Peak Danger

Alexia sped through the forest, enjoying the newfound speed she possessed. The feeling was akin to flying; the euphoria numbed any pain she should have been feeling at that moment.

She was aware that it was temporary, and when she stopped running and the adrenaline died down, she would be in a world of pain. So, it was better to live in the moment and keep moving until she reached her destination.

She would rather faint or collapse with a roof over her head than under the night sky because the latter sounded nice but was actually dangerous.

The campsite was a few meters away, so she decided to entertain herself on the way there. Leaping up, she held onto a tree branch, swinging on it like a monkey before she did a somersault onto the next tree branch.

Landing unsteadily, she held on to the tree for support before jumping down and resuming her sprint.

The goals of the awakening stage were the awareness of your elemental powers and the strengthening and perfection of the body. It allows you to become aware of and control your innate powers.

As a dragon, her source element was fire; therefore, when she awakened, she possessed primary control of fire, which she could only access by storing it in her soul.

As for the perfection of the body, one's agility, senses, strength, speed, and overall appearance become generally closer to perfection the higher one climbs up in this stage.

Now that she was at the pinnacle of the awakening stage, her body's functions were all rounded, and once she learned how to utilize each part effectively, she would then be ready to attempt a breakthrough.

Straining herself to the limit, she jumped over the walls of the campsite, bolting towards her uncle's tent. She could hear shouts and the sound of hurried footsteps behind her.

'I guess I scared them pretty badly.'

The guards were probably chasing after her, and why wouldn't they? When an unidentified person, dressed fully in black and moving at top speed, had just scaled their walls, bypassing their defenses, and was now headed to the tent of their most favored army general, she would have been anxious to stop herself if she were them.

But she couldn't stop moving because the moment she did, she would collapse. She should at least tell her uncle the good news before her body shut down. Right?

Thinking that way, she dodged the weapons being thrown at her from behind.

These soldiers need better training; they can't even hit a tired, injured moving target correctly. Their aim was so off-point that they were hitting everything except her.

She was feeling grateful that her uncle was already at rank three and that few things could actually harm him. Otherwise, he wouldn't even realize how he was killed while surrounded by an army of guards. He really needed to drill these soldiers a few more times.

She winced; all this running had made her already bleeding wounds open up more. At this rate, she might just die from blood loss. What an unfortunate death that would be, surviving an attack by a feral prime beast only to die of blood loss because she was trying to escape an evil forest.

So unfortunate.

With the tent in sight, she lunged forward, rolling in through the entrance, expecting to see a worried uncle ready to take care of her and console her injured mind.

But instead, what greeted her was three stern faces, each aiming swords at her throat, ready to silence the foolish intruder that dared to interrupt their important meeting. Right behind them, a cold, chestnut-haired man was watching the scene with indifference.

Well, that was until she spoke to get his attention.

"Sir, I'm here to report urgent information."

That was the last thing she could say before her body finally gave out, and the noise faded while everything went dark before her eyes.

***

Casen had been back at the campsite for two days now, and the quality of his soldiers was really troubling. Well, they weren't really his soldiers; his men had been tempered by countless battles, were disciplined, and could each hold their own in a fight.

This group he was commanding at the moment consisted of just random people who had volunteered to join the team without proper training or orientation.

His brother had created an illusion that this trip was an expedition to clear out the lava forest because of the increase in the activity of demonic beasts. He had even added a generous reward of gems, pearls, and gold for those who managed to survive this trip.

When in reality, this whole endeavor was actually to enable him to hunt for Thrakos, the elusive demon scorpion that had just advanced to a feral prime beast, and to train his niece so that she would be prepared for the cruel future that awaited her.

At the moment, all she wanted to do was escape this place, but to him, she should enjoy these few peaceful moments because he wasn't sure how long these days would last.

Bringing his attention back to the meeting, he and his lieutenants were focusing on the matter of Thrakos. They had spent weeks looking for it, but the frustrating thing about that beast was its ability to hide underground undetected.

Now that he thought about it, he should tell Alexia to rest for a few days while they looked for it.

'She's definitely not going to like that.'

He sighed to himself; right now, she was probably doing something crazy, hoping to advance her rank as soon as possible. He couldn't even bring himself to imagine the trouble she would bring upon herself.

"Sir, I suggest we look south; that place is hot owing to the lava lakes. Scorpions usually enjoy such hot environments."

He heard a sweet voice from his side before he was invaded by a strong-smelling perfume. His eyebrows furrowed in distaste; turning to his side, he was met with the smiling face of a young girl.

Her face was small and palm-sized; it was clear she had put on makeup because it was so pale yet colorful at the same time. Her lips had been painted a ruby red shade, while her body was too close for comfort.

"Understood, Lieutenant Lyra. You may return to your seat."

Lyra was one of the few women who had volunteered for this expedition, and somehow she was made one of his lieutenants. There wasn't really anything wrong with the way she worked; it was always accurate and efficient.

The problem with her was that she was always trying to get close to him at any opportunity possible and often had the face of a clown paired with the scent of a musk ox.

He was about to address his two other lieutenants when something literally flew towards them before stopping right in front of him. His soldiers, ever alert, drew their weapons, ready to slay the intruder.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, so he wasn't really interested in the poor fool with a death wish.

That was until he heard a confident tone of voice that he was all too familiar with.

"Sir, I'm here to report urgent information."

Turning his head towards the source, he saw his frail niece, covered in life-threatening wounds, surrounded by three sharp swords, with a mob of people outside trailing not far behind her.

For a moment, he saw red; he didn't even realize when his cold demeanor changed into a fiery one, and he yelled at his soldiers.

"Everyone out! Meeting dismissed until further notice. Nobody is allowed to disturb us!"

They were all clearly stunned, one more than the others. Of course they were; he usually didn't show his emotions to anyone other than his niece; even his brother didn't have the right to see through his thoughts.

Everyone, outside and inside the tent, dispensed with Lyra lingering a while longer than he'd liked. Turning to face his niece, he picked her up gently, not wanting to aggravate her already serious wounds.

"This crazy girl. Always running headfirst into danger."

He couldn't help but scold her; she had always been reckless, not caring about her body. Maybe this time he should let her suffer the consequences of her actions and learn a good lesson.

Though he thought that way, he was already placing her on the bed, preparing himself to get a first-aid box. He would have called for a healer, but he wasn't really open to talking to that elf boy who always ogled his niece.

Sitting beside her on the bed, he carefully attended to the visible wounds on her body.

While treating her wounds, he noticed that her aura had spiked since the last time he saw her.

It was obvious that she had done something crazy, thinking that returning to the city would mean freedom from this lifestyle of hunting and being hunted. He really wanted to tell her about the prophecy that had been revealed to the king on her tenth birthday.

Maybe then she would understand the reason why she was being put through this intense training routine.

Sighing to himself, he left the tent.

Now he had to find a different place to sleep.