A white tiger with lanky legs and a long muscular body walked out as a small piece of the wall on one side of the long hallway crumbled.
"What's that?" Daniela looked at it carefully, its low growl filled the hallway, each step taken with purpose as if savoring the hunt.
"That is a wind tiger, it's fast," the man observed from a distance, "watch out for its claws."
"Alright," Daniela summoned her wand, the wand enlarged into its staff form.
The two stared at each other, waiting for each side to make a move. Both of them felt threatened by one other's presence.
"Mana coalesce—," Daniela rushed out of the way unable to complete the incantation as the tiger pounced at her. The sharp claws swiped by her so close she could feel the wind scratch her cheek.
Daniela hits the ground hard, but gets back on her feet, starts her incantation, "Mana coalesce and amalgamate, Mana bullet."
The bullet shoots forward, but the tiger opens its mouth and shoots a wind bullet which breaks the Mana bullet and heads towards Daniela.
"Water, flow and deafen the censure ahead of me: Aqua guard," she chanted, a barrier of water spun around her. The bullet struck the water barrier sending Daniela flying back a few feet away, crashing into the wall.
Daniela grinned her teeth as she got back up, her shoulder hurting from crashing into the stone wall.
Uh, the wand, I guess I'll do it without the wand, She had dropped her wand but decided to continue without it, the wall of water around her disappeared as the effect of the spell had come to an end.
Uh, this thing is stronger than I thought, Daniela got back up, extending her fingers while connecting the thumb and the index fingers, holding out her hand, "Mana coalesce and amalgamate, Pyro Aqua Blind," the tip of her hand shone bright, blinding the tiger for a moment.
"Mana coalesce and amalgamate, Wind Bullet," Daniela cast the same spell, but the bullet was faster, striking the tiger on its head.
The tiger roared in confusion and panic, its left eye blown off and blood dripping from its smashed in skull. The creature wailed in agony, as Daniela prepared another bullet.
"Aqua bullet," the bullet misses as the half dead tiger dodges the attack and heads towards Daniela, limping as the blood continues to drip painting the floor red, each of its paw marks imprinted on the floor.
"Shit, why isn't this thing dying?" Daniela looked at the tiger walking towards her.
"That's because it's not complete living, it's a semi sentient being, and it will continue till its end," the man spoke from the sidelines, watching the battle unfold.
"Shit," Daniela cursed at her own weakness, even though I drank the elixir, it's going to take some time before it can take effect.
"On—" Daniela's surroundings darkened, before the terrain canvassing itself in. It was a familiar sight, the lake and a lone source of light in the sky.
Why am I here? she thought as she looked up at the circle, noticing a second source of light had formed besides the first one, her first star.
"She's breaking through, now? Interesting," the man watched.
The tiger continued walking, it now only a few feet away from her, the creature growled loudly at its prey who was seemingly staring into air, her eyes turned completely white.
"Mana bullet," another bullet formed and shot straight at the tiger. It dodges the strike but the bullet tore through its muscle and tendon, exposing the bone as its front leg fell apart.
Yet it continued to crawl, leaving a large trail of blood, determined to reach her.
"Mana bullet," her eyes returned to its deep ruby red. This time the bullet tore through the skull, scattering bone and flesh, splintering in a mess of blood and brain.
The hallway went silent as a puddle of blood formed around the creature's lifeless corpse.
"Ha, is it finally over?" Daniela looked at the mess.
The sight of blood made her want to throw up, but she held back the feeling because she knew she had to get used to such sights, but—
BLEH
Daniela threw up, as she saw the mess, the internal feeling of wanting to let go ultimately won.
"Well, just a few more of those and we'll get out of here."
"Few more!?"
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"Are you the one who picked a firearm?" a stern man with black hair streaked with white on the temples stood there.
When did he get behind me? I didn't even sense him. He must be my professor, Finn looked back at the man who towered him by almost a feet.
"Yes, sir, it's me," Finn replied as he looked at the man in awe.
"Show me," he said as he took his hand from Finn's shoulders.
"Yes, sir," Finn took out his gun from his holster, and held it in his hand.
"Get into stance," he looked at Finn with discerning eyes.
Finn extends his feet by shoulder width, and holds out the pistol with both of his hands his hand instinctively checking the safety, but the old man nudges his feet width with his own leg and taps on his shoulder.
"Relax, and don't put too much pressure into the pistol," he advised, "and align it to your eye level and take a deep breath before you fire."
Finn adjusted to the advice given by the man, his posture straight as he held the gun, giving him a more experienced appearance.
"Alright that's enough, now quiz time."
Finn nodded as he popped the gun back into his holster.
"Why did you pick the pistol?"
"I don't know, it just happened," Finn said as rubbed on his head.
"Has the thought of picking a gun ever crossed your mind?"
"No, and I've never even seen one before in my life."
"Hm, how did it feel holding the gun for the first time in your life?"
"Familiar, it felt as if I had used it before."
"That means only one thing, you didn't pick the weapon, but the weapon was already written in stone for you."
"But aren't those rare cases, sir?"
"They are, and do you know how to use any other weapons?"
"I can use a sword."
"A sword, hm?
"Well, where is it?"
"What, sir?"
"Your sword?"
"Oh, I haven't decided on dual weaponry, I'm still unsure of my current choice."
"Go pick a sword, and come back to me, we'll warm up a bit."
Finn nodded as he jogged off to the weapon rack, and scanned the multiple weapons on the rack. He noticed the shelf had a wide variety of weapons, but the one that caught his interest was the katana, a sleek weapon.
He pulls out the sheathed katana and gets back to his professor.
"A katana? Quiz is over, time for a test, try your best to land a strike on me, use whatever you need, the katana, the gun, whatever you need, I won't use Force."
Force? He must be at least a five star considering his mana condensed into Force, Finn looked at the man, "So I begin now?"
"Three..."
Finn got into stance as he unsheathed the katana and dropped the sheath to the floor.
"Two..."
I can give it my all here, but I don't think I'll be able to do anything, he thought as his grip on the katana tightened.
"One..."
Finn shot forward, aiming for a thrust, but the professor moved to the side by a bit, the strike missing its mark.
"Blizzard step," Finn shouted, a small light shining beneath his black shoes. Finn's movement became more stable and controlled as he went for a diagonal slash, the man blocked it with a dagger, the shock travelling down Finn's arm.
"Good footwork," the man smiled excitedly, "show me more."
Finn withdrew as his hand was still hurting from the earlier block.
Ow, this guy is too strong, I'll use it, small lining of threads glistened on his fingertips as he held onto the katana harder.
Finn throws the katana straight at the professor, but his face remains the same, slightly impressed at Finn's tactics as he deflects the thrown weapon with his dagger.
The katana falls behind the professor, but Finn had taken the time to point his gun at him.
BOOM
A blue ray of light shot out of the pistol heading straight for the professor, but he brings up the dagger and cuts it, shattering the bullet into smaller pieces.
"Is that all you've got," he looks at Finn , his eyes challenging, "kid?"
"Nope," Finn grinned as he pulled on something, the katana connected to the thread threatened to strike the professor's head.
But to his surprise, the man grabs the katana moments before impacting his skull. He then pulls on the thread, and Finn falls to the ground losing balance.
"Ouchie, who's this guy?" Finn groaned as he got up.
The man walks up to Finn and kneels down extending a hand, "Name's Victor."
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"Now try forming the source code and feel the flame," Jack looked at Nichole who was focusing.
A small circle shimmered atop her palm, tiny sparks lighting up before shutting off.
"Keep trying, I'm here," Jack spouts words of encouragement, "try to remember the feeling from earlier when you were climbing."
The feeling of mana spread throughout the body, and how it stuck to a surface, the entire feeling, and the flame I saw, Nichole's face strained, yet she maintained concentration.
A fireball formed and shot forward striking the rocky mountain side and exploding much larger than back in the classroom.
Nichole fell back as she took deep breaths, "Professor, it keeps failing."
Jack sat down on the dirt floor alongside Nichole, "You know of the elemental triad, right?"
"Essence, property and resonance, the three form together to make an element," Nichole answered.
He pushes his finger into the sand and draws out a triangle with circles on each tip of the triangle.
"The triad is something we can assess subconsciously, hence you're able to make flames without having to go through each process," Jack continued drawing on the dirt.
Nichole looked at the diagram in interest, "Yes, isn't that how it is for everyone?"
"I don't have elemental affinities for the four basic elements, but I can replicate them by following one rule of the triad."
"That's possible?" Nichole looked at Jack in surprise.
"Yes, for example, water, what is the essence and property of water?"
"The essential property of water is how it is formless, but what makes water truly water is its essence, wetness."
"Yes, but," Jack brings his hand forward and demonstrates a small sphere of grey mana, "this is water, without wetness."
Nichole looked at the sphere in wonder, and touched the small sphere, "This feels weird, like I'm touching water. It offers the same resistance you feel when you touch water but, it's not wet."
"By isolating and focusing on one aspect, I am able to give life to an element using mana while using mana as a medium," the sphere of grey fluid like substance turned into a grey flame.
"Woah, you can replicate the aspect of... the what of a flame?" Nichole asked in confusion.
"Actually, making a fire is the hardest, I'm able to recreate the light it produces, not the heat," Jack turns off the spell.
"How well does it function in a spell?" Nichole asked in curiosity.
Jack laughs before replying, "Let's just say, it's mostly useless."
"Huh?"
"Well, let's go back shall we," Jack looked at his Vördr, "it's your break time."
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