Wild Era, Ch 11: Guild Assessment (Double)

The first monster appeared at the end of the hall where the formation’s focus was location.

It was a Level 10 Water Rat.

They were oversized rodents that often spawned near the river and only needed a relatively low mana density to form. They had sharp claws and relatively high agility for their level, but it was nothing special.

Kelin flicked a small version of Soulfire Bolt at it that only took one mana.

The spell blew half of the rat’s body away in a flare of golden fire, showing that it was still overkill, and then the rest of the monster dissolved into grey-blue motes the same color as its fur.

A tickle of experience ran through his awareness, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. Things at that level weren’t worth much.

There was energy inside of monster cores, including some experience. It usually went to crafters who employed the core in their work, or to powering an enchantment or other artifact, but it could be tapped by some formations for purposes like this.

It wasn’t as much as you got for killing the monsters originally, but it was still worthwhile, which was why this type of training room was extremely common across the galaxy.

Once the formation recorded a monster core’s characteristics, it remembered them for later, so you could toss a Level 200 core into one of these rooms and let it power the enchantment for a long time. 

That was why the army wasn’t concerned about the cost of the initial assessment. 

Even if he cleared the room to Level 75, it would only be a drop in the bucket of their higher-level energy requirements.

There was a thirty second pause between monsters to give the formation time to reset and to give him a chance to catch his breath, although he didn’t need it for this one, so he used the time to plan.

The monsters would go in jumps of five levels, so the next would be Level 15. It was efficient enough for the guild’s assessment and it let him save mana on the smaller ranks in between.

He wasn’t planning on taking too long with this assessment, since he felt a little bad that he hadn’t visited the kids yet. They were probably worried about him and he wanted to make sure the mercenaries were upholding their bargain.

It was better for all of them, however, if he showed up with a guild badge. It would head off potential trouble, including the mercenaries trying to strongarm him or pressure the kids while he was gone.

While he waited, he ran through his abilities and assessed ways to tighten up his skills, as well as what other spells he might want to practice at this level.

His words to the captain about taking on a Level 75 were confident, but he had good reason for it.

The guild was neutral and had higher concerns than local politics, so nothing he did here would be made public. It was part of their reputation.

That meant he could call Gaius out.

The room was small and there was no place to escape, so the elemental’s defense was able to show its power, an area where Earth excelled. That meant he could focus all of his strength on attacking.

It was a perfect combination for a mage.

It should go a long way to cementing his position as a rising talent, and that would get the guild’s backing for whatever he did in the future, as long as he stuck to their core tenets.

Those were basically the same as his, so it wasn’t an issue.

The next enemy was a Level 15 Iron Python, a somewhat dangerous monster for its level. 

It was about ten feet long and had dull grey scales down its back, which gave it formidable defense and strength.

Its head disappeared as a line of golden flames seared through where it had been, making the rest of the snake dissolve into mana.

The formation hummed as it reset again.

A Level 20 Wood Walker appeared next. 

It looked like a gnarl of wood and sharp roots with a roughly humanoid shape, but its hands were sharp and hollow, like needles that were designed to drain blood and water from its targets.

Its head disappeared in a blast of soulfire, and the rest of its body disintegrated afterwards.

Kelin had never liked the things, since they were responsible for most of the low-level deaths in the area. They were almost silent in the woods and they had a habit of sneaking up on people who were sleeping.

While he waited for the reset, he figured he might as well show off a few more of his abilities for the guild, so he pulled the refined quartz disk out of his spatial pocket and infused it with mana.

A moment later, a golden Soulfire Sigil rose into the air over his shoulder, radiating light and warmth across the area. His blood stirred in response and his mana began to recover more quickly.

Now that the spell had reached Advanced, the engraved form of the Sigil gave 30% increased healing and regeneration to all forms of energy—health, mana, and soul. The 25% improvement to the duration and defense of Soul and Fire spells might be useful here too.

The captain looked at the sigil curiously, but she didn’t say anything. She was apparently content to see what happened.

“This is the signature ability of my class,” he explained to the captain as he pointed at the sigil. Abilities were often secrets, but this was one he wanted the guild to understand.

“For the record, it’s called Soulfire Sigil. It boosts recovery of all types by 30% for myself and my allies. It also improves the duration and defense of fire magic and shields the soul to prevent curses and other afflictions.”

The captain looked impressed for the first time and her hand flicked across a rune next to her, where she was recording the results of the assessment. Since he’d volunteered the information, it would be entered into his record. 

That way, whenever the guild wanted to know if he was suitable for a quest, or if they needed his particular abilities, they would be able to see it.

She was also recording the general outline of his other spells as he used them, but the basics of Mana Shield, Elemental Ward, and Explosive Sigil were shared by all mage classes, which she no doubt had already realized he was.

He hadn’t bothered using Explosive Sigil in the mine, which was already damaged enough, so he decided he’d give it a try here.

Before the next monster could form, he jogged forward to just in front of where they appeared and a brilliant gold rune formed in his hand. It was made of sharp edges and clean lines, and it blazed with heat. Tiny flames rippled along the surface.

He touched the ground beneath his feet and the sigil fused into it, and a moment later it disappeared.

These sigils had a few basic functions. You could trigger them manually, set them for a specific time, or set them for proximity. In this case, he set it for the next monster to cross it.

They had a variable mana cost, so he infused this one with five mana. 

Then he jogged back to where he’d been standing and turned around just in time for the next enemy to appear.

The Level 25 monster was a Steelweb Spider.

It was about two feet tall and six feet wide if you counted its legs, although its body was fairly small. It was a bright steel color, with tiny hairs across its body that looked like wire.

Normally metal-aligned monsters were fast and resilient, and the spider showed that as it dashed forward.

It was the first monster that managed to move before Kelin killed it, but that didn’t help it much.

As soon as it crossed the Explosive Sigil, the floor erupted in a three-foot-wide column of soulfire. The flames shot upward, catching the spider in the middle of its body and hurling it toward the ceiling.

By the time it struck the roof, it was a charred wreck. Half of its legs were missing and a massive hole was burned through its body.

The spider landed back on the ground with a dull thud and the rest of it fell apart with a crackle of burnt metal. Then it began to dissolve.

He had only used nine mana on the monsters by this point.

The Soulfire Sigil had taken a lot more at 50 mana, but if this went on for a bit, it would pay for itself. It was a powerful ability that would show its true worth in any extended battle, whether that was against monsters or anything else.

His standard mana regeneration was at 31% per hour and his soul recovery was 35%. The sigil raised them to 61% and 65%.

He had 246 mana left, but it was already starting to tick back up, and his soul energy was full at 165.

The Level 30 monster appeared a moment later and he almost had to laugh.

It was a Fire Braggan.

Since he was showing off and also wanted to conserve mana, he sent a thought to Gaius.

As the braggan looked at Kelin and started to race forward, the ground rose up at its feet and engulfed half of its body.

Another band of stone continued upward, looping around the monster’s mouth to keep its fireballs trapped, the same as Gaius had done in the mines.

“Earth elemental soul bond,” Kelin explained as he looked over at the captain, who was looking surprised for the first time. 

He ignored the braggan, not bothering to kill it yet, since Gaius had it completely subdued.

“A soul bond?” she asked slowly. “I’ve heard of those, but never seen one. Most people who summon elementals do it the standard way. That’s extremely rare. It must be a major reward from the Path or a significant heritage that you have there. 

“That’s a great companion for a mage, even if it will require you to share your experience. I’m starting to see why you’re so confident. Noted.”

Her hand flickered as she added it to the record.

“Holding them isn’t all he can do,” Kelin said with a grin, since he was rather proud of Gaius. 

As they continued to work together, it almost felt like the elemental was his second self.

Instead of explaining any further, he finished the braggan off with a soulfire bolt to the head, and Gaius released it. The stone settled back into the floor as they waited for the next challenge.

Nothing up to this point had been a threat, but each monster after this would be above his level.

“Four more until the Bronze rank,” the captain said, watching him with interest now. “I’m starting to think you’ll make it.”

The Level 35 enemy appeared a moment later. Kelin recognized the type. 

It was a Windscar Bat, a green and dark mottled creature with a wingspan nearly five feet wide. 

Its major attack was a sonic screech, but it could also cut its prey with sharpened edges of wind along its wings and claws. 

At night, the bat was much more dangerous than it was here, where he could see it.

They were a common hazard for travelers on the plains, especially since they rarely flew alone.

It unfurled its wings and shot toward him in a flash, and for the first time, his soulfire bolt missed its mark slightly, searing through its shoulder rather than the center of its body.

It sent the creature spinning slightly, but it recovered quickly. 

Its mouth opened and a blast of vibrating sound tore out, aimed at his head. At the same time, its wings swept forward to cut through his neck.

Kelin stepped to the side as a Mana Shield sprang into existence around his body, deflecting both the sonic attack and the bat’s trajectory.

A hardened field of mana around his hand slapped the bat away, and he shot a bolt directly through the back of its head, sending it tumbling to the ground.

As it started to dissolve, he stepped back to where he’d been before.

Fast enemies were his greatest weakness at the moment. 

He was a mage, not a rogue, and he didn’t have the Agility to keep up with them, so he had to supplement it with better defenses and tactics.

There were other ways to have dealt with that one, but he’d gone with the most efficient method, which had only cost him eight mana, one for each bolt and the hardened mana strike, as well as five for the mana shield. 

He saw the captain making another note, which was probably about his close combat ability.

A lot of mages tried to hide behind their shields and poured too much mana into them. Dodging made it a lot more efficient if you had the room. Hitting back did too, but not everyone trained in that.

He’d faced too many enemies to neglect it.

The Level 40 monster appeared next.

This one was a Darkeye Serpent.

It was twelve feet long and a midnight black with two eyes that were barely visible against the scales around them. It almost looked like it didn’t have any, which was where it gots it name.

It was also highly venomous.

As soon as it saw him, its mouth opened wide and a mouth that was as white as a cloud appeared. It created a stunning contrast to its scales, one that he would rather have appreciated from a distance.

Its hissing tongue was a hypnotic black wand dancing around and the two fangs that curled out with droplets of clear venom on them made for a significant threat.

The snake’s danger wasn’t just in its bite, and for a moment Kelin was surprised to see it appear here. 

Darkeye Serpents had a hypnotic ability to entrance their prey, something that seemed to go along with their concealed eyes.

They were mostly ambush predators, waiting for prey to walk past before they raised their head and hissed. They’d draw attention with that open mouth display and try to entrance whatever looked at them.

Then they’d bite while their prey was distracted.

He felt the entrancement spell slide off the wards on his mind. They were part of the same structure he’d built to defend his soul, leaving the attack as little more than a passing breeze.

As the serpent was still trying to distract him, he replied with a soulfire bolt that was more powerful than the previous ones.

A bar of golden flames six inches across seared through the roof of the Darkeye Serpent’s open mouth, burning straight through its brain. 

“I never did like snakes,” Kelin muttered as he waited for it to dissolve. 

There hadn’t been any of the things on Irian when he was growing up. The first time he’d seen them was as monsters.

That was also why he’d decided to Wildfire the Teardrop Serpents in the mine. It was much easier than dealing with them at close range.

“I wasn’t sure how you’d do with that one,” the captain said with a chuckle. “That attack gets a lot of people. I suppose with that ‘soul’ name in your class, you’re more familiar with that sort of attack than most perhaps. Does your sigil work against that type of thing?”

“It helps to weaken it,” Kelin replied as he glanced at the sigil. “Maybe at a higher tier it will block them completely.”

It was true, but he didn’t mention the real reason he’d resisted the attack.

“Good to know.” The captain took another note. “Decent mental attributes help with that attack too. Be careful now. Things are going to pick up a bit.”

The next monster appeared a moment later.

This one was a Level 45 Stone Gorilla.

It was a brutish fellow, nearly eight feet tall and hunched over at the shoulders with its front fists on the ground. Its body bulged with hardened muscle, and it was a dull grey with lighter striations across its hide.

Kelin took one look at it and sent a message to Gaius.

As soon as the gorilla saw Kelin, it let out a roar, its fangs bared, and it slammed its fists into the ground. A shockwave of energy rolled out, heading straight for him, only to disappear halfway there.

Gaius had a control over the earth that no ape could hope to compete with.

At the same time, a wave of stone swept up the gorilla body to seal it in place. It looked like earthen roots twining over the monster’s legs and arms.

But the gorilla was no slouch. It was aligned with Earth, which meant brute force was its best quality. It roared again and its muscles bulged as cracks ran through the stone roots.

For the first time, something had enough strength to compete with Gaius. 

It wasn’t enough to break the hold yet, but it would in short order.

Kelin took advantage of the opening to condense a stronger than usual soulfire bolt again, sending one infused with six mana toward the monster’s eye.

It was the weakest vital point to target.

Unlike the bolt he’d used on the serpent, this one was narrow and brilliant, like a needle piercing forward. It tore through the gorilla’s eye and exploded inside its head, turning to an inferno of soulfire.

Black smoke and a few ethereal wisps trailed out of the beast’s eyes, ears, and mouth as it froze in place.

Then it tottered, slowly falling to the ground as Gaius released the roots. It landed with a crash and began to dissipate.

Kelin watched it with a critical eye, assessing the damage.

That one had been pushing the limits of his current Soulfire Bolt, at least if he wanted to kill it one shot. If he’d hit it anywhere else, it would have been like digging through stone.

He’d have to raise his Intelligence and the tier of the spell to improve it any more. At Advanced, he could only infuse six mana at once before the spell started to rupture.

It was giving his Intensify Spell skill a workout, at least.

“One more for Bronze,” the captain said cheerfully. “Get ready.”

The monster that appeared this time was much stranger than the earlier ones.

It was a Level 50 Lightning Wraith.

It looked like a web of ball lightning and tendrils of arcing electricity gathered into a cloak-like form. There was no discernible face, just a few brighter spots at the center.

For most people, it would have been a big problem without significant magic damage, but Kelin just chuckled.

“Gaius,” he called silently, “Stoneskin.”

The yellow runes of Earth magic flared across his body as Gaius’s presence formed along his skin. His weight began to increase and he felt his feet sink slightly into the floor.

A moment later, his body was covered head to toe in stone armor. The yellow runes flared across the surface, further reinforcing it as a current of Earth mana ran through him.

Gaius had his own mana pool that provided the energy for his earth manipulation, so it cost Kelin nothing. It was another benefit of the soul bond.

It was just in time as the wraith shot across the distance. It was so fast that it was simply there, with no separation between moving and arriving.

Hands that were made of lightning reached for Kelin, but they landed on the stoneskin and fizzled as their energy was dragged away, flowing down to the stone below.

It only felt like a faint vibration.

Kelin reached out with a hand that was covered in stone and used a spell that wasn’t based on soulfire at all. 

A spike of pure Earth energy stabbed through the wraith’s body. 

The spell was grounded through his armor, so as soon as it struck, the wraith writhed in response and its elemental essence began to flow away.  

More spikes of the same yellow energy erupted outward in a starburst pattern, stabbing through various parts of the wraith’s structure to speed the process up.

Six seconds later, the wraith’s body collapsed into flickers of lightning that swiftly dissipated.

“Congratulations on Bronze,” the captain said cheerfully. “Smart, aren’t you? Either that or very well trained. Most people panic on that one when they see half their abilities don’t work. You’ll make a good mage.”

Kelin just chuckled.

Wraiths were a favorite of the enemies that came through the Chaos Gates and pretty much everywhere. He’d learned their weaknesses a long time ago.

A Fire or Wind Wraith would have been more trouble, and he might have had to use soul magic to deal with them easily, but for a Lightning Wraith, he was well matched.

He left up the Stoneskin ability as he waited for the next monster to appear. It was one of the stronger gifts that came with the soul bond, and this wasn’t the limit of it.

At higher levels, Gaius would be able to do a Stone Fusion and they would turn into a hulking giant of stone walking across a battlefield. 

The next monster formed a moment later.

It was a Level 55 Acid Spitter.

It looked like an oversized water beetle with wide-splayed legs, a round body that had a greenish tint, and two sharp mandibles, but its mouth was a long, hollow needle about two inches across. 

As soon as it saw him, its head snapped around and its mouth came up. A stream of acid flew across the distance. 

It was similar to an acid bolt from a mage, and the power behind it was considerable, enough to melt a hole through a stone wall in seconds.

Kelin dodged to the side, moving slightly slower than usual. He was hindered by the weight of the stone, but it would be useful to resist that acid if any of it hit him, so he didn’t dismiss it.

The acid flew past his shoulder, sizzling in the air, and only a few drops landed on his arm, causing him to quickly shed the outer layer of armor and grow a new one.

He shot a soulfire bolt back and struck the beetle straight in the head, but despite the six mana he’d infused, it only left a charred line as it glanced off. 

It didn’t even burn its eyes, which were safely protected by a translucent coating.

What was more, the beetle’s head and all of its body was armored in that green carapace, and it seemed to have some magic resistance to it, more than he could overcome quickly at this range.

He grumbled to himself, since it was clear this fight would take a bit longer, but he didn’t pull out a soul arrow yet. 

Instead, he ran toward the beetle, his feet echoing on the stone with heavy falls.

It fired another stream of acid at him, which he deflected with a small earth-affinity shield, sending it off to the side.

The beetle didn’t try to retreat as he came closer, it just braced its legs and fired at him again, this time at point blank range.

Kelin deflected the bolt with another miniature shield, and then he was in front of it. His weight crashed into the beetle and sent it staggering back, its legs kicking wildly in the air.

A sharp blade of mana descended from his hand, this one summoned from his artisan class, and he lopped off the closest leg, followed by another one after that.

Then he lengthened the blade as far as he could and stabbed it directly into the beetle’s neck at point blank range, tearing it down and across.

The mana blade was meant to carve up monster parts. It had a high mana density and a sharp edge, which meant that at short range it was a deadly weapon, even against mana resistance. 

Gaius separated his attention from the armor and a few streams of stone rose up from the ground, helping to bind the beetle while Kelin stabbed at it.

The beetle tried to bite him, but its jaws found no purchase on the stoneskin.

A few moments later, its head fell to the ground and its body began to dissolve.

Kelin drew in a deep breath as he pulled himself back to his feet and began to walk back to his spot. He kept the armor on, since it was useful, even though it was tempting to dismiss it.

It wasn’t the prettiest win, but it was the most efficient one for his mana. 

That tactic had only cost him another six points of mana, and it was mostly for the shields.

By now, he had gone through most of the major elements in his opponents, starting with water, and followed by metal, wood, metal, fire, wind, dark, earth, lightning, and acid. 

He wasn’t sure what the next one would be, but it was clear that the guild was using a good range of different types to test their applicants.

“You really are the complete package, aren’t you?” the captain laughed. “I haven’t seen an armored mage brawl like that in ages. A mana blade, huh? Useful.” 

She made a few quick notes on her record and then looked up.

“Alright, good work. The next one is for corporal. Keep at it.” 

Kelin didn’t reply this time, since he was beginning to feel a bit tired. The physical exertion was hard on his Strength and Constitution, which weren’t the best.

He centered himself and waited as the next monster appeared.

This time, it was a Level 60 Water Boar.

Its body was a grey blue with rippling patterns in its hide. It was six feet tall at the shoulder, and about ten feet from tusk to tail.

As it saw him, it tossed its head, shaking the two massive tusks that jutted forward, and then it charged. A wall of water coalesced around it at the same time, building up to a raging tidal wave as it ran toward him.

He didn’t want to get hit by that. Even with the stoneskin, the impact would probably shatter his bones. So, he worked with Gaius in tandem.

Gaius swiftly raised a wedge of stone from the ground, like a triangle that pointed at the boar, and Kelin reinforced it with an Earth elemental ward that glimmered across it and sharpened the front edge.

The boar swerved to the side, unwilling to run straight into the point, and the wall of water crashed over the barrier, splitting into two as it swamped the floor.

Kelin’s feet were rooted to the ground and the armor expanded from his legs, forming triangular wedges similar to the first one as he braced himself against the flow, but he let Gaius deal with the rest of the defense.

He launched two maximum intensity soulfire bolts at the boar, one at its head and one at its heart.

The bolts seared across its skin, but a thin layer of water on the surface of its hide deflected most of the force and they left only a scorch mark behind.

Kelin grumbled to himself as he saw that. He was coming up on the limit of his current ability with soulfire. It was a powerful element, but the boar had thirty levels on him.

He’d been conservative and he had a little over half of his mana left, but the option now was to either start wasting it on larger attacks or to use soul magic.

As the boar caught its footing and began to turn for another charge, he let Gaius rotate the stone wedge to face it.

Then he glanced at the captain, assessing her. She noticed the look and grinned at him, her eyebrow raised as if to say, “What now?”

That made him chuckle, although it was swift.

As far as he could tell, she was one of the good ones, so he decided to go for it.

As the boar turned toward him, he summoned a soul arrow into his hand and flicked it at the monster’s head. The ethereal spell passed through its skull and struck its soul in an instance.

Compared to the braggans he’d been killing, the boar’s soul was much denser and more resilient, so as he ignited the arrow, it didn’t catch immediately.

He poured more soul energy into it, like stoking a flame beneath wet wood, and then he felt it begin to catch. 

The boar’s eyes widened as it was caught in the middle of its charge, and then it began to wobble. Dense streams of ethereal smoke poured out of its eyes as they turned a rainbow hue.

It staggered, trying to catch its balance, but it had already built up into a charge.

It slammed directly into the wedge of stone.

The boar’s bones cracked as its head snapped to the side, and it lost its footing, tumbling away from the defense. It lost control of the wave of water as well, which suddenly collapsed outward, flooding the area.

When it rolled to a stop, it didn’t move again. Every orifice on its head was smoking and its body was already beginning to dissolve.

The captain’s sharp eyes hadn’t missed anything and the swift hiss of her breath was clear from across the room. 

“What was that?” she asked immediately, although she didn’t halt the assessment, since it would have invalidated the results. “I thought for sure you were done there, but then you pulled that out.” “Soul magic,” Kelin explained simply as he looked at her. “The origin of Soulfire, which is the fusion of that with elemental Fire.”

He didn’t try to make a big deal out of it, since it would only draw more attention. Instead, he treated it as a matter of fact. 

Time was ticking, so he looked back to where the next monster would appear.

It had taken almost 20 points of soul energy to ignite that boar’s soul. Higher level monsters had more resistance to it. 

He could keep going, but soul magic wasn’t a solution to being under level. It just helped a bit. 

The fights would continue to get harder. 

The captain wasn’t buying it.

“I’m Level 224,” she said quickly, “and I’ve never seen that on the battlefield...that is something else. It almost looks like what a shaman or a warlock would use, like a curse but faster. Our priests have some magic that touches the soul, which is what I thought yours was when I saw your sigil, but that is clearly a powerful offense.”

She didn’t have time to ask anything else or to congratulate him on making corporal. As if her words about curses had summoned it, the next monster appeared and interrupted.

It was a Level 65 Cursed Treant.

It was twelve feet tall with dark, gnarled bark that hummed with twisted energy. It was a mix of Wood and Darkness. Its branches ended in sharp claws and its roots extended out for almost ten feet, writhing on the stone as it balanced itself.

In a forest, it would have been able to burrow those roots into the ground to regenerate its vitality, and it could also have shot them up out of the earth to attack, but here it was more constrained.

Since he didn’t want soul magic to seem like his solution for everything, this time Kelin turned to a bigger spell.

A web of soulfire appeared between his hands, condensing swiftly into a flaming sphere as he poured twenty points of mana into it, as well as a touch of soul magic.

He had to fight against the spell’s dissolution, as well as the backlash in his meridians from forcing that much mana into a single spell, but he did it.

Then he hurled it at the treant.

The spell struck the treant dead on the trunk and exploded into an inferno, with flames lashing out for a dozen feet in every direction.

A thin tether of mana connected him to the spell and he continued pouring mana into it from a distance. The inferno intensified, its flames soaring as they grew hotter by the moment.

At the same time, a wave of stone rose up from the ground as Gaius joined in, tying down the treant’s roots and holding it in place.

The treant screamed as its wood cracked and burned. Both of its natural elements were weak to fire, and Kelin took full advantage of it.

Bit by bit, tendrils of soulfire burned into its trunk, incinerating everything in their path, and a minute later, the heartwood ignited.

The treant shook as massive cracks filled with flame tore its trunk apart, and then it exploded. Chunks of charred wood rained down across the room, bouncing off of the walls and Kelin’s armored skin.

As the treant dissolved, he felt a notification chime in his mind that he’d just gained three things, the Spell: Soulfire Inferno and upgrades for both Intensify Spell and Mana Control to Advanced.

“Well, that’s more like what I expected,” the captain said, shaking her head as she grounded herself again. “Congratulations on making corporal, since I didn’t say it before. You’ve definitely earned it. I want to know more about that soul magic though. You obviously have something rare.”

She paused, and then added. 

“I didn’t expect you to get this far, but there’s only two more to go and you’re still standing. So, let’s see what you can do.”

Kelin drew in a ragged breath and centered himself as he waited.

He’d used up over ten percent of his mana in that single attack. It had done the trick, but it remained to be seen what was next.

The next monster appeared in a swirl of metallic light.

It was a Level 70 Silver Hawk.

It was a fierce looking monster, its head proud and arrogant, with silver metal feathers that glinted along its body. Its wings were angular and looked as sharp as a blade, even folded behind its back like they were at first.

It let out a shriek of fury as it saw Kelin and its wings snapped open. It wasn’t just for show, since the movement sent half a dozen silver flechettes flying at him. 

Each of them was six inches long and an inch wide. They glinted with Metal energy and a deadly keenness.

This time, Kelin wasn’t fast enough. The flechettes sank into his stone armor with a crack of splitting stone and bright pain exploded across his body in half a dozen places.

They had landed in his right shoulder, both legs, stomach, and chest, and of those wounds the chest was the most dangerous, since the tip of one of the flechettes was buried in his lung.

He tried to hold his body still and not make it any worse, but he’d have to deal with it soon. 

His hands rose and two maximum strength soul arrows appeared, which he launched at the hawk.

The bird flickered as it dodged away, but he kept his attention on the arrows and they curved after it, heading straight for its head.

Despite the hawk’s speed, it couldn’t escape in the small room and the arrows struck it an instant later, sending it tumbling through the air.

Its soul was much denser and brighter than the boar’s, so he had to pour even more soul energy into the spells as he tried to ignite them, but he split it between them with a dozen each.

With two points of flame growing next to each other, the progress was swift.

The eagle shrieked, its wings flapping wildly as it tried to leap back into the air, but he followed it, continuing to focus on the spells.

At the same time, Gaius was already at work on the armor, hardening it in place as he followed Kelin’s thoughts, and within a moment the blades that had done minor damage fell to the ground, while the one in his chest was slowly pushed out and replaced by stone that grew into its place.

Stone infiltrated Kelin’s lung, feeling harsh and cold, but it bonded to the side of the opening and held it closed.

He felt the vitality of his Soulfire Body resisting the damage and speeding up the recovery as well. Without the increased durability from that, the flechettes would have sunk much deeper.

The Soulfire Sigil above his shoulder showed its worth too as a wave of warmth filled his lung. A slow regeneration began to take place, pulling the edges back together. Points of heat across the rest of his body flared up as well, showing that it was working on them at the same time.

At that moment, the eagle’s defenses gave out and its soul caught on fire. 

Kelin’s attention followed it as it slammed into the ground and smoke began to rise from its eyes and beak.

The chime of a notification in his mind told him that Soul Ignition had just reached Advanced.

The stone armor weighed heavily on him as he let out a cough, but Gaius braced him and kept him from falling over as blood bubbled on his lips.

Two harsh coughs later, he spit the mouthful of blood to the side. Then he looked at the captain as he gathered himself. His voice was calm.

“Next.”

This time, the captain didn’t say anything. She just looked at him closely and nodded in response.

A few moments later, the final monster appeared.

It was a Level 75 Young Hydra (Elite).

Its body was a serpentine lizard a dozen feet long with blue-gray scales streaked with silver and it had three heads, each of them like a serpent’s except for the webbed skin ridges where its ears should have been.

It was graceful and poised, its heads coiled back as it stared at him. Despite the water tone of its scales, its eyes were bright red, and a moment later it bared three mouths of sharp fangs, each of them dripping with translucent venom.

This monster left even Kelin surprised.

He hadn’t been aware that hydras were a local monster. They were one of the most dangerous things to face at any level. Their venom was incredibly toxic, paralyzing and corroding at the same time, their bodies were strong, and they had an incredible affinity for Water magic. 

As the addition to its name on Analyze said, they were an elite among monsters.

Putting it here was clearly meant to be the end of the line for guild recruits and as a way to show them what was really out there. 

He approved. 

Humility was a key thing to learn, as well as your own limits. 

Doing it in a scenario like this was much better than dying pointlessly when you should have run.

However, he had no intention of running. He was down to about a third of his mana and half of his soul energy, but this monster was the final challenge. 

Humility was a good thing, but so was the knowledge of what you could do. 

One of them would learn they should have run today, and he decided it was going to be the hydra.

Fighting the earlier monsters had gone a long way to letting him adjust to his strength in this life. It had also ignited a burning desire to keep pushing his limits and to get stronger as quickly as possible. 

The hydra let out a rattling hiss that came from three heads at once, and streams of water appeared in the air around it, swirling fiercely as they formed an expanding whirlpool. 

Within moments, half of the room was covered in water and it was stretching toward Kelin. 

The front edge of the wave turned into sharp and curving blades, while translucent spears appeared on the foam, making it seem like an entire army of water was rushing toward him.

If that hit him, he had no doubt it would shred through his stone armor in an instant and leave him a mangled mess.

At the center of the waves, the hydra hissed, baring its fangs as it darted forward. Its body looked ungainly, but it moved like a striking serpent as it slid through the water it had summoned.

Soulfire bolts would do nothing to this thing unless he fired twenty of them in a row at point blank range, and even that was questionable. 

Along with every other advantage they had, hydras were magic resistant.

The normal way to kill them was to crush them with overwhelming force. Anything less than that usually failed. All he could really do to the thing was attack its soul and try to survive.

Gaius called up an entire hill of stone, pouring all of his effort into it as he did his best to shield Kelin from the waves and the approaching hydra. It rose swiftly until it stood like an island in front of a tidal wave, but it got there in time.

The waves broke along the surface of the stone, crashing into furious torrents as the leading edge ripped gouges into the earth. It was a more advanced form of elemental manipulation than Gaius could do yet, but the elemental was hanging on.

Behind that onslaught, the hydra closed in.

Meanwhile, Kelin was murmuring under his breath, chanting a series of runes and spell forms as he focused his mind and worked on something that would hurt this thing. 

It was a struggle, since the complexity and strength of the spell he needed was once again too much for his body to handle. His soul held it together, fraying at the edges.

Gaius had surrounded him with a complete barrier of stone in a sphere around his body. Without the purification spell that was still on his lungs, he would suffocate in short order, but this battle would be decided long before that.

The hydra’s heads came down, slamming into the stone barrier and shaking it with terrifying impacts. Venom dripped from its jaws, carving rivulets into the stone where it struck.

Its strikes were blindingly quick, one after the other in an unending chain that made the stone resound like a drum. 

Layer by layer, the protection thinned.

Between Kelin’s hands, the spell finally began coming together.

It looked like an ornate, five-pointed star of soulfire overlaid with the rainbow river of soul energy. 75 points of his soul energy were packed into it, making the lines twist and shake as he fought to hold them in place. 

It left him with almost nothing in his soul pool, just 15 points to control it.

Soulfire was also mixed into the star, although more as a distraction than because he thought it would do anything to the hydra. 

All the same, he layered as much as he could around the star with his current abilities, a full 30 mana, and tied it all together with a single, cohesive rune that matched the lines of the star.

Then it was ready.

He looked up through the stone barrier and willed it to thin in a specific part, so he could see the hydra. The stone fell away instantly, giving him a small window, and he hurled the spell through.

It blazed out of his hand like a comet and flew toward the hydra, aiming directly for the center head.

The hydra saw it coming and hissed, its jaws snapping as it tried to bite the spell out of the air, but as soon as it touched it, the soulfire shell around it exploded.

An inferno filled the air, expanding in every direction and swamping the hydra’s heads, necks, and half of its body. The waves at its feet began to evaporate under the flames and the outer surface of the stone turned glazed.

But at the center of the explosion, the soul star flew on. Its five points glimmered brightly as it sank into the hydra’s head and struck its soul.

The hydra’s soul matched its size. Compared to Kelin, it was as large as a house, and its surface undulated with a protective layer of corrosive magic and water. Like every other advantage it held, the hydra had some protections against soul magic, but it didn’t help it much now.

The star ignited as it flew, shedding streams of rainbow light that trailed through the beast’s soul and created an entrancing sight.  

Its five points ignited as it approached the target and by the time it struck the entire star was burning brightly, releasing a torrent of soul flames in every direction.

Kelin used the last of his mana to support the flames, forcing them to ignite against the torrent of water energy that was everywhere.

And the star exploded. 

Its form separated, turning into five distinct points connected by threads of fire. It created a rune inside the hydra’s soul, one that meant Ignite, and each of the five points erupted into fury of their own, like suns expanding.

Searing arcs of rainbow flame lashed across the hydra’s soul, slicing through it like axes through brittle wood, and fires ignited in their wake.

An inferno burned outside the hydra’s body and another one burned in its soul.

The spell wasn’t so much a soul arrow as a forced combustion, and despite the level difference between them, the hydra had no ability to resist.

The flames buried themselves in its soul like spears and tore out the other side, and rainbow smoke followed in their wake.

On the outside, the hydra’s three pairs of eyes all turned from bright red to rainbow and began to smoke. Enormous trails of ethereal light lifted away from its skulls, flowing out of all the heads at once.

Its strikes against the stone shell stopped and it began to stagger, its feet slipping in the water. It backpedaled, trying to find its balance, but it could no longer tell where the water ended and the stone began.

It slipped, collapsing to one knee, and then its massive body began to tilt. Its heads waved in the air like three drunken serpents, arcing and flopping.

And then it fell.

Its shoulder and then its heads slammed into the ground. Its jaws hung open with its fangs still bared, its venom trailing out across the stone floor, leaving a hissing river of corrosion.

Then it began to dissipate.

Gaius slowly lowered the stone barrier, leaving Kelin standing there. 

The armor on his skin faded away, sparkling as it dissolved into yellow runes. His injuries flared up and trails of blood began to run down his skin, but he ignored them.

He glanced at the dissolving hydra and then he turned to look at the captain.

“75,” he said calmly.