“You encashed all your paychecks in one go today, didn’t you?”
After appearing in front of Eren, Kino spoke. Her voice was neutral. But Eren could tell she was very shocked by his performance.
“Epic luck or epic fuck ups. My friend used to say that I only knew these two modes. And there’s no in-between.”
Eren chuckled lightly and responded. He was reminded of Tory for some reason.
“Eren, you did really well and proved yourself to be a better Hexer than the standards set by the testing grounds. I applaud you for the performance you displayed so far.”
Kino said and smiled. She looked at him keenly and pondered for a bit before speaking up.
“Normally, the contestants would be given their rewards and that should be the end of the test for them.
However, you cleared the third stage with a 100 percent clearance rate as well. Since this is the first contestant to do so, there’s a bonus test you can attend.
The reward for clearing the bonus test alone should be worth it for you. However, you can choose to take or skip it. What will you do?”
Eren raised his eyebrows when he was told that he could still fight some more in a bonus test. Although he didn’t like to push his luck, he also knew that some opportunities would never knock on his door twice. He pondered for a bit and assessed the situation before answering.
“I would like to partake in the bonus test if the rewards are worth it, Kino. However, I would need some time off to rest and prepare.”
Kino agreed to Eren’s request immediately and told him she’d come back to check on him after a few hours. When the battlemage realized he didn’t have to fight anymore, he lay on the ground.
Eren lay on his back and stretched his limbs. He took a long breath and felt some of the built-up exhaustion leaving his body when he exhaled.
He closed his eyes and started replaying the fight he just had in his mind. Just as Kino was hinting at, he had lucked out in the state of epiphany he had during the fight.
Eren closed his eyes and decided to take a nap under the shade of a giant tree. He woke up the next day when the fake sky inside the testing grounds started turning bright.
Another day. Another fight for survival.
***
A valley surrounded by long and distant mountain ranges. A rocky region that was full of naturally formed trenches and mini hills. Sparse vegetation and desolate vibes. Warm and dry winds made their presence known in the surroundings.
Eren had been summoned into a different altered space this time.
Eren already knew who his opponent was going to be. So he was a bit tense. But there was something within him that was looking forward to this fight.
Roar!
A draconic roar sounded in the surroundings as Eren’s opponent approached him from the distant sky. What appeared to be small on a giant portrait turned out to be one of the most fearsome mana beasts in existence.
A wyvern!
***
The real dragons were in the top tier of the food chain within the mama beasts. They feared nobody because of the natural blessings they were gifted with. Of course, the world of Gilaahan wasn’t a capable host to these mythical beasts. So they had a dwindling population in this world.
The dragons in Gilaahan were an extremely rare find. They were as intelligent as any humanoids upon their maturity. They were the harbingers of calamity if any rankers’ force was foolish enough to offend them.
These emperors of the beasts would always prefer to stay low-key inside the depths of some of the most dangerous places. They would rarely hunt humans because they could have better prey for themselves.
No rankers’ parties would like to run into them. Unlike what Eren had previously thought about the world of Gilaahan, no knightley forces were preparing to challenge the dragons. There was no dragon slayer profession. And there would never be dragon hunt missions running across the mission boards of organizations.
The rankers fought with dragons only as a last resort when the battle was unavoidable. Most of the time, kingdoms would unite and deploy their top-ranked officials together as a joint force to combat the looming calamity. Even then, success was not guaranteed and there would be a huge loss of life in a single mission.
The dragons are also said to have immense pride in themselves. Most of them would not hunt for fun. They would avoid harming extremely weak beings. And they would allow their opponents to back off before the battle.
They were vengeful existences that would do everything in their power to get back at their enemies. They would also repay the favors done to them with interest.
Their relatively peaceful disposition was the only thing that allowed the rest of the beasts to prosper under their domain.
There were various dragons in existence. Most of them could fly. Some liked to swell in deep waters. And the dragons that didn’t have wings would stay on the ground and create territories for themselves.
No matter the domain, the dragons would eventually learn to dominate the domain they claimed. And they would stop at nothing to protect what was theirs.
As the descendants of the dragons, the wyverns were the next big thing after the dragons. They too inhabited certain isolated spaces in the Gilaahan, preferably dangerous mountainous regions and dense forests.
Only Awakened rankers in their last stages of rank and Arch rankers dared to attack them. Even then they would form parties to hunt them.
The most frightening thing about the draconic lifeforms was their nearly inexhaustible vitality and regenerative powers. They were also said to be blessed by mana, having complete control over their innate bloodline spells. They wielded their elements so profoundly that their magic had a league of its own.
Ideally, the bonus test was only supposed to be taken by an Awakened ranker and above if they had cleared the three stages with flawless clearance rates. However, Eren’s jaw-dropping performance compelled Kino to offer him the option.
Of course, the level of the wyvern would be adjusted according to Eren’s current ranking status. However, it did not mean that the beast would be easy to deal with for him. It only ensured that the battlemage had a fighting chance of winning him. This too, when one considers his near-inexhaustible stamina and mana.
***
Boom!
Suddenly, a large beast landed on the ground not too far away from Eren. He flapped his wings a few more times before getting on his fours.
This wyvern was five meters in height when he walked on his four limbs. He was about 12 meters long, not including the length of his forked tail.
The beast had thick, blood-red skin and a few black stripes over it that looked more like runic inscriptions when viewed up close. His front limbs were attached to the giant wings he had. His hind legs were shorter. He had four toes that looked lethal because of their razor-sharp black claws.
The wyvern had a dragon-like face that looked menacing because of his white and yellow teeth. His yellow eyes would shine brightly from time to time, allowing the spectator to see his vertical pupils.
The beast had a very lean build. He lacked any prominent muscle definitions. But that only spoke volumes about his agility despite his large stature.
Roar!
The wyvern roared at Eren after fixing his eyes on him. He was allowing the battlemage to back off from the fight. This was the last warning the beast cared to issue before taking the ranker on for real.
Eren had some of his sanity left in him that was telling him to take the offer and back off. It was telling him the risk-to-reward ratio might not be as favorable to him as Kino made out to be.
However, he prevented himself from giving in to those thoughts of retreat. He looked at the beast and smiled wickedly. He controlled the shakes he had while holding his axes and thought to himself.
‘A Meta Ranker facing off against a wyvern all by himself. I wonder how many rankers indulged in madness and lived to tell the tale.’
Eren’s heart beats faster than ever as he feels the strong mana signature coming from the beast. Something he had never felt before. The beast’s presence alone was able to overwhelm the psyches of most rankers in his generation.
It was as if time stopped for a moment. Or it was just that Eren processed it differently under the effects of the adrenaline rush. He placed his right hand over his chest and felt his heartbeat. He suddenly started hearing them in exquisite detail, as if they were war drums.
‘Seek and ye shall find.’
Eren said to himself before deciding to take a step further in the beast’s direction. His actions made his intention known to the wyvern and it growled in response.
A wyvern hunt was about to begin.
