New Mission
"You left early today?" A sweet and precious voice sounded as Agnar walked through the front door of his apartment. It was Nevia and she was getting Kai ready for preschool.
"Heehee, Bwada where you go?" Kai laughed as he ran around Agnar in circles.
"Kai, what did I say about bothering your brother?" Nevia scolded Kai as she turned around and faced Agnar. "You need to get ready for school as well, I'll be out in a minute." Nevia was in the 1st year of high school while Agnar was in his second year. They attended the same school; however, Nevia was much more successful due to her Rawl-ranked Blessing. She was currently a B-ranked Champion and was considered one of the strongest students at the Academy.
Tap, Tap, Tap. Agnar was tapping his foot on the ground while waiting for Nevia to get ready. He opened the Skills menu and looked at the newly obtained skill: Accelerate. He read the skill description and pondered ways that he could utilize it.
"Hmmm, the skill doesn't have a cooldown. It multiplies your agility stat by 4 for 3 seconds. It does take quite a bit of energy though, so it does have its limitations…" Agnar murmured under his breath as Nevia came out of the front door of their apartment.
"I'm ready brother, let's go." Nevia smiled and they started to walk towards Kai's preschool.
In around 10 minutes, they arrived at the preschool and dropped Kai off. They then headed towards their own destination. They soon arrived at the famous Rudina Academy, an elite academy where many important Champions were nurtured and developed. Agnar and Nevia went to their own classrooms and the bell soon rang, signifying the start of the school day.
"Today we will be learning about…" The teacher was explaining their lesson plans for the day but Agnar was not paying any attention to the teacher as he was looking at the system windows. He stared at the system's newly issued mission: "Hunt down 20 monsters (0/20) Reward: Blessing (Soul Extraction, Montaq rank, Upgradable)."
"Interesting… Now we know what I'm doing tonight." Agnar smiled as he impatiently waited for the bell to dismiss them.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here." It was Ryard Richardson again. He was really getting on Agnar's nerves, but he decided to lay low and not take action yet. Agnar still won't forgive Ryard for making a joke about his mother yesterday.
"Hello Sir Ryard, do you have business with me?" Agnar looked up at the handsome blond-haired youth.
"Listen you twat, I would call you an idiot, but it would be an insult for stupid people. You better wipe that stupid ass smug off your damn face or else-"
"Or else what? You gonna beat me again? Listen man, I'm real jealous of those who have never met you before." Agnar replied with a cold look on his face.
Ryard's face immediately turned bright red as it looked like he was about to explode. He looked around the room and saw someone chuckle. He immediately lunged towards the person and gave him a beatdown. Afterwards, he quietly went back to his seat and glared at Agnar.
…
The rest of the day was quite uneventful, of course the exception of murderous stares from Ryard. It was a typical day, where kids in different cliches hung out with each other, while others prepared for the final exams coming up in around a month's time. The final bell rang as students started to pile out from the academy building. Agnar grabbed his phone and quickly sent a text to Nevia notifying her that he would be out today. He then immediately activated wind burst and rushed towards the border of the city.
"Phew, let's get the show on the road." Agnar cracked his knuckles as he arrived into the deep and dense forest. Agnar felt some occasional energy surges in the surrounding air, but no creature dared to make a move. He noticed that there was something off in the environment, but he shook the feeling away as he ventured deeper into the woods.
"Dammit, why aren't there any monsters around here? There should be plenty already, considering that I'm this deep into the forest." Agnar sighed as continued to move forward. Little did he know that there was a pair of bright yellow eyes glaring right at him.
Grrrrrr! The creature with the bright yellow eyes made a low grunting noise as it started to slowly close in on Agnar. Its long and slender body crouched and its cat-like figure stanced itself into a lunging position. ZWWOOOM!! A figure suddenly appeared before Agnar and had its sharp fangs already sunk inside his shoulders.
"ARGHHH!! What the hell?!" Agnar yelled as he widened his eyes. The cat-like figure was a B-ranked beast; a Burst Panther. The beast did not give Agnar a chance to react and immediately launched another attack. This time, a sonic boom roared through the air as the panther seemed like it gained jet-boosters. It quickly disappeared, then appeared, Agnar's eyes could not keep up with it. There was a mocking gaze in the beast's eyes as it toyed with Agnar. The Burst Panther suddenly used its claws to send a sonic-wave towards Agnar. Agnar tried to block the attack with a mana shield, but it completely shattered after the sonic-wave came into contact with it.
SLASHHH!! Three large and bloodied gash marks appeared on Agnar's chest. Agnar flew backwards and slammed into a nearby boulder, it immediately disintegrated upon contact. He felt several bones in his body breaking as he screamed with pain in his voice.
The Burst Panther smirked and slowly approached Agnar with a triumphant smile. It knew that he had won the battle and Agnar had no chance against him. Agnar's breath was ragged, his chest went up and down as he tried to calm down his heavy breathing.
However, little did the beast know, Agnar was purposely making the panther let its guard down. He still had a few aces up his sleeve and he knew that he wouldn't stand a chance if the panther was at full power. As the beast neared Agnar, Agnar suddenly leaped with massive speed towards it.
"Accelerate + Jeta Style: Jade Boost + Wind burst!" Agnar yelled in his mind. It seemed like he teleported in front of the panther in a blur. "Jeta Style: Jade Pierce + Dark Magic."
An eerie air gathered around Agnar's hardened, Jade hand. His right hand looked ominous, with the dim glow of the jade texture and the dark aura of the magic. "DIE!" Agnar yelled as the panther widened its eyes with shock. However, to Agnar's surprise, his right hand only tore through part of the beast's flesh. The panther smirked and immediately attempted to bite Agnar's head off. By this point, Accelerate only had 1 second left, so Agnar quickly leaped backwards, dodging the attack.
It was completely unexpected that his attack failed. Agnar had expected the dark magic to have some effect, but it did not have any corrosive effect whatsoever.
"This might prove more difficult than expected." Agnar sighed as he readied himself from the incoming panther. The Burst Panther, unfortunately, suddenly activated its innate ability: Burst Step.
Monsters, like Champions, have their own sort of "Blessings", they have what we call Innate Abilities. In this instance, the Burst Panther's ability has four parts to it. The monster unleashed his first step in Burst Step as he slowly marched out his front leg.
BOOOOOOOM!! A loud shockwave detonated like a modern incendiary grenade. The huge shockwave had a diameter of 300 meters, and all of the surrounding area crumbled into pieces as it shook the ground. Agnar braced himself for impact: "Jeta Style: Jade Armor + Mana Embodiment."
A layer of dim lighted jade appeared across Agnar's body, as well as a thin layer of bright mana that hovered over his skin. This was truly a sight to behold, in this state, he absolutely looked like a war god from the ancient times. However, these skills took a huge toll on his body and his mana was nearing its limit.
BOOOOOOM!! The shockwave collided with Agnar. He was pushed about a few steps backwards but he ultimately resisted the attack. Agnar thought he had escaped death, but another shockwave about two times as big and strong exploded as the Burst Panther took another step forwards.
BOOOOOOM!! The second shockwave once again collided with Agnar, but this time Agnar could feel his armor slowly being cracked. Agnar spit out a mouthful of blood as he gazed towards the Burst Panther. It looked like it had chuckled as he unleashed its third step. The loud and agonizing sound once again detonated in the air and Agnar braced himself for the third time. He attempted to imbue more mana into his armor but to his astonishment, it had already run dry.
BOOOOOM!! The third shockwave was now 4 times the original size and strength. It collided with Agnar, this time, sending him 50 meters backwards. Agnar started to cough up a ton of blood as his armor looked like it was on the verge of shattering.
The Burst Panther did not give Agnar a chance to rest and it stepped its fourth and final step with a triumphant look on its face. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!! This time, the fourth shockwave was 8 times its original strength and size. As soon as it collided with Agnar, his armor had completely shattered. He was launched several hundred meters backwards as his bones were shattering one by one. Agnar landed on the ground; his limp body had no signs of life in it except for the up and down movement of his chest.
"Multiple injuries in the host have been detected, now commencing regeneration…" The robotic voice of the system sounded in Agnar's head. There was a bright glow in Agnar's body, soon his shattered bones and capsized internal organs were fixed to their original forms.
"Host's injuries have been completely healed. Removing 1,500 EXP."