Hado is the art of energy manipulation in which the user redirects the energy flow within themselves, be it outward or to a different part of the body. With this technique, one can summon the elements, enhance their physical capabilities or even prolong their life. [...] One particular school of Hado called Sei Hado can incorporate Soul energy to amplify their own, leading to a blend of Flair manipulation way surpass their level.

Excerpt from "Understanding Inner and Outer Energy: Flair versus Hado"

Eugene De Lavet

The middle-age man who was knocked down on the ground springs up, hand clenching his jaw as he spats, "Who dares touch the almighty Teron Ceni? Do you know I was once drafted in the army?"

A small circle of men immediately forms around Aqua and her dog. One of them talks to her in a voice just loud enough for me to hear. "Dear Goddess, you didn't tell us there would be another one coming."

Did he just call that little girl 'Goddess'? These villagers are a weird bunch. Are they even villagers, or are they some kind of cult?

"I didn't know myself," Aqua replies. "She must've followed us here."

Teron stands, brushes the sand off his clothes, then puffs his chest out. "Y'know. . . that's a nice flail you have there. And whatever kinda camel that is. We'll take that too."

I don't know if he's in fact the leader, but he's acting like one so I'll just call him that. He lets out a loud, malicious laugh as he says, "Two of you, then eight gold coins and your weapons. Since we're a generous lot, we'll let you keep the camels. Heck, maybe even give back a coin or two."

Another man behind him stares at Melodi with ogling eyes. "You take the camel. I take the girl. Been itching for some lovey dovey action lately."

Melodi's noses flare. "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

The guy smirks. "You won't be so big with your mouth once I have you on your knees, girl."

"Ohhhhhhhh," Alleria whispers. "Make sure you got his ass whooped soundly, honey."

The rabbit-eared SC then shows their stats to Melodi, but I can't quite see them from my spot.

They stare at Alleria in fascination and whisper among themselves. One says, "Is that a talking orb?"

Another one says, "These suckers have some cool toys! We gonna mug 'em, then we won't ever need to mine for minerals again."

While those guys are distracted by Alleria, I whip out my Distortion Orb and summon my own SC. Lek pops up from thin air, wearing his perpetually annoyed look and naggy voice.

"That was a dang long nap you had, bro. I was. . ." he stares at the bunch of angry people with shovels on their hands. "Wait. Who are those people? And why are they holding shovels?"

"Yeah, in a bit of a pickle here. Would love if you can do your blob thing."

Melodi rubs her fingers together. We haven't even started fighting and she's already itching. "Eugene. You hold off the left; I'll handle the right. This shouldn't be hard. These guys are only Level 40, and they don't have SCs."

I count with my fingers. "But there are twenty of them, so they're Level 1000."

"It—ugh. It doesn't work that way. And forty multiplies by twenty equals eight hundred, you dunce."

"I know! I just, uh, rounded it up."

The leader yells at the others. "Mess them up! Why are you just standing there while they're chatting?"

Lek shows me the stats of the ones closest to me, but as they're closing the distance, I can only glimpse at a few key stats. These miners aren't much lower than us level-wise, but their skillset and flairs are largely irrelevant. The middle-aged man standing on the front has the most respectable distribution, and even he doesn't have any skill over Level 25 apart from a Level 37 Shovel Expertise which I don't even know if it's used for fighting or digging. Most miners have the Adverse Weather Endurance Flair, which is kinda useless in combat, unless there's suddenly a sandstorm rising on top of this hill.

Two guy brute-force their way to me on two front.

"How come you're here?" I swing my blade, sending an attacker sprawling. The middle of a mob fight isn't the perfect time for a chat, but it's not like these guys are a real threat.

"You said you were going to the oasis, and you didn't return so I went to look." One guy lunges at Melodi from the side, but she turns around and slams her elbow onto his nose.

"A little girl asked me to look for her cat, uh, dog for her!" I jumps away from another attacker then smash his jaw with a hook kick. "How could I refuse a child? Would you have left the child to find her little pet alone then?"

Another guy try to smash Melodi with his shovel. "If that girl popped out of nowhere, miles away from the village, without parent supervision! Maybe you should have, I don't know, drove her back to the village and find her guardian?" She raises her barrier, and the force from the man's own hit knocks back at him, sending him to the sand.

Three men growls as the charge at me at once. "She asked me to find her pet, not drive her back to the village and find her guardian!" I wriggle into the space between them, and they bump their head with one another. "Oops! Missed me. So close."

"And you didn't find it one bit suspicious? I can't believe you fell for a scam like this." It takes five men to break Melodi's barrier, but then she sends them flying with a Savage Roar.

"It's easy for you to say when you've seen the results!" Teron sneaks up at me from behind, and I shake him off balance before slamming my hilt at him. "Oops! Bet they didn't teach you that in the army."

"I could see it was a scam from a kilometer away!" Melodi says while doing some fighting thing." Or, as you would call it, from eight hundred meters away."

"Oh yes, Melodi, because mathematics is totally an important. . .Ouch!" Somebody actually managed to hit me. There's no visible cut or bleeding on my arm, but I can feel the panging pain from the inside.

I turn around and see Teron, who should've fallen like the other guys, but is still clasping his weapon like a Shovel God. From Lek's menu, I see that he's a Level 48, with a Level 60 Shovel Expertise and a Rare skill, Almighty Push. I should probably not treat this guy as a small nuisance.

"You lost 483 HP. Now you can stop being cocky," Lek tells me.

Teron charges at me. His irises change color from black to amber, and I know he must be executing some skill. He raises his hands for a side slash, but his speed is way lower than mine. I swing my blade and land a critical hit across his chest.

My arm already feels way better. It feels like I'm healing myself.

"20% of your damage transfered into health gain from that Lifesteal, so 291 HP," Lek says.

Oh, right. I totally forgot about that Lifesteal thing. If I ever get hit, I'll just hit them a few times to gain back the health loss. And here I thought this fight might actually be challenging.

Teron growls like an injured beast as he springs up and charges at me again, but his movements are way too easy to figure out. I do a simple sidestep and send him sprawling again. After a few times, I've drained him enough that it becomes difficult for him to stand up. His grasp on his shovel loosens, and I pluck the weapon away from him.

"Y'know. . . that's a nice shovel you have there. And whatever kinda camel that is. We'll take that too." I grin at him.

The assailants from my side halt their attacks, and instead raise their weapons at me in wary. Teron grits his teeth. "Who the hell are you two?"

"We're Socen's last hope." I declare, puffing my chest.

"Socen, huh. . . I haven't heard that name in years."

I turn to Melodi and she's handling herself well too. She wrestles the men away like they're little children.

"These guys just don't know when to give up, aye?" Hovering above their heads, Alleria says with a snort.

As Melodi sends the last man to the ground, a shadow creeps at her from under the sand dunes behind her back. Reflexively, Melodi turns around.

"Hold on! That's—" Alleria yelps, but it's too late. She kicks that thing, and it flies off with a ghastly howl. "—the dog."

"How dare you touch Kitty?" Then comes the shrill scream of Aqua. I turn to her and the her eyes have been completely consumed by bright blue light. People with eyes that glow are not a cool bunch to face, since they can rip the energy from Soul Realm, or whatever written in Theory books that I was too lazy to read.

Teron puts his hand on my shoulder, but it doesn't seem like he's trying to pick a fight anymore. Instead, he hisses, "Cactusuvius! You've angered the Goddess. Run while you can, kid."

Teron and his men scampers off like mice, some even leave their shovels and daggers behind.

Lek scans Aqua and show me the stats. Now I understand why that many men don't dare to touch a little kid.

Name Aqua Sasshuchu Level 126 Breed Human Type Shapeshift Health 32,000~40,000 Attack 2,500~3,500 Human Speed LV 95 Human Strength LV 88 ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? Flair Hydrokinetic Shapeshifting Sei Hado 140%