Chapter 175 Rank 2

Lucas was let into the camp, there were some smaller wooden cabins, but most were sleeping in tents. Everywhere he passed, people were glaring at him. He must've left the wrong impression. He arrived at a smaller tent, one of the guards went inside to get all the supplies that Lucas didn't need. Watching in silence, he tried to not make any more havoc than he already had. 

"This will be your home, if you need anything, ask.", one of the guards said before leaving. Entering the tent, there was a small table with a chair and a place to sleep, but nothing besides that. Not that Lucas cared all that much. To him, it was a place of rest.

He had been hiding it, but after using his personal rune to pressure everyone, he started to feel sick. According to Asta it should take some time before a Core evolves to the next Rank, yet Lucas could tell his stomach was starting to hurt. He didn't exactly know why now of all times, perhaps forcing his pressure was asking too much. 

He sat down while a part of him was cursing Asta for being so wrong and the other half of Lucas for stimulating the core too much. Still, in that small moment of frustration, both sides were tired out. 

'Well, we don't have much of a choice now. We're somewhat safe here, so let's make the best of it.'

'Easy for you to say. I hope you realize that we can't exactly just start the evolution of our Core, it decides that by itself.'

'Then why does it hurt, didn't you let it go?'

'Yeah, but I think that by forcing it to our whims is making it confused. First we use a ton on the island, then we restrict it as much as possible, and now we're suddenly using it at sporadic moments. Shit's confusing.'

'It's not that hard to understand.'

'Go ahead then, please tell our heart to stop pumping so fast, and could you tell our stomach to hold back on the growling, thanks.'

'Alright, alright, I get it. So what do we do now?'

'I don't know, we just need to wait until the core is ready, so we could start studying the array or work on our spells.'

'Dammit, is there no way to force our core to evolve?'

'I don't know what's going inside your head, but keep it together, dumbass. Do you think animals evolved in an instant? These things take time, man.'

'Tch.'

Lucas could only be infuriated at his situation, they would be safe for a moment, yet couldn't use that time effectively. 

'Why not try to convince them further and make an alliance or something, it's clear you know how these people think. A lot better than I do.'

Lucas could tell the bitterness in that statement, and knew what he did wasn't the smartest. If Carian didn't prepare a test, they would most likely be dead.

'No, I took a gamble, and you just wanted to put me straight, I'm sorry for putting us in such a dire situation.'

'No worries, I hated you with all my heart for a moment, but things turned out like you said. So I guess you can somewhat read people. Next time, though, please don't make stupid decisions without telling me.'

'Got it, again, I'm sorry.'

'Hey, it's fine.', Lucas started to calm down, his mind had been in a furious fight mere moments ago and now they both had somewhat lost the wind in their sails. Feeling sick, tired and frustrated, Lucas wanted to sleep. Since before the national competition started he stopped sleeping since he could use that time to improve himself. 

Yet now, all the time he stayed awake was starting to get to him. Mages didn't have to sleep, or eat for that matter, but there were practically no mages who didn't do so. Sleeping gave the mind time to rest, and eating food that tasted delicious wasn't something people wanted to stop doing once it wasn't necessary anymore. 

Lucas used some of his magic to create a few shields and tried to copy Asta's array he used in the Dark Pool during the competition, but after failing twice at it, he stopped and simply created a few more basic shields. They were worthless now, since even beginner mages could easily pierce them. Faced with the situation that it was either that or nothing, Lucas didn't hesitate.

Laying down on the bed, Lucas stared at the ceiling of the tent. Thinking about going to sleep somehow automatically made them realize how tired they really were. 

'Do we sleep?'

'I don't know, can we sleep?', both sides felt like they had lost their spark, their energy. Seemingly, they had lost it all during their fight over control. 

'I stated pretty clearly that we wanted to be left alone, but that doesn't mean anything. They could check on us or something.'

'So we can't sleep?'

'No, we could drag our body back out there and try our hardest to build up a relationship with them, but that would take a lot of time and a lot of actions. Resting for a bit would be the best for us.'

'Then shut up and close our eyes.'

Lucas slowly closed his eyes, the built-up stress and exhaustion of the past weeks were coming back to haunt him. Since he was capable of living without sleep, he rarely slept. Every night slept was precious time he would lose. Yet now that he was laying down, just the thought of standing back up was too heavy a task. In less than a second, Lucas fell asleep.

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In an endless abyss, a sun was shining brightly. The incandescent light was extremely beautiful. Despite the sun being a star that tried to light up the abyss, it didn't hurt the eyes when you looked at it. 

Sadly, even on such a precious star, there was a single spot that was as dark as the abyss surrounding the sun. The dark spot had grown slightly, making it larger than a single speck, but still extremely tiny.

Lucas floated in this endless nothing, faced with the familiar sun, he felt soothed by its presence. The heat from the pure light was comforting, giving him some warmth in the cold abyss. Staring at the sun, it tried to communicate.

He could tell that there was something it tried to say, yet not a single word was conveyed. Trying to interpret it was impossible, he didn't even know where to begin deciphering it.

Lucas kept basking in the light while he still could. He knew what was to come, each time he visited this place, the same thing happened. Strangely, this time, it took a lot longer for anything to happen. 

Since Lucas was tired anyway, and this place was surprisingly comforting, Lucas closed his eyes and tried to sleep. 

Hours seemed to pass, nothing happened, he slowly floated around the sun until the black spot was visible again. Staring at it for a moment, he realized it had gotten bigger, the sun was still overwhelming, but that patch of dark ruined the entire image in his mind. 

Like he expected, the black spot started to grow and slowly took over the sun, turning as black as the abyss. Now he was alone in the cold dark again, awaiting the next being he knew so well. 

Flames appeared from where the sun was, two deep red fiery eyes appeared in the void. They stared at each other, Lucas wasn't surprised, his expression stayed the same. Each time something big happened to his core, he would meet these two. 

Time seemed to stop as they kept eyeing each other, nobody said anything. Eventually, Lucas started to get bored. 

'What? No big speech? No life questions? No hallucinations? No memories?'

"Is there anything to talk about? You desired nothing but power, and have been granted exactly that.", the ancient voice reverberated through the emptiness around him. 

'I have not been granted anything! I'm weak! I can barely fight against any mage without using indirect tactics! The moment I have to fight someone head on, I'm always barely making it out alive!'

"You have been given power, you just are too clouded to realize it."

Lucas tried to find meaning in its words, yet he couldn't think of anything specific. In the beginning, he thought he could use the spell intensifications he learned from Freya, but after his body changed, he lost that opportunity. Then he learned how to control his own body, and he didn't exactly know what he could do with it. 

Then he gained his personal rune, which was powerful, but did nothing except boost his powers and create pressure. In the end, he still barely had any fights that ended with him overwhelming his opponents. He always had to find a backdoor, and never fight head on. 

'I don't get it.'

The voice appeared once more, but this time he could tell the voice was displeased.

"You damaged the Mental Sphere to create a personal rune. Yet the way you use it is disappointing to say the least. You have a unique body with exceptional capacities, and you have not used even a fraction of its potential. You have an abundance of mental energy, yet only use it to survey things... This list isn't finished, yet here you are, complaining that you haven't been given anything."

'I don't understand, the rune is extremely powerful, it helped us survive a bunch of situations. It's just difficult to control.', Lucas couldn't find an argument for his body, he had been given it so early, and yet the only things he had done with it were extremely basic. Healing certain places, casting magic wherever he pleases, yet that was all.

"Our time is almost up. So let me leave you with this; how do you think runes are meant to be used?"

Lucas involuntarily closed his eyes once more and awakened back in his tent. He felt extremely refreshed, all the built-up stress and exhaustion were a memory of the past. Then he noticed the smell, he stunk. He had been sweating in his sleep, not more than usual, yet now the scent felt stronger. 

The noises outside the camp were more clear, he could hear different voices and distinguish them. All his senses felt more refined than before. Even his mind felt clearer, the clouds in his mind had vanished. He felt great, for once. The magic shields around him were still up, making him relieved no-one came inside. 

Stretching his limbs a bit, he made a mental note to sleep more if it was this beneficial. He checked his Core, and like he assumed, it reached the next rank. The Core was a bit smaller than before, but a new ring of runes was neatly placed on the Core. He knew that sleeping for a few hours wouldn't have been enough to make his Core reach the next Rank, he must've been out for a while.

His magic was now improved, so even a simple fireball would become a powerful blast. His fingers itched to test it out, but he suppressed his urges. Besides that there were the multiple things the beings in his core mentioned, his potential was great. 

Feeling refreshed and full of energy, Lucas felt excited and happy. Both sides of Lucas were in an agreement that sleeping wasn't a waste. 

'First things first. Let's check on the group.'

Exiting his little tent, he didn't find anyone, only two guards that were standing on top of the fence talking. 

'So we heard them talk from inside the camp? That's a great improvement.'

'You think? How easy is it now to attack us with sound?'

'Oh, I guess that's true, still, how bad could it be? We have a ton of mana to heal anyway.'

'Fine, look at them, they're sweating and seem nervous.'

Part of Lucas was confused as to how he could know such things, but if he focussed on the guards, he could tell that their postures were unstable and sweat was emanating from their back. A small breeze brought over the salt from their sweat, it was almost indiscernible, yet now it was so easy to distinguish.

Lucas walked towards the guards, his body felt the same. Squishing his arms nothing got strengthened, making him a bit sad to see that his senses, Mental Sphere and Core were the only things that changed. Still, he was glad about the improvements. 

"What's going on, where is everyone?", Lucas spoke with a strong voice. The guards up on the fence jumped in fear and felt a hidden pressure landing on them. They weren't normal humans, they had been strengthened through training, yet the mere voice of a Rank 2 mage made their throats clamp up.

Once the voice passed could they breathe again. One of them looked back and saw Lucas, his eyes widened for a moment before he bowed. "Starborn Lucas! You're awake?!", and with that one sentence, Lucas felt a hint of anger and fear bloom in his heart. They didn't leave him alone. The soldier made his way down the fence and quickly explained what was going on. 

The strange enthusiasm was quite a contrast to the glares of the guards when he entered the camp. Lucas made a note to ask Carian or Thurin what happened to create such a change. Or perhaps everything was an act, who knew?

"The young master has found a nest of Terrabears, and due to his long absence we believe he entered it. Advisor Carian and most of the soldiers here have rushed to his aid, we were left behind to take care of the camp and inform you in case you woke up.", the guard said as if he was just reading of a piece of paper. 

"You've performed your duties well then, please point to where they are."

With a bit of guidance Lucas knew where to go. Without hesitation Lucas rushed towards them. 

'If only we could fly.'

'Don't worry, I'll start working on that next. I've been focussing on our combat skills, but I don't think I need to spend any more time on it for now. You remember the hint?'

'Of course, I'll experiment for a bit.'

Lucas rushed through the forest as quick as he could. His muscle strengthening felt a lot stronger than before, boosting his speed more than he anticipated. He almost had to heal his body every once in a while due to his other body parts not being capable of handling the muscle strength. 

Spreading his willpower, he could see extremely far away. He almost stopped for a moment as the amount of information gushing into his mind was near his previous limit. Now, though, it felt easy to comprehend so much intel at once. 

It didn't take long before he found them. The normal soldiers were all keeping one of the Terrabears busy while Carian was handling another. Thurin was also holding his own against the biggest of the Terrabears. 

The guards kept their distance and stood strong in their formation. Individually they were pretty weak, but the constant harassment from other attacks kept grabbing the bear's attention. It didn't know who to attack first. The moment it turned around, its hind legs were attacked. Sadly, their attacks weren't so strong, leaving only small scratches on the hide at best. 

Carian and Thurin had an almost identical fighting style, the only difference was that Carian looked like an expert, easily dodging the attacks of the Terrabear and when a small opening showed itself, he made a quick punch before retreating again. The punches were extremely lethal, fur and hide flew in all directions with each thrust of his fist. 

Lucas showed himself, but everyone seemed to handle things fine, there was no need for him to step in. Only the soldiers seemed to have some trouble. 

"Everyone, hold it in place for a second!", everyone quickly stared at him before focussing on their formation again. They didn't exactly listen to him. 

"Follow his instructions!", Carian shouted from afar, the soldiers changed their formation and increased their attacks to keep it in one place.

Blue flames erupted from his hands in a blinding display of power, swirling and coalescing into the shape of a mighty sword wreathed in azure fire. The intensity of the flames cast a brilliant light that illuminated the battlefield with an otherworldly glow. The sword had grown larger and seemed more unstable, yet that only reinforced the strength of it.

Besides the improvements of its power, Lucas noticed that his hands that were covered in stone for protection were already charred black and useless. 

'Our defense has gotten too weak, we can't even use our spells without constantly healing us.'

'Hey, one project at a time. What do you want, flying or defense?'

'...Keep working on flying, I have an idea for the rest.'

Without a word, Lucas charged forward, the flames of his sword blazing with unparalleled fury. The Terrabear's eyes widened in fear as it realized the magnitude of the threat before it. With a swift stroke, Lucas brought down his sword, the flames cutting through the air like a scythe of destruction.

The ground trembled as the flames collided with the Terrabear's shell and hide, sending shockwaves rippling through its massive form. The beast roared in agony as the flames seared through its defenses, leaving behind a trail of smoldering wreckage in their wake.

With the Terrabear in pain it moved erratically, Lucas stepped back a bit before assuming a throwing position. Waiting patiently, he aimed for the perfect moment before overloading the sword with mana and throwing it forward. 

"Get away from it!"

The sword landed on the head of the bear, on impact, the sword exploded in a massive explosion of Blue Flames that devoured the bear in an instant. Some of the soldiers were a bit too close and almost got burned to death. Lucas made sure to save or heal them in time to avoid casualties.

The joy Lucas felt from slaying such a beast so easily was unbearable, a massive smile bloomed on his face. His mana was barely depleted as well, no wonder Rank 2 mages went insane a lot. He could play God on a large scale, the only thing holding him back was the threat of even more powerful mages and himself. 

'Elam said that when mages reached Rank 3, it would be decided if they could live on normally or if they were a threat to the world. Strange, being Rank 2 is already enough to drive someone insane.'

'Shut up, think about this stuff later, there's still 2 bears, and I'm afraid our party trick might've lured something else.'

'Hmm? Oh, I see now. Actually, this could be very beneficial for both of us.'