Chapter 20. Mission

The fun thing about the Cryptic Plane was missions. Missions were a major way of gaining points but that was not the motivating factor for Alaric. With the competitions coming up in one year and a half, he needed to participate and there was no better way to improve in your battles than practice. And which practice would be any better than kicking some beast's ass?

At the moment, Alaric was headed to the library, to the first floor where he would get his first official mission. Alaric appeared on the second for the first time in his stay in Origin Academy. There were various missions but there was none Alaric could could manage at the moment. All he could do was to do the first mission usually given to those who broke into the Cryptic Plane. The mission was simple. Just bring a beast core and you would receive 100points. The time limit was one week.

The female attendant offered the mission to Alaric and went behind the desk to continue reading the book she had about alchemy. Alaric went to the weapon room to choose his weapon. The academy could not allow anyone to go out on mission without any weapon. Alaric stood at the door and stared at the weapons room. There were all weapons one would need but majority were of practitioner level. Swords, shields, bows, daggers, axes, spears and even hammers.

Alaric who had not used any weapon before stood for a while before he went to pick a pair of axes. These axes were double edged and were about one foot long each. Alaric held them and tried to make a pose but he concluded that it was not cool for he had never used an axe before. He walked out and the lady shook her head when she saw the weapon he had chosen. Close hand battles were usually not advisable, especially when your opponent was a beast. But she could not refute him not knowing if he had experience with the weapons or not.

Alaric would have appreciated her advise and chosen a spear but as the newbie he was,he was just going to use the crude method of trial and error until he found the weapon that fit on his hands. But he could already tell that his body reaponded happily to the axes which meant that that was his innate weapon. He could sense some familiarity. Alaric walked down the stairs and waved at Madame Pig. He did not bother look to see if she replied but if he did he would have seen her wave back.

Alaric then went to his dorm to prepare well. He was going to leve later in the afternoon. His mind ecstatic roaring with battle intent. This was the first time he would go into a forest and specifically look for a beast. Something he had always dreamt of. He went to his room and all he did was to pick a black backpack and left. The handles of the axes could be seem from the bag as he walked outside the academy gates. The gate man shook his head when he saw Alaric heading out on a mission. This boy had just entered the Cryptic Plane. He watched from the distance as Alarics features disappeared.

Alaric stood at the vast expanse of the Origin Forest standing before him. The sun would be setting soon. He took a deep breath as the different scents of plants entered his nostrils. He took the first step inside and he could feel his battle intent rising. The early stages of the forest only had beasts that had no cultivation at all. These beasts were in the first five kilometers of the forest. He had thought that they would not attack him but one actually did.

This beast appeared to be like a lizards standing one meter tall and three meters length. He could only shake his head. A beast without any cultivation dared to attack him but he was about to learn the first lesson of the battlefield. "Never underestimate your opponent. The lizard appeared to be reddish brown in colour and it's eyes fiery. It let out a roar that came out as a screech that rang in Alaric's ears. He was forced to block his ears as the lizard gave that look that asked why he was not running away yet.

The lizard which was about twenty meters away charged sticking its red tongue out. Alaric hurriedly reached his bag to remove it from his back and started to unzip it so as to remove the axes as he learnt lesson number two in battle; "Always be ready." By the time he had the axes fit in his hands, the lizard was already five meters away. He charged foolishly and swung his axe but he was met by the greatest shock, the axe did not even cause a wound let alone a scratch.

He was open to any attack and the lizard swung its huge tail at him knocking him cleanly on his stomach. There was no way he could defend that. This was where he learnt lesson number one and lesson number three; "Never leave an opening for your opponent." But it was a lesson learned the hard way. Alaric was sent flying around ten meters away. As the lizard screeched again. He could guess that it was jesting him.

Alaric felt like his bones had been crushed. His whole body felt to be in a furnace as he realized that he had actually broken a rib. He felt a salty liquid in his mouth and he spat a mouthful of blood. He forced his limbs to move as he rolled to stand up. This was his first battle and he could not accept the possibility of him running away. Not when he was fighting against a beast without any cultivation.

One thing Alaric knew was that there were only two possibilities in a battle. Win or lose. It was either you won or lost. Even if you ran away and survived, that was a loss. Alaric could not take a loss in his first battle. He now regretted not learning any lightning technique. That was the first thing he was going to do after he completed this mission.

Now that he had realized that the axe was not going to work alone, he let lightning coat the axes. He got his bearing as he charged again at the lizard. The lizard just waited for him again.

The lizard stared at him like he was a fool such that it did not act. It wanted to prove to him that those mediocre weapons of his could not pierce it's scale. When Alaric saw this opening, he knew that the lizard had discarded all the three lessons in battles. It had underestimated him, left an opening and it was not ready for his attack. Alaric saw the look of disdain in it's eyes and that only fueled his battle intent. He stopped infront of the lizard and sliced at its leg.

The pain of something hitting it that the lizard expected when the axe failed to cut through never came. Instead, a pain that came from the right caused it to rethink the situation but it stumbled forward and fell on its head. It raised its head to look at the boy who had retreated five meters away from it. It looked around fo see its right front leg chopped off. A painful screech filled the area as birds flew away from their abode. Alaric was not willing to give it a chance to stand up so he attacked.

When the beast saw the charging boy, it immediately stood on the three remaining legs and decided to escape. But how could it when it had a missing leg? Its speed had almost been slowed by three times. It fell again when it felt a stinging pain on its rear. It's tail had been chopped off too. Its pain multiplied and its enraged figure turned to look at the boy who had started charging again.

Alaric charged in confidence. He now knew that the beast had been neutralized. With its main method of attack gone, it was almost fully vulnerable. But there was one thing Alaric forgot about. That was something that was going to test his lesson number two. The beast stuck its tongue out at the charging Alaric. If this tongue caught him, he would directly be turned to paste and would be food for the lizard. Alaric saw the incoming tongue and he summoned lightning to his feet and using all his might, he shove to the right as the tongue narrowly missed him by hairs breadth.

The lizard tried to roll its tongue and encircle him but by the time it could move its tongue, Alaric was already infront of it. He held the axes closer to their bases leaving the two rods that made their handles as he raised them and stuck them into its eyes gorging them out. A screech louder than the previous one filled the area. The lizard went round hopping as it screeched. It had retracted its tounge and it suddenly lost balance as it fell on the ground. Alaric pulled the axes and held them tight as he walked to the lizard.

He thought of ridiculing it but he decided against it. He would do so after he had killed it. He laced the axes with the silver lightning and in an instance he separated the head from the body. The head rolled few meters away and the body lay there motionless as it bled out. One thing you could not miss was the smile on his face. Not that of victory but of something else. How long had it been since he had a decent meal? He had been forced to lower his diet the past four years. And now, infront of him lay a load of meat.

The smile never leaving him as he removed the skin. He lay the meat on the grass as he climbed to one of the trees to get some wood. He chopped some and they lay on the ground. Since the wood was wet and had to be dried, he released a lightning to strike at them drying them in an instant. Alaric decided to camp for the night as the sun had started to set. Smoke rose through the forest and a sweet aroma of roast meat filled the forest. Later, Alaric was seated close to the fire using the axe to cut a piece which he would chew with a satisfied smile.

"To think that I would have been this hungry," Alaric spoke as he looked at the piles of bones on the ground. Why was it that he was still hungry. The lizard's meat was no more and only the head was untouched. Also alongside the bones was a core but it had no energy for the lizard was yet to start cultivating.

Early the next morning ...