The Lone Wanderer

Oversized fireballs and blasts of pressurized water rained upon Percy one after the other, keeping him on his toes. The surrounding patches of grass had all been reduced to soggy cinders, his boots leaving dozens of prints as he danced along the soot and mud, dodging the apocalyptic storm of magic.

Had it been a single enemy, he wouldn’t have had as much trouble evading. He’d already done something similar years ago in the Guild, back when he’d been much weaker. However, the situation that night had been a little different. His opponent had been an earth user – an affinity not exactly famous for its speed. Also, comparing that person to the two bandits, Percy was starting to think he might have been drunk.

‘I suppose that would explain why he went hunting on the first level in the middle of the night…’

And that wasn’t all. Percy’s ability to dodge the spells heavily hinged on reading his targets’ intentions via Soul Vision. Sadly, he couldn’t exactly keep his eyes on two people at the same time. Of course, the situation wasn’t that bad. He could easily put some distance from them if he wanted, as he was much faster, and they had no way of catching up. It was approaching them he had trouble with. So, the two sides were essentially at a stalemate, as neither one could land a hit on the other unless they made a mistake.

‘Oh well…’ Percy grinned. ‘More practice for my affinity fusion.’

He’d already grown used to combining his two types of mana, but he hadn’t had much opportunity to test that in the heat of battle as neither the Starry Knight nor the horde of wasps had been suitable opponents. And he did need to knock a few kinks off his new trick. Constantly aligning and maintaining his mana while watching his enemies and dodging their attacks was tough. Yet, that was exactly what made this fight so valuable. Sure, he could probably find a way to win without it, but why waste such a willing pair of whetstones?

As for the outcome of the battle, he wasn’t too concerned. He knew he had the advantage, though the bandits hadn’t noticed. Due to his outlandish regeneration, they’d exhaust their cores before he did. Now it was just a question of whether they’d realize it in time, prompting them to take a risk he could pounce on. Either way, they were screwed.

‘I wonder how Nesha is doing…’

Retreating a few paces to give himself some space, he tossed his companion a quick glance to check whether she was ok. Not the best idea. So shocked was he by what he saw, he nearly caught a fireball to his face, yet even that wasn’t enough for him to pick his jaw off the ground.

The girl and the final bandit had put some distance from them, and were just standing around, doing nothing. Forget about fighting, the morons didn’t even bother to look at one another, their attention glued to his own battle.

“Mind lending a hand since you’re free?”

He didn’t really need help, but it irked him to see her chilling while he did all the work.

“If I do, he’ll butt in.” she pointed at the bandit with her elbow.

And the guy actually nodded at that! It was ridiculous but it made sense. Kinda. Neither of them felt confident joining the bigger fight, so their fate would inevitably be decided by the victor.

‘Not how I would’ve done things if I were in her shoes, but I suppose that’s why she never got into fighting in the first place…’ Percy shook his head, focusing back on his own enemies.

The two were nearly out of breath already. They threw each other a quick glance, seemingly communicating something, before drawing most of their remaining mana out of their cores.

‘Here it is. Their gamble.’

Readying his stance, Percy tensed his calves and scanned the two souls carefully, as he began to gather the teal wisps into his hand. He was going to meet the all-out offensive of two Yellow cores with his own!

Six condensed balls of azure shot at him in quick succession, trying to block out all his escape routes. Each punched a foot-deep crater into the ground before exploding in a splash of water. None of them hit but, together, they forced Percy into an awkward stance, right as the seventh projectile flew towards him. A spinning blast of fire twice as large and three times as fast as the others!

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Percy’s eyes widened at the sight of the rapidly expanding flame, but he didn’t panic. With a swing of his arm, he coalesced all the fused mana he’d gathered since the start of the battle, forming a large teal sheet, three metres long and half as wide. Then, the fluttering cloth slammed onto the incoming projectile like a whip, forcing it to explode before reaching its intended target!

The shockwave shot Percy butt-first into the mud, as the heat scorched a layer of skin off his frontside. Luckily, he’d thought to shield his eyes with his elbow in time.

“Percy!!” a female voice yelled, as a cloud of steam enveloped him.

“Is he dead?” the bandit leader also asked, more relieved than disappointed.

Evidently, he’d grown more concerned with keeping his life than covetous over Percy’s secrets by now. Sadly for him, however, he wasn’t walking away with either today.

“I’m fine.” the young man replied, pushing himself up.

In their corporeal state, his teal constructs were no stronger than pure mana, which meant they couldn’t survive a frontal collision against an elemental spell a full grade higher. However, Percy could still use them to collapse an incoming spell early, lessening the damage he took greatly. And… that was just the start.

As the steam faded, the bandits’ eyebrows shot up upon seeing the young man standing, a cyclone of tattered strips of teal cloth spinning around him while inching closer to his hand. There, they latched onto one another, quickly restoring Percy’s latest tool back to its original shape. Within mere seconds, it was complete again – though a little smaller than before.

“My turn!” he said with a toothy grin.

Next, he dashed towards the leader, swinging the teal sheet again as soon as he reached the halfway point.

The spell shifted mid-movement, the cloth now replaced by a couple dozen throwing stars, their curved blades making shrill sounds as they spun through the air toward their target.

“Fuck!” the bandit shouted as he tried to shield himself with whatever dregs of mana he could still summon.

Which wasn’t much! He’d exhausted most of it in that last attack. A pathetic spark lit up in each of his hands, but the man didn’t give up, slamming them against one another. Apparently, he wanted to imitate Percy’s trick, using the small explosion to block the projectiles!

Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t meant to be. So caught up was he in this last-ditch effort to protect himself, he didn’t notice the blades had gone silent at some point! Through Soul Vision, Percy watched the projectiles phase through the shockwave unaffected, before stabbing countless holes into the bandit’s soul. The man dropped limp in the mud a second later.

By the time he turned to the other one, the poor guy was running for his life! Gritting his teeth, Percy gave chase. Whatever happened, he couldn’t let a witness go after revealing all his secrets. Catching up wasn’t easy, however. It should have been, but Percy suspected his opponent was using some minor bloodline to boost his physical speed. The two men ran, one hot on the other’s tail, as they both tried to recover some mana amidst their dash.

‘Micky! How are things on your end?’

‘Three… dead…’

The familiar sent him an image of the corpses. All of them were covered in nasty gashes from head to toe, lying in bloody pools. Only one showed a Yellow core within Micky’s Mana Sense – the very same he was currently feasting on.

‘Just finish what you’re doing and go kill the last one. We can’t let him escape.’ Percy said. For some reason, he had this sneaking suspicion Nesha wouldn’t bother chasing him.

Turning back to his own target, he tossed a handful of teal daggers at him. But the bandit had learned his lesson. He didn’t try blocking, instead summoning a splash of water beneath his feet, sliding away from the projectiles.

Clicking his tongue, Percy formed the teal sheet again. He continued his pursuit, drawing and pouring mana until it was back to its full size, before swiping his arm again.

Once more, the man used what little water mana he’d managed to recover, evading the barrage by the skin of his yellowed teeth. Sadly for him, however, Percy’s spell could do more than just turn incorporeal. In his rush to dodge, the bandit had made a terrible mistake. Relying solely on his eyes, he had completely failed to notice a second bunch of daggers, these only visible through Mana Sense…

And just like that, he joined his former boss in the afterlife…

[Congratulations! You have mastered a new spell: Mantle of Deceit – Refined!]

***

Nesha watched Percy as he picked clothes from the dead bandits, testing them until he found some his size. Whenever he was done with a corpse, he’d toss it to his crow to feast on. Suffice to say, the sight was more than a little disturbing, but that wasn’t what she was concerned about.

She’d known her partner had harboured his fair share of secrets for a while now, but the things she’d seen over the last few days had vastly exceeded her wildest imaginations. From the powerful beasts he seemed to effortlessly command, to the bizarre techniques he had unleashed on the bandits, each layer he revealed was more shocking than the last. In fact, she was pretty sure by now that he and his pet had two cores each, somehow! Hell, she’d just watched the duo dismantle an entire band of bandits by themselves. Was Percy really just a Red-born?!

‘He wasn’t this strong when we joined the Guild…’

Nesha was sure of it! She’d seen him return from his hunts worn out, with barely a couple vials full of nectar!

‘Has he come this far in the last three years?!’

But then… the revolutionary Aurora Dew that had turned Remior upside down… compared to this… it was nothing!!! Just the tip of the iceberg – a mere afterthought!

The realization sent a chill down Nesha’s spine. Unbeknownst to everyone, biding its time away from politics and wars, hidden beneath the shadow of the Fungal Spire, in some corner where nobody ever bothered to look…

…a monster had been born.

[END OF BOOK 1: WHISPERS OF THE GHOST ALCHEMIST]