"Malenia!" shouted Daizen as he rushed out of his room, tired of bottling up his feelings. "I want to be stronger too! I want to be like the royal youth academy trainees too! I want to be respected too!" Daizen cried out. "What happened?" asked Malenia, concerned about this sudden burst of emotions. "You do know I've always wanted to be a holy knight and serve the Central Heavenly Union too, right?!" exclaimed Daizen, with sadness and sorrow in his eyes. "Yes, I know that..." responded Malenia, comforting him as she played with his curly, messy hair. "I wish I was strong like Ray, Akira, Gurg and the others... I wish I wouldn't ever be looked down upon..." he said, while sobbing. "So you want to be strong~?" Malenia asked Daizen, "Yes?" answered Daizen. "Alright then... Come with me."
They both walked, as Malenia leaded Daizen to the mansion's basement. "Have a seat." said Malenia, as they entered the basement. Daizen sat down, "What are we supposed to do here?" asked Daizen, still not completely recovered from the emotional outburst a moment before. "Well, what can we not? Considering how much equipment I have, we should be able to do anything!" teased Malenia.
The basement looked as if it was a biological laboratory, it had weird looking hearts, that were somehow still pumping despite not being in the body of their respective creature, models of several dangerous beasts, descriptions of different classes etc.
"So tell me Daizen, what are the ways one can increase their stats or upgrade their class?" asked Malenia. Since she had never talked about this matter with Daizen, she was curious to hear what Daizen would say.
Daizen started explaining, "Well, one can either implant a powerful magical beast's heart in themselves with the help of a surgeon, this will increase their stats based on how powerful the beast who's heart they implanted was. For example, a person can implant a wild hound's heart inside them and that would increase their stats from most 'F' levels to a few 'E' levels. Comparatively, if someone implants a Dragon's heart inside them, their stats would skyrocket from (hypothetically) all 'F's to all 'S's. However, the catch here is that the only beast's heart that can be implanted into someone, is a beast that they hunted themselves and killed with their own hands". "Wow~" Malenia said, genuinely surprised, "He managed to gather this much information despite not getting any formal education?" she thought to herself.
Daizen proceeded, "For classes, the only way to get a class after your early toddler years have passed, is to go through life-threatening adventures. But in some cases, even after a life full of extreme hardships and trials, people don't get a class, so this method isn't reliable." "There is a rumor however, that a class existed in old times, that had the power to pass on classes, but there was a strict condition... But this one is just a rumor so it's hopeless for me..." Daizen said, sadly. "This boy never ceases to surprise me..." Malenia thought.
Stats are the way of measuring a person's physical abilities, they range from F-S, F being the weakest, A being very strong, and S being strongest. Classes come with special perks, like magical abilities which can range from healing, elemental magic, fighting skills etc. Or even out of the world skills like teleporting, telekinesis and more. Not only special abilities, but a person's stats also significantly increase depending on the class they get. An average person with a common class, has a few 'D's and some 'E's, meanwhile, an average holy knight has most 'B's and one or two 'A's, and the strongest holy knights that stand on top of the army have at least half of their stats 'S' levelled and the rest 'A's.
"No need to be so down Daizen, I might have a way of helping you get a class or a beast heart~" she teased. "WHAT? YOU DO?" Daizen shouted in excitement after hearing the words he so longed to hear. "Well, if you want to be strong so bad, how about embarking on a journey to the outtermost beast lands?" suggested Malenia.
The beast lands is a huge landmass, with every beast imaginable. This is the perfect place to hunt for beast hearts and get stronger. It has 6 lands, the 'outermost', the 'outter', the 'middle', the 'core', the 'inner', the 'innermost'. The 'outtermost' is the largest in terms of landmass and posseses the weakest of the beasts like hounds, panthers, hyenas etc while the 'innermost' is comparatively, the smallest and consists of the strongest ones that are capable of destroying entire cities like dragons, griffins, krakens etc. However, the beast king, Draconious, rests within the core and so do most of the other royal beasts.
"YES PLEASE! WHY DIDN'T I EVER THINK OF THAT?! SO THAT'S HOW ALL THE POWERLESS KIDS SOMEHOW BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO JOIN THE HOLY KNIGHTS-" Daizen was more excited than ever, he finally saw light in a dark tunnel which gave him hope of becoming strong. This had always been his wish. "Well then, let's set out for the lands tommorow!" Malenia told Daizen, with a bright smile on her face. As Malenia was about to walk out, she stopped, feeling the hands of Daizen wrapped around her, he had hugged her and was crying. "Malenia, thank you so much..." he sobbed, "If it weren't for you, I'd be a street beggar right now!". "No, you'd have ended up worse..." Malenia thought to herself, after which she turned back and hugged Daizen back.
Finally, it was the day of setting out on the journey. "Y'know, I couldn't sleep all night because of the excitement!" said Daizen as both of them walked across the port. "Oh, is that so? No wonder you look like a beast yourself! Pffft" she laughed, "Oi, shut it, I know I'm looking fine!" Daizen responded, "No no, it's better this way, the beasts won't attack us since they'll consider you from their own tribe! AHAHAHAHAHA" Malenia continued to tease. "UGH SHUT UP!" said Daizen. "Aww~ Wis Dwaizen Angwy Now--" before Malenia could finish, they had reached the ship of the hunters setting out for the beast lands.
"Oii!! Daizen!! You really didn't tell us you were leaving already?!" Akira called Daizen out. Both Ray and Akira came to say goodbye to Daizen. "Oh crap, I was so excited I forgot to tell you--" as Daizen was about to say that Ray grabbed him by his shirt's collar and said "Listen here, if it wasn't for Malenia, you would've left and we would've been looking for you everywhere. Be more considerate of your friends, will you?", Daizen nodded his head in agreement with his hands and fingertips facing the sky. "Well, I was gonna scold you but I don't wanna ruin the mood for your first trip outside of the royal city" said Akira, continuing "And take care of yourself and Malenia, if anything happens to you two, I'll really scold you even if it ruins the mood, good luck now!". "Thanks guys... I'm thankful for everything you two have done for me, I really am!", both Akira and Ray looked away, embarrassed. "Take care of yourselves too kids! B-bye~" Malenia said goodbye and walked onto the ship.
As Daizen had walked about halfway up the stairs of the ship, he had a sudden hunch that told him to hug his friends the final goodbye, he ran back down and hugged them both, as hard as he could. "Goodbye Ray, goodbye Akira!" Daizen said, in a low voice. "This is cringe" said Ray, hugging them back, neverheless. "Goodbye Daizen..." Akira too, hugged both of them back. "Next time we meet, be stronger!" both Ray and Akira said the exact same words in complete sync. "Huh? Looks like this is a sign from the heavens that I will, indeed be stronger!" they all laughed hard and said their final goodbyes.
Both Malenia and Daizen settled down in their room when the ship finally started moving, for some reason, he had tears in his eyes. He wiped them, but it still felt like he was crying. He tried to ignored the sensation. Then, he heard the same words, "Next time we meet, be stronger!" but in a very different, soothing voice. It was the voice of a woman he had never heard before yet it felt so familiar. He started feeling dizzy, and collapsed...
to be continued...