A purple bolt of lightning zapped through the air. It was fast and dangerous, but not overwhelming. A stone, no more than a pebble, whisked toward the bolt to meet it head-on. The pebble crumbled to pieces as the bolt pierced through, and it moved onward—until a second pebble impacted.
At last, the energy within the bolt dispersed in all directions, giving me a moment to think. I took a deep breath, the sensation of sweat pouring down my temples overly intrusive and frustrating.
My head jerked toward Daniel, my expression grim as I caught him gathering ether at the tip of his index finger. Lightning currents crackled and gathered, formed at the fingertip, which pointed my way.
A roar escaped my lips and ether surged out of my core in waves, flooding the Earthen Aspect. I split a portion of ether from the stream and poured it into activating Paralyse, but it was to no avail. Daniel was too far away, his willpower too strong to freeze. Still, I gained a little bit more time, even if it was only a quarter of a second, to respond to his attack.
Then, it came. A bullet, crackling in a multitude of shimmering colors, burst from Daniel’s finger. It came for me, more dangerous and much faster than the earlier attack.
My hair stood on end and my roar intensified. Aureus, safely nestled in my World, joined the fray and our roars overlapped. I had no idea who roared louder, nor did I care. All I could focus on was the wall erupting from the sand-strewn area. It was an earthen wall, albeit covered in compressed grains of sand, that shot out of the ground before me. The problem? It was too thin, no more than a centimeter thick, and it was not as stable as I wanted it to be.
Panting, drained of most of my ether reserves, I could only watch the wall crumble before my eyes. I knew it wouldn’t stop the bullet, so I jumped to the side, barely escaping the projectile. My feet nearly stumbled over each other as I rolled over the grainy sand and leaped upright. In the meantime, my wall crumbled to dust.
This, all of it, would have been a lot easier if the arena ground was made out of soil, maybe even stone. Unfortunately, the arenas on the flying ship didn’t have much variety to offer.
Naked!
Aureus’ resounding voice was accompanied by the image of a bare foot—my foot. I had no idea Aureus knew what my feet looked like, which was a can I didn’t want to open, but I understood the Earthheart’s meaning.
You think sparring with Daniel barefoot would have helped me?
I wasn’t graced with the luxury of an answer. There was no time for that. Daniel burst into action. He dashed toward me and transformed into a flash, moving like a lightning bolt. I perceived him, certain what he was about to do, but he was way too fast.
“Damn liar!” I blurted out loud, clearly remembering Daniel promising that he’d restrict his strength to the Adept Rank. Obviously, that was a lie.
He emerged before me, his arm clad in electric currents. A chop to the wrist disarmed me. My sword clattered to the ground, my wrist felt like it was broken, and the sparring hall turned upside down as Daniel hurled me to the ground.
The sand around me stirred, small, spiky tips poked into my back, but they stopped moving and crumbled as my focus failed me.
That…didn’t quite work as intended.
“Nice try.” I heard Daniel’s voice. He held his hand out to help me up, but I felt like pulling him down to grapple with him—not that that would have changed anything. Daniel was clearly physically stronger than I was. We’d established that much already.
“You lied to me.” I cursed, reaching for his hand to get up, “You didn’t hold back, at all!”
I knew I shouldn’t complain, especially since I was the one who’d asked Daniel to spar with me, but I couldn’t help it.
Daniel regarded me with a raised eyebrow. “Your mind is fast. You predicted my move, yet you were too slow to do anything. If your body had been a little stronger, you would’ve been able to stop me—maybe.” He offered me a faint smile, which felt like a slap in the face. “But I did not lie to you. I didn’t go all-out. In fact, I wasn’t even close to going all-out.”
Great. That’s reassuring. I wanted to throw it at him, but Aureus did that already.
The Earthheart emerged beside me and growled at Daniel. He conjured small pebbles and hurled them at Daniel’s leg, which almost made me laugh out loud. Aureus was trying his best to defend me in a way that wouldn’t harm anyone, but it looked just too cute. Daniel snickered, resulting in another barrage of pebbles, and it was not long before Coco, Daniel’s Thunderhorn Bull, and the little bull emerged as well. The little bull roared and charged at Aureus, who accepted the challenge without hesitation.
In an instant, Aureus and Daniel’s newly bonded Soulkin were wrestling in the sandy arena, while Coco watched them. Seeing them ‘fight’ for our sakes brought a smile to my lips, and Daniel burst into laughter.
Now that he had bonded with his second Soulkin, which seemed to have pretty good potential, Daniel felt much better. He was happy, though that was fairly obvious. Who wouldn’t be happy if they were given a juvenile Soulkin to bind—something that even his powerful family was unable to? That, for one, was excellent. Then there was the young bull’s potential. Apparently, it was even greater than Coco’s, which was exactly what Daniel needed.
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How strong will you be? I muttered inwardly, focusing on my bond with the beast egg. Merlin Zerog, Daniel’s uncle, mentioned that the three beast eggs I’d been offered were unique. They were old and had been preserved for a long time, as far as I could tell. But nobody could bind them due to their unique characteristics—something only a few Worlds could fulfill. Mine included, of course.
My choice had been correct, but I was still curious about the other beast eggs. Would the Camp’s officials offer them to me if I were to ask? Since nobody could bind them, the remaining two beast eggs were useless to them. To me, on the other hand, they could be invaluable.
Maybe I can acquire them in exchange for something in the future.
For now, I had to make progress. Grow stronger and show everyone in the Camp that they had made the right choice with me.
“You know that you do not have to rush anything, right?” Daniel said. He appeared beside me, rubbing the back of his head, looking…embarrassed? Abashed? What was going on with him?
He seemed to notice the look on my face and grimaced. “I was talking about the World Aspect. I read a little bit into the Grand Camp’s set-up, you probably did too, and I don’t think you need to rush into acquiring it. I…I am already quite happy with Filps. There’s no need to stress yourself.” He looked at our quarreling beasts with a genuine smile. “Acquiring a second Soulkin this soon was beyond my expectations. It’s extraordinary, you know? But being at the Camp with you is just as exciting. Even if we fail to acquire the World Aspect, I’ll be happy.”
“Oh…” That was good news. “Alright. And, you know, I am also happy to be here. To join the Camp and compete with the strongest peers. We can beat them all together.”
Daniel snickered at the last part, even if it was clearly exaggerated. Looking at the other groups in the sparring hall on the training floor showed me enough about our competition to know that I was at the rock bottom.
A young, short cadet battling a tall woman suddenly disappeared. He reappeared behind her, crossing a distance of six meters in an instant, a shortsword slashing toward her back. It pierced through the tall woman’s training suit but failed to pierce her flesh. Instead, the woman’s body bulged, she grew a few centimeters, and her exposed skin turned into a muddled brown that resembled the scales of a serpent. The young cadet cursed and vanished again, only for the tall woman’s fingers to burst into action. Her fingers, looking like the claws of a ferocious beast, tore through empty air and struck something. Blood dripped to the ground and the young cadet reappeared, his cheek scratched.
The pair was a lot faster, stronger, and…better at everything than I was, and they were just two cadets who I was supposed to compete with. A few people from one Camp…out of thirteen.
“You should temper your body more. I’m sure the Camp prepared some physical-attributed beast eggs for you to make up for your greatest weakness, but the soulshare with a single physical-attributed beast won’t be enough. Even if you could somehow strengthen the soulshare as quickly as you did with Aureus’s, you need to strengthen your body, which you can. You have more than enough Gates to fill and refine,” Daniel said, sounding oh-so-scholarly. It was a pain in the ass, but I nodded in agreement anyway. “If you rely too much on your World and Soulkins to make up for your weaknesses, you won’t survive long. You need to focus more on Body Tempering even if your Gates are a pain in the ass.”
I knew that much as well, but it was not like I had a lot of time to spare. Aureus evolved only a few days ago, and I had so many things to do in the meantime: strengthening my bonds, refining my World to fit Aureus and my second Soulkin as soon as it hatched, getting used to the Earthen Aspect…studying.
Daniel meant well, and I knew that, so I smiled back at him. “I know. I’m trying.”
“I know.” He nodded just as Coco charged ahead, intervening in the fight between Aureus and Filps. The Earthheart returned to me, while Filps rushed toward Daniel, seeking consolation and attention. Daniel cradled the young one, looking all smiley. I patted Aureus as well but turned to another fight nearby when the Earthheart nudged me.
Friend.
Scott was also in the sparring hall, fighting someone.
Isn’t that the retinue he fought in the combat exam? I wondered, watching the fight. The cadet shrouded himself in strong gusts, accelerating to top speed near-instantly, yet he failed to hit Scott. Scott was slower than the retinue, but his eyes flashed brightly, and he escaped the incoming blade slashes and thrusts by a hair’s breadth every time.
Daniel must have noticed the fight as well. He appeared beside me again and joined the spectators.
“Interesting.” He mused. “He predicts the attacks with scary precision. His body reacts in tandem to his predictions. He’s weaker than his enemy, yet not really.”
It was entertaining, but it also showed me a lot of things I could make use of in the future. Maybe, once I learned how to predict my enemies’ attacks half as well as Scott could. Anyway, Scott defeated the retinue a few minutes later. He was panting, but his back was straight, his chest pushed out. He turned around with a towel in his hands—I had no idea where it came from—and he noticed me.
A smile spread across his lips. He waved at me and came closer.
“I didn’t know you were interested in sparring,” Scott said, wiping his forehead with the towel. A moment later, a little, familiar squirrel emerged on his shoulder and jumped on top of Aureus.
The Earthheart rumbled and fluttered his wings ferociously as if trying to shake off Destiny, the squirrel, but a flood of excitement and happiness flooded our bond.
You didn’t know? As if.
“Hey, Scott. You’re feeling better?” I asked instead, only for Scott to shrug, a wry smile plastered on his face.
Daniel, in the meantime, looked between us apprehensively.
“That’s Scott from the combat exam. I’m pretty sure I mentioned him,” I explained, patting Daniel’s back. “And that’s Daniel. He’s my best friend.”
Daniel’s apprehension was replaced with pride as I uttered the last bit.
“Yes, I’m Adam’s best friend!” He held out his hand, which Scott took with a smile.
That’s what I said, isn’t it? I mused inwardly, glad my only friends had finally met each other.