Dream Druid

Noah's eyes snapped open as he felt a nudge to his side. His body immediately tensed before he jumped into action with his legs kicking towards his side.

"Whoa! Cool down dude." A familiar voice snapped him put of his reverie making him glance forward. It was then he noticed someone calmly blocking his attack with crossed arms, still the power behind it had caused them to be sent back a few meters.

Noticing the blond hair and sky blue eyes Noah was able to recognize the person before him. "Ian?"

Ian walked forward and tapped on his head a few times. "Is everything alright in there? You're crazier than usual, what's with the reaction?"

Noah rose his brows. Was he? He didn't know, he just felt inwardly that something wasn't right that Ian stood before him. But it seemed that he was just overthinking it. "Nothing is wrong."

"You sure? I mean we do have our first mission ahead of us, it wouldn't be surprising if you got a bit nervous." Ian smirked as he spoke while shrugging his shoulders. "Even the great Noah can get cold feet y'know."

Noah's lips twitched as he heard this but inwardly, for reasons he didn't know, a sense of relief engulfed him. But since he didn't know the reason why, he merely brushed it off and replied. "I swear one of these days I'll shove my fist up your ass."

"Ha! I'd love to see you try."

The two moved outside the building they were situated in and began moving east. Noah couldn't get over the sense that he was missing something as he walked past the multiple buildings but just like before brushed it off. Past the insecure thoughts that seeped to cloud his mind, a much deeper sense of nostalgia and peace filled him as if telling him to spend more time walking around the Training camp.

On their way Ian lived up to his title as Noah's mental enemy as he antagonized the latter to no ends. The youth almost sighed in relief as they reached the docks making the former finally shut up. "Hopefully, you get lost during this mission, at the very least I have to see your face for a while."

Ian merely smiled and shrugged. "But we both know that's not happening since I'm simply the best in this whole camp."

Noah merely grunted. "Second."

"I'm pretty sure you guys are tied." A voice suddenly spoke out.

The two turned backwards to see a beautiful girl about their age walking towards them. Before her face was even shown in Noah's sight, the entire world cracked as if it were a glass, rays of crimson light flashing into it to surround him.

Yet there seemed to be a barrier between the light and his skin as he revealed an expression of absolute rage. "You could have probably controlled me fully if you had not shown her to me!" Right now he had obviously remembered everything about his current situation and knew that whatever that crimson light was, it aimed at controlling him. "Don't ever try to make me remember that bitch!!!"

With a roar and flare of his Essence, the world around him completely shattered to reveal his actual position.

Before him was a large tree, its flowers were all crimson in color and at its center was a female attached to the bark of the tree. She possessed an extremely beautiful face with crimson colored hair and eyes, but she seemed to be made from the bark of the tree as well.

"Shit! A goddamned Dream Druid!" Noah cursed as he heard the beast shriek loudly. He had procured a beast encyclopedia from the siblings' father so he knew the type of beast before him.

A Dream Druid. A beast with the ability to cage its prey within a dream before leading them to be eaten by it. At the Adept Stage the beast possessed the ability to even temporarily control its prey. And it semed the one before him had that exact ability.

Sensing something, Noah suddenly side stepped and executed Flicker to escape an attack to his head. Glancing back, he noticed Leonel, with a crimson glow in his eyes, growling at him as he wielded his spear. Taking his attention off him, he noticed that the twins also featured a crimson glow in their eyes.

With a shriek from the druid, the three rushed forward charging up their Essence as they sprinted towards him. The hypnotized Mona rose her arms up to aim her Electrify battle skill at Noah but he sidestepped with ease and met Damien's blade in a fluid motion. The strength within his arms was able to catch the teenager off guard, sending his arms into the air against his will.

Noah took this chance to hit his sides with the pummel of his sword, sending him flying a considerable distance. 'It seems that the druid has analyzed our battle style but luckily, it isn't adept at controlling humans. Even more luckily, it seems that powering up the ape took a large amount of Essence from it since both Mona and Damien were only strengthened to the 5th level of the Intermediate Stage while Leonel is only at the 9th.' Clenching his fist, he nodded as a plan fully formulated within his mind. 'I can work with that.'

With a twist, Noah dodged a lunge attack from Leonel and held his hair before turning him around and landing him a solid knee to his abdomen. The latter, still under hypnosis, coughed out a few mouthful of blood before feeling his legs weaken and falling to the ground. The former knew that he wasn't going to stay in that state for long and immediately sprinted towards Mona.

The druid shrieked once more, as if knowing what Noah planned to do, and controlled Damien to rush between the two with his sword coated with lightning. Unfortunately, the transmigrator disappeared from the teenager's sight only to reappear behind him. Executing the Pull battle skill, Damien could not attempt any sort of resistance as the gravitational force of Noah's Essence forced him to meet the pummel of Noah's sword then he remained motionless.

Mona could not do anything as well as Noah appeared before her and knocked her out with a flick of his wrist.

He was actually not in good shape. His wounds had been partially healed by the druid but there still remained a few fractured bones and he only had about 60% of his Essence and Blood Essence reserves. Right now his muscles practically screamed bloody murder, wanting nothing more than to drop down on the floor. But Noah merely ignored it all as he gazed steely at the Dream Druid before him. "I'm going to send you to hell for even trying to make me remember that bitch."