"Come and sit," his teacher said with a genuine smile on his face. As he gestured to the wood table that was covered in plates of different foods. Havok made his way over to the table unsure of what was happening because he had never experienced anything like this before.
His teacher watched for a second, before he turned around and focused on the food he was preparing and continued to speak seeing that Havok was confused about what was happening.
"It has been one year since we met, so I decided that today was your birthday because I doubt that you know the actual date and it will be easy to remember because this is the first day of the new year. Birthdays are a big occasion for most and whoever's birthday it is usually given presents or gifts from those closest to them. I am the only one who is close to you, and this is one of my gifts I have prepared for you. I cooked a delicious meal and left the other gift in your room. You woke up just in time to eat." The teacher turned around and saw Havok sitting there with a stunned impression as tears streamed down his face. Other than being in darkness where he felt the most comfortable, this was the first time another person showed him any trace of affection.
His teacher walked over and sat down the meat he just finished cooking, he ruffled Havok's hair.
"This is the first of many birthdays, as you get stronger you need to make sure to have special occasions like this every now and then to reward yourself or to just relax. Also, women love shit like this. Cooking is a great way to get women. Haha!" He laughed as walked to the other side of the table and he sat down across from Havok.
"Thank you," was whispered from Havok's mouth as he wiped the tears from his eyes. His teacher smiled and nodded. "Hurry up and eat before it gets cold." Havok nodded, as he picked up the fork and knife and cut into the glistening piece of meat in front of him.
The meat melted in his mouth when he took a bite. This was by far the best piece of meat he had ever eaten. His eyes widened, then he started to taste everything on the table, this continued for a full hour as he ate until he was unable to eat anymore. The table was almost completely empty when he sat back and patted his now slightly bloated stomach with a satisfied expression on his face.
"Now check your mana core." His teacher said with a smile. Havok realized that he had ignored his mana core ever since his teacher told him 'Happy Birthday' and he was shocked when he saw that his mana core had doubled in size from its original size.
"Am I about to rank up?" Havok asked with a joyful expression.
His teacher nodded, "That is correct, your body is currently overflowing with mana. You spent a year training in the forest, perfecting your techniques and mana control. After your first few bites of the food, you were able to rank up, but the more mana you gather for the next rank the better. That will increase the amount of mana your core contains, which is why when someone ranks up, they have an abundance of mana stones or rank up in an area that is enriched with the purest mana available. Now focus and condense your mana core as much as you can, the more you condense it the more impurities that it will expel. Which allows your core to contain purer mana. Purer mana means when you activate a technique, you use less mana than before and achieve better results. For example, let's say that the 'Darkness Dash' technique that you inherited uses five percent of your mana every time you use it. When you have purer mana, you can lower that percentage the purer the mana in your core becomes. Also, your speed and the distance you will be able to cover would increase. The size of your new core will be slightly larger than the core of your previous rank." Havok focused on condensing his mana core as the impurities began to ooze out of his skin and all the previous injuries that had not healed properly and the multitude of scars that he accumulated faded away.
His teacher kept talking as Havok was busy with his mana core. "You have probably noticed by now that getting injured, and healing improves your physical defense. I have been watching you fight and at the rate you get injured your physique should have improved greatly. Hahah! Anyway, right now you are ranking up and along with cleansing you of impurities, healing any past injuries, it also enhances your senses. While the senses of a human will never be able to surpass a mana beast of the same rank, it will benefit you immensely. You will be more sensitive to smells and taste. Your vision will improve along with the speed at which your brain is able to process information and respond is increased and last but not least your ability to sense mana. Being able to sense mana is a big plus, this will allow you to identify the strength of your opponent more accurately and tell where the mana is richest or purest at. All of these things will happen every time you rank up. Let's move on to another topic, creating techniques."
"Anyone can create as many techniques as they want, but the only rankers who do this are idiots. You only need a few techniques. One for attacking, defense, concealment, movement and a few more that relate to that specific affinity. You did it correctly when you created your "Conductor of the night" technique. You create a solid foundation of a technique then you modify it. That way you can keep the number of techniques you have minimal because even if you create a bunch of techniques at a low rank, you will not be using them as you get stronger since you will probably just keep creating more and more of them. It is better to increase your mastery of one technique and enhance its power as you increase your rank. You should also receive a new technique, now that you ranked up." His teacher stopped talking as he observed Havok making sure that nothing was going wrong.
Havok was able to hear everything his teacher said while he was condensing his mana core. He finished about thirty minutes later and rushed off to the waterfall. "I could really do without this awful smelling black shit every time I rank up." Havok said, as he was trying not to throw up.
"Well, you know there is a way to stop that." His teacher said, making Havok's eyes glow with anticipation. "What is it?" He asked hurriedly. "You could just not rank up anymore and you would not have to worry about being cleansed of impurities." He replied with a smile.
"..." Havok said nothing as he knew that the old man was teasing.
"Hahaha! That's what I thought, stop whining like a little bitch. It's not like it lasts forever, you just need to wash it off." His teacher laughed without restraint, shaking the entire cave.
Havok no longer worried that the cave would collapse after the last time. That did not mean that he was strong enough to endure the shockwaves reverberating through the cave. His orifices did not erupt with blood like the last time which proved how much his physique has improved. Still his ears did bleed, and blood trickled out of his mouth as he gritted his teeth waiting for his teacher to stop laughing.
It didn't take that long right at the moment he was about to pass out. His teacher stopped. He was down on one knee holding his ears looking up at his teacher and his eyes were full of anger. "Cough. Cough. You did that on purpose you asshole. It's my birthday, is this a part of the gifts you got me?" He asked sarcastically as he slowly stood up.
"It was on purpose, but that was because you annoyed me with your whining. You are fine, you'll heal. Now are there any other questions you have before you return home?" His teacher asked as he leaned back in his chair.
Havok composed himself. He got off the ground and sat back in his chair. He asked a question that had been bothering him since the day they met. "You said that you are a beast not a human. What type of beast are you and why do you look like a human? Also, your eyes are green, are you a green core?"
"My planet, unlike this one, has had mana as far back as records could go. The population was diverse because dungeons had been there forever and the different races that came to our planet had long integrated themselves into our world. They seemed to have reached an agreement with the ancestors of our planet when they first arrived long ago, and the agreement was maintained by their descendants."
"I am a basilisk. My race is the king of serpents, our scales toughness is just slightly inferior to a dragon of the same rank, and we are just a notch below the speed of a phoenix. Those basilisks that have a purer bloodline are able to grow wings. Most beast clans and even races for that matter have a singular affinity excluding those who are outliers, like myself, who had no affinity at all. The basilisk clan members generally had earth for their affinity, they can petrify their opponents with their gaze that is their main attack. Those with purer bloodlines are able to breathe fire and spread venom with their bite."
"There are fewer of us now because we were hunted down just like every other powerful beast clan. The problem with the basilisk clan is that they were not united like the other beast clans. When someone killed a beast that was a part of the other beast clans that individual was hunted down ruthlessly and everyone around them was killed in the most brutal ways possible. The basilisks on the other hand were so caught up with infighting that they didn't realize that they were slowly being killed off. Their arrogance is what led to their downfall, believing that they were above the trivial matter of a few weaker clan members getting killed. Luckily for me though, I was cast aside as I had an impure bloodline, and I had no affinity to speak of. I was rather lucky that I was disowned before they were destroyed."
Havok interrupted with a question, "You didn't have an affinity then, but you have one now. How did that happen?"
"Well, that is where my story gets interesting, in the beginning of my life I was just another failure. I was kicked out of the clan when I was seven years old, and my parents were dead, and I had no one to rely on. I did whatever I had to do to survive, at the same time trying to evade any hunters who wanted to kill me and use my body as materials or capture and enslave me. One day, when I was twenty years old, I was roaming around a forest, and I happened to stumble upon a cave much like the one we are currently in. I could smell a delicious fragrance coming from inside and as someone that lived in a constant state of hunger because I was just surviving off of scraps. That smell was truly irresistible, so I cautiously made my way into the cave."
"I saw a fire burning and a handsome young man who was about 6ft with pale skin, wearing a long black robe, with black hair tied in a ponytail. He looked rather harmless as he was sitting there peeling and chopping up vegetables then throwing them into a pot while he had a mana beast frying in a separate pan. He was tasting the broth making sure that it tasted the way he wanted. It was impossible to tell his actual age without measuring it with a tool that is specifically designed for it. He didn't give off an aura of someone dangerous and there wasn't much I could do anyway because I was just an orange rank. Someone at the bottom of the food chain. I was slightly nervous because I couldn't feel what rank he was, which could only mean one of two things. Either he was stronger than me by a tremendous margin or he really was just a regular human. I discarded the thought of him being a regular human, when I finally focused on the mana beast carcass that was in the corner, it was a basilisk. It was a high-ranking member of my former clan; he was a blue core. He was hundreds of years old, and he was a sadistic piece of shit that enjoyed inflicting pain on those weaker than him for his own entertainment. He was one of the main people responsible for my bullying when I was little. He treated me like shit just like the rest of the clan, but he would encourage others my age to hurt me, so seeing him dead made me feel grateful to the young man."
"I stood there and watched for a few minutes before I approached him. "Do you want to eat with me?" The young man asked with a genuine smile.
"May I?" I asked nervously, because I was not sure of his motivation for inviting a weakling like myself to eat such a delicacy.
"Yeah, it's boring to eat alone all of the time. Having some company would be nice. Sit." He said as a look of flashed on his face for a brief second before he regained his smile. I was still not able to take a human form, so I slithered my way next to him and waited for the food to be ready.
"Now normally I would have you eat from a plate with silverware, but you have not reached the \rank where you can take human form, so you can eat it however you want. Most mana beasts like to just eat with their hands, even if they are able to take human form. That just causes an unnecessary mess, I don't want to be covered in food when I get done eating." The young man said as he took out a plate and silverware for himself.
"After we both ate until we were full and then he introduced himself."
He said, "My name is Jett Black and my affinity is darkness. Pretty fitting name don't you think? Haha! Anyway, I have a proposition for you. How would you like to be my mount? Now that may sound demeaning, but I will help you increase your strength and I have another surprise if you say 'yes', it is definitely something that you will be interested in."
"I had no family, my clan disowned me, and I had nowhere to go. I had heard rumors about there being someone on the planet that had an affinity for darkness, and he was stated to be a demon in disguise. However, he was the first person that had shown me any kindness in my entire life, so naturally I agreed. That is where we proceeded to make a core contract and I became his mount. The contract stated that I was not his slave, and I was free to leave whenever I wanted as long as I did not divulge anything about him. It also stated that he would increase my strength and that we both had to never betray the other or our cores would explode. Once that was done, he gave me the biggest gift of my life. He shared his darkness affinity with me, something that I didn't even know was possible. He explained to me that only those around his level could do it, but that it came at an extreme cost. Who would willingly lower their rank and sacrifice a portion of their core to share their affinity with someone else? His rank dropped down from silver all the way to blue and I got his affinity. My rank however didn't increase."
"We stayed in that cave for a few days getting to know each other and sharing our stories. I will tell you about what happened after that at another time. Now, the reason I can take a human form is something all intelligent mana beasts can do once they reach the green core rank. It lowers physical prowess being in a smaller body, a mana beast is at its strongest when it is in its beast form."
"There are several different thoughts from the mana beast's community about being in human form. Beasts are arrogant, so some believe that it is an honor for others to see them in their beast form, so they tend to stay in human form most of the time. Some think that they should always stay in their beast form, so that they can be prepared to fight at all times. While others think that it is more convenient to be a human sized body. Which makes sense because depending on the race and their strength a beast can become enormous; how many buildings are built to accommodate a big ass mana beast?"
"So which side are you on?" Havok asked.
"I only appear in my beast form when I am performing my duties as a mount or when I want to kill. Being big all the time is inconvenient." His teacher replied.
Havok nodded as his teacher continued.
"For your next question. Losing my body, my beast core and being in a world with such little mana my rank is dropping. Every time you see me that takes mana, my rank will continue to drop over time. However, appearing like this doesn't cost that much mana, so I have plenty of time to train you and teach you about life before I die. I am currently at the green core rank that is why my eyes are green. Be aware that the eye color revealing the rank of the mana beast is only for the weaker beasts with little or no intelligence. As beasts get stronger, they learn how to control their eye color. No one wants their opponent to know their rank because that is a clear disadvantage. Remember it is better to not let anyone know your rank for as long as you can. It's better for people to think that you are weak, that makes it easier for you to kill them with less fuss. If everyone knows that you are strong, then they will gather more people to kill you which is just an annoyance."
"When do beasts learn to speak human language or are beasts just born able to?" Havok asked.
"As far as I know that is something that beasts have to be taught how to speak the human language. Every race has their own language and even if they don't learn how to speak human language. It's not all that hard, it took me a few months to learn and that was just because I had to learn after I was kicked out of my clan. I learned when I was drifting from town to watching and listening to humans interacting with each other. If you don't want to take the time to learn, there are devices sold on almost every planet that translate language for you." His teacher answered.
"All right, that's enough questions for now, we will have plenty of time to talk." His teacher waved his hand and darkness engulfed Havok. When Havok was able to see again, he was already back in his room.