Chapter 65

Wind blowing at the speed of 100 Kms/hr with rain spraying everywhere. With vision extending only to the distance of 5 meters in the darkness of jungle devoid of any moon, Sean with Cornelia in his back seat hugging his abdomen while leaning on his back, rode his KTM at a speed which was steadily increasing.

Sean's reaction speed dialled up to a freaking 19 on a scale of 10 making him dodge trees and rocks at a narrow gap while flying past many obstacles with incredible sense of balance. All of this seemed not possible for a human but it seemed to be performed by Sean at ease.

Though Sean could ride an off road bike at high speed it was not to a level as ridiculous as this. Apart from his training within the system at different terrain and at different situations which made it easier for him to ride now, it was also because the motor bike had AI which assisted him to make these moves by giving instructions at correct time and place and all he had to do was to act according to these instructions.

Further to keep up with further increase of speed he had also readied a serum to pump the adrenaline up which would make his blood flow faster and his mental capacity and concentration almost at a peek of what his current body could take. Of course such serum came with its own disadvantages such as headache, nausea, tiredness and muscle ache but nothing too serious.

The AI in the bike was connected to the system which gave an outline of the terrain and the moves to make to avoid collision which made it easier for Sean as if he was playing a video game.

With further twist of throttle the KTM bike's speed went over 170 and in a dark environment it was scary and beyond what a human could perform and Sean had complete concentration on the live video rather on the road as with wind, rain, complete darkness apart from 5 meters in front which was illuminated through headlight, Sean could not see anything much less react to anything which he comes across.

As an off road bike KTM had a max of 112 km/hr speed back on Earth however with upgradation by the system to meet the standards of a supernatural world, it could go up to a speed of 200 km/hr speed with a possiblity of further upgradation making Sean reach speed unprecedent to the point where he could outrun any opponent including a level 3 mage as such mages did not have the ability to cross distance at high speed by flying for a long time nor can they break the sound barrier.

With this set in tone his escape was almost guaranteed unless he encounters something else which delays his escape, then all he could do was curse his luck. Further with the mage reaching the site Sean was sure he would search and kill all the other fellow mercenaries followed by the shadow guards as they were near to him and more in number rather than chasing after only two weaklings who seem to escape at high speed plus even if he chased after these two he wouldn't be able to catch up to them and he could even end up missing the slower mercenaries.

With a small part of screen in his system still showing the mage's image through bird's eye view from a drone by way of thermal image, Sean could see that within the next five seconds he would reach the spot where the fight between the shadow guards and assassin's took place.

Meanwhile the hood wearing mage kept skidding at high speed towards the place where he felt intense Qi fluctuation while having a smile on his face. The mage was having a field day with many prey to absorb soul from. Every mage from Rank 1 had the skill to create a foam like filament on his feat to help him skate the surface helping him create a speed as fast as level 10 warriors. This level of spell needed intricate concentration as it could be considered a special skill using mana rather than a spell which makes flow of mana in a pre-specific direction.

Though spell model needs to be constructed using soul energy otherwise called mental energy, it was a one time activity and does not create any pressure on the mental energy apart from the time creating it unlike special skills which directly utilises mana and mental energy.

These special skills improves combat ability as well as non combative ability depending on the way it is utilised. Though both Rank 1 and Rank 3 mage creates same speed while utilising this skill, the duration differs drastically. If a Rank 1 mage's mental energy allows him to utilise the skill for 1 hour at a time then a Rank 3 mage can utilise the skill for a maximum of 12 hours at a time.

The mage suddenly showed a confused look yet again as he looked up towards the dark sky. He had done this ever since he had reached the vicinity of the central part of the jungle especially for the past 20 kms.

As the drone was homing in on the mage based on his heat signature through thermal scanner, though on a minuscule level the mage's mental energy was able to pick up this signal and felt being observed from the sky but quickly dismissed this as only from Rank 4 mage and above could fly at such a height and any mage above Rank 3 were prohibited inside the region of Arcadia Empire. (Will be explained over the course of novel).

Ignoring this weird feeling the mage arrived at the scene to see dead assassins, all wearing the same crest of pluto which represented the Arcadia Royal family. Knowing that the fight was probably between the same two groups whom he had previously hunted, the mage was quite happy as he had made a sizable collection of strong souls from those groups.

Despite the involvement of the Royal family, the mage had zero intention to withdraw as he spread his mental energy in a 360 degree, which was another skill quite similar to sonar in the ships. This skill did a carpet search making every organism known to the mage by way of mental images and the radius depended on the mental power of the mage i.e a Rank 3 mage could cover a radius of 30 kms as compared to a Rank 1 mage who could utmost cover a total of 5 kms.

However this radar skill had a downside to it that was it would not be able to pick out the signal of a fellow mage of same or a higher level while a mage at higher Rank could get the signal of the lower ones.

This was also how this mage was able to ambush the Rank 2 mage back when he invaded the crown Prince's special troops. The 30 km radius radar quickly spread forming images after images within the mind of the mage who had his eye closed.

The mage suddenly opened his eyes wide while looking at a certain direction which was the same direction where Sean had escaped with his bike. Just then when he made a search using his radar, apart from various signals which he had picked within 10 kms, all warriors at different levels, he picked a weak signal around 25 kms away from his spot, two warriors escaping at a very high speed, possibly even faster than him. Wanting to chase after that signal the mage took a step forward but quickly retracted while reigning in on his curiosity and greed.

Knowing that the signal of the two warriors were moving at a speed even faster than him, the mage knew he wouldn't be able to capture them. Despite being incredibly curious of how they were able to travel to such a great distance, the mage focused on the goal before him, which was to collect as much souls in his crystal before leaving this area. He knew that he could not stay in this forest for a long time and if he did so he would be graced with a kind visit from the kingdom's hidden mages, who were the true powerhouse who guarded the kingdom and much worse, the Guardian of the Arcadia region who only moves in order to regulate the illegal activities of mages especially slaughters conducted by mages like him on weaker mortals.

Knowing that he did not have much time, the mage set his sight on the strongest signal which was the level 10 warrior and chased after him.

Note: The radar skill will not allow the mage to have proper mental images beyond 20 kms and thus he could not form the mental image of Sean in his motor cycle and only obtained a weak signal. This restriction only gets stricter for Rank 1 and Rank 2 mages.