《Ball of Light: Specialization》


 Chapter 1: To Begin Anew

    ¡°Steve! Wake up!¡± a Voice shouted in his ear. It sounded nice. Female. A bit familiar. ¡°Steve?¡±


    Steve awoke with a start. Everything was dark. He tried to focus his vision to no effect.


    Another vision? Steve thought immediately. Then he remembered he had evolved. What had happened?


    ¡°Bonnie, I can¡¯t see.¡± Steve sent. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Try opening your eyes!¡± Bonnie unhelpfully sent.


    Or maybe it had a point¡­


    Steve tried opening his eyes. It worked!


    He was so used to just being able to see everything around him. Now, his vision was severely limited to two eyes. Everything seemed a lot bigger around him. He was in his residence. Maybe it was the height difference?


    Steve walked over to a vanity mirror. His original guest room had been upgraded into a permanent village home in the inner circle of the village. Basically it just got better furnishing and a good sounding title. Instead of a guest, he was now an honorary part of Niti Village. He had the status of a Left or Right in the village formally.


    He looked at himself in the mirror. Steve saw a black humanoid dwarf. About three feet tall. He was thin, and without a mouth or nose. His face just had two eyes that could just barely be seen. They were slits on his face. But there was a problem.


    The issue wasn¡¯t that his appearance was ugly to him or aesthetically displeasing. Of course, there was that, too. The problem was that he felt exactly the same as he had as a ball of light, even though he looked extremely different on the outside. Logically, he shouldn¡¯t be feeling that way.


    Right?


    ¡®Did anything change, Bonnie?¡¯ Steve asked. He was hoping to hear good news.


    ¡°You¡¯re black now!¡± Bonnie happily answered. An awkward pause occurred shortly after.


    Bonnie was beginning to irk Steve, even though it was technically right. ¡°Aside from the color, you have a fleshly body!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right, Bonnie.¡± Steve was patient. He pressed Bonnie for more answers. ¡°Did any of my abilities change?¡±


    ¡°Yes! They¡¯ve all been erased, besides Mastery of Languages,¡± Bonnie replied, this time a bit more serious.


    As soon as Bonnie said this, Steve felt his patience waning. Had he been tricked?


    ¡°Though, you did get to keep your Energy system!¡± Bonnie declared. Then it half-laughed. Was that a giggle? ¡°And you gained one new spell. You can change forms using your Energy! You should have seen the look in your eyes. Murderous!¡±


    Steve would normally retort back, but then he thought of something.Was it just him, or was Bonnie acting out more than usual? In the last few days it had been talking back a lot more.Maybe it had something to do with the restrictions being lifted off of Bonnie.


    This was new.


    ¡®So I can become whatever I want now?¡¯ Steve asked. This was useful to know. If he could copy whatever he wanted then he could just become a bird and fly over to the first dot on his mental map. Or maybe hitch a ride on a bird by becoming a feather.


    ¡°Nope! You¡¯re limited,¡± Bonnie clarified. ¡°The thing is, you can only become something that you¡¯ve seen before. And it has to be a living organism. Also, it can¡¯t be too complicated for your mind. You¡¯re keeping your energy system, by the way. Try to think of ways to manipulate your energy to your advantage!¡±


    ¡°By the way, here¡¯s your new objective!¡±


    After that, Steve saw blue.


    [Evolution Upgrades]


    [Mimic Changeling - Five medium crystals absorbed. Grants up to ten forms. Upgrades inner abilities. Inner path.


    [Copycat Mageling - Five medium crystals absorbed. Grants up to ten forms. Upgrades magical abilities. Mage path.


    [Trickster Knightling - Five medium crystals absorbed. Grants up to ten forms. Upgrades physical abilities. Physical path.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    [??? - One superior crystal absorbed. Grants unlimited forms. Physical path.


    [??? - One superior crystal absorbed. Grants three forms. Mage path.


    [??? - One superior crystal absorbed. Grants ten forms. Inner path.]


    This was interesting. Medium crystals for new upgrades to his Changeling form and superior ones for three unknown ones. Steve shelved this information for later as he had a task at hand.


    He tried willing his energy to become Ash. He remembered the boy, blond-haired and tall. He watched himself in the mirror as the energy that made up his fleshly body reorganized himself. Was it even a fleshly body at this point?


    He watched as his short black stature became more spread out. Steve rose to be a slightly taller condensed version of Ash. And he didn¡¯t get the color right. He was still black.


    ¡®This is too underwhelming.¡¯ Steve thought, a bit depressed. ¡®Where did my strong abilities go?¡¯


    After half an hour of struggle, he finally succeeded. He was an acceptable version of Ash, though if anyone looked closely they would be able to tell that he wasn¡¯t really human. Steve adjusted his body a little more, and suddenly it felt right. It had righted itself into a perfect copy.


    Then, energy began flowing up and down his body. It felt different, like something had clicked inside of him and let loose a torrent of power. Was this the mana he kept on hearing about?


    Steve walked outside. He was going to try and use this power. Pointing at a rock, he tried to recall the chant Ash had used when casting a spell. After speaking a few nonsense words and feeling embarrassed, Steve gave up. It was too difficult. He tried doing it his way instead.


    He thought of his Shock spell. And tried to trigger it. After ten minutes of trying it this way, a small lightning bolt was formed straight from his new energy storage and shot at the rock. It made a small black dent in the rock, but nothing else happened. Why was it so weak? Mana felt even more underwhelming than his current evolution state.


    It was one thing seeing others cast spells through chanting and motions. It was another thing to experience it firsthand. To Steve, the system was flawed. It was extremely inefficient and wasted a lot of time. Of course, if the users of mana suddenly switched to pure energy like Steve, then it would be a lot easier. Steve hadn¡¯t experienced using mana like this, so he didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡®So I¡¯ll just cast using only energy,¡¯ Steve analyzed. ¡®This way, I should be able to recreate some spells that I practiced the most.¡¯


    It was harder casting spells in this form, for sure. Instead of purely imagining it and it happening based on his energy, he needed to imagine it first taking a route through his body. This took a lot more time and effort than he expected. The ¡®Beginner¡¯ moment had been too simple compared to this. Steve would have to spend a lot more time trying to learn the ins and outs of this new evolution.


    Alright, I think it¡¯s fine, Steve ended his training session. He felt fine about this evolution now, since he would be able to turn into anything living that he knew about. It was definitely good for defense and utility. He headed to Ash¡¯s house as Ash. Steve had to inform the villagers of his change, before they grouped up and tried to oust him from the village.


    He passed by a few villagers on the way. They all waved greetings to him. Steve waved back. It was clear having only two eyes. He noticed that it wasn¡¯t such a big deal that his range of vision was smaller. Before, he would be distracted by the slightest movement in his peripherals, which would be anything he wasn¡¯t currently focusing his attention on. Having this form simplified life a lot.


    It wasn¡¯t all that bad.


    Steve reached the residence and moved the flap to the side to get in. He noticed that after five days of being a ball of light, he was still getting used to his body. The way he moved wasn¡¯t natural, even though he had some memories of moving in a human body. It made sense, though. Mere memories of walking couldn¡¯t replace years of practice.


    He came face to face with Ash.


    ¡°Hi! I¡¯m Steve,¡± Steve greeted him. He realized it might be a bit overwhelming for Ash to accept him, so he started off with a light greeting. ¡°Do not be alarmed.¡±


    In reality, it was the exact opposite. Ash said his greetings, and took it in stride. Apparently, to the villagers, there was nothing God Steve couldn¡¯t do. During his last two days at the village, there had been more and more villagers bowing down to him when he passed by. Steve knew now that he wasn¡¯t a God. Far from it. Somebody just placed him in an energy powered light body into a new world, that was all.


    At the same time, he wasn¡¯t in a hurry to change the villager¡¯s minds. There were benefits to being a God. The village was on track to becoming an official town of the Empire, which he had learned was a huge human country. His influence in Niti Village would hopefully stay the same. Of course, nothing was set in stone. Niti still had ways to go to becoming a town.


    First, they would sell off the remaining Crystals and Elemental Lumber to nearby cities and the Capital. Niti Village was located on the East side of the human lands, with the middle of the Empire being the Capital.


    Steve spent some time with Ash. The boy still wanted to learn from him, but Steve had told Ash he¡¯ll come around at a later time for him. Steve was confident that he would be able to find answers outside successfully. Afterwards, he would definitely pay a visit back to where he started out from. The couple of days at Niti Village had made a lasting impression of him.


    It was a peaceful, large village. It had a small lake nearby, surrounded by forests. The people were farmers and ranchers. They kept a peaceful lifestyle, training in magic recreationally. Typically, the kids wouldn¡¯t turn out to be hardcore mages. It was a cozy village that gave him a warm feeling. Of course, loving the slow lifestyle didn¡¯t mean that they were completely weak. Steve understood the implications of their way of magic. If they were enemies from the start, Steve wouldn¡¯t be here talking to Ash right now.


    Not liking conflict did not imply that one was weak. It simply implied that one disliked conflict.


    A lot of people got this ideal mixed up, including the Mottor clan. Conflict had been their growth, but also their downfall. Steve found out that Leffer was preparing to sue the Mottor for damages. The Mottor would likely be taken out of power with their clan disbanded. If there were survivors from their ruling class, then they would be removed as well.


    Most likely killed. There was no mercy for disobeying the Empire. That was the basis of how the Empire kept their rule.


    Steve had enjoyed his time at Niti Village, but he needed to move on. He decided to stay a few more days in order to prepare for his journey. As he left Ash¡¯s house, he felt an eerie rumbling start in his abdominal area. It was familiar, but strange at the same time.


    Was he hungry?

 Chapter 2: Food

    Steve fiddled around with the image of the map in his head. He had already decided to go to Mudda, however far it was. According to Ash, it would take him around a week of traveling nonstop to get to the border. Then, he would need to either dodge the border patrols or produce identification for passage. Steve decided to figure it out on the way there.


    Though, there was a slight problem.


    Energy.


    He was currently seated around a dining table, with various human dishes in front of him. However, he didn¡¯t like the taste of any of these foods. They looked alright but tasted disgusting to him. Steve didn¡¯t have any memories of eating food before, especially these ones, so he was just copying Ash. They were eating what looked like vegetable kebabs using their hands.


    He still didn¡¯t know whether or not the food was helping him.


    They were having a family dinner. Settled around him were Ash, Azra, Amon, and Azza. Azza was the mother of Ash and Azra. She changed names after marrying into the family.


    Apparently, being a changeling meant adapting to a different body both mentally and physically. Steve was in the body of a fifteen year old boy who was learning to eat for the first time. The food felt foreign and hot when it traveled into his body. He wondered whether he would need to eat in his other form as well. That would be a disaster. Food was inefficient. Energy was better.


    ¡°Just know that you¡¯ll need to adapt to different forms when changing,¡± Bonnie had said when he questioned it. ¡°After you feel yourself click into place, you¡¯ll start feeling urges based on the form you take. I¡¯m not sure whether you gain anything from eating, honestly. Maybe it depends on the form.¡±


    So that was why he was at this circular, wooden table sharing a meal with the A family. His mind and body were now connected and aligned, which meant that his mind shared the burdens of having a body. His body also shared the burden of having a mind, though not at the moment. A body overlaid with stress from the mind could have detrimental effects.


    Although Steve wasn¡¯t currently in distress, he had a feeling that he could kick his human body into overdrive through adrenaline. It was all a matter of needs.


    The Changeling evolution was peculiar in that it could make his outer appearance identical to his target, but the inside feeling was almost the same as a ball of light. Steve assumed this was because of his energy system staying the same, but he wasn¡¯t completely sure. One question kept popping up when he thought about it.


    Why was this evolution the best choice?


    He had confirmed it multiple times, back before he changed. Deity and Vampire were self-explanatory. They seemed like powerful evolutions, based on what Steve had heard from Ash. The Legendary Vampire George had united the whole continent back then, and he was a vampire. They had strong magic. Blood magic.


    Deity, on the other hand, also seemed like a powerful evolution. They must also have had strong magic, but Steve wasn¡¯t sure what else. Being a Deity sounded all-powerful, though.


    So, knowing all this, why was Changeling still at the top for him? There was a rule that said he couldn¡¯t evolve to his last evolution, so it was quite possible that Changeling had a better evolution he wasn¡¯t aware of. Maybe this wasn¡¯t the end game.


    Steve had also wondered about the ¡®Locked¡¯ rules. It seemed a bit scary, how after the ¡®Beginner¡¯ moment he was going to be launched into the unknown. He couldn¡¯t go off-continent, though, according to the rules. What would happen if he broke it?


    Cross-referencing the set of new rules with his map, he saw that there was a dot extremely far away from the others. That person, Steve assumed it was a person like him and not an alien, was potentially on another continent based on where the dots were located.


    This begged the question: Were the rules the same for everyone?


    Wondering more about this would do him no good. Part of the benefits of having a strong mind was that he could ignore a lot of the surroundings. It wasn¡¯t exactly like being thoughtless, it was more of consciously blotting out incoming signals.


    The food had gone down his throat and into his stomach, where it was currently being digested. Steve wasn¡¯t sure what was going on inside him, but he did feel the abnormal digestive system. It continuously hummed inside of him until it stopped. Then, Steve felt full. Or he thought he did. It was extremely hard to tell, since he had only just turned into a human.


    Maybe being a human wasn¡¯t a good idea after all.


    There was a bit of conversation at the table. It had turned a bit heated when Azra and Amon verbally sparred, but Azza had brought a stop to that. Steve, having finished his food, turned to Ash. Sensing a lull in the conversation, he took the opportunity.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait an hour, then test our bodies¡¯ limits,¡± Steve said in his new body. Even his voice was the same as Ash¡¯s. He wanted to compare the seemingly identical bodies. If he had the same physical limits as Ash, then he could safely assume that his Changeling power allowed him to have the same body structure for his insides. He would be all but human in that case.


    He walked around for an hour, getting a good feel for his new body and stature. Technically, he was five days old. It would still take a while before he mastered his movements. He would need to build up that muscle memory.


    Steve couldn¡¯t bring up his old energy numbers in his head anymore. The only thing he could go off of was his instinct. This worried him, because he didn¡¯t know when he would run out of energy. He could now feel the food giving him a bit of energy, but the amount didn¡¯t seem worth it for the torture. Steve really needed to figure out what kinds of food would provide him the most energy.


    Ash and Steve met up at the end of that hour, and then stood by a measured out hundred meter line. They would both start sprinting at the same time to the end. This would let Steve know whether or not his body was structured differently.


    Azra had started the race with a horn.


    The horn was structured to make a loud bellowing noise to signal the start of a competition. Usually it was used for village activities, such as sports. The kids loved to play a game they called ¡®Soccer¡¯, which involved kicking around a ball on the floor and trying to shoot it into a goal. Steve thought this was hilarious when Ash told him of it, because it seemed too easy. But Ash had said the game was easy to play and hard to master, which made it fun.


    The two young men ran as fast as they could. Steve was clumsy and awkward with his running, but still managed to beat Ash. His running was extremely inefficient, but still faster than Ash¡¯s. It seemed his body was made of something else and structured differently. Steve had barely used up any energy, while Ash was panting.


    ¡°Wow,¡± Ash said after a while. He sounded a bit displeased, for some reason. ¡°What a God.¡±


    Steve had nothing to say. He had run terribly, but still managed to overpower Ash in the end. They had been close in the beginning fifty meters, but after that, Ash¡¯s somewhat delicate mage body began to fail him. It was one or the other for most people. Either choose to be a mage or choose to be a warrior. For humans, of course.


    ¡°Want to go again?¡± Steve lightheartedly asked. Somehow, it brought him pleasure to beat Ash with his own body.


    ¡°Let¡¯s rest,¡± Ash suggested, shaking his head.


    Steve smiled. It was his first time smiling, and it felt good. Pleasurable. He immediately stopped.


    ¡®If I can feel pleasure, that means I can feel pain!¡¯ Steve thought to himself. ¡®Other emotions, feelings, too!¡¯


    ¡°So, uh. About your offer,¡± Ash brought it up again. So that was the reason he was so downcast. He knew that Steve was going to leave Niti soon. The God had literally been a Godsend for their village. There was no villager in Niti that wanted Steve to leave. Well, except for the prisoners of the Mottor they held. The Mottor were going to be transported over to the capital for their crimes. The survivors, of course.


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m going to be gone for a year or so, I assume. I¡¯ll come visit you in the Capital, though. I need to find my friends,¡± Steve replied, trying to reassure Ash. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ll definitely come to visit Niti Town when it¡¯s up. Though, if you guys ever need my help, just post notices all over the Capital and cities around it. You should be able to do that, with all the money and resources you have now.¡±


    Steve had decided to gift most of the resources he had to Niti. He would take a few smaller Crystals and Elemental Sticks with him, to pawn off for local currency, but the rest would stay with Niti. In return, he would have a haven to return to at all times as well as warriors under his command. He decided to let the prisoners and Workforces have their freedom in Niti, though when he returned they would be under him again. Steve definitely wouldn¡¯t take them on his journey, now that he knew his own abilities better.


    They weren¡¯t bad people, most of them. They were just humans, and humans were slow and needy in general.


    Ash still looked like he was about to cry, which made Steve¡¯s happiness go down as well. He found the boy likeable, though not in a sexual way. Which brought him to something.


    Could he have sex?


    ¡®Just as an experiment¡­For science,¡¯ Steve thought, a bit too loudly. He heard Bonnie scoff in the back of his mind. Steve killed the embarrassing thought and continued.


    ¡°I¡¯ll teach you my way of magic then, or earlier if I feel like paying a visit to the Empire. I have my reasons,¡± Steve finished. Azra had the same deal. When she was old enough, and in the academies, Steve would come over and teach them personally. The two kids had grown on him, and he wanted to keep his connections. There was no harm in doing so, so why wouldn¡¯t he?


    Even if he couldn¡¯t keep his promises, it didn¡¯t hinder him in the present. It could only benefit him.


    Ash looked a bit better now, with his face no longer scrunched up in a grimace. The blond haired, brown eyed young man hadn¡¯t wanted to cry in front of his God, and managed not to.


    ¡°Here, give me a second,¡± Steve told Ash. They were right next to his residence, which was convenient. He went into his residence and pulled out a communications Crystal. Leffer had two sets of them, which he gave to Steve for helping the village. ¡°Call me if something unexpected occurs. I do want updates if there is a huge announcement in the Capital. If I¡¯m not available, then I¡¯ll return the call at a later time. Also, let Azra know about this when she gets to the academy.¡±


    Steve gave one of the Crystals to Ash, and pocketed the other one. He had found trousers and a shirt at his residence. Ash took the communication Crystal in hand, and started to cry. Steve pulled him in for a hug. They broke off after half a minute, and just stood there. Ash then looked at Steve, a projection of himself.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± was all Ash could say. The young man was still red-eyed, but had stopped crying. He was overcome with feelings.


    Though the God had been at their village for five days, those five days had been life-changing. They could now afford to send him to a prestigious academy, where he would have the opportunity to become a Royal mage or higher. ¡°Thank you¡­¡±


    Steve felt a warm feeling in his chest. Was this pride? He didn¡¯t know, but it felt nice.


    It was time to find Leffer, and prepare to leave Niti.

 Chapter 3: Royal Mage

    Leffer frowned. He had just received notice that a Royal mage from the Capital was coming to assess the village. The only information he had gotten about this visit was that it was about the previously named Deadly Fish Lake. Of course, this barely told him anything.


    Apparently, they had already caught wind of the village¡¯s activities. This was too fast, even for the monitoring teams that the Empire had. They likely knew everything that had occurred, if they were coming to see him right now. Or did they¡­


    Could they have had a ward on the lake beforehand? Something that could have watched the situation at the lake? How else would they know?


    Leffer wasn¡¯t sure, but he knew that a powerful mage would be coming. The Empire had notified him via communication Crystal, since they could tap into all of the Empire issued Crystals. The thing was, Leffer didn¡¯t know the exact purpose of the visit.


    It was either for ¡®collecting¡¯ all of their Crystals and Lumber, for their Mana Lake, or for the village war that had occurred. He hoped it wasn¡¯t the former. The village really needed the resources, especially after the incident with the Mottor. They had families to repay and an economy full of holes from the battle.


    Maybe he could have God Steve sort it out with them. The only issue was, he was leaving soon. Leffer wanted to persuade him to stay a bit longer, in order to help them with this issue.


    ¡®Would it be unfair to take advantage of God Steve?¡¯ Leffer thought hard about this. ¡®He was kind to us village folk, and was the turning point in the battle. Hmm¡­I guess it wouldn¡¯t be detrimental to him if we were to ask him to stay a few more days.¡¯


    <hr>


    Steve came into the village hall, in human form. He greeted Leffer and explained his new form, telling him that he now knew how to shapeshift.


    ¡°As you know, I¡¯m going to leave in two days to find my friends,¡± Steve told Leffer. He had stayed in Niti long enough. ¡°I¡¯ll need some supplies for the journey. Food, bags, mirrors, and other things.¡±


    ¡°God Steve. Would you consider staying for four days? There¡¯s a Royal mage coming to ¡®assess¡¯ the situation at our village. I feel that it would be beneficial for you to be here for that. Some high ranking mages are known for cheating out poor villages of their wealth; in this case, yours.¡± Leffer let it all out, while motioning at the word ¡®assess¡¯. He held nothing back. ¡°Only some, though. I don¡¯t know about the one that¡¯s coming.¡±


    Steve thought about it. There wasn¡¯t that much reason not to, right? It would set him back two days, but that wasn¡¯t much. Plus, the dot on his map that was closest to him also wasn¡¯t moving too much. It was fine. So he agreed.


    He would explain the situation with his Elemental Lumber and Crystals, maybe even catch a ride to the border. There wasn¡¯t much that could go wrong here. He was known as a God to these people, anyways.


    Steve spent the rest of the days training his new form. He figured out that in order to use energy effectively in his new body, he needed to make his own way of using it. This involved countless hours of experimentation.


    It was also beneficial to eat a ton of food, even though it tasted bad. It gave him some energy, though not as much as a Crystal. His previous form had been extremely efficient, Steve found after a day in the new body. Finding a sustainable energy source was going to be top priority from now on. The energy that he had currently wasn¡¯t going to be enough forever.


    He tried to take on other forms, but he couldn¡¯t get them exactly right. The bird form had been too clunky to fly, and the ant form also hadn¡¯t clicked. Steve just needed to hear the click. This was all the more reason to travel as soon as possible. He spent his time hanging around with Ash, Azra, Loop, and Fom until it was time. The kids were respectful, and it wouldn¡¯t hurt getting to know them. Steve had a feeling he would be staying in this world a long time, more than just a few years. Possibly decades.


    The fourth day had finally arrived. He had done everything he could have in preparation for the trip. It was time to go, right after he met with the Royal mage.


    <hr>


    Mottle felt wronged. He had spent the last two days foraging around the area for food, all the while thinking. The thoughts that went into his head were full of hate, regret, and sadness. He just didn¡¯t know what to do, now that his clan was basically dead. If he had clan members who weren¡¯t dead, they would be soon. The Empire never left anyone alive.


    Why had that ball of light been there? No, that wasn¡¯t the correct question to ask. They knew that it was there before they attacked. The correct question was: Why had it been so strong?Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Mottle followed the rest of the battle after his father went down on that rooftop. The ball of light not only knew how to instant cast powerful attack spells, it also knew how to instant cast high level utility spells. He saw it use Blink and some kind of powerful lifting wind spell to completely destroy the Mottor clan troops.


    Even though his family had never been very kind to him, he didn¡¯t want to see them all dead.


    This was all that thing¡¯s fault.


    These were the thoughts that had run through Mottles head. He lurked around the surroundings of the village before meeting up with Reagan. Ronnie was still in the surroundings because he had to take care of Reagan, who was in a coma. Apparently a rock had hit him hard in the head, knocking him out. The two mages had lost their leader, their elder brother Remley, in the fight against the Niti Elder.


    At first, he was pleasantly surprised to meet Ronnie. Mottle had found him near the opposite side of the village while he was roaming around. He saw his brother Reagan on the ground in a make-shift grass bed. Reagan didn¡¯t look too good.


    ¡°That mage is a bastard. And so is Lord Mottor. You¡¯re his useless son, aren''t chu?¡± Ronnie had said when they made it into voice range. Mottle¡¯s pleasant surprise had turned into dismay. They didn¡¯t like him. Well, Ronnie didn¡¯t.


    It had been two days since that exchange. They immediately moved places because of the ant army that moved through the village. The ants had seen them, but they didn¡¯t attack. It was weird, but Mottle didn¡¯t complain. He was now a man with a mission, after all.


    A mission to seek revenge against that ball of light.


    Mottle returned to their small base in the forest with some berries he had found. Ronnie kept him around for foraging purposes and small tasks. He didn¡¯t really complain, but felt anger whenever Ronnie lashed out at him. The man had been sarcastic and unkind to everyone, even before the battle. Now that Remley had died and Reagan had fallen into a coma, his attitude was even worse. He no longer had a limiter on his mouth anymore.


    ¡°Hey. Kid. Wow, nice grab today. What do we have here?¡± His tormentor ended in a singing voice. ¡°Mmmm-Nice. There¡¯s like ten berries. I guess this¡¯ll be your dinner!¡±


    Mottle had no choice but to take this from the sarcastic older man.


    He had no backing, no strength, no magic, and no map. The outside wilderness was extremely dangerous. He had seen Ronnie prepare magic and destroy wild animals for food. If only he had that kind of strength! Mottle regretted not learning magic. Actually, he regretted a lot more than that.


    He regretted not saying goodbye to his father. He regretted not training to become a warrior. He regretted not trying hard to make friends. He regretted not knowing his clansmen better. Now that he was all alone, he knew what he had lost. Mottle didn¡¯t have the opportunity to get to know his own clansmen, because they were completely screwed.


    The Mottor clan was done.


    ¡°Do you actually think you¡¯ll be able to do anything to that ball of light?¡± Ronnie loved to bring this up. He had heard Mottle say it one time, and one time was enough. ¡°You really think that you¡¯ll be able to take that thing on? You¡¯re a waste.¡±


    Ronnie definitely knew that the Mottor clan had lost. He also knew that they had lost because of that ball of light, from Mottle¡¯s own recount of it. That was enough information to give the young man shit about it.


    The only time when Ronnie wasn¡¯t angry was when he was watching his brother Reagan. He would go very quiet and stare at his face like a hawk. It was a bit unnerving, because he would do it for hours on end. After that, Ronnie would be at peace for about ten minutes before yelling at Mottle again.


    For Mottle, this was a like a never ending pattern. He had been woken up several times by this maniac, and it didn¡¯t seem to stop. Ever. Soon, he was going to have to risk going into the wilderness.


    Or risk going insane.


    He wasn¡¯t sure how many days had passed, before one day he just lost it.


    Ronnie had been going on about his dad being dead. Mottle wasn¡¯t sure how it happened.


    ¡°Hey, kid. How come you¡¯re so weak?¡± Ronnie had said. ¡°Your grandfather was pretty good, I hear. Your dad wasn¡¯t bad. Even your brother was decent.¡±


    That was all it took that day. Earlier that afternoon he had tripped on a branch in the forest while foraging. He had skinned his knee. It had been a bad experience, because he couldn¡¯t move in shock for two minutes. In that two minutes, anything could have happened. Luckily, it was only after two minutes that he regained his senses. When he did, he was facing a dangerous beast.


    Mottle had run for his life.


    Now, facing Ronnie was like nothing. He straight up went up to Ronnie in an awkward hurried way. They stood there, looking at each other. Ronnie was sitting down near his brother, who was still in a coma. He had switched to using his own mana to support his brother¡¯s life force. There was only so much water droplets could do for a person before he started weakening.


    Mottle punched Ronnie in the face with all his might. It wasn¡¯t much, but it did catch Ronnie off guard. Nothing happened for a split second, before Mottle took off. He ran away from it all.


    He ran and ran. Nothing stopped him. Until he realized he didn¡¯t know where he was anymore. Mottle was far away from the village and the makeshift base. He then started walking. After a few more minutes of roaming, it had begun to turn dark. Night would fall, and he would die a horrible death at the paws of some beast.


    It was then that he saw a light. It was a light, from a path up ahead. He hadn¡¯t noticed the path before. It was too dark.


    There was hope yet!


    Mottle ran towards that light with the last vestiges of his energy.