The next few days Jack's party spent quickly rushing around and purchasing supplies they needed, hell bent on acquiring enough reserves to have no necessity to leave their homes for the entirety of the coming week or two, entirely depending on the time their home city would be overly infested with the rest of the newly summoned gifted and their recruiters and bosses. There would be just too damn many weirdos and what-not's for any of Jack's party member to be sure they would not get implied in some sort of a stupid brawl or anything similar. Unfortunately, life often had a sick sense of humor, throwing your way precisely the hazards you try to avoid at all costs and Jack in particularly seemed to be unusually unlucky in that sense, at least so it seemed as events unfolded.
They had just finished their last stop in one of the stores, purchasing the very last few items on their list, then promptly leaving it to find a secluded and deserted alleyway to stash away their purchases. So far so good, no accidents had happened, though that was to be expected since there were no joyful shouts and merry atmosphere around them just yet, indicating they still had some time. Thus, once done with stashing away their goods in their spatial storages, the group of four- Jack, Kaede, Kenji and Izumi, exited the alleyway, all smiles and joking around, charting a path directly home, only to be crashed in by a flash of golden and red.
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Reisha had been bored out of her mind for almost a month, then again, it was her own fault at the end of the day she supposed. Who had asked her to pester her older sister to take her along for this years gifted ceremony. She had assumed there would be plenty of strong individuals she could mess around with, spar and hone her skills- there were few existences at her level that could give her the tough fights she desired, all while meeting the conditions their parents had set for her. Like seriously, how can a battle hungry dragonkin girl was supposed to grow if not for exhilarating and blood rousing battles? Thus, she had thought a small escape tagging along with her sister would give her all the chances she needed. A solid plan, all things considered, no? Only for it to turn out dreadfully boring.
Her sister seemed even more overbearing than their parents, denying her any fights with monsters stronger than mere orcs, and even those were allowed to come at her in extremely limited numbers. Anything above three and Zekira would swoop in like death incarnate and shred any chance for her to actually push her limits. What's worse, once they reached the place where the new gifted had emerged, she was thoroughly disappointed as well. Her Battle lust and Combat instinct picked up nothing of interest, showing that at the very least this summoning batch did not have any particularly powerful individuals from the very start, or if it have had, those very few had already been snatched up by the sponsors of this particular trial.
In come the absolutely dreadfulness of stale time and nothing to do, as Zekira went around, and thus dragged her along with her, to mayhaps find some potential seedlings worth to recruit.And while Zekira too grumbled under her breath about the lack of proper talent this time, she would not be one of the next matriarch candidates if she would return empty handed, resulting in a couple of decent pick ups in the end. Once they had been done, their now slightly larger group departed the place, heading out to Valkia, the city of newcomers, on the way checking out their actual combat skills and awareness, coming up with the best ways to train them as the group returned back to their territories.
As one of the great powers of this world, dragonkin clan, along with all their affiliated guilds, had quite the influence and reach, allowing them to acquire top tier talent from each summoning, even if said top tier was only slightly above average. It was also because of their power and prestige that they would learn of new summonings in time to send out their representatives so they could arrive just about at the same time most trials would be finished, allowing them to conduct their business as one of the very first ones, the organizators of said trials not including.
Of course, Zekira would allow the newcomers to push their limits quite a bit as they traveled to Valkia, even going so far as to make a small detour or two, all in order to get some extra chance to fight with wild monsters, sharpening her new acquisitions along the way. And yet, even with all those little detours, they reached Valkia well before any other major clan was in sight, allowing them to enter the city without all that flair and grandeur that usually welcomed such groups, or so Zekira noted.
And what Reisha had assumed to be more of the same boring and stale continuous boredom was quickly replaced with the flaring up of her Combat instinct. Not only was it sending tingling sensations through her body, it was also doing so in a way she had never felt before, sharpening all of her senses to what seemed like an extreme. That only meant one thing- something within the city was close to her level and would provide one hell of a fight. All she needed to figure out was who and where said entity was, then proceed to fight with said entity to her heart's content.
She quickly glanced at her older sister from the corner of her eye, noting that there was another small, well not quite so small actually, issue she had to somehow solve- that being being a way to sneak away from Zekira to then go wild with the entity she sensed. Thus, she proceeded to try and push her combat addicted brain to focus on something else that was not battle for a moment, trying to scheme and figure out ways to do precisely that, only to come up empty time and time again.
Getting past the guards at the gate had been easy as all hell, one flash of Zekira's dragonkin clan token taking care of it all. Registering their new provisional members was just as simple, with the guards almost falling over themselves as they did their very best to satisfy every need their group had, all while bowing and showing their best smiles and ass kissing tactics they had developed in their lifetimes. If only they could realize just how little effect, if not a negative one, it had on their kind. Dragonkin were the proud descendants of dragons, thus they had quite the liking for might over anything else, as a result they had little to none respect for those that got ahead in life with anything but strength.
'Stop straying away from the task at hand!' Reisha chastised herself, slapping her cheeks with her hands as if trying to wake herself up, forcing her to return to scheming her way towards the promised good fight, only to earn Zekira's attention.
"What's wrong sis?"
"N-nothing. Did not sleep all that well last night is all. Now that damned sleep is annoying me." Reisha grumbled, trying to make it look like she was feeling particularly aggrieved about the fact as well.
"Ha!" Zekira snorted, adding with a snicker "I know that feeling all too well." and leading her group further ahead, a certain inn already in her mind to pick as their place of residence during their stay in the city, which would not last all that long, a couple of days at least, though no longer than a week, unless of course something extraordinary kept them here.
It was just mere moments after Zekira had said those words that the group turned a corner and Reishas instincts flared once more, her head swirling towards a group of four. Two 'asian looking', or so the gifted referred to their kind, girls and one boy, though they were not the focus of her attention. The fourth person was seemingly your usual standard human, though all of her instincts tingled her body like never before, indicating him as the being that roused her senses to their peak levels.
Without even thinking, Reisha did what she always would in such a scenario- she dashed forward, a shit eating grin all across her face as she launched herself at the man in question, circling her golden energy as she did so, connecting mere moments later with the person in question, burying her fist in his side and sending him flying, only to stop right thereafter and stare dumbfounded. The man had not only not reacted to her sudden arrival, he had flown away like some sort of a broken doll, flung around by an angry troll or something.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The reaction of his companions was quite noticeable and quick though Reisha realised, though not nearly fast enough to give her any trouble. She had to admit though, the girl with a katana was quite quick, almost as fast as she was to be fair. 'If she could get her hands on a ring of dexterity or two she might even be a good spar.' Reisha thought to herself as she tracked the remaining two as well, the younger guy had quickly drawn his sword and shield he had on his back and was taunting her, while the last girl rushed towards the clearly in pain older guys and healing him? 'Sheesh, that's a good setup if I have ever seen one. A tank, a healer and a damage dealer. I wonder what that guy's role is?' she hummed as she observed, all while avoiding the swords woman's persistent attack's.
"YOU MORON!" came an angry shout, making Reisha's hair stand on end, followed by a rather painful 'bonk' on her head, as Zekira had dashed over mere moments after and slammed her quite hard on the head, bringing their impromptu conflict to an end.
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Jack had sensed the incoming missile that had zeroed in on him the very moment Reisha had flung herself in his direction, giving him ample time not only to appraise her but also to come up with a plan of action. It was quite likely that their status as freshly summoned gifted would come to light if he were to stand his ground and tank the girl dashing his way and after that his extraordinary might for a fresh gifted would earn him all too much unwanted attention, doubly so with a hothead like the one coming in among one of the interested parties.
Reisha Firestorm (25)
Species- Dragonkin
Level- 16
Class- Draconic challenger(epic)
Strength- 17 (13+4)
Vitality- 17 (13+4)
Dexterity- 17 (13+4)
Intelligence- 5
Spirit- 6
Skills- Battle lust, Combat Instinct.
'Dragonkin huh. They are all a nuisance, no matter the realm, though I wonder why is she coming at me? Doubly so if she has Combat instinct. It would be screaming at her not to act out here, would it not?' Jack thought to himself in that split second before Reisha had reached him and delivered a pretty powerful strike to his side. Quickly making a decision, Jack just rolled with the incoming bulshit of a situation, having noticed the heavy hitter further in the back he was not the least interested in earning the attention of.
Zekira Firestorm (50)
Species- Dragonkin
Level- 40
Class- Draconic Lord(epic)
Strength- 30 (19+11)
Vitality- 30 (19+11)
Dexterity- 25 (17+8)
Intelligence- 13
Spirit- 8
Skills- Dragon Dance, Draconic crush, Boost, Double edge, Draconic breath,.......
There were so many things to unpack and read on, figuring out the most minute details and proclivities of the older dragonking woman, coming up with a correct way to approach the situation and so on and so forth, unfortunately, Jack did not have the time to do so, the things going through his mind already impressively high in number- no thanks to the lack of intelligence stat however. No, all this could be achieved only thanks to his unreasonably high spirit. Thus, he took the only logically sound and acceptable choice given the information available to him- absolutely nothing, resulting in his ribs violently being introduced to a rather excited incoming fist.
He used the most basic of protection available to him, mobilizing the barest amount of mana lingering in his body to slightly reduce the damage that would result from said incoming fist, ensuring his ribs did not splinter and puncture internal organs, making the subsequent healing that much more expensive than necessary- in regards to matter cost, obviously. And so, with a loud 'THUD', the fist collided with his side, sending his body flying, mere moments later crashing into a nearby building.
Jack could have, in theory, not only negated the attack but also retaliated with vicious and deadly precision, resulting in one, particularly dead redhead dragonkin teenager, at least as far as their society would consider. While physiologically speaking, dragonkin matured just like humans did, reaching full maturity at around the same time, their further ageing was much, much slower, resulting in a notably skewed perception of their development. Anyone above sixteen and below fourty was considered a teenager- brash, foolish and prone to throwing fits, while those from age of fourty to around one hundred were considered young adults. Then came the middle aged members of their race, ranging anywhere from hundred to six hundred. Last, but not least, were the elders, ranging anywhere from six hundred to a few thousand years of age, though anyone past thousand and a half was considered half a saint of their race, sporting extremely pure draconic bloodline within their veins.
It went without saying that as far as Jack could figure, both women were likely quite prominent within their clans, courtesy of their high levels at their young age. If what he had heard from Ramia was true and anyone and anything past level hundred did not supposedly exist, these two were indeed some young geniuses or royal daughters- not a smart thing to be killing at the very least for sure. Playing a possum was his only choice given the circumstances then. He could punish the brash teenager who does not respect their elders, even if by just a few years in this timeline, another time, when his group have planted their roots properly and he could do so under a disguise.
And so, Jack just remained prone in the place he landed, squeezing out a weak groan of pain from his mouth, doing the very best he could to pretend he was at the very least knocked out if not outright killed, all while using his spirit to observe the situation, intervening only if he noticed the kids might be in danger, for they had reacted soon after he was sent flying just as he assumed they would.
Kenji and Izumi went straight on offensive, unsheathing their weapons and trying to repel the attacker, all while Kaede rushed over unsheathing her own weapon and hurriedly casting a compound healing spell, impressing Jack once again with her rapid progress. While he was not in all that much of a need of such excessive healing, he appreciated it nonetheless, enjoying the treatment as he kept track of the exchange between Izumi and Kenji against Reisha. Sadly, the kids did not have their armour with equipped and since they were warned not to display their spatial rings, all they could do was act as they were, resulting in the supposed stalemate between sides.
That stalemate, much like the exchange was short lived, as moments later the older of the two redheaded dragonkin almost blinked over, delivering a rather merciless head chop, earning a squeal of pain from her younger sister. The action stunned not only the now her head holding Reisha, but also both Kenji and Izumi, who now varily observed the two quite similar women, well aware just how large the gap between their respective strengths and experience was.
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"YOU MORON!" Zekira exclaimed as he shot over and put her sister in place, delivering a nice and proper BONK to the youngest Firestorm's head, forcing not only her to stop whatever dumb idea she had willed to life, but also the two rightfully angry and protective members of the other groups Reish had assaulted.
"How many times have we told to keep your impulses in check when outside our territories? I know I have done so a dozen times alone." she scolded her sister, not the least bit bothered by the dumbfounded looks not only the other group gave her, but also the new potential recruits she had picked out from the last batch of gifted summoning.
"My apologies for the stupidity of my sister." she bowed her head towards Izumi and Kenji, stretching out her hand that now held a vial with crimson red liquid slight green shimmer to it "Please take this high grade healing potion and administer to your friend so i can have her apologise to him properly as well."
Sensing no actual hostility from the older woman, Izumi carefully, yet swiftly took the vial and rushed over to Jack, bringing the healing potion to his mouth and pouring it in, seemingly ensuring he had drunk it all. What the people present did not see however, was how the moment the liquid entered Jack's throat, it was broken down into a few strands of mana dust, disappearing as if it had never been there to begin with. There was no way Jack would waste so much free matter when he was in no need of such high quality healing. Not that he would ever refuse free matter when offered, doubly so when it was for a slight said parties members were responsible to begin with.
Spending a mere fraction of just earned matter, Jack was almost as good as new in a few more moments, replicating the effects of the healing potion quite closely, allowing him to stand with the help of the two girls. The next few minutes promised to be fun.
Jack Raja(?)
Age- 27
Species- human(?)
Level- 16
Class- Twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(EX)
Stats unassigned: +11
Attributes:
Strength- 24 (14+7+3)
Vitality- 23 (12+8+3)
Dexterity- 21 (15+6)
Intelligence-7
Spirit- 25 (20+5)
Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX).
Spells- none.
Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme.
Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str. Rings- spatial storage, vit +
