Chapter 16

BOOM

BOOOM

Only sounds of explosions filled the forest. A blur of Nova and the creature chased one another. A trail of yellow Est lit up the dark floor.

After minutes of battling, Nova took a pause. Her body creaked and screamed at her, but she did not pay a little bit of attention. Her eyes were set in front of her. She licked the blood off her lips and glared at the creature. It swayed and staggered in pain. Its black eyes stared into Nova's soul.

'Let's end this now,' Nova lifted her sword. She concentrated her Est throughout her body. Her muscles squirmed and swelled to keep up with her.

She shot toward the creature. It quickly reacted and swung out, but Nova dodged and ducked under its arm to pass it.

CREEEK

She dug her feet into a tree trunk, almost breaking it. She flexed her arm and crept up to the monster's back. Her Est and thickened. In one swing, she beheaded the monster. Her body fell toward the floor tired. The moon was still high in the night.

She gazed helplessly into the sky. A wave of sadness washed over her. At first, she couldn't explain the overwhelming loneliness. She caressed the ring on her finger as it was the only piece left of him with her.

", but you would probably tell me off if I wallowed in my misery, right?" she chuckled to herself as she pictured him.

She tried to fight off the drowsiness. 'It wouldn't be a good idea to fall asleep unguarded in the forest'

She leaned on her sword to force herself up. Now that the adrenaline was gone, her pain multiplied. 'I need Macy,' the pain was so unbearable she couldn't walk straight.

She wavered and bumped into the monster's corpse. Her hand grazed the surface. Immediately her right hand began to feel like it was burning.

"Huh?" the black ring on her hand lit up. A fog escaped the ring and covered the monster's enormous body. 

Suddenly, a sharp pain engulfed her entire body. She stumbled backward and fell. Her eyes rolled back in agony. A mysterious energy invaded her body. It broke her bones and tore her muscles, but somehow they rebuilt stronger. Once finished, the mysterious energy stayed within her body and retracted into a small marble next to her Core. Nova screamed helplessly and waited for the pain to subside.

Nova felt the fatigue wash away and her foggy brain clear. She grabbed the ring on her finger and tried to take it off.

'It's stuck??' She screamed internally. 'I'm not going through that pain again!' She struggled with the ring for over a long time before she gave up.

"Ah, the members." Nova hit herself because she forgot. She quickly dashed toward them.

"Huh? My Est is thicker." She also noticed her body in general was stronger. Defined muscles peeked through on her lean body. However, she dismissed it and focused on saving her group.

"Damn," she clicked her teeth as she saw their sorry states. She dragged each person back to the cave. With their superhuman bodies, they naturally began to heal. Nova took out the medication and helped them.

***

Days passed before the group was ready to head out again.

Nova was shocked the group decided to continue the mission. She praised their hardworking nature, but she did not want a similar situation to be repeated.

One night, David turned toward her and asked, "Where did the creature go?" Nova played it off and said it left after it beat the group.

With her heightened senses, she heard David murmur, "A class 5 creature left peacefully?"

Nova almost dropped the dried meat in her hand. Just as adventurers were ranked, monsters were too. Starting at Class 10 was the weakest creature, whereas Class 1 was the strongest. The official categorization went like this:

•Class 10- (5 Tier F adventurers)

•Class 9- (10 Tier F adventurers)

•Class 8- (5 Tier E adventurers)

•Class 7- (10 Tier E adventurers)

•Class 6- (5 Tier D adventurers)

•Class 5- (5 Tier C adventurers)

•Class 4- (5 Tier B adventurers)

•Class 3- (10 Tier A adventurers)

•Class 2- (15 Tier S adventurers)

•Class 1- (All resources needed)

'Even if it was injured, I defeated a Class 4 creature,' Nova's hands began to sweat. She placed her palm over her heart where her new power laid resting.

***

The group followed the same mundane routine: explore, hunt, rest, repeat.

During her night watches, Nova would study the new dark marble near her heart. She would leave a clone to watch the group, while she hunted nearby. Finally, she managed to learn a couple of key characteristics.

1.) The dark energy functioned the same as regular Est, but it was far more destructive. However, she could not use it consistently because it required far more stamina compared to Est. Anyways, its sinister nature made Nova plan to use it more cautiously.

2.) Every creature she killed would be absorbed by the ring, and result in her power increasing. She wondered what the connection was between the ring, her father, and the sinister power.

3.) The energy worked in perfect harmony with her Est. Within her body, the dark power would strengthen her vessels; thus, allowing her to draw out more Est. Also, she could add an accent of the dark energy to her Est to make it thicker and sharper. The black marble laid close to her Core, and could even replenish her Est to a certain extent.

Every discovery baffled her. The tiny marble seemed to have infinite possibilities waiting for her to grasp. She trained her newfound power, she dubbed Nox, alongside her Est. Now, her magical power greatly increased.

'My physical body is lagging,' a growing concern emerged from her. One day, she decided to act.

"Can you teach me swordsmanship?" she batted her large eyes at Lance innocently.