Sung Jin-Woo POV
It was finally the day where we would depart to the adventure guild, and register Arthur as an adventurer. We walked towards the beast glades while we chatted, Jasmine was mostly interested in my abilities since only a handful of people has ever seen it, as we talked we didn't realize that we were already at the entrance of the guild.
The Guild Hall was not what I had expected it to be. A vivid image of a place filled with thugs seated around wooden tables downing beer was what I envisioned. Instead, it was a building filled with prestige and luxury. A marble structure towered over us like a sacred museum. Once inside, it was clear the amount of work that had been put into the intricately designed interior. There were tables made from metal where I could see other adventurers giving us a passing glance. The whole place had an ambiance of extravagance that didn't suit me, much less some of the barbarian-looking adventurers here, but I simply continued my stride.
"Welcome! How may I help the two of you?" The female receptionist's rehearsed smile gleamed a pearly white.
Before I had the chance to reply, Jasmine slid a piece of parchment towards the woman.
"I would like to sponsor him for a rank examination." Her face remained expressionless as she said curtly.
"Y-Yes! I understand," the receptionist answered, nodding her head fervently as she handed back the piece of paper. "Please, come over this way."
Getting up from her seat, the woman opened the door beside us from the other side. As we entered, I couldn't help but notice the hushed murmurs around us.
"Oy, someone is taking a rank examination," someone whispered.
'Wait isn't that the S-rank" One of them said
The office was minimally decorated with two leather couches positioned to face each other. On the far end of the room was a dark, wooden desk facing the door; a slender man was seated behind the pile of neatly stacked papers, jotting down something with a quilted pen.
Roused by the sound of his office door being opened, the man looked up to reveal a sharp and angular face. The head of black hair I had been staring at was parted down the center and reached just past his thin neck. Behind his rimless and thick glasses were a pair of sharp eyes that regarded us intently.
"A-Class Adventurer, Jasmine Flamesworth has requested this..." the clerk's voice trailed off as she eyed me cautiously. "...gentleman to be taken in for a rank examination."
"Yes, I'm quite aware of who Miss Flamesworth is. You may wait outside, Mary." The slender man waved her away as he stood up from his seat. "Miss Flamesworth, how are you these days? I met with your father not too long ago."
Jasmine simply gave a terse nod, that barely resembled a bow, as the man approached us. Her expression had gotten sharper since coming into this room, but at the mention of her father, Jasmine's hands clenched into fists. But as the man looked at Jin-Woo his eyes widened as he tensed up
"It's a pleasure to meet you S-Class Adventurer, Sung Jin-Woo," He said making Jasmine shocked
"Anyway, it is a pleasure to meet all of you." The man shifted his attention to Arthur, finally acknowledging his presence. "My name is Kaspian Bladeheart, and I am in charge of this branch. I take it that you must have some sort of close relationship with Miss Flamesworth, and Sir Sung. Is there a name I can address you by?" His gaze darted up and down as he quickly assessed Arthur.
"I go by Note," He answered gruffly. The name didn't mean much and was made fairly mindlessly based on the blue streak that went through the left eye slit; it had reminded me of a single half note.
"Well at least he's creative unlike a certain someone," Ash said
"Hey your one to talk only naming Bellion" I retorted
They then proceeded to take the examination.
Arthur fought Kaspian which I find interesting to see how far Arthur's swordsmanship has grown since he usually spends time in the void training with either Ash, Igris, or Bellion.
"And training his beast will, and RealmHeart with me" Sylvia butted in
Arthur holds back quite a lot limiting himself to only using fire magic, and internal lighting magic. As his battle with Kaspian ended Kaspian gave Arthur B-rank.
We then proceeded to a board where there were quests and jobs. At first, we took easy and short jobs. As time passed by we started going for much harder, and longer quests.
Arthur POV
"We're here," Jasmine announced, snapping me out of my thoughts. At her signal, the two of us brought our horses to a slow trot into a small clearing in the woods.
The clearing that was surrounded by tall trees, and where the dungeon entrance was located, was littered with a group of adventurers clearing their camp, some checking their weapons as they got ready to go in.
"I guess we're stuck with more augmenters," an all-too-familiar voice rang as he clicked his tongue. Getting off of my mount, I made my way towards the group of adventurers when the blond fire conjurer from the examination site shot me a distasteful look. Jasmine followed behind me, as Jin-Woo walked beside me, as an armored augmenter stepped forth and held out his hand in front of him, gesturing for a shake.
"Please don't mind Lucas and let me introduce you to the party. My name is Reginald Brooks, and I'm an A-class augmenter. I am an earth attribute yellow stage core that specializes in using a hammer." He pointed at the giant Warhammer lying on the ground where the group stood.
Studying Reginald, the man had short, messy brown hair that matched his eyes. His square jaw that was covered in a thick beard, coupled with his near-two-meter height and broad shoulders made for a very intimidating man.
The augmenters in the group, excluding Jasmine, Jin-Woo, and me, consisted of Reginald, Kriol, and Brald. Kriol was a very defensive, water attribute augmenter that only wielded a gigantic shield as his weapon. He was a head shorter than Reginald with a large belly that indicated the man loved his beer by the barrel. I could tell he was strong, though, by how firm his body was overall, despite his belly that squeezed out of his armor.
Brald was a very noble-looking man that stood just a bit shorter than Reginald. He wore a white, metal armor that covered his shoulders and chest only, with a luxurious mantle flowing behind him. With trimmed blond hair and sharp, hazel eyes, he seemed like a real lady-killer. To my surprise, he was a real gentleman and offered us handshakes and a rather innocent smile.
"I go by Brald and just became an AA-class, light yellow stage augmenter. I am a fire attribute augmenter that specializes in the broadsword and shield. I'll be the one to lead us today." He beamed, shying away after meeting eyes with Jasmine.
After the augmenters introduced themselves, the conjurers stepped up. Including Lucas, there were four other conjurers. One of them was a lanky man and the other, a girl, while the last one was the serious-looking, bespectacled black-haired boy that I had seen at the examination site.
What was his name again...?
"My name is Elijah Knight. A-class, dark orange stage conjurer... single specialization in Earth," he said tersely.
I couldn't help but eye him carefully. There had to be more than that. He wouldn't be able to get by with skipping the exam and being placed into B rank by just being an earth conjurer, no matter how young he was.
The beady-eyed lanky man that looked well into his thirties came forth next. He had a smug look on his face despite his less than attractive appearance, with his crooked nose and greasy brown hair parted down the middle. "Ahem! I go by Oliver and I am an A-class, dark yellow stage conjurer. I am an emitter deviant, specializing in healing." He stuck his jaw out smugly as he crossed his arms in content.
Despite his attitude, it was reassuring to have a healer in the party.
"Hi! My name is Samantha but you guys can just call me Sammy! Dark yellow stage, A-class conjurer with a single specialization in water at your service!" She threw in a wink in my direction. Samantha looked to be around her mid-twenties and was an attractive woman but by her attitude, I'm sure she was aware. She had wavy blond hair that flowed down her shoulders and light blue eyes that looked almost grey. Her eyes were big and round; making her look deceivingly innocent, and her petite height complimented that fact well. The girl constantly swayed her hips as she switched the leg she was putting her weight on, attracting sideway glances from the men nearby; Oliver was especially engrossed.
"Arthur would you stop starring at every pretty girl you see," Jin-Woo said before I could reply, I heard Jasmine speak
"Jasmine, light-yellow stage, AA-class augmenter. Wind attribute with dual swords," my partner said without batting an eye.
"Note, light orange stage, A-class augmenter. Fire attribute with specialization in sword," I added impatiently.
"Jin-Woo, I hope you don't mind me hiding my core stage, S-Class augmenter. Gravity attribute with dual daggers" He said
Brald smiled at us, "Welcome, you three! I'm certainly glad to have another AA class in the group, and an S class!" The other two augmenters nodded in agreement while Oliver and Lucas's apathetic faces showed they didn't care. When asked for an introduction by Brald, Lucas practically spat out that he was a fire-specialized conjurer who was at dark yellow stage. Through all of this, Elijah kept his stone face while I was already beginning to grow annoyed by the constant glances Samantha shot at me, trying to look through the mask somehow.
"That's what you get for starring at her" Sylvia chuckled
"I can't help but ask. Mr. Note, there have been various rumors about you saying that you are not an augmenter, yet you clearly just announced that you are," Reginald queried, picking up his giant hammer and holding it up on his shoulder.
"I haven't been using my magic for a while due to personal reasons. That must've been the reason why those rumors came up." I just shrugged without breaking stride.
Noticing that I didn't want to indulge their curiosity, he coughed uncomfortably and set up the formation for the party.
It would basically be Brald in the front since his shield and sword style was the best fit for the front line. Beside him were Reginald and I, who both specialized in the offense. Guarding the rear was Kriol with his gigantic shield to prevent us from getting flanked and Jasmine beside him, ready to kill anything that may get past him. We were all in charge of protecting the four conjurers with Oliver in the dead center, the most protected since he was our healer.
"We should head out immediately," Brald declared. He assumed the position as the leader since he was the front line and the only other AA class besides the quiet Jasmine.
This dungeon was deemed AA class, meaning parties with only A-class and above were allowed to enter. Brald recently found out that there was a hidden tunnel that led to an unexplored portion of the dungeon, which we would be going into today; this meant that most of our dungeon-exploring would be through uncharted areas. Everyone unsheathed their weapons while even the conjurers wiped their smug expressions as we stepped into the dungeon named by the first explorers: "The Dire Tombs."
As we went in Jin-Woo just did small supports as he said
"I don't want to ruin your experience," He said mentally
I was glad to know he was considerate and put my focus back on clearing the dungeon.
As we dove deeper down towards the dungeon
"Batrunners! They're not strong but they attack in groups. Minimizing the use of our mana is going to be the key inside this dungeon! Get ready!" Brald roared over the growling of the batrunners, all of whom were positioned to pounce, their patches of fur standing on end and their teeth bared.
"Form and torment the foes around! Fire Cyclone!" I heard a yell from behind me and I realized it was Lucas who had casted the spell.
Suddenly, four twisters of fire swirled to life around us, filling the cavern with a wave of heat.
As the fiery cyclones spread out, sharp yelps and pained whimpers echoed from the mana beasts.
Many of the batrunners had been engulfed by the fire tornadoes and were charred to ashes. The ones that were fortunate enough to escape the tornadoes had fled, trying to circle around and attack us.
I could hear Brald click his tongue, dissatisfied that Lucas had just ignored his orders and casted a spell that wasn't necessary.
The fire cyclones had killed most of the batrunners and the ones left had been badly burned, making it easy to defeat the rest.
"Next time, follow orders and don't waste mana like that. Your spell was overkill," Brald growled over his shoulder before marching ahead.
Lucas just rolled his eyes, "I don't see the problem. We killed them fast enough so that everyone else could save their mana."
"This brat is slowly annoying me," Jin-Woo said mentally
"Are you sure I can't kill him?" He continued
"No don't do anything yet" I replied
Shaking his head, Brald ushered us forward to the other end of the cave. As we continued forward to the location of the next room, the rather sickening sound of bones crunching and flesh gurgling made us all turn our heads back.
To my surprise and disgust, the batrunners that had just been killed began to reanimate, their bodies snapping into place as the ones that had been burned just seemed to rise up again from their ashes. As we killed any monsters that appeared in front of us. We arrived at a big space, Standing more than twenty meters tall, high above our heads was a colossal mana beast. With a humanoid structure that oddly resembled a centaur, it towered over us like a massive building.
"I'll deal with the small fries you deal with the big guy," Jin-Woo said
While it seemed to be made up completely of densely packed and intertwined vines, the top half of its body was that of an armored man holding a drill-like lance that came to a menacing point just over our heads. Its lower body was that of a horse, but rather than legs, its limbs consisted of the countless vines we had been battling against. Two green eyes peered down at us, filled with unbridled enmity.
I swallowed hard, staring mindlessly up at the imposing figure. For the last hour, the seven of us had been battling against the toes of this mana beast.
"I-I've read about a monster that looked something like this," Samantha stuttered in horror, sinking to her knees in complete resignation. "I think th-that's an S class mana beast called the e-elderwood guardian!"
"It can't be, right? What the hell would an S class mana beast be doing here?" Reginald almost dropped his giant hammer as he peered up at the elderwood guardian in dread, and with good reason too. An S class mana beast meant that it was on par with an SS class adventurer or at least ten S class adventurers.
"I-Isn't that Kriol?" Reginald exclaimed as he pointed a shaking finger at the lifeless torso and legs sticking out of the body of the mana beast.
As monsters rushed towards us we all killed them while Jin-Woo splattered most of them, and dashed towards them slitting them in half, or beheading them. We slowly went back as Jin-Woo lead the other adventurers out from the cave, while I was killing more and more of the monsters I saw that Samantha, Elijah, and Lucas were surrounded by the monsters, I dashed towards them and gave them support. But as I was struggling a little.
"You think I'd risk my life to help all of you escape?" He said as I felt a fireball hit my waist
"Be honored that you'll be the valiant heroes that stalled the beast enough for me to escape! I'll tell everyone all about your courageous deeds!" he scoffed, turning back just to shoot me an arrogant smirk before conjuring a smokescreen.
Another deafening crash reverberated as the ground split around us from the force of the elderwood guardian stabbing its lance where Lucas had just been. The smokescreen subsided, but Lucas was already gone, closing the door behind him.
"That spineless ass!" Elijah cursed, holding his glasses in place as the cavern continued to tremble from the force of the beast's attack. The endless vines that made up the mana beast's limbs managed to climb out of the crater left from Elijah's spell and approach us.
Suddenly, the elderwood guardian let out a baleful roar, gripping my body with a fear incomparable to any of the other mana beasts I had faced before. Its green eyes turned a menacing red and the tendrils that made up its body turned gray and disassembled to form a tsunami of vines, destroying everything in its path as it made its way to us.
As I tried to stand up I saw Jin-Woo stand in front of me I couldn't make out his expression, but as he raised one hand the vines that were directed at us were all flattened.
"Don't kill it yet let me try something first, that thing is mine" I managed to say
He hesitated at first but finally let me deal with the elderwood guardian.
I didn't know how severe the recoil of using it would be but I had no choice but to try.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, searching deep within my mana core for the source of Sylvia's slumbering power. Releasing it, I was met with an almost strangling amount of energy as my body burned.
The world around me blurred as a near-palpable aura of different colors enveloped me.
"Phase Two," I let out a strained whisper. "Dragon's Awakening."
Undergoing Dragon's Awakening seemed to startle Sylvie, who was now frantically asking me what had happened from wherever she was.
It's fine, Sylv. I want you to stay away for now and if anything happens, go back to the Helsteas' house for me.
'No! I'm going to go towards you now, Papa. Hold on!' I could sense Sylvie getting closer but she was still a few dozen kilometers away.
Stay away, Sylv! Please! I need someone to tell my family what happens just in case, I transmitted, the voice in my head coming out desperate.
I didn't know if I was going to make it out of this alive, and I didn't want my family wondering what happened and why the ring activated.
'Be careful...'
Thanks, Sylv.
One of the abilities of my first phase, Acquire, allowed me to temporarily separate myself from the space and time around me, which seemed to also be one of Sylvia's innate skills. That phase was limited in many ways because I wasn't a dragon. The limited mana I had access to, as well as the physical burden the ability placed on me, restricted what I could do when I activated the 'Acquire' phase.
"Be careful Arthur your body can't handle it for too long" Sylvia said
The most efficient way to best use this phase—I realized when I was training with Grandpa Virion—was by utilizing the Thunderclap Impulse spell alongside it. I would activate my first phase in short millisecond bursts while the reaction time of my body was increased dramatically from the lightning-attribute skill; this allowed me to react and counter almost anything. That was the most efficient way I could think of since I couldn't affect anything that was "frozen" while the first phase was activated. Even though I wasn't able to keep it up for long, that was my biggest trump card. The fact that the first phase of my beast will wasn't noticeable by those around me made it all the more useful.
I thought back to the time at the auction house when I had first used the 'Acquire' phase on someone else. Sebastian wasn't able to communicate with anyone besides me since I separated us from the time and space of those around us. It only lasted a few seconds before I ended up crippled in bed the next day.
Right now, though, was one of those times when my first phase wouldn't be so useful. No matter how fast I could react to this tsunami of vines, I wouldn't be able to dodge or escape from it in one piece.
There was no other choice.
As I unleashed the dormant power of Sylvia's will deep inside my mana core, I felt every pore in my body open as a surge of mana began raging in and out of my body.
The space around me distorted and the ground below my feet began cracking from the mana surrounding my body.
The color drained from my vision as I was only able to see in shades of gray. The only colors I was able to see were from the numerous particles of mana in the atmosphere around me, all shimmering according to their corresponding elements.
The surge of mana that had been rampaging around me suddenly got sucked up and compressed into my body as the feeling of insurmountable power overwhelmed me. The sense of superiority over everything, living or not, in this universe, almost drove me crazy. I suppressed the growing temptation to obliterate everything around me out of sheer mania.
"Kuh!" I gasped aloud.
The mana in the atmosphere seemed to bend to my will as if even nature was now under my command.
Phase Two. Dragon's Awakening... Integrate.
The golden runes, the same markings that Sylvia once had, ran down my arms and back with a burning sensation. I could see my hair growing longer, flowing down to my shoulder, as the once auburn color of my hair turned a bright luminescent white, swaying from the swirl of energy constantly encompassing me. In a way, it was like my body was becoming more like Sylvia's.
After calming the voice inside my head that suggested I go on a rampage, I examined my surroundings. Jasmine and Elijah were the only ones left. Elijah was beside Jasmine now, who was still out of breath and sweating in pain, supporting her with his shoulders. Elijah was staring at me with a dazed expression, his once serious face almost comical as his glasses drooped down his broken nose.
Another thunderous crash jolted my attention back to the task at hand.
The tsunami of vines that made up the elderwood guardian expanded as a face formed within the wave. The face bore down at me balefully, ignoring everyone else but me. The mana beast that once looked at us like we were insects now displayed a trace of fear.
"Let's play," I growled, revealing a smirk.
The world moved around me in slow motion as I leaped, willing wind into the soles of my feet. I instantly cleared the distance between the elderwood guardian and myself as the storming gale I propelled myself with left a crater bigger than the spell Elijah had used.
[Thunderclap Impulse]
A surge of black lightning coiled around my body as I effortlessly dodged the thousands of vines that shot out at me.
Every vine that the tendrils of black lightning touched instantly disintegrated and withered away, but for every vine that crumbled, dozens replaced it. Using the vines that were shooting at me as a foothold, I breezed through the onslaught of thorn-covered vines as thick as my body, drawing nearer to the core of the elderwood guardian.
I could already feel the recoil from using the second phase as my body began trembling and I held back the need to vomit blood.
It was time to end this.
"White fire," I muttered.
My hands ignited and became engulfed in a blazing white flame that seemed to freeze the moisture in the air around it. This was the most powerful offensive skill that I had in my arsenal, but one that was also the hardest to control. While my Lightning Attribute skills were focused more towards one-on-one combat, I geared my ice attribute techniques for a more widespread form of destruction, just in case the situation arose.
The white fire ablaze in my hands grew larger as I absorbed the now-visible specks of water attribute mana particles into my body. Using the last of my strength, I released my final skill.
[Absolute Zero]
The elderwood guardian, who was in the form of a giant wave of entangled vines, rapidly became encased in ice as the very atoms that made up the mana beast froze in place where the white fire had spread.
Exploding forth the black lightning around me, deadly coils of dark electricity traced through the frozen tsunami of vines and instantly shattered it, leaving only the beast's mana core.
The second phase wore off as I heaved out a mouthful of blood. As my body began plummeting down, I couldn't help but admire the beauty of the shimmering fragments of ice that once made up the legendary S class mana beast; It had the surreal effect that one would only see in a dream.
"Good job" Jin-Woo said as he caught me
As my consciousness faded, the last thing I heard was the distant echo of Sylv's cry in my head.