It didn't take me long to reach my destination. I ran through the jungle much faster than I did before. 'Jeez, practising magic the way Amat's been teaching me feels like I'm working out my whole body. I wonder how strong I'm going to get in the future with the way I'm going at it now.' In front of me was a group of Ligers going at it with one of the huge armoured brontosaurus monsters. As I was watching I felt a warm sensation enter my body.
"Feeling overprotective are we?" A smile crept onto my face as I knew she wouldn't leave me alone for too long.
'You don't have to worry about me saving you this time round, I'm just going to stay within your soul and be a witness to the test I've given. I need to know how ready you are to venture out of this domain to fulfil your mission I have given you.'
With that being said, I waited for the right moment to strike. As if I hadn't been blessed with enough luck already, one of the Ligers was thrown by the armoured Brontosaur towards me, I leapt up out of my place and Stabbed the beast in the back as it flew toward me and pierced it completely. The force was strong enough to cleave it completely in two and broke its momentum. The beast fell lifelessly to the ground and the field we were in was covered with blood. After landing I kicked back into cover before the animals could notice me and manoeuvred my way around, trying to look for another opportunity to strike.
The beasts were trying to tear each other apart, the Ligers were desperate trying to claw and bite their way into the Brontosaurus's armour but the giant dinosaur was having none of it. The Brontosaurus reached down and bit into the back of another Liger and picked it up, using its tail to smack into two other Ligers as a form of crowd control. Making them fly away from the forest we came from. I thought it would be considerate of the forest but that was before it decided to fling the roaring beast into my direction. Doing the same thing I did before I leapt up into the air. Using my spear I stabbed into it with less force this time round and caught the beast. The beast screamed in pain quite loudly, alerting the Ligers in the surrounding area to come running towards us.
'Oh? What's this? More beasts are coming this way. I wonder how you're going to handle this?'
Amaterasu didn't sound concerned, as a matter of fact she sounded like she was amused by what was going on. Did she want me to save her forest and shrine or not? I stopped thinking about it and went onto the offensive this time round. I didn't go after the Brontosaurus though. As much as I needed to take it down. I could at least use it to my own ends as a distraction.
I landed on the floor, Liger first, to break my landing, killing it instantly. I then flew into the direction of two Ligers running towards me this time round, swinging my spear across the heads, knocking one into another slicing their faces apart. After seeing their two lifeless bodies on the ground, I turned around and saw the two Ligers running towards me, now deeming me a greater threat than the Brontosaurus. I jumped into the air to get away but when I looked down I found the pair of them air hopping.
'What?!' I was surprised at what they were doing. I didn't think they would have this ability at all.
'Hahahaha, concerning your favourite style of combat being aerial combat. I decided to make some last minute changes and gave them that skill to make it more difficult for you.'
Okay then, the difficulty has just been amped and now I have to adapt. Instinct took over at this point now, I didn't have time to think. I landed on the head of one of them and decided to jump away, the closest place being somewhere I didn't want to stay for long.
The Brontosaurus roared when I landed on its back, it didn't like where I landed at all. It started to flail around but I wasn't on its back for long enough for it to throw me off. I had leapt off of it and towards the two Ligers who were rushing towards me, I quickly swiped my spear at one of them, chopping off its head. I Landed and quickly spun around to then stab the other in the face. Breaking its momentum completely and it fell to the ground.
At this point I was feeling exhausted but I knew it wasn't over yet. All the Ligers at this point had died but the boss monster was still there. It could smell the blood on me, so taking its eyes out would be pointless. Its armour was thick, I didn't know if I could stab it with my spear. My arms were growing weak even after my training because of the amount of weight I had to carry. My legs were feeling like Jelly because of the amount of time I was jumping into the air. The weight I was carrying with my spear and armour I was wearing probably didn't help either. This Mexican standoff I was doing with the Brontosaurus was not going to last long. I have a feeling the only way I'm going to survive this is if I can decapitate it. What annoyed me was that I wasn't allowed to use my power of fire. Another possible way to defeat this thing was to wait for it to strike and then go for the head potentially.
What had actually happened though, was the Brontosaurus had decided to spin around and then struck me with its tail. I was too exhausted to react properly and it sent me flying as it struck my spear and across my chest.
'Ooft, that hurt a lot. If this was me at the beginning, no doubt I would have died from this.' Amaterasu was definitely feeling concerned from that strike. I knew for a fact she wanted to intervene and help me but she was forced to stay in my soul, and watch the events play out. She was biting her lips and a tear fell from her eye. It didn't take me long to stand back up, slowly, I looked up at the Brontosaurus that was making its way towards me. Legs were shaking and my hands were getting sweaty. I took a few deep breaths, calming my nerves. That was a heavy strike but nothing much more than what Amaterasu did to me during my training. I was able to handle it. I felt like I was getting hotter though. My temperature rose and kept rising in my legs. I looked down and saw my legs and feet glowing, I finally leapt into the air and swung my spear at the head at the Brontosaurus.
'What's this? It didn't feel like my spear connected at all.' The brontosaurus was fast enough and had learned from my actions to duck its head making me miss. I then kept flying due to the extra power of my jump and into a tree. Amaterasu had to stop herself from flying out of my soul to heal me.
"ROAR!"
I shook my head and quickly got up after I landed. I had one more idea left. I started breathing to calm my nerves and I started glowing again. I don't know what was happening but I wasn't going to waste this ability. Now that I had an idea what this glow meant. I leapt up high into the air. The Brontosaurus watched and waited to see what I was going to do.
The sky looked beautiful but I didn't have time to take it all in. I saw that the sun was starting to set and I had already begun my descent. I looked back down at the monster and flew my way back down spearhead first. I was aiming for the monster's head again. Flying back down I could see the drafts of air flying around us. I felt like a comet or a meteor flying back down. As I closed in on the Monster, it tried moving its head out of the way but I had predicted that and swung my spear around like a saw blade, slashing at the monster's neck. Due to my speed and the fact its neck was armoured it couldn't move away fast enough and I sliced and diced its neck apart. Blood flying everywhere and spraying across the entire field.
I tried flipping myself to land feet first, trying to make sure I roll on the ground but my landing was not as graceful as my ascent. Fortunately it didn't hurt as much since this golden glow surrounding me protected me like armour.
'Wait, golden glow? I thought that this was supposed to be my test, Amaterasu.'
'Aww, no cute pet name this time round? And you caught onto me helping you out? I am sorry for helping you with the Brontosaurus as you like to call it. You had passed the test When you slaughtered all but one of the Ligers in my eyes. I knew you wouldn't be able to defeat that beast without using your abilities. So I showed you how to enhance yourself the first time round. The second time round you used it was all you.' That last statement, I didn't know whether to believe her or not but I didn't have enough time to think about it. I had to quickly get out of here before any more beasts came along and found me. I grabbed the half of Ligar that was lying there as I didn't have anything to store the beast's bodies and ran back to the shrine. A smile on my face from my achievement and knowing that I was going to be eating well tonight.
_________________________________________
Back at the shrine in the forest, I was eating this delectable prize meat that I had acquired from the earlier battle, my body was sore and I was practically in a horizontal position lying down and looking at the stars.
"You did a lot better than I thought you would today, as expected of my descendant. I didn't think the Dragoons in your video games that you admired back in your teen years would help you in today's fight."
Amaterasu had dragged me out of my blissful thoughts with that statement. "They were some of my favourite characters of all time. I felt so powerful during that fight earlier. I was barely able to recognize myself as I flew through the air. I have to ask though. I know I haven't done much physical work out the way I normally would on earth, so the only logical conclusion that I can come to is that practising this magic I have is what's increasing my physical strength as I'm using my muscles and veins to strengthen my body. Then I'm learning martial arts to then get used to my new body you have essentially given me. Is that what's going on here?"
Amaterasu was silent for a few moments. She was happy at how quick Gaël figured it out. She couldn't hide it though.
"Yes, you are correct my dear Descendant. The display you put on today to test out your new body was beyond what I had imagined as this has never happened before but this is what a Divine Blessing does to you I imagine." He had even grown so much more attractive to her as time had gone by, His arms had grown much bigger. His back and chest, so much broader. She wanted to pounce on him but she refrained from doing so. She wanted to let him enjoy his prize, she had decided to watch him enjoy himself in peace.
"With what you have just displayed to me today. You are more than capable of leaving this place now. I will guide you out of my domain to the nearest border town of Esta. There you will sign up to become an adventurer. Could you hold out your hand for me?"
I sat up slowly, my body aching as I did so, the thought of going to bed soon was pleasant to my soul. I held out my hand and she gave me 2 golden coins and 5 silver coins.
"Is this the currency of this world?" I looked up as I asked her. She looked at me softly as I did so. "I think I'm a little old for an allowance." Her mood dropped a little as I teased her but I accepted gratefully.
"This is to get you started in this world, 100 hundred bronze coins amounts to 1 silver coin and thus, 100 silver coins amounts to 1 gold coin."
"Wow, This is a lot for me to start off isn't it?"
"Well this is supposed to last you while you rank up in the adventurers guild. I want you to at least get to D rank and build up a solid reputation before you even reveal your gift to the citizens here." Her serious look pierced me and didn't allow any room for rebuttal. Essentially this cash she's given to me is supposed to last me a long time and I was not to spend it frivolously.
I took what she said to heart as I settled down for the night, she revealed earlier that we were to leave in the morning for the town. My adventure in this world is finally beginning.