The mist grew heavier with each step, wrapping around Kai, Joren, and Page as if it were sentient. It clung tightly, damp and icy against their skin, dampening the noises of their passage across wet leaves and consuming the outlines of the trees until only the ghostly, unearthly shapes of ancient trees remained. The air was damp and heavy with the smell of wetness, and a rich, bitter loam of rot and decay that stood Kai's hairs on end.
In the distance before them, a low, guttural growl ran through the fog, the sound so low it resonated through the soles of their boots.
Joren instinctively drew his hand to the hilt of his half-sword, his knuckles white. The tightly wound tension he had exhibited in the courtyard vanished from his expression, replaced by a hard, keen excitement. "At last," he drew breath, a tight grin spreading over his face. "I was beginning to wonder if this was vapors and smoke."
Page took a step back from them, tightening the strap of her bulging fat satchel and snarling, "Don't get sloppy, Joren. That noise wasn't a rabbit." Her voice was as level as ever, but Kai noticed her sketching fast-looking silver-blue runes in the air in anticipation of a complicated spell.
Kai swallowed hard, his stomach feeling the familiar flutter of nervous butterflies. He didn't know anything about being scared, but this was different. This wasn't so much about his survival anymore; he had others now. His system, realizing the danger getting near, buzzed to life, and the familiar blue-tinted text filled his sight.
[Trial Beast Detected]
[Status – Mistfang Predator]
[Level: 7]
[Health: 8000 / 8000]
[Stamina: 3000 / 3000]
[Mana: 500 / 500]
Kai's breath stopped.
Level 7…
That's two entire levels above me. His fists were clenched at his sides. He'd just made it up to Level 5 after days of brutish, on-the-edge-of-death battling, but this beast, the first test of the trial, was already far ahead of him.
The thick fog parted like a curtain being drawn aside, and the creature emerged.
It resembled a grotesque panther-serpent hybrid. Its long, lean body was sheathed in black scales that glimmered thin, oily silver in the dim light. Its eyes glowed red like two hot coals burning in darkness. Its heavy tail, a body-length, hissed through the air with a low, snake-like hiss, ending in a barbed, vicious-looking hook that glimmered wetly in the pale light. The predator moved too smoothly, too deliberately—it was no wild animal. This creature was summoned, a creature of untrimmed mana brought into the world for one sole purpose: to test and destroy.
Joren whistled softly. "Sounds quick," he said, his worried smile reappearing. He advanced, pulling out his sword. "Guess I'll keep it occupied—"
"Don't!" Kai growled, standing before him and talking harshly and loudly. "Look at its tail—that barb is poisoned. One step wrong, one scratch, and you die."
Joren blinked at the sudden order from Kai and then frowned. "How do you—"
"Just trust me," Kai snapped, glancing at the predator. He couldn't explain his stat-sight then, not with Page hearing every word that fell from his lips.
The Mistfang Predator did not allow them the time to utter more words. It emitted an unearthly, ear-stabbing shriek and leaped, a flash of black scales and red eyes.
Joren, despite being arrogant, obeyed the warning. He rolled onto the side, his sword glittering as he attempted to strike at its flank rather than charging at it head-on. The monster was mindlessly nimble. It rotated in mid-air, falling softly like a ring of smoke, and lashed back with a whiplash tail swing. Joren only just managed to raise his leather arm guard to protect himself. The blow hurled him tumbling with a wail of pain.
"Joren!" Page yelled. Her palms emitted a warm, constant light, and she pushed them in front of her, sending out a radiant barrier that came into being around him just as the monster struck the killing blow. The shield cracked apart on contact, but it held on, barely, and caught Joren by an inch.
Kai did not think. He leapt forward on a charge, his own mana bursting to life. He poured all his strength into his arms until they were wrapped in a gleaming, protective coating—the Mana Coating Elara had trained into him for hours. The claw of the predator, razer-sharp, came sweeping down, gouging into his forearm. White-hot agony ran through him, but his mana shield held, the energy sufficient to dull the blow that it prevented his arm from being ripped open. He could sense the sheer power of the punch, and through the confusion there came sharp, immediate thought:
I have more life than they. I can absorb more blows. I'm here to do it.
With a snarl, Kai pushed upwards with everything he had, forcing the creature back a step. It growled, its glowing eyes moving from fallen Joren to him. It homed in on Kai, and he shook as he understood it wasn't simply responding—it had homed in on him now, its focus one-pointed.
Why me?
The battle became a frantic, wild dance. Joren regained his footing and danced off to the side of the beast, his short sword chopping at the knees of the creature, making it keep moving. Page stood back, firing accurate rounds of smoldering mana bolts that detonated against the creature's hide, confusing it and giving smoky cauterized blisters. But when the creature had an option about where to aim, its attention came back to Kai.
Claws tore through him, and its poisoned tail whipped close enough to his head to make his heart stutter. Each blow he parried or dodged strained his defenses to the breaking point. His health bar, seen by him and no one else, fell fast, the blue text flicking urgent warnings at the corner of his eye.
[Health: 3800 / 5000]
Kai clenched his teeth, the pain acutely felt. "Come on… come on!" He infused more mana into his arms, encasing his fists until they shone with a pale, silvery hue. When the monster came at him again, he sidestepped and slammed his entire body into its side.
There was a revolting crunch of bone. The monster let out a bellow, an expression of real pain, and lurched, its health meter at last visibly decreasing.
"Ha!" Joren bellowed, making the most of the instant to slash down viciously across its shoulder. Black, greasy blood poured from the wound, tainting the dirty air.
Page raised her staff overhead, and the runes carved into its wood started to shine with a wild, blinding light. "Get out of here!" she shouted, ordering them.
Kai and Joren reacted without thinking, stepping off to the side as a concentrated beam of raw, compressed mana burst from the staff, striking directly into the predator's chest. The beast shrieked, its body contorting as the forceful spell seared through its scales.
Kai didn't give it a chance to heal. He charged forward, disregarding the searing in his lungs and the stinging in his limbs, and punched another mana-protected fist into the throat of the beast. The Mistfang Predator let out a final rattle of a roar before crashing to the ground, its body thrashing wildly before shattering into pieces of tens of thousands of glinting light and disappearing into the mist.
For a very long instant, the three of them hung there in heavy silence, gasping, the adrenaline only slowly starting to recede.
Then there was a reassuringly familiar tinkle in the back of Kai's mind.
[Mistfang Predator Defeated – +120 EXP]
[Level Up! – Level 6]
[All Stats Increased]
[Health: 5500/5500]
[Stamina: 3000/3000]
[Mana: 2000/2000]
A rush of warmth and relief swept over him. But before he could even catch his breath, a glow in the air where the beast had fallen. A crystal emblem glowed there, pulsing with a gentle white light.
Page's eyes widened. "That's.the Trial Emblem," she gasped.
The symbol whirled once in the air before, to their amazement, fell apart into three identical, little pieces of light. Each piece floated into Kai's, Joren's, and Page's open hands. A comforting sensation traveled through Kai's palm as the shard dissolved into his skin, leaving the tiniest, silvery impression on the back of his hand.
Joren emitted a whooping cackle of relief, doubling over in helpless laughter. "We did it! Stage one cleared! We really did it!"
Kai nodded, stunned.
Why had it targeted him? He hadn't said a word about it throughout the battle, but the predator's unnatural focus annoyed him. Was it due to his system? Did the Academy trial maybe have a sense that he was different?
Page's soothing voice broke into his thoughts. "Odd," she said, her eyes flicking down to the silver emblem on her hand. "Trial beasts don't break emblems. According to what I've learned, you're meant to fight for them. It's got to be thinking of us as a group." She glanced at Kai for a moment, a studying, considering expression in her eyes, as if deciding whether or not to question him again about his odd familiarity with the poison of the beast. She said no more, however.
The fog around them was whipped into a frenzy before Kai could even answer. The instant stillness was rent apart by a ringing clamor of growls, screams, and the labored sound of weighty movement all around. Dozens of sets of eyes that glowed like hot coals opened in the fog, a wave of searing red coals advancing towards them. The ground shook hardly at all, as if the forest itself was stirring to eat them.
Kai's system flashed once more, a new message coursing through his field of vision:
[New Objective: Greater Challenges Lie Ahead. Only those who endure can persevere.]
Joren's triumphant smile dropped as the shadows in the mist grew more and more numerous. "Oh… great," he said, his voice tight. "So that was round one, then."
Kai balled his fists, his heart pounding in his chest. The fear clung, a chill ball in the pit of his stomach, but under it seethed an ember of excitement. If this was the way they had to go, then he had no other option than to get himself there.
He shot a look at Joren and Page, both of whom were ready to push forward against the next horde, their faces set in grim smiles. For the first time, he was no longer entirely by himself in his fight.
Kai took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Then let's show them we're not going to give up here."
The fog boomed as another wave of horror creatures poured out of the fog.
The second trial was underway.