10

I pushed my way through the group gently. The wolves gave way as soon as they realized who I was. That idiot was trying to push around a few of the wolves. He had some sort of flame ability. All it took was a snap of my fingers, and his flames went out.

I locked the fire element in my area. An ability was so far inferior to an affinity that locking elements so that they couldn't be created or manipulated without my permission was entirely possible. I'd done it before with my Eye of the Storm spell. There was no reason I couldn't do it without the spell. Sure the spell basically did it for me.

That didn't mean I couldn't do it myself. I just had to blanket the area in my own mana, and restrict elemental control. It took a great deal of focus for me to do it right now, but with enough practice I could do it with a snap of my fingers. Everything I did started out as difficult, and became easier with time. The system didn't teach me how to do this kind of stuff either so it was entirely trail, and error.

The system just cemented it into my mind as I learned it. I didn't forget skills I could use.

"What are you doing?" I looked at the guy with a polite half smirk.

He tried to summon his flames, but all he got was a little bit of smoke. I made a wince face.

"Some performance issues," I shrugged, "Having trouble getting your ability to work."

"What did you do?" he looked at me with rage pouring off of him.

"Nothing really," I smiled warmly, "Must be something you did."

"You bastard," he tried to punch me.

I caught his punch, and my warm smile went away, "Weak."

The look on his face when he tried to strike me again only to hit nothing but air. I kept ducking, and dodging all of his attacks until he started to slow. He was sweating profusely, and he was having trouble breathing. I had my hands crossed behind my back slowly since I didn't need them to fight someone that was this weak, and slow. I didn't think I'd need to attack him either way.

I might do some serious damage if I did. He was only human. He didn't have impenetrable armor or strength that could come anywhere near matching my own. I just needed to outpace all of his hits.

"You call us useless yet you couldn't so much as harm me," I smirked, "You think you're strong yet you can't summon your flames."

"Fuck you," he snarled at me.

"No thanks," I rubbed the back of my neck, "Your not my type. Thanks for the offer though."

His face turned red with rage. He rushed forward to attack me again, but it was just an awkward stumble with how exhausted he'd grown.

"You should stop before you hurt yourself," I grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from falling when he missed, "Are you upset that I didn't fight back? You can't exactly prove I was provoking you if I don't hurt you."

He breathing pretty hard, and having an incredibly hard time standing up straight now. I'd worn him out completely. He wouldn't be able to fight again until he got a decent amount of rest. I pulled him back up to his feet, and dodged the surprise punch he threw my way. I moved so fast that to him it must have seemed like I disappeared.

My arms just appeared around his neck. Already in a perfect head lock. I left them loose around his throat ready to cinch up the tightness so I could knock his ass out.

"How dumb are you?" I whispered in his ear, "Do you have any idea how easy it would be for any one of us to kill you? Do you know how little is stopping me from doing so?"

I creepy smile spread across my face slowly. I tightened my grip around his throat slowly. Enough to pressure him, but not enough to knock him out. I let him sweat for a little while before letting him drop out of my grip. I walked away as if nothing at all had happened.

Staying well within range of him. He looked pissed, but he didn't pull anything else. Goliath came back into town a few hours later with a thoughtful look on his face. I left once Goliath was able to keep his eye on idiot. I didn't need to keep an eye on him if Goliath could handle that.

I came back to find Aurora sleeping in the cavern entrance. I switched forms, and picked her up so she could rest next to me. She was tired, and barely stirred when I picked her up. Goliath would get rid of him eventually. Then it would be time for him to figure out a way to get me off planet for a while.

I waited there for a while before heading into that room with the crystals, and the magic circle. I dumped my remaining mana into the crystal I'd partially filled.

Mana Storage Crystal 76% full.

Damn. This thing could really take in a lot of mana. This was the third time I'd dumped mana into it so far. I expected it to be full after the last time I'd dumped mana into it. I plugged the crystal into the center of the circle, and felt the difference right away.

All the mana in the circle was being beamed straight down in a constant flow. It only took a few seconds for all the mana in the crystal to be exhausted. I smiled to myself. Now all I needed was a way to keep them on me as well as return them to earth, and get them back. I picked up the device that used my mana to create thread.

I wondered if I could do something with this to create a saddle for the others. I needed to get ahold of a forger. Mana thread wasn't going to be enough. I needed another material for this to work. I plucked out one of my scales, and looked at it in the shadows of the cavern.