A small mistake can cause the downfall of even the great and formidable. It only takes a dislodged pebble to start an avalanche.

-Dragon Blooddrinker Emperor Krystfallen

Her head was throbbing again. “Can all of you be quiet?” Aileen shouted.

No one heard her since she was sitting inside one of the highest level viewing boxes. Even if she strained herself, the wave of people cheering for the tournament would swallow her voice. And it was very stupid to tell everyone to quiet down.

She rolled her eyes and slumped back on her velveteen chair. All the other seats were empty. Jel couldn’t come with her since there was some stuff she had to attend to. Something about pilgrims overflowing and security. The miracle really did its job of drawing people to the temple.

“I only got a month left in that stupid place,” Aileen said with a smirk.

Looking to her side, Aileen groaned. Someone was coming over to her box. Instead of using the portal like a normal civilized human, the person decided to jump into her box.

A sneering dirty blonde landed gracefully inside the box. She checked and smoothed down her dress before she walked towards Aileen.

“You have a bird’s nest on your head, Diana.”

“Wearing a leather armor while you are nowhere near any battlefield? How ladylike,” Diana scoffed while arranging her wild hairdo.

“I’m not in any mood to fight. Just go away.” Aileen massaged her forehead while she turned away from Diana.

Diana gathered her long skirt with delicate floral designs sewn on and sat beside Aileen. She made a face at her and said, “You easily get headache from noise. You get nauseated when teleporting. What kind of warrior are you supposed to be?”

Aileen pushed her face away.

“Hey! You’re ruining my make-up.”

“What do you want?” Aileen said as she leaned forward to watch the match again.

Diana followed Aileen’s gaze. “That guy. I’m interested in that guy.”

“Aya?” Aileen blurted out. Then she covered her mouth.

Diana’s eyes went wide. “You know him? I heard he’s a Roghinian. How did you meet him?”

“He’s just a poor journeyman-warrior something like that. He wandered inside the outer temple” Aileen shook her head and said, “Too many people think that they’re free to roam around the temple after they enter the courtyard. And what do you mean you’re interested?”

“I’m not interested in that way you’re thinking of,” Diana replied while giggling.

“Then what?”

The daughter of the Spearbearer Hasta House tilted her head while twisting her lips. She turned to Aileen with her brow raised. “He fights weird. Really weird.”

“What do you mean weird? The running away all the time thing?” Aileen’s eyes followed the black-robed man leading his opponent through the wooded part of the stage. His opponent, a warrior monk from Almeiron, cut down several trees with one kick. The monk was systematically leveling the stage to erase all possible hiding places for the BasketSlayer. “Too many foreigners this time of the year.”

“We should take this opportunity to learn their ways of fighting,” Diana said. She shook her head while looking at Aileen. “You just want to fight and fight and smash through everything using outrageous mana pool. Take that Almeiron monk for example,” she said while she pointed at the stage below.

“What about him?”

“Almeiron monks can use the wind to slice, slam, and even as armor. All of them.”

“So?”

“So… how is that possible? How can all of them have the wind attribute?”

Aileen shrugged and once again massaged her head.

“Ugh, you’re so dumb!”

“Hey! Do you want me to blas-”

Diana gave her an exasperated look. “It’s not their equipment. That means they’re using a beaststone. The same kind of beaststone.”

“Fine, they’re mass producing beaststone. So they probably have a breeding facility like the Domino family.”

“A large scale breeding facility. Very large,” Diana said. She held up a finger. “Almeiron does not have a standing army. Their religion intertwines with their government. All of their fighting forces come from their war monasteries. All of these warrior monks have the same kind of beaststone embedded in their body.”

Aileen wanted to speak up but Diana glared at her and raised a second finger.

“The beaststone they are using is probably just a D or C rank. I mean, only a few people can hold an A-rank beaststone in their body,” Diana continued.

The warrior monk that was relentlessly chasing the BasketSlayer named Aya across the inner side of the shield. The black-robed man threw small sticks at the monk while he ran up the side of the shield.

“So…?”

“I’m not finished with my second point yet,” Diana snapped. “The warrior monks focus their training on wind techniques. That makes this mysterious beaststone the basic equipment of their army, or what passes for an army.”

Aileen nodded. “So we need to counter wind magic.”

“That’s not it!” It was Diana’s turn to massage her head. “If ever we go to war with them, we need to find their secret breeding facility and destroy is so that they can’t train new monks!”

“War?”

“Aileen, we’re the next generation. The time will come when we will lead the glorious imperial legion,” Diana said. She folded her arms and looked at Aileen with a stern face. “You have to think about stuff like these.”

“Alright. I’ll think about those things,” Aileen drawled. Her headache drained every bit of her irritation towards Diana. Anyway, what she said was true. Diana was smarter than she was although she wouldn’t admit that out loud even if she was tortured to death. Her gazed wandered through the crowds. The brown dots among the crowd seemed to have grown in number. “Stupid baskets. So what does your lecture have to do with the Roghinian?”

“He does not use spells, well, not spells that I could see or detect. His body seems normal but it’s actually very tough. Yet, I can’t see any buff!”

“Must be some secret Roghinian technique?” Aileen wondered if Diana would notice if she gathered wind essence. She seriously considered the option of blasting the annoying Hasta out of the box so that she could quietly enjoy the show. The arena quaked as the crowds cheered again as one of the matches ended. Not quietly, she corrected herself. At least, she wanted to be alone.

“We need to find out about that secret then!” Diana replied. “I also don’t understand why he keeps prolonging the battle. There were some rumors that the basket he’s carrying is an ancient relic. He’s charging it as the battle drags on.”

Aileen opened her mouth then blinked a couple of times.

“What?” asked Diana.

Promptly shutting her mouth, Aileen then shook her head.

“Anyway, there’s something peculiar about his attacks. His punches are powerful, certainly, that can be easily seen. But his opponents just drop unconscious after a few hits!”

“Uh-huh. That does look weird,” Aileen said while covering her mouth.

“We should learn about that technique of his.”

A loud crash interrupted their conversation. More explosions followed.

Twisters of slicing air covered the fists and feet of the Almeiron warrior monk. His every kick and punch let loose air blasts that diced up the stage. Despite everything being obliterated around him, the BasketSlayer pranced around the sea of craters that was once the stage while he threw pebbles at the monk several meters above him.

“He’s just flying near the ceiling,” Aileen observed. “Or more like walking on the air.”

“The monk knows that the Roghinian excels in melee combat. He keeps his distance even though these warriors monks are also supposed to be experts in melee fights.”

“He’s overcautious.”

“I don’t think so. If I am in his position, I would also do the same.”

“Really?” Aileen leaned back again and placed her feet on the back of the chair in front of her. “If that was me, I would trade punches with him.”

“As if! He was able to beat a Draconyx Discipulus that had a Terebro Bear beaststone in a brawling match,” Diana scoffed. “You can’t even Forge Spirit.”

“After I’m done with my temple duty I’ll get one. Or two. My body can probably handle three.”

Diana stuck her tongue out. “You will probably get shipped to Milla Lyceum. The Fahllyrs and the Empire won’t allow someone that has a mana pool as big as yours to waste it as a warrior.”

“No way I’m going there!” Aileen focused on the fight to erase any thoughts of becoming a mage. She knew that there was a large chance that her father will force her to become a full mage. Maybe she should become a traveling warrior like that annoying black-clad man?

The spectators continued cheering even though minor tremors ran through the arena as the monk pressed on his attack. Dust and rocks were flying all over the stage. The BasketSlayer sprinted up the shield to reach the monk near the top. The roles were reversed. The BasketSlayer was doing the chasing while the monk fled.

“Just punch him!” Aileen shouted while beating the air.

Diana tutted at her. “He will lose if he engaged your Aya in close combat.”

“My Aya?”

“You’re the one who knows him. If that’s his real name.” Diana gestured to the match and continued, “During this match, the black-robed man was in control. Even when he was the one being chased, he was still in control. Do you know why?”

“Because the monk does not know about his powers.”

“Correct.” Diana clapped with a big smile on her face. “The Almeiron monk will get desperate in the end and will decide to fight up close.”

Both of them watched the BasketSlayer closed in on the monk. Just as Diana predicted, the monk stopped running away and floated in mid-air. The monk’s body gave off a blue aura as gusts of wind covered him. The black-robed man kicked off the side of the shield and dove straight into the balled up tornado.

The BasketSlayer was able to penetrate the defensive wall of wind and reach the center where the monk was ready to meet him. The exchanged a few blows before the strong winds buffeted the BasketSlayer and blew him out of the wind sphere protecting the monk.

“He’s barely doing any damage to the monk.”

“Oh, he left his basket at the side of the stage,” Aileen mumbled. “Good idea.” She was bored at the fight and played a game of spot-the-basket.

The BasketSlayer whizzed across the shield, building up momentum before diving once again towards the monk. The same thing happened. The two warriors fought briefly until the BasketSlayer was thrown out once again.

“That’s actually a nice strategy,” Diana commented.

“Aya lost the initiative. The monk will just hunker down.”

“I think your Aya doesn’t care anymore. He has already come in contact with the monk. I think his power has something to do with close contact.”

“He’s not my Aya.” Aileen groaned in exasperation. Great. Another possible candidate to join the Jel team of teasing her.

Aya entered the whirling vortex four more times. Four more times the furious winds blasted him back.Then he jumped to the edge of the shield dome where his basket lay waiting for him and picked it up.

There was a low hum as the people chattered in confusion.

“See,” Diana said, “the monk’s done for.”

The winds abruptly stopped and the monk fell down to the rubble below him. A hesitant cheering sputtered out as the people still didn’t understand what just happened.

Diana stared at Aileen with a smile on her face.

Aileen exhaled. “Fine. I don’t know what he did to win.”

“He’s a cunning fighter. I think if it would be fun if I challenged him. Battle of brains. Not that you would understand anything about that.”

“I bet I could take him down if I wanted to. All those people just let him got close to them,” Aileen retorted.

“Brute force powered by tons of mana?”

“Yep!”

Diana stood up and looked down on Aileen with a twisted smile. “Forgive me for my disbelief but I highly doubt that the third child of the patriarch of the Fahllyr Martial Noble House has enough brains to win a battle of wit.”

Aileen just gave a snort as a response.

“It was nice talking with you. Made me feel better about myself as a person,” Diana said. “My brother’s calling me. See you around, Ai!”

“At least she could have used the portal,” Aileen muttered as Diana jumped out of the box. “I can’t win against him, huh? We’ll see about that,” she said, her lips pulled into a tight smile.

“A weird turn of events, but it can’t be helped.”

“Don’t hold back, you understand?” Aileen called out to Aya.

The two stood on of the stage of one of the smaller arena annexed to the main one.

How was she able to reserve this whole place? Just like that? The Fahllyrs are doing quite well, Aya mused as he glanced at the empty stands. Aileen even shoed away the arena attendants that followed her.

After his match with the flying monk, Aileen pestered him into fighting her. Aya wanted to eat first before doing anything else so Aileen told him that she would buy him whatever food he wanted afterward if he could beat her. That wouldn’t be too hard, he reasoned, so he accepted the proposal.

When he asked her why she wanted to fight him, she blushed and snapped at him. She told him to mind his own business. Aya shrugged and followed her to the annex arena. She was the first person to give him food after five hundred years so the least he could do was to play along with whatever she had in mind.

“And no running away!” Aileen said while she tied her long hair into a bun. “Also put away that stupid basket!”

Aya placed his precious basket at the far end of the stage near the shields and walked back to her. “You don’t want to chase me around? If I’m going to attack immediately then this is going to be a short fight.”

She huffed after she heard his reply. “We’ll see about that. I’d like to see you try getting near me.”

“Is it really fine to fight you? If you were injured or something…”

“I won’t blame you!”

“Um, that’s really not my concern. It’s also a given that you shouldn’t blame me since you’re the one who challenged me. But you’re a noble, so…”

Tendrils of light wrapped around Aileen’s body as she gathered wind essence from her surroundings. “Just fight!” she shouted at him.

Aya could sense the insane amount of mana inside her body. The purity of her mana was also above average, which was surprising. A person with a normal amount of mana needed to undergo intense deep meditation and training, which involved exhausting one’s mana pool, to enhance the purity of the mana produced by the body.

“Must be insane. Exhausting a mana pool that big.” Aya had seen many things during his lifetime, even though that lifetime included five hundred years of sleeping. Yet, he couldn’t help but be impressed at the accomplishment of the young Fahllyr. Most mages with large mana pools don’t even bother to increase the purity of their mana. It was easier to use more mana on a spell rather than to increase the purity of their mana and make their spells more mana efficient. “She’s a really dedicated fighter despite being hot-headed and kind of easy to tease,” he said under his breath.

Balls of wind, numbering thirty, formed above her. They spun rapidly and glowed bright blue as she fed more mana to them. At her feet, heavy air howled, forming into wind elemental spirits.

Eight galehounds materialized, each one larger than a man. They gazed at him with four glowing golden eyes and bared their fangs. Their claws, although nearly transparent and formed out of the wind, cut into the stage as easily as raking sand.

“Wooaah. You’re burning through a lot of mana yet it doesn’t even make a dent on your mana pool.” Aya clapped loudly as he gaped at the summons and spells conjured by Aileen.

“This is nothing. I’m not even straining myself,” Aileen boasted. “Try getting near me then.”

Clapping some more, Aya smiled at her with approval. She has analyzed how he fights. It wasn’t hard to spot the common factor in all his matches. He has no long-range attack; not counting the pebble throwing that he loved to do. “So you just assumed that I have to get close to attack you? You should be prepared for everything.”

Aileen tensed up and ordered her galehounds to form a line in front of her. The whirling balls above her spread out above the stage to be able to hit anything on it.

“Just joking,” Aya said, straight-faced. “I don’t have a long-ranged attack.”

Before Aileen could even think of a reply, Aya charged her. The galehounds leaped, eager to protect their summoner, forming a wall of fangs and claws. Aya halted his charge and ran sideways. The galehounds split up, one group chasing him while the other stayed behind to protect Aileen.

“Try dodging this!” Aileen raised her hand. The balls of wind released a torrent of magical arrows.

Aya dug his foot on the ground and pivoted. The galehounds howled as they leaped to attack him. Aya grabbed two of them by their necks and continued pivoting, whirling the two galehounds around. He hit the other galehounds and warded off most of the wind arrows. The two galehounds he held vanished because of taking too much damage from the wind arrows.

The remaining galehounds kept their distance, not wanting to be used as shields.

Aileen ordered another salvo of wind arrows. All of them burrowed in the ground where Aya stood a split-second before.

Aya dashed towards Aileen. The galehounds once again blocked his path. He burrowed his fingers into the stage and dug up a wide stone slab to shield him against the wind spirits. The stone slab broke into tiny pieces as the galehounds tore into it.

“Where-?” Aileen turned to her right just in time to find a fist heading straight for her. She enveloped herself with her wind spell and evaded the punch, leaping back a few times to put some distance between her and the black-robed man.

Aya’s fist buried itself in the ground with several cracks branching out. He pulled back his arm and stared at his hand clenched over a bunch of pebbles. “Why were you running away? I just wanted to pick up a few pebbles,” Aya said with an innocent smile.

“You’re going to throw pebbles at me?” Howls echoed through the empty arena as Aileen summoned more galehounds. Two large, muscular, humanoid wind spirits appeared behind her. Borean guardians, with long snouts and great curved horns, roared at Aya.

“Do you know why I throw pebbles?”

“No,” Aileen replied. “Not really interested in your hobbies.”

One of the Boreans extended its palm to block one pebble thrown by Aya. The pebble disintegrated as the horned guardian crushed it between its fingers.

“Fight seriously! I’m going to buy you plenty of food later,” Aileen said. The air around her flickered as she added a mana shield to her defenses.

Aya threw two more pebbles. One hit the broad chest of the Borean while the other hit the mana shield. “Since you are going to pay a lot of money later, I thought that it would be better to turn this into a teaching session of sorts,” Aya said. “Since you’re just going to lose anyway. At least you’ll have your money’s worth,” he added with a wink.

The galehounds slowly circled Aya while the Borean guardians stayed with Aileen. The balls of wind rotated faster and sucked in the air around them. This girl has a lot of mana to spare, Aya thought. He threw a couple more pebbles at Aileen, who didn’t even blink as the pebbles were powdered by her mana shield.

“Attack!” With her command, the galehounds opened their maws wide, stretched their claws and pounced on Aya. “I don’t need your lessons.”

Aya shot out between the galehounds with such speed that Aileen could barely follow. The balls of wind released larger, spinning arrows that screwed through the air and chased the black-robed man evading the galehounds.

The waltz of Aya amidst the barrage of attacks left Aileen dumbstruck. She struggled to follow her movements when she belatedly noticed something zooming towards her. She instinctively held up her hand, forgetting that she had two bodyguards and a mana shield.

It was another pebble. Two more cracking sounds told her that Aya was still throwing pebbles at her while dodging her attacks. She ground her teeth. This was getting annoying. Ideas jogged through her mind as she considered the best way to take down a guy that kept on evading. She even told him that he shouldn’t run away during their fight.

He wasn’t technically running away. In fact, he was slowly inching closer to her as he dodged the galehounds and magical arrows. It was barely noticeable because he was jumping all over the place, but his intricate dance slowly brought him nearer and nearer to Aileen.

Aileen felt a chill crawl up her back as their eyes met. She strengthened her mana shield. He can’t get through this, she told herself. The Borean guardians stepped to her front and made a barrier with their large bodies.

The galehounds yelped as Aya grabbed them by the neck and hurled them at the Boreans. The Borean caught the galehounds and absorbed them. Aya threw some more galehounds, by twos and threes. Soon, all of the galehounds were absorbed by the Boreans.

“Where is he?” Aileen looked around frantically. Damn it, he’s behind me, she managed to think before Aya's punch shattered her mana shield. She crossed her arms in front of her to receive the blow. The force of the strike propelled her between her two useless guardians. She could feel that the bones of her forearms were broken.

“Grakk it!” She cursed while she tumbled like a ragdoll through the stage. “Damn, damn, damn.” Heal yourself, she ordered as she struggled to grip the ground to stop tumbling. She righted her body and knelt on the floor.

Before she was able to mend her bones, a large rock came straight for her. She exhaled a burst of wind and shifted the rock away. Another rock was following behind it. Damn. No choice. She swung her fist, clenching her teeth as she expected the pain from punching a rock with a broken arm. Her punch shattered the second rock.

Just as she thought she could catch a break, she spotted two more objects were thrown at her. Her two Borean guardians were also flung at her! They rolled comically across the stage.

Aileen stopped herself from throwing another punch as she remembered that she could just cancel their summoning. She dispelled them just as they were about to crash into her. “Hah! I stopped your atta-”

Something stung on her forehead and dropped on the ground. A pebble. Grakk that guy! “Stop throwing pebbles!”

A hand patted her head.

“If this was a real battle, you’d already be dead,” Aya said. “You should focus on everything. Large or small.”

Aileen dropped her head while she tried to figure out how he got near her.

“I throw those pebbles to keep my opponent on edge. Such a small thing can affect the concentration of a warrior.”

“Stop patting my head!” She lashed out with her arms.

Aya chortled and walked to the other side of the stage. “Those pebbles are quite harmless. Nevertheless, they force my opponent to focus on them. They can’t just put up a shield and forget about my pebbles. What if the next attack was the real one? What if the next pebble was a setup for the next attack? Is this really a feint? Or is this a cover for another feint that will hide his real attack?

“Many permutations of those questions will clutter the mind of my opponent. Of course, my favorite question is- why is he throwing pebbles at me? That question will lead to other questions. Is he looking down on me? Is he making fun of me? Stuff like that. Very distracting, won’t you agree?.”

The green glow covering Aileen’s body faded as she completed healing. This guy might be annoying but he really knew how to fight. She did not have much experience when it came to single combat. When she fought under the command of her elder sister, it was always with other soldiers. Although her sister always told her that she was on her own on the battlefield, she knew that her sister ordered her elite subordinates to keep watch on her.

What Aya told her was true. The pebbles were definitely distracting. She wanted to ignore them but there was a nagging thought in her mind that they might be hiding a real attack.

“You plan to become a warrior?”

Aileen nodded.

“Then you should practice more one-on-one fights. You act like a mage.”

Her stomach twisted at Aya’s comment. No way she’s going to be a full mage. She had already chosen beaststones in her mind! Her destination would be the Great Horn Stronghold of their family and capture the beasts she wanted for her beaststones in the harsh eastern frontier.

“Anyway, you lost. You owe me food. I think I’ll just eat in the mess hall today.”

“What? Wa-wa-wait! We’re not done yet!”

“Just buy me some other time. I’m not in the mood to walk around the city searching for a nice restaurant.”

“Let’s have a rematch!” she cried out as the black-robed man walked towards his basket. “Don’t pick up that basket yet!”

Aya rubbed his stomach and furrowed his brows.

“I’ll buy you more food!”

“I don’t want more food. Your first debt will cover that. I want some mana parchments next.”

“Mana parchments? What for?”

“I’ll draw my face on it.”

“Really?”

“Of course not. I’ll draw seals on them.”

She couldn’t understand this guy! He’s a big walking irritation. But she couldn’t let him go yet. “I want to fight you as a warrior.”

“You’re going to draw your sword?

“Yes, and you should fight me seriously. Don’t throw pebbles at me!”

Sighing, Aya explained, “Weren’t you listening to me? I do that to take control of the flow of the fight.”

“Do that pebble thing some other time. I want a serious fight.”

“If you wish, my lady.” Aya, with a serious face, gave her a low bow.

“So now you treat me like a noble?” Aileen focused and reached out for the abundant life essences around her. Life essences were not her forte, which was why she normally used wind magic. If she can’t gather high-tiered life essences, she would settle for more of the low-level ones.

Strength boost, defense boost, speed boost. That was all the buffs that she could cast using her meager knowledge in life essences. However, taking into account her natural strength and speed; she was a formidable warrior in her opinion.

“Use that technique you used against the monk.”

“Why should I do that?” Aya replied. He made a sad face at Aileen. “That’s giving away my tricks.”

“I won’t tell anyone!” But she planned to tell Diana if she won. If she lost then no one would know. Aya was not the type to brag and she was the type who kept quiet about her defeats. Diana was going to be jealous of her if she figured out the secret technique of Aya!

“I actually used it already. It’s the one I used to break your mana shield.”

He used it already? Damn, she wasn’t paying attention at that time. Predicting where Aya would attack next kept her mind busy. “Use it again! I promise I’ll buy you lots of food and mana parchments.”

“Serious fight, huh?”

“Yes. No pebbles this time. I swear if there’s another pebble flying around here I’m going to take away your basket.”

Aya smiled at her but his eyes looked empty. She took an involuntary step back. What was that? She shook her head and looked again. His stupid smiling face was back. “Let’s fight,” she shouted. Her left foot leading, she grasped the hilt of her sword.

She was about to draw her sword when she felt a strong grip close on her wrist.

He was in front of her! She gasped in surprise as Aya tightly held her right wrist with his right hand. He crushed her bones and pressed her hand on the scabbard so that she would not be able to draw her sword. She yelped in pain but stopped herself. She raised her left fist to meet the incoming punch of Aya. However, their fists didn’t connect.

Aya's left punch went downward and hit the knee of her left leg that stepped forward. His right leg delivered a low kick on her other leg. Thrown off balance, Aileen leaned forward. Aya released his grip on her wrist and punched her stomach. It wasn’t a strong punch but it launched her a couple of meters to the air.

That was it? His last punch? What the grakk was that?

She struggled to calm down her breathing. Her vision was blurry. She tried to heal herself but the mana in her veins was in disarray. Her own body was not listening to her. She laid on the stage and stared at the passing clouds.

A stunning effect? An electric shock perhaps? But there wasn’t a single spark. Shockwaves? That’s a possibility. She knew of a technique that uses shockwave to disorient an opponent.

Gradually, her mana calmed down and returned to its normal flow.

“Hopefully, you learned something.” Aya was back, this time, he was carrying his basket.

Aileen healed her knees and staggered to get up. The world spun around her and she ended up puking.

“Gross.”

“Your face is gross!” she shot back.

“That’s your comeback?”

Her face turned red as she realized what she had just said. Then her face turned green; another round of puking.

Aya laughed and walked off the stage. He waved back at her and called out, “Don’t forget your promise!”

“Your face is gross? Grakking dimwad response.” She punched herself in the face. “Really embarrassing. I should make a list of witty comebacks.”

His heartbeat nearly deafened him. He wouldn’t be surprised if his heart suddenly burst. Gloves of ice covered his hands as he walked towards the portal.

“This is it. This is it,” Orvin said with a shaky voice. “My ticket to Milla Lycuem.”

Near the portal, there stood an arena attendant holding a small drum in his hands. He offered the container to Orvin, who warily reached inside.

Meldew grass. A Stonewark’s favourite food.

“Sir, you have to rub it on your clothes.”

Orvin rubbed the bundle of grass all over his robes. They gave off a soft sweet smell that was oddly calming. They did smell delicious, which was probably why Stonewarks go crazy over them. What does this taste like?

His teacher told him that he was going up against an A-rank beast. During ancient times, the ranking of the beasts referred to the power of their beaststones, which was harvested for energy. Now, through the great bravery of the First Emperor Krystfallen, they don’t need to gather energy in such a crude manner. The mana node would provide them all the energy they would need for generations to come.

The rank of beasts now referred to their difficulty level, as determined by the adventurer’s guild. Nevertheless, their difficulty level had a direct relationship with the power of their beaststones so the rankings were largely retained subject to a few minor adjustments.

Orvin once dreamed of becoming an adventurer, living a carefree life, traveling to faraway places. That was the reason why he was familiar with the adventurer’s guild even though he lived a sheltered life in Dolsworth academy. A distant dream. Now, he dreamed of entering Milla Lyceum.

The path to his dream was blocked by a Stonewark.

Stepping on the portal, Orvin was instantly transported onto the stage. It was empty except for a large rock formation. Moss and weeds covered the boulder pyramid sitting on the center of stage.

Orvin took a deep breath and held up the clump of meldew grass. Its thick honeyed scent wafted through the air.

His teacher picked a slow and large beast for him. That was fine since he expected that much. It also came as no surprise that the beast would be extremely sturdy and have high defenses. Stonewarks was such a kind of beast.

But Orvin did not expect that there would be a Stonewark in the competition. They were gentle herbivores that wouldn’t even mind if you sat on them. The problem was they were very protective of their food. The meldew grass.

They lived on fields of meldew grass and wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone or anything that stepped on their prized grass. Meldew grass gave off their signature scent when crushed.

Any Stonewark would love to kill Orvin given that he smelled of crushed meldew.

There was a Stonewark right in front of him.