Chapter 109 - Reina and Karles (2)

"One more time!" said Karles, while retreating to the arena's edge as the ice spikes floating in mid-air vanished into the atmosphere. Reina was laughing aloud while bending over and giving a thumbs up to Nerun.

Karles was fuming a bit, however, it was not as if he could not accept his defeat. He knew he had lost fair and square. People in the continent understood deeply that life and death were but a moment away when fighting.

The thing was that he had never, in a million years, thought that Nerun could be an Adept. He had seen his fair share, of course, and he had even sparred against Adepts before, however, he was prepared to fight Nerun, with the premise that the latter was actually a Warrior as himself. Of course, this was simply an excuse, and Karles knew it. Had he known that Nerun was an Adept, he would have taken a different approach, but it was his duty to be prepared for any circumstance in a fight. In the real world, fighting in the streets, on the frontier, or in a war, your enemy will not tell you what he or she is able to do.

Then again, he could not be blamed entirely. Nerun was a bit mischievous and had taken a proper fighting stance as a warrior. That, and the fact that since Nerun's energies are mixed, only the truly powerful are actually able to somewhat see through some of Nerun's secrets. For the rest, all they can tell is that Nerun seems to be a Qi Grandmaster, albeit with a thin Qi, like those good-for-nothing young masters that use treasures to forcibly train their way up to the warrior rank. This is also one of the reasons that Nerun is vilified by many since all they can see is what Nerun is allowing them to do.

"Ok. One more time," said Nerun.

He was quite pleased with the effect his attack had caused on Reina and Karles. Nerun had discussed priorly with Elijah, what to do with his particular way of fighting and his mixed energies, and they had decided that it was not useful to try and hide it too deeply. Not that Nerun will simply start boasting about it, nor will he tell his secrets to anyone else willy-nilly, but he should not be afraid to use Magick Spells, nor should he be afraid of showing himself as a warrior. People would find out sooner or later about it. However, getting to know that Nerun could use both Adept and Warrior skills, and truly knowing Nerun's true depth and power was a different thing altogether.

In the end, what was important was for Nerun to showcase his value, to show his talent. Now that he was in Eonia with Elijah, his duty was to help the latter get more allies and expand his influence. One of the ways is by showing some of his prowess. The Lyceum was a place where dragons and snakes coexisted, and many political parties and business groups like the Mint, the Jobs Association, and even the Temple - among many others - had laid many interests in the talented young men that were being nurtured in the Lyceum. Unlike the Royal Military School, which was bound to the Military of the Kingdom of Ansem and the Royal Family, the Lyceum was considered a neutral institution, one of the reasons that muddied the waters that ran through it.

If Nerun showed a great enough talent, many of these groups and clans could decide to invest in his future, and by the same recollection, invest in Elijah as well. The latter had already managed to get acquainted with some people that had lent aid to his cause, however, it was true that he was still quite young, inexperienced, and somewhat dependent on the help given by House Baruna and the likes. Therefore, it was of the utmost importance that they won even more help. Even if Elijah had managed to be named Dragon General, did not mean that he was above everyone in the Kingdom. In fact, his position was still precarious, and there were many people eyeing him like a hawk, waiting for him to make any mistake and make him sink into oblivion. Nerun's humiliation in the Royal Military School was but a small show of what was to come if they did not tread carefully.

All of these were taken into consideration, and so it was that Nerun had decided to join the Lyceum, with several objectives in mind. His short-term goal was to solidify his position in the academy. He knew that there would be many that would mock him for his "haphazard" training in both Qi and Mana, and many would doubt him. But, this was also a great opportunity. If he managed to prove that this way was feasible, he would not only grow stronger. He would also show his talent. It was a difficult road ahead, but one that Nerun was more than willing to walk valiantly.

Recently Nerun had made an interesting discovery which made him elated. The second Core Meridian and Celestial Gate he opened way back in the Orphanage were the Aqua Meridian, and the πάγο - /Págo/ Celestial Gate.

In normal circumstances, this was not that important for either a Warrior or an Adept. The first Core Meridian or Celestial Gate were the ones that truly mattered since it would be the one that would create the foundation for the future expert and would also contribute the most to his development. For a Warrior, it would determine the elemental attachment he could add to his attacks as he grew stronger. It was usually the only one. For an Adept it would also determine the main element for his Magick powers. There were many Adepts, even in the higher levels that could only use one particular element, not that that fact made them weak, since complete specialization and the myriad of spells that could be created from a single element made each and everyone very powerful, and it was the Adept's duty to further understand his main element to further strengthen his spells.

The first Core Meridian or Celestial Gate was usually random, but some constitutions and regions had a predominant one that appeared among its experts. Some special Martial Models and Meditation Techniques increased the chance for a particular one to be the first chosen, however, this increase was usually minuscule.

In rare cases, some especially talented and powerful adepts and warriors could use a secondary element, however, this second element tended to be much weaker than the main one. Even rarer, some special constitutions allowed some people to wield multiple elements, however, these persons were rarer than a Qilin horn or a Phoenix feather. Usually, the multiple elements hold were no more than two. Three was considered an anomaly among anomalies. As for more, in so far as the history of the continent goes, there has never been an expert who could do so.

Nerun's case was quite peculiar. After all, Nerun's constitution was the king among all oddities. Since his auxiliary meridians could be opened at will, and his body had been reforged after Arbak used the Fruit of the Mountain God, he noticed something peculiar. His Core Meridian could connect to any auxiliary meridian he chose to in any of his four extremities. This was an advantage since he would always have the maximum number of auxiliary meridians connected to a Core meridian. If that was it, then Nerun was bound to be a great warrior in the future, but barely something else. After all, most of the truly powerful experts and families made sure to open all the possible auxiliary meridians as they grow stronger, Nerun simply had it easier.

No, the truly miraculous thing about Nerun's body, was the fact that since he could open his auxiliary meridians at will, he could also close them. By closing the already-opened auxiliary meridians he could connect to completely different auxiliary meridians. By doing so, he could very well make his second open Core Meridian and Celestial Gate the main one by making their connections the main ones. One of the main reasons Nerun could wield both Qi and Mana at the same time and there was balance among his energies, was precisely because he made sure that his Core Meridian and Celestial Gate were connected to the same auxiliary meridians in his extremities. At first, Nerun had many difficulties doing so, it was quite strenuous to find the proper auxiliary meridian that would allow him to exert more power and would allow the balance between Qi and Mana to flow through the connection. It took a long time of experimenting and trial and error to find the proper combination. This however had become one of the foundations of Nerun's power.

The shift in Auxiliary Meridians wasn't without its risks, since Nerun could very well lose all of his power, and his body go out of control, imploding. Also, the second Core Meridian and Celestial Gate had different preferred paths of connections to auxiliary meridians. So Nerun had to experiment a bit, and some days before entering the Lyceum he managed to change his Main Core Meridian and Celestial Gate, which allowed him to get a completely different feeling, as well as learn a new magick spell. His current training included learning how to shift his main connections with a thought, however, this was easier said than done because if he was not careful, being completely crippled might well be the best of the possible conclusions to his experiments. So far, he knew he needed several minutes of precise tinkering and absolute quietness to make the shift. This was completely useless in battle. If someday he managed to do it in a jiffy, then he believed that he would truly be unrivalled. His versatility would go to the roof. And what about if he managed to activate two Celestial Gates at the same time? Well, for now, that was just impossible. He should not chew more than he was able to.

Once Nerun said Ok, Karles got ready once more. Reina was getting more and more excited. If Nerun was an Adept, then he would be an incredible asset to add to their class. However, this made the fact that Nerun was not chosen for the Royal Military School a bit inconceivable. After all, Adepts were quite rare in Ansem. Not a complete anomaly, but they were rare nonetheless, and they had priority over warriors in many Academies to be trained and invested in. If Nerun had shown he was an Adept in the school, that fact alone would allow him to stay as an Inner Class Student, and he would probably be moved to whatever class was first in the Ranking. That was one of the advantages of being an Adept in a country were they rarely appeared, and one of the reasons Rafal also wanted Nerun to fully focus on this path.

'I wonder what else are you hiding,' thought Reina.

Karles did not make himself wait, and assuming a strong stance, a couple of mist snakes started circulating both his arms and legs.

"GO!".

Karles immediately raised both his arms and made an X shape movement towards Nerun.

The movement launched a beam of energy that was also shaped as an X-cross mark, which travelled at great speeds toward Nerun. Nerun was expecting it, it was only natural that Karles knew one or more likely several Martial Techniques. Nerun smiled, and once more launched his spell towards the energy beam. "Ακίδες πάγου". Three Ice Spikes appeared in front of Nerun and directly faced Karles' attack.

- BAM! -

There was a small explosion when the two techniques clashed, and the Ice Spikes were destroyed after neutralizing the energy beam. Many drops of water and mist appeared in the air as a result of the explosion, and Karles took advantage of this to use a movement technique and approach Nerun at full speed and attack him with another Martial Skill when he was close. After all, the main disadvantage of most Adepts was that their body was much weaker than those of warriors, and once they had been reached, most of them could only be manhandled. Adepts usually tended to keep their distance from warriors.

However, Nerun was not a normal Adept. As Karles stepped through the curtain of mist, he was flabbergasted to notice that Nerun was approaching him as well with great speed and dexterity. As surprised as he was, he did not have the chance to consider things, since this was to his advantage. Even if this was a trap, all of them would vanish in the face of true power. So Karles used his Qi to create a small membrane around his body to defend himself from sudden spells, and with great agility, he threw a strong punch towards Nerun's temple.

As his punch was about to connect with Nerun's head, the latter's hand was already there as it was waiting there from the beginning to receive the punch. Karles could not understand why Nerun would do so, he thought the latter would do everything in his power to create distance. Once Nerun received the attack with his hand, the most likely outcome would be the complete rupture of it. However, it was too late for regrets.

But Karles was in for a surprise, since Nerun's hand received the attack gently, completely dispersing its strength. Karles once more was dumbfounded. This was a Martial Arts movement and a strong one at that. He did not have the luxury to be surprised, however. If he kept getting flustered every time Nerun did something implausible, and kept getting pummeled, then he would not live to the name of an Inner Class genius of the Lyceum. It was time for him to get serious.