PoV Diego
A couple of weeks have passed since I completed the third stage alone. The payday is getting closer and closer, while I get more anxious as time passes. Recently, we have finished all our spare food and are relying solely on the prey that Satsui and Tsuitame hunt.
Folarin is always on guard, watching my every move. Valis is always immersed in her study of magic, and Forren is putting a lot of effort into learning the fire aura technique.
In terms of combat capabilities, the wolves have long surpassed us in terms of raw strength. I can still win in normal sparring. I tied with Tsuitame three times, won against his older brother twice, and lost once.
Meanwhile, I haven't been able to figure out the timing of Aura, since I can't use both Aura and my abilities. I tried to adopt a style in which I constantly switched from an offensive stance using aura to a defensive one with my ability.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to use aura in a practical match. It's extremely hard to use, and often I lose grip due to stress and fatigue.
I often tried to compare mana and aura in the last couple of weeks, and I noticed that the biggest weakness of mana users is positioning. Both seem to require a high level of concentration. I noticed that Valis and Folarin tend to stand still in place whenever they're doing some big or complex technique.
Talking about those two little magicians, I once managed to push Valis to her utmost limit. Her horn started to glow, and her control over the elements got a lot stronger, although her aggressiveness reached an all-time high. It wasn't completely berserk; she was still conscious, but she definitely was trying to kill me there. That kind of thing was extremely taxing on her body, and after the duel she had to rest for a couple of days to recover all the mana she lost.
Among the two, Folarin is the deadliest. She makes frequent use of small, fast, and precise techniques with her needles. She often resorts to crystallizing mana rather than using an element, although I saw her once throw a fireball at Forren pulled out of thin air, so she might be hiding some technique still.
Valis's magic tricks got weaker, and Folarin said that it was natural as they got more efficient now. The problem is that she can hold that level of efficiency for barely thirty seconds out of combat and zero seconds in combat.
Lastly, the two brothers notified me that a lot of creatures have been migrating towards us and that hunting is getting more and more dangerous as more aggressive species are starting to appear.
At first I was glad since that meant we weren't going to starve ourselves, but then that quickly became a worry as we got invaded by a predator who was not afraid of fire. Thanks to Forren, we were able to subdue that creature without major injuries. His regeneration was vital for us.
Lately, the topic of moving out has reemerged, with Tsuitame Valis and Folarin strongly wanting to move out.
I ignored them, and so did Forren. Satsui instead tried to justify the decision to stay, saying, and I quote, "This is the perfect chance to get some real experience in a life and-death situation."
Honestly, his ability to spout such obvious lies is impressive. It would be even more impressive if those three fell for those lies, but that would tell more about their intelligence than Satsui's.
Tsuitame seems interested in Folarin. This was surprising to me since he was the most reserved of the two brothers. He's not exactly shy, but he's not interested in engaging in conversations with others of the same gender as him.
I often caught him stealing glances at her while she was training Valis. I don't know if it's a crush or the fact that he hasn't touched himself in over three weeks.
His brother is almost the complete opposite; he's very kind and curious. Unlike his younger brother, he does not seem to favor one specific gender and is overall good company to have around.
"Diego?" The voice belonged to Satsui.
I was dazed in front of the fire, staring at the forest behind me.
"Diego, are you awake?" He asked again, this time shaking my shoulders.
"Nope." I answered, closing my eyes.
He let out a small smile before sitting next to me.
"It's my turn now. You can rest."
"Hey, are you really prepared for it?" I asked.
"Prepared for what exactly?"
"To sculpt your name in history, as the savior of your planet, of course. I feel as if this great adventure will be passed down to future generations as one of those myths you often hear as a kid. I mean... the entire future of my planet is on my shoulders."
Fury: That's right, we're now considered among the greatest heroes of our time while not even being half as strong as any other really strong figure.
An image of me fighting a dragon using a giant double-headed ax flashed before my eyes.
"To be honest, I barely know if my species is still alive; judging by the rules of this special trial, it probably means that the representative that chose me as the participant is still a slave. Otherwise, I'm sure he wouldn't have chosen someone like me as the representative of our species." Satsui responded.
I didn't know what to respond to, and it was mainly because the weapons couldn't keep their mouths shut, so I barely heard what he said.
Dubir: Nobody will be able to stop us at this rate.
'Please, can you not put weird images or illusions in my head? This situation is already hard to follow for me for you to start messing with my head.'
It still feels incredibly uncomfortable to hear someone else's voice and thoughts in your head, especially when it comes to those two. They started talking recently and haven't shut up since. It's uncomfortable, mainly because they imagine scenarios. Dubir's thoughts often appear as images, while Fury's seem more like some sort of mature cartoon with a lot of edgy elements attached to them.
Dubir: Soon my time to shine will come, and I'll finally be able to show all the non-believers who the truly strongest soul sword is!
Suddenly, everything around me changed. On the ground, there were many kinds of broken swords; the ground was covered in blood; I was surrounded by impaled enemies; and in front of me, there was one last enemy armed with a katana the length of his arm.
Fury: Then, we'll travel around the universe, hunting all kinds of different beasts! We'll be known as-
Fury: And we'll prove everyone that we're the best!
The last one was probably Dubir using Fury's voice.
'Stop-'
Dubir: We're not inferior just because we're not from the same race as those halfbreeds.
Fury: We'll show him who's truly superior!
'You're still salty about that? Get over it! He made that comment over a week ago!'
Fury and Dubir: Shut up; you wouldn't get it.
'Ah, whatever, think what you want I-'
Dubir: Then how about we start training your swordsmanship? I know you're quite confident in your hand-to-hand combat, but when it comes to swords, I can confidently say you're probably the weakest swordsman to have ever wielded me.
'Shut up! I couldn't care any less about this.'
Fury: No, he first has to learn how to behave as a proper human!
'Shut up!'
Dubir: What are you talking about? He already has the mentality of a good warrior; all he needs now is training.
'See? There's nothing wrong with me.
Fury: And then what? Are you going to become like one of those stupid hunters that can't live without fighting? Being a warrior is not all there is to life.
'Who in their right mind would want a future like that? I just want to be strong enough so that others won't be able to mess with me even if I happen to wrong somebody.'
Fury: You see... that is the problem I'm talking about.
'You focus too much on the little things; if you keep that mindset, you won't be able to enjoy the beauty of life.'
The man quickly started charging at me, screaming in some unknown language.
"Diego!" an unknown voice started calling my name multiple times.
As I tried to block the vertical slash of the attacker, I found myself getting both hands chopped off cleanly.
'What? My eyes couldn't follow such movements. From a human of all things?'
"DIEGO!" This time I recognized the voice; it was Forren's.
Dubir:TCH!
As the illusion started to fade, I found myself practicing vertical swings with a stick. Forren was shaking me violently, trying to make me regain my senses, while Valis had put multiple chains made of mana around my legs and torso.
Fury: You should cut that out; at this rate, we're not going to be used anymore.
Fury: What? Wait, that wasn't me; it was-
Fury: Stop using my voice!
Fury: You're the one using my voice! And how old are you to still pull this kind of joke, huh? Three?
"For the love of God, LET ME REST!" I shouted.
Fury: See? I told you you would piss him off.
Fury: Oh, you little-
"I SAID SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU STOP OR I WON'T USE YOU EVER AGAIN."
…
'Finally'
The rest of the team was looking at me as if I'd gone crazy, while Satsui's eyes seemed more curious than afraid.
Valis then freed me and allowed me to rest.
Later that day, I got my first taste of a magical animal. Everything was going on pretty peacefully; I was practicing my swings while Forren was practicing his aura to cut down trees, blissfully unaware of the danger looming behind our backs.
The creature attacked from behind and, with a swift yet silent leap, tried to kill me immediately by biting my neck. The ones who reacted in time were my weapons, they quickly took control of my body and somehow used some sort of magic power to create an invisible wall between us. I barely had time to take a proper look at the creature when a sudden burst of energy sent the wall flying straight towards me.
The wall managed to push me back for quite a distance before I inevitably crashed against a tree. It was only then that I managed to take a proper look at the creature that was attacking me. I was a bit disappointed when I saw a giant monkey charging at me.
It wasn't a normal monkey, however; it was probably a bit taller than me, had gray fur, had a couple of snakes for a tail, and possessed six arms along with some really long whiskers. The creature punched the wall with only one of its arms, and after realizing it didn't have enough strength to break through the wall, it started pushing it against me with all six of its arms.
Dubir: What are you-
I used my ability to make my hands pass through the barrier and tried to reach for the monkey's head. The creature immediately tried to use the snakes it had for a tail to try and stop my hand, and once it realized it could make contact with it, it quickly retreated.
"Why today of all days? And why me? Can't you see that you're clearly the prey here?" I arrogantly state this while applying the ability to the rest of my body and freeing myself from that oppressive barrier.
The creature then changed its stance; it stopped walking on its only two legs and instead used every single limb at its disposal to run circles around me, trying to grab some dirt off the ground and subsequently throwing it at my face, trying to blind me.
'Clever little fucker.'
The monkey kept screaming throughout the entire encounter, so it felt pretty satisfying to deal the finishing blow, and it was done in quite a hilarious manner as well. All I had to do was hiss at the monkey while thumping my chest. The monkey then used a weird magic to inflate its body, and while it screamed back at me, I used a technique I learned recently with aura to launch myself at the creature at high speed, used my ability to ignore whatever counter the creature could try, and proceeded to squeeze its heart as well as its brain as hard as possible.
Dubir: Nice! I knew you could do it.
'Dubir! Dispel this shit!'
Dubir: What are you talking about?
'Do you seriously believe I would fall for this kind of trick? First of all, I felt no pain even though I was hit by a monkey probably twice as heavy as me; when I was almost crushed to death, there was no urge to reset; I'm currently uninjured after having taken one hell of an initial beating; and lastly, I don't know how to use aura, so that stunt I pulled earlier would've been impossible in a real fight. This is one of your illusions; I know you can't fake that stuff; now dispel it before I get angry.'
Dubir: Oh man, and here I thought I was good at creating illusions; I guess I can't fool a noble being.
'Cut the crap and free me from this illusion.'
Once he freed me from the illusion, I found myself in the shelter, sleeping comfortably on a bed made out of soft leaves and other things Forren had gathered for me.
As I got out of the shelter, no one was there; the fire had long died down.
'What happened here?'
Dubir: The others went ahead and entered the next stage without you.
"Why didn't you wake me up then?"
Dubir: Folarin wanted you to rest.
"Well, what am I supposed to do now?"
Dubir: Do you even have to ask such a question? Of course we'll be training!
Fury: I think it would be a lot more useful to learn how to use aura properly instead of how to wield just one of your many weapons.
Before I could do anything, Dubir created another illusion around me. I was standing on a small piece of land in the middle of a giant lake. In front of me was a practice dummy.
Dubir: How about we-
Suddenly, the illusion shattered into a million pieces.
Fury:Quit it! This way, we'll never be able to make meaningful progress!
Dubir: But-
'Fine! Let's do as Fury says for today.'
I then took the stance Satsui taught me: left foot in front, right behind, with open arms pointing towards the sky.
The next step is making the aura flow towards the hands and creating a small flame over the palms of my hands, neither hot nor cold. After half an hour in that position, I finally managed to create the flame in my hands.
The next and final step for this stance was to move my hands in a circling motion, make the flame follow my hand, and slowly create rings of flames using the special flames.
As soon as I tried to move the flame, it would die down. I've repeated this process over and over again. I've failed so many times that I lost count after two hundred.
Satsui told us that it's completely normal to fail at this stage, that there's nothing wrong with us, but still... It still feels fucking awful.
Fury: Relax; it's natural to not be good at something you only recently started practicing.
'What's the point then? We don't have all the time in the world to learn how to properly use magic; we have a timer clicking here! Ten years! That's it!
Fury: Trust me, you won't regret it, so just keep practicing and leave those thoughts for later.
Dubir: It's a take it or leave it kind of situation. The kind of power you need doesn't simply grow on trees or come free of charge.
'What do you mean?'
Dubir: Aura certainly allows for the fastest way of growing, as it's considered the easiest of the three main magical arts, but unlike mana, it can also irreversibly damage your own body while you use it.
'Well, that's not really an issue for me as-'
Dubir: You're not an invincible kid, not by a long shot; as a matter of fact, I know quite a number of individuals that could wipe the floor with your body. Don't mistake that useful ability for invincibility because it ain't it.
Fury: Stop wasting time and get back to training yourself!
It was at that moment that a dozen very different images appeared in my head. They showed a man practicing with his sword, then him practicing aura, then he started climbing a mountain, then split said mountain with a swing of his sword, and finally he was wearing golden armor.
Dubir: This is the end goal here.
Fury: Dubir I swear to God that one day I'm going to kill you if you keep interrupting us.
I practiced for the next couple hours, showing minimal results. By the end of it, I was so tired I couldn't even think properly. I almost burned some meat, and then I went back to sleep.
When I woke up, the others were still on stage, so after a small meal made mostly of insects, I decided to start my training.
Dubir: Hey, I'm sorry to say this now that you're weak and stuff, but you're currently surrounded by magical beasts.
He said this after a couple of hours of training in a desolate area.
'I guess they're hostile as well, huh?
Fury: They wouldn't have surrounded you if that wasn't the case.
"Frey!" The spear then materialized in my right hand.
Dubir and Fury: WHAT? HIM? WHY?
They both screamed.
"A spear is the best in these situations, isn't it?"
They both remained silent.
'So, where are they?
Dubir: Search them yourself.
'Fury'
Fury: No.
'Guess I'm on my own then.'
I paid close attention to my surroundings but couldn't find the creature.
Dubir: NECK!
I immediately used my ability on the neck and noticed the jaw of some kind of giant feline passing through.
I tried stabbing it with the spear, but Dubir then screamed: Head!
I ducked immediately and saw another of those felines jumping down from a tree, aiming at my head. The feline had long, pointy ears, seemed covered in moss, had three tails, and was tall enough to reach my waist.
After I dodged their attacks, they immediately started hissing at me.
Fury:Left leg! HURRY!
'The whole thing? How does that even-'
Before I could even get an answer, something pierced my legs three times.
Fury: Don't question us; just move!
Sorry, my bad I-
Dubir: Get as far away from the camp! You're not getting out of this without a reset!
Fury: Behind! NECK! HEAD!
This time I quickly turned around and managed to stab the feline in the torso. I tried to pull out the spear, but since it wouldn't come off easily, I simply let it go.
"DUBIR!" I shouted.
Dubir: Time to shine!
Fury: Get on the ground!
I followed the instructions and saw what appeared to be ice shards right above my body. I then started to run away from there.
In a matter of seconds, they reached me and pinned me against the ground. The felines were targeting mostly my neck and my legs.
Even after the reset, they were still able to pinpoint my location through the gas. I managed to injure one of them in the eyes before getting mauled in the shoulders.
'I fucking hate these oversized cats!'
I used my ability to put my hands in that creature's neck and suffocate it to death while the others tried to cut off my limbs.
After the second reset, finally, the effects of gas started to kick in. They were weaker, slower, and overall easier to kill than before.
I simply decapitated every single one of them and ended up with nine corpses, although I couldn't cleanly chop their heads off in one swing.
"Is there anything else I need to be aware of?" I said, barely holding my breath.
Dubir: This may seem nonsensical, but this forest is watching you, so try to use the reset the least amount of times possible; otherwise, more and stronger creatures will start hunting you down.
Fury: Can't you reset without creating that annoying thing? It consumes way too much energy!
'Honestly I never tried; it was always a very useful ability. I never once bothered to see if I could control it.'
Fury: And here's yet another thing added to the list of things you need to learn. At least it's not that bad; it might take a week or a month to master that... I hope.