《The Almighty Boulder》


 World Intro.

    How many worlds are there? Heh the answer is simple, there are as many worlds as there are flies out there, really anyone can create his/her/it''s own world, well not anyone but anyone clever enough to figure out how easy it is.


    The most important thing to create your own world is to simply be strong enough, because no matter where you go strength is everything really.


    Now to the tricky part, I know I''m skipping those details but as weak as you guys are creating your own little world is far away in the future, well the tricky part is the planes, now those are not as easy to come by but there are quite a few out there, I''ve been through quite a lot of them and trust me I''ve met some strong people, well what you need to know anyway is that within every plane there is a core and there are worlds, countless of them, and all those silly little beings called gods are just leeching off the creators, creators being those who first created the plane and take the core as their own world, easy right?


    Well for those of you wanting to know more about planes and worlds I can give you guys one advice, become strong enough *tries to wink but fails miserably*


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    These puny little brats, well winking was never my fort¨¦ so no matter taking it out on them but I really hope there is someone who becomes strong here things are becoming rather dull, wait maybe I could help with that *grins*, yes I can defenitely imagine it.


    Anyways I''m the Creator, so who can come order me around in my own little core *Guhihihihihi*, well time to abuse my autority, and send these brats to become stronger and hopefully god will answer my prayers....


    What am I even talking about, how can a god answer my prayers, well anyways let''s focus and get these brats somewhere challenging enough so that they have to fight together to survive, ahhhh I really wanna drink some tea, as soon as I''m done here let''s go mess around in some world to take my stress out, I really wanna go sees those Venhamian beauties *drools*, well let''s go.

 First Blood!

    GET STRONGER!!!


    The first thought I ever had in my existence.


    In front of us the creator is jesting, I know he''s supposed to be real strong but I just can''t help and think that he''s funny, since we are really quite a lot here and I''m kind of in the middle I''ve been able to test my body.


    Well first things first, I''m a rock, I''m hard, but after quite some experimenting I was able to get kind of a spike out of this little body, gonna be really useful to stab some shit.


    Thankfully we are all the same so no discrimination I guess, we are pebble sized rocks, while the color may be different, we''re all the same size, barely smaller than a golf''s ball, I can see some of my race have multiple colors, well most of them do, but I can also see some fiery red, some sky blue, emerald green, and some see-through ones, as for me I''m on the red side, while not completely red, I¡¯ve got some shades of red ,I don''t really know how or why I know what I am but I imagine it''s the same for the others, so the only difference will really be how good we are at controlling said bodies and the colors each of us have, and if I''ve really understood everything said to me, I assume that we''re gonna have to fight.


    I pretty much know that we¡¯re rocks but that can¡¯t be all there¡¯s to it, I mean I¡¯m quite intelligent so I can¡¯t be any normal dumb rock that just sits on its ass all day long, let¡¯s see if I know anything about where we are, and indeed it seems that we¡¯re on what¡¯s commonly called the earth elemental plane.


    Elemental, yes that''s what I am, earth elemental to be more precise, by now I assume that the Creator gave us some kind of basic knowledge of this world so we''re not completely lost, how interesting let''s see if I can use that to get a head start from the others, going through all I know, we''re basically the first form of life on this core world, since that lazy guy enjoys girls more than his duties, well he''s strong and I''m weak so all I got to say is Amen, well for now at least.


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    The most important thing I know is that to live and grow I consume, but consume what? That bastard must have left that out on purpose; well I''m not stupid and since I''m made of rocks, or more commonly earth, the obvious choice is that I have to consume rocks or earth, wait. Oh so we''re basically gonna have to consume each other, as I realize I try really hard to stop a grin from forming on my face, wait I don¡¯t have a face for that, well I try to stop a mental grin from forming, hum I may be one of the few that got that so I obviously gotta act first but not here, let''s just wait for a chance to come, all you gotta do to kill someone really is to simply stay still and watch, observe and deduce and apparently I¡¯m perfect for all those tasks.


    So now that I¡¯m set on what I¡¯ve got to do to become strong all I gotta do is pick my first meal, let¡¯s try to get one of the common ones since I don¡¯t know if I can kill the colorful guys just yet, so I¡¯m gonna go with hum, as I scout all around me I pick one of them who looks normal and is stupid enough to actually listen to what the Creator is saying, it¡¯s gonna be tiring if I keep calling that guy Creator huh let¡¯s just call him Carl for now, as for my first meal he¡¯s just there standing still, I roll next to him till we¡¯re actually touching and then, as discreetly as I can I spike the idiot to death, fortunately, one single stab was enough and I can¡¯t feel life anymore coming from this guys, well time to get some easy kills *grin*.

 Source of Power

    Authors Note=== Hey guys, since this is my first story I hope most of you like it and if anyone has any do/don''t advices please feel free to leave comments, same if there are any ideas you''d like me to introduce in the story I''m open to any point of view, Well here''s another chap just for you


    =======================================


    As soon as I killed that guy I feel something entering me, and then something just clicks inside of me, it¡¯s just a drop but it¡¯s most definitely there, it feels like it¡¯s an essence, it¡¯s power.


    THIS IS WHAT I NEED.


    I try to calm down, but how can I when I finally have a clue on how to become stronger, wait let¡¯s do this the old way, why did I only feel it after killing, obvious because this power was not mine, it was that guy¡¯s, so I must also have the same inside of me, and indeed I can feel another drop, it¡¯s on my center, adding 2 and 2 together, I realize that it¡¯s what I should do literally, add this new power to my own, I start moving this power to my core and hope that no one notices me, when the two drops come in contact I just feel a surge of power like nothing before  and unlike when the drop entered me, now I feel like I can use that same power.


    More!!


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    I can feel every cell of my body aching for that power, I also realize that my body became a tiny bit bigger not much to make a difference really but it¡¯s still there, but I gotta act fast, I can¡¯t be the only one who realized all of this, I need everything for me, and thus starts the rolling, at this point I¡¯m just rolling nonstop and stabbing whoever comes into my sight, and indeed as I thought before, the rarest guys give more power, I still don¡¯t know what this power can be used for but all I know right now is that I need to get myself some more.


    Rolling, stabbing, rolling, stabbing¡­


    I start gathering all this energy I¡¯ve been getting into my center and I feel myself getting bigger, at this point I¡¯m pretty much crushing my brethren as I¡¯m rolling and thus getting more energy exponentially and in turn adding in to my center this really feels like a vicious circle has begun.


    At this point I¡¯ve killed hundreds of my own race but hey a rock¡¯s gotta do what a rock¡¯s gotta do, don¡¯t blame me for your own weaknesses guys but don¡¯t worry you¡¯ll be forever remembered as the first stepping stone on my road to greatness.


    I¡¯ve been doing this all the while Carl has been talking, all of a sudden the bastard just disappears into thin air, then I start losing consciousness as my vision goes blurry.

 New world

    As soon as I woke up I heard a loud drumming noise, when the noise faded I started looking around and just stood there mouth gape open not even understanding what¡¯s going on.


    In front of me a lush forest, trees as tall as building spanning up to 50 meters, cicadas singing, birds chirping, I could feel the air blowing on my face and the scent of flowers entering my nose, wait my nose?


    I start looking down and realize that my body is neither the pebble I was nor the rock I became,  I looked hideous, well I¡¯m not saying that I looked majestic as a rock or a pebble but right now I¡¯m some kind of creature, well I look like a creature, still made of rocks nonetheless, my body a 1.2m humanoid with disproportioned arms that come down to my knees while my legs are short and on my face I can feel two tusks coming out like some kind of boar and dagger sharp teeth I try touching my head and feel like I¡¯m touching smooth stone, I conclude that my whole body is the same and indeed it is, not a single speck of hair to be found anywhere, At this point my whole body is red-ish and I¡¯m standing naked around so I decide to climb a tree to get a better view of my situation.


    Before climbing I figure that I should at least make myself more accustomed to my body and thus I sit down to acknowledge how to move around in this body and surprisingly enough I feel that I¡¯ve the required knowledge and thus I get up and start stretching my muscles, don¡¯t ask me how but even though I¡¯ve got a body made out of rocks it softened enough to give me organs, muscles and everything this body needs to act as a normal humanoid one.


    After feeling satisfied I get down to business and start climbing the closest tree and observe all around me, once again I¡¯m taken aback to just how beautiful this place is, I can see a big lake from up here, even though it took me quite some time I¡¯ve been able to climb to the top of this tree, the lake really gives this forest a refreshing feel, up on the sky I can see numerous birds flapping their wings, only thing is that they¡¯re actually made of stone and not just normal birds, after contemplating enough of the blue sky, I redirect my attention downwards and realize that there are stone made animals and I finally get it, must be that bastard¡¯s (Carl, the Creator) work.


    I just can¡¯t describe how relieved I am to have killed so many guys before, this form must be thanks to that, while all those stupid guys that just stood there listening to him became dumb animals, note to self though, just because I killed some of them and ended like this doesn¡¯t mean that no one else did and thus if consuming pebbles gave me tiny drops of energy then killing these animals should give me more and killing other more advanced life forms should give me even more and I most certainly won¡¯t be this kind of goblin anymore.


    First thing to consider while being here is survival, I¡¯ll need somewhere to sleep, even if I¡¯m a rock I need to sleep to get rid of the fatigue sadly, I start going toward the lake all the while staying on top of the trees, this helps me working on my balance all the while further adjusting with this new body and soon enough I can clearly see that I¡¯m coming close so I take a more subtle approach looking for a refuge, or at least the perfect place to make one.


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    Suddenly I start hearing some growling and start looking to my right and I manage to discern a rock-bear fighting a rock-boar, the boar suddenly starts running putting all his strength on this charge, the bear on the other hand just goes on his hind legs and waits, but then something shocking happened, as soon as the boar started getting close to the bear his tusks grew and went straight for the bear¡¯s heart, the bear on the other hand sensing something wrong made his fur hard enough to be able to stop the boar¡¯s attack.


    At this point my mind is going crazy, still trying to explain how these guys got enough control over their bodies to do something like that naturally, that¡¯s the point they did it way too naturally as if on instinct, so I can guess that they don¡¯t understand what they¡¯re doing, they¡¯re just doing it, well I hope so for my well being or else my whole life is going to get way harder.


    Grasping control over my mind once again I went back to enjoying the fight and it really was quite close, when the boar attacked, the bear simply defended using his rock hard skin, on the other hand when the bear made use of his claws and hardened them the same way he hardened his fur, the boar simply used his high mobility to dodge, and that went on for quite a while till the boar became too exhausted and started going wild not using his speed that much and trying to attack too wildly, it would¡¯ve ended instantly if the bear hadn¡¯t also been exhausted.


    That¡¯s when I knew that they were ripe enough to consume, see guys, all you have to do is wait, watch and deduce, at this point they should fall pretty easily, since my body isn¡¯t really fit for the spike anymore I only got to use my claws, now the real question is who to get first, obviously the bear because his hardening could put me in quite a tough spot, now I can either go crazy and jump on him from up here or close in calmly, let¡¯s play it safe for now, I still got enough time to go crazy on my hopefully long life, making sure to take cover behind the trees I climb down and soon enough I¡¯m 10 meters behind the bear, at this point the battle is only a staring one since they¡¯re both desperate.


    Sneaking as best as I can, I get behind the bear and I guess his senses are simply off from this long battle, well good for me, I just plant my hand inside him and pull it out while holding his heart and crush it on the spot before speeding towards the boar who just stood there dumbfounded not having a single idea what¡¯s going on anymore, once I¡¯m in range, I simply kick him in the chin and use my claws to sever the arteries on his neck and let him bleed out.


    Well Lady Luck is definitely on my side, who would¡¯ve thought that I would get two big preys so easily, not wanting to make the same mistake as my preys I quickly climb on a tree once again and keep a good watch around me before assimilating all the energy I got just now, closing my eyes I can feel that all the previous energy I had is still there and I guide this newfound power to it then I feel a burning sensation in my chest and slowly my eyes close.

 The Prot茅g茅s

    Author here, well I''d like to than everyone for the comments and reviews , while most of you enjoy the story, pretty much everyone thinks that I should make chapters longer and that''s noted, from now on I''ll try to post longer and longer chapters.


    Also something I''d like to add and that will be  obvious later on is that not everything MC thinks is true but are phis assumptions only and if he makes mistakes it is simply because he doesn''t have enough infos.


    Hope you have fun reading this :) next chapter probably later today or tmr


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Carl  (Your bloved Creator) PoV:


    Time to spy on my good little soldiers, but seriously out of a million beings only 7 have enough balls to not pay attention to their creator, well that¡¯s exactly what they need to be of good use to me in the future, free will.


    And even amongst those seven only one really impressed me but the little fucker pissed me off by calling my good little explanation jesting.


    So try to survive in an multi-elemental world as a rock, well I gave him quite an interesting ability for impressing me so we¡¯re even I guess?


    Lost in my thoughts in this hot bath, mortals call it lava but well details right, I suddenly get a pop-up warning from the link I made sure I had with my prot¨¦g¨¦s and unsurprisingly it¡¯s him again or wait is it her well I have to make sure to ask next time and tell him that he can choose his gender and is not bound by it, as for me I just love women so much I decided to be a man for good¡­ Wait, what the hell am I reading, the little bugger already formed his core.


    *stares blankly*


    Hohoho, he really is surprising, this guy has been able to do that in a single day whilst it should have taken him a few months, well more taking into account where I sent him,, I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll become strong, well anyone who kills hundreds of his own in front of his creator is bound to become so but he really is something else. He¡¯ll have access to his ability well my ability now that he¡¯s got his core I hope he¡¯ll be able to master as soon as possible, it really is way too overpowered.


    And here I had given him a form in addition to my gift but now it¡¯s all for naught, *sights*, way to waste my efforts¡­


    Even I would¡¯ve never thought that a semi formed one would make it past step one actually as all of the six others are fully formed ones and clearly show strong colours but I¡¯m pretty sure that that guy is only reddish at best but hey that makes it even more enjoying. And it really proves that anyone can become strong, well not with the same amount of efforts , that¡¯s a given but he should be able to pull it off


    Oh someone else made something worthy of being reported to me¡­


    Really what the hell is going on, another one formed his core.


    Oy stop bullshitting me, are these guys geniuses or what, let¡¯s just see what happened to these two.


    (An hour later):


    These guy will be entertaining for sure, I can feel it already, if one makes his own luck and ended things with his own hands then the other has a better control over his body well bodies and is really smart.


    Carl as he heard that bugger call him and found it quite the interesting name started analysing what he had just seen and clearly recalls the bugger or as he will call him Rocky (yes even as a creator his naming senses are terrible) hiding amongst the trees and watching his preys as an amateur waiting for his wine to become perfect for consumption and finally as  if a start signal was given, he saw him simply one-shooting each of them with a stab to the heart and a slice to the neck.


    As ruthless and bloody as that was, Carl was watching it like a painter savouring a junior¡¯s first work, a rough gem that only needs to be polished, the most important thing is there: potential, passion and lust, a lust for strength. Rocky was obviously a natural at this.


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    He could feel it, Rocky is a remainder of himself, he had some doubt at first but now it¡¯s becoming clear, this little fella is most certainly the one who inherited the most from him, now he felt that it was his responsibility to bring his prot¨¦g¨¦ to his upmost and reveal what he really is capable of.


    Carl really felt good, even if he had been betrayed, and banished, he finally had a way to get his revenge and he shalt savour every little bit of it, the only thing left to do right now was to wait for everything to get done. Like a chef waiting for his bacon to start sizzling to know that it¡¯s done.


    If Rocky will be his one man army, the other talent will be his two men army by himself, and if Rocky had impressed Carl by his cold blooded massacre, his counterpart had impressed him with his rationalism and thinking, he had started asking questions to Carl and trying to find loopholes to his story and that was the main reason he was allowed to survive, on a hunch and that hunch had now proven him right, it really was a wise choice in the end.


    Crystal seems like a name befitting of him, while Rocky was a mix of mineral with a reddish colours, his counterpart was a perfect diamond. And as diamonds he was graceful and a thinker, he had managed something that took Carl quite some decades to accomplish (not that he would ever acknowledge it).


    And Crystal had clearly something Carl himself had always missed, a powerful brain, that¡¯s the same thing as being a genius as he can do several things at once at an alarming scale, instead of going for stronger opponents, and as he had not absorbed as much energy as Rocky, he decided to go a whole other route, now the most important thing to remember is that my prot¨¦g¨¦s have two main choices, either stay as a whole to be one powerful scary rock or reproduce, that may sound attractive but they¡¯re rocks, it really is too much calling it reproduce since they pretty much just go through a process that resembles fission and create two weaker equal bodies, then four, eight and so on, obviously the down side with this road is that once you become a bit powerful you don¡¯t want to be weaker so most people try to avoid it add to that the fact that the more you reproduce the weaker you become and that pretty much seals the deal but there¡¯s also something that Crystal realised.


    Let¡¯s say that someone¡¯s potential is 100, if he goes through the normal route and works really hard then he can achieve 90 maybe even more if he¡¯s a genius at his field but my prot¨¦g¨¦s can achieve 200 if they reproduce once, a hundred for each body. Now pretty much anyone would do that if those were the only conditions as the upsides compensate for the downsides but there¡¯s one thing that makes this technique not viable and that is your brain doesn¡¯t split and that means having to run to lives at once and if you try that it¡¯s easy just try to write something down with your write hand while eating a sandwich and humming a song, if you can then what are you doing on that shitty planet of yours?


    (Don''t try this at home disclaimer?)


    Well, back to business, Crystal can perfectly control two bodies and is using them to gain experience twice as fast as anyone and he decided to go for multiple weaker goblins, that was a massacre as he got rid of a whooping 20 goblins with his two bodies after having gained enough experience from killing and crushing insects then animals,now how he killed those goblins is really befitting of him, when he became big enough, only thing he had left to do was make a hole big enough and have one of his bodies get down there and get spikes out at the ready and finally with his second body, flattened over the pit with dirt and dead leafs to hide himself, he only had to wait to get his kills, and he was also quite lucky since a troop of goblins happened to fall there and get him enough to grow a core.

 Guide

    Rocky PoV:


    ¡°Now I hope that this event won¡¯t become habitual or else anyone could kill me after I¡¯ve fainted¡± as if trying to blame someone for these losses of consciousness.


    But all that laid in front of him was open plains, well that¡¯s what he imagines because his vision can¡¯t really reach far but he felt kind of a loneliness and had a feeling that there was no one here but him.


    In front of him a never-ending white thick fog as if solidified around him with only a meter square open that is clear enough for him, as he is standing there, Rocky is trying to move his limbs just to find out that he has gone back to his rock form, not knowing how to really feel about that, deep down several emotions started to from, happiness because ultimately what was he really but a rock but also kind of sadness because he was kind fond of his last form as it was more practical even though quite ugly.


    Eventually he took hold of his feelings and started trying to find clues, something, anything to help him because what would just standing there benifit him. He started recalling what he remembered last and well he was pretty sure to be still alive, now that was good enough, at least he was not dead and as long as he lives he would aspire to greatness, and strength, first thing he had to do was ascertain if this situation was bad or good and if it was indeed bad,  if he could get any good out of it.


    After killing the two creatures that he supposes were the same as him, he received a burst of energy, so much energy that he fainted from it, he would have never thought that someone could faint from power, that might become a problem in the future as he had planned to kill beings far stronger than him.


    Lost in his thoughts, Rocky hadn¡¯t seen that on top of him there was someone watching him closely until he heard a voice coming out of nowhere, well coming from this figure probably but it sounded like an eco that resonated throughout this whole world of white nothingness.


    ¡°Now boy, you are one of those huh¡±


    Startled by this, and as he really had no idea anyone would be here with him, inspecting right and left Rocky finally raised his voice,


    ¡°If you¡¯re talking about someone that doesn¡¯t just give to panic and tries to get the best out of everything then you are correct, but would you mind showing yourself I don¡¯t really fancy speaking to miself, well when I am alone it helps me think but if I know there is someone around then it¡¯s a bit more complicated and I would like to avoid being made fun of¡±


    the white figure slowly descended till facing the red rock in front of it and spoke again,


    ¡°Well you guys make my job so much easier as you are way less stupid that all the other, let me start now and keep you question for when I am done¡± showing a threatening look in front of it, it just wait on without waiting for any sign of approval as if used to what is yet to come.


    ¡°You should realise that just before going to sleep you harvested enough energy to have your first breakthrough, this first breakthrough is marked by the formation of your core and that is exactly where we are right now, and to rid you of the symbolic ¡®Who are you¡¯ question let¡¯s just say that I am someone that has the same post as ¡®Death¡¯ or also ¡®Fate¡¯, I am the Guide, and my role is to obviously guide some soul in this world towards it¡¯s goal as long as it¡¯s nothing evil, well any soul that becomes strong enough AKA forming a core and that a certain someone tells me is interesting enough and worthy of my guidance, so I am here to help you get strong.


    You should know that now that you have formed your core and that¡¯s where we are, forming your core permits you to use your energy and to imbue it in your attacks or in your body in general (think ki) or use it to cause changes in the physics of the worlds and create phenomenons powerful enough to destroy several worlds at once (think mana/magic).


    The real difference between these two manifestations is that the first is used with martial arts in all of the universe while for the second it is something that requires chants, rituals and more time to activate and obviously, your body will be weaker since you won¡¯t be feeding it energy, speaking of your body, you¡¯re quite a surprising creature but I won¡¯t ask questions that would spoil the fun.


    Now since we¡¯re done with explications about ki and mana, there is a little something you have, sometimes, some souls are unique,that just means that they have a special power, and since I¡¯m talking to you about this, you should have understood that you obviously have one, those are not the same as what I¡¯ve just explained as the only way to develop it is by using it and how you do so is only bound by your imagination but let me tell you that anyone who has one will become someone to remember.


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    Let¡¯s talk about your core now, as you can see for yourself, your core as of now is nothing but void, a white foggy nothingness, but that won¡¯t be the case forever, you can change that by getting more energy, now there are two things I want you to know about this, obviously by getting energy more of your core clears up from the fog and when you use energy for attacks, the fog doesn¡¯t come back in that space used also there are faint traces of energy everywhere and since you formed your core, it will absorb energy slowly over time, I want you to think about your core like a baby, when it¡¯s full, it won¡¯t try to eat on it¡¯s own and you will have to force feed it to help it grow, naturally that is a slow process but when it¡¯s stomach is empty and it¡¯s hungry it will try to eat anything it finds, so the more energy you use the hungrier your core gets and the more residual energy it consumes.¡±


    Taking all of this in one go might be a bit too much but let¡¯s just resume what I just heard, I shouldn¡¯t get on the bad side of this guy as he probably knows ¡®Death¡¯ personally from the way he talks, second I can either go down a physical road or a magical one and third to get stronger I need to consume energy, also when I use energy, it will restore overtime, seriously did he really have to say anything more that these two lines¡­


    That¡¯s out of the way, next is analysing all this info, I¡¯ve just broken through the first bottleneck in my path towards strength, I also have a special power unique to me from what I¡¯ve heard and finally this guy is here to guide me so might as well ask for his help.


    ¡°So I¡¯m someone interesting, I suppose that I will help you cope with the boredom but I¡¯m fine with that, now have any idea about that special ability of mine and what it does, also, any chance you might know where I am, I just went with the flow back there but I¡¯m an earth elemental how come I¡¯m in a forest and there is water, even a big lake, that really is out of the picture.¡±


    Two minutes passes with my little guide just  looking straight at me without any sound coming to life in this world.


    ¡°You guys are really like day and night, huh, never mind that, well for your ability I¡¯m not entirely fixed but it¡¯s something you have to find out for yourself anyways as for where you are, you¡¯re not in the earth elemental plane but within a multi elemental world, you probably don¡¯t know this so let me explain. The world you¡¯re in is a mix of all the elements out there, while the intelligent races are few and range from slimes to dragons, yes even slimes are considered intelligent creatures, humanoids are practically non existent except the few magical races, elves, fairies and the lot. Let me use an example, the two preys that gave you direct access here were both earth based bear and boar, they are not earth elementals shaped that way as you have seen but actual animals that can bend the earth element to their will, well to a pretty poor extent, as for the reason you didn¡¯t notice anything weird, as soon as you wake up you¡¯ll open your eyes.¡±


    Taking this into consideration, this world may just have become a little bit funnier, but why isn¡¯t he explaining to me what¡¯s up with all those animals that looked like living sculptures to me, no use asking again he¡¯s not the kind of guy to give me info just because I persist, now to the important part.


    ¡°And what about my body, really fighting as a rock might prove to be kind of difficult don¡¯t you think¡±


    ¡°*sights* As much as I wanna see that just for the fun of it I can¡¯t really do it, you can use ki to make yourself more malleable and get the body you want while you¡¯re in your core, before leaving you to your body construction I wanted to tell you that each soul¡¯s core is decided before birth and the maximum energy capacity is as well and yours is actually one of the smallest I¡¯ve ever seen so you¡¯ll have to work hard to make up for that handicap.¡±


    Just after dropping that bombshell my new guide just fades into the fog and becomes a part of it, no talent whatsoever huh, well just gotta do twice as much efforts as I had intended to do.

 Perfect Body

    Rocky Pov:


    I got to work as soon as my guide went away as I did miss three pieces of information that could prove fatal to me.


    First of all, I don¡¯t really know the time ratio between my core and the outside if any so I should avoid spending too much time in here till further experimentation.


    Also I don¡¯t know if I have unlimited access to my core or any idea how much time left I have before being eventually forced out and it wouldn¡¯t be fun to go around in an incomplete body, well I¡¯m sure that it would be pretty fun but I don¡¯t really fancy that no matter how ironic it would be.


    The last thing is that I have no idea what is actually happening to my form in the real world, if it teleported here then it really isn¡¯t much of a problem but if my body is just lying around defenceless then it definitely is bad but I will only be fixed when I have someone I trust actually monitoring my body when I come here if I really am to freely do so.


    Not wasting any time I start working on my body and get myself my dream one, how many could brag about that hehehe drools. First things first, I get myself a 1.7m frame and start working on my torso, I literally got myself abs as hard as rocks, with my chest done and resembling a greek god¡¯s sculpture, I move to the face, anyone who says that the outside means nothing compared to the inside obviously is ugly and that may be true for them but I¡¯m going to get a killer body and trust me that will smooth quite some things.


    The most important thing to me about the face is the symmetry, as long as my face is symmetrical I¡¯ll be good to go, I carve myself some nice eyes, red pupils obviously, I don¡¯t want to have a big gargantuan nose so I make sure that it¡¯s just about a good size. My lips also get the red colour, they¡¯re a bit redder that the rest of my body, after finishing my cheeks and ears I¡¯m done with my face.


    My hands and feet are not that important but I get myself long elf like hands same as my ears cause you know it would suck being humanlike in a world where humans are not supposed to exist, I make sure to get muscular arms and legs since well why not.


    After making sure that everything is in order and adding a few finishing touches I get started on what¡¯s been bothering me since I began and start trying to get myself some hair, after pretty much an eternity of trials and errors I finally start getting the hang of it as I make my first strand of hair, it obviously is way harder than any normal hair and is reddish.


    Finally getting done with my hair, I start contemplating my future body and damn It looks pretty nice, experimenting a bit further, I try to get my hair in a deeper shade of red and it pretty much works at the expense of my body¡¯s colour that goes paler and whiter, after getting the colour I wanted, I really look like some sexy god with red eyes and long red hair that goes down to my waist.


    Pleased with my new form, I start wondering about how to get out of my core and remember how G got out of here and I start walking towards the fog, well at least it was a good idea in theory but only thing it did was to make me reappear at the centre of the clearing next to my body.


    After a bit of thinking, I just realise that my core is within me and to get out all I have to do is think that I want to get out of here and it pretty much works.


    Old man Pov:


    ¡°Ah¡­ This forest pretty much never changes but this is the only place that I can call home, if all those people could hear me speaking to myself, they would really think I finally went senile.¡±


    Strolling through my forest, I finally approach the lake I like to spend so much time fishing in, well I don¡¯t really use hooks to fish as I don¡¯t wanna hurt the fish but just holding my fishing rod and chilling is enough to pass time and enjoy it.


    Suddenly, going through my nostrils is an odour I don¡¯t particularly fancy, the smell of blood.


    Must be some animal¡¯s hunt, but just to make sure I jump on a nearby tree and look in the way the smell is coming from and that just refutes my previous theory as I find a bear¡¯s body with a hole on it¡¯s chest as if someone ripped it¡¯s heart out and that same heart just tossed next to the body and a few meters away a boar with it¡¯s neck sliced and bathing in it¡¯s own blood.


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


    Really, all I wanted to do was have a nice vacation away from work but here in my little heaven I find the thing I hate the most, useless killing.


    I can accept and understand hunting for food as it is a necessity, but mindless killing is worthy only of monsters and psychos, needless to say I hate both.


    Getting closer to the corpses, I notice that they¡¯re not normal animals but are stone based ones, as only someone with a core is capable of such a feat but upon closer inspection, I find some post death wounds that obviously were inflicted by each other as it¡¯s obvious that the person giving the killing blow to both is one and the same.


    Scanning the area for any sign of life, I find some coming from one of the closer trees and jump back as I should have noticed without having to look purposely for it but if the person hiding from me at such a distance from me wanted me dead then I should have been by now.


    What I find there is a rock on top of a branch giving away life signs.


    I just start laughing maniacally as I may really have gone senile but decide to take that rock with me to my log house and I finally set out for the lake as my house is in the middle of lake.


    After entering my house, I put the rock on the ground and put a magical barrier around it for the time being and go grab myself something to eat.


    Back to Rocky:


    Waking up, first thing I notice is that I¡¯m way more powerful than I was before, it really is a world¡¯s difference between having a core and not. Next is my body that is let¡¯s be honest way better than my previous one, after getting the hang of it as I was as excited as a kid during christmas, I pretty much get the entire control of my body, well, for further improvement and perfection only time will do.


    Looking around me, I notice the scenery has changed as I¡¯m not atop the tree anymore neither am I in the forest but in a house, and worse I am in some kind of prison. I try touching the dome that imprisons me but the only thing I gain from that is a shock in my hands and getting knocked back,that¡¯s when I hear someone coming my way.


    ¡°I felt a reaction so something must have happened with the rock¡±


    I heard an old sounding voice say from behind a door, coming in is a strange elf, well strange because he has a beard that wouldn¡¯t make him shy in the presence of any dwarf, that white beard was going down to his stomach and he really earned that voice as he looked like an old human but his ears were obviously elven. His hair was probably as long as mine but braided into one single braid and white as snow while his eyes held a sort of wisdom that could only be found in scholars so probably a mage, that would also explain my dome like prison.


    The old man is just staring confused at me and releases his magical dome.


    ¡°What are you? I am not really knowledgeable about races but I¡¯ve never seen any of your kind¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal for someone to introduce himself before asking the other person to do so¡±


    Not really my brightest attempt at saving time but it¡¯s still a solid approach.


    ¡°My My¡­ Where are my manners, I am Farnis, half-elf, water mage of the 1st grade¡±


    He then looks at me with expectant eyes.


    ¡°My name is ¡­¡± trying to look into my memory for a name, I only find ¡®Rocky¡¯, seriously what kind of name is that but I¡¯m not really sure I could come up with anything better so let¡¯s just go with it.


    ¡°Rocky¡± I say with a clear firm voice trying not to betray my thoughts about my own name.


    ¡°As for what I am, I obviously am an elf¡±


    ¡°And since when can elves transform into rocks¡±


    At this point he¡¯s just looking at me with amused eyes thinking that he¡¯s got me cornered, but not today.


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of my ability to do so, I have a unique power¡±


    Nodding in understanding, I try to fish some information from him by saying that my whole family consisted of my father and me and that we were hermits and I just kind of woke up in the forest after a battle where I lost my father and fled, at this point, he¡¯s not even doubting my story anymore, a little counsel kids, the best lies are the most complicated ones.

 School

    Farnis PoV:


    I feel that Rocky hasn¡¯t told me the whole truth but who am I to judge, each and everyone of us has got problems to deal with but talking to him I can see that there¡¯s some truth to his words as he has no idea where he is neither does he have any knowledge about the world.


    ¡°Since you disturbed my quality time with the fishes you better pay attention to what I¡¯m about to say as I don¡¯t feel like saying it again.


    There are three main continents in our world, the non-magical continent, the magical one and in-between them, the monster continent, these continents are also called the human continent, the elf¡¯s one and finally the dragon¡¯s continent¡±


    As I¡¯m about to move on, I see that he has a question and asks me one of the stupidest questions I¡¯ve heard, seriously, why wouldn¡¯t there be humans, I mean I¡¯m a half-elf am I not.


    ¡°Of course there are humans in this world and quite a lot of humanoid races¡±


    I¡¯m wondering where he got his ideas from but he just says that his father told him that the only humanoid races on this world were the magical ones which means that only dragons, fairies, demons, angels and elves should exist.


    ¡°Well boy, your father is probably one of those that believe in the elven goddess and didn¡¯t think that it would serve you to know about the non magical races as apparently all the other non magical races are spawns of the elves, time for some theology...


    More than 90% of the elves believe that long ago, only magical races were living in this world, but even between those races the elves were the less powerful ones as they are more from nature than other elements, the dragons are obviously fire attuned, light and darkness for both the angels and demons respectively and the fairies have water.


    That shows even more as there are some elves that are born with little magical affinity, as in every society those elves were persecuted and bullied for being weak and naturally they could only be with others like them.


    When mating and after many generations of lower and lower magical affinity, there came the humans that had very little to no magical affinity, there the vicious circle repeats itself and the human became a race of their own.


    The goblins and orcs are different as they were forcefully created by the mating of sick elves with humans and raised into violence and killing.


    So either your father was really old and ran away from society really long ago or he simply hid the truth from you.


    Now, as I can see, you have your core. There are two paths to follow from here on, either learn magic or become a warrior, unlike how it sounds, wizards or mages aren¡¯t really more powerful than warriors as only your hard work will ever get you stronger, I would say that your average warrior would beat an average wizard in a one on one as wizards are only scary when they have enough time to prepare but there¡¯s also something else that plays a role in this and that is your affinity with elements, to know your affinity with elements you will have to get yourself tested as your score can vary from D to A, S and SS on every given element. If you have an affinity lower than B then I wouldn¡¯t suggest trying to become a mage in that particular element, the requirements to become a warrior are to just have a core as anyone can become powerful with hard work and of course a big amount of energy or ki as the warriors call it can always help.¡±


    It seems that this child is smarter than he looks but seriously, what kind of upbringing did he have to not know anything about this.


    ¡°Old man, just where and how can I get tested?¡±


    Old man¡­ I¡¯m still only in my early 300 years how am I an old man you brat¡­


    ¡°Before explaining that you should know that you are on the monster continent, at the extreme south. The middle of the continent is inhabited by monsters and the further north the stronger the monsters, the extreme north is house to the dragons but here in the south is where one of the most powerful angels has taken domain and build an academy to train the talented no matter their races, that angel, Lucifer, is arguably the only one capable of defending School from the hands of the greedy races that desire a foothold in this continent as well as the monsters in this continent itself, to be able to spot talents, Lucifer created an apple shaped artefact, don¡¯t ask why it is apple shaped, and by simply touching it, your affinities will be known and if you have high affinities, you will be able to study in the academy until you become a 5th grade mage or if you decide to become a warrior, at apprentice level, your studies will end.


    That gets us to the talk about ranks for both mages and warriors. For mages, it spans from 10th grade mage to 1st grade mage, 1st grade being the strongest stage known as for warrior, you go from novice to freshman, apprentice and then expert, after that you can achieve the master rank and finally grand master rank.¡±


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Rocky is really strange, I mean his whole story is dubious but he has been able to form a core at his age, I¡¯m starting to wonder if he¡¯s older than he looks because a 17 year old with a core is not unheard of but still quite the feat, I totally forgot about his unique power, if he really has one then he could become quite powerful in the future.


    While looking at him I realise that he¡¯s still naked and don¡¯t have any clothes on him so I give him one of my cloaks that cover his whole body until he can find something better to wear.I guess it is time to ask him about his power because if it¡¯s something useful then I really should recruit him into the academy.


    ¡°What about your power, what does it do exactly?¡±


    Looking at me calmly, he starts to think but to my surprise he just stays silent for quite some time before replying.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really have any idea what my power is, I only know that it awakened after I got my core so I have yet to discover it¡±


    All the more reason to get this child tested, well, that will have to wait since I¡¯m still in my vacation, but wait if I go back to the academy today then I can always get the vacation later and even get this day back so in the end I will have gotten myself more quality time with the fish.


    ¡°How about we depart for School right now to get you tested, that way you won¡¯t have to wait to begin your training¡±


    He looks at me reluctantly as if he just doesn¡¯t want to owe me anything, really so stubborn.


    ¡°Listen kid, you ruined my first day of holidays so we¡¯re going right now, you don¡¯t get a say in the matters¡±


    And thus began our journey towards School, well it should take us at most four hours to get there since my forest is quite close to it. The road back went uneventfully as all the animals here know not to mess with me since I could kill all of them with my eyes closed and even Rocky was deep in thoughts and didn¡¯t utter a single word.


    I can finally see the familiar walls of School and the gate that can only be accessed by those having an identification, but since it¡¯s me, I can get whomever I want inside so it really wasn¡¯t a problem to get my guest in, on the road to the main building I can feel a lot of stares our way, mostly female students and I can guess that these stares are not directed towards me, seriously even back in my days I didn¡¯t get this much stares, well granted I was always trying to perfect my magic but oh well. Seeing that we¡¯ve arrived to the main building, I go in and go straight for the stairs to the roof, from there, another set of stairs await us to get to Lucy¡¯s office or well more like tower.


    Lucifer Pov:


    Farnis has finally been able to get his vacation, he shouldn¡¯t be bothering me about it for quite some time after this, well he always does his job so I guess that it isn¡¯t wasted on him, I don¡¯t have much to do right now anyways so I can just stay here all day, School has really come a long way, really who wouldn¡¯t want a safe place where all the races can coexist in peace and strive for knowledge, power and power, well the good kind of power and not just those political games.


    As I¡¯m looking out of my tower, I can see the whole of my academy,it really is as big as a city, the main building looks just like a castle with a tower in it¡¯s middle, well my tower in the middle while most of the castle is used as a library and living quarters for the teachers and last year students, right next to the main building is where the dorms stand, one on each side and for each gender, I really would have liked to have co-oed dorms but well I guess we can¡¯t have everything as we want it, the rest of the grounds are used as classes and open areas in addition to the two arenas, the bigger one is used for official tournament while the other is used for duels between students.


    The only thing missing is open baths, I should pressure the council to get that done, I notice students starting to gather in front of the main building and see that Farnis is back, but why would they cause such a commotion because of Farnis, maybe he¡¯s injured, but as he gets closer I can see that his clothes are perfect and I can¡¯t see any sign of injury on his face but then he looks around and start mumbling something and gets angry before quickly taking his cold as ever expression that he puts to impress the students, I also see a new face wearing one of his cloaks walking behind him and following him, it seems to be a redheaded elf, strange, I didn¡¯t know that elves could have red hair, but more importantly, how does he dare come back on the same day after finally getting the days off that he has been bothering me about.


    As I obviously will soon have two visitors, I go sit behind my desk and wait for them to make their entrance.

 Affinity

    Rocky PoV:


    Is this really an academy, it looks more like a city to me, defended by huge walls that I suppose are made out of some enchanted material and being heavily magically defended,I can see immense building and even a castle with a tower. All the work I put into my body really did pay off as I did not go unnoticed by the students especially the ladies but I also guess  that going to the headmaster¡¯s office is not something just anyone can do, this Farnis must be someone quite important in here even if he doesn¡¯t look or act the part.


    Climbing the tower, we finally arrive in front of a golden door, a big golden door at least three times my size, the old man just pushes it open with one palm, I guess he must be quite strong physically even though he is a mage, well that¡¯s a 1st grade mage for ya.


    Upon entering the room, we are met with so much killing intent that I just stood there frozen, on the verge of collapsing both physically and mentally, I quickly found myself drenched in sweat and panting, that is at least until the old man stood in front of me, I felt like a weight that was bound to crush me just got lifted and I fell to my knees losing control over my body, I really have way more respect for the old man as of now.


    Taking my eyes off of the ground I am met with a puzzled face looking at me in confusion, that is until Farnis broke the silence that started to fill the room.


    ¡°Do you want to keep playing this game or are you going to suppress that joke of a killing intent¡±


    ¡°Well Since you gave up your hard earned holiday, I thought that you had brought me someone powerful enough to withstand at least that much¡±


    Replied a sweet voice that leaves me hooked wanting to hear more of it, I am looking around to see the origin of that said voice because I can¡¯t fathom that anyone possessing so much killing intent could have such a voice.


    ¡°But you are just bringing me a child that has yet to convert, mind to explain?¡±


    As if to prove me wrong, the person in front of me focuses his eyes on me as if trying to take a peek into my soul.


    ¡°I¡¯ll let you know that this so called child has been able to form a core at his age which is quite the feat¡±


    ¡°Not enough to bring him here..."


    that voice is really starting to get to me, time to focus come on Rocky.


    ¡°Also, he¡¯s gifted with a power¡±


    At this point, Farnis is grinning like crazy and seems do happy to have won his argument with that other being.


    Looking at the sitting figure closely, he looks totally human except that he¡¯s twice as tall at a whopping 4 meters and you can see his muscular figure isn¡¯t any less impressive than mine, he has got white skin and golden eyes, also blond shoulder length hair.


    ¡°*sighs* fine fine¡­ he has got potential then but why bring him to me?¡±


    At this point, the old man just takes a seat and picks some peanuts from the angel¡¯s desk before pointing at the opposite chair and looking at me, as I sit, I make sure not to have offended who I suppose by now is Lucifer by sitting down.


    ¡°The kid just formed his core recently and hasn¡¯t been tested yet so I wanted to use your apple to see if he can become a mage¡±


    Hearing this, Lucifer¡¯s surprise clearly shows on his face and he starts eyeing me again before turning to the old man.


    ¡°And just why are you so interested in this particular boy, even with all his qualities I doubt he could impress you¡±


    The grin that had before faded from the old man¡¯s face just returns stronger than ever.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just call it a hunch shall we¡±


    This time a grin forms on Lucifer¡¯s face and he turns to me once again but this time his eyes are different, it¡¯s like they¡¯re demanding eyes, asking to be impressed.


    ¡°Well since you got me this interested, let¡¯s just go directly to the second test since the first can¡¯t determine the exact affinities when they¡¯re higher than A¡±


    As he was saying that, both Lucifer and Farnis stand up and soon enough we are out of this office and strolling through the academy , the crowd this time is probably composed of the entirety of the student body and they are just following us while keeping their distances, I can see quite some looks of confusion, envy from the guys but the opposite coming from the girls and I could swear that I heard some ¡®kya¡¯s here and there but what shocked me the most are my two companions that look nothing like five minutes ago and now carry themselves with such pride and dignity that I am forced to act the same.


    The road leads us to a clear hill with a pedestal right in the middle, that is when Farnis turns to face me and explains what will happen next.


    ¡°Just go up to the pedestal, the top is apple shaped and that is where you will put your hand and infuse your energy, then we will know you affinities as they will be projected in the air¡±


    Nodding to both of them and feeling the weight of both their expectations and the eyes of the crowd, I slowly make my way up the hill trying to keep the majestic air around me and looking straight upwards, when I suddenly feel something in my vision going wrong, yep, I fell face first to the dirt.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.At this point several ten thousand people are laughing at me and I try to not act offended and just laugh it off before remembering my goal and soon enough I¡¯m climbing again surrounded by the cacophony until I arrive in front of the pedestal.


    Right now the laughter pretty much died and I can hear whispers all around me until a roar quiets the chatter and I look back at the headmaster and nod in appreciation.


    Putting my hand over the apple I slowly bring it down until I¡¯m touching the fruit shaped artefact and infuse my energy into it, since this is the first time I¡¯m using my energy since I formed my core I feel kind of weird but quickly get the hang of it.


    I keep on infusing the apple until I feel that I am out of juice and on the border of collapsing but just as I am about to give up, the apple lights up and on top of it I can see an illustration well more like an immense painting of a scenery.


    The cacophony returns but this time all I can hear around me are gasps and as I don¡¯t have a good view what¡¯s in front of me, I decide to return to my companion¡¯s side and when I turn to face them, I can see that they¡¯re both shocked and looking at me in disbelief.


    When I finally return to their side, and at this point even next to them everyone¡¯s eyes are on me, I turn around to see a giant brown circle, this time it is my turn to feel shocked as I had imagined that since everyone was surprise it would have been something awesome but it¡¯s just a circle as I face the old man to ask him what it means, the headmaster just comes in-between us and takes a hold of us in each of his arm then I can see huge wings sprouting out from his back, majestic white feathery wings at least 3 meters large as he takes off from the testing area towards the tower like some king of demon lord kidnapping a princess and taking her to his tower dungeon to imprison her.


    This being the first time I fly I don¡¯t really feel comfortable and even start feeling sick as soon as we arrive, once we land, I am led by the other two to the same room we were in not so long ago, an hour hadn¡¯t even passed yet since we went off to the tasting field. I can feel that the air is getting tense around me as both Lucifer and Farnis are deep in thoughts,I finally decide to break the silence five minutes later and ask if my results are wrong in any way.


    ¡°Care to explain what just happened guys?¡±


    ¡°We should be the ones asking you that¡± answers the voice that had me enticed earlier as Lucifer starts to emit Killing intent towards me only to be stopped by Farnis once again.


    ¡°Cut it out Lucy, I¡¯m sure Rocky has no idea what those results meant¡±


    turning to me he adds in a threaten voice that doesn¡¯t seem to fit him.


    ¡°Am I right Rocky?¡±


    I just got fed up of their bullshit, I stand up and start taking my leave, I don¡¯t need people threatening me or wanting to kill me here, that¡¯s when I hear the same voice that I heard this morning


    ¡°Sit down Rocky, we need to talk¡­¡±


    Turning around I start weighing my options and realising that I couldn¡¯t possibly force my way out, I decide to just go with it for now and sit down.


    ¡°Still remember that talk about affinities ranging from D to SS, well in some cases, there are some individuals that have higher affinities and those are SSS,X, XX and finally XXX.


    Take me for example, I am an SSS water mage and an S lightning mage, that combo makes me more powerful than someone with an X affinity but during my testing, being an SSS water mage only got represented by a lake, an immense one, probably as big as the one that you saw within my forest and my S affinity was lightning descending upon that calm lake.¡±


    Ending his explanation, I get why they got so shocked and angry as I was about to say my thoughts, Lucifer speaks about his own testing.


    ¡°As for me, I have an XX affinity with the light element and that was sun-rays and to our knowledge, the XX earth affinity is represented by a mountain chain so I guess that since your representations was a planet that you¡¯re the first XXX  earth affinity being on this whole world.¡±


    Getting confused as I thought that Lucifer was the one who invented the apple,I ask them about it and Lucifer answers me in a hurry as if wanting to move to a more important subject, well can¡¯t really blame him.


    ¡°Before I invented the apple and even now as it is more practical, the first test is done at the goddess¡¯ temples but past A affinity, one would need years of experience as a mage to be able to reveal their full potential using the ritual¡±


    Well I guess that we have to talk about the person who will probably turn this world upside down now huh.

 Grappler Medjai

    Rocky PoV:


    Laying in one of the rooms in the main building, I¡¯m starting to think about everything that has happened today. After quite some talk with my two ¡®companions¡¯, I¡¯ve come to the conclusion that my magic is earth oriented, well that kind of normal since I myself am earth but the most surprising thing is when they started explaining to me how mana and ki work in this world. Energy is way too unstable and can¡¯t be used in it¡¯s purer form, so as to not fry their bodies, the people of this world have decided to refine and convert their energy to either mana or ki which lets them use what they chose but the problem is let¡¯s say you convert 5% of your energy to ki, the maximum amount of energy you will be able to convert to mana is only 95%, that is of course if you don¡¯t absorb energy as that 5% will slowly diminish as your maximum energy quantity rises.


    Knowing this, people of this world have three path to choose, either go down the warrior path, the mage one or the medjai but to become a good medjai, you need to have access to huge, unfathomable energy amount because 50% of that energy will be ki and the rest will be mana, now if I were a normal being, and seeing my extreme affinity to the earth element and small core, I should definitely become a mage. But that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong simply because I am a ROCK, being a rock gives me some advantages over other beings and the most important one is most likely the ability to cast earth spells without using any mana, seriously that¡¯s totally overpowered, I can become a medjai while having 100% of my energy converted to ki.


    After hearing my choice of becoming a medjai, Lucifer didn¡¯t try to hide his disapproval that showed as a frown on his face since my core was rather small while Farnis kept bugging him about getting more free days seeing that he had recruited someone with such potential and in the end did get two additional days to add to his vacation and by his happy face, I got that getting those two days was a real feat. With my potential, the headmaster assured me that my expenses would be taken care of by the academy as it¡¯s whole purpose was finding strong people and nurturing them to strength so with that out of the way, I would be officially joining the academy for the next year as today was one of the final exam days and thus end of this particular year. Since I didn¡¯t really have anywhere to stay and wait for the start of the new semester, I got permission to stay in the main building since most teachers took School for their homes and stayed even outside of teaching days.


    And so began my days at School.


    Farnis PoV:


    Who woulda thought that that kid would have such potential, well thanks to that I got myself two more days to enjoy myself, who am I to complain.


    After finally getting Rocky¡¯s mess sorted, I jolt out of the academy towards my own little personal heaven.


    But I gotta admit, I sense something special from that child, well there always are some talented one, nature isn¡¯t always fair but with that kind of potential, he could mean something to us and actually help with that, well, for now I have my fun time and I can chill.


    Lucifer PoV:


    Now, if I said before that Farnis is the chill guy that doesn¡¯t create problems, I take that back this moment, really he brings a monster then just goes away to his forest, why the hell did I even give him that forest¡­


    Going back to business just where the hell did that kid come from, I never would have dreamed that someone with such a potential would just appear out of nowhere, well I guess that it¡¯s good that we got him, I just hope that he won¡¯t get haughty just because of his affinity or take the path of a medjai for granted. But since he has got such potential let¡¯s abuse my authority and get him under that guy, he should accept him as a pupil since normal students just can¡¯t seem to be able to follow his teachings.


    Back to your favourite rock:


    Since I pretty much got everything covered by the academy, I don¡¯t need to work for money, food, clothes or any of the usual so I had a lot of free time on my hand, well that¡¯s how it was supposed to be before I came across the library and it¡¯s wonderful books, since then, most of my days were spent there, from history to geography, from martial arts to magic I pretty much got all the basics.


    Let¡¯s start with History and Geography, they only have 5 000 of written history and throughout all of history, the magical races have kept to themselves and so did the non magical ones just living with each other with the dragons on their small little continent.


    As for the map of this world, it is just basically three big slobs of earth surrounded by a never-ending ocean, that helps prevent pretty much any big scale war between races except for the usual nobles affairs, but among all the races, the humans have been trying to get control of the continent but were always stopped with the intervention and help from elves and fairies that tip the scales back to the favour of other races and so in this world, the humans are left out and have to progress on their own.


    Thanks to being here, I got access to pretty much every martial art known to the open public and that from all the races since expert from all over the world have joined Lucifer and brought all their knowledge with them and that also applies to magic, mages from all over the world shared their knowledge of the elements and all of that is in these books I got to read.


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    During all this off time, I¡¯ve been able to read up most of the unharmed martial arts because no use learning to use a sword if I wanna look cool. Out of all of them, one in particular picked my interest, a style that¡¯s solely based on balance. A style whose sole attack is to turn the enemy¡¯s strength and weight against him, mastering this art could even let you grapple a dragon, imagine it, Grappling something as big as a dragon, that¡¯s the next thing on my to-do list for sure.


    As for magic, I¡¯ve found out that there are two kinds, internal magic and external one, the internal one uses your own internal mana to operate while the external one is a little bit harder and trickier to use as one needs to use the ambient energy and convert it to mana before shaping it into runes and the harder the rune and the more composed the spell the more mana you need, the problem with this method except the hard part of converting the mana is that if you get more beef than you can bite you will end up frying yourself as the resistance only comes with using this method, so the more runic spells you use, the harder and more powerful spells you will be able to use. Runic magic is especially used for enchanting weapons or artefacts as well as boosting one¡¯s body and defences.


    Since I don¡¯t plan to have any internal mana, I will have to do with earth magic and runic magic. The earth spells I¡¯ve discovered are nothing that fancy and I can use most of the low level ones since I¡¯ve just read the concept, the higher tier ones are way more impressive and the one I¡¯m focusing on mastering is a 10th tier one that makes you able to make a meteorite fall from space, now that¡¯s talking, speaking about tiers, spells range from 1st to 10th tier with 1st being the least powerful, thus a 10th grade mage can use a 1st tier spell and a 1st grade one can use a 10th tier one, if the water spells are half as impressive as the earth ones then I have a newfound respect for both the old man and Lucifer.


    By the start of the new cycle of School, I found myself able to cast any spell from the 9th tier and down as for the 10th tier spells, I wanted to start by the meteorite one, so I had quite some difficulties as I needed more insight on the working of the universe.I grew quite fond of the old man since I trained on most of my spells in his forest and caused quite some destruction but he let me do whatever I wanted as long as I stayed away from the lake, something about his quality time with the fish, but once I got past the 7th tier, even his forest was a no since by then, pretty much a tenth of it was gone so I had to go farther north to test my spells. One of the most useful abilities that I use is Earthen lance, most mages don¡¯t bother using it as soon as they get to higher tiers because the amount of lances vary depending on how much mana you use for the spells so higher spells are more interesting comparing the amount of mana used with power they get from said spell but since I don¡¯t use mana for my magic, I can just keep on spamming the lances without stopping.


    Going further north, I started encountering monsters ranging from horned rabbits that were the size of ponies with long half meter horns out of their heads, those were especially easy since just a lance pretty much sealed the deal, then came big horses, twice the size of normal ones, I was quite surprised to see that my lances couldn¡¯t penetrate them as their muscles were tougher than normal, all I had to do was focus multiple lances on a single point and keep hitting that point and 3 or so lances later, the horses fell lifeless, after multiple encounters with the horses and no real challenge, I came across a pack of wolves, since they tried to overwhelm me with their whooping number of 23 wolf, I only found it natural to do the same and give them ten lances to the face each. The first real challenge was a big lizardman about twice my size, my lances did nothing to him as he had leader armour plus his hard skin and was so agile and quick that I couldn¡¯t use the same tactic as the horses but his advantage was quickly lost once I turned the earth beneath his feet to mud and used the earthquake spell which is an 8th tier spell but I don¡¯t use it to it¡¯s full potential that could possibly kill thousands and just give it enough strength to make my opponent fall down face first into the mud before focusing my lances on the back of his neck and finally killing him, as I didn¡¯t find enough challenge and couldn¡¯t possibly use my 9th tier spells without killing lots of monsters and possibly people, I set back for the academy, one of the things Lucifer helped me with was that there was another way to get energy and that it didn¡¯t involves killing and helped you have more control over it since it was not someone¡¯s else but energy you cultivate yourself as that gives you more power and to be honest I didn¡¯t particularly mind cultivating my own energy instead of ¡®consuming¡¯ it since I will only need it for my martial arts.

 Hydra

    Farnis PoV:


    I really needed this vacation, I mean who wouldn¡¯t like to sleep all day long on a boat, sometimes I even wonder why I became a mage and not just a fisherman those guys have got such an easy life but here I am thanks be to the gods who gave me such affinities.


    Really, wouldn¡¯t have been there anyone else who could¡¯ve done all of this, why me...


    At least we got to save lives during the last war, that is probably the best thing about this life, fighting alongside comrades against that guy, but really even if he did lots of wrong and evil, I respect his strength and cunningness, we don¡¯t meet anyone who can control multiple races and make them go to war, if not for Lucy, we would¡¯ve all been doomed already and the worst is that no one knows and no one would believe it anyways, everyone is so eager to blame the humans that they can¡¯t think of anyone else who would want to cause havoc and destruction in this world, that last battle was really something else¡­


    Standing side by side, all the members of Council, an organisation whose sole purpose is to protect the world, possibly the most powerful beings on earth, that was probably the only time we all agreed to fight first and ask questions later.


    Three grand masters on the right, the pinnacle of physical strength, on the opposite side, three 1st grade mages, masters of the elements, and to lead each of these groups, the only  two medjais worth mentioning, Lucifer standing side by side with Abraham.


    The eight of us had enough power to destroy the whole planet, well maybe each of us had the power to do so within mere hours and no one would ever think of us losing in battle but on the other side, on the opposite side, there they stood.


    The most majestical race in the whole world, the dragons. Ten dragons standing as equals, equals but not chiefs, the was another person taking that role, hidden behind a black curtain covering the whole of his body, we had no idea what or who he was but the sole fact of him being superior to ten dragons made us weary. Dragons are being closer to gods than any other race, scales as hard as mithril, the highest flame affinity one could ever obtain, they can literally rain fire on the world and to top it off, a sense of pride that makes them see every other race as mere insects not even worth thinking about, imagine these same creatures obeying a humanoid figure.


    After mere seconds of watching each other, the fields we were on changed becoming the closest thing to hell I¡¯ve ever seen. Lighting raining down alongside lava, water blades and earth giants, tornadoes and wind that could shred building apart, rays from the sun and shadows growing from the earth, a real fight of the elements, but that was only half the fight, as the other half was made of arrows flying towards the dragons and piercing them, slashes and stabs, punches that could split the earth apart, we gave our all to kill the dragons, and me even more so than the others since the dragons¡¯ weaknesses are water and lightning, a huge responsibility was mine on that fight as I had the most power and chance to hope killing our enemies.


    While we were busy fighting the dragons, our two leaders were battling the enemy, and I really think that the six of us got it easy battling the dragons because the other part of the battle was on a whole different level. The sky had darkened but that was not the scary thing, several meteorites heading down were, tens of meteorites heading straight towards our two leaders, to that sight, even our battle seemed like children fighting in the playground, we all knew that a 10th tier spell could allow an earth mage to make a meteorite fall but that was only stuff of legends even for us as it would need so much mana that even I would¡¯ve some trouble with it, but this figure was able to make tens of meteorites fall like it was child¡¯s play and he did that as an opener to the fight.


    When we all thought we were done for, Our leaders started destroying the meteorites left and right while flying from one to the other, Lucy using his scythe and Ab his fists, that was truly a sight to see, as they both were medjai, they could use both mana and ki and were really good at using both but the hooded figure didn¡¯t flinch either as he could manage both of them at the same time with his two handed sword, evading, countering and blocking their every move and that even with their perfect and flawless teamwork.


    After some time of battle and casting high tier spells continuously, that coupled with the fire from the dragons, the land became barren and apocalyptic, craters everywhere proving the hellish fight going on. Even after all that time, the battle was still at a stalemate, even if we were at a numerical disadvantage, we were able to fight on even ground against the dragons, we were getting exhausted and while our warriors were panting, us mages were starting to feel light headed as a result of mana depletion, seeing that we were starting to get weaker, the dragons started getting more violent than ever and came right at us, mustering the last of my strength and mana, I cast a spell I had never before and that was totally new, a mix of two of my strongest spells, two new dragons appeared in the sky, not like the ones we were fighting but longer ones with four small limbs making up their arms and legs, each of them made from each of my elements, then both the lightning and water dragons fused to make a bigger one, at that point of the spell I already had no more mana and was on the verge of losing consciousness and collapsing but thankfully, I was able to have enough control over the spell to direct it towards my enemies before exhaling one last time as sweat was pouring down my burning with fever face and entering my eyes making me close them before finally losing consciousness.


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    Only waking up four days later in a hellish landscapes to Lucy¡¯s healing, looking around me, nothing but barren land spread in all direction, that was when I knew that the battle was over but around me only stood two figures, only the three of us survived, all of my companions, the strongest on this world were all done for and all died because of one person¡¯s schemes.


    Looking over at Abraham I could see that his left eye was gone, while Lucy even if healed had some nasty scars all over his body, I once again think about the battle they had with that hooded figure, and if there really is someone that powerful wanting to destroy this world, then we clearly are nowhere near strong enough nor are we enough to deal with such a threat, and sadly, even with facing the two most powerful beings, our enemy had survived and fled and he will probably be coming back to kick us in the ass in the future, all we can do is bring up the future generation stronger than us to face it.


    And a hundred years later, the future is starting right where this started, where we fought Hydra or as we called the hooded figure as he was the head to a body of ten dragons wanting to destroy the world, there stands School, an academy that will bring up the future generations always stronger than the ones before them, as every one shares their new spells and ki techniques, every new generation will have more assets and luck thanks to the generations before it.


    To teach them, teachers with the knowledge of elements and who know how to circulate their ki to empower their bodies to newfound degrees. There has been no sign of our ¡°friend¡± for the last hundred or so years but that could change anytime and Rocky might be able to help if such danger ever surfaces again because he has got future, the future to achieve great things, to change things and to face off against evil.


    Standing at the gates of the academy, I contemplate our work, our sacrifice for the generations to come and the youth coming here with sparkling eyes, at least the first years who know not of the hardships that await them at School, our dream to protect the world has extended to envelop all these youths and include most of them in our battle.


    I finally decide to head in as tomorrow will be the start of yet another year of studies and work and I probably won¡¯t be back to my lake for quite some time. Walking to the main building, I am met with a crowd that parts to let me pass as most of the students know who I am or at least heard of me and thus show the proper respect to me.


    Once I am at the main building, I head over to my office to catch up on what has been happening and the preparations for tomorrow¡¯s feast as it is our tradition to throw up a feast for the newcomers, but maybe I should pay Rocky a visit before that and have a nice little chat about what happened to my forest.


    An  hour later, I have finally finished reading all that has happened during my leave and it¡¯s really just the usual except a project of Lucy¡¯s that made me question the man¡¯s, I mean angel¡¯s sanity, the guy is supposed to be a hero and potentially the most powerful person on this earth yet he wants to build a co-ed bath in an academy and what¡¯s worse, he has been able to pressure the council when I was away so nothing I can do about it.


    Deciding to let off some steam, might as well go see Rocky, since I¡¯m the one who gave him his room, I know where it is in the main building and as I¡¯m walking there I meet some teachers and say hello, when I arrive, I knock on his door but no answer, weird, I muse to myself, not knowing where he is and not wanting to trouble myself looking for him, I ask School where he is, really useful having an academy with a conscience, no need to repair anything, as long as you feed it mana, another invention of Lucy, I really have to make sure that he doesn¡¯t mess with the hot bath, that could make us lose face.


    After getting the location of the rascal that is going to make me go all the way to the fields I make my way through and head over there, just what is he doing there anyways, and I really wonder how he was able to destroy so much of my forest, I mean he should have no access to mana or ki yet so I don¡¯t know what those experimentations he told  me about and wanted to do in my forest were.


    At the fields, I can see a single person sitting down, while most students are over at the main building since only first years are to come this week, it definitely is him but how can that be, just what is wrong with this kid, in front of him, I can see people, well I don¡¯t think they¡¯re people but earth statues, yeah probably not since I don¡¯t sense any energy from them, fighting might not be the best word to describe it since each statue just lets the other attack it before countering it and grappling it, not all of them succeed but after counting, there are more than 20 fights going on so there are at least forty statues fighting currently and each statue might look human if not for their nudeness and colour, well the lack of energy is one too but not just anyone can sense that. I¡¯m just starting to realise just how much of a monster Rocky is as the spell to cast an earth statue is a fifth tier spell and even if the mana needed to create so many of them is not something to underestimate, the control needed to have them do such precise movements is definitely no joke and even then, the bigger problem is that the guy doesn¡¯t have any mana yet.