacred flame of Vesta." She had unimaginable powers over flames, but not your average flame. The flames, commonly known as ghost fire, were pale white and translucent. It could burn, should she desire it to burn, but they burn in reverse from the inside out. These flames were incredibly damaging to the undead and those who have commited objective evil as it left mark on them visible only to Jen as a mark of depravity.


    However, as her namesake suggests, she could use the flames to heal and comfort in equal measures which had come in handy when she would help out in the hospitals and clinics from time to time when they were swamped.


    They were unstoppable in the selection tournament for warden. Between Henry''s adaptability, mobility, and ingenuity; their opponents were nearly outmatched with him alone and they were sitting ducks when Jennifer joined the fight making them the clear choice for regional wardens.


    After their appointment, they had hoped for a slow learning curve and minimal problems, but that is hardly ever the case. This time, bodies began showing up every morning with their throats cleanly sliced to the bone.


    It was always women who were up to nightly activities or had the appearance of those types. The strange thing is, they never had any blood in their bodies either save for the remnants around the wound itself.


    Henry and Jen were meeting with the the Texas guild master Neil. Neil was an extremely potent toxin user known as the Hydra for possessing the path of Lernean Hydra from the legend of Hercules that boasted extreme regeneration and beyond venomous.


    "These attacks are on a rotation. The first appeared in Boston, then New York, then Miami, New Orleans, now here in Austin. If I were a betting man, Santa Fe would be next followed by Phoenix." Henry said as Neil looked over the reports of the murders.


    "I''ve sent requests to dispatch hunters. I recieved word from Grandmaster Robinson that his highest level hunters are actively working around the nation to figure out anything, but the perpetrator has us feeling like we are chasing shadows Warden." Neil said flipping through the files in his hands.


    Jen let out a sigh of frustration feeling a headache coming on, which should not be a thing anymore since both she and her husband regressed in age like everyone else looking in their early 20s. Old aches and pains, injuries, and other maladies had vanished so she knew it was nothing, but a stress headache.


    "What clues do we have?" She asked.


    Neil closed the files and set them back on the desk, before turning to the Co-Warden.


    "From what everyone is theorizing in the Program, it''s like they are copying the 1800''s Jack the Ripper. That''s not even the craziest thing though." Neil said letting the Wardens think and re-engage the conversation.


    "There is something more crazy than a copy cat serial murder?" Henry asked not amused by anything they had discussed.


    Neil just nodded his head.


    "In England, we just recieved word that someone by the name of Morganna appeared who began ripping through the guilds there and seemingly on a vendetta to destroy everything that even may have a connection to, get this, King Arthur and Merlin. If that wasn''t bad enough, in Russia there is a necromancer....guess his name." Neil said with a smile that was anything, but happy.


    Henry looked at Jen then she spoke after a laugh.


    "Don''t tell me, Rasputin from Russian history." She continued to giggle, but stopped when Neil just raised his eyebrows.


    "You''re kidding?" She asked growing extremely serious.


    "No, we have confirmed reports about him. He is what the nerds are calling a Litch. He is ripping through Russia and China easily as the corpses that fill those two countries are beyond anything we ever imagined between Stalin, Hitler, and Mao. We were able to identify the corpses from the clothing. Its all the 30s through the 90s." Neil said pulling his phone and forwarding the files to the Wardens who pulled them up then began to shake their heads.


    "So...let me get this straight. Are we dealing with the possibility this is the actual Jack the Ripper?" Henry asked flatly.


    "That would be the going idea. When they get more data, it will be pushed to the guild masters and the Wardens. The ripper was never caught in the late 1800''s and with everything we have seen so far with the system...I wouldn''t be suprising if that asshole was back like the other two claim to be. It just scares me as to what South America, Africa, and Australia are dealing with." Neil explained


    "Ok...well we will wait for more information and issue a statement with what we have. Perhaps we can force the murderer to change behavior and maybe make a mistake for the hunters." Henry said getting up and shaking hands with the Guild master.


    "As always, you both have my support if you just ask. The guild, as always, is at your disposal." Neil said as he headed out.


    Jen and Henry looked at each after the guild master left for a long few seconds.


    "What in the actual hell?!" They said to eachother at the same time.

 Chapter 30 - Theyre real?!

    Kyrain and Nyx had the floor repaired over the course of the next few days and continued to wait for jobs. Clarksville, was not an overly crime filled city, but the crimes that did take place were usually Level 2 or above and they were not authorized to handle them.


    They kept the house they used for their sting and began paying rent to the guild, but they were hardly there save to shower and sleep before heading back out to work at the guild or for Kyrain, assisting at the hospital with the more difficult patients as he used to as an initiate and Junior guild member.


    In the rare times their schedules met up; almost too conveniently Nyx''s cellphone rang. She answered it. After a few moments of talking on the other side, Nyx hung up with only confirmation of order''s received.


    "We''re on. That was Phoenix and we are required to meet her in Seattle. We need to get moving, She gave us three days to get there." Nyx said.


    "Time isn''t an issue. Where did we need to meet her?" Kyrain replied back asking.


    "Quest field and why isn''t time an issue?" She asked.


    "My uncle is the Warden for Washington and Oregon. I''ve been to Seattle and even better, because I''ve caught a Seahawks game a time or two with him." Kyrain explained.


    He saw her shoulders slump in relief.


    "You are a very useful individual. I need to keep you far from my father or he would turn you into a servant." She said with a smile continuing to eat.


    "Servant? My uncles couldn''t even do that." He said with a smirk.


    Nyx froze then smiled.


    "It''s a joke Ky." She rolled her eyes and giggled.


    Kyrain continued to chow down then opened a rift next to them the size of a small window. He saw it was wet and dreary in Seattle then closed the rift.


    "Wet weather clothes and something to keep warm would be for the best." He said as Nyx just looked at him at such a, yet again, simple and effective use of his path.


    She looked confused "Couldn''t we just return here any time we need though?" She asked


    He ignored her and got up. Seeing her smirk and raise her eyebrows in the corner of his eye.


    They threw on darker jackets, then their masks before he opened a portal to the middle of Quest field. It was cloudy and drizzling. They walked out to the outer ring of the stadium, then he opened a new rift out of the gates to the streets he could see away from people.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    They waited at the spot Nyx indicated for about 20 minutes before a woman with light brown or blondish hair appeared in a fiery Phoenix mask.


    "Glad you could make it sooner than we set your deadline for. Come with me, you guys need to see the evidence and start learning." Phoenix said as she walked down the street.


    They followed her to a non-descript building and after she punched a code into a panel, the door opened with a beep and click. She turned aside to allow them in, they were rather surprised upon entry. It was locked down with a security post and scanners, blocked off by a heavy black curtain.


    "Remove any electronic devices you have and put them into one of the bins over there." Phoenix said tossing her phone into a bin and walking through the scanner which turned green indicating nothing on her electronically.


    Kyrain and Nyx followed suit, once they were through the continued to follow Phoenix to another door, where she input another code and went in. Kyrain looked around the room that he realized was a morgue and on it was the body of a man.


    "Put on some gloves and take a look at that body; let me know what you guys see." Phoenix ordered as she leaned back on the wall, folding her arms.


    Kyrain was extremely hesitant to walk up to the body, but Nyx was not. She looked at the body as a whole then began to squint her eyes in a look of confusion.


    "Is this a vampire?" She asked.


    "Ding! Ding! Ding! Got it in one!" Phoenix said with enthusiasm coming through.


    "Wait...what? Vampire? They exist?! Kyain asked not believing what he had heard.


    Phoenix looked over. "Oh, don''t worry team Jacob, the other side exists too." She said leaving Kyain confused.


    Phoenix stepped off the wall and began walking toward a monitor next to the steel table the body was on. "The thing is, these one''s do not sparkle in the light. They smoke and burn."


    Kyrain and Nyx were still so confused by what she was saying. Nyx spoke up finally. "Ma''am, what does team Jacob and a sparkling vampire have to do with anything?" She asked.


    Phoenix looked up and stared at the both of them. "You''re serious? Wow...Ok! Uncultured swine don''t even know about Twilight." She said turning the monitor. On was a video from a drone capturing a fight between a vampire and a hunter with an Apollo mask flashing beams of bright light at the vampire causing severe burns that quite frankly would not seem that effective.


    "This is a recorded capture by the Level 4 hunter Apollo...see mask." Phoenix said.


    "Apollo is usually a utility melee fighter with his ability to replicate sunlight. He never was able to figure out anything with his path save for blinding people, and slight solar burns. He does like to blind and snipe, as well as blind, burn, and slash with close combat. Extremely effective with a high body stat. That makes this fight impressive, he is blasting this vampire to pieces which, take that scalpel and try cutting." She continued.


    Nyx looked at Kyrain who looked down, slowly picking up the utensil. He was hesitant, but with a little nudging from Nyx he made his cut on the arm...or tried to. There was no cut.


    "You can take an axe to that skin and it would do little. Heavily reinforced by aether."


    Kyrain used his aether sense, then used his nullification ability to coat the edge of the scalpel. The tool sliced easily into the skin, but not a drop of blood left.


    "Huh, Useful skill." Phoenix said.


    "Anyway...Now you both are in the know and we will be splitting you guys up for some training time with each of your trainers. Erebus, say goodbye to your girlfriend here, toss her a jacket, and head to the Black Rifle Coffee shop about a half hour from here." Phoenix said.


    "Ma''am she''s not..." He tried to say but was cut off. "Tick tock!" Phoenix said quickly.


    Kyrain opened a rift allowing Nyx to rush to her room for a back she had with stuff in it and jump back through, before he headed out himself.


    He got an Uber then was on his way.

 Chapter 31 - History lesson

    Kyrain walked through the doors of the Black Rifle Coffee shop and didn''t see the mask of Eclipse. He looked around until he caught someone with their hand in the air. It was woman with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. "Erebus, over here." The woman said with a slight southern accent. Not quite southern bell, but definitely southern and with some force to her.


    She pulled out a chair next to her and pushed a cup over to him. She looked around and saw nobody was looking or even around. "Take off the mask Kyrain." She said.


    "Eclipse?" He asked spreading his aether sense out checking for anyone. There was one person in back doing dishes and a few people in a break room eating and drinking, but other than that, nobody was paying attention to them, So Kyring pulled his mask off.


    "I was told to report here to you ma''am." Kyrain said.


    She took a drink then looked at him. "Just Emma for now. I am being a human for a bit." She said as she took a bit out of the grenade burrito the place serviced.


    "Mmm! You have to try this stuff Ky. It''s awesome, but anyway, to business." Emma said growing serious.


    "You saw what we wanted you to see in the lab yes?" She asked.


    Kyrain nodded his head then took a drink of the coffee and then looked at it. It was sweet, but not too sweet with that coffee punch to it and something extra, that he couldn''t nail down.


    "Good right?" Emma asked seeing his approving look. "Besides good ole fashioned American made; it has a few ingredients in it they keep to themselves that gives users a boost." She explained.


    She took a drink then started in.


    "We have a problem in the country, more so than the monsters we deal with. There is a serial killer, and we think it is connected to these vampires. Are you familiar with the story of Jack the Ripper?" Emma asked


    Kyrain shook his head. "I only know he was a serial killer in the 1800s."


    "On top of that, he was only in action for a few months before he vanished never to murder again, as far as we know. However, if you happen to look into the era, you will find a lot of gothic, vampire, and occult activity at the same time. Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897. It was an extremely graphic for it''s time and the abilities we have seen from these vampires are extremely similar to what Stoker talked about in his book concerning Dracula." She explained.


    "Are you implying that Jack the Ripper could be Dracula?" Kyrain asked.


    "Not entirely. Dracula is often associated with Vlad Tepes also known as Vlad the Impaler, Stoker named his main character Dracula after Tepes as he had found out that Tepes was sometimes called Dracul or Dracula which means "Son of the Dragon" or "Son of the Devil." Emma replied.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "So, what does that mean for us?" Kyrain asked finishing the coffee he had been drink through the explanation.


    "For us specifically, groundwork. If Jack the Ripper is Dracula and a lot of the vampire lore is accurate, we are absolutely no match for a vampire that old and probably system empowered. So, we will leave that monster for the top-level hunters, while we focus on the thralls, like you saw at the lab. If there are lesser vampires, they would be level 3-4 targets anyway, and I''m not going after a level 3 without back up and certainly not going after an almost guaranteed level 5 as not only, am I not qualified to do so, but i would be absolutely murdered by that. If it is a level 5, my dad might have to get involved." She said.


    "That makes sense. I tested my ability on being able to cut through those things and the scalpel I used sliced through easily enough when I added my skill to it. With my level of control, I can apply my skills to most objects and allow them to do serious damage making their flesh nearly pre-system human soft." Kyrain stopped for a moment and frowned after realizing what else she had said.


    "Your dad is a hunter that strong?" He asked.


    "Mmhm! My dad actually founded the Bounty Hunter program." She answered.


    Kyrain''s eyebrows went up. "You''re the daughter of Todd Robinson, the grandmaster of the program and former SecDef who single handedly crushed the early cartels when they tried to invade the southern border of the USA?" He asked.


    "That''s the one. Big shoes to fill right? My sister, Mads, didn''t want to be a hunter so she is just a regular adventurer like my stepmom Jess." She answered with a cheesy grin.


    Emma wiped down the table she was at, wiped her mouth with her napkin, tossed it away in the trash before putting her mask back on. "Back to business Erebus." She said taking her usual tone that he had come to know.


    She pulled her phone out and opened up an application showing a map. "We are focused on the ports, from what we have gathered many of the thralls are being brough in from the ports. We have other teams getting set up around this city with our most powerful hunter''s getting set up in Santa Fe and LA to wait for the big one. With the thralls appearing all over the place, we believe he has made a few lesser vampires, who have made the thralls. We will keep track of the thralls and kill them, then the level 3 and 4 hunters will do their best to kill the lesser vampires. Understand?" She briefed.


    "Yes ma''am." He responded.


    She began walking out the door as Kyrain put on his own mutant skull mask and began to follower her out to a car that was waiting for them.


    When they arrived, they moved into the port of Seattle and began to move from container to container, inspecting the bills of lading for anything out of the ordinary. They had found a clump of containers off to the far-right corner of the yard that seemed to stand out to them. Kyrain opened up his aether sense, to see if he could see anything, but what he found was a lot of dark green and black aether around the clump of containers.


    "Ma''am, those containers, are giving off seriously wrong aether." Kyrain said as they approached and then the smell hit them. Blood, rot, and feces combined into a mix of putrid disgust.


    Eclipse had been carrying a case with her, which Kyrian thought was just equipment. When she opened it, it was a disassembled rifle. "This is my baby...M82 Sniper rifle." She held up a magazine with blue coated .50 caliber rounds. "Depleted uranium. Armor piercing, self-sharpening, pyrophoric rounds able to turn most heads into canoes if they are even there at all afterward." She said as she finished putting it together and vanishing into a shadow.


    "We need to open that thing up! Seal it off, open it, then run!" She shouted as she sighted in on the front of the container.

 Chapter 32 - Kicking a hornets nest

    The door opened with a screech causing Kyrain to cringe as he held his nullification field up over the entrance in case anything lashed out at him.


    As soon as the door was open, He dove into the ground using his portal behind Eclipse then waited for the explosive report of the massive rifle, but nothing. Finally, some swearing as she began to break down the rifle. "Nothing! I really wanted to splatter a thrall with this. It was a birthday present from dad, and I''ve been itching to use it.


    "Ma''am!" Kyrain quickly said pointing as there was some movement from the container. She swore again and retightened down the barrel and went back into the prone.


    Kyrain opened a rift above the container so he could get a closer look at the creature. It was indeed a thrall just like he and Nyx saw at the morgue. To his surprise, he was shoved backwards, and a shot rang out deafening him save for an extremely loud ringing. He turned and saw Eclipse pointing her rifle into the portal with smoke leaving the gun. To add to his surprise, she began dancing in place and talking at him, which he could barely hear from the gun.


    Eventually the ringing ended, and he could hear her. "Can you hear me?!"


    He nodded, getting back up. "Yes ma''am, I can hear you now." He replied.


    He could see from her body language, she was extremely happy. "


    "I need you to open more portals to me for better shots now! That was so awesome. I made a little noise, so the ugly sucker looked up at the gun and bam! It went everywhere!" She said with so much excitement in her voice.


    She stopped her impromptu dancing as she caught some movement by the container. She dropped to the prone as fast as she could and sighted in. Kyrain plugged his ears just in time before more rounds began to go off. Thinking back to his room, He opened a rift to where his sword and shield were. He opened a second rift directly under them and next to him causing them to fall to his side.


    Eclipse continued shooting as Kyrain put his back to the gun and tore his shirt. Taking the cotton, he plugged his ears then grabbed his sword and shield. He took up a defensive position behind Eclipse as he saw a veritable swarm of thralls pour out of the container.


    "They must have been under the ground in a next of sorts!" Eclipse yelled back at him as she continued to fire.


    "I''m almost out of this mag! Grab me another!" She commanded as Kyrain did as instructed. He pulled four more magazines from the case, fully loaded and set them beside her. She fired another shot, and the bolt locked to the rear. She depressed the mag release button causing it fall out. Tilting the gun to the side she slammed the magazine home and pressed the bolt release as it chambered another round.


    Kyrain watched the reload as it took barely a second with her heightened speed, dexterity, and reflexes. He then saw in his aether sense that many had begun to climb up the containers they were perched on. "Keep shooting, I''ll take care of these so you can do your job!" Kyrain said as he took up a position again. With a nod, Eclipse began shooting again killing multiple in a single shot, but the thralls just didn''t end.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    The first thrall finally reached the top of the container where Kyrain with a blade coated with this nullification skill swung down and sheered the top of his skull off before moving to the other side to deal with another. He moved faster and faster, as more thrall got passed Eclipse. The ground was coated in dark red almost black blood and body parts. Kyrain was essentially a buzz saw with his sword and shield. Those he could cut, he shield bashed from the top.


    "I''m out of ammo!" Eclipse said as she pulled two massive knives from the outside of her boots and dropped into shadows. What took place next was a fury of unseen strikes to thrall that never even saw it coming. The shadows began to move on their own and strike as if they were corporeal. Limbs began to fly then beams of pale white light began to flash more thralls were blasted to pieces.


    Kyrain fell into a rhythm of action and reaction. He would cut one down, spin to slash another, block a claw on his shield, then reset. Luckily for him the vast majority of these thrall were under D rank for monsters, and they died quickly and easily especially with his nullification on.


    There was a boom and another container''s door was blown wide open as more thralls began pouring out. More beams of light flashed out killing multiple at once, but Kyrain could see Eclipse becoming overwhelmed and the bodies began to choke out her ability to use skills.


    He expanded his nullification field targeting each thrall searching for their cores, as soon as they entered his range, he started crushing them. They staggard for but a moment, then slowly began to slowly get back up. Some would stay down, but most slowly got back up to fight again.


    They were not true beasts, but former people so some could survive. He continued to slash and crush cores which did slow the tide as Eclipse flashed up beside him as she tried to jump to his shadow, but his nullification was running too powerfully.


    "We need to back out! There are far too many!" She said stabbing with her knives and a few shadows as she too was hindered by Kyrain''s nullification and had to exert serious aether to push through and that was burning her out.


    Kyrain went to open a portal then thought a second.


    "What time is it right now in Egypt?" He asked.


    "What?! Why the heck does that matter?! Eclipse shouted.


    "Is the sun up?!" He asked again.


    "Yes! Why?" She asked again.


    Pouring every ounce of antimatter Kyrain had into it, he raised his hands, and he tore open the biggest rift he had ever opened in his life and sunlight poured through. Immediately, his mind began to pound and blood flowed from his nose, yet he held the rift open.


    Immediately the thrall below began to smoke and burn. The screeching was worse than magnified nails on a chalkboard and didn''t end. They started catching fire and burning.


    Eclipse staggard back and fell to a knee unable to move which caught Kyrain''s attention, but he kept his rift open as wide as he could, until the only thing he could hear was the popping and crinkling of burning bodies.


    With a slump he lowered his hands and sat on the ground next to where Eclipse now collapsed to the ground as another shock hit her.


    Warning!


    You have overtaxed your spirit opening a rift beyond your range.


    Your access has been cut off for the next 48 hours until your spirit can heal.

 Chapter 33 - Backlash

    "Kid...you alive over there?" Eclipse said from her place on the group where she was collapsed from her skill''s penalty.


    "mmm....." was the only response she received, but it was good enough.


    Kyrain was sitting on the ground as blood dripped from his nose as he just sat there in a daze listening to the flames spread from body to body below.


    Eclipse looked up as she heard shouting in the distance and two figures came flying in from through the smoke from the bodies.


    A man stepped forward and held out the ID of a Tier 5.


    "My name is Caliber; we need to move you guys asap. The hive is still active and though, they are not moving presently, they are amassing by the entrances again." He said as he scooped both Eclipse and barely conscious Kyrain up and flew off. As he left another man drifted in, blue and white electricity arching off of him. As soon as he touched down, he closed his eyes and touched the metal container. The air around him became so charged with electricity, you can hear it humming, then the flames began to accelerate as he used the bodies as a means of conducting the electricity as far as he needed to.


    We watched as the current went from body to body, underground, and even into the water. He pushed even harder and the bodies of the thousands upon thousands of thralls seized up, began smoking, then caught fire throughout the hive underground. The water in the port glowed blue and water droplets began to rise from the water with the sheer amount of electromagnetic energy being generated by the massive current going through the area.


    After a few minutes, he cut the power and floated over the burning corpses now assured everything was truly dead and landed next to the now unconscious man and the famous Eclipse, who had now managed to sit upright and was becoming more of herself.


    She was disassembling her rifle and putting it into the case that Caliber went back to get and had just started explaining what happened.


    "Sir, we were sent here to clear out what seemed to be a small group of thralls, which was a great mission for a new hunter, I was set up at a distance with this beast ready to level anything that came through and even the little threat these things, posed to each of us. I think I was the only one to really be injured by them anything and it was but mere scratches." Eclipse said.


    Caliber had a tablet out and was reading over the field record of Eclipse.


    "I didn''t think you had access to sun powers this time of night though?" Caliber said.


    "I don''t. That was all him." She said pointing her scope at Kyrain who was passed out on his side.


    "Do we know what is wrong with him and why he was nearly catatonic what we arrived?" Surge, the one who electrocuted the hive asked.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Eclipse paused and thought for a moment. "I''m honestly not sure. If I were to guess, I''d say some sort of severe backlash. I''ve never seen him open a rift that big or that far away." She said, though more thinking out loud.


    "It is all that makes sense, we will need him to wake up in order to get more information about his health." Caliber said picking the tier 1 back up and heading back.


    - Hours later -


    Kyrain awoke, and immediately regretted it. His head was pounding and not just your standard headache, but the throbbing behind the eyes. He tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but a voice pierced the silence.


    "Can you not sleep anymore? I''d like to go back home for a bit" He slowly opened his eyes to see Nyx lounging in a recliner appearing to watch TV.


    He looked around the area and saw that he was in a sort of hotel room. Nyx pulled out her phone and sent a text before speaking. "Eclipse is going to be waiting for you down below. Turns out you guys had much more fun than Phoenix and I did. Sure, we killed a couple thrall, but nothing like the hoard you had fun with." Nyx said looking at him with an amused look.


    Kyrain touched his face, making sure his mask was on before slowly getting to his feet. He pushed with his hand to open a rift, but nothing happened save the same warning he barely imagined seeing before he passed out.


    Warning!


    You have overtaxed your spirit opening a rift beyond your range.


    Your access has been cut off for the next 48 hours until it can heal.


    Time remaining: 15 hours 16 minutes


    He looked back at Nyx who was watching the TV again. "We don''t get to head back home using one of my rifts for the next 15 hours Nyx." He said.


    Nyx turned quickly, "Wait! Why?! I want to get a shower and fresh change of clothes on." She said grumpily.


    Kyrain let out a sigh and a nod of commiseration. "Turns out I, as the system calls it, "overtaxed my spirit." He said.


    Her eyes went wide. "Thats actually pretty bad. It means you almost died doing something well beyond your control. How long was your backlash period?" She asked with a lot of concern on her face.


    "48 hours." He replied.


    She sat up and brought her knees closer to her chest laying her head sideways looking at him.


    "One of the worst I''ve ever seen is week-long. Any longer than that and your path ends up crippled or you die." She said.


    Kyrain nodded slowly, head aching like crazy then left the room. He took the elevator down to the bottom floor and went into the conference room the concierge directed him to when he asked.


    "Welcome back sleepy head. You were out for a while." Eclipse said, sliding a few sheets of paper toward him at the conference table.


    "Did the system give you any indication what happened to you or was it standard exhaustion?" She asked


    Kyrain sat down across from Eclipse. "The system said I "overtaxed my spirit" ma''am." He answered pulling the papers closer to him.


    "Well, depending on the time you are locked out of your path, you will have time to write your official report. Everything that happened in detail no matter how small the details. Do not embellish or lie on these, if you make a mistake; one line through, initial, then write what you meant. Got it?" She explained.


    "Yes ma''am" Kyrain said starting to get into the miserable work of writing.


    - Meanwhile at the port -


    "My Lord, one of the hives was not only discovered, but completely wiped out." A woman said coldly lacking any sort of emotion normally associated with perceived failure.


    "It is fine Myra; it was to be expected that the guilds or even their hunters would catch on and even find some of the things we have planned. Stay the course. We continue running the distractions, until we are truly ready to make our moves. Have the other brides, accelerate the thrall hives. The more the merrier." He replied.


    "Yes my Lord." She said as the call went dead.

 Chapter 34 - Pause between battles

    Kyrain laid on his bed watching the timer to his path tick down. It was less than a half hour now.


    He and Nyx had been put on standby as the higher level hunters swept the city massacring any thrall they could find.


    Kyrain just lay there listening to the hustle and bustle outside when there was a deep thump. It was as if someone dropped something or bumped the bed. It was a shock waves outer reach. He couldn''t check at the moment with even his aether sense down, but it was his best guess.


    Nyx rushed it. "Look outside!" She shouted running over to his windows and throwing open the curtains.


    In the distance he was a bright orange and red dot flitting around a black dot and every time they collided there were small flashes and they were launched back.


    "I just spoke to Eclipse, but there was something massive taking place in LA and the top hunters were called away to support so it''s a few level 3''s left here. Both her and immediately I are thinking it was a set up." She said.


    "That would make sense. How long ago?" He asked.


    "About 12 hours." She said.


    Kyrain pursed his lips and looked at his timer. Just under 10 minutes until he was back online.


    "I''ll be ready to get back into the fight in less than ten minutes." He said as he sat down in a chair and started tapping his heel up and down impatiently.


    There was an impact closer than the two dots seemingly fighting further out. Flashing of light could be seen lighting up the outside midafternoon. It was cloudy outside, but it became as bright as a bright summer day for a split second before returning.


    Kyrain looked out the window trying to find where it was. He could see the Space needle from his place at Embassy Suites and the flashes were coming from the top.


    Kyrain had a feeling who the fighters were now with those flashes. He looked at his timer, seven minutes.


    "Nyx! I have now less than seven minutes before all my skills are back online. We need to get out there!" He said heading for the door.


    She just nodded and went after him. They ran down the hall and jumped into the elevator as they felt a few more shock waves hit the building. They were not powerful at this distance, but it felt almost like a gun''s conclusion.


    After a couple minutes more, they reached the lobby.


    Kyrain pulled his sword and shield from their places as Nyx readied a thinner straight sword he had only seen at the house but her never using it.


    "What type of sword is that?" He asked as they went outside.


    "A Jian. Its considered a noble weapon and the higher classes of society are expected to be able to use it." She said as they stopped to look which way they wanted to go.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Let''s split up! You know Phoenix and can help her the most and potentially keep any ground forces off of her! I''ll head to who I think is Eclipse and see if we can''t deal with things over there. Whoever gets done with their fight first heads over to assist the other group. Yes?" He said and asked in an breath.


    She turned her masked face over to him. "That''s a plan! Be careful and hold out til I get there." She said with amusement.


    "Ha! Funny. Be safe too. See you in a bit." He said as they split up and went in different directions.


    - Eclipse/Vampire -


    *Bam!*


    Another impact as she kept deflecting the flanged mace from the vampire being swung at her.


    It really had her pissed that a heavy weapon like that could be swung with so little effort matching her speed with knives and even her day powers.


    It pissed her off even more that this supposed vampire was out during the day. She saw all those thrall burn up when they were exposed to the sun, but this one had no issues at all.


    She figured she would have an overwhelming advantage with her Solar Rays, but save for the few times she clipped the vampire burning parts of her clothes, there was no significant damage.


    She, on the other hand, had taken some shots that made her feel like she had a fracture or two with some deep cuts.


    "Give up. You can''t possibly win. I''ve already drawn blood." The woman said.


    Eclipse ignored her and flashed back in. Her path "Eclipse" changed based on if it were day or night. During they day she had powers of the sun, fire, and light. During the night she had powers of the moon, ice, and shadow with a half hour penalty directly after the switch from day to night.


    Eclipse ignited her two knives and used a skilled called flash step, she vanished and tried to smash into the woman''s back and sever her thought. As soon as she moved and struck her blades hit what looked to be a red, liquid, barrier that smelled so strongly of copper and slight rot.


    "You can''t win." Cackled the vampire as a foot came up so fast launching Eclipse down into the top of the space needle crashing through the roof and sliding across the floor and slamming into the tempered glass knocking it completely out at the frame.


    She went to get up when a rolling serving table came hurtling in and smashed into her and launched her out of the hole where the window once was.


    The vampire watched her fall out of the window and smiled. On her back two black scaled wings sprouted. She turned to fly off to help her fellow bride with that pesky firefly woman they had begun to call her, when a sudden searing pair of burning stabs ripped through her back forcing her face harshly into the ground.


    She sat back up and turned to swing with her mace, but found it far too heavy. It moved so slowly, and the blades were torn from her back.


    She rose to her feet and continued to turn as her wounds, now seared didn''t heal as quickly. She looked and saw nobody, then at her legs came four quick, deep cuts that severed her achilles tendons and hamstrings searing them at the same time.


    Her legs buckled as she tried to turn around, those two burning blades were slammed into her shoulder joints and then her arms were wrenched behind her back as her face was slammed into the roof for the second time.


    She heard the clicking of reinforced cuffs and felt the cold metal slam around her wrists.


    She turned her head and saw a another masked individual appear with a mutant skull mask.


    He checked on the woman in the other mask she had been fighting. Once the check was done the masked man looked at her, waved a hand then she fell. The next thing she knew she was in a padded very well lit cell. She felt her path come back, but she couldn''t break out of the hand cuffs and the door she was sure was just as heavily reinforced as the cuffs.


    The door swung open a few minutes later and a man with a wiry build walked in oozing with power that nearly matched her master''s. He had a bottomland camouflage mask in the shape of a wolf.


    "You may call me Fury. I am going to ask you some questions. It is in your best interest to answer them willingly, quickly, and honestly." He said, sending shivers of pure instinctual terror through the vampiress.

 Chapter 35 - Pain then gain

    Nyx was running as fast as her two legs could carry her with a time acceleration speeding her up in comparison to the world around her. She could see in the shadows, thrall were waiting and in other places as what appeared to be guild members, locked in combat with the monsters.


    She heard the deep thuds and cracks from explosions overhead as she ran. There even came the telltale roar of the fire stream from Phoenix. There was a resounding boom followed by an orange streak as Phoenix slammed into the building and tumbled down to the street. A dark figure with bat like wings was diving toward the clearly stunned woman with a spiked mace who was slowly picking herself up with an adrenaline charged effort.


    Nyx kept running and flashed a hand out slowing the time around the black winged figure in a time deceleration. Immediately Nyx felt a huge drain on her aether as the person was clearly much stronger than she is, but it was enough.


    Phoenix got up and had enough time to get her signature bow back into her hand and began firing burning arrow after burning arrow. With the dark figure slowed, three arrows landed before the person broke out of the deceleration.


    Nyx was hit with a small bout of backlash from having her skill forcefully being ended. It caused her to go dizzy then stagger back a step. The figure in black ripped out the burning arrows and swipped a hand at Phoenix causing a claw of blood to appear and lash out at her. Phoenix threw up a burning shield that held, but launched her into the next building over.


    The person threw back their hood and looked directly at Nyx with eyes that glowed red.


    "Remain still!" Came the female voice as a power drifted over Nyx''s mind. It wanted to make her feel like she wanted to do as the woman said and needed to do it in order to please this her, but all she truly felt was disgust and outrage that this creature would dare try that on her. Nyx was insensed and a black crackling lighting began to appear on her hands as the now clearly vampiric woman began moving toward her, spear of blood forming from the dead thrall that littered the Seattle street.


    Nyx regained control over her temper and prepared to attack with her subpath skills. The vampiress launched her spear and it came much faster than Nyx anticipated. She couldn''t even react. There was a flash of red and orange as Phoenix took the spear directly to her chest with a scream.


    She immediately went pale then black. As soon as she was completely black like charcoal she fell to dust in a pile on the concrete.


    Nyx and the vampiress were both stunned by the actions of the woman.


    "Fool of a woman. Couldn''t handle being beaten down by me, so she just kills herself." The vampiress hissed and looked at Nyx who was shaking herself out of the shock.


    Nyx finished her preparation and slashed with her hand. The black lighting crackled outward in a crescent arc in front of her. The light in the world fled from the arc like it was all gray scale.


    The smug arrogance on the vampiress'' face vanished and was replaced by shock and fear. She fell backwards as fast as she could to avoid the arc of aether, but the top quarter of her wings fell too slowly as they were designed to catch the air. As the arc hit them they fell to dust everywhere the black aether touched then the vampiress began screaming in absolute agony and she rolled out of reflex trying to keep Nyx in sight.


    Nyx, for her part, was running at the woman in front of her, but to her continued shock, she was thrown backwards by a blinding flash of blue fire. A swirl of blue into yellow and orange fire seemed to erupt from the ground and when it dissipated, standing there was a furious Phoenix, hands clenched.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "What the?" The vampiress asked through the agony seeing the woman she had most assuredly killed coming toward her.


    Nyx was absolutely delighted that her trainer and quickly becoming friend was still alive. Then shocked as she moved into combat completely injury free and fresh.


    The vampiress sent multiple blood spikes at Phoenix who casually dodged a few then backhanded another away from her. After the vampiress sent the spikes, she darted in with her spiked mace as Phoenix drew her dagger.


    When the fight first started Phoenix was on the back foot. The vampiress was faster, stronger, and had much more aether than she did, but things were clearly different and it terrified the vampiress who immediately saw, then shortly felt the difference in power.


    Phoenix caught the shaft of the spiked mace, ripping it out of the hand of vampiress'' as she cut down on the woman''s arms straight to the bone, rendering them useless especially when she seared the wounds. Phoenix threw the mass away then she snapped out and took her by the throat. With a step out and around with her left leg, Phoenix tripped and slammed the vampiress to the concrete which cracked and the woman in question, went completely unconscious on impact.


    Nyx was rushing back in to ask so many questions of her trainer. "Stay where you are Eon! Let me get this thing restrained! Keep watch! " Shouted Phoenix when Nyx was 15 feet away.


    Phoenix rolled the unconscious vampiress over and cuffed her. With the focus or her efforts now defeated, Nyx began to hear the sounds of combat everywhere begin to slow down.


    "It would seem the guild is winning their fights as well." Phoenix said sitting on the chest of the unconscious woman in handcuffs with an air of nonchalance.


    "Phoenix I presume?" A slender woman walked forward wearing glasses, hair in a ponytail.


    "I am, and who might you be?" Phoenix responded.


    "Kassie Ekart, Guild mistress of the Southwest corner of Washington." She introduced.


    Phoenix got to her feet quickly.


    "Forgive me Ma''am, I meant no disrespect." Phoenix said adopting a new tone and air shaking off any fatigue she might feel.


    "Thinking nothing of it. I''m rather good at reading people and what they really mean." She said as she looked over at Nyx who was piecing the last name together.


    "Yes, I''m his aunt. His uncle is the Warden." Kassie said to Nyx who was immediately thrown off at the extremely scary realization that this woman was a mental path user.


    "Don''t worry. I keep what I hear and see mostly to myself. People lie to eachother as much as they lie to themselves. If I tell people''s business I hear everywhere, it would destroy interpersonal relationships as they are filled with white lies and half truths. You should see his uncle. Talks huge, but is a massive teddy bear." Kassie explained with a closed eye smile before turning back to the very confused Phoenix.


    "I have obtained permission from Grandmaster Fury to take this bloodsucker and break her down mentally. We need information and it''s, as you can guess, my area of expertise." Kassie said pulling her phone and offering it to Phoenix to read the official email sent from the Grandmaster.


    Once Phoenix verified the authenticity of the email she nodded.


    "It''s official and we will comply with the orders." Phoenix said.


    "I''m assuming level 5 cuffs?" Kassie asked as she snapped her fingers to a few guild members she had around her.


    "Yes ma''am. This thing is at the peak of level 3 if not early level 4. Took a rebirth for me to beat her." Phoenix said with a huff.


    "Nice. We will take it from here. Thank you Phoenix and thank you Eon. I wish you both well and take care of my nephew." She said as she walked off with the unconscious vampiress.


    Phoenix looked at Nyx.


    "You know her nephew?" She asked.


    Nyx looked down then over. "Yes ma''am. He''s my partner. Didn''t you read his file?" Nyx replied.


    "No. I just listened to Eclipse who said you guys would be a deadly duo and I just went with it. Eclipse has a talent for those things." Phoenix replied picking her bow up when she dropped it a ways back.


    "Speaking of....here they come now." Phoenix said.


    Nyx turned around as Eclipse and Kyrain came running up.


    "You good Soph?" Eclipse asked.


    "Had to use Phoenix Rebirth to beat this one." Phoenix responded.


    "No kidding. Yeah, mine was equally rough. Luckily this chuckle head came in clutch." Eclipse said shoving Kyrain.


    "Let''s head back to the hotel and regroup. I''m almost on empty." Eclipse said and they all nodded and Kyrain opened a rift to the Embassy Suites.


    "Useful." Phoenix said.


    "So I''ve heard..." Kyrain muttered.

 Interlude - Sorin: Breaking the chains

    - 1 year later -


    Fire, water, electricity, rock, and liquid metal flowed around Sorin, carving out more and more of the cavern he was in.


    He had been pushing harder than ever. He was tired of this place. He was tired of the little food he could get when he snuck out, he was sick of it all in general.


    With a growl and a massive surge of aether, the collar around his neck cracked and fell to ground in two pieces smoking from being completely overwhelmed with his power.


    The swirling aether slowed to a stop as he opened his eyes that burned with the light of a dying sun...Sorin was done with the mines, weakness, and collars.


    He got to his feet and opened his Elemental Sense as far as he could go and began to walk out of the mines. As he went, he began to layer liquid aether steel around his entire body, creating the reinforced armor, he had perfected.


    He had worked hard the last year. He trained and reinforced his body even more. He figured out new ways to reinforce the metal that coated his bones. He increased the conductivity of his synapses, spine, and brain. His body could transmit signals all over it much faster and with heavily reinforced joints, tendons, and ligaments, he was able to figure out and remove the body''s natural safety limiter.


    His muscles now operated with potentially 100% of their full strength with little to no chance of him hurting himself, bringing his body all the way up to Tier 10. His mind due to the collar broke tier 12 and his spirit hit Tier 11 allowing him to destroy the collar.


    His artificial gravity skill hit greater resistance and allowed him to resist the collar almost 6 months ago, but he still used the collar to push his mind and spirit.


    Sorin pushed his flight skill to Greater flight and now he could push so much aether into it that it claimed he could go supersonic. He wanted to try it, but was underground the whole time.


    Sorin reached out his hands to the walls and floor causing more aether ore to flow up and combine with the elements around him. As he walked he set up the molecular structure to align with the design of true steel and he layered the steel hundreds of times with the blades creating a cable like pattern. He would need to get some leather for the metal hilts, but these would work and won''t slip due to his skills. He swung them and felt next to no weight, but knew with the elements he added to the steel, they would seem impossibly heavy to anyone under Body Tier 7.


    He continued up the tunnels, passing the miners, who stopped to look at the passing silver man with the twin short swords. Even with their collars on, they could feel the aether levels in the tunnels drop dramatically where he passed as an effect from Sorin pushing his absorption skill even higher with the idea to reduce his enemies access to aether. Though it was a good concept, it was not plausible as aether is energy and all things are energy at its foundation, but his core would have to be seriously pressed in order to empty it with his Perfect Absorption skill.


    It was night outside as he approached the end of the tunnel. He could see lights fixed to posts and some people milling about. Some were sleeping, but most were always trying to get ahead and get their next quota so they could take time off and still eat.


    Sorin continued to walk out then began to head to the flight decks where his own ship had dropped him off years ago.


    "Stop! Identify yourself!" A guard with a baton walked up to him commanding.


    "Remove yourself from my path, guard." Sorin commanded causing the guard to stagger back.


    The guard couldn''t see Sorin''s face, he only saw the blades, and armor, not collar so was quickly trying to think what he should do.


    "Sir, I am required to identify all who would go passed this point." He answered shakily clearly sensing the massive aether pouring off Sorin.


    "You dont need to worry about who I am or my business. Those who butt their nose into my business have a tendency to never see home again. Is it your goal to add your name to that list?" Sorin asked coldly.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "N-no sir." The guard said as he looked down, unable to meet Sorin''s burning orange eyes.


    Sorin stepped around and continued to walk to the flight deck.


    "Get out of here!" Another guard impeded Sorin, this time a massive troll, as he was halfway to the ship at the far end.


    "Move or die." Sorin said looking up. The troll smirked and drew a heavy metal warhammer from his back.


    "Have it your way." The guard said as he swung down at Sorin, or he tried to. His hammer stopped mid swing.


    "You use metal on a metal user? Stupid." Sorin said snapping forward faster than the troll could possible react slamming his right sword into where the diaphragm should be and ignited his blade to a white hot and before the troll could let out any sounds, Sorin slammed his left hand blade with its white hot edge up through the trolls chin through his skull and let them burn before lifting with the blades and throwing the troll from the walk way over the massive cliff beside the flight deck.


    Seeing the troll get killed, multiple other guards began running over from their posts on the walkway and other spots at the mine nearby, drawing weapons and powering up their own paths.


    Every major element was being brought into play and for all except the air element, Sorin ripped the aether from them with his significantly superior level and control and reversed the aether slamming it back into their cores and pushing more into it shattering their channels and cores in a move that should have been impossible. As soon as the vast majority went down from shock, Sorin darted forward, swords dragging along the catwalk sending sparking flying every direction he became a dervish.


    He tore through all the stunned guards who just lost their paths cutting them down before they even realized they were dead. Sorin flicked his blades like a character straight from one of those overpowered anime shows he used to watch and that is when the ones he had cut, fell apart.


    He purposely left one wind user alive who he could tell had just soiled himself from fear. At this point an alarm had been raised, but the other guards just watched in abstract horror as Sorin snapped a hand out to the wind path user and ripped his aether from him, absorbing it and crushing his core before throwing him off the catwalk over the edge to his death with a scream as he fell.


    *bleep*


    Sorin raised his arms in an old favorite manner he had learned from the academy and instead of white orbs, these were purple as they were as hot as one could make them as far as Sorin knew. These were super compressed and filled with aether. Seeing a massive group of guards and one angry well dressed individual jumping up and down furious at their inaction, Sorin smiled and fired.


    There was a sound as though millions of pieces of paper were being torn as many orbs of fire blitzed their way across the gap between Sorin and the crowd, before explosions of purple fire engulfed everything. The metal on the catwalk of the entrance to the flight decks melted away within moments. Within the first two explosions, every single aether signature was wiped out from the heat of the explosion or blown off the catwalk. From what Sorin could tell they were all Tier 6 and below and so they stood no chance.


    The explosions still continued for at least a half minute by Sorin''s figuring, complete overkill, but it made a statement. Once the smoke cleared there was nothing over there. The foreman''s residence was completely gone as was that entire section of the mine facilities.


    The miners were all watching. Some were happy, others terrified, but most were indifferent with exhaustion, or were just that broken.


    Sorin turned and walked down to the only ship on the flight deck.


    "Have you ever flown?" Sorin asked one of the two men at the craft who looked at him with open terror. He knew he would need someone with knowledge of these machines to help him navigate.


    They both nodded quickly.


    "Good. Get on the ship and fire it up before I make your life a living hell." Sorin said venom leaking into his voice and flames beginning to burn around Sorin''s blades.


    The man stammered some incoherent response, looking at the other then nodded knowing they wouldn''t survive this encounter otherwise.


    The three entered the ship and the two pilots fired up the ship then took off before they asked him where they were going.


    "I need to go to the 3rd Region to house Aegis." Sorin said.


    Both of the men looked at eachother.


    "Sir, this ship cannot travel that far. This ship is a short range craft. We can take you to the shipping port where the long range cruisers are that can take you across the universe." The primary pilot said nervously.


    "Do it. If this is a trick. You will die, before they get me." Sorin said coldly.


    "N-never." They said.


    "Money. Do they still use cores?" Sorin asked.


    "Yes Sir. The standard hasn''t changed in all of Emperor Ouroboros''s reign as far as we have been told." The co pilot said.


    "Good." Sorin pulled out a few cores he had from the academy. He needed new clothes, some leather straps or something similar, and a few other items.


    "Does this port have stores or merchants?" He asked.


    "Yes Sir. Sometimes exotic items as it''s a shipping port and travel hub." The co pilot answered again.


    The rest of the trip passed in silence and in just over an hour. Sorin was walking through the streets of an extremely dusty city that more resembled a red version of the streets from Star Wars Tattooine Mos Eisley.


    He was free of the mines, now he needed to make his way to find Euryale. Hopefully she would still help him get home.

 Chapter 36 - Alliances

    "Husband, Brides Celia, and Candace have been captured by the program." A feminine voice said as a man of middle height and stocky build, gazed out the window of a large building.


    "Good. Our son cannot have his profain wenches running through the America''s." The man said as he turned to his wife of hundreds of years.


    "Jusztina, it pains me to have to wage war on our boy as it must pain you, but we cannot allow him to do these things. With this system in place our Vojvode would be hard pressed to remain hidden in spite of the hundreds of years of training in stealth." The man said hanging his head with a pained sigh.


    Jusztina stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her seemingly weary husband.


    "Vlad, we will get through this as we have everything else throughout the centuries. What if we reach out to the guild or even the leader of the program and offer assistance. It may be better for us to approach them, rather than a vojvode be captured and they learn of us themselves." She said looking at the man who was the true Dracula.


    "You give wise council my love. I shall think on it and render a decision quickly. Who knows what information they will get from Mihnea''s servants." Vlad said turning to sit down at the desk of one of his subordinate companies penthouse offices.


    - Fury - 3 days later -


    Todd paced back and forth trying to reason through the information he had recieved from the interagators and also from Kassie Ekart. It didn''t make any sense.


    "Vampires. What type of nerd shit is this?" He said to himself in his office.


    There was a knock at the door and then it opened. "Grandmaster, the gentleman who reached out to us with information pertaining to the women and thralls we have been dealing with is here with his wife." The attendant said.


    "Send em in." He said as he moved to the table and sofas in his office.


    The door opened and two well dressed figures walked in. The woman was just over five feet tall and her seeming husband was around five and a half feet. She wore a black and purple dress and the man wore a suit and carried himself in a very powerful gait that didn''t escape Todd. The man was extremely dangerous as he could also feel the aether and something more pour off the man.


    "Welcome. Please have a seat, can I get you both anything? I keep whiskey in the office here as I do coffee. We can have water or tea brought in." Todd said motioning to the sofas.


    "No thank you, it is appreciated Sir." The woman said.


    The man smiled. "I always have enjoyed the alcohol created by the colonies and now the USA."


    Todd paused a moment as his mind was catching up to what the man had said. Then went to his desk for a different bottle and a couple of glasses.


    He grabbed them and headed over to his guests and had a seat.


    "Well, this is one is my favorite. It''s homemade moonshine my brother makes for the family." Todd said pouring a couple glasses.


    "It''s sipping whiskey. Before the system, it would put people down pretty quick, it still does but a little slower." He said with a laugh as he pushed the glass to the man.


    "It is appreciated. It''s been an age since I have had homemade moonshine. I have a few jugs of moonshine from the prohibition of your country." The man said causing Todd to raise his eyebrows.


    "Well with that, I am Todd Robinson, grandmaster of the Bounty Hunter Program or the Program as most call it." He said.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "I am Vlad Tepes. This is my wife Jusztina. You might know of me from my nicknames. Dracula or Vlad the Impaler." He said setting his glass down.


    Todd''s eyes went even higher.


    "You''re serious? That''s going to take some explaining as this presents two questions one, being rather unpleasant." Todd said taking a larger sip from his glass.


    "Yes, we wanted to reach out to you first as it would lead to the best potential outcome. If you found out about us by yourself, it would be on less friendly terms." Vlad said.


    Todd ran his hand down his face over his beard in thought and agreed.


    "I''m going to ask straight away and bluntly. Are you responsible for the attacks?" Todd said coldly.


    "No. That would be our son, Mihnea. History knows him as Mihnea the Bad as he was very cruel and brutal. History would later know him as Jack the Ripper. There is an organization behind the scenes that I once worked with and will probably see me dead for saying this to you, but they released my son from his prison and let him loose in the USA for reasons unknown to us." Vlad explained.


    Todd relaxed, digesting the information.


    "We captured a couple females who refused to talk, but we got the information anyway, they call themselves "Brides."


    Vlad nodded along.


    "Yes they are concubines of my son, my wife and I kileld the others before his capture in 1888." He said.


    Brides were from a book Bram Stoker wrote a called "Dracula." It wasn''t based off me, but my son who had met with the man and mesmerized him to write. He was furious when the world called it fiction and silly even gruesome. Stoker worked on that book for years after I brought my son down and imprisoned him for the Numbered the organization calls themselves. He began murdering ladies of the night and not women like my wife who is a vampiress. I mean the other definition." Vlad said with a chuckle.


    "Yeah I got that." Todd said thoroughly interested at this point before he asked a question of his own.


    "How can you help us stop these thrall and your kid?"


    Vlad set the now empty glass down on the table nodding to Todd in appreciation and thanks. Jusztina spoke this time.


    "We offer the help of the vojvode. It''s our equivalent of your hunters. They are a force that used to enforce the laws within our now long passed kingdom of Wallachia. When we dealt with the Ottoman empire these secret police watched for us and then in the night would slaughter any ottomans they could find."


    "Where are these forces now?" Todd asked.


    "Romania. In our traditional home. We keep them in secret locations throughout the country. Most of which are beneath the Poenari castle ruins." She replied.


    "Not Transylvania?" Todd asked.


    Vlad chuckled.


    "No, that was a convenient fiction from Stoker that we just didn''t correct. Transylvania is a region in the now Romania. Bran is the castle often associated with Dracula. You were a pre-system combat veteran Grandmaster, so I''m sure you can appreciate the use of deception to protect one''s resources and troops." He said.


    Todd nodded not breaking eye contact.


    "The numbered? What more can you tell me?"


    Vlad and Jusztina looked at eachother nervously.


    "Not much honestly. They only refer to one another by numbers, I''ve only spoken with number 3 a single time for personnel removal as that is her job. For those of us that know of this group, the rumor is that these people have been around since the flood." Vlad explained


    "Like...Noah great flood?" Todd asked.


    "Thats the one. These people have done their best to obscure their existence by destroying libraries and archives that contain information on them. It is believed they orchestrated the burning of the library in Alexandria. They failed a couple times, but eventually succeeded." He replied.


    "We are talking people pretty much from the Bible." Todd said with a shocked look.


    "Yes. You will find most of the things in history people don''t want to believe, are accurate. Like dragons. There are very powerful ones that are system empowered and then the non empowered ones, everyone now calls dinosaurs. What it comes down to is a matter of perspective. Such as the case with my destroyed reputation thanks to my son."


    Todd slowly got to his feet and began to pace.


    "Is this shadow organization the one the conspiracy theories always talk about?"


    "Oh yes. They control it all. Number 2 is said to control all the world''s currency and the organizations that control it. Number 3, I know controls the black markets and the underground. Number 1 controls almost everything. Nobody knows anything about whoever that is, but it''s suggested that they are beyond ancient." Vlad said.


    "I appreciate this information, I need to do some information checking and verify a few things. I cannot just accept things at face value as I''m sure you can understand." Todd said.


    "Of course Grandmaster, we would expect no less. Here is my contact information and my location should you wish for more information or have made your decision. We will keep the vojvode in location until we have your consent."


    Vlad and his wife rose from the sofa. "We appreciate your hospitality and look forward to working along side you to sort out this mess. We wish you health."


    Todd showed them out and closed the door. He refilled his glass, but this time to the brim and drained it.


    "What type of nerd shit is this?!"

 Chapter 37 - Reaction

    "My lord, the ones that captured my fellow brides are all masked save for Guild Master Ekart. We have tried to put a mesmer on her, but she is completely immune to mental effects and even was able to spike Carona who tried. She is still recovering." A young woman said.


    "How soon can we retrieve the girls? We do not need them breaking and divulging critical information." Mihnea asked feeling confident in his power and that of his brides.


    With two captured he had 4 brides on standby and one currently in active operation. Mihnea was ready to strike back.


    "Send word to Camelia and have her begin. We want the guild and program tied up in so many legal matters, proceedings, and interference that they cannot act properly." He said as Clarissa pulled out her phone and sent a message.


    "It is done my lord. She is moving and will have the president working to impede the factions aligned against us." She said getting a nod.


    "The pattern established of ripping from city to city in order worked like a charm and has their top forces locked in that thrall tide. Order the release of the brides then send all those combat ready to the following locations. First I want the one known as the Sage from North Carolina. Then we need the Warden Henry Pulcine. The bride that goes after him needs to be extremely careful to avoid his wife and co warden. She is very strong against our kind and can incinerate a bride at a touch." Mihnea directed.


    "Understood my lord, should we attempt the Tidecaller or the Wanderer?" Clarissa asked.


    "No. With the Tidecaller married to that mental savant, we would lose control of him quickly and give them more intelligence than we want. The Wanderer is an unknown. If we knew more about him then potentially. Instead, I would like you to go after the Seraph. Having a healer that powerful on our side would be rather useful. The last one we will need is a user by the name of Brandon Oldland. He is a master of modern weaponry and has a class that is centered around it, but like with Henry you need to avoid not just the wife, but the oldest daughter as well. Mihnea said.


    Clarissa sent the directions to the different brides, before she got up, smoothed her dress, then bowed.


    "It will be done my lord." She said and headed out of the office, but before she was out. "One last thing, do your absolute best to be keep an eye out for my father. The last thing we need is "dracula" getting involved." He said mockingly.


    - Kyrain -


    "The new queen of England, Morganna has now officially dissolved parliament and reinstated the traditional monarchy. Upon those acts she koved quickly to disolve all embassies and removed all foreign nationals. The surrounding nations have paused trading with the seemingly unstable nation as Morganna continues to revert the nation. The president is set to visit the new queen to reestablish trade and alliance agreements in the face of the looming threat of Rasputin in Asia. China has been able to repel the hordes of undead, but most other nations have fallen."


    The television said as Kyrain watched in absolute shock with Nyx at their house. Kyrain was feeling jittery and wanted to get to work. His uncle had placed all guild members on standby. Jobs, save for monster suppression have been placed on hold with dedicated teams on rotation.


    "Any news from Phoenix?" Kyrain asked as Nyx walked into the living and collapsed into the fluffy recliner she insisted on getting.


    "No...not a thing. Everyone and everything has gone quiet in spite of everything changing everywhere in the world." Nyx responded.


    Then Kyrain''s phone went off. He looked at the caller ID and frowned. "Uncle Mitch?" He said questionly to Nyx who just shrugged.


    "Hello?"


    "He kid, have you heard from your mother? We just recieved a message from the hospital saying she just left and now nobody can reach her." Mitch asked.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    "No, I spoke to her yesterday and she said she is like the rest of us and on standby to take more patients in the event of thrall or worse." He replied.


    "Can you check in on her and see if she is home?"


    "Yes sir. I''ll call and head over right away, to see if she is there. It''s not like her to not answer." Kyrain said getting to his feet.


    "Keep me posted. Gotta go." Mitch said hanging up.


    "My mom left the hospital and nobody can reach or find her." Kyrain said to Nyx who was already moving, strapping on her Jian. Once done with her preparation she tossed his sword and shield to him.


    "Open a rift. Let''s track her down." Nyx said.


    Kyrain opened a rift to his bedroom at his mom''s house and stepped through. After a quick search they found it empty. Over the course of the next few hours, Kyrain and Nyx searched every single location his mom would go and found not a single trace. They went to her office last of all. Her keys, wallet, and lunch were still there. It was like she was working.


    "Kyrain, step back." Nyx said while in the office.


    "What are you thinking?" Kyrain asked.


    "Im going to use a skill that is going to drain my aether, but let us see what happened here." She said.


    Kyrain walked over by Nyx at the door as she placed her palms together. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, they were glowing brilliantly sapphire blue and she began to separate her hands as aether began rolling out of her.


    The office took on a hazy appearance and an image like you would see on a security camera being rewound was overlayed on the office and then played. At first nothing, then they saw his mother walk in for the start of her shift. She hung up her jacket, put her lunch in her office fridge, set down her keys, and wallet then sat down to check her emails and messages.


    Then she paused and looked up eyes glowing the golden brilliance when she used her Celestial vision. "Hello Nyx, if you are here looking for me, it means something is about to happen." She said with a sigh.


    She pulled out her phone and went to an app. Then her gaze fell on Kyrain. "I have no idea what''s about to happen, but I love you baby boy. Your dad and I have always loved, wanted, and needed you and are always proud of you. I don''t know your backstory Nyx, as you''re like an enigma. You have next to no background, but begrudgingly....you''re alright. If the worst has happened to me, be good to my boy." She said as the door to her office opened up and a white haired woman walked in.


    "Why do people keep saying things like that...." Kyrain heard Nyx mutter.


    There was a flash of pink light and Brittanies glowing eyes went out, pupils dilated, and face went slack. "Seraph, you will come with me." Came the voice. She looked around confused at why the woman was talking to herself.


    Brittanie got up robotically and followed the woman out.


    The image faded and Nyx turned to Kyrain who was already pulling his phone out and checking his app. After a few seconds he saw his mother''s icon moving rapidly along old route 66. Kyrain then opened a rift to his uncles office and stepped through.


    As soon as he stepped through he saw his uncle reading things at his desk. As the rift opened the guildmaster looked up.


    "Uncle, she is moving along old route 66." He said handing him the phone showing the location data.


    He took the phone and watched for a second with a confused look then Nyx stepped through and began to speak.


    "Guildmaster, there was a woman who used a skill on her. I think it was a mental skill that is signature to vampires called Mesmerize. This skill can change their behavior. I would recommend keeping an eye out for sudden changes in behavior in high ranking officials." She said.


    Mitch frowned and glanced back at the papers on his desk. After a pause, he went over to his desk and pulled out two pins and parchment paper.


    "Kyrain has yet to have any aether except save for the strongest be able to hit him and mental effects are no good. I am hereby appointing you both as Judges. He took out a noticery and stamped the parchment after signing. You can apprehend and even take down guild members of any rank or position should you believe them compromised including myself. Be warned, if you take lethal action, you had better be correct as you can still be bountied. You can be prosecuted for violations of the constitution. Once a guildmaster gives these out, they cannot be taken back by him or her. They are withdrawn by a combined decision of the grandmaster of the program and SecDef if they are not willingly surrendered. I think we have compromises all over the government and within the guild, based on what I have just read. We, by order of the president, have been ordered to cease operations into hunting the vampires and only focus on the thrall. I''m sure the hunters are in the same boat." Mitch said handing the pins and papers over to the two.


    "I have to get to DC. Things are not as they seem. I''ve called on Kassie and reached out Jessica Robinson to assist with determining if there is a whammy on our officials. You''re headed after your mother. Send a message to your trainers and let them know in order to get help. Someone who can do that to your mother, may well be beyond you both combined." Mitch said throwing on his jacket and swords.

 Chapter 38 - The difficulty of fighting your own

    Kyrain watched the location of his mother rapidly approach his position at the Tower Cocono in Shamrock, TX.


    "Ladies, my mother''s tracker is about two minutes out." Kyrain said as Phoenix, Eclipse, and Nyx got to their feet.


    Phoenix shot high up into the air as Eclipse walked to the center of the road. Kyrain watched from the Shamrock hotel roof across the street.


    "No full scale attacks from anyone!" Eclipse said, reminding everyone of their earlier discussion about minimizing damage to the local area and historical places still loved by many.


    Kyrain was on damage negation and redirection, Nyx was on buffs and debuffs, Eclipse was damage on the ground, and Phoenix was long range damage from above.


    In the next moments, a black suburban came into view that correlated with the tracker of Kyrain''s mother. The suburban moved over to avoid hitting Eclipse who charged and fired a beam of condensed solar aether at the front of the vehicle and another jet of flames from above from Phoenix. Kyrain was expecting the beam to hit, but golden wings appeared and wrapped itself around the screeching vehicle. The vehicle was brought to a complete stop and rocked violently by the two attacks, but the damage didn''t make it passed the golden wings.


    As soon as the aether dissipated, the wings vanished as well. The rear doors opened up and two women stepped out. The first was a blonde woman with dark eyes. She was smiling confidently at Eclipse and looked up and over at Nyx, then over at Kyrain as if she knew they were all there before she even got out. The other woman that stepped out, did so in white scrubs, but there was no emotion on her face.


    Brittanie assessed the situation and the spoke in a monotone. "Do not allow that one to get any closer. We are currently outside of his nullification range. If we allow him closer, it will be next to impossible to deal with the one in the air above us and the one in front. You don''t have to worry about the other girl. She only can slow and speed up time."


    With a nod, the blonde woman flicked her hand and a translucent blade was launched out at Eclipse who vanished in a blinding flash of light and a crack like that of a whip. In the next movement the blonde spun around and caught the incoming burning fist from Eclipse with a gloved hand.


    "You will have to do better than that. How predicable that if you would vanish, that you would appear behind me." She said twisting the fist and torquing it painfully on Eclipse who twisted and threw a kick relieving the pressure at the same time.


    The woman released the hand, ducked and smiled as a tendril of golden light lashed the other leg of Eclipse and flung her toward a building. As she was about to hit, a rift opened and Eclipse was tackling the blonde who let out a shout of suprise then a scream of pain as the smell and sound of burning flesh could be heard.


    Kyrain watched as Nyx was actively slowing his mother''s time as hard as she could. His mother had a look of pure fury on her face, the likes of which he had never seen from her as 12 tendrils of brilliant gold were coming from her back above and below her wings sharpened into points ready to kill.


    Kyrain opened a rift and moved outside of Nyx''s time dilation as Phoenix screamed down from above her entire body burning with a vengeful fire followed by a flash of light as Eclipse vanished just before Phoenix slammed into the blonde woman, or tried to.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    At the same time Kyrain sprang from the rift next to his mother moving as quickly as he could to lock her down without affecting the time dilation, a surge of aether was expelled leaking with blood and what made them feel, hunger. There was a second surge of aether this time fire that slammed back into the aether from the blonde then cut it off.


    "Your kind has pissed me off!" Came the sharp angry voice of Phoenix with the sound of a gasping strangled scream followed by more burning flesh.


    Kyrain finished surrounding his mother in his antimatter and pushed as hard as he could to cut her path, but before he could succeed there was a third surge of aether. With a gasp and scream, Nyx went to one knee as a substance, purple in color, began running from her nose where she quickly swept it away and looking up at Kyrain who was too distracted containing his mother''s power and losing to notice.


    "Nyx! I need you back in the fight! She has a massive reserve of aether! I can''t hold her for much longer!" Kyrain shouted.


    Kyrain who was working to lock his mother down was also diverting his nullification abilities searching for what was twisting her mind, but was so pressed he couldn''t hardly divide his attention enough to really dig.


    "I''ve got you kid!" Eclipse shouted as she slammed into the back of Brittanie forcing her to the ground. Brittanie screamed in rage and pushed even harder this time focusing on the masked woman who was actively holding her down.


    To her horror, Eclipse began to feel her body weaken. Fluids began to leak from her skin like sweat, then blood began running from her eyes, nose, and ears. What made things worse is her diaphragm locked up and she couldn''t breathe.


    Kyrain however, was hard at work now able to divert more effort and he had found it. Pink aether laying directly over top of his mother''s brain. He found the skills pattern and injected his nullification ability into it, causing it to shatter.


    Kyrain looked over quickly at Phoenix who had the blonde woman on the ground, completely unconscious. The woman was scorched from head to toe and now bound in reinforced zip ties. "Nyx! Get yourself together and look after this hag! I need to help Eclipse!" She shouted.


    Nyx, who was already shakily moving to Brittanie changed directions at the given command.


    "Yes...ma''am." She gasped out wearily.


    Kyrain held the nullification over his mother as the affects of whatever his mother was doing to Eclipse ended abruptly.


    Phoenix grabbed Eclipse and pulled her away as she was hemorrhaging blood from everywhere.


    Tendrils withdrawing completely, Brittanie sat up shaking her head.


    "Brittanie, if you''re back with us, we need your help! You did serious damage here!" Phoenix said with an extremely urgent and worried tone. Brittanie looked over confused by everything around her.


    She put a hand to her head in pain. Once her eyes landed on the woman in a pool of her own blood she shook herself and rushed over.


    "What happened?!" She asked quickly.


    "I don''t know! You did this while controlled by that witch!" Phoenix said holding Eclipse''s head in her lap.


    Brittanie''s eyes opened wide. "I can fix it." She said as her eyes glowed.


    "Ky! Drop your null field! I need my full strength." She said looking back.


    Kyrain hesitated then when he looked to Phoenix and getting a nod from her, he let go of his skill and his mother got to work.


    After a tense ten minutes, Eclipse began to stir and move. Brittanie stood and put her hands on top of her head. Tears running down her face.


    Kyrain went over to her touching her shoulder.


    She turned to him and touched his mask. He removed it and she hugged him tightly. Kyrain had never noticed how much taller he had become. He was a full head taller than his mother who was now sobbing into him.


    "I wish your dad was here." She said squeezing him tightly. "He would slaughter all of these people for even thinking of touching us."


    Eclipse slowly made her way over. "It''s always difficult fighting one of your own, but we need to go Erebus. Mask up. The job isn''t done." She said.


    Kyrain put his mask back on as Brittanie separated from him. Kyrain turned and opened a rift back to Clarksville.

 Chapter 39 - Gross miscalculation

    - Texas Wardens -


    Henry looked down and the pitiful remains of the once vampiress. The once lady, still smoking before him, requested an audience with him while Jen was away and thought to take control of his mind. Not only did he already anticipate people with mental abilities appearing, but had taken measures to ensure they would fail with a mental resistance passive he had developed working with other mental path users, but his wife''s passive protected those she viewed as part of her household and the moment she sensed the intrusion she used another skill to teleport herself to one of her family members.


    Henry had just shook off the attempted mind control and was about to rip the woman in half with an aether constructed blade that resembled an orange omniblade from a game called Mass Effect, when the ghostly sacred flames he had grown accustomed to, slammed into the woman practically incinerating her without so much as a peep.


    "Nice try bitch." Jen said as she turned and smiled sweetly at her husband, who slowly allowed the blade he conjured to slowly vanish as he smiled back.


    - North Carolina, Sage -


    Chris was watching his wife snap her fingers over and over again. His wife Elena caught the woman sneaking around their property due to her sound mastery and now was using the sound of her snapping fingers to bludgeon the woman with amplified sound waves. The woman who, after Chris invaded her mind with his own aether, was sent to mind control him and weaponize him.


    His impulse was originally to stop Elena, but they had been married long enough to know that there were times he should mind his own business. This woman had invaded the sanctuary of Elena Shephard and that was more or less a death sentence. Chris had however, called the hunters to come and take her away and politely asked his wife not to kill her.


    Elena naturally agreed, but with the condition she is going to catch a beating until the hunters did arrive, which they did an hour and a half later. As the black and blue woman was led off one hunter came over.


    "There have been a few of these going around Sage. The Seraph was temporarily captured, an attempt was made on the Texas Wardens, and the last was Warlord known as Brandon Newland who was captured. His wife and daughter reported him missing a few days ago. Cameras saw a woman meet with him at the guild in Worcester shortly before his disappearance." The hunter explained.


    "That''s worrisome. The Warlord path is an all out offensive combat class with insanely powerful long range lethal strikes not to mention, last I heard Mr. Newland constructed a state of the art aether empowered .50 sniper rifle capable of dropping a rift champion in a single shot." Chris said.Stolen story; please report.


    "We have every piece of surveillance tech looking for the man. We absolutely cannot have him targeting officials be they guild masters or even higher." Came the reply.


    "No. Definitely not."


    - Clarksville -


    Kyrain, Brittanie, Mitch, Kody, Kassie, Kalypso, Ana, Julee, Tobias, and Sebastian sat around the guild conference table a few days after Brittanie was returned home after her abduction.


    "Clearly, one of us is wanted by these vampires  according to information we have been able to obtain from the vampires and recent events." Mitch said opening the meeting.


    "Vampiress is what they are called Mitch." Sebastian said quickly correcting his uncle.


    *smack!*


    Sebastian''s head went forward almost to the table as a whip of water retracted back to Kody.


    "Two things." Kody said holding up one finger.


    "One, it''s Uncle Mitch to you and two, nobody cares about stupid nerdy details like that." He said throwing up the second finger and glaring at his nephew.


    Rubbing his had from the smack.


    "Yes sir." Sebastian said turning red from scolding as his mother, Ana, smacked him on the back of the head next.


    "As I was saying....we have discovered why they didn''t go after either myself, Kody, and Kassie, but now they may know Kyrain. They might not bother for reasons we all know, but its hard to say. We have also found out that Brandon Newland, and weapons master with the path known as "Warlord" has been captured. This presents a problem as assassinations are now on the table, until he is either free or put down." Mitch continued.


    "What are you thinking then?" Julee the youngest of the Ekart siblings, and mother of tobias spoke up.


    "We essentially circle the wagons. With Kody and Kassie and the other Ekarts in the north we should have good coverage there, but we should all remain out of sight and the open. We need to mask our movements until Newland isn''t a threat anymore." Came the reply.


    "Those of us who can''t such as Kody, Kassie, and Kyrain need to stay out of long sight lines whenever we can and keep constant vigil. Also make sure your family locator apps are active and hide the smaller location beacons on yourselves in case anyone tries to capture one of us again. Questions?"


    Nobody moved or had any questions so Mitch nodded and stood.


    "We have Kyrain as our point of contact for the hunters to let us know when they have located and freed Newland." Mitch finished as Kyrain opened rifts to send his family back to Washington.


    Once everyone who was headed back to the Pacific Northwest had gone, the ones remaining left.


    Kyrain went into the main guild hall where he found Nyx siting in the recliners in the lounge area of the guild scrolling through her phone.


    "How did the family meeting go?" She asked.


    "Fine. We just need to be extra careful until that Warlord gets found and freed. Apparently he has the perfect assassin skill set. Everyone in the country is on high alert for the man and I wouldn''t be suprised if a bounty for him comes out. It won''t be for us, but probably of level 5. The guy is apparently powerful too." Kyrain replied sitting down next to her.


    "I have a question." Kyrain said after a contemplative pause as something had been on his mind for a while.


    "What is it?" Nyx said not looking up from her phone.


    "What was the crackling aether you had on you in Seattle? It wasn''t the same as your time power?"

 Chapter 40 - Ruin and Wither

    Kyrain was looking at Nyx in a different light. She had been holding back and still was. He had asked her about her skills directly and though it was considered rude to pry into one''s skills, but they were partners and they needed to know what eachother brought to the table.


    "Not here." She said as she got up from her chair. "Let''s head back to the house and I''ll let you in a little bit."


    Kyrain opened a rift and they stepped through into the kitchen where they sat down at the table.


    "I still dont want to give you the full name of my path nor give all my secrets. They are mine. I trust you to have my back, but its just easier if I keep things that don''t hurt you, and keep me safer. Besides, I passed the background check for the guild and program, so that should be good enough." She began.


    "Are you on the run from your dad and his company that you can''t give up anything?" Kyrain asked.


    "Yes actually. My father based his successor off of our paths and I have the appropriate one to be the "successor." She said throwing up air quotes.


    "He doesn''t really need a successor unless he ever decides he wants to take a break. I don''t like how he treats people or us so I left, but that''sneither here nor there. The bottom line is that I''m the youngest of my siblings and they resent me for my path. That being said, what you are seeing is something called Ruin. More or less, I severe part or all of their time from the continuum. The more aether they possess as well as life they have lived requires more and more aether from me to cut them off. If I sever someone entirely, they cease to exist in everything, but memory and even then it is as that object is remembered like an almost a half forgotten dream depending on the relationship." She explained.


    Kyrain''s eyebrows went up so high they could have crawled into his hairline.


    "Thats pretty powerful." He said said simply while completely dumbstruck.


    "Yeah...it''s something I keep hidden because imagine how people in power would react if they found out I could do that, but think bigger picture. What if I didn''t like some aspect of you?"


    Kyrain looked down tapping his fingers on the table on thought then looked up.


    "You could essentially sever that time from their life and it''s as if they never had it?" He asked.


    Nyx only nodded. "Relationships, choices, skills, or I could delete the path selection. Its a skill I share with my dad and his requirement for his successor to maintain absolute control." She said shaking her head in annoyance.


    "No offense, but your dad sounds like a tyrant and magalomaniac."


    Nyx looked at Kyrain and smiled. "Because he is." She said. "I would just ask that you keep this skill to yourself as my partner and later as a colleague."


    Kyrain nodded. "Of course. You know a lot of the limits and weaknesses of what I can can do and you keep it to yourself, it''s only right." He said.


    Kyrain got up. He was in thought about another problem as he tossed a coffee pod into the coffee maker and pressed start.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I need your help." Kyrain said looking over and Nyx. She looked up at him with her Sapphire blue eyes.


    "Depends." She said with a smirk.


    "On?" He responded quickly crossing his arms and leaning back against the counter.


    "Whether you''re making me a cup or not?"


    Kyrain reached into the rack where they kept the pods and pulled another one out and set it down next to him.


    "Alright, I''ll help then." She said with a smug smile.


    "Whatcha need?"


    Kyrain turned as the coffee was done and threw some creamer into it and started to turn around. "A little honey if you don''t mind?" She said.


    Kyrain snorted out his nose in amusement. Set the coffee back down went to the cupboard and put the honey in then blended it.


    He handed it off to Nyx.


    "Thank you." Nyx said with a closed eyes smile.


    Kyrain nodded then turned, replaced the pod, and started the brewing process again. He then looked back at the silver haired woman drinking her coffee and doing a small dance in her chair.


    "I have two ideas for skills I''d like to try to develop. I think I''ve got the concepts down and I think my path can work with it. Lately I''ve been feeling so underpowered and outmatched. If we keep like this, I''m worried I''ll get someone killed from lack of power. I''m on track for the next tier so I just need skills." He explained.


    Nyx nodded along with his explanation and frowned a bit.


    "Ky, we are dealing with people who are a match for Emma and Sophia. They are significantly stronger than us and they struggle. You will never be the biggest fish in the ocean and not everything comes easy, but I''ll still help you develop more skills if it means our chances of survival and success go up." She said.


    Kyrain sat down with his coffee and went over a few of the details as they drank their coffee. Once they had the details down, Kyrain tipped the rest of his coffee down and stood.


    Nyx finished hers and got up.


    "Shall we?" She said


    - Near the rifts -


    Kyrain was focused in his aether sense on the motes he could see on the back of the pebble boar they had found down below that was minding it''s own business rooting around.


    He was attempting to destabilize a mote in order to create a very nasty new tool in his arsenal. He was focusing on a single mote and making some headway though slow. Using his antimatter, he shaped it into a needle like sliver and was draining the aether away. He found that the more he drained away and opened the outer shell to the mote without allowing it to return, the aether would leak out in all directions in a wave that got weaker and weaker with distance.


    It was the exact effect he was looking for, but it wasn''t producing any results on the pebble boar so Kyrain kept opening the mote more and more, speeding the release. Eventually the waves got stronger and stronger until after about an hour, the boar began swaying back and forth and whinning.


    Kyrain stopped draining and watched the mote shake and continue to radiate the waves while also watching with his eyes as pebbles began falling off the back of the boar. It was about this time that Nyx sat up from the lounge she had taken up behind him as he focused on the first skill that didn''t require her. She watched as the boar began to throw up then lay down.


    "What did you do?!" She asked shock and a little worry in her voice.


    It was at that time Kyrain recieved a notification.


    *bleep!*


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill: Wither(a) - Using your control of antimatter, destabilize an atom causing it to not have enough energy to keep it together. The more it is unstable, the more radiation is produced and the greater the effects. Greatest levels will kill a target in a matter of hours causing it to wither away.


    "I figured out how to generate gamma radiation and use it as a weapon to poison a specific area. Our bodies are made of energy and there is different types of energy. By destabilizing this mote, I make all forms of aether pour from the mote which is absorbed by the body and eventually causes it to break down and you die. It will have different effects on people with the system, but it''s lethal. Watch the boar."


    Watch they did, over the next two hours, the skin fell off the boar and it withered away to bone and died leaving just bone and lesion. Not even a core.

 Chapter 41 - Consequences

    Kyrain faced Nyx who was using her time dilatation skill on him. They had been at it for hours and Kyrain was having trouble figuring out what he was doing wrong.


    When it comes to the mind, to computers, electronics, and even aether; all information was transmitted through the signals and frequencies. He was watching the pattern that Kyrain didn''t have an issue skattering with his antimatter, but what he was trying to do, is decipher what allowed people to control their skills.


    Kyrain kept looking how it all was pieced together and it was similar to binary. With Nyx''s help he had figured out which fragments of the skill would speed it up, slow it down, stop it outright, and he could shift the target, but nothing allowed him to truly gain control of it.


    They kept trying. Nyx was not entirely comfortable with the idea of her skill getting potentially hijacked and didn''t really like the results they were getting. Her only comfort was that Kyrain, through the use of his antimatter, should be the only one to be able to splice and move things and she trusted him.


    Kyrain watched close as Nyx activated her skill, and then he saw it. At the start of the skill''s activation there was a cluster of what he was calling "code." Kyrain reached to it and twisted his antimatter around it. He pulled and faced resistance as it wished to remain connected to Nyx. So with a muster of his will he went to rip. Nyx was about to say something when he did ripped the skill up and away like a sticker from reality and it finally came up.


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    Nyx staggered backwards and collapsed to the ground causing Kyrain to lose the skill and it dissipated.


    "Nyx!" He shouted as he sprinted over to the woman who has heaving on the ground and sweating profusely.


    "Nyx! What happened?!" He asked skidding to the ground next to her trying to figure out what was wrong.


    She opened her mouth to say something then she lost consciousness.


    Thinking quickly, Kyrain tore a rift open to the ER at the hospital. To Kyrain''s shock as he picked up Nyx, a member of the emergency room fell through as the rift randomly appeared out of nowhere tripping and falling into the dust.


    "What?! Kyrain! What the hell?! How many times have we asked..." the man started to say until he saw Nyx unconscious in his arms.


    "Quick! Through. Let''s get her checked out. Her aether is extremely low." The nurse said rushing back in and starting to shout.


    Kyrain ran through the rift himself as the staff brought a bed to him where he laid Nyx. "You know the drill Ky, waiting room. We will let you know." One of the nurses said as they rushed her off to a room.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Kyrain just stood there dumbstruck before turning heading out the doors into the waiting area where he slumped down into a chair and began to wait.


    Everything happened so fast once he found that clump of code. He shouldn''t have rushed when he felt that resistance. In the center of his chest all he could feel was a tight sort of lump.


    In the months that they had been partners, he had grown close to her especially after the few close fights they had been in and now due to his haste, he had done something potentially terrible to her. Kyrain opened up the notifications he saw blinking at him in an attempt to distract himself.


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill: Skill Reaver(a) - Through tampering with the aetherial fabric of skills you can use your antimatter to sever skills from another person or creature. This effect is permanent until the user returns skill to the original owner. Touch required for return.


    Caution! May sunder path if skill reaved is critical and not returned within 24 hours.


    Skill(s) reaved:


    Monarch''s command of Time(a) - Slow or Speed up the timeline or a person, object, or place. You may stop the time temporarily. The longer the user manipulates and how large the manipulation will determine the amount of aether required as it will continue to increase at a linear rate.


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill: Hijack(a) - by understanding Aetheric skill fabric you can now the control of a skill after activation and use it as though you have used it with the aether original user supplied. Only works with external skills.


    Kyrain jumped up to his feet and sprinted outside to the grass where he threw up. He had an idea of what he had done and it was horrible. After a few minutes of throwing up, Kyrain wiped his mouth and slowly walked back in with that horrible clenching in his chest.


    Kyrain continued to pace back and forth in the waiting room. It seemed like hours, but every time Kyrain looked at the clock only a half hour went by. Kyrain continued to wait until another 15 minutes or so went by and the doors opened.


    "Kyrain!" Came the call and in a matter of a heartbeat, he was over at the nurse.


    "Is she ok?" He asked.


    "We honestly don''t know. There is severe damage to her core and channels, but Dr. Ekart was able to repair it; we don''t know much else. She has you listed as an emergency contact so you can come back. She is still unconscious, but you can wait if you want or we can call you." He said.


    Kyrain just nodded. "I''d like to wait with her."


    "Follow me then." The nurse said, turning and heading down the hall.


    They walked and turned the corner. The nurse slid a door open and opened the curtain in the room and Kyrains heart dropped to his feet.


    Nyx was hooked up to the heart monitor and fast asleep. Her silver hair strewn all around her.


    "If you need anything, hit the green button on the wall and a nurse will be with you as soon as we can."


    Kyrain nodded as he pulled the chair over to her bedside and slumped into it. The nurse walked out, pulled the curtain closed, and slide the door closed.


    It was at this time, Kyrain let everything out and the tears came this time as he put his head down on the bed next to Nyx.

 Chapter 42 - Recovery

    Kyrain woke to the feel of fingers through his hair. He raised his head and looked around. The room and the hallway had been dimmed for the night.


    He looked at Nyx and saw she was still out, then he looked to his right where his mother was standing. She reached out with a dimly lit tendril snaked over to the other chair and quietly moved it next to him where she sat next to him and took his hand.


    "She''s tough. She will pull through. Her channels and core have been restored, but there is something missing that I couldn''t figure out." She said.


    "It''s a skill for me that we were working on. It was a two for one with apparent ramifications that we couldn''t see coming. I thought I had it, then I pulled too hard, her skill came away and she collapsed." Kyrain explained.


    "You pulled her skill away? Well that explains it." Brittanie said eyebrows going up.


    "Yeah, it says I can give it back with a touch, but didn''t want to rush that in case something else needs to happen. I dont want to hurt her again." He said looking down at his boots.


    "Probably a good call. She should be awake soon and you can get everything fixed, but she is not allowed to use her skills until she fully heals. I was able to fix the major damage, but there is a lot of strain on the channels and core. If she puts any more stress on her system, she could incurr lasting damage." Brittanie said looking at the sleeping woman.


    They sat there in silence for ten minutes then Brittanie got to her feet.


    "I''m going to head home Ky. Text me when she wakes up so we can fix everything and check your phone. It''s been buzzing for a while." Brittanie continued kissing him on the top of his head then walked out.


    Kyrain didn''t feel like dealing with things on the outside quite yet, so he just sat there and watched the steady rise and fall of her breathing.


    He never got over just how beautiful she was, but he never wanted to voice it and risk destroying their working relationship. He was also afraid of the rejection. He let those thoughts go and dozed off a bit.


    After about an hour of waiting he knew he shouldn''t put off the world for much longer. He shook himself fully awake then got up and looked at his phone. He had four missed calls and two texts.


    The first text was from Eclipse


    "We recieved a notification that Nyx is in the hospital. You will need to call me and give me the details."


    Kyrain opened the next message which naturally was from Phoenix.


    "Eon is down. I want to know why. As soon as you can, text me the details. Don''t call me, I hate calls."


    Kyrain opened up a blank message and began typing. He detailed what they were working on prior to the accident as well as the damage. He told her that he was waiting for her to wake up and would return the skill. He detailed how his mother had said she needs to heal and there isn''t a time period for recovery.


    He sent the message and it was all of five seconds when the response came back.


    "K." Phoenix sent back


    "Good talk...." Kyrain muttered walking out into the hall and closing the door so he could call Eclipse.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    He dialed her and after a couple rings she picked up.


    "Talk to me Tonto." She said.


    "She is still asleep. We were working on a skill for me when we had an accident. I was feeling under powered in the last fight and I needed something. I succeeded for what it''s worth, but at this cost." Kyrain said.


    "What exactly happened to her you think?" Eclipse asked.


    "I was working to use antimatter to hijack her skill and use it as if it were my own. What ended up happening is I get that skill, but i also got a skill called "skill reaver." I rip a skill away from people, but can return it. If I don''t and it''s a critical skill, I can sunder a path entirely."


    "Thats not a good thing for allies kid." Eclipse said sarcastically.


    "Yeah no kidding. I did get the hijack skill though. When she wakes up, I''m to call my mom before I return the skill." He said.


    "That''s a good plan. Regardless, I''ve put you both as inactive until she is back on her feet and in fighting shape. You were going to be sent to Chicago. They need the help dealing with copy cats, but they picked others when you guys went down. Keep me posted." Eclipse said.


    "Yes ma''am." Kyrain responded as required then Eclipse hung up.


    Kyrain put his phone in his pocket and walked back in.


    "Are they upset?" Came a voice as soon as he walked in.


    "Nyx." Kyrain said walking quickly over, her question forgotten.


    She just raised her hand with a smile and waved.


    "Yep...that''s me." She said allowing some dry humor through.


    "I have your skill." Kyrain said as he sent a message to his mom.


    Nyx let her eyes unfocus for a minute then she gasped.


    "Kyrain...I have this red text and a countdown." She said nervously.


    "What does it say?" Kyrain asked.


    She began to read.


    Warning!


    You have had a path critical skill has been forcibly removed. Failure to reclaim critical component to path in alloted time will result in sunder of path and reversion to ordinary state. Depending on race, can be lethal.


    Time remaining: 16:32:12


    Kyrain was stunned. He got a message from his mom. After reading it, he opened a rift and his mom walked through and looked over and Nyx who smiled up at her.


    "Welcome back Nyx, how are you feeling?" She said walking up and checking her monitor and pulling the tablet with her historical monitor data.


    "I feel very fragile and have a deep ache inside. Plus I have this message that makes me nervous." She said and read it off to Brittanie as she had for Kyrain.


    "Well that doesn''t sound good. I''m going to monitor your channels and core as Kyrain gives it back as his skill says it can be done." Brittanie said as she motioned for Kyrain to walk up.


    Kyrain walked up and touched her shoulder feeling for his skill.


    Return skill?


    Monarch''s command of Time(a) - Slow or Speed up the timeline or a person, object, or place. You may stop the time temporarily. The longer the user manipulates and how large the manipulation will determine the amount of aether required as it will continue to increase at a linear rate


    Yes/No


    Kyrain mentally selected yes and felt aether leave some place within him and flow back into her.


    As soon as the aether transfer was completed, Nyx breathed out a deep sigh of relief.


    Brittanie''s eyes were golden and glowing as she watched the aether seat itself back in the area that she wasn''t previously sure of and setting everything back to normal.


    "Everything looks good." She said.


    "The message is gone, but now I''ve got a new warning." Nyx said and she read it.


    You have sustained severe channel and core damage. Your path is unavailable for: 7 days 23 hours 59 minutes. Attempting to force use will result in permanent damage and sundering of path.


    "Well then, I suggest you take it easy for the next week and a day and when you do get your path back you ease into its use. Luckily, you will be staying with me so I can keep an eye on you young lady." Brittanie said with a smile.


    "Kyrain you''re on maid duty. You have the rifts." She said happily.


    "Nyx, you''re going to stay here the rest of the night and we will release you in the morning after observation. Kyrain you''re going head home and I''ll let you know when we will get her." She continued. Kyrain was about to say something, but was cut off.


    "That works for me Mrs. Ekart. I''m still pretty tired and wouldn''t mind not moving for a little longer." Nyx said as she slowly snuggled down under the blanket then looked around.


    "Ky, can you snag me another blanket?" She asked.


    Brittanie looked expectingly at her son.


    "Well, you heard the lady." She said as Kyrain shook his head and gave Nyx another from the closet who took it with a happy thanks.

 Interlude - Sorin: War in Ithaca

    Lady Aegis sat in her command tent looking over tactical map after tactical map. Her father had charged her with the defense of this flank, but she was slowly being pushed back through exploitation of the tunnels and supplies. She couldn''t find a way to pin her enemy down long enough to crush them, nor could she ride out and crush them due to a massive dug in force further out.


    At the rate she was going she would be shoved all the way back, losing the gorge and forcing her older sister Medusa to come and deal with this, and that''s the last thing she needed. She had already been forced to retreat once and couldn''t again. She got up from her seat at the war table and walked outside, she needed air.


    As she walked among her troops at her camp, she could see the morale slowly being eroded with the small loss after loss. The narrow gorge they were blocking was supposed to be a stalemate, but it was proving difficult as the enemy had a town on their side supplying them with food, water, and other necessities. She had to wait on periodic supplies. The people on that side also had maps of the tunnels through the gorge which has allowed them to ambush her forced a few times before she drew back beyond those tunnels.


    She looked down from their hill at the entrance of the gorge in frustration.


    "Lady Aegis, our scouts report no movement from the enemy. We believe their commanders, are working to continue to eat away at morale and enthusiasm for the fighting." Her executive officer said coming to stand beside her.


    "That''s what I''m afraid of. We don''t have any fliers stronger enough to bypass the gorge without being instantly killed, we don''t have earth mages strong enough to seal things off, we have good firepower and can destroy them each time, but we take losses each time. Our stealth paths have been destroyed each time they were used. I''m out of options and it''s frustrating." She replied. She breathed out and left her subordinate there as she headed to the command tent. As she walked in she saw someone standing at her table and reacted on instinct drawing her khopesh and ignited her hand to incinerate the intruder.


    "You have exactly two breaths to identify yourself, before I reduce you to ash." She said as the flames on her hand intensified.


    The man in front of her flicked his hand and to her absolute horror, the flames on her hand jumped over to him and hovered next to his head and the sword in her hand was forcefully ripped out of her hand and stuck into the ground.


    "You''re going to have to do a lot better than that Euryale. You have gotten sloppy based off of your lack of threat to me and these tactical maps." Sorin said turning around to face Euryale and extinguishing the flames.


    "Sorin...you''re alive." She said as she was hit with even more suprise.


    Sorin spread his arms out to the side and took a bow.


    "Naturally. Took me a while to deal with that collar, but eventually succeeded." He said nodding his head toward the table and turning.


    Euryale bent down and grabbed her blade which came back up easily. After a quick wipe clean she sheathed it and walked up next to Sorin still staring at him.


    "Is our agreement still good?" Sorin asked as she stepped up next to him.


    It took Euryale a few seconds to go through her memories as it had been a few years, before it clicked.


    "It is, however I''m a little tied up if you couldn''t tell to be able to keep my side." She said.


    "I see that, and I have a proposed solution if you''re amenable?" He responded with the confidence she had remembered and enjoyed.


    "I''m listening."


    Sorin nodded then spoke.


    "First, I need a letter that designates me free of your command and control; signed and sealed to be completely official. Once I have that, I will move to the next phase." He said.


    Euryale didn''t even hesitate. She had been losing sleep and stressed out over her position and would take any lifeline Sorin was offering. She wrote out the letter, signed, and sealed it with wax and her family crest.


    She got back up and handed it to him.


    Sorin tucked it quickly into his shirt. Before continuing.


    "The next part is going to seem psychotic, but it will take trust. You''re going to run up a white flag for talks. During this time, I am going to be acting completely independent of you, your command, and your family. Once you meet with that fat sicko, you will offer him the chance to surrender. He will naturally scoff and laugh at you because currently he is slowly bleeding you dry. Once I see that signal things will get interesting." Sorin explained with a dark smirk that gave Euryale cold shivers.


    "What will you do? We have to be careful as they have had control of the tunnels throughout this damn gorge and have ambushed us a few times." She offered with clear concern


    "I can''t tell you. I need your reaction to be genuine, but the tunnels are not an issue. I collapsed them already." He replied with a giggle.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "What will...." Euryale started as Sorin held up a hand.


    "Someone is coming. Follow the plan." He said. Euryale looked to the front of her tent as a moment later her executive officer quickly entered.


    "My Lady, they have raised a white flag and requested talks." He said.


    Euryale looked back at Sorin, or...would have, but he was gone with complete shock and disbelief. Thinking how far ahead he must have planned.


    "Agree to the talks. I have a plan." She said as she smiled mischievously, confidence returning.


    Sorin had dropped into the ground like it was water and moved to the edge of the camp before resurfacing and engaging his flight skill. He shot high up into the sky and over to the other side of the gorge. Once he was there to where he was nothing more than a speck in the sky he began to hover.


    He had a perfect vantage point as he saw the progression from the fat commander from what he found out was from the Aeon side. He had all but forgotten about that moron Pallas, but their taste for those in authority seem to run in the family. It was a text book strategy on the man''s part so there is that, but the dude was a fat, arrogant, and pervert.


    Sorin looked over at the camp and extended his Elemental sense all the way over and underneath where he saw the military camp along the village they had called a town. Opening his Absorption technique to the max, Sorin pulled up on the Earth and a massive wall came up separated the camp from the village. Many of the Aeon soldiers looked at it with confusion, some even panicked a bit and ran to tell someone, but most just ignored it as it didn''t affect their lives and many couldn''t possibly imagine what it would be for.


    Sorin turned and watched as he saw Euryale sit down in a chair they had brought from the camp forcing the fat commander to walk further.


    "Power move. Good job Eury way to make that fatty walk." He said out loud and laughing to himself.


    After the next 20 minutes the man finally made it to the meeting place as Euryale calmly rocked a crossed leg and drank from a glass she had, seemingly as if she were out with her friends.


    "You wanted to talk commander?" Euryale asked.


    "Yes. It has occurred to me, that you realize what we have realized for some time. You''re loss is inevitable. So we have come to offer you a chance to surrender this gorge to us." He said just before he took a large drink from a large garish goblet.


    "I had a feeling that is what is was." She said with a very girlish giggle.


    "I will offer you this as a counter. Surrender to me right now and I''ll let your army live with you recieving a fair trial." She continued with a very stately smile that would make her mother extremely proud of the grace, confidence, and beauty it projected.


    However, just as Sorin predicted, the man let out a laugh that made his huge belly jiggle grotesquely making Euryale flinch back in disgust.


    "You are so stupid and arrogant thinking your name means anything anymore. The time of the Aegis family is...."


    He was cut off as the sky darkened then went white followed by a massive shockwave that knocked both from their chairs and sent scrambling for weapons.


    "What is this?!" Euryale hissed drawing her weapons and bringing her flames ready to strike.


    "M-me!? I know nothing of this!" He said.


    "The light and power came from your side! Do the Aeon forces lack so much honor they breach the white flag?" She accused.


    "Never!" He shouted. "We must postpone these talks and investigate. Stay on your side of the gorge or we will charge and slaughter you to the last." The commander shouted falling back as quickly as his bulk would allow.


    Euryale just watched with shock and amusement as she saw a massive plume of smoke in the not so far distance.


    - Moments before -


    Sorin saw his signal as the man laughed. He looked down at the army below him. It was time for him to try out a new attack he had worked out on the way over.


    Yes, he could have done it without the theatrics, but where was the fun in that?


    He placed his palms together like he was praying then twisted them until it was fingertip to wrist then clenched his fingertips together, he then relaxed and slid his hands toward each elbow then pulled a part windmilling his arms in front of him slowly as he pulled all forms of aether under his control into a small point in front of him. He kept them together and separate at the same time creating a marble that showed the entire spectrum of the rainbow. He clenched his hands together for the second time for a brief moment pushing more and more aether into the marble until it was a head sized orb. He unclasped his hands and shoved the orb downward with a single hand as hard as he could.


    The moment it left his control it formed a column of light so brilliant it dimmed the sun then turned everything brilliantly white. Sorin watched through his Elemental sense as the ball of aether screamed toward the ground. A few of the higher tiered members of the army below were throwing up barrier after barrier which Sorin was curious would be enough.


    The ball hit.


    The energies refused to fuse as he knew they would and he counted on that. In the blink of an eye, water, earth, air, and fire erupted at the epicenter of the detonation. The barriers were shattered as if they were not even there and they were vaporized.


    There was a unified scream from the army that was quickly drowned out by the explosion and swirl of energy. The waves of aether splashed against the wall he had created earlier and deflected off of it into a direction away from the civilians.


    Sorin flew off, content with his work. Euryale will soon be free and able to keep her word to him.


    - Hours later -


    "You did this!" The fat former commander screamed at Euryale from the ground where he was chained up with what remained of his guard.


    "Use reason Aberforth. How was I able to do this when you and I both know my position was poor and my force inadequate. Don''t you think I would have done this sooner if I could before I lost men?" She replied.


    "Take him away." She said with a wave of her hand.


    She then walked up the hill to look at where the enemy army used to camp. She reached the top with her officers and froze. It was an iridescent wasteland about a mile all the way around. It was a circle of rings that had a prismatic effect as she looked at it. The rings changed colors depending on the angle. It was a terrifying beauty that terrified her to her core and made her glad that Sorin was on her side.


    She was glad every single day she had kept her word to him and would continue to do so. She had helped to create a very powerful ally, and now it was up to her to prove that his trust in her was not misplaced and she refused to be like others in her position would be in just using Sorin. She had some intelligence and she knew betrayal of Sorin would lead to this, but for her people and she would rather him remain an ally.


    There was a small gust of wind and a small crackle behind her.


    They all turned and saw Sorin walking up the hill, hands in pockets with a smile on his face.


    "Not bad huh?"

 Chapter 43 - Unfamiliar waters

    "So...Jamie Frazier....is something..." Nyx said as she was enraptured by Brittanie''s favorite Television series called "Outlander."


    Brittanie wore a smug smile and nodded as she watched the younger woman actually enjoy herself.


    Through the late morning and early afternoon they watched episode after episode not really talking only when Nyx asked questions about the culture of the show and different things they would do or say.


    Brittanie spoke up after one episode.


    "Do you like Ky?" She asked.


    Nyx paused and looked over. "Yes of course. And I''m not just saying that because you''re his mother. He is competent, professional, his path is beyond useful and from a business standpoint, he is reliable which in my opinon is priceless." Nyx said turning back to the show.


    "No. I mean emotionally. Do you have feelings for him?" Brittanie asked.


    Nyx''s brows furrowed as she thought. In her life, she had been kept well separate from any suitors. Her dad was insanely overprotective and had declared that he would determine her husband or husbands based on his own criteria. She found the thought of having more than one husband completely repulsive, but what do you say to someone like her father?


    She then thought about Kyrain in a romatic light and she couldn''t help but smile. She never really examined how he made her feel up until now, but his presence gave her a sense of security that she absolutely could never admit where her family could hear. Before the program she was thoroughly educated in matters of state, war, intrigue, etiquette, and so much more. She understood children and the requirement for her to have an heir, but that was something she wanted to push so far out.


    She circled back to Brittanie''s question. "Did she have feelings for Kyrain?" The truthful answer was that she didn''t really know. She had never had feelings for anyone before. She did like the way she felt when he was near, she enjoyed looking at him, she liked his smile and laugh. He was caring and loyal to her. He didn''t tell people things she told him as far as she knew.


    All of these thoughts passed through her Tier 7 mind in a moment and she spoke.


    "I don''t honestly know. I feel comfortable around him. I smile when I think about him. I''ve never been in a romantic relationship before. I''ve read books about it, but never actually felt anything those books describe. This show, I understand that concept and..." She broke off blushing.


    "I''m not going to tell anyone or embarrass you. Be open." Brittanie encouraged affecting an air of nonchalance.


    "Well, I want what Jamie and Claire have. It''s explosive, it''s passionate, it''s something that I would think is real. Unfortunately, my dad would never allow it. He has chosen all of my other siblings wives and husbands and it''s even more strict with me." She explained as her face was hot and her palms began to sweat.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Brittanie turned and looked.


    "You don''t have an accent so I assumed you were from the United States. Where are you from that your dad has that much control over you as an adult?" She asked.


    Nyx frowned.


    "I want to tell you, but it wouldn''t be safe for anyone involved if any word got anywhere. Can I please not say?" She asked fully trusting Brittanie.


    "You''re on the run." Brittanie replied.


    "Yes. So far my father and his people have no clue where I am and it is next to impossible for them to track me down unless I do something really stupid." Nyx said as she nervously braided and unbraided a lock of her silver hair.


    Brittanie nodded.


    "I like you Nyx. You''re not like a lot of the women in this world who I have seen fawn over Ky because of his abilities, all of those I have seen try to date my son, somehow always seem to have the worst luck...somehow." She said as she activated one of her glowing threads she used like a tendril and made it act like it was hooking someone''s ankle.


    "They are always so clumsy around him for some reason." She finished with an evil self satisfied smile.


    Nyx giggled then returned to a thoughtful look.


    "If I did have feelings for Ky, how would I know?" She asked and looked over.


    "Well, I can only tell you about how Sorin and I were. He was strange actually. Wouldn''t leave me alone. Awkward, random, loved to laugh, he always wanted me around and wanted to see me. I caught him starring at me all the time, though he thought he was being slick about it. I had emotional and mental injuries from my childhood and past relationships that he didn''t mind, he loved me through them and actively worked to erase the damage. We laughed, he made me feel safe. Before this system, I always knew when he was around, he would lay waste to the whole world rather than allow something to hurt me or Ky." Brittanie said as her eyes started to go red with unshed tears.


    Nyx was quiet and just listened.


    "You begin to notice the little things. Their smell, their laugh, the little things they do that annoy you when they are here, you miss when they are gone."


    Nyx interrupted at this point.


    "Did Sorin actually help you fix all the damage?" She asked.


    Brittanie smiled, wipping away the few tears. "Yes. The only thing that remains are the echoes that he and I would call scars. Sorin is my best friend and I know that one day he will eventually make his way back to us." She answered.


    Nyx thought a few more moments.


    "Kyrain does make me feel something like that. Provided it''s not to the depth you and Sorin are. Is it ok for me to feel that way? I know some mothers get extremely protective of their children and I don''t want to ruin the relationship I have found with you or with Kyrain. I don''t even know if he even feels this way about me." Nyx said.


    Brittanie laughed, rolled her eyes, then gave Nyx a flat look.


    "He does. He is just like his dad when it comes to hiding his emotions. He was physically sick, I was told when you were being worked on. If you actually feel genuinely for Kyrain and don''t want to use or harm him, I don''t mind you Nyx. The only thing that bothers me is your background." She said.


    Nyx nodded and continued to braid her hair nervously.


    "I understand, if that side of my life ever was about to hurt anyone here, I''d definitely let you know." She replied then let her hair drop.


    Brittanie smiled huge at Nyx. "That all i needed to hear." She said as she set her phone down.


    "He is on his way." Brittanie followed up saying as Nyx snapped her head up.


    "For what?!" She squeaked.

 Chapter 44 - Courage

    Vvvv vvvv!


    Kyrain paused his game and checked his phone, reading the message from his mom, he smiled.


    He loved his mom''s cooking and loved having dinner with her. Nyx was there which he had grown used to her being around and enjoyed her company. The house was too quiet without her being there the last few days.


    He ran into his room and actually put clothes on. With Nyx not at the house he didn''t even bother getting dressed.


    After a few minutes he was dressed and throwing on his shoes, tore a rift open to the store to get a few items his mother asked for him to get for dinner.


    After he paid, he opened a rifted outside his mom''s house and then proceeded to walk up. His mom specifically told him that he wasnt allowed to use his ability in her house after she nearly walked through his rift and fell through into an extremely rainy location and that''s not even mentioning the water he got all over her house from the rain coming through the rift.


    Kyrain opened the door and walked in. Immediately he could smell the burgers and could hear Nyx laughing from the kitchen. Kyrain couldn''t help but smile at the sound.


    "I''m here!" He called to the rest of the house.


    "In here!" His mother called as Kyrain headed in. As he turned the corner he could see the long silver hair of Nyx done up in a new type of braid he had never seen her wear. As he placed the bag down on the counter he leaned over and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek.


    "Dinner smells great mom. Always excited to be here for it." He said turning to see Nyx smile up and over at him before quickly looking away,  causing Kyrain to look at her confused then turned away himself with an internal shrug.


    "Can you and Nyx set up the table out on the deck? I put out the mosquito torches and they need lit too." She asked as she tossed Kyrain a lighter who caught it and nodded.


    While Kyrain was lighting the torches around the deck, Nyx was setting the table up with three places. She then walked to the railing nearest to Ky who was down below lighting the last torch.


    "Ky...what are your plans after we are done with probation?" She asked.


    Ky finished lighting the torch and looked at her. "Not sure actually. There are a lot of problems across the world that I wouldn''t mind helping out with, but then again I might just stay here and be the point of contact here in Clarksville. Why?" He said and asked.


    "Well...I was thinking...would it be ok if I just continued to work with you and stay with you?" She asked.


    Kyrain was about to respond when it clicked what she had asked.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "I would love for you to. I was worried you would have decided to get as far from me as you could after what happened. I''m still so so sorry Nyx. I really didn''t mean to hurt you. You''re one of the last people I ever want to hurt." He said looking down still feeling ashamed.


    *thunk!*


    Nyx knocked her knuckles on the top his head.


    "I''ve already told you a few times, I know you didn''t mean to. You have apologized enough and I forgive you." She said still looking at Ky.


    "So....yes? We are going to keep working together even after we are done with probation?" She asked once again for clarification.


    "Yes! Absolutely!" He said happily as the back door opened up and Brittanie came out carrying the first plate of burgers and set them down.


    "Nyx, can you grab the mashed potatoes and Ky, can you grab the corn and rolls?" She asked.


    After a few minutes they all were sitting at the table and eating while talking about nothing significant. After they were done, Nyx got up and went inside to put some of the dishes away and help wash up.


    Brittanie pulled out her phone and after a few clicks she read something then looked up at Kyrain.


    "Take her to the lighthouse at the cape." She said suddenly causing Kyrain to look up suddenly.


    "Why?" He asked furrowing his brows.


    "You like her don''t you?" She asked.


    "Yeah...but I don''t want to ruin things if she doesn''t feel the same." He said in reply.


    "You read your dad''s email to you about this sort of thing right?"


    "Yes." He said


    "Good. If she says yes then you are doing great. If she says "no" then you respect "no" and you continue on. If you want something then be honest and ask. Let her know your intent and leave nothing a guessing game. At the very worst she will feel wanted and needed if you do things right." Brittanie said.


    Kyrain looked down and thought about letter from dad he had read and pulled out his phone to read it one more time.


    "Good or bad at least you have your answer." Brittanie said and she got up.


    "It''s nice and warm over there with a good sunset in about an hour and a half. I''d love to go with your dad if we could." She finished saying as she opened the door and walked in leaving Kyrain finishing his thoughts who pulled the email up.


    Hey Bear,


    Happy 2nd Birthday! I''m watching you run around smiling from ear to ear and hope you feel this much joy when you look down at your own child, but that got me thinking to tell you some stuff in case I''m not around to tell you myself when you go through it.


    I always worried about the "What ifs," but you can''t. You have to go for it sometimes and it''s the scariest thing you can do. In that moment you''re going to be awkward and clumsy trying to communicate with a person that is as alien to you as if they are not even from this planet. When you find a girl you really like and enjoy being with, be strong and courageous. Let her know what you feel and how she makes you feel. Think about it like this, if you walk up to a girl and tell her she is beautiful right before you ask for her number she may still say no, but when you are polite and still wish her a great day even after being told no she will still remember that and hopefully have a smile because not only did she get to be told she is beautiful, but wished a great day.


    Always communicate your intent and if it''s a good intent 9 times out of 10, things will always turn out alright.


    Oh! Cake time! Got to run!


    I attached some pictures. Love you kid!


    Love,


    Dad


    Kyrain closed the email and got up.


    "Thanks dad..." He said as he got up, readying himself for what felt more terrifying than facing his uncles as that same time.

 Chapter 45 - Spark

    "Hey Nyx?" Kyrain asked as he came through the back door feeling like ice had built up inside, but he pushed through.


    She looked over to her left at him, sleeves rolled up as she washed a dish.


    "Hmm?"


    "I was wondering if you wanted to check out this cool place my mom once took me? The weather is going to be great there and the view even better." He said scratching the back of his head and feeling his ears begin to burn.


    He could literally feel his heart hammer heavily as he continued to fight back his anxiety that threatened to clog up his throat and stop him from speaking.


    "Sure." She said with a smile setting the last plate down and dried her hands.


    "Let me change really quick and I''ll meet you in the living room."


    Kyrain just nodded and smiled nervously as she seemed to flit down the hallway. Kyrain went into the living room and sat down next to his mother who was watching him with a knowing look.


    "I''ll be here when you guys get back good or bad." She whispered.


    Really quick, turned into a full hour as Kyrain became really nervous and impatient. Until finally Nyx came out from the hall in a sleeveless blue and white floral dress that stopped at her ankles. The petals were all mostly at the bottom of the dress and by the time it reached her neck it was white. Her shoulders were covered with a light shawl. She wore light colored, silver wedges. Her hair, half curled and her bangs done in a way where it almost covered her right eye with her silver hair, and that''s when Ky saw the deep blue sapphire eyes watching him and the smirk on her ruby lips as he realized he was starring.


    "Nyx...you...you..." Kyrain tried to say rolling his hand.


    "Are you usually this articulate?" She asked with a smile that reached her eyes showing her brilliant teeth and laughed lightly, causing Kyrain to do the same breaking the ice allowing the man to move and breathe.


    "Ready?" Nyx asked.


    Kyrain shook himself out of it.


    "No. One sec." He tore open a rift and vanished leaving Brittanie and Nyx dumbstruck looking at eachother in confusion.


    After a few minutes Kyrain opened the door this time in nice black slacks, a dark grey shirt, black belt, and nice brown shoes causing both Brittanie and Nyx to laugh hysterically.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "Yeah...yeah...you ready Nyx?" He said looking down smiling and then gestured outside.


    Nyx walked over and headed out the door looking quickly back and Brittanie for some reason lost to Kyrain, then he followed looking back as well as his mother gave him a thumbs up.


    He closed the door and caught up to Nyx who laced her arm through his left arm in a proper lady escort position. Kyrain opened a rift to a small field surrounded by trees and they stepped through.


    As soon as Nyx stepped through she looked around in the evening light and saw a large white house to their right as they stood on a cement path.


    "Where are we?" She asked.


    "It''s a suprise." Kyrain said with a smile and gently pulled her along the path toward the end of the trees where the path went down and she could hear a roaring in the distance and some building.


    They walked slowly just looking around, seeing other people on different paths looking at the same sunset they were. As they crested the small flat they were on and looked down, Nyx nearly gasped.


    She saw a white lighthouse at the edge of a clift and the ocean as far as she could see. They began to walk down and Nyx couldn''t help herself, but look all around. She looked up at Kyrain who was smiling slightly, but she could tell that he was nervous and tense. She had an idea of why, as Brittanie pushed her plan forward. She was nervous and afraid as she had no idea how this was supposed to go as she had only read about this stuff in books when she was a little girl and so far, it was becoming her own little fairy tale.


    They reached the lighthouse and they walked toward the railing where Nyx let go of his arm and looked out over the water completely awestruck.


    Kyrain was just as awestruck as he looked at Nyx in the light of the sunset seeing it light up her silver hair that was being blown in the wind revealing strange earrings that covered her outer ears and made them look half done in silver and purple. Her dress and shawl lightly blowing behind her as the water slammed into the cliff below.


    Nyx then looked over and Kyrain and smiled.


    He was worried and felt a cold sort of tingling electric running through him. It was almost like he was in a daze and someone else was at the controls as he saw his arm extend and his hand reach for hers.


    She looked down as his hand took hers and she turned. Kyrain didn''t know it, but her heart was beating as quickly as his and she was equally as nervous as he was.


    "Nyx, I want you to stay with me. Not just for work, but because I love your company. You make me smile every time I''m with you. The last few days without you have been too quiet and miserable. I think you are the most beautiful woman I''ve ever met both on the surface and as a person. I can count on one hand the amount of people I trust as much as I trust you..... Can I be more to you than just someone you work with?" Kyrain said his voice shaking as he was still on autopilot.


    Nyx could hardly breathe let alone speak as she listened to the man she had fought side by side with the last six months and whose family she had come to love, poured his emotions out to her.


    She wasn''t reacting and she could see it was making Kyrain more and more uneasy. She couldn''t speak yet, but she took his hand with her other and stepped forward to him and looked up at him with a smile she felt all the way to her core.


    Kyrain stared at her as he felt his unease begin to melt. He stepped in toward her, leaned down, and he felt his lips touch hers.

 Chapter 46 - Preparation

    Morgana sat angrily on her throne. How could this world her re-establisbed nobles be this incompetent? Since she kicked her supposed descendants from the throne, getting rid of what they called parliament, and re-establishing the nobility properly to govern the kingdom as it had been when she last knew the kingdom to be with her "imaginative" half brother and his trixter Merlin she has had to teach these people how to live for themselves without their government holding their hand the whole time. There were so many organizations bleeding this country dry and don''t even get her started on all the people poisoning the country from the inside. She was considered a villain in her day, but these vile creatures made her look like a saint with their corruption and BHe was worried and felt a cold sort of tingling electric running through him. It was almost like he was in a daze and someone else was at the controls bureaucracy running rampant pretending to be in the name of the greater good.


    Her hatred for Arthur had not cooled in the slightest over the hundreds of years she had been imprisoned, but how could it have cooled when that imbecile murdered her son mordred only to be taken away for healing, but she couldn''t even work toward finding him until she had dealt with the messes threatening her base of operations and one day kingdom.


    "Your majesty." A man in finely made armor said from his deep courtly bow said as he was summoned to the throne room to speak with her.


    "General, stand. What is the news on this threat from our Eastern border?" She commanded from her throne.


    The general stood pulled a decorative folder from a brief case at his side and presented it to her guard in front of the throne who took a moment to scan and review for danger before he turned, presented it to her in a bow.


    "The entire information is there before you. The first page is a summary of the entire report, but the take aways I believe are worth your attention is that our borders remain secure even though many refugees are trying to force their way in and away from Rasputin who is currently being held off by Poland, Germany, and Italy. Poland has the American Lukasz Szablowski with his War Bear slaughtering the undead army every time they try to press into the country. Germany and Italy are holding fine as their efforts are combined due to their combined borders. If those nations fall there are two small nations that cut the undead horde off from access to the water and our nation." The general briefed.


    "Poland has no signs of falling?" Morgana asked.


    "No your majesty. Lukasz is famous in the United States for his Bezerker path combined with his beast skills summoning that immortal war bear he fights with. Germany and Italy on the other hand, are not near as strong. China has completely cut off the horde due to their equally powerful users that rival that of even the United States. We have recieved courtesy reports from the United States President where their Warden known as the Tidecaller has destroyed vessels containing undead heading for the shores of the United States." He continued.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Yes. I have read the missive from their leader. I am considering their proposal of an alliance to destroy that nuisance. Their bounty hunter grandmaster who goes by the name Fury has offered an elite assassination squad to destroy the Lich." She said to the general wanting to see his reaction and she wasnt disappointed. He seemed to relax at that sound.


    "Explain." She commanded the general who looked up with a confused look.


    "You visibly relaxed when I mentioned the Americans. Explain why."


    The general quickly gathered himself.


    "Majesty it''s because they are famous for their power and experience in dealing with specialized threats not just from the rifts, but also with rogue users which more or less is Rasputin. He might look like a monster, but it has been confirmed that he is definitely a user with a very powerful path. Having the extra support from the Americans would make our lives a lot easier and cost us less in resources. Plus it removes a threat from having the possibility of ever reaching us."


    Morgana tapped her manicured nail on the arm of her throne as she thought through hundreds of actions and reactions, plots, and counter plots before nodded.


    "Wesson!" She called out and a slender man sprinted out from the side of the throne room.


    "Yes your majesty." He said bowing.


    "Pen a response to the President of the United States agreeing to their proposal. Let them know that we will supply them with a staging ground with the condition that each of their members will be vetted and under constant surveillance the entire time until they depart for their mission. I trusted once and it led to....problems for me. I also want a report on the rifts in their country. I''d like to know what monsters come through and if anything has gone in and out of it. If they are recording aether levels, I''d like to know them as well. Send Marcus Mackenzie...he is more than enough to represent us." She said with a grin as she rose and walked behind the throne to a room that led away into her private rooms.


    - USA -


    "Each of you have been specifically selected to represent the United States in dealing with Rasputin." Todd Robinson said in front of the group of hunters in the briefing room.


    "Each of you are some of the strongest the program has to offer. You will arrive in Britain to link up with one of their operatives by the name of Marcus Mackensie. Do not let his goofy nature fool you. The man is dangerous. Don''t screw with him save for the fun he likes to have. Once you have met up with him, you will recieve a briefing there in Britain. Under no circumstances are you to get on their Queen''s radar. We do not know much about her path, but she is what we are starting to categorize as beyond S rank. We don''t have a category, but we are calling them National Deterrents at the moment. She will vaporize you if she is upset with you."


    From Britain you will be transported to Poland where you will meet with Lukasz Szablowski. He is a guild member who is S ranked and is currently repelling the hordes from breaking into Poland. You will cross the border into Russia and deal with Rasputin. Questions?" He asked looking around. After nobody responded he pulled another piece of paper out.


    "As I call your name you''re going to head out and make your way over to the aircraft.


    Taeyeong Jeong, Daniel Paradas'' Calvin Hogan, Carter Hogan, Harry Aguirre, Anna Celeste, Glen Doss, and Rowan Pitts. Good luck hunters and come back safe." Todd said as he left the room

 Chapter 47 - Back in the Saddle

    The following weeks flew by for Kyrain and Nyx as they spent the same amount of time together as they had before save for they were now emotionally invested and not holding how they felt back. They were in a state of bliss and happiness as they had never been in this type of relationship.


    Nyx was learning what it meant to actually allow someone to know what she feels and not feel the need to protect herself or have to please anyone through her grace, etiquette, and poise. It was new and exciting for both of them. The only thing that was strange to her and annoying for Kyrain was they were not allowed to live together anymore by direct order of his mother who was adamant about avoiding impropriety or the appearance of impropriety.


    They both understood, but they still texted and talked about things that they had always felt before was prying too much. Then before she knew it, they got the clearance from the doctor and the program to take a new job and they were more than ready to do something after being on leave for so long.


    "We have two options." Kyrain said shifting over to let Nyx see.


    She looked at both of the bounties in their local area. One had the last known location in Clarksville and the other was in Oak Grove.


    "Why not both? They are both level 1 bounties." She said looking over at him as he nodded.


    "Or we can do both." He agreed as he selected both and they scanned their IDs


    "This dude is wanted for going too close to a school." Kyrain said pointing at the Clarksville bounty.


    "I have a personal problem with people that mess with children and are predators. Can we do this one first?" KyrIn asked.


    Nyx read the ticket and nodded.


    They tossed the contracts into her back back as Kyrain scrolled through google maps for a suitable location when he had an idea.


    He opened a rift to Walmart where they bought a hat and yellow vests. Nux giggled at the simplicity of the idea and she hoped it worked.


    They got a few empty boxes, tapped them up, and put a label on them before they found the last known address of Reed Richardson.


    Kyrain checked the address then rolled his eyes.


    "The guy is a moron. He has an address near a school. Should have gotten far away from the schools. Oh well." He said as he opened a rift behind a house across from the last known address. Nyx stayed behind and jumped to a nearby roof to watch Kyrain.


    Kyrain casually strode up to the address as if it were something he did daily. He placed the box on the porch, pulled his phone and pretended to take a picture as a real delivery person does then began to walk back where he dipped back out of sight then on the roof where Nyx was watching and they waited.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    It wasn''t long before a man matching their suspect stepped out and grabbed the box.


    "There is no way it is that easy?" Nyx said putting her head down on the shingles in disbelief.


    Kyrain laughed scratched her back and got up, dusting himself off. They took their vests off and put their masks on.


    "Why not? We can start on the other job sooner rather than later. While I was there I peeped into the window. You want to do the honors?" Kyrain said as he opened a rift directly into the man''s living room.


    Nyx casually walked in followed by Ky.


    "Kitchen." Kyrain said as he strode around the corner to the man sitting at the table with an empty box.


    "Reed Richardson. We are Hunters Erebus and Eon. You''re under arrest for violation of a court order." Nyx said calmly.


    The man jumped up and tried to sprint away from the house only to move in slow motion and Nyx distorted his time. She calmly walked over and put the reinforced cuffs on him both hands and ankles with the chains right before Kyrain dropped him into a cell at the sheriff''s office before they walked through themselves.


    "Erebus. Eon. Been a bit. Good to see you both again." The deputy watching the holding cells said from behind his plexiglass window.


    "It has been a while. We have Reed Richardson." Nyx said sliding the contract under the window.


    "He needs his rights read to him, but that should be case closed." Nyx said happily.


    "Yes ma''am. We will take it from here. Good work as always." The deputy


    With a flick of his wrist Kyrain and Nyx were gone.


    They stepped out over in Oak Grove next to the church his family always went to just across the Tennessee - Kentucky border.


    This next bounty wouldn''t be that hard, but they had to be careful as the profile said the man was extremely scrappy with his charged being for aggravated assault and needed to be brought down.


    Kyrain and Nyx were rather excited for this bounty as this was the highest of the Level 1 threats they had access to.


    Kyrain and Nyx took one step into the road when they the explosions began and the earth began to rumble. They looked across over the houses and saw numerous clouds of smoke and fire and lights burning their way down from the sky.


    Ky was already on the phone dialing his uncle.


    "No answer from Uncle Mitch! We need to move!" Kyrain had time to get out before he''ll truly broke loose and even bigger explosions and the sounds of combat could be heard all across the neighborhood.


    Kyrain looked back at the church just as the front exploded outward and people to be tossed out by three individuals clad in black armor. Adventurers were rushing in, but were immediately repelled by aether claws that seemed to drip blood.


    Kyrain and Nyx began to move when a slender man ripped his way out of the debris golden aether flashing to light around him and a righteous fury written across his face.


    "You will not harm these people any more! Came a shout with that of a lions roar that dispersed the blood claws. Then bands of light flicked out lashing the warriors hands and feet together before a final band lashed itself around their neck and forced them to the ground as Nyx and Kyrain arrived weapons drawn.


    Their fast approach drew the attention of the man who turned on them hands up ready to respond to further threats, until he saw the masks. The light dimmed and he looked around.


    "Hunters, you seem like you are about to have a lot of problems. I''ll get medical attention for these people if you can take these people away?" He said.


    Nyx nodded and looked toward Kyrain who pulled two sets of cuffs then pulled one of Nyx''s set and locked down the people in black before he dropped them into a rift that led to the local jail....or used to.


    When he dropped them into the rift, the jail was in rubble and more combat could be heard.


    "Kyrain, what do we do?" Nyx said.


    Thinking quickly Kyrain opened a new rift, but this time to the Clarksville jail, but found it in the same state of ruin. Then quickly he opened a rift to the Seattle jail which he found in one piece. He dropped the men in the cells with a brief explanation before they tore a rift back to Clarksville to begin to help out more.


    They needed to understand what was happening.

 Chapter 48 - War

    Kyrain jumped both of them to the guild...or what remained of it. It was half missing with a clean slice as if it was severed and disintegrated.


    Kyrain heard the shouts and sounds of combat all over as warriors in black were engaged in fighting against different people in tactical armor. Bodies of both sides were strewn across the rubble.


    There was a flicker of motion to his right that Kyrain barely saw in the corner of his eye. Without even thinking about it, he dove back and to his left tackling Nyx to the ground as a beam of sickly green light flashed through the exact spot they had been standing.


    "Law dog....you''re in the wrong spot! Better run while you still can. Once boss gets done with the guild master and some other person in black armor, he won''t want your kind sniffing around!" A man said laughing to himself and causing others to laugh.


    Kyrain looked up and zoomed in on the man''s face with his mask.


    He was dressed in tactical gear you could by at a military surplus store with his hands smoking with the same sickly green light from the beam.


    Kyrain could see the aether levels in the many that accompanied this guy and knew they didn''t have a chance. They were between Tier 4 and Tier 6 with this guy being Tier 6 himself. With both he and Nyx and Tier 7 they couldn''t hope to beat them all. Maybe at tier 8 or 9 they would try, but they need reinforcements in order to succeed now.


    Kyrain was about to retreat when an explosion of debris to his left caught everyone''s attention and a large woman with blue short fur, four arms, weird long spikes on her back, and antenna slammed through a building and charged the group of people that were threatening Kyrain and Nyx, cutting down black armored warriors as she went. As she did, she was being chased by an extremely annoyed man.


    "Damn it Miela! Why couldn''t you just go around the building?!" He shoulded up at the woman who was now causing the group to scramble, but not near fast enough to avoid her massive claws.


    Kyrain and Nyx watched in bewilderment as she began to tear into them. Paths flared to life, but for some odd reason they bounced off her skin and armor.


    The man came up to the two who were just watching the spectical and taking cover from the other fighting.


    "Sorry about her. She has the Genetic Experiment path and it for some reasons when she gets going, causes her to rampage. She really likes to destroy. My name is Adrian and that''s Miela. She''s really nice when she isn''t in moster mode." Adrian said enthusiastically as if there wasn''t a battle going on. He winced when Miela was sent flying by a bulky club user who smashed her in the side as she sliced through three of the bandits.


    "What the heck is going on here?" Kyrain asked.


    "The thrall and some other faction associated with the thrall are attacking and from what the guild told us befor the communications were cut..." He started and gestured to the half destroyed guild hall. "This faction is attempting to take control of the rifts for the aether access. Then as soon as they attacked the anarchists came in and tried to assert themselves." Adrian said.


    "Anarchists?" Nyx asked dusting herself off.


    "Some outlaw group from Ohio. They have been spreading, but always want access to the rift with unlimited access for strength gain. They were furious when the guildmaster laughed at them when they demanded all the cores the guild had. Their leader is who did this and I think there is a three way clash between this thrall faction, the anarchists, and the Wanderer." He replied.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Adrian looked over at Miela who had gotten back up unscathed and was finishing up with the small group before looked back.


    "You guys need to get comfortable with fighting. Apparently the entire world was plunged into a war all over. Don''t hesitate. My dad did that back in Cali a few days ago mom said and ended up injured for a bit. I have to go, but be safe hunters." Adrian said as he started running and shouting at Miela who was throwing cars at the last remaining anarchists like it was a game of darts.


    Kyrain and Nyx drew their swords and jumped to the highest building they could find and began to look around.


    Kyrain was stunned. Everything was on fire or destroyed. Fighting was all over the town and city. He glanced at the hospital and found it smoking.


    "We need to get to the hospital!" Nyx said as soon as she saw it. Kyrain nodded but was looking in the direction of the rifts as massive shockwaves were being created periodically. He zoomed in as far as he could with his mask and he could see his uncle fighting some woman with a half cape and claws and a man in tactical armor with reinforced metal gauntlets who was taking shots at both the woman and his uncle.


    "We can''t help Uncle Mitch. That fight is way above us." Kyrain said and opened a rift to the hospital.


    It was chaos, but they jumped in. All kinds of weapons were being used, but as soon as a few turned and saw the masks of the hunters they shouted and attacked en mass. Nyx flickered and went solid again just as the bodies of the people charging them fell to pieces and Kyrain dispatched one attacking from behind.


    The counter attack was so brutal and sudden that the roundabout they had jumped to went quiet for a moment allowing both Kyrain and Nyx to think about what just happened for the briefest of moments.


    "Don''t you two freeze up! Think about it later! Fight and live first! A voice shouted from above.


    It was Mike and his son, also named Mike, friends of his mom and dad. Big Mike had worked with his dad when the US Army was a thing pre-bombs. They were finishing up throwing out the last of the thrall they had been fighting from the hospital entrance.


    More thralls were flooding across the field to the hospital as they could smell the overpowering stench of blood and viscera. Nyx and Kyrain turned.


    Kyrained tapped into his aether sense and located their cores. He only briefly hesitated before he crushed. Each of the thrall were below the fourth tier and it was a simple matter for him and the effect was instant.


    It was like the strings of a puppet got cut. They all fell with hardly a sound, but they didn''t get any sort of rest as shots began ringing out. A searing pain ripped through Kyrains calf and stomach. He reflexively increased the strength of his antimatter aura and bullets by the 10s began to stop and fall as their kinetic energy was drained away.


    Nyx was already in action and moving toward the sound of the shots. It came from a few houses down where three anarchists were firing AK-47s. She wasn''t a fan of guns and was even more grumpy when people began switching to the 7.62 round and bigger. The .233/5.56 and below fell to the way side not long after people figured out paths because they were not strong enough to do anything to people after tier 4, but the 7.62 and above still could. She dilated her own time more and moved as quick as she could.


    The bullets around her were moving much slower and the reactions of the men were warning them, but they couldn''t react to her. With her jian she severed the muscles and tendons in their arms before cutting their femoral, axillary, and carotid arteries of each of the men before allowing her time to resume at its natural pace.


    Immediately the guns stopped, dropped, the men screamed, then gurgled, before collapsing to the ground in pools of their own blood.


    Nyx turned back and went to Ky who was being seeing for injuries by a hospital nurse as Big and Little Mike kept watch. There was a wind barrier up as a woman with light colored hair that shared a resemblance with little Mike held up her hands and pouring aether into the barrier.


    As she reached Kyrian another man rushed out of the hospital.


    "We just recieved word. The Wardens are coming. The Dusens are pissed so much they are bringing the Wraiths with them." He said.


    "The wraiths?" Nyx asked.


    "Yeah...their sons." He replied.

 Chapter 49 - Overwhelming power

    Christian, Nathaniel, and Josh were moving at speeds last seen by 737 Airliners. They were moving quickly to Clarksville after their mom and dad dispatched them to deal with the fighting.


    Initial reports claim that thralls had appeared and wanted the rifts. A massive gang known as the anarchists who also wanted exclusive hunting to the rift monsters, took advantage of the chaos. They had been moving for an hour and could see the smoke rising from the city.


    As they dropped altitude,  they as a single team activated their shared path of Vengeful Wraith. They turned translucent and began to move through the city.


    They slowed down to around 100mph. With their Tier 9 minds they were able to track, analyze and aquire targets as they moved. They saw the thralls fighting other people in tactical armor.


    They didn''t know the difference at a glance between the guild members and anarchists, but as they saw the thralls in black they slaughtered them.


    They used another skill ethereal claws and ripped through them like hot knives through butter, leaving the other people alone. They would determine who was who later when they had dealt with the thralls.


    They wanted all the grunts dealt with before their parents arrived so they could crush the leaders of the force quickly without distraction.


    - Kyrain and Nyx -


    The two hunters where moving through the city block by block. Over the last couple of hours they had ensured the hospital was secured and began to move on systematically from there. May low tier users were under attack by the thrall. Sometimes they got there in time and were able to cut down the thralls, but other times they couldn''t before they infected the users and turned them into thralls.


    They would encounter some anarchists, but not even remotely as many as they did the thrall which seemed to be driven to create more of themselves. When Kyrain could see them coming, he could crush their cores and move on. Otherwise he would nullify them and cut them down, or Nyx would cut them down as they were slowed. Time crawled by as the fighting began to slow down and become quiet. There was less smashing and collisions save for the sound of the fighting between his uncle and the other 2. He couldn''t believe a fight would take that long at that tier.


    Why were they not exhausted or wounded beyond reason. He supposed that is part of what made people tier 10 and above so dangerous.


    They had finished up clearing a few more thrall from a house when the earth rumbled and a massive shock wave nearly knocked Kyrain and Nyx off their feet.


    - Josh and Amy -


    They were furious. Josh and Amy were content to let people do as they will provided nobody got hurt.


    That usually covered everything. Any crime against someone else hurt them in some way so if you didn''t hurt anyone, everything was cool. However, it''s inevitable that someone wouldn''t mind their own business. Josh and Amy with their boys were going to fix it.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    They gave their boys clear orders to destroy the lesser thrall and any anarchists they could 100% identify. They were powerful, but they were still their boys and didn''t want them harmed even in the line of duty as their deputies.


    They had live feed cameras on them so Josh and Amy could watch and have an idea of what they were walking into when they got on ground. Josh was proud of his boys. As kids, they were always stubborn...mostly because of himself, but also his mother who was beyond strong willed, but as the young men they were....disciplined, skilled, and dangerous when pressed.


    Their Osprey was coming in to land at the airfield allowing them a view of the city. It made their blood boil even more seeing the damage. It was bad enough they had these lesser vampires running around, but some jack wagon decided to take advantage of people and try to take control. Josh would fix it and make them suffer for their arrogance and disregard for life.


    They got off the osprey as he felt buff after buff get layered on him automatically by his wife who had trained with him daily or every other day until they were completely in sync. Josh felt his strength grow exponentially. After tier 10 his powers went through a massive jump where he gained nearly triple what he would have gained rather than just a normal tier up. The buffs boosted him way more than they used to sub tier 10.


    He and Amy looked toward the rifts and they could feel the shockwaves taking place. If anyone under tier 5 was watching them, it would appear as though they took one step and vanished.


    - The Wanderer -


    The fight was a stalemate and it drove  him absolutely up a wall. He would stagger one, only for the other to try to capitalize. They would wound, only for it to heal. It was a battle of slow attrition and it could take hours, yet they couldn''t lower their guard as they could still be dealt a lethal strike if they were caught being complacent.


    Individually, his opponents where not a threat, but together they kept him suppressed and unable to destroy them. He needed more power or at least reinforcements to finish this.


    It was like his thoughts predicted the next few moments when massive outpouring of aether appeared almost from nowhere causing massive explosion of force launching him and the anarchist back and causing him to lose sight of the vampiress


    Mitch quickly jumped back to his feet and rushed in warily. As he could see through the dust he saw a man clad in silver armor holding the woman by the throat, his face white with fury.


    The woman was struggling with such intense fear written on her face, Mitch could see that she was using all her strength, but it was doing absolutely nothing in the iron grip of the man and that''s when it clicked.


    The Wardens were here.


    There was a crack and squish as Josh Dusen squeezed breaking the woman''s neck and crushing her neck outright removing her head causing it to fall from above his hand and her body to fall away below his hand as if she was made of nothing but clay or cookie dough.


    Josh turned and looked at the other man, who was now shivering with fear. At the look of the warden, he tried to run, but only took two steps as a massive beam of light slammed into him blasting a hole clean through, kicking up more dust.


    "You''re not going anywhere." A woman''s voice said as Amy came walking calmly up to the shocked man through the dust who was observing a bowling ball sized whole in his chest cavity before he collapsed dead.


    "Mitch, sorry it took us so long. The boys are dealing with the subordinates as we speak. Soon we will be able to crush the anarchists too." Amy said as Josh was wiping the blood from his silver gauntleted hand.


    Josh turned and at that moment he was launched by a massive impact sending him flying as if he were shot from a cannon.


    *boom!*


    The sound of the massive gunshot rang out seconds after the impact echoing across the now open field strewn with rubble. Mitch turned on instinct, sword ready, watching for any movement or discharge of aether. Amy was moving as quickly as she could for her husband, who was thrown into the remains of a house and out of sight.

 Interlude - Sorin: Goal reached

    - 1 year later -


    Sorin had worked off and on when he felt he needed to act on behalf of the Aegis family. He was released and allowed to act as an agent as he deemed necessary, he didn''t have to worry about conflicting commands or politics.


    He would destroy enemy units as he found them and left them in the most horrific states to the point he had not only gained a legend as a monster, but a bounty by the Pallas faction for any information about what has been destroying their units.


    Sorin was never seen by anyone who lived long enough to tell about it, but now he was done with the fighting as Euryale and her family had been closing in on the enemy''s capital and should be forcing a surrender any day now which would allow her to keep her word to him, but he wanted to be ready. His power had grown even more in the rich environment of Ithaca. He had achieved Tier 14 and was working on an idea he had that he pulled from around the time of the second world war. The Nazis had been working on the weaponization of sound.


    Sorin had found himself a nice little clearing far out into some forest adjacent to the Euryale''s ancestral palace and was snapping his fingers over and over again while he watched what the energy generated did and why snapping made sound to begin with.


    He saw a few things which actually amused him. He saw his skin stretch as the friction of his fingers tried to hold and grew more when he pressed harder. Then the elastic energy from the muscles and skin continue to build up potential energy until it overwhelms the hold of friction and it generates heat and sound which creates an omnidirectional wave of a different energy that his ears take in, becoming a different energy that our brain can interpret and recognize.


    Sorin kept snapping and had but small instances to adjust the sound before it was out of his range as it moved more than 700mph. He would tighten the wave and the frequency which would increase the pitch to a high pitch ringing and then he could lower it into a tone that was deeper than the bloop they found under water a while back.


    There was no sound particle, rather it was just vibration of the air molecule which Sorin had access to. He could already weaponize air and he had figured that out a while ago. Then he manipulated a single air molecule until it was humming with so much power he could hear that single molecule creating a humming for a small distance with enough power it was causing others to hum around it.


    Sorin stopped and spread out his senses until he located what this planet had for a rodent. He watched the motes around it and from a distance, he expended a lot of energy all around in the lowered the wavelength so that it was beyond low into the infrasound range and ramped up the power.


    The rodent felt something, but before it could move it began to throw up and it released its bowels. It fell down and began bleeding from every orifice then died.


    *bleep*


    *bleep*


    *bleep*


    *bleep*


    Sorin smiled and pulled up the notifications.


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill: Sonic manipulation(a) - using aether in its different forms and frequencies, you can harm or heal allowing atoms and cells to gather or shed energy. Vibrations also cause heat which provide synergy to fire abilities.


    Congratulations!


    Your path has changed from Elementalist to Athereal Sovereign.


    You have become an Aether King. Those of lesser tier than you cannot operate their skills within your presence (20 feet) without your permission. Your knowledge can guide those who gain your favor to greater power.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    You have obtained the skill: Sovereign Domain(p) - unless you allow it, no user of lesser tier may operate their path within 20 feet of your position. Skills already activated can breach this exclusion zone, but at a diminished rate.


    Skill: Storm sense has been upgraded to: Aetheric sense(p)(a)- sense aether clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your aether sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a). Nothing hides from your sight.


    Congratulations!


    Due to your mastery in all major forms of aether and frequencies in which they operate your skills have been combined. Spirit Artificer has been also consumed in the process to create new skill.


    Skill obtained: Aetheric Master(a) - Aether moves according to your while. Aether moves around you. If you can imagine it, you can do it provided you can bridge the right gaps to conform to Heaven''s law.


    Skill: Ignition has been consumed in new upgraded skill: Aether manipulation (a) - You can manipulate all aether in your immediate vicinity that you are aware of. NAFs of those beneath your tier are subject to your rule.


    Skills Absorption, Aether Revival, and aether conversion have been combined to create skill: Aether Wellspring(p)(a) - Aether heads your presence. It swirls around you and will rejuvenate you in a passive state. Sleep, food, water, and air are no longer required for survival as you feast on aether alone. You may activate skill for greater absorption of aether and healing which are linear in their scaling.


    Sorin smiled huge at the advance of everything and quickly pulled up his HUD.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Aethereal Sovereign


    AP: 39022000/39472000


    Body: 18250/20000(T12)


    Mind: 25025/30000 (T15)


    Spirit: 24850/25000 (T14)


    Abilities:


    1. Aetheric Sense(p)/(a) - sense aether clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your aether sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a). Nothing hides from your sight.


    2. Aether manipulation (a) - You can manipulate all aether in your immediate vicinity that you are aware of. NAFs of those beneath your tier are subject to your rule.


    3. Aether Wellspring(p)(a) - all aether heeds your presence. It swirls around you and will rejuvenate you in a passive state. Sleep, food, water, and air are no longer required for survival as you feast on aether alone. You may activate skill for greater absorption of aether and healing which are linear in their scaling.


    4. Aether Reaver(a) - Forcefully rip Aether from another being and add it to your own. Caution: someone of a much higher tier may be able use this to destroy your own channels and core.


    5. Aetheric Master(a) - Aether moves according to your while. Aether moves around you. If you can imagine it, you can do it provided you can bridge the right gaps to conform to Heaven''s law.


    Sorin rose excited for something now that he had numerically enough aether to do it. He had wanted this for years.


    Speeding his Aether Wellspring skill he reached within himself to build his electrical field. Sensing multiple rodents not far from him he reached out and pushed his field to destabilization until...


    *Boom!*


    Blue lighting forked out from his palm and he watched through his sense when it slammed into the first rodent and jumped from each one to each one in a brief moment causing them each to explode in a rain of blood and viscera.


    *bleep!*


    Sorin was giddy with excitement.


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill: Chain lightning(a) - using aether to build up your natural electromagnetic field enough that you can noww direct it into a easily directed bolt of lighting. Caution! Extreme Aether required! If aether cannot be provided, it will be taken from the body.


    Sorin checked his aether levels and was still stunned, but not really suprised.


    AP: 1251883/39472000


    That attack took nearly all he had in a moment, but it was so worth it. He had the legendary chain lightning skill and he intended to use it.

 Chapter 50 - Prophet spoke

    Kyrain and Nyx watched as the giant of a man they knew as Josh Dusen, squeezed the woman''s head off and a hole got blasted in the man.


    Once the dust settled they started making their way out to them when Josh went flying and a loud boom echoed across the field. Kyrain and Nyx dove for cover and a few more shots rang out that were deflected by his Uncle as Amy ran to her husband who was knocked into a building. Nyx and Kyrain began moving to the location of the shots, leaving the battle field behind and sticking to the shadows.


    They could hear the blasts of a massive rifle going off again and again from above them. They could feel the concussion from every shot through their bodies, even through Kyrain''s antimatter body that reduced it as it drained the energy away. They moved the side entrance and entered seeing a stairwell that went up.


    Kyrain took a single step ahead of Nyx when he felt his foot sink a small amount on a rug.


    *Boom!*


    The entire stairwell filled with fire and then froze. Purple aether rippled around the fire ball and began to cause it to shrink as the time of the fire ball and all contained in it was reversed. Nyx kept funneling massive amounts of aether into her skill as blood poured from her nose until the fire ball was reversed and she could see the slightly elevated rug and the crush wire beneath it, but to her confusion, Kyrain was gone.


    - Kyrain -


    *thud!*


    Kyrain felt a sharp not painful impact to his side.


    Someone was speaking in an unknown language that he couldn''t remotely recognize.


    Kyrain was suprised to be alive considering the explosion. He tried to ramp his nullification field up as hard as he could on instinct, but it wasn''t quick enough. He couldn''t smell burning or anything, nor was he injured. It was warm and he was outside. He opened his eyes and looked up at a bearded man wearing what looked like a very scratchy brown garment that looked almost like extremely scratchy wool, but it didn''t seem to bother the middle aged man.


    "I''m sorry, I don''t understand you" Kyrain said as he slowly got to his feet and began to check his weapons.


    After a moment and a deep breath, the man spoke again. Slow at first then got faster and faster.


    "I told you to wake up. You shouldn''t be just lounging around when you have work to do." He said as he walked off.


    "Wait what? What work?" Kyrain said getting up and rushing off after him.


    "We have a little time before he comes to us. You''re to stay out of sight til he asks. Can you take off the mask?" The man said then asked.


    "I don''t follow, what are you talking about? Who even are you? And where am I?" Kyrain asked completely confused by everything that happened.


    "The king is coming to beg of us for help. I am Elisha and you are in Israel." Elisha said as Kyrains eyebrows went up.


    "Huh? Next your going to tell me that the king is Jehoahaz and he is fighting Syria." Kyrain said with a laugh then stopped after a few seconds when Elisha just looked at him.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Ah! So you already know. That makes things easier." Elisha said.


    Kyrain froze and stopped walking as Elisha kept walking. After a brief pause he caught back up.


    "Elisha....like prophet Elisha. Successor of Elijah?" Ky asked.


    "Have we met?" Elisha ask with an amused tone.


    "Tongues. That''s how you''re speaking my language." Kyrain said taking his mask off still flabbergasted.


    Kyrain went to pull up his HUD bit then stopped.


    Nothing happened. He tried to access his sense or any of his skills, but nothing happened. Kyrain jumped as high as he could and still was able to jump super human heights, but no access to his antimatter.


    He stopped and looked around seeing Elisha had stopped and was looking at him then he turned and looked to the sky saying something in what Kyrain thought was either Hebrew or Arimaic.


    Kyrain caught back up. "Question." Kyrain said waiting for Elisha to respond.


    Elisha frowned a second then asked.


    "What is the first and greatest of the commandments?" He asked.


    It was Kyrain''s turn to frown. "Random. It''s love God and only God. Why did you bring that up?" Kyrain asked.


    "You said question. I assume you wanted me to ask a question. You''re the random one." Elisha said.


    Kyrain snorted air out his nose in a sort of laugh and shook his head.


    "No, I had a question for you." Kyrain said.


    "Oh. Then you should have just said that."


    Kyrain smirked.


    "I''m a little rusty in my bible studies, but if memory serves this when Israel is dealing with Syria and this is the savior time when Jehoahaz stops worshipping his cow idol long enough to ask God for help. Is that who is coming?." Kyrain asked.


    Elisha stopped and laughed.


    "I''m supposed to be the prophet, but here you are telling of things to come." He said.


    "No...where and when I''m from, we read about you and the events that took place. You have been dead almost 3000 years when I was born." Kyrain said in response.


    Elisha turned.


    "The Messiah. Are we still waiting for the promised Messiah?!" Elisha turned with hopeful eyes.


    "Jesus? Yeah. He comes somewhere near 800 years after you." Kyrain said


    Elisha frowned confused.


    "I didn''t understand you." Elisha said.


    "Jesus is born in Bethlehem and is raised in Nazareth. He is the Messiah." Kyrain said, but slowly.


    Elisha''s frown deepened then his face relaxed and he breathed out.


    "I guess not yet." Elisha said as he opened the door to a house among a few built next to a really muddy, nasty looking river.


    "Is this the Jordan river?" Kyrain asked as he went in.


    Elisha turned back. "Yes."


    A younger man greeted Elisha then stopped short when he saw Kyrain in his modern clothing and weapons.


    Elisha began speaking and pointed to Kyrain. The man disappeared then returned shortly with a clay cup and a purple liquid inside.


    Kyrain took the cup and bowed his head sligbtly in thanks which he figured was the universal sign of thanks. He got a smile out of it, so he guessed he was right.


    *thud!*thud!*thud!*


    Knocking came at the door just as Kyrain took a drink of what he realized was a grape wine that was actually incredibly good.


    Elisha motioned Kyrain to head back and away. He disappeared into the side room through a gesture of the younger man.


    Kyrain sat on the floor and leaned up against the wall and listened to the conversation in the other room and sipping his drink.


    He didn''t understand a word, but there was a lot of excitement followed by sobbing, and then more excitement and a repeated phrase again and again which he assumed was a thanks, but he didn''t actually know.


    The door opened and after a few more minutes of conversation the door closed again and the house when silent.


    The younger man came back and motioned Kyrain to join them.


    "Yes, you will be our savior." Elisha said with a smile.


    "Wait what?!" Kyrain asked with suprise. I know what happens Elisha! 2 Kings tells us what this "savior" does. I would like to get back to my time and my home." Kyrain argued back.


    Elisha got a confused look.


    "You do not understand what I am doing now, but one day you will." He said slowly as if it was being said to him and he was repeating it.


    Kyrain''s eyes went wide and he looked up then nodded.


    "I was always told me that I should never be a Moses." Kyrain said.


    Elisha looked at him with a confused and semi shocked look.


    "Why not?"


    "Moses argued with God for like a week straight before he went back to Egypt." Kyrain answered before adding one more declaration.


    "I''ll help."


    Elisha started laughing loudly.

 Chapter 51 - First blood

    Kyrain sat on top of a small cliff over looking a camp. He was alone as had been the instructions given. Kyrain thought back to the event.


    "Destroy them all that are in Israel. Do not touch a single person, animal, or property that retreats to Syria."


    Kyrain was uneasy about it all. He had been asked to kill a lot of people. Normally, when someone says to kill and religion is attached to it, they are called liars and false teachers which it made sense with Jesus, but this was different.


    Elisha smiled knowingly at him and told him all would be well so Kyrain continued to trust in what he was being told and what history had taught him about these events and left.


    The Syrians had sentries posted and they were sharp. They were smart in how they stood far from any fire to preserve their night vision. An ambush would be incredibly difficult. Kyrain had access to his stats, but he didn''t knos how everything else would work when the fighting started and it made him nervous. Kyrain drew his short sword from his leg sheath and pulled his shield from his back. With two quick jumps he bounced down from his perch and began moving quickly through the grasses up to the camp.


    Kyrain was going to use overwhelming power to annihilate these men. The first sentry appeared and Kyrain flashed passed him sword slicing horizontally removing his head. Kyrain turned still moving as fast as he could physically and shoved the still falling body forward away from the light a little more before he continued onward to the next. The longer it took for them to raise the alarm, the easier this would be.


    The soldiers were in a thinly layered iron and leather armor that his blade had no issue cutting through. Over the course of the next half an hour, Kyrain killed each man quickly and efficiently until everything was silent and dead. He left no message and made sure that he left not a single trace save for the severed heads which he lined up in a formation with the commander''s head in front before he left.


    The Syrians were positioned in 5-10 mile intervals that controlled the border between their nations and over the next week, Kyrain systematically moved quickly and dangerously between them killing them all until he was forced to stop as the sun came up each day and they began to move toward their own objectives. They were moving further and further into the country. Using a map on a piece of hide he had sketched from his reinforced memory of what Israel looked like, he asked Elisha before he left if it was right and it suprised the prophet who confirmed it''s accuracy.


    His mind wandered back to Elisha in his down time. He had this misconception in his head that prophets were these all knowing people, but it turns out they were just normal people that would periodically speak for God when it was necessary otherwise they lived as everyone else. They were a little off as they adhered to the rules way better than others as they knew God better. Every time Elisha asked a question about things to come, Elisha never understood and it worked the same every time Elisha tried to find out about the Messiah.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    They had tried everything from talking, to sign language, to drawing pictures, to even acting and nothing could be understood. Kyrain eventually just referenced the tower of babel and that was something Elisha understood and they quit trying to get around the limits that seemed to be set by God.


    Kyrain trailed his latest group of Syrian soldiers that were moving west. He had quickly counted them and found the unit to be 70 strong with one commander. The last night, Kyrain found not a single sentry saw him coming. He moved way too quickly and his empowered beast claw sword cleaved through them as if they were made of the flimsies material. This means his chitin armor would hold up if he were struck, but he didn''t want to test it because he also didn''t know if his abilities still worked.


    He still had no movement from the system or his HUD. Kyrain, using his mask zoomed in on the unit and saw they were equipped just like every other he had faced so far. He was content to just follow and wait until darkness to destroy the units...or that was his plan until he looked ahead and saw a fighting force from Israel waiting to intercept the Syrain soldiers. They kept moving confidently forward toward the Israelite warriors who pulled bows and began to aim. The Syrians pulled shields and thats when Kyrain found his opening.


    They were so focused on the larger force to their front, they probably wouldn''t even bother to look behind them. He was wrong...very wrong. As he moved quickly behind the column they noticed him immediately. Nothing in the history books suggested these people should be this sharp, but they were. The back of the column put up a shield wall and looked at him quite afraid as he had his mask down making him look so beyond foreign even more than usual.


    The first volley of arrows streaked in and they were blocked, deflected, or stuck into the iron shields as the soldiers underneath laughed at the feeble attempts of the Israelite opening strike. They then began to move forward looking like an iron centipede. The rear of the formation continued to watch Kyrain who causally followed not seeing any bows ready for use, but was ready in the event they had them under the shields as he had seen in the Roman representation of testudo. He knew they had swords and spears that might be able to hurt him. Under normal circumstances he would have just nullified their kinetic energy and dealt with them, but his skills were used in combination with the system and it helped him sense things.


    Without the system he was useless to his skills which was a huge problem. After this fight, he would actively work to see if he really did need the system for his skills. His body was made of antimatter and by all logic he should be able to use his skills as he didn''t die when he couldn''t pull up his HUD.


    Kyrain needed to be patient. This was war and an opening would present itself sooner or later.

 Chapter 52 - Pleasant accident

    The iron tortoise split into multiple and kept advancing on the bigger force, not really caring about Kyrain save for just the eye they did keep on him as he was an unknown variable they didn''t understand. He wasn''t really suprised, why would they honestly care about a single warrior when they have a much larger force in front of them.


    The Israelite forces were not just waiting they formed their own shield wall and prepared to engage the multiple defensive troops. Kyrain knew the feeling right before contact and he waiting until they had just about collided when he struck. There was a shout as he flew in and executed a front push kick to the rear shield and to his absolute suprise, the man he pushed was blasted back as if he was shot out of a circus cannon ripping the formation apart and injuring many as the poor man he kicked went through them all. By the time he stopped, he was a mangled mess of twisted bloody flesh with absolutely no chance of survival.


    Kyrain was easily the fastest to recover. His mind was way overpowered and everything was factored in less than a moment allowing him to move into the attack. His sword flashed and men began to die before they could even react. His blade flashed through them hardly moving them. It was similar to ripping a table cloth without disrupting what was on the table. They would get cut and after a brief pause they would fall down and apart, blood splattering. It took all of ten seconds and one formation of around 20 soldiers was dead.


    The other troops on both sides were stunned by the speed and brutality of the attack. The Syrians shook off their suprised and turned their attention to what they now realized was beyond deadly. Leaving themselves wide open to attack from the Israelite warriors who didn''t hesitate to continue to move in, but keep their distance from the black fiend that was Kyrain.


    Kyrain cleaved the haft of a spear way easier than he thought he could. He expect some resistance, but when none came, his blade cleaved through that and continued through a shield killing the man on the other side with impunity. There was a pause which allowed a spear to stab into the middle of Kyrains back, but it was deflected by his armor.


    Kyrain still turned with the strike as he normally would to lessen the impact then he got space. "Well that answers that question." Kyrain said as he shook his sword and shield in preparation for the slaughter that was about to come.


    As he darted in faster than anyone could see, but he was taken by suprise as a front kick landed on his side sending him rocketing into a dirt bank with a cloud of dust erupting on impact.


    Kyrain stirred, slightly shaken from the twin impacts.


    "What?" He asked to himseld as he got back up and looked for the train that ran him over, but all he saw was a larger man in metal armor holding a sword and shield of his own.


    He spoke and naturally Kyrain didn''t understand a word. Kyrain moved and targeted the man who to Kyrain''s suprise, matched him step for step. Kyrain was expecting to cleave through the man''s sword, but to his suprise it held and didn''t even take any damage. Instantly reacting he slammed the edge of his shield into the mans chest who seemed stunned by the strength put into the strikes coming at him.


    The shot from the shield gave the Syrain his own turn in being launched where he continued to tumble without having a dirt embankment to stop him. Kyrain didn''t just stand by, he charged and was about to finish this fight, but the recovery time of this man was impossible.


    He was up as fast as Kyrain was and began moving through style after style, reading everything Kyrain was doing and actually forcing him back. The Syrain was pushing back more and more, beginning to move faster and faster. Until Kyrain tripped backwards. In a panic he reached out as he normally would with his system guided skills.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    He felt it. He sensed it. It was very different without the system. Instead of the comfort he felt when he used his path all he felt was a state of wrongness with the world. The kinetic energy of the man''s strike died and Kyrain could see the man''s eyes widen.


    A word left the man''s lips that he recognized.


    "Infiniti."


    Kyrain jumped to his feet, sword and shield readied as he thought about that word.


    "You''re a user!" Kyrain said in suprise, but the words were nonsense to the man. Kyrain needed information, but he had no way to breach the language barrier without the system.


    If this man was a user that means his life span would be enormous and there were probably stories about him in his time.


    Before he could do anything to try to communicate the attacks came in again. Kyrain pushed his skills again and the wrongness that felt almost like the world was rejecting him and like he didn''t belong anywhere came back, but more. He didn''t have time to explore any of his skills, but he could use a crude version of them which slowed his opponent drastically.


    Kyrain didn''t hesitate. He slashed across the mans front ripping through leather and iron armor and a funny material underneath which provided a crazy amount of resistance to his black blade. The man shouted in pain and pulled back just enough to keep the strike from being instantly lethal, which was bewildering to Kyrain as he thought he had the man''s energy locked down.


    Then to Kyrain''s horror as the man shifted back in agony, he swing with his blade seemingly out of reflex or instinct. It cut through through his own armor and left a light line of searing pain up his chest and nicked his face leaving a furrow on the right side of his face stopping at the cheek bone as his own reflexes caused him to pull away and stagger back.


    Fury at the pain overtook Kyrain and he lashed out with all the antimatter he could in a line in front of him, his own intent was to destroy. A black beam erupted from his outstretched hand and rocketed toward the man in front of him. Eyes opening wide in fear, the man jumped to the side as quickly as he could, but wasn''t fast enough. His left arm just below his elbow got clipped by the beam as it continued into the line of Syrian men that had formed up at the back of the man in a defensive formation. Kyrain was shocked at what he had done through the group of shielded and armored men was a perfect hole cut cleanly into armor and flesh alike and into the ground afterward.


    Kyrain watched in horror as the wounds some of the men sustained continued to expand. The wounds turned black themselves and afterward they began to fall away into a black powder. Slow at first then faster and faster until nothing remained of the men who died screaming.


    There was a slice and wet thud that caught Kyrains attention. He looked over at the man he had fought and had wounded. He held a strange crystal like blade next to a heavily bleeding stump where his lower arm had been.


    Kyrain looked down and watched as the severed limb turned to black powder.


    Fighting through the pain, Kyrain raised his sword and shield to prepare for combat once more, but the man he had been fighting shook his head, sheathed his weapon, put his hands up and began to back away with the remaining troops. Kyrain didn''t pursue, he watched as they walked slowly, cautiously away, before they turned and ran as quickly as they could.


    Kyrain slumped to the ground in relief and began to assess his injuries. He had a large gash up his chest and his face was cut from chin to cheek bone.


    He reached to his belt on the back right side and opened up a small pouch. He pulled two small vials and a box of zip tie stitches. The first vial was a red healing tonic created from crushed monster cores and something else. The second was orange iodine. The tonic didn''t heal all injuries, but helped a lot with clotting and regeneration. After he sanitized the wounds with the iodine, he put the zip tie stitches on and pulled the wound closed then pulled a large roll of adhesive that he put over the wound.


    As he did this, he was keeping a careful watch on the Israelite forces in the distance who were still watching him. After the 10-15 minutes it took to patch himself up, he dressed, grabbed his weapons then began to march off. He had to slow down for his wounds to heal with the tonic and not have them rip open again.


    The entire time, his mind was split between his fight with that unknown warrior who managed to press him and the black beam he used that destroyed everything it touched.

 Chapter 53 - The rest is history

    Over the next couple of days, Kyrain got better and better with his path. He still didn''t have quite the control of his path like he would with the system, but his understanding improved so much more.


    He grew more accustomed to the sense of wrongness and attributed it to the antimatter itself. It literally did not belong in this universe and came from the beyond. However, he was able to improve on the flow through his new understanding. He had felt that it was mostly chaotic as it spewed forth from the Wellspring within himself. He focused it and forced it to move in organized lines into himself and turned the chaotic bundles into super highways of antimatter in a manner of speaking.


    As the increased flow allowed immensely more antimatter into his system, it slammed into his channels and forced them to widen to take on the extra burden and strain. He was stuck in one place the entirety of the day as the growing pains ravaged his entire body. As more and more antimatter was moving around him, it continued as chain reaction which now allowed him to control more and control it easier. He reached to his well and pulled even more and expanded the Wellspring using his increased capabilities.


    He didn''t know, but he was sure he had gone up a tier based on how easier everything was and how much more powerful his body and mind felt. His body had fully healed by the end of his impromptu meditation and path session so he was ready to get back to his mission.


    Kyrain moved for a few more nights trying to find any more Syrain forces, but to his suprise they were gone. He could only find trace remains of camps and trash left behind. He moved up and down the border between Syria and Israel looking for any trace of soldiers. He was thorough especially with a shadow of his aether sense back in action helping him see further and check more closely. Nothing escaped his attention.


    Kyrain didn''t mind Israel, but was suprised by the landscape. He expected it to be rocky and desert like he always saw in the movies, but no. Sure it had its rocky arid locations, but also had it''s extremely lush and beautiful country sides that he wouldn''t have minded living at all. He liked the fact there were no sky scrapers, cars, or any sort of electronic technology save for his phone which had a dead battery a long time ago.


    Kyrain checked his map against local landmarks and began to navigate his way back to Elisha which took him a couple more days at a steady clip using his new power. As he walked back in, he found the man standing and seeming to teach younger men who seemed to be enraptured by everything the prophet was saying.


    Kyrain said down on a rock behind the group and listened. He was unable to understand anything, but that was hardly a downer. He was back in time during the days of one of the legendary prophets and actually watching him teach. He began to think about it a little more that if he could direct whatever happened to him a little better, perhaps he could try for 30-32 AD. He was pulled out of that thought by the sound of footsteps as Elisha approached.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "You were successful. The king has had his spies out non-stop looking for traces of the Syrains, but has found not a single one." Elisha said with a smile.


    "Even if I did succeed, you and I both know that the king will return to his calf worship and Israel will return to its old ways. That means the Syrains will return." Kyrain replied looking calmly back to Elisha.


    "As God wills." Elisha replied.


    "If my task is done, I''d like to go home. Nothing is known about the savior in the book of kings and I think there is a reason for it." Kyrain said.


    "Head to the river. Fully immerse yourself seven times." Elisha said as he looked at the murky, muddy, dirty Jordan river.


    Kyrain grimaced. He wasn''t a fan of being dirty, but he knew better than to argue.


    "It''s been a pleasure Elisha. I wish you well." Kyrain said as he got up and began to head to the river.


    "Before you go." Elisha said walking after Kyrain who turned and faced him. Elisha reached out and grabbed both sides of Kyrain''s head and forced his head down to the shorter man.


    "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace." Elisha recited the ancient blessing and kissed the crown of Kyrains head.


    "You will find it useful later." Elisha said as he turned and headed back to his students who watched the exchange.


    Kyrain paused only for a moment more before he went down to the Jordan. He stepped into the water and headed out to the middle, but frowned. The water only came up not even mid-calf. With a sigh he laid down and still wasn''t completely under. He had to dig down more and eventually he got himself a small trench in the river bed where he laid down and was fully immersed.


    He got up and down six times, then on the seventh he fell and hit concrete.


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    He saw the notifications and was about to open them when the sound of gun shots was heard above him and an impact hit him.


    It wasn''t a gun shot, but a hug from a girl. He looked down and saw the familiar silver hair of Nyx.


    "You time traveled some how." She said looking up at him.


    "Yeah, but let''s finish this before we talk. I have a lot to tell you." Kyrain said.


    They took two steps, but half of the building collapsed and the shooting stopped.


    They were about to rush up and assist when he heard the emergency program alert go off on Nyx''s phone.


    She pulled up the notification.


    "Threat detected that exceeds level 5. All personn are to report to local guild halls for briefing. All level 5 hunters are to report immediately for assignment.


    Guild masters and Wardens are also being placed on emergency notice due to extreme threat. Once threat has been evaluated for hostility more information will be released."


    There was a heavy drop as a man in tactical gear was dropped next to them and squirming followed by a massive man in heavily reinforced armor dropped next to him and pinned him down until cuffed.


    "He needs to go to Quantico. That''s Brandon Newland." Josh Dusen said with a satisfied smile before pulling his phone and reading a message they were sure was similar to the one they got.

 Chapter 54 - Blessing

    Kyrain was in the ruins of the guild hall waiting for information like everyone else. He pulled up his new notifications and smiled at what he saw.


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill: Disintegrate(a) - Fire a beam of pure antimatter that changes matter at the fundamental level by draining all energy from it. Objects and flesh hit will continuously be drained and decay until nothing remains. Reduces to lead powder. Requires large amounts of aether to block.


    Congratulations!


    You have achieved Tier 8!


    Congratulations!


    You have achieved Tier 9!


    Blessing recieved!


    Name: *redacted*


    Status: Inert


    Effects: *redacted*


    Note: Will be activated when appropriate conditions are met.


    Kyrain was extremely pleased and mystified.


    He recieved an extremely powerful offensive skill and shot up two whole tiers of power. Then he recieved a blessing, something he had never once heard of in the system from anywhere.


    "Your attention please! If you are Tier 7 and higher report to training room four for a bried. Those in the program of all levels are required by order of the grandmaster." A guild attendant said.


    Kyrain and Nyx looked at eachother then made their way to the room.


    After a few moments Kyrain saw his uncle step out on the stage.


    He pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. A massive projector screen came down and after a second press and a few minutes a slideshow was projected.


    "We just recieved word from Hawaii with their long range aether scanner, that a MASSIVE aether signature has been picked up moving quickly over Japan. The Tidecaller and his guilds are moving out on an intercept path to identify target and turn away if not destroy it. Defense lines are being set up all along the west coast.


    We are going to shift our Defense line to reinforce the Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas line. If for whatever reason it makes it passed the first few lines. We are the line that keeps whatever that is away from the biggest rifts in the nation. I am confident however, that Kody will be more than enough. He has yet to lose to any mortal opponent." Mitch said in introduction.


    He clicked the remote and a bar graph appeared. The graph shown here is what the scanners detected. It''s strange as this thing has all known types of aether maxed out for what the scanner can detect which is saying something as the last known person to do this is the Sage. Others will max out one or two of the bars and we have their signatures registered.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    He clicked the remote again and an extremely blurry image appeared of what looked to be humanoid. "We suspect one of the other nations have managed to cultivate a super user somehow and now are using this as a means to shatter our defenses and shake us as a country." Mitch continued.


    "What is the official government response?!" A question was shouted out from the crowd.


    Mitch turned. "Nothing from the president. In fact we haven''t heard anything from the president since the thrall and lesser vampires turned the heat up and this attack here as we assume was an attempt to take the rifts. Congress on the other hand is the reason for this unified proclamation and call for all forces to converge and defend the nation." He said.


    Mitch turned back to the screen and pressed for the next slide.


    "If the Tidecaller fails to deal with this threat, we are projecting between 12 and 16 hours uninhibited to reach us here. We do hope for some leeway on the time as at the very least Kody will slow this thing down and the San Diego line will slow it further." Mitch clicked the button one more time causing the screen to go black with the end of the presentation.


    "If there are questions, please see me after. If you do not have a question for me, a link up point has been sent to each of you based on path, strength, and other considerations to spread us out evenly. If contact is made, we converge on target using your emergency beacon. Dismissed." Mitch said beginning to reset the room and people began leaving the room.


    Kyrain was on his way out when he saw his mother leaving ahead of him.


    "Mom!" He shouted.


    She turned and smiled at him. "I was hoping to talk to you before you left. She pulled a few pictures up on her phone of a street view near a hospital. "They have asked me to report to this hospital to prepare for casualties should the threat make it this far inward and was hoping you could help a girl out?" She asked as she waved to Nyx.


    "No. Absolutely not mom." Kyrain said with a smirk causing his mom to squint her eyes at him.


    "Yes of course. There is no way I''d deny you." Kyrain then said as he began to study the pictures. After a minute, he closed his eyes then tore open a rift. He opened his eyes and checked the rift, making sure it was good and where it needed to be. He walked through followed by his mother then Nyx.


    "Be safe. If it gets too bad, there is no shame in falling back to regroup and re-engage from a better position." Brittanie said hugging both him and Nyx before hurrying off to the hospital to ensure it was ready in case of of the worst.


    Kyrain pulled his phone for their link up spot.


    "You ready?" He asked looking at Nyx.


    "No, but do we have a choice?" She responded as he tore open a rift.


    On the other side was a then a massive body of water that the map called the Canadian River for some reason.  There were many users meandering around with nobody they recognized at a glance.


    "Ky!" A voice cut through the droning of the crowd.


    Kyrain and Nyx turned to see Sebastian and Tobias hurried toward him with Elijah not far behind.


    "What''s up dudes!" Kyrain said giving each of them a hug.


    "Crazy stuff right?!" Tobias said as he stepped back.


    "Yeah no kidding." Kyrain replied.


    "Who is this?" Sebastian said almost gawking at Nyx.


    "Fellas, this is Nyx. She''s my girlfriend." Kyrain said as he couldn''t help but stand a little taller.


    Nyx, for her part, just waved.


    "These two knuckle heads." Kyrain said pointing to Sebastian and Tobias. "Are my cousins and this..." Kyrain said pointing at Elijah. "Is Elijah. Bro! Tell her what you do!" Kyrain said happily.


    "I''m a Harmacist. The harder I punch someone the more I heal them." He said with a smile, amused at how happy it made Kyrain.


    Nyx raised an eyebrow.


    "Seriously?" She asked.


    "Yeah....I found out the hard way." Kyrain said with a laugh.


    The group sat down on the ground where they were and caught up as they waiting for any sort of news. Eventually a couple of them laid back and began to take a nap. Around an hour passed until alert tones went off from everyone''s phone.


    Kyrain looked.


    "Tidecaller forces defeated. Catastrophic casualty rates expected. Target appears to be a physical based path user with full body armor. Uses swords.


    Identity and nationality unknown.


    Target location assumed approaching San Diego line."


    Kyrain''s blood ran cold out of concern for his Uncle Kody. There is no way he could have been killed, he fought Leviathan and survived.


    Kyrain looked up and saw his cousins just as pale with red rimmed eyes.


    Sebastian was the first to speak.


    "Do you think Uncle Kody made it?" He asked.


    Tobias grabbed his shoulder. "Uncle Kody is unkillable. He definitely made it. He is smart enough to fall back if he needs to." He said not completely convinced by what he was saying.


    Kyrain couldn''t stop staring at the attached picture of the target. It was a humanoid in full armor in black and red clothing.

 Chapter 55 - Hail to the King

    Kyrain and the group waited anxiously over the next few hours. They kept watching their phones for any sort of word.


    Nyx kept trying to help Kyrain feel better through words of encouragement, but she knew there was only so much they could do.


    They didn''t hear anything for another couple of hours until the phones all went off again to everyone''s absolute shock and horror.


    Target has bypassed San Diego line altogether through extreme speed of flight. High altitude defenses and users have been dispatched.


    Target is moving rapidly across the United States to destination unknown. Estimated time of arrival to Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas line: 1.5 hours.


    The group couldn''t believe this thing managed to circumvent an entire line of elite users through sheer speed and flight. They had fliers and fast ones at that.


    Considering it further they shouldn''t be suprised as Kody''s forces got demolished while in the open ocean where he is the strongest. The group paced and waited anxiously. They felt on the edge of a razor blade and wanted the fighting to begin already as the wait was terrible. Nearly an hour and a half went by until they saw something fall out of the sky burning as it went and then an object streaked down and collided with the ground.


    Kyrain looked up as approximately 30 users flew down to their line.


    "Prepare for combat! We got it to the ground, but it seems pissed." The man said weapons drawn.


    Kyrain and the group pulled their weapons and got ready. The target in question was still miles off where it cratered into the ground. Kyrain hoped beyond hope that whoever this was, just stayed down.


    "Steady." A voice said accompanied with the rasp of metal. Kyrain looked to his right and saw his uncle clad in ceremonial samurai armor putting his full face helmet on. His demeanor was calm, but he could see a small shaking come from him.


    "Any word on Uncle Kody?" Sebastian asked.


    "Focus on the here and now boy. Focus on other things when lives do not depend on it. Assume he survived and fight as thought he needs your help." Mitch replied sharply and sagely.


    They all went quiet and waited.


    *Flash!*


    There was a brilliant blinding white light as a column of light extended into the clouds causing them to scatter away.


    *Thoom!*


    A massive shock wave slammed into the army that had gathered knocking them all down. In the distance the light faded as storm clouds began to assert themselves.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    They watched in absolute horror as the largest thunderstorm anyone had ever seen, formed in a matter minutes with giants bolts of electricity began slamming down into the ground and crackling across the sky. Then to further terrify the army, tornadoes swirled to the ground lit up brilliantly by the flashes of lightning.


    In a small flash of light a small figure appeared just below the cloud line facing them. The figure appeared to summon flames and shot them into the tornadoes causing them to erupt and burn and at this point it was too much for many of the army. They broke and ran.


    "Cowards!" Tobias shouted.


    "Don''t worry about them. This is a lot of power being put on display and a waste if you ask me, but its all psychological warfare. If he wanted to kill, he could have. Hold your ground and protect one another. If the situation is untenable, retreat. It''s not worth losing your lives." Mitch said coldly watching the figure.


    Something else snapped in the army. All sorts of long range attacks were fired as the figure drew closer and finally in range. Just as they seemed they would all hit, they began to swirl around the figure and then to their suprise, were redirected back to their owners with machine like proficiency.


    There was an eruption of dirt and debris before screams of agony and people going flying. Before Kyrain and Nyx could react there was a second explosion of dirt and a mild shockwave as Mitch vanished. There was a flurry of metal on metal clangs followed by a huge shockwave and one of the beings went flying. As Kyrain looked through the last bit of the dust, he saw only the same figure now on fire with electricity sparking off in random directions.


    The figure now close enough that Kyrain could tell was male, turned as Mitchell slammed into him this time with his second katana to match the man blade for blade. Kyrain was expecting to see his uncle launch the man, but only the ground rocked and dust went flying. Before Mitch could react there was a discharge of electricity and a flash allowing the man behind his uncle where he launched a kick into Mitch''s side and sent him skipping over the water like a stone.


    The blades held by the man vanished into the armory he wore and he started to take back off into the air, when another being appeared seemingly out of nowhere and kicked him right after Mitch where the man crashed into the water creating a geyser like explosion of water. The being slowed and a cheer erupted from Kyrain''s group as they saw Kody appear. He was looking pretty banged up and worse for wear, but alive and kicking....and furious.


    A massive serpent lunged up out of the river with the man in its massive jaws trying to clamp down, but seemingly unable to get through the armor. Kyrain all of the sudden felt massive drop in the aether before he saw it just shortly before a massive discharge of electricity exploded outward through the serpent followed by a shower of blood and the smell of burnt flesh. There was a angry shout from Kody who swung his bident down at the falling man, who flashed a bright white hot barrier up that exploded back toward Kody on impact launching them apart from eachother where the man using some form of electricity to drift backwards.


    Kyrain watched as the massive serpent his uncle adored slowly fell, eyes completely blown out and smoking from all orifices of the head.


    It was during the man''s drift backwards that they fell into close range of the man before they could get away. His cousins were closer and they looked around confused before a blast of wind launched them. That''s when Kyrain and Nyx fell into range of the man and a notification appeared.


    Hail to the King!


    You are now in the presence of a Sovereign. Aether abilities less than the tier of the Sovereign are pacified and may not be used. Skills used outside of the range will be weakened when it enters the Sovereign''s vicinity. Stats are not affected.

 Introduction to book 3

    Hello everyone!


    No chapter this time as I''m letting my mind rest a bit before I get rocking again.


    However, communicating doesn''t take much brain juice. Book 3 puts Kyrain and Earth on pause as we focus back in on Sorin who if you have been following is growing unimaginably strong with his random knowledge of things that quite frankly only helps people like us on trivia night.


    I left you guys on a cliffhanger on book two and that''s where that''s going go stay until book 4. There is so much that you have to be brought up to speed on.


    I do want to take this time and ask each of you to go to the reviews and laugh with me. ??


    A few people got really butt hurt because I''m writing a series my way and not theirs. I''m writing a series for my son and not them. It amused me and made my family laugh at the sense of entitlement. I really look forward to how many laughs people will get from those reviews when the series is finished and everything comes together.


    Back to happy stuff! This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    I''ve been doing my best to give you guys some fun things to think about by tying actual things into the book.


    - Most of the characters of Earth are real people in my life. (Name changes somewhat) Sorin, Brittanie, Kyrain, Sebastian, Tobias, Kody, Mitchell....yep all based off real people and they are exactly the relationships ?? I think I''ve mentioned it before, but a lot of people lose touch with friends and family because they have nothing to talk about....this series is something to talk to about and hopefully keeps Kyrain close to his family as he reads it.


    - A lot of the villains and even the not so villian Dracula are based off real legends and myths.


    - The Numbered identities will be rather amusing and I hope you enjoy their unveiling later as I will.


    - Yes Kody got the bop bop laid on him by Leviathan. Kept it true to the Bible. No man can defeat Leviathan.


    - There really is an unknown savior of Israel mentioned in 2 Kings 13-----> I inserted Ky there which works as nobody could understand him to tell his story.


    - I was originally going to send him to 31 AD and have Jesus Himself tell Kyrain in perfect English that he isn''t supposed to be there and needs to leave, but I needed him to get that blessing for later and I couldn''t figure a way to make that work without leaving a logic hole.


    --------> Oh! Just remembered.


    I told a few of the parents that i have their children in this book that they can write their spin offs for their kids. I don''t really know if they will (i hope they do) but if they do, I plan to recognize them and help them tie back into the main story arch should they need it. They will be fully recognized as part of my universe should that happen. I''ll let you all know if it happens and really help expanding things as there is just so much that can be explored, but it would pull away and I don''t have the mental bandwidth for that.


    Anyhoo, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and look forward to starting book 3. Be safe and see you soon!


    P.S.


    Book three is called Sovereign

 Introduction to book 3

    Hello everyone!


    No chapter this time as I''m letting my mind rest a bit before I get rocking again.


    However, communicating doesn''t take much brain juice. Book 3 puts Kyrain and Earth on pause as we focus back in on Sorin who if you have been following is growing unimaginably strong with his random knowledge of things that quite frankly only helps people like us on trivia night.


    I left you guys on a cliffhanger on book two and that''s where that''s going go stay until book 4. There is so much that you have to be brought up to speed on.


    I do want to take this time and ask each of you to go to the reviews and laugh with me. ??


    A few people got really butt hurt because I''m writing a series my way and not theirs. I''m writing a series for my son and not them. It amused me and made my family laugh at the sense of entitlement. I really look forward to how many laughs people will get from those reviews when the series is finished and everything comes together.


    Back to happy stuff! Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    I''ve been doing my best to give you guys some fun things to think about by tying actual things into the book.


    - Most of the characters of Earth are real people in my life. (Name changes somewhat) Sorin, Brittanie, Kyrain, Sebastian, Tobias, Kody, Mitchell....yep all based off real people and they are exactly the relationships ?? I think I''ve mentioned it before, but a lot of people lose touch with friends and family because they have nothing to talk about....this series is something to talk to about and hopefully keeps Kyrain close to his family as he reads it.


    - A lot of the villains and even the not so villian Dracula are based off real legends and myths.


    - The Numbered identities will be rather amusing and I hope you enjoy their unveiling later as I will.


    - Yes Kody got the bop bop laid on him by Leviathan. Kept it true to the Bible. No man can defeat Leviathan.


    - There really is an unknown savior of Israel mentioned in 2 Kings 13-----> I inserted Ky there which works as nobody could understand him to tell his story.


    - I was originally going to send him to 31 AD and have Jesus Himself tell Kyrain in perfect English that he isn''t supposed to be there and needs to leave, but I needed him to get that blessing for later and I couldn''t figure a way to make that work without leaving a logic hole.


    --------> Oh! Just remembered.


    I told a few of the parents that i have their children in this book that they can write their spin offs for their kids. I don''t really know if they will (i hope they do) but if they do, I plan to recognize them and help them tie back into the main story arch should they need it. They will be fully recognized as part of my universe should that happen. I''ll let you all know if it happens and really help expanding things as there is just so much that can be explored, but it would pull away and I don''t have the mental bandwidth for that.


    Anyhoo, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and look forward to starting book 3. Be safe and see you soon!


    P.S.


    Book three is called Sovereign

 Chapter 1 - The stalker

    - 4 years until arrival -


    As if cut open, rain poured from the sky obscuring standard visibility and the visibility of the lower tiered, but Sorin was beyond such things as he watched the enemy from his high perch, flee in a state of primal fear from his meddling. They were running along a now deep mud path trying to get uphill to where they believed safety would be located, but Sorin was running a very old scheme that was once done in his worlds past...though with a system based twist.


    Sorin dropped down and joined in the retreat pretending to be one of them.


    "It''s coming..." He whispered into the ear of one soldier who was gasping for air only for him to panic more and squeal repeating what he had been whispered causing a chain reaction in the nearby soldiers that spread more and more.


    Sorin dropped into the ground and flowed through it, allowing the aether that made up his body to move through the soil as if he was moving through water.


    Sorin saw an older man begin to slow and look around beginning to come out of the state of fear, most likely relying on experience and training. Sorin couldn''t have that, he flicked his hands out in twin claw configurations as water lashed out wrapping first around the man''s throat cutting off any sound before it wrapped around each of the four limbs, stopping him instantly. Sorin raised his hands and the man was lifted high where anyone could see if they had the self control. Sorin flexed his will and pulled the limbs tight dislocating the joints.


    Sorin flash froze the water slamming hardened razor points of ice into the man causing the blood to flow into the ice. With the expansion of the ice, it pulled the already too-tight limbs apart spilling even more blood. The ive was now red, but in the dark all people could see was a black pillar and a man spread to the four points impaled in ice.


    The screams, followed by the stench of urine and feces from the horror of the men reached Sorin and almost caused him to throw up, but he resisted and continued moving to the ridge where the men were headed.


    Not only was his strategy about brutality, but it was about breaking the enemy through their fear of a monster they couldn''t see or even fight. He reached the top well before the first man did and assumed a horrifying visage through the use of his liquid metal armor.


    He gave himself elongated arms ending in horrible claws, his face he turned wolf-like, and added wolf like legs with the backward knees. His clothing hung loosely off of him giving a haggard monstrous look.


    As the first man reached the top, Sorin with all his might flashed forward with a swipe. It was necessary even through it well surpassed what was needed. As soon as his new arm hit the man there was a spray of blood as the man was turned into pink mist and sprayed into the men. Sorin dropped into the ground before they could even see what had happened.


    He moved back to the other side of the ridge and began swirling the clouds above him and charging the supercell above them that was causing so much rain. Sorin raised a rock beneath him just as the rest of the men could see what he had done to the former camp behind him in the shape of a black forest of moaning trees.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    To add even more to the effect, Sorin destabilized the area around him using a full quarter of his mana at full absorption to cause more than 20 bolts of lighting to crash down randomly within moments of eachother, making the earth shake violently and searing the air.


    The men went silent and gathered together in a terrified group almost like sheep to the slaughter.


    Sorin caused his mask to morph into a jack-o-lantern evil smile and ignited it allowing his horrifying visage to further terrify the soldiers before he spoke.


    - Aegis camp -


    "My lady, even more are coming in!" A soldier said from the lookout as she was going over roster after roster of surrendering, mentally broken men.


    She couldn''t even get a straight story from any of these men as they all had seen something else and what they described was something out of a nightmare. She had never heard of anything like the monster they described, but she did have a hunch at what was really happening.


    "Sergeant! Make ready to recieve more prisoners! Check these thoroughly for weapons in case it is a very thoroughly disguised assassination attempt. None of these soldiers keep their weapons. The really mentally broken ones, make sure we chain hand and foot closely to keep from harming themselves and others!" She shouted in command to the sergeant of the guard currently on shift, who saluted arm over heart and ran quickly.


    "Captain! Have you found a leader of this mess who can actually speak?" She asked a man who was approaching with a happy pep in his step.


    "Yes my lady. One of the men had a memory skill that had perfect recall and he recounted everything he had seen from their camp, which he identified on a map for us." He replied stepping next to her.


    "What is the story then?"


    The captain removed his helmet and ran a hand through his jet black shoulder length hair before he spoke.


    "Turns out much of what the aoldiers said in their crazed states was accurate from their point of view. Whatever attacked them, seemed to be everywhere at once or there were many of them. The only thing that scares me, is the mention of a system message saying they were in the presence of a Sovereign."


    Euryale looked quickly at at Captain Brion with a look of shock and fear.


    "Have we an identity, affiliation, and or affinity from this potential Sovereign?" She asked, her previous hunch all but obliterated.


    "The only thing we know is an affinity for ice and fire, maybe storms, but we dont know for sure. Our scouts have returned and looked physically sick. They used a recon orb to record everything they saw from the battlefield and it''s horrific, but good for us." He said handing a black orb over to Euryale.


    "Thank you Brion. Please see to these prisoners while I look through this intel." She said.


    A few minutes later, Euryale was sitting at her desk in the back section of her command tent where she had privacy. She set the orb into the projector device and Injected the aether.


    She was confused at first because she first thought she was looking at strange brown-red forest, but as their scouts flew in closer she paled, got sick and threw up in the garbage can next to her desk. It was an ice forest of hundreds of impaled bodies of the Pallas forces.


    Marks associated with lighting strikes and torrential water were everywhere, but it all confirmed what the men had said. Euryale knew she needed more information. If what they said was true and a Sovereign had entered the war meant they had a serious problem on their hands. Those ancient legends rarely came out and when they did, it meant someone had made them angry.


    Considering it was the Pallas forces that got massacred meant they must have disturbed one that they didn''t even know about. There wasn''t a Sovereign on Ithaca. She needed to send to send a few messages out to get information.


    "Runner!" Euryale shouted as she pulled a few pieces of paper and began to write. Moment later a soldier stepped into view and bowed.


    "My lady." The young man said.


    "Tell Captain Brion to halt all troop movement until further notice. Nobody moves until we get intel on a new obstacle."

 Chapter 2 - Go for the throat

    Sorin had retrieved the message from the dead drop that he and Euryale and chosen when she turned him loose to do what he needed. She was worried about a Sovereign...which was him and would be a problem in his next mission. Sorin opened up his HUD to see about turning it off otherwise his task was going to be much, much harder.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: [Aethereal Sovereign]


    AP: 77433563/83144000


    Body: 18250/20000(T12)


    Mind: 25025/30000 (T15)


    Spirit: 25000/30000 (T15)


    Abilities:


    1. Aetheric Sense(p)/(a) - sense aether clearly around you with the ability to look closer or further at a target depending on aether expenditure. Adjusting the view of your aether sense shifts skill from passive (p) to active (a). Nothing hides from your sight.


    2. Aether manipulation (a) - You can manipulate all aether in your immediate vicinity that you are aware of. NAFs of those beneath your tier are subject to your rule.


    3. Aether Wellspring(p)(a) heeds your presence. It swirls around you and will rejuvenate you in a passive state. Sleep, food, water, and air are no longer required for survival as you feast on aether alone. You may activate skill for greater absorption of aether and healing which are linear in their scaling.


    4. Aether Reaver(a) - Forcefully rip Aether from another being and add it to your own. Caution: someone of a much higher tier may be able use this to destroy your own channels and core.


    5. Aetheric Master(a) - Aether moves according to your while. Aether moves around you. If you can imagine it, you can do it provided you can bridge the right gaps to conform to Heaven''s law.


    6. Chain lightning(a) - use aether to build up your natural electromagnetic field enough that you can now direct it into a easily directed bolt of lighting. Caution! Extreme Aether required! If aether cannot be provided, it will be taken from the body.


    Sorin was pleased with everything and his Spirit had just reach the same tier as his mind. His aether levels were off the charts allowing for more use of chain lightning which relied on his own electrical system to aim and launch even in a sustained arc of electricity in a capacity that could harm or kill the highest level of users around his own tier.


    His path was in brackets which was new, so he focused in on his and with a feeling of relief and a breath of air, he read the prompt.


    Disable effect of Sovereign?


    Sorin affirmed the disable of the effect then closed his HUD. He would have to reply to Euryale, but not in writing. He didn''t want to leave a paper trail leading back to him and at the same time he could make sure no message appeared to people as the letter from Euryale indicated.


    - Some time later -


    Euryale was hard at work plotting on her tactical map trying to figure out what all was happening across her area of operation. She was at a loss as the enemies were in full retreat or dying quickly. Her scouts had reported fewer and fewer enemies in her father''s lands.


    "Steam is coming out of your ears with the amount of thinking you''re doing." A voice said causing Euryale to jump and pull her khopesh.


    She looked up and saw Sorin sitting sideways in a chair, legs hanging off the side casually.


    "Don''t do that!" She hissed at him as she set down her weapons to reset the map that she had slightly messed up when he had startled her.


    "I got your message." Sorin said kicking his legs to the ground and standing up.


    She looked up at him. "Well?" She asked eyebrows raised and red eyes watching him like a hawk.


    "Yes it''s me." He simply said then picked up a book from the bed side table and started to leaf through it.


    "Thats it?! What about the rest of my message?" She asked impatiently.


    Sorin paused his perusal of the book and looked at her.


    "Yes...it''s me." He said slowly this time.


    Euryale slumped into her chair and put her head down.


    "Sorin, you have disrupted every single one of my battle plans resulting in pointlessly exhausted troops, and tons of wasted resources." She said into the table causing it to muffle.


    "Yet...look at the results." He responded setting the book back down and pointing at it.


    "Eury, I''ll get you a copy of "Art of War" when I can figure out how to get home." He said. "Its a better read and better strategy than whatever that is. It''s pretty bad."


    Euryale looked up and glared at him.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Ok! Two things. One that book was written by my father and is considered to be a leading manual in military tactics and leadership in war and two you''re off topic. I want you to stop and let me figure out what is going on and be able to re-establish control because there is a void now." She said causing Sorin to raise an eye brow.


    "In response..." Sorin said referencing one of his favorite games when he was home."


    "Distance yourself from your troops and affect an air of superiority. Doing this will allow commanders to use their troops with cold precision and execute missions with maximum efficiency." Sorin recited from the book.


    "Though not necessarily wrong, that will only work when morale is high enough otherwise the men will desert and/or break when faced with a serious enemy. I would recommend you follow the book i was referring to.


    "Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. If, however, you are indulgent, but unable to make your authority felt; kind-hearted, but unable to enforce your commands; and incapable, moreover, of quelling disorder: then your soldiers must be likened to spoilt children; they are useless for any practical purpose."


    This builds loyalty, morale, resiliency, and discipline as each soldier knows at the individual level that they matter and their lives will not be paid lightly and with careful consideration....also...I don''t work for you anymore Eury. I will do what needs to be done. However...comma, pause for effect...my next action will align with your desires." Sorin said.


    Euryale glared at him.


    "Sorin have you lost your mind? My family rules these lands and those in it and I command you to stop." She said and began to walk away confidently toward a cabinet.


    Sorin smiled, pulled out a metal tub. He unsealed it and pulled out the paper.


    "No." He said holding it up for Euryale to see. She turned quickly and in a flash that a pre-system human would never have seen, she was face to face with Sorin glaring, but to her suprise, Sorin was not only more composed...he was faster.


    As she was entering his personal space he merely took one finger and pressed it to her forehead and pushed her away lightly.


    "Eury, I don''t see a point to this posturing. You paid this price for my help to win this theater and I have done that. However, things are not going to my liking. I''m going for the throat. Is your family able to rule the entirety of this world or is that too much?" Sorin asked.


    Euryale was startled at the casual ease in which he stopped her intimidation attempt and frustrated. She knew she had little chance of beating Sorin anymore, but she had hoped that he had some trauma or some instinct to back down as most of her family''s subjects had built in, but no. She turned back to the cabinet and opened it. She took a large cup down and a purple red drink. After filling it completely full, she sat down and began to drink.


    "Alcoholic." Sorin said sarcastically causing Euryale to squint her eyes at him.


    "Watch it...you might not be my subordinate, but I still consider you a friend and will cut you." She said then went quiet and hung her head.


    "Friends don''t try what I did....do they?" She asked quietly.


    "They do when under enormous pressure and stress. They also give commands when necessary, even to their friends when in a military type structure. We are friends Eury and you doing your job doesn''t usually affect me personally and still doesn''t in this case." He responded.


    "How did that not bother you?!" She asked sharply.


    "It''s business and not personal. Why should I get bent out of shape about you doing your job? Plus, you don''t have the power currently to enforce your will if you really tried and we both know this. I also think you know I have your best interest in mind." He replied before turning and getting more serious.


    "Now I have some questions that I would like answered to save me some time and lower my risk factor." He said sitting across from the young woman.


    She waved her hand for him to continue.


    "Duke Pallas, how strong is he?" Sorin asked causing Euryale to look up eyes going wide.


    "Sorin...you''re not thinking©\-"


    "I am. This war needs to end so I can get home. Remember what I said about going for the throat? How strong? He said and repeated.


    "We believe he is around tier 14, but he us unusual. My father is tier 20, but is extremely wary of Duke Pallas because his body stat is insanely high. We don''t know what tier it is, but if it gives my father pause it''s nothing to scoff at." She replied.


    "Do you have a map where the location of his seat of power is?" Sorin followed up.


    Euryale didn''t say anything, but with her free hand she opened a drawer on the desk and after a short leaf through she found a file and handed it over.


    "Here is a map not just of the city called Hyperion, but also a map drawn by one of our spies of the castle. There are hidden passages all over that are impossible to find without other knowledge and asking would have given them away. There is believed to be hidden chambers too, but what they are used for? Who knows. I would further add that you need to be extremely careful."


    Sorin took the pages out of the file, rolled them up and stored them in metal tubes to keep them safe.


    "Will do. Also, does your father know of me?" He asked.


    "He knows of you, but not that you''re the Sovereign. I let him know there is a Sovereign in play and it will worry him." She replied.


    "Why is being a Sovereign a big deal?" He asked.


    Euryale set her cup down and let out a breath puffing her checks slightly.


    "Becuase they are a few things to us. They are USUALLY sages of wisdom as they are extremely old and usually around Tier 30. These Sovereigns are Judges. There are usually a couple per each of the 20 regions of the Serpent Empire. For us here in Region three we have two, but they do not dwell on our planet nor have they ever come here  often as far as we know. When someone reported the notification of a Sovereign it was two things. First it could be that an imperial commans had been given, or that someone in their stupidity had disturbed one that was either off duty and got angered or distrubed them in meditation...both of which are extremely bad, because at Tier 30 and above entire counties could get wiped out with little effort." She explained.


    "So the Sovereign''s are high level law enforcers?" Sorin asked.


    "Yes....and no. They are free agents. If they do not violate the imperial laws they are left alone to do as they will...which generally is them enforcing laws and executing the worst criminals." She further explained.


    She took a drink from her cup then continued.


    "Ever hear the story of Atlantis?" She asked.


    Sorin looked up and smiled. "Of course I have. It''s a legend on my world."


    Euryale nodded.


    Its one of my favorites from the Eden lands. Long ago there was the Kingdom of Atlantis. It rose to power after the Divine struck down the Nephilim in the deluge. They had great commerce, trade, and power beyond words. However...they were engaged in practices that always lead to the destruction of a society.


    They were sacrificing children to the entities known as Baal and Moloch. Eventually this nation made the mistake of taking a child who had just gotten away from its parents. The child''s parents pleaded with the priests to stay their hand, but in their cruelty they made the parents watch as they dismembered and burned the child not knowing that the child had a Sovereign for an aunt.


    When she found out what the nation had done, she grew so enraged that she called upon the full might of her path and sank the whole kingdom under water. There are some obscure additions to the story that say she submerged part of an entire continent, but we don''t really know."


    Sorin was excited by the story.


    "My home world is what you guys call the Eden lands?" Sorin asked.


    "Perhaps. I mean you haven''t really spoken in depth, but I think it could be, which is concerning because the seals would be wearing off if you''re here." She replied.


    "Seals?" Sorin asked.


    Euryale sighed.


    "I didn''t think I''d be giving a legends and mythology class today, but sure why not? Want to drink before we get started?" She said pushing the container toward Sorin who created a metal cup and poured a drink.


    He raised it up to her and she did the same to him then he settled in to listen.

 Chapter 3 - Eden

    "Your world, if it is what I am beginning to think it is, would be what we knew to be called Eden. The entire birth place of all life. When the Almighty created mankind, He did so there at Eden. It was an absolute paradise, but He gave man free will. They used this free will to betray the Almighty and surrender the paradise known as Eden to the demons and devils who were the first rebels." Euryale began.


    Sorin jumped in with a question already.


    "If that was the birthplace of all life, then how did everyone get everywhere, and where did all the other races including yours come from?"


    She nodded then replied.


    "Legends say that everyone came together and began to build a tower to be like God, but they had their language scrambled and they were scattered to the four corners. We don''t really know as much was lost in the deluge and the wars."


    Sorin nodded with a smirk. "Are you referring to what we call Babel?"


    "Thats the one." She answered.


    "So how did the other races and species come about then?"


    Euryale thought a second before she spoke again.


    "Through genetic manipulation and seeding by the demonic who were still actively trying to destroy mankind. The beastkin, dragonkin, orcs, elves, fairies, pixies, dwarves, and all the others races are based off the human model originally created by God. Even the Elder dragon''s primary form is human, but they can shape shift into their dragonic form to multiply their powers massively."


    Sorin swirled the fluid in his cup.


    "I''m guessing that is what Ouroboros, Amaru, Orochi, and the other dragons if legend are?" He asked.


    "Yes, save for Orochi. He was a gentic experiment according to history. That monster was an amalgamation of Elder dragons and idea that was thought of from how standard hydras are made through the combination of lesser serpent drakes. When the Elder dragons combined, their mental capacity vanished and it was all instinct behind all that power. Orochi exists on a planet in the second region under careful watch of Merlin." She explained.


    "Merlin...like King Arthur and the knights of the round table Merlin?" He asked in suprise.


    "Yeah, what other Merlin is out there?" She said with a smirk.


    Sorin frowned.


    "Ok...I''m going to fire off a few names. Let me know if you know them. Morgan Le Fay." He said.


    "Its Morganna of the Fae, but yes. Once ally of Arthur turned enemy and mother of mordred who nearly killed Arthur." She responded.


    "Hercules." He shot back.


    "If you''re thinking of who I''m thinking, it''s pernounced Heracles. Son of Zeus and a mortal woman and named after Hera which she took as an insult. Nephilim killed by poison if I remember right."


    "What about Gilgamesh?" Sorin said next.


    "Nephilim King of Uruk. He went for immortality, but I believe failed. He was one of the few to actually slay a demon if legends are correct."


    Sorin was stunned by the information, but tossed a whopper at her.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Shenlong." He said expecting a blank look, but got a look of suprise.


    "Shenlong is an Elder dragons that lives in the Valley of the Dragons in Region one and is the right hand of Emporer Ouroboros. He left Eden at the request of the Emporer and has resided in the valley ever since only to emerge when he is tasked by the Emporer. How do you know about him?" She explained and asked.


    "Shenlong is a legend and myth on my world. Nobody believes he actually existed." Sorin replied.


    "I guess the old adage that all legends contain some truth, I didn''t expect them to have this much truth." Sorin said.


    Euryale nodded with a smile.


    "It''s funny you bring up legends. I was going to take you to the fates to figure out a way to get you home." She said.


    Sorin nodded.


    "Of course they exist. Let me guess, Clotho, Lechesis, and Atropos?" He said with an air of sarcastic nonchalance.


    "Well that''s their title. Their names are actually Ally, Bri, and Chelsea. They each have their own path that has individual powers, but when they get together they become the guardians of fate able to see past, present, and future. I''ve met them before actually. Really friendly in spite of their work and you would never guess that they are as old as the Emporer if not older." She said.


    Sorin was quiet for a while lost in thought while Euryale looked over at her father''s book.


    "Its not a bad book..." she muttered.


    "Last question...for now." Sorin said.


    "What is with the seals I''ve heard about?"


    Euryale nodded and grimaced a bit.


    "That is harder to explain as it involves a lot of rumors and crazy stories. One of the watchers who is now imprisoned and will suffer immeasurably for creating the system. Azazel taught man how do create many things, but also created the system which led to wholesale slaughter, genetic manipulation, and corruption of mankind which without the intervention of heaven, would have led to the destruction of all mankind. According to records available to the population from the empire, the system we have now is not the first one. It was modified by King Solomon after he put the seals in place to lock out the system from Eden for as long as possible, but it seems the seals are breaking." She recited as if from a book.


    "Why did the system get modified and why was it sealed?" Sorin asked.


    "History says the first system allowed for too easy growth and encouraged murder of eachother through an experience system. That was removed entirely ans replaced by a knowledge based system and it force reset everyone''s path to the beginning. The worst part we believe was the starvation of aether that kept the old monsters from growing again unless they left Eden. The only aether there, was what was required for life to exist and flourish.


    The seals were made one way. So people could leave, but never return. According to what we have heard from many who were there after the sealing, there was a time that aether existed, but was in decline so they were able to become very powerful, but after more time went by they claimed that they could no longer full their cores as the system barred harmful pulling from Eden that would destabilize and permanently harm the planet as a whole. Turns out the wisdom of Solomon was not a joke as he saw each method and attempt to find a loop hole to exploit. The only known exploit is having vast knowledge which we all believe the Imperial palace dillutes with misinformation to slow people down and the overall laziness of living so long. People are not in a hurry to get powerful."


    Sorin was blown away by all of this. He couldn''t figure out for the life of him, how none of this was recorded in history or even known. How is it possible to hide all of this?


    "None of this is known on my world at least it''s considered fantasy." Sorin said.


    "I don''t know why or how someone would do that. It suggests some didn''t leave, but dropped into the shadows to wait for the seals to break to take control of Eden. For what reason, who knows, it''s not like they can get into the garden. Many have tried apparently and every single one died in a horrible fiery death." She replied.


    "The garden is still on earth?" Sorin asked in bewilderment.


    "Why would they Almighty place a flaming sword to block the way if it wasn''t? I''ve never seen it as I''ve never been to Eden, but that''s what the records say."


    Sorin reached out and grabbed the pitcher. He made his cup bigger and filled it. Euryale squinted at him as she saw little was left in.


    "Please....take it all." She said sarcastically.


    "Nah the last sip is yours." He said with an eyes closed smile.


    "Thanks....so generous of you." She replied in a deadpanned voice.


    Sorin was about to ask another question when he all of the sudden dumped his drink back in the pitcher quickly, reabsorbed his metal cup, and turned to Euryale.


    "I have a million more questions, but it looks like duty calls. I''ll reach out when I have something to report. I appreciate the information." Sorin said then dropped into the ground.


    After another 15 seconds a voice called out from the front.


    "My lady, a messenger from Duke Aegis is here for you." It said as Euryale let out a sigh, but slightly happier that Sorin didn''t take all of her wine.

 Chapter 4 - Ring the bell

    *Bruuun! Bruuun! Bruuun!*


    Sorin was furious. He had been scoping out this reinforced fortress of a city for days. He was overconfident in his abilities to breach anything on this planet because as far as he had seen, he was one of the strongest now, but apparently there were contingencies for people like him and there were people who were no push overs with good defenses they could bring up with little warning.


    This last attempt was him trying to override the lock on one of a few posterns for the wall surrounding the city of Hyperion, but they had technology which he couldn''t just brute force. The moment the lock was pulled away, it broke and aether circuit that was literally on the dead bolt tripping a city wide alarm sending guards swarming and this was the fourth time in as many days.


    The guards also didn''t play games, nor did they become complacent with the seemingly false alarms. Luckily the first time he tried, he didn''t just sheer the lock and make it clear someone was trying to enter otherwise they would probably be on more of an edge and higher security posture than they already were. He had watched the city for a couple of days prior seeing how closely they monitored everyone coming in and out, they had some sort of scanner, they checked everyone for documents, and every single time there was a stowaway, they were always discovered.


    He tried to just go underground, but they had an aether field the covered the city in 360 degrees that any disruption sent the city off like a kicked bee hive. He found out the hard way and was almost discovered by their earth path users. Going from the sky was out too as they had flight paths and that stupid aether field.


    He had tried everything that came to mind from trying to match the field frequency and push through, to finding weaknesses in the circuits, to even sewer channels, but the city was seemingly impregnable.


    Sorin now just sat off in the distance on the branch of a tree toward the top with his leg swinging thinking about his powers, as well as clever uses of the elements to be able to breach this stupid city.


    "Screw it." Sorin said as he dropped to the ground.


    He pulled up a massive amount of sand and began to hold it in the air in a ball so that with his left hand he could pull out all the iron particles using extreme electromagnetic energy. As soon as his sand ball was free of iron he let the iron fall away and focused on the sand.


    He then pushed large amounts of heat into it causing it to melt and glow. He was hoping to vetrify the sand. As soon as it began to melt together, he started shaping and separating it into lenses. Each lens he created was as big as a garbage can lid and was a convex. He held everything in place and began to slowly cool them. After another half hour of work, Sorin had five lenses that were not crystal clear, but would work for what he needed...hopefully.


    He took the iron from ground, and after he heated it to glowing, he attached it to each of the lenses to they were lined up and perfectly straight. After it was cooled, he was ready. He had no idea how effective this would be, but science was fun.


    He grabbed his contraption and went to one of cliff sides that overlooked the city about a mile away where oddly enough he could see into palace gardens and had a clear view of everything including massive stained glass window where he knew the throne room to be. He also positioned it to where the rising sun would be directly behind it for some energy like camouflage.


    With a flex of his will Sorin brought stone up to hold lenses in place aimed directly at the palace. His inner child was doing flips with the idea of whar he was about to try. He checked to make sure the lenses were perfectly aligned and after he was happy with everything, he just had to wait. It was evening now, so if he tried this, he would be spotted and any defenses they had could be brought up and they would be ready for any further attacks. So he just sat down and relaxed the rest of the night. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    - The next morning -


    The sun was bright and glaring, the sky was a nice blue. After one last check for any changes and flaws, Sorin was ready to give this a test.


    He stood at the back of the device, brought his hands together in a very iconic way as fire aether began flowing into an orb. Sorin poured more and more and more into it, compressing as he went until it was white with flickers of purple...he pushed.


    - Pallas castle: War room -


    "My Lord, we are holding and making progress on all fronts except were Euryale has been making a constant advance. Our forces have been plagued by misfortune and what seems to be a demon attack. The few that fled and survived said it created a forest out of the bodies of the men, but Euryale and her forces are untouched." One man with a lot of regalia on his chest said pointing to different sections of the tactical map.


    "You''re seriously proposing that Aegis has made a demonic pact?" Duke Pallas asked in suprise.


    "We don''t rightly know my lord. The men were terrified and the powers were cruel." Another man said stepping forward.


    "I-"


    *BOOM!* SHHHRRRR!*


    An enormous explosion and equally as large line of energy ripped through the room they were in. Half of the room was incinerated in a moment with the other side being superheated. As the men in the room were all above tier 10 they were able to react and try to put shields up to protect themselves and the duke, but it did little. They succumbed to the inferno one after the other...except one; the duke himself.


    The energy cut off, but the damage was catastrophic. The duke, with burns all over his body ranging from 2nd to 3rd degree pulled himself from the rubble with an enraged focus. He saw a massive slice in what was once his palace where a superheated beam of power went through. There were screams, smoke, dust, and fire everywhere. People were in a panic.


    He stumbled from the severe damage to his body and was trying to get to the throne adjacent room, if it still existed to get to his master healing potions he kept in the event of an attempted assassination. He couldn''t see as the smoke and dust was everywhere so he was going by memory.


    He kept moving slowly toward his objective when a figure stepped powerfully in front of him dressed in red and black with a silver mask on his face in the form of some demon. Duke Belloraphon tried to react, but his body betrayed him as a hand closed around his throat and he felt something solid punch into his stomach where his core is.


    In his horror, he felt his aether forcefully being ripped from him. The process took a few seconds, as he tried to strike in his severely injured state, but he couldn''t activate any of his skills as this monster had seized his aether system and was ripping. Finally after every ounce of aether was ripped from him a vial was poured down his throat which healed his injuries except for the stomach wound. It was at this point of realization, he felt it then agony.


    His core shattered like glass and his body began to spasm from the destruction of his aether system, but the potion continued it''s work at a reduced agonizing rate. The monster in front of him, let him slump to the floor in a daze where Belloraphon watched the boots of his destroyer fade into the dust and smoke.


    - Sorin -


    *Bleep!*


    *Bleep!*


    Congratulations! You have absorbed massive amounts of Kinetic aether granting you affinity for it and greatly reinforcing your body stat.


    Congratulations! You have achieved Body Tier 16.


    Sorin had a huge grin on his face as he had more to experiment with not to mention he was at body 16 placing his physcial traits even higher than his mind and spirit which had worried him some, but no longer.


    Sorin was chilling back in the tree with his left leg dangling from the branch he had dubbed as his thinking tree, watching the smoke rise from the destroyed palace. The spies the Aegis family had would be able to get a message back to them and end this war rather quickly now and freeing up Euryale.


    Sorin had no desire to do anything further, he would get the report from the Aegis family later, so for now he just watched the smoke rise to the sky as he tried to pick out different shapes he could see in the smoke.


    He caught himself and had a slight worry over how easily it had become to destroy people and places. He put that into a mental box and hid it away for when he got home.


    Brittanie would help him fix everything and get him back to being a good man. He settled on an old saying.


    "There comes a time when good men, have to do very bad things."

 Chapter 5 - Consequences

    "Belloraphon Pallas, you stand accused of inciting war and violating the ancient borders set down by Emporer Ouroboros to keep the peace of the planet. Your greed and pride have led to the deaths of thousands."


    Imperial ajudicator Mu said pulling a large book out from a case he had beside him at his podium.


    "In this book contains the names of all those known to have perished in direct connection to the war that you started. Each life is a story, some a son, a daughter, father, mother, brother, sister; all dead thanks to you." He continued.


    Sorin watched from the entrance of the room in the rafters way up high where he blended into the shadows. There were a few of those in attendance that sensed something odd, including the adjudicators security detail, where he was which Sorin attributed to a sensory ability, but like with most of the population, they will ignore something that could be inconvenient, not a threat, or cause conflict...which is what Sorin was banking on to be left alone to watch the trial of the duke and his subordinates.


    Most of the lesser nobility under the duke and the military officers had been executed slowly for crimes against the people. Sorin didn''t really like seeing the brutality of the execution, and that uncomfortability was the point. It sent a very clear message of what happens when people commit war crimes and do heinous acts that go too far outside the scope of war.


    "As is the right of all those accused, do you have anything to say in defense?" Mu asked.


    Duke Palas looked up and with a glint in his eye, spoke.


    "My champion has statements from some of my men that house Aegis made a compact with the infernal. Before my arrest, we had our evidence consolidated to include a memory orb to confirm their memory. We also accuse them of violation of honor. Under a flag of peace, they struck the force they entreated with."


    The Mu''s eyebrows rose slightly.


    "Demonic compacts would be a reason to incite war, but was this discovery made before or after you had struck." He asked.


    A man dressed in fine clothes stepped forward. "Adjudicator, I am the aforementioned champion of Duke Belloraphon and we have sworn statements from those saying this was the case before the war and was the purpose for it." He said as he handed the sealed papers to the court attendant who handed them to the Ajudicator.


    After approximately ten minutes of silence as Mu read through, he looked at Duke Phorcys Aegis.


    "These appear to be legitimate. How do you respond to these accusations?" He asked.


    Duke Aegis responded instantly with bewilderment. "I completely deny it. We have, at no time made any agreement with any of the infernal and invite the Imperial court to investigate at their leisure." He responded.


    Mu nodded before taking the presented memory orb and put it into a projector for the trial viewing.


    It was from the perspective of a soldier who was clearly running.


    "It''s coming for you, run faster." A sinister voice could he heard as the man whimpered in terror. As the man crested the right after the first man to reach the top, he was coated in a spray of blood and viscera. There was an audible gasp from the audience in attendance then absolute silence as the view panned up to the trees and the monster standing before the forest in all its horror.


    It''s face caught fire showing a maleficent visage of cruelty.


    "Pitiful mortals.....I will give you one chance to save your pathetic lives...." The same raspy sinister voice from earlier spoke as if from everywhere at once.


    "You will throw down your weapons.....turn around....and walk the direction you came until you find Aegis forces.....and surrender." It continued.


    As always, there is always one who had some courage left that had began shouting at the terror. The monster raised a hand, and lighting flashed forward with the accompanying thunder, striking man and those in his direct vicinity.


    "Take lesson...foolishness leads to destruction....last chance." It said again. There was no hesitation as the men and the one whose view this memory was taken from turned and fled. The memory faded and all in attendance took a shakey inhale as if they had all been holding their breath.


    "The entity doesn''t look like any of the known infernal we have seen, but that doesn''t mean it hasn''t assumed a new form per a contract. Who was the commander in this area that apprehended these men as prisoners of war?" Mu asked.


    "Commander Euryale Aegis." The Pallas champion spoke coldly.


    "Euryale Aegis! Step forward!" The adjudicator commanded loudly.


    There was muttering and whispering as the woman rose gracefully in a gown of her houses colors, looking nothing like the warrior she had to become. Black hair flowing with two small twin braids wrapping around her head in the form of a crown with her circlet placed into it. Her red eyes faced forward unflinching as she stepped to the court platform.


    She gave the required bow to the adjudicator as is required of those entering the trial toward the one working in the authority of the Emperor.


    "This monster''s actions sent men to your camp. On top of that you are the commander in question who is accused of violating the laws of honor. What do you have to say in your defense?" Mu intoned.


    "Adjudicator Mu, not only was the monster shown, not a demon, but was a former subordinate of mine. I released him from my command weeks earlier to do as he pleased. That being said, the sworn statements are false because this individual was not even on planet at the beginning of the war, but was believed to be in the aether ore mines." She said.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Is this individual present here today?" Mu asked.


    Euryale turned and looked directly at Sorin in his perch.


    "He is adjudicator." She replied.


    "What is his name for the record?"


    "Sorin Ekart." She replied.


    "Sorin Ekart! Step forward!"


    - Sorin -


    Sorin rolled his eyes. He didn''t want to be a part of this crap any more than his actions in the fighting. He shouldn''t have come in hindsight and there was no way, he could leave, now that knuckle head Euryale named dropped.


    Oh, she and him were going to have a conversation about snitching.


    He rose from the beam and dropped to the floor as people cleared a path to the platform.


    He walked up next to Euryale and glared at her causing her to flinch a bit. He could see the apology already on her face, but he was still going to chew her out later.


    He looked at the adjudicator and waited.


    "Are you not familiar with the rules of this proceeding?" The adjudicator asked irritated by his lack of action.


    "No. I''m not from around here sir." He replied.


    "Very well, we will note that it is a matter of ignorance that can be remedied. When you approach one working under the authority of the Emporer, you bow otherwise it is taken as a challenge to the Emporer and considered treason." He replied causing two of his guards to step forward hands on weapons.


    Sorin at a glance and out of habit, looked at their aether system and breathed out a sigh. There was no winning this battle. They were all at least Tier 25 and above.


    "I apologize for my ignorance sir." Sorin said as he gave a bow that was like the one he saw Euryale give.


    He stood back and waiting seeing the guards step back at a nod from the adjudicator.


    "For the record, you are named as the monster in the memory orb, but you look very different standing before me, nothing like what we witnessed, are you in fact the being seen in the memory?" Mu asked.


    "Yes, I am that monster." He replied quickly and clearly.


    "Explain." Mu responded.


    "My path allows me to manipulate metal and it was a simple matter to encase my body in metal and change my form to the one you saw." Sorin replied.


    "That doesn''t explain, the forest of bodies made from their mutilated bodies, blood, and ice. It also doesn''t explain the fire and the lightning. Are you going to tell us that, that is also part of your path?" The adjudicator said with a smirk.


    "I am going to tell you that." Sorin replied eyebrows raising a bit in amusement.


    "That would make you an elementalist at less than tier 20 based on what our readers have informed me of on your way up. I find that extremely hard to believe as you lack the power for that level of understanding of paths." Mu said with disbelief in his voice.


    "No disrespect sir, the evidence is before you that I did these things." Sorin said in reply causing whispers and mutterings to start in the audience with amused smiles.


    "Very well, let''s put this part of the trial to rest. Can you re-assume the form, conjure fire, ice, and electricity for us?" Mu said sitting back in his chair.


    Without any movement and looking directly at the adjudicator, Sorin brought his liquid metal armor up ans over, increasing height, lengthening his arms, forming the wolf-like appearance, then caused an orb of ice and fire to swirl around him with electricity arching to the ground harmlessly.


    Sorin wished he could have gotten a picture of the face of the adjudicator because it was nothing but embarrassed suprise and Euryale was looking him over like some sort of prize. She was a young woman and he was putting on a show. He couldnt blame her, but he wouldn''t give any signal or attention beyond what is professional.


    "Very well. I accept this as proof that the aforementioned monster thought to be a demon is not and unless there is any other evidence, I will set that to the side as refuted?" The adjudicator asked only to get silence in return.


    "Now, you did claim that you had started this war due to consorting with the demonic. Is there anything else?" Came the next question.


    "Only our sworn statements Adjudicator." The Pallas champion said.


    "As they are sworn statements, a full investigation into house Aegis will be launched." The adjudicator said causing smirks to break out on the faces of Belloraphon and those behind him on his side, but then were cut short by the next sentence.


    "As well as a full investigation into the ones who swore these statements and why members of house Pallas were spying." Mu said after seeing their reaction.


    "Now, on to the matter of honor. Euryale Aegis, witnesses claim that under a banner of peace you struck at your enemy. What say you in your defense?"


    Euryale stood tall and without emotion spoke.


    "I did no such thing adjudicator. The one who attacked was of a third party not connected with my own men. While I was meeting with the enemy commander, their force was decimated. I did not attack as they went back to check on their forces, but waited as honor demands for the banner to expire. Once it had, then and only then, did we march on the enemy and take them." She narrated.


    "Seems rather convenient that it happened that way. Claims say that the third party was the same Sorin Ekart that stands beside you now. Was he released from your service before or after the event in question?" Mu asked.


    "Before Adjudicator. Neither I, nor any of my men had given or could give command to Sorin Ekart to do what he did. He acted on his own accord." She said matter of factly.


    "That''s quite the tale, but do you have evidence to back up your claim?" Mu asked.


    "I do adjudicator." Sorin spoke this time reaching slowly into his shirt pulling out a metal tube. He unsealed it and handed it to the guard who gave it to the adjudicator.


    After reading the properly notorized and sealed document, he rolled it back up and returned it to it''s tube and back to Sorin.


    "According to official documentation completed before the attack, Sorin did act as a third party, but one must ask why?"


    "Simply, the war itself has gotten between me and my ability to get home. I had a prior agreement with Euryale Aegis to assist me in getting home. However, upon my arrival she was mired in a war that had been going on for the better part of a few years. I did not have time for that. So I requested of her that she releases me from her and allow me to do as I wish. She agreed and we are here sir." Sorin explained.


    "Hmmm. Very well, this matter is settled and house Aegis is not guilty of breaching the banner of peace." The adjudicator decreed while closing the ornate file he had in front of him.


    "At this time - " Mu was about to continue when he was interrupted.


    "Adjudicator, there is the matter of path destruction we have not addressed." The champion said.


    "Do you know who did it?" Mu asked.


    "We believe it is Sorin Ekart." The champion stated.


    "I didn''t ask what you believe, I asked what you KNOW. If you are going to blame someone then you had better bring evidence. What evidence do you have?" Mu asked impatiently.


    "I saw him adjudicator! I saw that mask he wears and felt as my core and channels collapsed like glass!" Belloraphon pleaded in anger.


    "Is this true?" Mu said looking at Sorin Ekart.


    "No adjudicator. I wasn''t there." Sorin lied casually.


    "He lies!" Belloraphon shouted.


    "Evidence? Unless you can produce another who saw him or some sort of evidence it''s hearsay and can''t be proven one way or another." Mu said tiredly.


    Belloraphon flashed a look of pure hatred at Sorin who showed him as much regard as a boot would an ant, which made him even more furious.


    "Now! I declare this case to be in hiatus until the investigation is complete. Duke Belloraphon, as the perceived violator of the law, will be remanded into Imperial custody until the completion of the investigation, which if the said investigation finds that his claims were erroneous; will be summarily executed for crimes against the crown and it''s people. Adjourned."

 Chapter 6 - Rotten

    *WHAM!*


    Sorin slumped after slamming into the wall sending his swords falling from his hands to the floor.


    It had been years since he had been worked over this hard by someone, but it was what he was after. He looked back up as his body rapidly regenerated allowing him to regain his ability to move again.


    He wiped the blood from his lips on his torn shirt then picked up his blades to begin again. The trainers flashed in different directions to converge on Sorin with their weapons. Sorin sensing their approach through disruption of the aether was reacting automatically. He had been working to train his body to react on instinct and have his techniques become habit. He moved fluidly blocking each of the strikes and retaliating seeing the techniques they used to smash him last time coming and evading them.


    He had gotten extremely rusty in his martial techniques due to inability to train properly and his use of aether to destroy his enemies. He was paying for it now.


    "Halt! "Rotate!" Came the commands from the Aegis weapons master Reeger who was closely monitoring the sparing taking place. Sorin had been going for hours woth the different trainers slowly getting stronger and stronger. He was up against around Tier 13 or 14 now. Instead of the three from before, two men started walking toward the ring when another voice stopped then.


    "Stop. Everyone but Sorin and weapon master Reeger leave." A large man with dark hair and blue eyes wearing extremely ornate training clothes stepped out with a sword and shield of his own. The man in question was Duke Phorcys.


    - Phorcys -


    As soon as the door shut, he spoke.


    "We are going to have a conversation Sorin Ekart. You have proved beneficial to my house as well as a pain in the ass. Prepare yourself."


    The duke attacked as Sorin, brought up his defenses hard knowing the duke was a few tiers above him. It wasnt enough as he found himself rocketing across the arena and slamming again into the wall.


    "Then there''s this guy...." He heard the man mutter getting up as his body once more regenerated quickly. He looked up at the duke who was just standing there.


    Sorin moved using the full strength of his tier 16 body. The duke casually raised his shield and paried the strike and deflected the second sword with his own before planting his foot in the center of Sorin''s chest and pushing with the force of bullet train. Sorin let out a whoosh of air and he was launched skipping across the ground before hitting the same spot on the wall he had earlier.


    "I''m disappointed. My daughter speaks so highly of your skill and power  that I expected so much more from you. Belloraphon gave me pause with his physcial strength, but it seems tricks are all you have you have." Phorcys said slowly advancing to the recovering Sorin.


    Sorin was reeling from how quickly things had changed.


    "Your daughter and I have an arrangement. I helped her and she helps me get home." Sorin rasped getting back to his feet.


    "Ha! Do you really think we are beholden to a slave? You are far too arrogant. You were condemned to slavery by Prince Amaru himself and no amount of orders from us could do anything about it. So here is what is going to happen..." the duke said as he vanished appearing in front of Sorin again slamming his sword into his stomach.


    "Nothing to say?" The duke said looking down at the pitiful little man.


    Sorin looked up and with the most sinister smile Duke Phorcys had ever seen on anyone he spoke.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "My turn." Sorin said as aether erupted from him. Air slashed out causing the duke to shield himself with an aether barrier, but was still blasted back pulling his sword from Sorin''s stomach.


    Sorin rose to his feet as if completely unharmed and refreshed. His liquid armor pooled over his body and his blades melted where they had fallen and flowed back into him.


    "I am not beholden to you Phorcys. I have no agreement with you and in this world....might makes right so let''s see how strong you really are."


    Warning!


    You are in the presence of a Sovereign. Any user under their Tier will have their path suppressed. All aether effects will be diminished.


    Duke Phorcys'' eyes went wide as pieces of metal floated off Sorin and formed into thousands of small needles, only to be joined by tiny purple motes of fire.


    Before he could even react, the temperature in the chamber began to plummet. Phorcys made to take a step to crush Sorin, but immediately was stopped as his feet were locked in place by the earth which shouldn''t be possible for his tier.


    He looked back at Sorin who now was pulling water from the center pond for water aether users and formed it into a chakram like disc that swirled around him. It was moving so fast it stopped rippling.


    Sorin moved this time. He took a half step then leapt toward Duke Phorcys. Which his significantly higher tier he saw the whole move and was rather impressed. Sorin swung his blades at the duke who brought up his shield, only for the man''s armor to fire spikes from itself which he also blocked. Then to make matters worse, Sorin fired the thousands of needles at the duke. He was able to dodge and block them....or he thought. As soon as they began hitting his shield and armor they melted together into bigger spikes that he barely paid attention to as he darted toward Sorin.


    This time Duke Phorcys fired a black and green fire at Sorin who smirked as he sank into the ground. Phorcys didn''t hesitate, he stomped down causing a massive shockwave that radiated out in all directions only to slow slightly in one direction as he figured was the effect of the sovereign status.


    Sorin shot out of the ground, bloody and certainly in massive amounts of pain, but still focused. His entire body flashed and a massive crack sounded in the arena as a huge continuous bolt of lightning shot out. The duke, confident in his high speed and mental agility, went to dodge. To his suprise, the lightning arched to the large spikes of metal still on him.


    The effect was instant. Phorcys couldn''t breath, his heart stuttered, muscles locked up, he could smell burning, his armor, began to melt as the energy raged through him and his armor causing even more burning and to his shock, the lightning didn''t stop it was a continuous arch or power coming from the man that he was beginning to grow concerned about.


    Then when that was bad enough they orbs of purple fire that he had given no thought to struck.


    It wasn''t the burning that worried him, but the explosions as they got in close proximity. Each ball hit and tried to take a chunk out of him. His armor was blasted apart and his flesh began to show signs of damage which had not happened in more than a hundred years. Phorcys launched himself forward grabbing the annoying pest by the throat and at the same time he felt a searing pain as a frozen charged blade was slammed into his gut and began pulling massive amounts of aether out of him. He activated another skill, Gorgonian perseverance. His body unlocked and all effects let go of him including pain. His core and channels threatening to collapse from the damage, but they held and he got what he needed.


    As a reaction, he threw the man into the wall using much of his strength, but the damage was done. He glanced inward looking at his core and channels seeing they had taken on a dark and appearance that was spreading to all his aether channels trying to mitigate the damage. In the short time that he did look at his system, Sorin Ekart struck again, but the duke was done.


    With another flex of his he used a skill, watching closely what his system was doing, Weight of your transgressions. Sorin was the only one to injur him and did so fairly badly so the effect was focused on him and amplified. Sorin was slammed into the ground as if gravity had been amplified many times over. As he was on the ground struggling to get to his feet, the duke snapped his fingers causing Reeger to come forward with a collar and snapped it around Sorin''s neck.


    "Take him to the cells. I''ll deal with the rest of this later." He commanded as his skill was released allowing the pain and damage to flood back to the forefront of his mind.


    The Duke looked back at Sorin in disbelief at the damage done by someone so much lower in tier than himself and got an extremely bad feeling for some reason as he saw the man smiled at him. Fury burning in his eyes as he spoke.


    "I hope you have picked your heir Phorcys."

 Chapter 7 - Fury

    Sorin felt as though his inside was a volcano. He had kept his side of the bargain and these people had not kept their''s. He was beyond sick of this empire and it''s selfish, uncaring, useless people.


    It wasn''t the collar that affected him. He had surpassed their hold on him, but it was the actions of the duke to place him in chains once more as a beast of burden that really made his blood boil. He had won them the war and done it while saving hundreds if not thousands of lives.


    "Hey freak...do you still feel like a Sovereign?" A guard said laughing as he walked by his cell. It was nothing, but an inconsiderate jab that under normal circumstances, Sorin would have ignored. Today however, it was the tiniest straw that broke the camel''s back.


    "Hey little rabbit, your mother was calling me a lot more than Sovereign last night." Sorin said coldly hoping these people were easily manipulated by pride and a misplaced sense of honor. He wasn''t disappointed as he saw the guard come back into view and start to pull his keys fury and cruelty written across his face.


    Sorin didn''t give him a chance to unlock the door as he waved his hand of the reinforced aether steel bars causing them to melt away.


    "Wha...?" The guard said as his face went as pale as fresh snow. The last thing he saw was Sorin''s collar fall away smoking, followed by a flash of blinding light as Sorin vaporized him his a miniature thermal ion cannon that continued and sliced though the stone ahead of him hundreds of yards.


    He spread out his aetheric sense to encompass the whole castle and then with overwhelming power of will, he pulled every ounce of aether he could and erupted.


    - Phorcys-


    "Father! Have you no sense of honor?!" Euryale shouted at her father in his private healing chamber as multiple healers were working as hard as they could to repair his core and channels.


    "Do not dare speak to me like that!" He snapped back at his youngest daughter who had stormed in after hearing what had been done to her subordinate.


    "If I cannot speak to you in a way that demands accountability, then what separates you from an uncontrollable tyrant?" She responded.


    "The method in which you do it child. Tact is a leadership trait and it is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in a way that they not only thank you but look forward to the trip." Duke Phorcys instructed.


    "Your actions have tarnished my honor and have harmed my credibility. That man won us this war and saved our people. Financially, he has kept us from paying the death benefit to even more families, but what do you do? You stick a collar back on him and throw him in a cell!" Euryale spat venomously.


    "I will put whoever I want in a cell and that includes you if you cannot hold your-" The duke was cut off as a massive explosion rocked the entire castle. The ground was quaking as if a volcano was erupting then a beam of violet ripped through the floor. Euryale and Phorcys were thrown into the wall and the heat caused their family trait to activate setting them both ablaze right before the aether in the air was forcefully pulled away extinguishing them followed by message scrolled across their HUD.


    Warning!


    You are in the presence of a Sovereign. Any user under their Tier will have their path suppressed. All aether effects will be diminished.


    "Some fool removed the collar!" The duke exclaimed as he got to his feet pulling his sword from his side. He still couldn''t chance using his full path due to the damaged core and channels, but there was no way this upstart would do this and get away with it. It was execution for this.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Before Phorcys could react, he was blasted backwards by a massive tendril of water. He slammed into the granite wall which rippled like water itself and then solidified locking him in place as a massive bolt of electricity slammed into his chest taking his breath away and burning without triggering his trait. He doubted it would even activate at all as all of the excess aether was gone. His core, which was always pulling aether was unable to find any.


    A cold sweat broke out across the duke''s body as he was beginning to think that he had made an enormous mistake. How was it possible that someone so much lower in tier than him could be doing this much damage and about to defeat if not kill him?


    Phorcys began to shake and began thinking rapidly as it had been a very long time since he had felt this and he recognized it to his dismay...as fear.


    He looked up as a figure clad in now black aether steel from head to foot with two swords at his sides slowly floated down to the ground with the help of lightning forcing the smoke, dust, and debris away from where he was which revealed his bloodied daughter slowly regaining her senses and trying to get to her feet, clearly concussed.


    Phorcys was about to speak when the sword in the man''s left hand lashed out and lodged itself into his stomach right where he had stabbed the man earlier knocking the wind out of him.


    "You think you can place a collar on me?! Never again will I be a slave to anyone!" Sorin Ekart screamed at him. With every word every single type of aether poured from the man hitting Phorcys with the force of a hammer.


    "You don''t get to rule anymore you disgusting piece of filth. In fact I''m going to make sure the lowest of your subjects gets to be more powerful than you." Sorin continued coldly as he flashed forward extending a hand and began to rip the remaining aether out of his core.


    - Euryale -


    The room smelt of dust, smoke, and burnt flesh. She opened her eyes and nearly threw up as it was spinning so fast.


    Her mind was trying to process everything as she began to stir and sit up. Something warm and wet seemed to be running down the side of her face so she reached up to wipe it away only to pull her hand back covered in blood.


    She hardly reacted as a shockwave knocked her back down again causing her to hit her head again and nearly sending her back into a state of unconsciousness. With an act of pure will, she remained awake and tried to get back up as she felt another smaller impact and a gasp followed by someone shouting.


    She looked around and saw what appeared to be what she could only describe as the embodiment of the mythological god of war Ares, who was supposed to be guarding the Royal Valley, looming over her father who was trapped in the wall by the stone itself with a sword sticking out of his stomach.


    She heard the voice again and knew it immediately, but shuddered and quaked in fear as she had never heard that voice in any way but controlled and gentle. This was fury and cold malice aimed entirely at her father.


    She started to make her way over to Sorin when he flashed out a hand and she saw a ripple of aether pour out of her father into Sorin.


    "No!" Someone shouted. She wasn''t sure who it was in her delirious state, but then watched as if someone else had taken control of her body as her hands closed around Sorin''s armored arm. She then realized it was her that had shouted.


    As she closed around Sorin''s arm a spike shot out of the armor and nearly punched through her eye before stopping.


    "Sorin! Please do not do this! What my family has done is dishonorable and you didn''t deserve this. I will keep my side of the bargain and get you home!" She shouted over the screaming wind. She couldnt even amplify her voice as his status as Sovereign blocked her path and somehow he was draining every single mote of aether leaving nothing for anyone.


    Sorin stopped pulling aether from the duke and turned to face her.


    "I can''t trust any of you! Traitors and liars all!" He snapped as his right hand lashed out and punched the duke in the face which in her still rattled mind nearly caused her to giggle from the shear absurdity of it. It did next to nothing to her father, but was just so petty it was comedic.


    "I understand Sorin. I will hold off anyone I can and let you get far away. I will not say more about the plan I have. However I will give you more. DD 12. Please do not kill my father. It will make everything impossible." She explained quickly and as clearly as she could in her state.


    Sorin stared at her before looking back at the duke. He looked back at Euryale and slapped the duke this time.


    "Really?!" She exclaimed.


    Sorin just shrugged.


    "DD 12." He said still so beyond angry before blasting an even bigger hole in the ceiling vaporizing everything in his way before vanishing in a flash of light.


    Euryale was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she felt and heard another explosion coming from the direction of the throne room.


    She didn''t even have to look. She already knew what he had done. She couldn''t really blame him, but wanted to so badly.


    Instead she glared at her badly injured father who still had the sword still in his stomach.


    She just turned and shouted as much for herself as for her father.


    "Healers!"

 Interlude - Revelation

    - Present day: Earth -


    Number 1 slammed down the tablet he had been reading, causing the screen to shatter under his immense strength. The plan they had enacted was going very poorly. The design of mankind was so great that even through his timeless knowledge, he couldn''t predict everything they would do.


    The ability for mankind to persevere was too well developed he thought as he glared up at where he figured heaven was traditionally located. The Ripper had been throroughly put on the ropes, Morganna swept the defenses of Europe aside. She had now ushered in an era of peace and prosperity once she brought the kingdom under her thumb. Rasputin was thoroughly contained by the Chinese and NATO alliances.


    The pesky user from Britain Marcus, ripped through legions of undead so completely the lich wanted nothing more to do with him and had elected to remain squarely within Russia as it''s new monarch, but he couldn''t even get a grasp on that due to a team that had infiltrated and was working from within to continuously destabilize the control of the undead.


    Number 2 was proving problematic to control now that the system had been reinstated and he was regaining much of his old strength. Many times Number 1 had been forced to threaten to destroy him should he try to recreate the Kingdom of Uruk where he once was one of it''s kings.


    Problems just kept popping up and he was beginning to lose control. His path was Reaper and he controlled the power of death which was fitting as it went along with his curse that no matter what he did, he couldn''t escape it, however that did little to help him puppet all of these strings.


    It did make sense for all his failures in a frustrating way as the curse from of God Himself. The memory of that day was always vivid in his mind, but how could it not be? It was part of his curse to always relive the murder of his brother in his jealously.


    Number 1 shook his head clearing his mind and pushing forward as the door opened.


    "Sir, we have two situations that are developing." One of his employees said coming in with a new tablet.


    "Bottom line up front, a new user has appeared that is by far the strongest we have ever seen. This user is giving off an aether signature as strong as Merlin when he left the world and a dragon has appeared currently residing on Savage Mountain near the summit." The man said bowing over the tablet handing it to Number 1.


    "You can go." He said, taking the tablet and looking through the report. He didn''t care so much about the user, but the dragon was a different story. If the dragons were coming back then his plan had succeeded and the seals were weakened enough to allow for travel from beyond the planet. He flipped to the report on the dragon and looked at the scan with pictures. He let out a sigh of disappointment. The dragon was most likely an unnamed youngling dragon barely out of its second century.


    He was hoping that Tiamat or Shen Long had returned. This dragon definitely belonged to the Asian variety, but not of the legends. It''s aether readout showed it was a water/air type. Oh well he thought, but he couldn''t permit a rogue dragon.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    He pulled up his communication app and typed out the order. He would have this dragon subdued and brought under his control. He would mold this dragon to serve his purposes for control.


    He pulled the report back up. He supposed he would scan through the new user''s report. He was impressed with the density if the aether and how quickly the individual was moving. There were no pictures as they hadn''t retrieved them yet.


    It was at that moment he recieved a new notification on the tablet.


    Report Update: Priority 2


    File number JV0223


    User Identified as Sorin Ekart who was listed as dead/missing from the Ft Campbell, Clarksville, TN area of the United States. He has been missing since the initial bombing.


    He engaged and soundly defeated the Tidecaller and his forces. It has been made clear that he did that while holding back. Save for the Tidecallers tamed Kraken, there were no deaths, but serious injuries resulted. Kody Ekart has not been seen since the conflict, but is believed alive and in recovery beneath the ocean where he can regenerate.


    Sorin is currently engaging from the guild in Clarksville, TN.


    Known Affiliation: United States Marine Corps, United States Army.


    Direct/Closest Family Members:


    Brittanie Ekart : Spouse [Click here for dossier]


    Kyrain Ekart : Son [Click here for dossier]


    Mitchell Ekart : Brother [Click here for dossier]


    Kody Ekart : [Click here for dossier]


    Other members: [Click here for dossier]


    Path is currently unknown, but Tier is believed between 15-20. Shows affinity for Water, fire, air, and earth.


    Path records indicate possible elementalist which was a nightmare to handle on any battlefield.


    Intervention is recommended.


    [Images]


    Number 1 was interested now and even snorted as the two brothers had fought and didn''t even know or cared. He had heard of each of the people save for Kyrain Ekart.


    "What is up with this family?" He asked to himself as he opened and closed each of the Dossiers until he got to Kyrain''s where he froze.


    The second worst memory of his life flashed in his minds eye. A blacker than black beam of something lancing out clipping his arm causing it to disolve and never be able to be regrown in spite of all the secrets left to them from before the flood and even after when they had the system before Solomon and his meddling.


    It couldn''t be the kid. He was not even tier 10. That blast was too powerful and he had a null path. Number 1 closed the report and pulled up the pictures of Sorin. The pictures they had were of him sitting down looking over at map at a gas station and others in full silver armor, but there was no mistaking the face. It had to be Sorin who was the one that fought on behalf of Israel.


    Number 1 reached forward and pressed the call button. A moment later the door opened to a bowing man.


    "Bring me the strongest collar we have, my highest rated armor, and my scythe." He commanded.


    The man immediately rushed away without a word as Number 1 went to a cabinet. He opened it to reveal an extremely futuristic prosthetic arm. He didn''t wear it much as to fully power it, it required a large amount of aether. He couldn''t remain hidden and safe to those around him with it powered. His path would fully activate slowly draining the life of those around him.


    He strapped it on and left his office. Vengeance burning in his eyes.

 Chapter 8 - Recovery and Direction

    Sorin had no trouble being patient, especially when there was an objective to his patience. This wasn''t it, he couldn''t deep dive some of his ideas to expand his path for fear of missing the message that should appear any time if he could still trust Euryale.


    He was in a tree next to a stream that ended in a large pool with a hole below it that drained down into an underwater cave that also drained into some ocean. The hole in this pool created a small whirlpool where a message would get caught up for a few minutes before getting swept away. This is what he and Euryale had plotted as dead drop site 12 or as she put it "DD12."


    The only bright side to his waiting was recovering from the rage headache he always got whenever he truly got angry. Headaches were honestly something he thought were a thing of the past, but guess not. This was much, much worse and it left him feeling weak.  The headache was a headache that seemed to be like that from a hangover after going extremely hard in the paint the night before with the strongest booze.


    He unfortunately, was still furious with the selfish actions of the duke. He had stopped at her request, but did so because she has had his best interest at heart and knew things he did not. Even in his rage addled mind, he knew he should heed her warnings and requests. He was hoping for an explanation whenever this message supposedly arrived.


    In hindsight, Euryale probably had multiple reasons for stopping him from killing Phorcys; at least that is what he would like to think. It was more like he was her father and she was a young woman who didn''t want to lose him. He could understand that and the old version of him understands, but the emerging ruthless version of him was kicking him.


    As Sorin sat there, he was reminded of an old saying which he couldn''t help but say out loud.


    "He who fights with monsters should take care that he does not become one himself."


    Sorin had ripped that castle appart and now that he was coming down off that rage everything was coming back to him, which was the reason that he didn''t want to open up the notifications he had recieved during his attack quite yet.


    If he ever spoke with Euryale again, he would have to ask how many he injured or killed in that attack, now that he thought about it; didn''t deserve it and then the shame hit him. There was a better way he could have handled that.


    Sorin sat up as he saw something floating down the stream. He smiled as he dropped down and picked it up from the water. After jumping back to the tree, he opened the container to read the surprisingly long message that was written to someone else but clearly talking to him which he was sure was a simple means of plausible deniability if intercepted.


    "Clever girl." He said with a giggle.


    Dear Kyrain,


    I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to give you a warning of the destruction of the palace and the rage of the duke due to the actions of Sorin Ekart.


    I am conflicted on how I should feel toward Sorin as he destroyed my childhood home, he severely injured my father, injured me, set the lands my family is responsible for into chaos, weakened our standing amongst the other dukes, but I also believe he was justified in his rage and have expressed as such with the duke at length as he recovers.


    My father has sworn vengeance upon Sorin as he has also damaged his standing with with Empire since an Adjudicator was still present and delayed the investigation into the actions of our house. My father has dispatched our headhunters. I have warned him that Sorin has little to fear from them as he almost killed him, but he refused to listen. Emotional decision making that could cost these good men their lives. I pray Sorin will hold back and not take them from their families. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    As to the investigation, luckily it was mostly complete. Sorin''s actions did make it clear that he was in fact a very powerful weapon capable of mimicking some of the damage seen by the infernal and it looks as though Belloraphon will be executed.


    Sorin was fortunate that he listened to me and did not kill the duke. Had he done that,  imperial head hunters would have been dispatched and I don''t think he is ready for those as they are generally tier 30 and above. He has had a meteoric rise to power, but there are many in this kingdom who are allowed to know many secrets of the imperial kingdom. You should know that the Emporer has had an embargo on information pertaining to paths. He slows the growth of all, but the chosen of his circles and everyone else is left to fend for themselves.


    Those who would have been dispatched are allowed access to great amounts of information to build their paths in terrifying ways, but even they do not compare to the Emperor.


    In relation to your mission, I have enclosed a write of travel to the planet Delphi in Region 2 and a map to the port. You will need to speak to the fates who can direct you to the best methods of getting to your mission destination. I hope your mission goes well and thank you for your assistance and services rendered. Nobody knows like I do how much you have helped over the years.


    - E -


    Sorin incinerated the letter and kept the writ so he could travel. Luckily she enclosed the map to the nearest star port which he began flying to using his flight abilities.


    He was digesting everything and was correct in his instincts apparently to trust Euryale if what she said is true. Imperial headhunters under the direction and information availability of a multi-thousand year old being was nothing to shake and stick at. He did have lesser headhunters coming after him, but they were nothing really to worry about according to Euryale. He still wouldn''t lower his guard as complacency kills. His regeneration was impressive, but had never been tested to its limits.


    Belloraphon was probably getting executed so he felt better about leaving as he helped end the war for good. Regardless the former duke was crippled and unless he found someone who could engineer spirit and recreate cores and channels he was done should he survive. He did feel bad for injuring Euryale and if he got thr chance, would apologize to her for it, but for now, he had to move.


    He needed to head to Delphi to see the Fates. Sorin found that amusing because on earth, many cultures would go to the city of Delphi to see the oracles. The Spartans were famous for this and wouldn''t go to war without consulting them he had once read. He did wonder if there was a connection between the oracles and the fates.


    He opened his HUD to see the notifications.


    Congratulations!


    Your skill Aether Wellspring has been upgraded. You may now absorb so much aether that you can potentially leave an area devoid of Aether. Caution: After extended use of this part of the skill leaves the user severely fatigued and weakened.


    Well that made sense why his head hurt like he was hung over and he was feeling overly tired. He then turned to the next notification.


    Congratulations!


    You have learned the skill Blind Rage(a) - You may activate this skill at an extreme Aether cost. You will be elevated as many tiers as you can afford for 30 minutes. Afterward, you will be left fatigued and weakened.


    Caution: Extended use can damage core and channels due to being beyond tiers you are not ready for.


    Caution: Mental faculties might be impacted resulting in inability to tell friend from foe. Recommened higher mental tier to maintain some control.


    "Huh!" Sorin said to himself as everything made so much sense now.


    He had accidently achieved a bezerker skill that was extremely potent with his build. He could also repair any damage up to a point,  which made it somewhat broken to use save for the severe fatigue from the skill use. A half hour was a very long time in combat anyway.


    Sorin closed his HUD, pleased with the skills, but not so much still as what it took to obtain those skills. He had worked very hard since his last deployment to keep control of his temper, but he had failed. He continued to kick himself for lose of control as it made it more easily manipulated when he had emotional reactions.


    He would have to do better and he would work harder to return to a cold, calculated warrior. He also couldn''t afford to hold back. His enemies were dangerous and he would have to be dangerous to stay alive.


    He would have to continue to bottle up his conscience and trust that he could get help when he got home and Brittanie could help him decompress and help return him to a form of the man he was.


    He was terrified that he was changing so much that the love of his life wouldn''t even recognize him anymore or worse....turn from him.

 Chapter 9 - A matter of coin

    A few days of non-stop travel had Sorin arriving at a very large city with numerous landing pads with various sized ships landing and taking off. He had switched off his title to remain unknown in the city as he didn''t need that type of attention. Following the information on the writ of travel led him to a large building labeled "Travel Authority."


    Sorin walked in and it was more or less as he expected. A line of counters, charts, and viewing screens that were an aether based television displaying travel times, arrivals, and departures.


    He saw different flights leaving for various planets all with names like Lemuria, Aaru, Nysa, Alfheim, Asgard, Agartha, Himavanta, Kunlun, and even Camelot.


    He looked down the list until he found Delphi. There were flights leaving each week for the place and one was leaving in about an hour.


    Sorin walked up to one of the counters where a stout man sat with a bored expression.


    "Good day, what can I do for you?" The man asked as if automated.


    "I''d like to get on their flight leaving for Delphi in an hour." He replied.


    "That''s 5 C rank cores." Came the reply leaving Sorin feeling stupid.


    "I apologize, I''ll have to come back. I''ve been away for a while and forgot about the cost. I apologize for taking your time." Sorin replied as he turned and headed out.


    Looking around, he needed to find a means to earn that coin, but had no idea where to start. He walked back in to the Travel Authority and to a different counter as he didn''t want to bother that one man again. He had a prickly feel about him and he didn''t have the patience for that, plus he knew even with his fraying control that would land him in even more trouble should he lose that little control.


    "Excuse me ma''am, I''m short on funds, is there a place I can find work to come up with the coin for a trip to Delphi?" Sorin asked. Working to affect a smile.


    The middle aged woman with greying black hair looked up and smiled.


    "I appreciate the honesty, but for that cost....there isn''t an easy way to do that." She said.


    "I don''t mind the effort." He replied.


    The woman just nodded and pulled a card from one of the card racks beside her and handed it to him.


    "Head over to the proving grounds. You can sign up for various fights be they against beast or user. Rates are based off bets made, attendance, and notoriety. I don''t know much more than that as what I said is common knowledge and I don''t care much for the fighting. For more you''re going to have to head over there." She explained quickly as Sorin took the offered card.


    "I appreciate it." He said as he headed away from the desk to the city map they had posted up on the wall. He searched it until he found a large building on the far right of the city named "Megara Proving Grounds."


    It was northeast of where he was now so he left the travel authority building and made his way to it.


    As he got closer he began seeing more and more street vendors selling things that made sense for a fighting event. Armor, weapons, and tonics. The weapons were nearly every shape, type, and size many of which he did recognize and some he had not at all.


    He didn''t need to buy any of these weapons as his skill with earth aether allowed him to shape any weapon from the metal he kept on him at all times, but one weapon gave him an idea.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    After getting the shop keepers permission he picked up a sword. It was shorter in length, but was segmented yet still connected.


    "As you swing, you squeeze the trigger located on the handle. It releases the blade, when you''re ready for it to return to sword form, you just relax your grip again and it becomes a solid blade once more." He said as Sorin looked it over.


    "This is actually a whip sword." Sorin responded with suprise.


    "It absolutely is. Extremely hard to use and it''s better if you have specific affinities, but its extremely effective if you become proficient with it."


    Sorin gave the weapon back to the keeper.


    "I might have a goal to work toward." He said thanking him and headed on to the proving grounds.


    It wasn''t long until a massive colleseum came into view. He was still a long way off, but it was easily bigger than the Roman colleseum by an extremely wide margin. It went without saying that it was also in better condition than the Roman colleseum too.


    A few more minutes of walking had him at the front gate, walking in. To his suprise, there were a ton of people in the extremely large lobby with counters set up like the travel authority. There were screens like the travel authority, but filled with all sorts of information. On some screens he saw active fights, replays, the weeks scheduled battles, the premiere battles of the highest ranked fighters, and even current odds of the ranked personnel.


    It was something like he would see on a handheld video game he used to play where they would duke it out in an arena with monsters they captured in this big arens with brackets and a league. He wondered if they had video games in this world and if there was a similar company that would go after anyone that used any concept they had if it did better than they did, but quickly shrugged the thought off.


    After a moment of looking around he found a rather short line for registration. It seemed most people were already registered. After about 10 minutes the line moved up a single spot. It seemed like this process took a while.


    Sorin folded his arms and was about to relax a bit with his sense on around him for potential threats, when the lobby exploded with cheering and excitement. Sorin with his frayed nerves extended his blades and turned for a fighting drawing some people attention, but most didn''t care.


    Sorin looked where they were watching and smiling as one fighter had another on the ground, blade to their opponents neck as they were holding up two fingers. Sorin heard the sound almost like a slot machine coming from the betting pool screen and he watched the one named Korgon rise by five points and Ilrea drop by 1 point.


    Many of the people began heading over to another counter and started walking away with cores they quickly stashed away.


    "Pay attention! The lines moving." A gruff voice said.


    Sorin turned and looked up at an extremely large building of a man that, to Sorin''s suprise, and only one eye.


    "A bit rude don''t you think?" Sorin said as he turned and began closing the gap in the line.


    "I think all the time human, perhaps you should try it." Came the quick comeback.


    "Perhaps you should think about developing some manners before it lands you into trouble you don''t see coming." Kyrain shot back.


    "Never heard that one before....real knee slapper." The Cyclops said stepping forward and looming over Sorin who just calmly looked up.


    "If this is your idea of intimidation...it''s rather pathetic. You probably shouldn''t register, you''re going to get yourself killed." He said beginning to turn away but keeping his senses open.


    "Oh...this isn''t my first time registering. This is me coming back after a half year ban for killing someone in a non death match." The cyclops said with a cruel undertone.


    Sorin thought about it for a second, then turned.


    "Are the winnings better for gutting a fish like you or are you not worth much since you have to re-register?" Sorin said starting to not care about the fight and seeing if he could goad the moron into a fight if it''s worth it.


    "Big words for a tiny man. Put your money where your mouth is when you register. Loser puts up all they have on them and the staff here start the rewards at single C rank core. It generally pays much more with betting on death matches."


    Sorin frowned.


    "Only one core?!" He replied with outrage in his tone.


    "Idiot....I said starting." Depending on who you fight determines the full payment." The cyclops said.


    Sorin looked up and down the cyclops and even scanned his aether core and channels only to find him at between Tier 10-12.


    "Fine, I''ll take you on. That should get me what i need or even pay my fare pretty easily." Sorin said nonchalantly.


    "Don''t go anywhere then. Little nothing matches like this are easy to set up. Few people care about them. It''s the named fighters that take time for advertising."


    Sorin just looked at him. "Yeah, sure dude. I''ll be here. It''s not like I have anywhere else to be, but do me a favor...can you look in some other direction? Your breath smells like seafood aged for a week. It''s disgusting."

 Chapter 10 - Blood and Bone

    It was nostalgic being back in an arena, Sorin thought as he crouched down running his hand through the sand. He looked inward at his memories at the academy where he could practically see the other conscripts training and getting brutally bashed around, only to get up and keep training.


    Sorin turned and stood as his opponent came walking into the arena to the sound of applause from those who knew his name, right before the arena announcer sounded out over the arena.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! For our next fight, we have a death match between first timer Sorin Ekart, currently unranked and Polyphemus who is at 3 stars!"


    A second voice jumped in at this point.


    "Many of you may remember that Polyphemus was on a year long ban for accidently killing his last opponent. It seems he learned and is just doing death matches in spite of the risk."


    There was a brief pause before the commentator picked up with a very pointed next announcement.


    "Our other fighter is listed as unknown which is definitely not something we like around here as it messes with our betting tables, but seems definitely confident...or is it arrogance?"


    It was at this moment that aether projected across the arena showing a count down which was excitedly narrated by the announcers.


    Sorin had to be smart here and couldn''t be arrogant as he knew the guy was going to go for the quick kill. Before they registered for the death match, he told Sorin he had bet before registering, where he bet sizable amounts of cores on killing him quickly which irked Sorin somewhat, but only a little as he had done the same with the few cores he had remaining. He had to make his own bet category for detailing what would happen in the fight, around how long it would take, and who would be the victor.


    He more or less called his victory terms in the bet, which got quite the laugh out of the bookie. They were not kidding about him affecting the tables. Since he was an unknown the best he got were 100:1 since it was pretty precise how he would win. If they could factor in other items it could change how the odds would be calculated, but he feared it wouldn''t have been in his favor as much.


    The time had 10 seconds left and the crowd began counting down. Sorin went to ready his weapon then affected clumsiness by fumbling it before getting in his stance causing a round of laughs and the cyclops to just shake his head.


    3...2...1....beeeep!


    The fight was on. Polyphemus rocketed across the arena with a massive axe by his side. Sorin sighed,


    "Slash...right to left." He said to himself remarking on the stupidity of telegraphing your attacks. This only works when you are sure of your enemy, but this guy had no information where Sorin had this dinks information which he reflected on through his memory.


    Polyphemus


    Rank: 3 Star


    Path: Decendant of the Iliad


    Tier: 12


    Wins: 72 Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Loses: 6


    Draws: 0


    Not even a split moment went by as Sorin reflected on what he knew before he decided he would get ready as the predicted slash came in. Sorin merely stepped away and angled out causing the cyclops to miss and have to pivot which he did into an over head chop down.


    To Sorin everything seemed much slower. It more or less reminded him of when he would play sword fighting with his toddler son. How easily he avoided the strikes before countering and his boy would fall down and giggle.


    Snapping back to reality, Sorin stepped to the side and let Polyphemus bury his axe in the sand only for Sorin to flex his will and sealed the weapon in the now solidified ground. Before the cyclops could react, Sorin flicked his blade and severed his right hand at the wrist causing blood to spray out and the screaming to start.


    Falling back Polyphemus reached behind him to a blade he kept along his waist that for your average person was a large sword, but for the around 15 foot cyclops, it was a short sword bordering on dagger.


    Enraged, Polyphemus came in swinging. To Sorin''s slight suprise, but then he thought about it a little more, it made sense, when he saw the stump healing over as the cyclops glowed blue with aether use.


    "Well...at least you''re consistent with legends. I''m glad you''re not like the first cyclopes...would be a serious problem then." Sorin said to the irrate behemoth who didn''t even seem like he heard.


    Sorin watched the cyclops use his left hand and saw how awkward he was. Clearly wasn''t practiced with his left hand...a fatal weakness that Sorin used when he enlarged his blade and went with a head on block much to the suprise of the crowd that cleary never expected a human to go head to head with a cyclops and stop him in his tracks.


    Not only did Sorin stop the string, but stepped under the strike letting it slide over his head guided by his sword as he twisted and slashed down on the top of the ankle where it was at its softest point, severing tendons and ligaments alike as he wrapped around forming his second blade and slashing through the same legs achilles tendons inciting a roar of agony from his opponent.


    Polyphemus slashed backwards trying to catch Sorin, but he was already gone using the earth to slide him away from danger. Sorin turned and looked up at the clock which read "2:22" and counting. He had less than 3 minutes left and he needed to do a few more things.


    Sorin casually walked up to the limping cyclops who was white with fury and smiled up which caused the beast to become even more enraged and swing down on him.


    Sorin reached up, reabsorbing his swords. and blocked the cyclops wrist with his right arm causing him to sink into the sand a bit from the force, before he stepped through and with his left he reached back and forced the cyclop''s arm down and back in a standing kumora lock.


    The giant tried to rip Sorin off the ground using his size, but Sorin locked himself in place using the earth like he sealed the axe in place. He pressed more, forcing the shoulder back more causing extreme pain until Polyphemus let go of his blade to try to get out of the grip.


    With a little extra effort Sorin cranked forward tearing the shoulder apart from the inside and dislocating it at the same time. At the same time he took control of the blade through his aether manipulation and pulled it to his hand. As the cyclops reeled from another severe injury he turned and severed his left hand from his arm before quickly slashing down on ankle and achilles evening up the damage.


    Sorin checked the clock, 4:07. He was nearly there, but was ahead of schedule. He was going to deliver his final blow, which will be the killing blow, with the beasts own weapon, at the 5 minute mark, through the eye, and Polyphemus will die on his back. No hands, with both achilles tendons severed.


    Sorin backed off and waited, watching the cyclops stare at him with shock and disbelief on his face with a look that told Sorin everything. The cyclops knew he had made a terrible mistake in his arrogance, but was also confused at why Sorin was waiting.


    As soon as the clock reached 4:50 Sorin began moving forward. He watched the clock and exactly as the clock turned to 5 minutes the blade he took from Polyphemus, Sorin had slammed into the eye of the cyclops at his full speed and strength as a pillar of stone slammed into his chest and blocked his legs causing him to slam backwards on his back.


    Sorin let go of the blade from his place on a knee next to the head of the now dead cyclops and began to walk to where he entered the arena as the announcers called out his victory over the former 3 star fighter.


    Time to go collect his winnings. Sorin smiled and rubbed his hands together. Hopefully it was a good payout. He didn''t want to stick around much longer.

 Chapter 11 - Back to the basics

    Sorin was cussing up a storm as he walked down the street. He had recieved one C rank core and an assortment of D cores for his fight and bet which wasn''t even close to enough. The world that he was on didn''t have a lot of C rank beasts or higher roaming around and the dungeons that they did exist in were all closely guarded and had a fee attached to anyone not with an established faction. In spite of his foul mood, he was careful to keep his aether tight to himself and stay as inconspicuous as possible in spite of his showing in the proving grounds.


    Sorin had tried to get more fights, but there were not going to be anything for at least a week and nobody else wanted to fight him when he was looking around in the lobby. His showing had scared most of the people that were strictly non-lethal prize fighters. They didn''t want to go into a match they knew was probably going to be a lose for their record.


    He could try betting more, but he always knew his luck when it came to games of chance was abysmal. Even when he used to play a card game called "Magic the Gathering" he had to minimize the amount of luck required to win and set his deck to operate more off of probability and strategy. He even had to include some cards that the community called "fetches" so that he could get the specific cards he needed. He never did end up getting one of his nastiest combos working where he couldn''t take damage and couldn''t lose.


    *Thoom!*


    The next thing Sorin knew,  he was in the air with everything flashing passed him and a giant steel and wood bolt sticking out of his chest. He let himself continue to rocket through the air. Sorin''s mind caught up and in a moment he had re-oriented himself to the situation at hand. He flexed his will causing the wood to incinerate and the metal, he added to his armor. The moment the bolt left his body cavity, his regeneration began to kick in healing his injuries. He was mentally kicking himself for being so complacent again. His lack of awareness was going to get him killed.


    In reality, Sorin was only airborne for no more than 4-5 seconds, but at the level he was at, it was enough. Once he was ready he activated his flight skill and slowed his momentum, but not enough to stop the impact into the ground causing a crater conveniently outside of the city in the plains.


    With a half grunt and half sigh Sorin rolled over and began to crawl his way out of the crater watching his aether sense as two objects entered his range. He crawled out of the crater entirely as two figured landed in front of him wearing all black and helmets that resembled the newer robocop movie. Looking at their builds he could see one was male and one was female.


    "Sorin Ekart, by order of Duke Phorcys. You are under arrest. Your options are surrender or face execution here." The female spoke in a sharp clipped voice with a slight Mediterranean accent which the whole speech itself amused Sorin, but not enough to bring him out of his foul mood from being struck by these two.


    He looked at them closer and was suprised. Their channels were very wide and solid. Their cores were large and filled to the brim with aether, but with types he had not seen before. The male had a core filled with a sickly green aether and the woman had a brilliant white aether.


    He judged them to be between Tier 12-15. They definitely were not stronger than he was. He needed to blow off some steam so why not have some fun with these two.


    "I''m not coming with you two, but you wouldn''t happen to have any c rank cores on you by chance though?" Sorin replied as he felt a manic grin spread across his face.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The man let out a sigh and drew his sword as the woman pulled a dagger from her side.


    "You have no chance against us with aether levels like yours." The male said tapping a button on his helmet.


    "Is that helmet like a scouter?!" Sorin quickly asked hopeful it was.


    "I don''t know what that is but it measures aether output from a distance and judges your tier quickly. You''re a tier 5." He replied to Sorin as he began pushing that green aether to his blade.


    "Sounds like a scouter, but whatever. Let''s get this over with. I''ll check it out for myself." Sorin said as he formed a set of hook swords from his metal armor and let the rest of it close over top of his body.


    He dropped into a stance as the pair darted forward. To a standard human, they would have appeared as the wings of a hummingbird, but to Sorin, they looked as slow a toddler rushing at their parent with a stick.


    The man swung his blade toward Sorin who deflected it then twisted his own sword using the hook at the end to snag the sword. He succeeded and disrupted the rhythm the man was trying to enter into to. He was the woman flanking behind him and with a flex of his will and a little timing, he waited until her foot touched the ground then shifted the soil quickly and violently using her speed and momentum against her. She went tumbling off, buying Sorin more time to focus on the man who had tried to react to the second sword coming in.


    The man wrenched his blade out of the grip of the hook and fell backward as Sorin turned hooking the second blades hook with his first and lashing it out like a whip catching the man by suprise and opening up a deep gash across his chest even through the armor.


    Seeing the blood gush out in a fountain gave Sorin an idea. He reached out to the blood. The vast majority of the human body was water so Sorin really looked for the blue motes and sure enough...there they were and he pulled.


    Sorin''s brows furrowed as nothing happened at first. He felt a strong resistance and so he applied more to his manipulation skill and still nothing. He sensed behind him that the woman was up and moving quickly in his direction. He applied even more aether and finally, it worked. The blood pulled away from the mans wounds and he reached for the blood on the ground which came up much easier.


    Dismissing his blades, Sorin twisted his hands and whipped the blood and formed it into a blade of crimson at lashed out at the womans legs. As is the case with water being used in this fashion of pressure, it can cut through just about anything. It did.


    The lower legs of the woman were sheared off cleanly like a razor blade through soft plastic. She began screaming as she fell to the ground, more blood spouting from her injuries adding more to his already lethal blood weapon. Sorin whirled and forced his crimson blade finish the man he had formerly cut.


    Before the man knew what had happened, his body from the pecks upward was looking up from the ground at the rest of his body.


    Sorin could see the woman behind him still slowly moving, but much slower as shock was setting in from blood loss. With a flick of his hand, he cut her throat before letting the blood fall to the ground.


    Sorin didn''t waste any time as he went and pulled the helmet off the man. With another flex of his will and desire he pulled all the sweat, snot, tears, and blood from the helmet leaving it clean before he put it on himself.


    The lens from the outside was pitch black with a red fiber optic line running across the front of it. He looked around and didn''t see anything at first so he flew up in the air and looked for the nearest person.


    It wasnt that hard as many if the guards were watching from the gates at the battle that had taken place.


    He focused in on one of them, but still nothing happened. He then remembered the guy had pushed a putton. He reached up and after feeling around he felt it around where his left temple was. He pushed in and data began rolling. It reminded him of how they show facial recognition in TV shows and movies.


    Eventually it gave him a read out and based on where his eyes looked, it zoomed in on each of the profiles giving place of domicile, aether output, suggested tier, and a whole host of other information.


    "Well this is useful." Sorin said as he began to rifle through the belongings of each of the "bounty hunters" he supposed he would call them. To his further add to hus disappointment, they had nothing else on them.


    He was about to take off when he felt more objects moving quickly toward him at the outer edge of his range. Sorin needed to go. If he got arrogant he would end up dead.

 Chapter 12 - To go even further beyond

    Sorin watched from way up in the sky as fourth group of hunters in as many days scoured the ground for evidence of him. He didn''t get to keep the helmet he gained from the first group because he discovered they were using it to track him.


    He had more than enough cores now for his trip off world, but every time he tried to make his way back, another team would show up and drive him further from the city and he was getting frustrated. Sorin needed to find a way around this as flying turned out to be a no go because as soon as he flew near these teams they spotted him through their path use. He couldn''t use the earth travel method as they detected him as did they find him in water.


    He also discovered that as soon as they are killed, the stopping of their heart triggered an aether beacon that alerted the nearest teams and the groups hunting him got bigger and bigger.


    Sorin flew low and away through the trees and into the mountain range he had been following as he was being pushed back. After hours of flying as fast as he could comfortably he turned into the mountains and hid himself away. It was time he pushed for an idea he had pertaining to hiding and information gathering.


    He moved into the side of the hill and hollowed out a cavity with multiple gaps to allow for air flow. If he didn''t have to be uncomfortable more than necessary then why should he be?


    Sorin thought back to his memories now with a pristine memory he could see the articles in front of him as if he was reading them right now.


    The eye perceives light that reflects off of different objects. Now if he stopped the light from reaching someone''s eye there would be a number of possibilities, all but one is unhelpful.


    The first is a dark void. Light just missing would be a black hole like thing and that would stand out, so definitely not useful.


    The other is if he didn''t do it right, there would be a distortion. That would be hard to pervieve at a distance and especially at night, but easier in the day and up close.


    If he really did it wrong he could create what is known as Einstein''s halo. A void with a halo. Cool but, useless.


    Sorin create a brilliant white ball of fire and began to focus on the pure white aether it pushed off which Sorin associated with light, but was actually a few things he didn''t feel like exploring further at the moment. He watched as the pouring of light aether hit everything and scattered. These motes of aether would be absorbed and interpreted by his eyes, but they were chaos incarnate. With these white motes he could see a red motes combined in smaller amounts and even a silver mote that he couldn''t identify quite yet. The heat or fire motes he was used to and he saw how the light and heat worked together. Heat, he knew to he everywhere to some degree otherwise everything would reach a state of stillness and be known as absolute zero.


    Sorin looked closer and saw the darker red mote encircled the brilliant white mote and overpowered it making it the red harder to see at a glance.


    He didn''t want to pull the heat, but the light itself. He thought for a second. Then it hit him.


    "Photons."


    Photons are governed by electromagnetics like practically everything else in the universe including what his original path was.


    Sorin reached to the electric affinity he had long since mastered. He began pushing electricity through his channels and the world around himself watching as it interacted. As soon as the energy was exchanged or interacted a pulse was launched out and he had used that in a very crude fashion he was now seeing. So much wasted aether to get this much interaction to offset his weight and allow him to fly through pushing on his environment greater than he was pulled down.


    Sorin became confused at this point. How was he truly manipulating everything? Was he really manipulating water, earth, air, fire, electricity?


    There were 7 layers of reality as far as Sorin knew. There was quantum, atomic, micro, macro, relative, speculative, and spiritual. What he was doing was operating at the atomic level and pushing into the quantum level where he was dealing with the pure energy of everything.


    Sorin reached with his will and touched the waves of what he determined to be pure wave energy. It had no substance or shape, but just was. It was the substance he knew the electrons, protons, neutrons, and everything else was comprised of. To his suprise, unlike most of his other tests and experiments, the energy responded to him and sort of embraced him it seemed. It was a strange interaction that almost seemed alive.


    *bleep!*


    *bleep!*


    After the second notification all Sorin knew was pain. Pain far beyond anything he had felt so far in his life for the last decade. It was deep inside.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Then he felt it. A shattering which poured more agony through his body and he knew no more.


    Sorin woke to his body screaming in agony deep within and even on the surface. He opened his eyes and was startled by everything he saw. It was as if the system was bugged and ruining his vision.


    ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???


    ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???


    ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???


    ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???


    ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???


    ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???


    As sorin turned his head everything flowed around him as the characters continued to form around him.


    He coughed and he noticed a change in the characters. He then activated an orb of fire. As soon as he did, his head nearly split open. Characters were flowing down his vision insanely fast and it hurt even his high tiered mind.


    ??? ??? ????. ??. ??????. ???


    Sorin extinguished the light and the previous characters returned.


    At a loss Sorin pulled up his HUD.


    ??? ?? ????? ??????....????


    01001100 01100001 01101110 01100111 01110101 01100001 01100111 01100101


    00100000 01110101 01101110 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 01101110


    00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100101 01110010


    00101110 00101110 00101110 01100011 01101111 01110010 01110010 01100101


    01100011 01110100 01101001 0110111


    ??? ?? ????? ??????....??????


    Translation complete!


    Correcting physcial attributes of the user.


    Correction complete!


    Congratulations! Your path has evolved from Aether Sovereign to Primordial Sovereign. By glimpsing the plane of creation and understanding the barest surface of it''s laws, you have achieved more power and understanding. Your skills have been changed accordingly.


    Congratulations!


    By achieving the Path Primordial Sovereign, you no longer have a core or channels. The universe is your core and you may pull on it for your needs. Skill - Limiter (a) added. Warning! Pulling too much aether will negatively affect non-human life and even may kill it leaving aether blight wherever you go depending on use.


    Sorin was stunned and immediately checked his full status.


    Name: Sorin Ekart


    Path: Primordial Sovereign


    Sovereign (Deactivated)


    Overall Adjusted Tier: 20


    AP: X/X


    Body: 32000/35000(T16)


    Mind: 28000/30000 (T15)


    Spirit: X/X(Null)


    Abilities:


    1. Creation Gaze(p)/(a) - You see the fabric of creation. Through more understanding the universe reveals more and more secrets. All information is available to you provided you know how to read it.


    2. Primordial Touch (a) - All matter is aether. All aether acknowledges your touch and responds to you.


    3. Primordial Being (p) - The universe is your core. You are limited by the aether in your vicinity. Warning! Low ambient aether will weaken you or strengthen you.


    4. Primordial Aether Master(a) - Aether moves according to your will. If you can imagine it, you can do it provided you can bridge the right gaps to conform to Heaven''s law. Destroy, modify, or build aether channels in others.


    5. Limiter(a) - you may limit your being to a certain amount of aether use based on average AP of that tier. Operating at constant full power will place a detectable and even dangerous aether drain around you. This will limit all your abilities to a specific tier. May remove at any time. (Percentage based)


    6. Environmental Immunity (p) - as you have established a connection with your being and pure aether, you are no longer affected by ambient conditions. Path skills and abilities still affect you. (Light, thermal, toxic, vacuum, etc)


    Sorin opened his eyes and what was once dark was no longer. He could see everything with detail. He was seeing the aether as it is and the shapes it takes as well as how the spectrums or lack there of would reach his eyes.


    Everything gave off aether radiation and he could read it all from sound, to vibration, to radiation.


    He just sat there in shock of his new tier, the new information, the new everything. He would need to examine everything and eventually make sure everything functions at the macro and microscopic level of his body. Was he even a human at this point?


    That was something for a little later.


    "Unexpected, unintended, but definitely not unwanted." Sorin said to himself getting to his feet.


    After a while he flexed his will like he did before with his earth affinity and everything moved according to his will, even easier before. The aether jumped to his command and a way out was opened to him.


    Sensing the light, he commanded it to move around him and not reflect off of him and to his suprise, it did exactly as he willed it.


    Sorin smiled....he would now be able to get off this planet.