Chapter 56

'That dream was too annoying.' Alex thought as he stepped out of the cabin like building.

He swirled a mouthful of water in his mouth before spitting it out as if trying to remove sour taste the dream had left behind.

'Even still, the pressure is gone.'

Alex looked around at the empty paths around him as he walked.

'Completely gone.'

'But even still, I feel like I'm teetering on the edge.'

Alex looked down as he pictured his predicament. An empty void ahead of him and he sat atop a fully explored island.

'All it takes is a hop, a skip, even just a trip.' Alex shook his head and set the matter of breaking through aside.

He pushed open a the main doors to the potions building.

'Already putting away all the fancy decorations. I guess that today was mainly potions day. Not many will come through here in the coming days.'

Alex was cut off from his thoughts as the potions master stepped out from one of the rooms and approached him.

"You are finally here. Come." She said while grabbing his arm and pulling him along.

Alex was going to speak up, but he just walked along and waited for them to reach whatever destination.

"Your very calm for a boy who has just been dragged along by a strange woman." She said while increasing her stride as they went through the winding corridors.

"Because you won't do anything strange." Alex said as he noticed the pressure from the dome diminishing the further they traveled.

"I won't?" The woman said with one eyebrow raised, a smirk on the edge of her lips.

"No." Alex answered immediately wiping the smirk from the potion masters face with his bluntness.

"Well, you certainly are correct. That however doesn't apply to everyone, in this world there is always someone stronger and if given the chance they will take advantage of you." The woman told Alex as she stepped through an invisible wall and dragging him along.

"I know." Alex replied.

'I've seen it all.' Alex thought as he remembered back to his time meditating.

'Everywhere people of power take the advantage of the weak for pleasure. From the evilest of people to the most 'holy and devout' priests.'

"What is this place?" Alex asked.

"My workshop." The woman said while sorting through a bunch of ingredients.

"Have a seat while I go ahead and tell you what this is about." She said as she slid a chair across the floor.

"Tell me Alex do you know what the biggest fear everyone has."

"It's different for everyone, but it also takes forms of what they fear most. A kid might think that entering the woods at night is the most frightening thing, and an adult could fear losing their job or spouse." Alex answered.

"That is very true, but there is one fear that grows as every day passes. That kid, as years pass will find things and people to hold onto and cherish. One day however, that kid will be and adult, the adult will notice those around him disappearing leaving due to an unexplainable reason, and by the time the adult reaches the end of its life, it will begin to wonder. What is next?" She answered as she placed a cup in Alex's hand.

"The fear of death." Alex murmured as he remembered the close call he had that had cause his dark affinity to awaken.

"There are many religions that teach people to not fear death, but to embrace it. That there is a better place on the other side. That only desensitizes people, it's one of the reasons soldiers have courage to fight in a war, and on paper it's a good thing for every kingdom to do. Unfortunately it's completely fabricated, not one bit of history backs up these claims."

"Long ago, a faction began its attempts to research death, not to just understand it, but to fight it. Not long after the potions guild learned about their research and began a new branch of this research. Using what the science has taught us, potions were created to make us healthy and prolong our life, to prevent a miserable and painful death, and prevent disease or poison from harming one. But in the end we still grow old and weary, dying from some unfathomable reason."

"The race for immortality has ended up getting us nowhere in the end, but today, thanks to you there was a change. I've had the chance to speak with the judges and discuss the potion you brewed. The judge who tested your potion is in his late nineties and goes by the name of George. Ever since taking the potion, migraines, sudden bursts of tiredness, and many more aches had disappeared. While it's not exactly what we were looking for, many old souls of the potions guild will find your potions to be quite useful."

Alex nodded thoughtfully before speaking. "While I can't exactly give you the recipe, I can brew it for those who want it."

"Right on the dot. You were brought here so that I might test a potion and write up a fitting contract."

"Oh and don't worry about losing another, you will be paid in return."

Alex nodded and reached into a leather pouch he had underneath his coat. After a while he pulled out two potions.

——————

"Your finally back." Taylor said as Alex approached their bunk.

"I am, did you find anything interesting in that book?"

"Not much most of the beasts around there are very different and focus on sneak attacks since the entire area is flat they're also much more powerful. Is that the sleeping potion?"

Alex nodded.

"Yup, it has an unpleasant smell but it should work good."

'The things smell is one of the the defense mechanisms of the potion. You can't really spike someone's drink is if smells like sewage.'

'The taste however is pleasant.' Alex thought while gulping down the potion.

He organized his belongings as a wave of tiredness overtook him.

As Alex grabbed a few blue bags and tossed one to Taylor.

"For later, I don't see an expiration date." Alex said while climbing onto the top bunk.

After laying down Alex fell asleep almost immediately, but contrary to what the potion master had told him, the potion wore off shorter than expected as he had failed to inform her that he was a light mage. His stronger body was resisting the effect of the potion.

Alex stared at the ceiling lost in his thoughts before checking the clock on the wall for the tenth time since he had woke up. He was about to close his eyes but finally heard a few other students waking up and moving around.

Rather than just getting up, he continued waiting until Duncan entered the room waking the rest of his peers.

"Alex, you look like you are feeling well. Are you going to be fine today?" Duncan asked as he walked up to Alex who had just finished packing what he was taking for the hunt.

"I'll be fine, you don't have to worry about me. I feel fine, and energized from the extra sleep I managed to get." Duncan nodded and turned to the rest of his mages.

"Alright in two minutes we are heading out. Make sure you have everything, there is no coming back once you step through the teleporter."

Alex patted himself down as he put on the temporary set of armor the school had given each student. It fit snuggly and felt like a slightly heavy pair of clothes.

After securing his packs, he jogged to catch up with his classmates who were leaving. They headed off to the main stadium to find a different setting.

"Is everything set up?"

"Yes sir."

"Good open the gates and begin sending them through. We've spent long enough explaining the rules."

Alex looked up as two oval like portals appeared in the center of the room. A quiet in-tune March was heard as mages began entering the portals.

"Once we enter these portals we will be several hundreds of miles away. Too bad we can't go with the captains." Taylor said as they drew closer and closer to the portal.

"Would've made it too easy." Alex said before stepping through.

When he passed through, he felt a rush of mana rich air. Alex immediately strengthened his spacial sense as he took note of the lack of any other mages.

'No one nearby.'

Alex pulled out a map and squeezed a device in his hand before throwing it in the air.

For a brief moment a red dot appeared on the map. Alex looked at the compass as he orientated himself.

'Good, I'm close to the danger zones.' He thought before disappearing from his spot and traveling north.

'We have just three hours to hunt as many beasts as possible. While I expected to arrive with my group, this still works out better.'

Alex immediately made a dark umbrella from spacial energy as the hot sun burned his dark hair. He also supported his feet as they tried sinking into the loose sand that made up the great desserts.

He looked around trying to see if anyone was in sight. Somehow in this seemingly endless and flat dessert Alex couldn't see a single soul.

'It's crazy to think that I'm so far away, this dessert is west of home and across a mountain ridge that separates this kingdom. I've seen rumors about further west and a place where extraterrestrials are captured and kept captive.'

'Although the kingdom says it's just a regular base just like all others.'

Alex stopped as he felt a tremor from deep below.

He suddenly leapt high in the air and drew his chain blades. As a sand covered lid lifted up and a massive spider jumped to his previous position. A scythe flew down and pinned it to the floor before returning to its owner.

Alex fished out a beast core before burying the beasts corpse and a handful of seeds before pouring a vial over it.

Nothing was happening above ground but beneath the loose soil a series of intertwining roots were forming and growing rapidly as they consumed the corpse as fuel, in order to hold the soil together. Alex watched the event with fascination.

'It's hard to believe that this used to be all dirt and grass. The ancient Great Plains. I wonder why we are just now fixing what people ruined in the past. This place should have never became a vaste wasteland.'

He continued on, leaving the scene and only stopped as he felt the concentration of beasts growing rapidly.

Small sprouts of grass could be seen poking through the hot ground. Alex did a three sixty to check the surroundings again.

Seeing no one around he immediately took the leap. The area around him grew dark and every felt colder. Alex's eyes opened wide as he felt his strength grow immensely, the feeling, feeling stronger than ever before.

He looked around confused as he was saw a familiar dark plane.

"Finally he is here."

"You there, you are the cheater are you not?" A female voice spoke out from the darkness as three figures scuttled towards Alex.

"Cheater?"