“Dammit!” Yorick cursed. Although his adrenaline was pumping too wildly to feel the pain, he could tell that his leg was heavily injured. For the next few weeks, he might not even be able to do farmwork. Mother would scold him!

Fuoosh!

At that moment, an aura of light appear around him!

“Sun beam!” He was overjoyed. “Finally!”

And then consecutively… an aura of brown, blue, and green!

“Earth beam! Speed beam! Healing beam!” The beams had finally finished charging, and were shooting consistent beams toward him! Now, they would sustain him with energy!

“HAHAHAHA!!!” Yorick cackled like the devil. “You’re in for it now! Today is the day that you dared mess with the ‘unbeatable brothers!’ Pay your price!”

As the beams engorged him in light, he felt a great power surge through him, coursing through his veins like a tide. With the power of the light, he was unbeatable! At that moment, he was god! He was asura! He was the devil, unbeatable and pure evil!

The first wolf lunged toward his fearlessly, its fangs bared.

“Too weak!” Yorick swung his shovel like a bat, bashing the wolf directly in the head. It yelped out and retreated. The speed and strength of the strike was much greater than before!

The second wolf lunged toward Yorick’s injured leg, eager to immobilize the enemy.

“Too slow!” Yorick recovered quickly, and with a speed seemingly surpassing his limits, turned the shovel around and pounded the second wolf in the nape. Coughing out, it seethed its teeth and quickly limped away.

The third wolf, a smaller one, leaped directly toward his chest!

“Nope!” With his fist, he reached out and pounded the wolf down directly on the head!

Bang!

The wolf let out a shrill bark and collapsed down in front of Yorick.

“Hehehehe!!!” Yorick waved his shovel around like a madman, laughing his head off. “I feel powerful! I’m a god! I’m unbeatable! Come and try me, horu-beetle-fuckers!”

“Grrr…” The other wolves in the pack seemed to hesitate, no longer charging. They stood menacingly in a semicircle around him.

“No one dares?” Yorick pounded his chest teasingly. “No one dares charge at this big daddy Yorick?”

At that moment, one of the wolves had an idea.

This shovel-bearing human had originally not been this powerful. It was only after the human behind him had held up those glowing things that he had become much stronger! Thus… if he was to get the second human first, and disrupt the glowing lights, then they could deal with the first human!

“RAWRR!!!” With the speed only a quadrupedal snow beast could produce, the wolf dashed around Yorick toward Emmet.

“Emmet!” Yorick yelled out, turning his head just in time to see the wolf soar out toward his brother, jaw open.

“Hehe…” Emmet smiled. “I thought you might get this idea.” He opened his hand, revealing a fifth contraption, which quickly mechanized!

Pa! Pa! Pa!

Three medium-sized rocks shot out of the contraption, soaring with quick speed toward the wolf! Although at the last moment, the wolf tried to change direction and dodge, it was a beat too slow, and the rocks hit it directly in the nose, forehead, and cheek.

“AHHIIHHH!!!” The wolf groaned out, halting in its tracks and dizzily backing off. Shaking its head, it steadied itself and retreated back towards it group.

“HAHAHA!!!” Yorick slapped his knee in laughter. “Good move! Isn’t that the Emmet Defense System 3000?”

“The Emmet Defense System 4000,” Emmet cackled. “I’ve recently made new improvements!”

A puzzle on page 35 had recently enlightened him, allowing to greatly shrink the Emmet Defense System, making it portable, while also increasingly its firing speed and offensive power! It was now a formidable weapon!

“Good, good!” Yorick smiled from ear to ear. He turned back toward the wolves, who were still in standoff. “Ya want more?? Let’s go! Let’s see it! This is what you asked for when you messed with the unbeatable brothers!”

“Grrrr…” The leader wolf, now with a bruise on the side of its face, let out a short growl. Then, it turned around and quickly dashed off.

“Awoo!” The other members of the pack quickly peeled away and joined him, rushing off into the distance.

“Hahahahahaha...” Yorick laughed a belly laugh, holding his chest like he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. “That’s right, run off! That’s why you don’t pick a fight with the unbeatable brothers! Big bro with the brawn, little bro with the wit. Unbeatable once again!”

“Hahaha!” For the first time, Emmet found this line humorous, and burst out in a fit of laughter. Maybe it was the intense relief, or maybe the adrenaline high that was making him loopy. Putting away his contraptions, dissipating the beams of light, he walked up and patted Yorick on the shoulder.

“Good job, big bro.”

“Haha, you too, lil’ bro!” Yorick laughed out loud, patting Emmet pack. He looked around him and saw that the aura of lights had faded. “I don’t know why, but even without those reinforcement beams, I still feel vibrant and full of energy! It must be the unbeatable spirit of us two bros!”

“Hm?” Emmet looked over and raised his eyebrows. For some reason, he felt that Yorick was a bit different. “Even now, you still feel a rejuvenating spirit?”

“Yeah!” Yorick energetically swooshed his shovel round and round, as if he had boundless energy. “Even without your beams shining onto me, I still feel like something inside is churning me with energy!”

“Wait!” Emmet shouted out. “Swing your shovel again, this time with all your might.” He eyed Yorick carefully.

“Alright!” Yorick acquiesced, eagerly charging up his shovel once again.

“1… 2… 3… HA!!!” With blurring-ly fast speed, the shovel blinked down into the snow.

Shuk!

It embedding deep inside, even through the hardened snow underneath, almost completely disappearing within. At the same time, the edges of Yorick’s arms glowed slightly in a light blue light!

“Light blue…” Emmet’s eyes widened. “It’s mana! Yorick, you developed mana!”

“Huh?” Yorick was breathing a bit heavily now, having used all his might in that one strike. He now felt a bit exhausted, the energy inside of him spent up. “Mana?”

“Yeah, I saw it labeled in the book!” Emmet exclaimed, rushing up to Yorick and patting up and down his arm. “It’s supposed to be a light blue illusive substance, and provide the person with a source of power! I saw some light blue peek out from your arms… it must be mana!”

“What?!” Yorick gaped his mouth. “Mana? Something like that was developed in me?”

“It must be!” Emmet nodded his head excitedly. “That’s amazing! Maybe you actually are a supreme warrior!”

“Supreme warrior…?”

Without missing a beat, Yorick accepted his new powers in stride.

“Well of course, that’s to be expected,” Yorick made an arrogant face. “How could I be a genius supreme warrior without mana? It was bound to happen.”

“Geh!” Emmet made an ugly face. “So conceited!”

“Just kidding, just kidding!” Yorick laughed, stepping forward and patting Emmet on the shoulder. “But what’s this mana? And what else can it be used for? Is it just to make someone more powerful?”

“I don’t know much either,” Emmet shook his head. “I just saw it in the book. It’s used as a power source for many of the puzzle scenarios described in the later pages!”

He clicked his tongue. “Man, if only I could awaken mana too! It would be so useful for my puzzles! You’re so lucky!”

“Hehehe,” Yorick giggled. “Maybe you’ll awaken it too! We are, after all, family. Maybe it’s hereditary.”

He grinned teasingly. “Of course, you’re probably not as talented as me. I’m a gifted warrior!”

“Shut it!”

----------------

After returning home, mother saw Yorick’s wound and was aghast. While rushing to bandage it, she harshly scolded the two.

“I told you to stay close! Why did you go so far?! Picking fights with wolves?! Are you crazy?!”

Emmet and Yorick could only sulk as they received the lecture.

In the end, the two boys were banned from going out into the winterland again. They would have to wait until next spring to continue their adventures.

“Haaa…” Yorick frowned. “Well, it was good while it lasted. We’re still the unbeatable bros! We’ll continue on next spring!”

After that, the two got together to inspect Yorick’s mana. After having Yorick duplicate his shovel strike a few times, Emmet was able to confirm that in fact, Yorick did develop the light blue mana described in the book. After receiving the news, Yorick could only giggle sinisterly. This was a sign from the heavens! He really was a supreme warrior!

On the other hand, Emmet tried many times to produce the same mana as Yorick, but to no avail. He had even tried multiple times to reproduce the circumstances that had resulted in Yorick's awakening: receiving all four beams, swinging a shovel with all his might, however, it was ineffective. What made him more depressed was that Yorick only got better and better with his mana, eventually able to summon it at will. Emmet could only jealously look on.

At times, he would even get Yorick to send some of his mana into him, hoping maybe that some kind of fantasy symbiotic brother-blood relation would trigger, awakening his mana too. But in the end, nothing happened. Emmet could only grit his teeth and dig his wits deeper into his puzzle book.

Like this, three more months passed. Finally, the days got hotter, the snow melted, and spring arrived. Both boys were now 11 years old.