Kaiden woke up a day later and felt incredible! His body felt sturdy and light. His body also seemed to emit a calming heat if it was touched.
'My skin feels rough, though it doesn't seem to be a bother. Mixing it with the earth element definitely made it tougher. If I had to guess, it is about maybe an eighth of the armor I made in my past life.... maybe less..'
Kaiden was getting as much of a feel for his body as he jumped up, but he didn't guess his new strength right and punctured right through the ceiling.
'Well, shit, my legs are more powerful. I'm disappointed in myself for not realizing they would be..'
Kaiden pushed himself out of the ceiling while thinking that and landed on the floor denting it. When he landed, he sat cross-legged and began to meditate.
He meditated for a while, looking to see what is new with his body.
'My thinking speed is even better than before, no surprise there. My intunement with the air element increases with every breath. With my family's lineage, it wouldn't be surprising to gain that element anyway, though I'm more sensitive to it now. I don't need to really think about my skin and skeletal system. My organs burn with the energy of the fire element, making them work at their peak, and my tissues cool that heat with the water element. Though my body's level didn't increase, this is still better than nothing!'
Kaiden had a bright smile on his face seeing how strong his body was, and enjoying seeing its enhancements.
He opened his eyes again and began to focus his eyes on his surroundings. When he did, he saw little waves of energy barely visible to his left eye, then he looked under the small bed and saw the same type of energy with his right eye.
'Left Eye of Light and Right Eye of Darkness. These should help me make techniques to nourish my Elemental Organ.'
Kaiden smiled at that thought and stood up to leave the room. He wanted to bathe after everything that happened.
When he left his training room, he found a sleeping little girl with bright golden hair drooling by his door.
'I see..'
Kaiden stepped over her not to wake her up, and as he was walking away, he heard the wood creak behind him and saw the little girl already next to him.
'How the hell..?'
"Kaiden! Let's play!"
"No, I'm busy."
Kaiden shot his sister's request down almost instantly as he started to go to the bathing area. Yet, she wasn't done trying as she jumped on his back.
"Brother Jocke won't play with me anymore since you arrived, and I never got to play with big brother Kaiden."
"No."
Kaiden thought this could be a trick from Jocke, so he declined again.
"Hmph!"
"I'll tell mom!"
"Please, Kaiden, will you play with me?"
She kept pushing Kaiden to join her while he walked towards the bathing area.
Eventually, he arrived and saw Maria exiting the female's side, and he saw, for the first time, her hair being down instead of her usual crazy fire-like hair.
A light smile appeared on her face before he pointed at his sister, leading Maria to chuckle.
"Little Irist, let Kaiden rest. He had been out of the castle for four years. He might spar with you in a bit."
Maria winked at Irist, causing her to giggle and finally let go of Kaiden and run to Maria.
"Oh right, Kaiden, I wanted you to know that the patriarch will be out for seven months time. Since you have to confirm your missions, you will report your missions to me for now."
'My chance!'
Kaiden didn't react on the outside and just shrugged his shoulders, but he saw the opportunity he had waited for!
When all was said and done, Kaiden took a hot bath and left, going to his room.
"Hahaha, Athena would yell at me if she knew what I did. I guess taking risks is just a trait I can't lose so easily."
Now that he was relaxed Kaiden laughed out loud, thinking about doing something that was not in the procedure for his body.
After this, he spent the next month and a half getting used to his body and even getting along with his younger sister.
-
-
"Wrong! your body isn't able to use so much force yet."
Kaiden reprimanded Irist as he kncked her down. showing her dirty face. Anyone could tell this had happened multiple times now.
"Kaiden! No fair! you don't give me the chance to do anything!"
"Neither would any other Mage if you were to fight them. No one will be as kind as I am being now or as fair."
Kaiden shot back faster than Irsit could pout before he sighed.
"Anyway, I'm leaving for a mission that our brother, Jocke, gave me. Train and rest well, I'll be back in 2 months at the most. So I can't wait to judge how weak you still are."
"Just you wait! I'll be stronger than you and beat you up!"
Kaiden had a slight smirk as his sister stomped off before he lost any emotion on his face.
'I guess it's time to deal with whatever beasts that are attacking that village now.'
Kaiden's bright golden eyes seemed dim as he thought of nothingness. He didn't know whether to leave and become what every inch of him is telling him to do or stay and become the next patriarch. He wanted to choose the latter, but he would feel lost, as Jay he wanted a fun family life and the fun of battle. However, he finally has a chance to see and experience so much more in a new world and a world beyond this one, in the heavens. How could he resist the temptation of doing what every inch of him desires?
'After this mission, I will come back for resources and leave after saying bye to Irist and seeing if she will be alright here.'
Thinking this, Kaiden left towards the exit to begin the mission.
He met with Maria and told her about Jocke's mission, and she approved. They both met with Jocke and Teece to talk about the mission, which was brief, leading to now.
-
-
"So, Master Kaiden, are you prepared for this mission?"
Teece and Kaiden were in a carriage going to the town with many soldiers outside of it.
"Yeah."
Kaiden's answer was nonchalant as he was focused on other things.
'thirty-eight soldiers with Level 2 and 3 bodies, all Level 1 Mage Mind, and then this guy.'
Kaiden finally looked at Teece.
'A Level 1 Mage.'
Kaiden had a serious look on his face as he stared at Teece. He was worried since Teece was the only person who had access to spells.
'He has the ability to use spells, which puts me at a disadvantage, Jocke picked him for a reason I guess. If Jocke is wanting me dead, he's going to get his way..'
Some may think Kaiden could win like he did with the bandit, but the bandit was not trained or used to fighting with magic until that day. The only reason he killed the Trosven guards was a powerful sneak attack.
Teece, however, was given training with his magic and abilities. He has fought in the wars for the family and came back alive for years. If Kaiden had to choose, he would have to run or die.
"That's boring."
"Hm?"
"Justing thinking about the beasts and how boring it is going to be."
"I see. Master Kaiden, you should be careful. Some mythical beasts are craftier and stronger than you may think. After all, some have more Peak Level 3's."
"I am no fool. I can kill a Level 3 beast even if it is at the peak. I have to take it slow, fight smart, and not lose my advantage. Though, I guess some beasts are crafty enough to kill their leader when they are at their weakest."
The carriage was quiet after that remark for the remainder of the trip.
Kaiden wasn't stupid on either point. He can kill, at most, two peak Level 3 mythical beasts. He has done it on the four year training trip around the mountain forrest. he found his limits with two at the peak. He can't handle too many Level 3's at the same time either, he found out while testing his limits.
At the same time, he had a feeling this was a trap, and Jocke was up to something. The beasts could be fake, and he would be surrounded, or he could be worn out and killed while he is weak.
Kaiden meditated while he was doing nothing to learn more of his limits with his new body, but he heard a familiar voicewhile he was doing it.
"This'll be fun."
Kaiden made his his new sword, that he took from the treasury, appear in his hand, and pointed it at Teece!
"What did you say."
Kaiden had a serious look on his face with no emotion. He was already on guard and wouldn't believe those words were just nonsense.
"Excuse me? I didn't say anything, now could you stop pointing this sword at me?"
Kaiden sat there for a few moments, and the sword disappeared, and he sat down.
"Sorry, I have a habit of not taking chances when in deep thought since I was gone for four years."
"I understand. What did you think I said exactly?"
"Nothing, it is of no importance, I think I just heard some of the men outside joking around and didn't realize it wasn't your voice."
"I see. Well, moving on from that, we are almost there."
Kaiden nodded and looked out of the carriage.
'That voice.. how?'
Kaiden sat the rest of the way, thinking about the voice he heard in curios disbelief.
Eventually, they arrived, and all they saw was a destroyed village.
"Investigate the area!"
Teece was immediately able to give an order and start his search, leading the way for the soldiers.
'He has it down. Guess I'll just explore for a bit.'
Kaiden went off on his own looking for anything interesting while the soldiers and Teece looked for clues as to what happened.
Kaiden walked around the town until he saw something that caught his eye. He walked up to it and crouched down to look at it.
'Hm? a necklace? Why are you just outside of her..'
Kaiden jumped back as a set of claws pierced through the ground where he was at.
'Well then, using bait to kill victims? Fun.'
Kaiden was smiling as he looked at the sharp claws. It seemed they were mad it didn't get it's prey.
A snout popped up from the ground as the beast climbed up from the terrain. In full view, a big five meter beast came up. It had a fat brown body, the two front paws had sharp long claws, and a long snout to sniff where their prey was.
'A grounded bear. It can't see that well, but it has an echolocation in a form of smell. It's only a Level 2 beast, so how could it wipe out this town? Even if there were Level 3's, it would still be hard.'
As he was thinking this, grounded bears started to pop up everywhere, surrounding the town. Showing many Level 3 grounded bears and almost eight of them being at the peak!
"Ah."
Kaiden couldn't help but say that in surprise
at the sight of so many mythical beasts. Then, at once, the Peak Level 3 grounded bears roared initiating the attack!
Kaiden fell back towards everyone else but soon realized that all thirty-nine soldiers, including Teece, were surrounded in groups or solo. Kaiden was solo as he was surrounded faster than he could retreat!
"Well then, I guess you'll be my new materials for a while!"
Kaiden was excited to use all of the grounded bear parts for many experiments.
Kaiden jumped in the air, but to his surprise, the grounded bears followed in the jump, slashing their sharp claws for the boy who dared to run away.
Kaiden replied to the attack by making his sword and five runes appear. He blocked one set of claws as the five runes made a humming noise. When they did, a light blue barrier appeared in the spots, blocking the claws for a few moments before shattering.
When they barrier shattered, Kaiden was already on top of a grounded bear stabbing it in the head and killing another one before they could react to their pact member's death and storing them both in his dimensional ring.
'The barrier is weaker than I wished.. I'm glad I had them all share power, or else I would have been injured there.'
Kaiden had decided to have the five runes combine their power, allowing them to hold for a few seconds longer than they would have.
'I really need an Elemental Organ.'
Everything came down to an Elemental Organ, as he had thought multiple times again and again.
Kaiden landed on the ground, killing another grounded bear that wasn't prepared for an attack and storing it.
Kaiden had a smile thinking of the fight with so many beasts. As he was smiling, he felt a dangerous sensation and jumped to the right, barely dodging a large blast of fire. He watched as the fire wrapped around the bears and strangled them, buring their head off.
"It would appear you didn't need much help, Master Kaiden."
"Well, I was doing fine, but you'll make this easier."
The person who made the attack was Teece. Both he and Kaiden had serious expressions with Kaiden having a slight smile.
"How many would you say there are?"
Kaiden thought about his answer while looking at the many grounded bears around.
"Maybe near the two hundred mark, at the least."
"This is quite the difficult situation then."
Kaiden and Teece were still fighting while talking and examining the battlefield. They didn't see the need to take it too serious. They would be fine since the Level 3 beasts were just observing instead of taking part. So they were only dealing with Level 1 and 2 bears.
There were about fifty at Level 3, so they were obviously watching their moves. If the Level 3 grounded bears started to make a move, both Kaiden and Teece would retreat without a thought.
"We need to regroup."
"I can tell!"
Kaiden got annoyed at Teece stating the obvious as he threw eight runes that had an awful scent, to the point Teece covered his nose. When he did, many of the grounded bears ran after them, letting the two run toward the nearest group.
'I should hold back on the usage of runes so I can run if need be.'
The two arrived and helped fend off the grounded bears. There were six soldiers defending against the attacks of the bears, one being dead and two being injured.
"How many are there, captain!"
"We're going to die!"
"It hurts, I can't fight with this injury!"
The soldiers seemed worried and scared as the two were seen helping.
"Kaiden, can you help?"
"It won't do us any good. His injury is too severe for me to use a rune. It would only cause him more suffering as he would be slightly slow and killed before it completely does its work.
"Damn it!"
Teece seemed annoyed at that information as they were still fighting.
Kaiden wasn't lying, it would be a waste to help a dying man and prolong his death.
As they were thinking of something, two teams of three soldiers arrived through the fight and started helping.
'How convenient.'
This exchange continued as more and more soldiers arrived until no more were arriving. There were forty people for the mission, and now there were only twenty-three, including Kaiden and Teece.
They started using swapping tactics, allowing some to rest while attacking. This routine kept going until loud roars came from the Level 3 grounded bears. They were losing too many for such little prey.
"Looks like the battle is finally starting. I hope you reserved enough jucie for this, Teece!"
Big Note:
Hello everyone! I really am truest fucking sorry for how long I been gone. I won't make an excuse, but I will say I am starting to gain motivation to write my story again. I will try to do one or two per week. I hope you all will stay with me. Sorry for not using the "Authors Note" for this, but I figured most people wouldn't read that. I love you all that has trusted that I would come back, and I give you this longer chapter along with the next one that should come soon after. After that, I will be rewriting my previous chapters and fixing errors, so be ready!