I am sorry for the late update. I have been sick these last few days. The weather has been really awful in Japan recently, it was 17 degrees at lunch time and almost freezing at night.

 

I have mostly gotten a lot of world building out of the way, so hopefully I can focus on character developments and story arcs from now on. But I love world building so excuse me if more exposition comes up in the future.

 

 

Chapter 8

The Zombie Jace was famous in the academy for being dedicated to his research and training, only taking breaks for the most human necessities. However, in the past few months, that intensity has gone beyond dedicated and stepping into the realm of obsession.

 

Rumors coming out of nature magic class are difficult for other students to believe. He was famous for always enduring severe injuries as a result of some mad experiments, but now, his injuries are not simply severe. It is rumored that he would show up in front of Greeneyes with his arms completely blown up. Tendons in his entire body inflamed, resulting in him not being able to walk or move without suffering severe pain. There were several times that he showed up blind or deaf. It has become clear to most everyone that he is experimenting with his own body. That is the act of an insane person.

 

Jace sat in a meditative state in the middle of the empty gym. The black dragon yawned atop his head as usual. He has been attempting to forge his body in the ways of Aura Masters for the past few months. The experience of using mana to stimulate his body during the awakening of the magnetic fields has been a valuable tool for this process. The two experiments are surprisingly similar.

 

He has learned basic Aura training from the deep net and the library but he still decided to do it in his own way, by using mana to mutate his body piece by piece instead of mutating his mana veins first like Aura Warriors. Doing it this way is unprecedented, simply because of the pain involved in forcibly mutating the body with mana. A normal human would simply go insane, but pain was no obstacle for Jace. His human mind has already been broken. He was already insane.

 

So far, he has successfully forged his arms, eyes, and ears. He is still far from even the first step of becoming an Aura Warrior. He is leaving the first step for last, forging the aura heart.

 

Jace Farsea

 

Race: Human (100%)

 

Title: Exile, Cosmic Enemy, Doomed Fate, Apex predator’s favorite pet, Cool guy (lol), Zombie?

 

Vitality 8+10 (18)

 

Magic: intensity 6 (-??)

Control 10 (+90)

Mana 6 (+94) (-94)

 

Spell: Scan

Shock

Telekinesis

Magnetic force

Railgun

 

Trait: Mana Authority

Mana and Aura allergies

Curse of disfigurement

Curse of ?????

Cursed bloodline

Curse of weakness

Doomed

Curse of the uninvited

Curse of insanity

Curse of the void

Incomplete Aura Physique (14%) new

 

Blessing: Blessing of the Earth

Planet’s chosen

And there is one more benefit to mutating his body in this way

 

Ascension of Chosen 2 +1 (3)

 

Jace suspected something like this to happen. Afterall, becoming something more than humans would obviously trigger this type of evaluation from the planet. But Jace thought that this method would obviously have very limited effects, if changing your body alone is enough to ascend beyond humanity’s limit, then there would have already been many people that have reached Ascension.

 

Main Mission

 

Marked by ??? and protected by the Planet, your fate was forcefully bound to the planet’s soul. Become the first human to ascend to a higher life form in order to prevent destruction of the planet

 

Ascension of Chosen 3(3)

 

Ascension of monsters 4+2(6)

 

Reward: Wish (1)

 

Failure: planet’s destruction

 

Next Quest: 1 hour 3 minutes

 

The Ascension of monsters has sped up during these few months. Jace realized he doesn't have much time, a few years perhaps, and that's if the speed of monster Ascension remains constant. He needed to get stronger even faster.

 

The culprit responsible for planting the mana stones, creating the chimera and luring the monster wave is still a mystery. Jace knew deep down, this matter is connected to his true enemy. The fact that the famous academy was suddenly targeted by cultists only a few months after his enrollment seems too much of a coincidence. His enemies know where he is, and they know he is getting stronger. This won't be the end of his trouble in this academy.

 

Beth was inside a pile of books nearby. For some reason, she has been coming to the gym to read books for the last few months. They have not spoken since that night.

 

“Beth, would you like to go have lunch together?” Jace asked her.

 

“.......” Beth said nothing. To be more accurate, Beth has not said anything to him since that night. Her face remained behind the thick book.

 

“Theories of Magic and Science and Everything else!” The author seems to be quite a lively person. Jace saw the name of the author and couldn't help but laugh. Miss Wanders is also a famous author.

 

Beth looked up from the book only briefly, and gave him an angry look. Jace shrank back.

 

Things have become a little awkward since that night.

 

“I should go to get some meat before lunch” Jace left the gym, to the annoyance of Ruin who suddenly lost his bed.

 

—--------------------------

 

Despite the unfriendly attitude, Beth followed Jace when he left the gym.

 

“Why put on an unfriendly face when you are going to act cute like that?” Jace grinning and said in a low voice, just loud enough for grumpy behind him to hear.

 

Small fireball coming from behind hit him in the head with no effects. Jace laughs and continues to tease her. “So cute. Haha”

 

Then a very low power magic missile hit his shoulder, almost pushing him to the ground. Jace realized he had pushed her a bit too far and stopped teasing her. He was happy that Beth knew one of his secrets.

 

The result of the test with Ruin shows that elemental magic relying on some type of temperature control can not damage him at all. Jace openly did this experiment while Beth was in the gym. He wanted to slowly show trust in her with these small gestures.

 

Perhaps it was because of this simple act of trust that made Beth decide to stay near him for the last few months, silently helping him with his research. Yet still quite grumpy because he refuses to tell her everything.

 

“Why does he have that power? Where does it come from? I have been researching his powers for months. Deep net, the library, even Miss Wanders have never heard of any type of powers that can completely nullify all elemental magics. Who are you?” Beth has been at a loss for months, obsessively researching everything about this power. The distraction of the mystery has allowed her to ignore certain recent developments between the two of them.

 

The way both of them look at each other is something that can no longer be disregarded. They are no innocent children, the budding of romance is so obvious that even Cade decided to leave them alone. But perhaps, romance is a luxury that they could not afford.

 

“Senior sisters and brothers, good morning” Jace and Beth came to the cloudy mountain. Beth bowed her head wordlessly.

 

“Beth! Did you take pictures of Master Ruin sleeping?”

 

“Jace! Good morning! Did you see the hunter news on the net? Rumors about some Fishman appearing near the border” Many friendly Battle mage seniors greeted the two.

 

“Jace! Beth! We are about to leave for morning patrol.” The beautiful senior, Yulin, greeted them and immediately went to hug Beth. She has come to really adore Beth. Jace didn't know the reason for that.

 

Dozens of battle mages came over to talk to Jace. He has become extremely famous. A freshman that created an original spell after 3 months in the academy. An original spell that blew away 3 Red Rabbits under the strengthening effects of the moon. Many factions are salivating at the prospect of recruiting him.

 

Before they had the chance to set off on the patrol, the fog around the forest of the academy gathered in the air above the main building in a massive screen. The screen was so huge it could be seen from any part of the academy.

 

“Ahem, hey kids! This is your headmistress, the beautiful Witch speaking” Miss Harlet’s face appeared on the screen.

 

“Beautiful witch? Who?..........” A senior battle mage near Jace said. Fog near them turned into small hammers and hit her in the head, only hard enough to hurt a little.

 

Many students actually smiled at that sight. The Smiling Witch is indeed very kind. A more temperamental mage would kill someone just for breathing loudly.

 

“There are two announcements today. One! A disgustingly kind student by the name of Jace Farsea has donated his original spell to the library, anyone can learn it for free. Please applaud a dumb selfless actions that will certainly not bring him any benefit!” Miss Harlet took on a scolding tone near the end.

 

Beth was shocked. She has been next to Jace for months and she had no idea he had done that. The battle mages around him brought their hands together and bowed their heads in the custom of the east. Jace returns their respect. More than any other groups, the battle mages appreciate any contribution that can raise their survival rate.

 

Jace needed humanity to become stronger. Spreading new knowledge amongst humanity will help with this. His true goal is not simply to ascend beyond humanity. He needed a strong human army behind him in order to stand a chance against his true enemies.

 

Exposing the secret of this spell will not hurt him in the long run. This was a spell made to counter his low magic intensity, most mages wouldn't even bother to endure the pain to awaken the magnetic field just to be able to use it. In the future, when his magic intensity is at a higher level, he won't need this spell anymore. But this spell is invaluable for other people similar to his past self, people with a strong will but no talent. If such people have access to this spell, a new type of mage might appear in the future.

 

Another benefit he hoped to gain by spreading this spell into the world is to draw the attention of people that are obsessed with the chaotic era. This spell uses the foundation of science from the chaotic era to work, that would surely peak the interests of those people. The magic researchers and inventors of the world. He needed to forge that connection for his future plans.

 

“That made me annoyed just thinking about it. Stupid kid thinks he's so smart! Next!” Miss Harlet snapped her finger and the screen changed.

 

The students can see a giant whale flying in the sky. A famous animal of the republic to the south, the black whale. On top of the whale’s massive back, various tall buildings can be seen.

 

“The Republic! Rune Masters!” many young men scream in excitement.

 

A few figures can be seen walking out of the giant whale city. The man leading them has dark skin, and a shaved head. He was wearing a long black trench coat, black gloves and boots. Under the coat is a black and white skin-tight suit. Various small and big runes can be seen all over his clothes and even skin.

 

“Whoa, Sir Runic came in person…….” A boy of around 17 have his mouth open while watching the screen

 

Sir Runic snaps his finger and runes around his coat start to glow. He suddenly flew away at high speed.

 

Jace’s Mana Authority told him that the only mana fluctuations that happened during Sir Runic’s flight came from the coat.

 

The screen changed, and the beautiful blue sky could be seen. No wondrous flying animals this time. Suddenly the screen started to zoom in on a small flying thing far away. A muscular, giant eastern man standing on a flying sword.

 

“Duke Feng………holy crap!” even Jace knows who this is. The hero of the Celestial Empire.

 

The screen zoomed out again and moved to show the sky behind the good Duke. Hundreds of Aura Masters on flying swords, sabers, spears, and even fans are flying towards the academy. The screen turns back to Miss Harlet’s smug face.

 

“As you can see, we will be receiving guests in a few months. An inter-academy tournament will be held in honor of our guests. If anyone embarrasses me, you will be locked up in a solitary training room for 3 years!” Miss Harlet slapped her hands on the desk over and over again.

 

“What? Why would we do that?”

 

“That's annoying. I need to finish my research so I can make money”

 

“I don't want to fight other humans. I trained to fight monsters”

 

Voices of discontent came from the students all over the academy.

 

“I knew you lazy kids wouldn't want to fight. The winner will receive as many mana stones as they can carry, and 1 treasure from the academy’s vault” Miss Harlet has a mischievous smile. This was a reward too tempting for anyone to pass up. Loud excited noises immediately broke out in the crowd.

 

“The academy vault. It must have some sort of curse breaker. I need to get it!” Jace's eyes are filled with hunger, and desperation. “Three months. It's enough time to forge my body a little more” Jace turned to look at the forest

 

Beth has never seen that look in his eyes before. She watched as Jace looked down at his hand, his eyes filled with some dark emotions.

 

Ding!

 

Side Quest

 

Why fit in when you can stand out?

 

Masters all over the world will come to the academy for a meeting. A student tournament will be held to celebrate this occasion. Show the world your power. Show everyone the strength of my chosen

 

Win the inter-academy tournament

 

Reward: title, +2 magic intensity, possibility of a new blessing or traits depending on performance

 

Failure: solitary confinement for 3 years

 

Jace considered this new information. It seems that the planet is able to grant him more powers or blessings depending on his efforts, performance and even fame. But something else bothered him about this situation. A sudden visit from the other academies and even a Duke is coming. This was no coincidence.

 

Jace thought about the likeliness that cultists might be amongst the students or staff to enter the academy. The culprit of the last incident is still at large as well. It is likely that they will make contact. The worst case scenario would be if one of the masters are cultists.

 

Jace finally looks up from his hand and sees Beth looking at him with concern in her eyes. Someone that truly, sincerely cares about him. What an extremely rare thing to find in this world.

 

His heart felt warm for the first time in a long time. The budding romance between them aside, Jace truly loves and appreciates Beth as a friend. Ever since he lost his family, no one has ever made him smile as much as her. This warmth, he won't lose it again.

—-------------------------

 

The female student dorm, late at night

 

A few young women are sitting in a circle gossiping about their annoyances, boys, and new developments in their lives.

 

“What era is it that this academy doesn't have hot showers? Am I supposed to heat it up myself everytime I take a bath? Even putting a fire mana stone into the water tank would work. Why make life difficult for students on purpose?” a blonde girl said while her friends nod.

 

“Are you guys trying to win that tournament? The prize is insane”

 

“Why bother? Peerless, Cade, Zombie. Just in the first year alone, there are so many strong people. Senior Windblade, Senior Flame, Senior Nightshade. You want to compete with them? Unless you are one of those prodigies, don't even bother” the blonde girl has an annoyed look.

 

“Isn't Peerless’s taste awful? There's that hot redhead right next to her and she's stuck with that fat kid?” a redheaded girl painting her nails said

 

“But Jace is like a super prodigy right? Creating original spells and killing monsters like it's nothing. Maybe she is just looking to the future?” An eastern girl was browsing the mana net.

 

The group of girls laughed, ate snacks and gossip. One of the few activities to relieve stress in this academy.

 

“What is taking Sally so long? Isn't the restroom across the hall?” One girl said, worried about her friend.

 

“She is probably just taking a dump, don't worry Jen” the blonde girl said and the other girls in the room laughed.

 

The door suddenly opened and a black-haired girl walked in.

 

“We were just talking about you. What took you so long?” Jen breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Sally standing by the open door.

 

Wet, damp smell suddenly filled the room. Red liquid slowly creeped closer to the other girls sitting on the floor. Screams exploded inside the room. Mana shields were erected on instinct. Jen's face filled with horror.