The Beginning of First Stage

"So. . . what kind of trouble did you get into this time?"

Kan'na sat on her knees in front of an individual. A beautiful female with dazzling red-gold hair and amber eyes. Yet her face held an unamused look.

Kan'na spoke, "With an Immortal. . . I am faced with a Trial."

"And what is it you want from me?"

"I need to be stronger, so I wish to study alongside you."

"Hmm, you do realize you have already learned as much as I can teach?"

"I do not wish for teaching. Like I said I wish to study alongside you."

". . . I assume you have observed something you do not understand fully?"

Kan'na was once again amazed at the woman's ability to discern unspoken details, "Yes."

"Very well, what is it you have learned?"

Kan'na created a series of magic circles, then began to fuse them together. A complex magic circle was formed. It sat still, slowly rotating.

The woman raised an eyebrow, "This is quite the circle. To think you came across this so soon. I had originally planned to show you this once you reached Second Stage. . . However this is fine, you are quite the talented disciple. So I shall explain. These are called Magic Concatenations. By fusing ordinary magic circles together you created a more complex one. This will divide more complex spells into segments. Meaning parts of the spells will be constructed individually at the same time."

"What's the purpose of this?"

"The theoretical limit of these segments is near infinite. Meaning within a single circle you would be capable of creating a spell that would require hundreds, if not thousands of ordinary circles."

"Wouldn't I still need to create these manually?"

"The way you are doing it is inefficient. You are creating the circles then fusing them. You should fuse them as you create them. This will also reduce mana costs, since the segments aren't required to be completed during the fusion process."

Kan'na began brainstorming, "So how can I utilize this?"

"Well we shall be studying that next. Prepare yourself, you will be entering a stage of knowledge that very few enter."

The two then went into further detail upon Magic Concatenations. As Kan'na was filled with knowledge her mind began to buzz with ideas. . .

~ ~ ~

Tilia blocked a monster's attack with her arms. Her HP dropped but she didn't care. She was determined to find out what had happened during the battle against Rygeth. She hadn't moved from such powerful attacks. How?

Her strength should be significantly smaller than Rygeth's. So the Immortal would have the strength advantage. Yet she received the blow like such advantages didn't exist.

With her shield broken she decided to take on monsters by hand. She was determined to figure it out, for she had a feeling that it would be the entry to something great.

The monster roared, it was a six-legged beast with powerful jaws. It was covered in extremely hard scales. This monster was currently rated as a high-difficulty monster. Only top Guilds with sufficiently equipped and leveled players could take it on. Yet its scales that dropped was incredibly popular for armor.

Tilia had planned to obtain some scales for herself whilst training. She had decided a new set of equipment would help out her progress. Raising her fists she shouted, "Come on!"

The monster roared and charged forward. A fight of Beast versus Elf would take place. Only one shall remain!

~ ~ ~

Yielya eyed a quest in front of her. She had been given this quest shortly after raising her level cap. It was a quest given to all those who held the Legacy of one of the past heroes. It asked the user to follow in the footsteps of the hero of their class and complete more of their legacy. In return not only would they grow stronger, but the Hero Spirit that assisted them would as well.

Yielya decided to take on this quest, but she soon found out a problem. She was required to do this herself with no assistance. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but she needed to defeat a powerful boss that guarded the entrance to the Hero's Legacy.

Puzzled, she began formulating a plan. . .

~ ~ ~

Jarvis summoned Whitelash. There, in its majestic bright white and black striped fur, it stood. Jarvis ran up to the tiger and hugged it, "I thought I lost you forever!"

Whitelash grumbled, "Similarly."

Jarvis looked up, "You can speak now!"

Whitelash examined their body and answered, "You have grown stronger, loosening the restrictions on my strength. I see it allows me to speak now as well."

Jarvis buried himself in the fur, "I'm glad you're back."

Whitelash began to speak seriously, "I am aware you are in trouble. Tell me what has happened."

Jarvis looked up reluctantly and began telling about the encounter with Rygeth.

Whitelash flicked his tail in annoyance, "Immortals! They still cause trouble even today! To be faced with a Trial from them. . . I am afraid I alone am unable to help."

Jarvis was shocked, "What?!"

"My power is still limited, even if you were to grow stronger I cannot take on an Immortal confidently. Even in my prime. . ."

"So what do we do?"

Whitelash looked in the distance, "You will have to gather the other Sages. Perhaps with our power combined we can defeat this foe."

"Sages?"

"There are four Sages of the Elements. Extreok, the wolf of the mountains. Wielding lightning and wind. Neorvil, crane of the sea. Wielding nature and water. Guarton, a lizard of the magma. Wielding earth and fire. Then there is me, Whitelash conductor of all the elements. By myself I hold only raw strength. However with the assistance with the other Sages our power will be great."

"Then who do we go for first?"

Whitelash sighed, "The Sages are all very arrogant and powerful. Willingly submitting to be by your side is near impossible. However there is one I might be able to convince. With two on our side, the others will be more tempted."

"So who?"

"Extreok, she hides in the great mountains of Farthinarl. A long distance from here, but if we move steadily we can reach Farthinal in two weeks."

Jarvis did some quick calculations, "Will we be able to gather them all in five months?"

"We can only try."

Jarvis nodded solemnly, "Then we should head off immediately."

Whitelash asked, "Are you sure? You may need some preparations."

Jarvis shook his head, "No need. We best head off immediately."

Whitelash understood, "Hop on then. I can travel nonstop for a full day after that I will require six hours of rest."

"Alright!"

Jarvis climbed onto the back of Whitelash. The tiger's powerful muscles rippled as he jumped. Whitelash had begun descending the mountain.

With this, every party member's journey to grow more powerful starts!

~ ~ ~

Somewhere in a small bakery. . .

"Then I shall summon a monster to negate your activation!"

"What? But it's my turn! You cannot summon during my turn!"

"No, my special leader's ability allows me to summon a monster from my hand to negate a single card activation. In return during the next turn it's destroyed."

"Oh."

Someone poked their head through a doorway, "You guys should stop that for now, Aunt Venny made pastries."

"Sick!"

The two didn't hesitate to abandon their card game for the promise of tasty pastries.

The two joined another four teens of their age. All of them happily snacking on the pastries.

A cheerful woman came through the doorway with a tray of hot and steaming pastries, "This is the final batch, enjoy!"

Many grabbed for a pastry greedily, but immediately regretted it after their fingers were burnt.

"Aunt Venny's the best at these!"

The woman with the tray smiled, "I am simply experienced, but I am glad you enjoy them."

Eventually not a single pastry was left. Aunt Venny placed away the tray and sat at the table, "I. . . have some bad news for you all."

The group immediately was alarmed.

Aunt Venny gestured around her, "This place will soon be closed."

The group sighed in relief, "Of course it will, it's near closing time after all!", someone piped up.

Aunt Venny shook her head sadly, "I mean forever. You lot are old enough to understand, I cannot afford to keep it open. The interest on this place has gotten higher. The bills from various places have taken a serious toll on my profits. I cannot afford to keep this running."

The teens were silent. In fact they all knew why Aunt Venny was unable to pay for the place. It was because of them...

They all fell with a terminal condition. This placed them on death's bed and kept them worried for their limited future.

All of them grew close through these hardships. Suffering the same fate they became friends, all believing that their time was limited.

It was also here that they met Aunt Venny. She had always came every Sunday to donate leftover pastries to the sick. At least to those who could eat of course.

The group grew in love with the pastries, and begged for Aunt Venny to come over more.

Aunt Venny was a very kind hearted woman, so she began taking more time off of running her bakery to visit the teens with tasty pastries.

This affected Aunt Venny's profits, which were essential to keeping her business running.

Then one day, the doctors discovered something that was no short of a miracle. The teens' terminal condition had. . . vanished!