Awakened creatures were classified into ranks, similar to humans, which gave them an idea of their strengths and how much power was needed to kill them. Most creatures became awakened after getting exposed to mana for a long period of time. Some were even considered mythical creatures, as they existed long before humanity stepped into the Inner World. Anyway, their ranks ranged from 1 to 6: Rogue (barely awakened), Awakened (Fully awakened), Abyssal, Arch, Ancestral, and King.
Furthermore, unlike stages that humans have inside a rank, Awakened as well as Corrupted creatures are classified into classes. Beast, Monster, Fiend, Tyrant, Titan. Classes do not specify their strength within a rank but rather their attunement to mana, and their way of fighting, as well as the type of creature they are. Classes in the beginning were invented to classify Tyrants, Titans, and beasts. But as the awakened creatures evolved, they started controlling power beyond mere affinities. Simply put, they were strong, frightening, and some were beyond dangerous.
Corrupted creatures on the other hand are pretty similar to Awakened ones. However, unlike the former, they lost their minds, emotions, and behaviors. Thus becoming similar to wild beasts instead of conscious animals.
Orion stood at the edge of the cliff once more, Exo-suit wet with water and stained with blood. He jumped in the river and let himself be guided to the edge. Soon, he was falling down the waterfall. During his descent, he transformed his weapon into a grappling hook and threw it behind the waterfall. The sudden stop of his fall induced extreme pain in his ribs and arm, but he did not give up. He pulled his weight against the strong current and pulled himself onto the new ledge. Slowly but surely, he made his way from where the Rogue Beast had emerged. The indentation behind the waterfall extended deeper than he had thought.
"A cave?"
Orion hesitated at that moment. Should he go deeper or wait? A wiser man would probably wait till he was stronger before trying to explore a place where a literal monster came out of. But Orion was not wise. And he knew that he was stronger than he had originally thought. During his fight with the bear-like beast, he consciously spread his mana to his body, trying to empower his body as Augmentors do. Theoretically, he was an Augmentor—a chosen who bases their attacks on physicality and uses skills and techniques, or sometimes using spells secondarily. However, Blades were different from other Chosen and Houses. Blades proved to be talented in... well... blades and based their path on being an Augmentor. But many of them have much talent in affinities, so much so that they could easily be powerful, established Conjurers—Mages. Hence, most individuals from the Great House Blade are kind of in between the standards of Augmentors and Conjurers.
Even though he tried using mana to empower his body, he himself didn't know how to do it efficiently, as it was still his first time. But what surprised him was that... he unconsciously perfected this ability. His efficiency in augmenting his body was something he never could have imagined he could do for a first time. It was only after killing the beast that he slowly came to a hypothesis: His bloodline connection to one of his ancestors was strong—Too strong, perhaps. To the point where he had lost control at that moment, and his subconscious did nearly all the work. He had subconsciously used his Tier 6 Rare Exo-suit to evenly spread his mana throughout his body to deliver a perfect attack without a single hitch. And at that moment, he felt powerful, invincible... it felt almost addictive. And right now, he had only a single urge—an urge he himself didn't know if he could control properly—that is to go fight something—anything. So, despite his more mature and calculative nature, he took a step forward, Tachi in hand.
Minora—Azure Estate
CLANG—
THUD—
"Haa... Haa..."
"Your footwork needs improvement Nat. And your attacks are... sluggish. Use your brain more. Don't just rush like an animal and expect to land a hit."
Natalie sighed and slowly got up from the floor of the training grounds. As she got up, Natalie silently shook her head left and right, trying to regain focus on the task at hand.
"Something bothering you Natalie? You seem... distracted." Her instructor, Veronica Blade, added while resting her left hand on her hip. In her right hand was a wooden sword—hanging loosely in her grip. The distinct silver hair of House Blade adorned her beautiful head, cascading from the simple knot of her ponytail and rested right above her lower back.
"No, it's just that..." Natalie took a deep breath, already anticipating Veronica's mockery as she elaborated on what prevented her from focussing on her training. "There was a boy, around three months ago. He seemed important, but he was pretty weak for his age, I even got a hit on him haha... I think he was about 17 or 18. He even had a Raven-blade. Yet, I never saw him again. Even during the sparring sessions with other Blades, I never saw him. I was just curious, that's all"
Veronica, contrary to what Natalie expected, simply sighed instead of mocking her for thinking about a boy. Veronica sheathed her wooden sword inside a wooden scabbard resting at her hip and approached the little girl. "If you want to know, yes, he is someone important. And he is currently not as strong as other blades as he had been in the Outer World for a while. But he has a lot of potential as he is from the main branch—"
"WHAT? Main branch?" After hearing what her teacher said, Natalie just could not believe it.
"You mean he was a young lord, and he was on vacation in the Outer World? How is that—Ouch!"
Veronica sighed after having flicked Natalie's forehead. "Stop questioning. Anyway, he has a lot of potential. Who knows, maybe he will surpass me in a half the time it took me to reach my peak."
With a wave of her hand, both hers and Natalie's swords were brought to the armory.
"Miss... You are still a Grandmaster and a Blade. Aren't you overestimating him? Half the time is more than optimistic."
"Meh... In this world, talent is everything. Look at me, I may be from the main branch, hell, my brother was a Sorcerer about to promote and my other brother is already a Warlord, yet, I still am a Grandmaster."
Veronica cocked her hips and rested a hand on her waist as she patted Natalie's head. "Simply put, you are talented, so train hard."
Natalie pouted as her instructor patted her head. Veronica knew very well that Natalie hated being treated like a child, yet Veronica never really cared.
Natalie suddenly grinned and said cheekily, "Don't sell yourself short Miss, you may be in your thirties but—" Natalie blatantly checked Veronica out, up and down and up, before adding, "—you are more than beautiful... who knows maybe a handsome prince will—OUCH!"
"Brat..." Veronica grabbed the little girl by her collar and threw her across the training grounds. "10 MORE LAPS, NOW!"
***
Orion took cautious steps inside the cave. It had already been half an hour of walking, and he had yet to find anything. Yet, there was something that wasn't quite right. There was like this buzz in the back of his mind which made him feel unease. After what felt like an eternity, he finally saw something out of the ordinary.
'Stairs? People live here?'
He slowly went down the stairs and arrived in grand hall, in the middle of it was a pedestal. And on it was something that was glowing and making a weird noise. As if it was calling him.
'Too late to turn back now.'
He soon arrived at the pedestal and what he saw made him sigh in relief. It was a piece of paper encased by glass, allowing him to read its contents.
"CONGRATS ON REACHING YOUR FIRST CHECK POINT ORION!!! From my calculations, it took you 6 months so as a reward, you get this beautiful high quality Mana-powered phone. ENDURE! 6 more months and I will visit, so don't DIE!"
Orion reached out and took what looked like a small stone tablet from the pedestal. He immediately applied some of his mana and as expected, the communicator detected his mana signature and glowed blue before completely transforming into what could be compared to a mobile phone but with a stone-like case. As the phone turned on, a logo could be seen, one where the word Nexel was highlighted.
'Probably the brand of the phone.'
Orion quickly logged in using his International ID number—perks of having perfect memory—and quickly went to the messages' app.
"...no messages..."
Orion proceeded to open the Instapic app to see what Clara has been doing for the past three months. He never quite understood the point of sharing one's life to the public, but he didn't really mind her doing it. As he searched for her account, he froze. The profile picture was not one that he was accustomed to. But it was one where she was hugging another man.
'Who the hell...'
An hour later.
"Why isn't she answering? She clearly received my messages."
Ding—
Orion quickly checked his notifications and saw that Clara White had answered.
"Sorry Orion, you haven't contacted me in three whole months and I thought you abandoned me. Honestly, I don't know what to tell you. I moved on. And I think it's for the best, I was not really confident in the long distance thing anyway and my parents are more comfortable with my new boyfriend. Sorry, I hope you can move on too. Goodbye."
Orion stared at his phone for a while before bringing his hand to his forehead and massaged it.
'Sigh Whatever... I need to stay focussed... Right, I need to get stronger and... get revenge...'
In that instant, Orion paused as he contemplated his own thoughts. 'What am I thinking? Revenge? I never felt like getting revenge anyway. Though, I really want to beat the shit out of that Michael guy and probably... kill him. But... I don't feel like someone who has 'revenge' as a driving factor. I tried to use 'revenge' as an excused to move on from the fact that my girlfriend dumped me. Is it good? Probably, probably not. I don't know.'
Orion took a deep breath before slowly lowering himself to the rocky floor of the cave.
'I need to find a driving factor. What do I want to do. Why should I live? I am talented, I am confident that I will become strong fast. Then what? Kill the orchestrator of my father's death. Beat Michael up? Then what? Find a girlfriend, marry her, have kids and live happily ever after?'
"..."
After a while of reflection, Orion parted his lips, intending to talk. He suddenly paused, who was here to listen? No one. But it didn't matter. Currently, it didn't matter that Orion was alone and had no one to listen to him. He felt that he needed to talk. Not to anyone in particular, but to himself.
"To be honest... It's not a bad plan... What's wrong with wanting to have a family and living a peaceful and normal life? But—" Orion brought slowly this hand to his heart and palmed his chest. "It feels wrong. To want something normal. As if... I am meant to be strong and.. Fight?"
"Haaa... I am afraid. What if that thing inside me becomes... Orion? Graves estimated me to come here Three months later, meaning, I am twice as strong as his estimate... no..." Orion thought back to his fight with the Bear-like Rogue Beast and frowned.
"The fight was too easy. Too natural. I am much stronger than he thought I was. This was literally my first real fight, and I breezed through it— nearly unconsciously. This thing inside me... It's making me want to do the opposite that I think I need and want..."
After a full minute of silence, Orion opened his mouth and said to himself once again. "It doesn't matter. Strong or weak, alone or married. I just need to move forward. Perhaps it is my fate calling me to battle. To fight creatures or fight for humanity against those mindless beasts... I don't know. But what I know is the saying Dad told me: 'Power is never chosen; it chooses. For what men call choice is but an illusion, shaped and shackled by fate.' Fuck it. I'll just do what I think I should and... If it is my predestined path, so be it. Whether it is or not, It does not matter."