Kapitel 33: Chapter 33

"Your body was glowing. And it felt like I was in the presence of the Alpha King himself there for a moment, what in the world happened?" Jurgen exclaimed.

"It seems like you levelled up?" Karl's tone makes it a question "Like you broke through a bottleneck and got a qualitative change in your abilities?"

I think he's right, whatever starting level we were at, I'm one beyond that now, my physical abilities have gained a noticeable amount at the very least.

Karl reports the situation to the other group over the radio, only to hear that Mary is currently in the middle of the same thing.

Energy was simply pouring into her, surrounding her in mana and she was freaking out a bit, not knowing what was going on. I guess there's slight differences between the advancements of magical and physical cultivators.

"See if you can control the energy in your body more freely now too" Karl asks me with a notebook in his hand, rather reminding me of Mary's enthusiasm for all things new knowledge.

Circulating the energy in my body, I find that the process is far easier than it used to be, and the flow is quicker. Pushing it through to my sword is less effort, but the effect seems unchanged.

I'll need to combat test it to see if the quality of the energy makes a real difference in combat effectiveness. After a few minutes of experiments while we walk, I find that I can make it cover my lower arms, but anything more than that is a huge effort.

This information gives the Ramirez brothers a great idea when we share our findings over the radio though. They're thinking that if they can get their internal energy to the point where it can be used to cover the entire body it could be used in place of a mage's protective spell.

A game changing detail if they're correct.

My nose picks up beasts ahead and I signal the group to take cover and go silent. Ahead is a single large gorilla, twice the height of the men. Sure, it's not as massive as the water buffalo, but this thing is pretty scary looking.

Karl signs to us that he's taking point, so me and Jurgen move around to flank the beast. Just as we get into position, Karl launches his attack, a dozen purple energy whips fly out to entangle the primate beast, trapping its limbs to the body. Then comes rapid fire small explosions of arcane energy, leaving the beast little more than a mangled corpse.

"You've been holding back old man" Jurgen whistles, impressed at the show.

"True, but this takes a great deal of energy, I'd normally need a full 24 hours to recover from that sort of expenditure."

Karl takes the mana stone he was experimenting with earlier out of his pocket.

"However, with this guy right here, I can draw myself back full again in an instant."

And he does exactly that, but it's not all that happens, it seems his use has triggered an experience much like Mary had. Karl is glowing with energy, and I can feel the energy from the surrounding area pouring into him.

"So this is what they meant. The breakthrough is an experience all mages hope to make. It's the difference between a Mage and an Archmage. This will be the second one of my lifetime, as I was an archmage in all but title before we all met. The feeling is indescribable, but Kat already understands what I mean."

Second time he's experienced this? "You mean that Mages can take that first step without clearing their entire energy pathway?"

"It seems so. I wonder if the forcible clearing of the mana veins that we all did is something unusual? A beginner mage only needs to be able to absorb energy as far as their mana pool to begin practicing, so that's as far as most ever try to take the process, seeing no immediate benefits to going beyond that. It's a decades long, torturous process without eating the stones. And as we learned, without an arcane mage, experienced in the control of raw mana, it's likely to be fatal to anyone that tries."

Now that's food for thought. Mages are already low quality cultivators on the mystic path as I have nicknamed it in my head.

"So anyone on a world with mana, but without magical beasts would have to dedicate their lifetime to this process to see results?" Jurgen asks while he works at finding the mana stone inside the fallen beast.

"Possibly, or maybe there's a trick to it that we don't know? If the residents of such a world had been practicing for generations they'd likely have a wealth of knowledge and techniques passed down, right?"

That makes sense, we both nod our agreement. "Well, I guess we'll need to make good notes that we can pass down to the next batch. A handful of enhanced warriors isn't going to be enough to take care of the entire planet."

We share our thoughts with the others, hoping for some insight, and filling in the gaps in their knowledge. Mary suggests it should be a course available in the schools once we get the city up and running. Start young, like Mages do, and train up those with aspirations of a Combat career, or a talent for spellcraft. Done that way, students should be able to reach beyond the level we're at now by the time they graduate. Making it much safer to send them out into the world. Mary promises to make full notes to write up a proposition for the base command to go over.

"Next up… Lunch" Jurgen announces, holding the large stone from the chest of the gorilla in his hand. "We saved some of that water buffalo meat, right?"

"Good thinking, I'll start a fire, and we can grill some steaks. See how this high energy meat tastes"

It's unanimous, the taste is amazing. But the camp fire was redundant, it's not hot enough to cook the meat in any sort of reasonable time. Karl needed to buff it up some with magical flames to get a nice medium rare within 20 minutes.

Once cooked though, it softened right up, Karl used his pocket knife to cut his lunch, me and Jurgen went for the easier route, and simply ripped into it with our teeth, finding it tender and juicy as any fine steak house meal. The influx of energy makes my whole body feel alive and refreshed, and I describe it as best as I can, so Karl can take notes of the different species reactions and flavor preferences.

Valuable dietary information he calls it.

"Hey, I'm not going to end up fat am I? This huge energy supply ending up being a 30 thousand calorie lunch is a bit of a nightmare for a Lycan who wants to fit her wardrobe next week."

Sharing this information with the group is more than enough debate topic to cover meal time and our entire search for our next target.

"More panthers" Jurgen mutters.

This pack is 2 large and 3 smaller beasts, not as numbers friendly as the last group. Me and Karl will take a big one each, and Jurgen, who hasn't broken though yet, as he just found out about this entire process on the way in, will keep the 3 smaller ones busy until we can relieve him, or he manages to drop them all.

He is considered a formidable warrior and the younger son of his packs beta after all. It came up in our discussion of his spa day with Lala that both him and Jake are younger sons of the pack leaders. Strong and talented, but not the next in line for the position, so they decided to take on the Task Force duty as an excuse to wander, looking for a depleted pack to join, or a new goal in life better than being a backup in case their older brothers are injured.

My intended target has his back to me. With a little luck, this should be a short and messy fight.

Jurgen leads the attack, snapping the neck of one of the cubs in his jaws and clawing at the others. Karl begins again with his multiple whip binding, but this target is quick, energy shines around its paws and it smashes through most of the lashes, dispersing the energy in them. The last big beast turns to protect the little ones, fully distracted and I launch myself at its back, already drawing my saber.

I draw the energy from my body as quickly as I can, empowering the sword so I don't break it like I did to my poor claw gauntlet. The thought flashes in my mind to use my own claws, but this thing is so big I'm not sure they're long enough to make a proper wound.

The big cat senses my presence at the last moment, twisting away and narrowly avoiding taking the sword through the base of its skull. The result is a gruesome gash across its neck. It seems I missed the artery though, as it's bleeding but not terribly badly. I kick back away from the snarling beast and take up a crouched stance on the ground, waiting for an opportunity.

One of the cubs howls and the big cat is distracted as Jurgen reaps another feline life, giving me the perfect chance. I swipe another strike across its neck, turning the bleed into a fountain and now it's on me.

I dodge one strike after another, parrying is leaving gouges in the paws and claws of the panther, but making my arm numb, nearly knocking the sword from my grasp with every blow. I jump up into a tree branch to dodge a particularly nasty snap of its jaws and drive myself back down at its face, my sword digging deeply into its eye and putting it down for good.

As I ride it down, I spare a glance to the group, finding Karl has just finished his target and Jurgen is in the last stages of a fight with the final cub, the cat heavily injured but still fighting. A smash from his big wolfen paw drops the beast's head to the ground and he quickly snaps its neck, ending the fight.

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