Somewhere in the vast galaxy, movements could be noticed on a planet with three suns shining brightly and burning with intense heat. The planet was desolate and devoid of any signs of inhabitants, apart from a wide region with multiple different structures that appeared to be handmade.
At the central part of the region with structures, there were multiple large craters with each of them being wide enough to encompass hundreds of pitch-black pods.
The pods were pitch-black in colour, round and jagged. They could fit only one Wert and thousands of pods in the multiple large craters had a Wert still hibernating inside it. The Werts went into hibernation for seventy years after a hundred years of being active to preserve their life force.
Their frequent use of magic impairs the physical condition of their bodies and makes them die at a rate which is quicker than normal. Unlike the humans who found a way to utilize the mana in their bodies, the downside of using magic for the Werts is the deterioration of their life force.
That is the reason why the Werts go into hibernation for seventy years. Hibernation preserves their life force and extends their lifespan. Their downside of using magic is also the reason why they had attacked the humans.
In their search for a way to take away or decrease their downside of using magic, they found Veda. The Werts did not have advanced technology like the humans, they relied on their magic for most of the things they did.
It was with the help of their magic that they discovered Veda–a planet with mana circulating in its atmosphere and in its inhabitants which were the Humans. With the mana of the planet and the technology of the humans, the Werts would be able to use it to alter their downside of using magic, just like what the humans did.
The Werts could have gone to Veda in peace and explained their predicament to the humans, but it's in their nature to first use violence and aggression to solve their problems.
Now standing at the top of one of the large craters and looking at the hundreds of pods below, the thick and extremely long eight tails of a wert could be seen swaying from one side to another in a random direction and the huge dark green wings on its back were spread wide open.
"Jardon." Nishon, the wert with the eight tails called out.
Landing next to Nishon, a wert with seven tails which were just as thick as Nishon's but not as long, replied "You called me, Nishon."
"Indeed. Have you gotten rid of every human ship and satellite near our planet?" Nishon asked.
"I have." Jardon answered. "I was not seen but the humans will know it was one of us that did it."
"Let them know. The time is upon us. Look." Nishon said, with his lips curving into a smile. He had a nose which was longer than the one of a regular human due to the difference in size, the pointed ears, his full set of sharp pointed teeth which could be seen through the smile on his face and his slitted pupils.
Looking down into the crater, Jardon could see numerous pods opening up from the side and coming out of them were Werts with different sizes, different number of tails, different sizes of wings. A few werts had spikes of various sizes on their tails and others had spikes on their shoulders.
"How do we proceed now Nishon?" Jardon asked.
Nishon was still looking down at the werts below who had lifted their heads and seen Nishon before getting on one of their knees and bowing their heads.
"We proceed with the first phase of the plan." Nishon said to Jardon. "We have been resting for seventy years, we do not know what has become of the Humans. Seventy years is a long time for them to improve, let us see exactly how much they have improved."
With a single flap of his wings, Nishon flew high into the air and stopped when he was able to clearly see every crater that contained the now empty pods. He saw the thousands of werts flying out of the craters and he spoke up.
"My fellow werts," Nishon said, his voice booming loud enough for the whole werts to hear him, "the time has come. We have awakened, and now we must continue with our quest for survival. The period of tranquillity for the humans is about to come to a devastating end."
Loud shouts and noises of cheer could be heard coming from the ground immediately after Nishon finished talking.
***
A Week Later
"Bro," Sky said to Jake as they ate their breakfast before leaving for school, "are you ready for your duel against Duke?"
"Yes I am." Jake answered. "Not as ready as I expected to be but I think I can fight him and win even with my current strength."
"You should be able to fight him and win." Sky said. "You guys are fighting in front of the whole school. The school management got to know about the duel and made arrangements for it."
"I know." Jake replied. "The duel has been blown way out of proportion. The duel is going to happen on the school's field. It's large enough to contain the hundreds of students in school and I think they're going to add bleachers to the field."
"You better not lose. How strong can Duke be anyway?" Sky asked.
"You'd be surprised." Jake replied and thought back to the previous week when he had seen Duke switching between being invisible and visible.
For most students, they needed to trigger their magic with a very strong emotion and they needed that emotion to keep using their magic. But Duke was able to start and stop using his magic at will. Duke had full control over his magic which is something Jake was yet to learn because of the type of magic he had.
Looking at his system screen, Jake was pleased with the improvement he had achieved in the previous week. He had been going to bed extremely late just so he could have time to focus on the flow of magic in his body and complete his remaining quests.
[Jake Cayden]
[Level: 4]
[Health:140/140]
[Species:Human*]
[Strength:33]
[Speed: 34]
[Endurance:41]
[Mental Moxie:19]
[Mana:29/29]
[Magic:28]
[Element: None]
[Ability: Magic Mimicry]
[Exp: 653/800]
He had also received some experience points for making direct contact with sunlight for one week. The system had given a quest update once Jake had completed the previous quests.
[Quest Update]
[Gain knowledge about extraterrestrials=Mental Moxie +3, +50exp]
[Learn more about user's magical ability: Magic Mimicry=Stat points +4]
[Successfully deliver a hit to Miss Anna during a sparring session against her=Stat points +5, +80exp]
[Long-term Quests]
[Obtain a magical element=Stat points +10, +1 level up]
Jake had been stunned by the new quests when he had received them. What surprised him the most was the appearance of a new type of quest–the long-term quests. If he could complete the long-term quest he would get ten stat points and level up instantly.
When he considered the difficulty of the quest, Jake knew why the system put such high rewards. Jake had no idea how to get the magical elements. He only knew the Werts used them but how he was supposed to obtain a magical element was still unknown to him.
Entering through the school gate with Sky by his side, the first noticeable change about the school was the bleachers which had been added to the school field.
"Looks like you were right about the bleachers." Sky said.
"Yeah." Jake said.
While heading to the bleachers in the field, Jake and Sky heard someone make an announcement to the whole school through the speakers in the school.
"All students should please immediately proceed to the school field and take a seat in the bleachers. Please do so immediately."
Getting to the school field, Jake saw a transparent barricade in the middle of the bleachers which was arranged in a circular format round the field.
The barricade was sturdy enough to stop any attacks from the fight that might be heading towards the spectators in the bleachers.
Inside the barricade where the fight was supposed to take place, there was a podium with a microphone.
Looking up at the bleachers which was filled with students from different years, Jake saw Smith and Kevin sitting somewhere in the middle with Max and Diane and headed to meet them while Sky went to join his friends.
"Is Cat around?" Jake asked when he got to where Kevin and Smith were sitted.
"I don't know, I haven't seen her yet." Kevin answered. "You ready for your duel?"
"I guess." Jake replied.
"I think you're going to win Jake." Smith said.
"Of course he'll win." Kevin said nonchalantly.
"Can I have your attention students?" said a woman who could be seen on the podium. "Some of you may already know me, I am Miss Summer Keister and I have something to make known to you all. Due to certain incidents which you may come to know about at a later time, the magical duel that was supposed to occur today has been cancelled."
"WHAT!!!" a voice resounded with anger from a point in the crowd of students sitting in the bleachers which was followed by the clamoring and complaints from different students.
"Please, no interruptions and no noise." Summer said into the microphone. "Due to the same incidents, the school management has come to a unanimous decision. The first and second year students will be getting their magic today and..."
"YES!!!"
"YAY!!!"
"AT LAST!!!"
Most of the students were making shouts of joy and couldn't stop themselves, including Sky who was more than happy about the announcement that had just been made.
"Students, please control yourselves." Summer said and waited till the shouting had stopped before she continued speaking. "The first and second year students will be getting their magic today and the third year students will be going on their first expedition."