Chapter 1.18: The one he trusts the most

BANG!

The spear-wielding youth became a ball of fiery light as he crashed into his staff-wielding companion. Mikah landed next to Riot and felt air particles rushing into his body strangely and mystically.

"Is this what my teacher called the resonance that comes after awareness?" Mikah marveled at the feeling. "Only when I have both can I achieve the Hero Realm naturally!"

"BULLDOZER COMING THROUGH!" Axel's bellowing voice was heard as she shot past Mikah and Riot to engage the approaching pirates.

Meanwhile, Riot’s heart was pumping powerfully, and he felt like his blood was full of a heroic majesty. Riot had never felt so powerful and brave. His eyes opened and shined with a bright light! Riot took a deep breath and noticed that his senses had all been drastically enhanced. Actually, he had always possessed sight, hearing, smell, and even taste superior to most people. This was the reason he was able to see Micayle clearly from over a kilometer away.

However, now these traits were even more powerful.

Overcoming his moment of fear and self-doubt earlier had forced Riot into making an important decision about who he is and who he wanted to be. Riot decided at that moment to never run in fear if his friends were in danger. He wanted to be brave and valorous. He wanted to be a heroic warrior!

"Soul power...the power of origin..." Those emotions seemed to trigger a transformation in Riot's heart and body, giving him an innate understanding of the origin of his power.

The origin of a lifeform's power was its soul!

A powerful body that exceeds the limits of the humble. Incredible vital essence to support transformation. A strong heart fueled by the abstract soul powers of valor and courage. He had unconsciously satisfied all the conditions to enter the Hero Realm as a body refiner. Riot didn't even know what to label his current state.

"This scent…" Riot caught a familiar fragrance in the air, one that reminded him of lavender and cocoa.

He recognized this scent!

Riot immediately turned his body in the direction of the scent. He saw a figure dashing in his direction, reaching him in only two breaths. Her speed was truly too swift. In no time, she had arrived in front of him. It was a gorgeous young lady wearing black robes and golden cloth armor that hugged her enticing figure. Her eyes were like two deep blue oceans reflecting the sparkling stars in the night sky. She had long braided dreads that hung to her lower back and an extremely heroic aura. Her light robes revealed a significant amount of skin, making her extremely charming. On her legs and arms were a few divine tattoos Riot had never seen before, but he still couldn't mistake this young lady.

This was none other than his eldest sister!

A disciple of the Freedom Fighting Sect, Miracle Drakel.

"So you became a natural creature of valor too, huh? Good job, Lucky brat," Miracle smiled brilliantly at her handsome little brother. "You can be said to be the equivalent of a hero now. Body refiners take a slightly different path, after all.

"Phu!" Riot was stunned and excited. He wanted to know what a natural hero creature or whatever was as soon as he heard this phrase. However, he quickly remembered what was important, having no time to ask his sister about that. "Phu, those bastards are trying to kidnap two of my friends, Micky and Haan! Can you stop them?"

"Hehehe, what, you aren’t curious about what a creature of valor is? Well, I’ll tell you anyway," Miracle completely ignored Riot’s request, but he only blushed at having his curiosity exposed.

"Well…what is a uhm…hero of valor or whatever," Riot looked up at his sister expectantly.

"Hehe, Creature of Valor, little Luck," Miracle giggled, thinking her brother was too cute. "You know how there are monsters and wonder beasts who naturally possess origin powers, right? The weakest of those monsters are called valor lifeforms. They are equivalent to heroes of up to weak Extremes in strength. On the path to power, most humble warriors seek to refine their bodies with elemental power, thus becoming a hero and one day a profound mana refiner like your little green-haired friend fighting over there.

Miracle pointed at Mikah, who was throwing his battle disk and charging the mana gun as he dodged attacks from two pirates. No matter how much the pirates tried, they couldn’t land a hit on this green-haired brat who seemed to get faster and faster.

"Oh? Wind particles are gathering around that boy. I guess the elemental particles your breakthrough produced have benefitted him," Miracle nodded in approval. Her brother should have capable friends, and she was pleased to see this. "Remember Lucky; it's very unusual to be able to breakthrough in battle, even among the higher tiers. However, that kid's inner force is awakening rapidly thanks to those profound wind element particles merging into his body. He can use the wind element to become a hero very easily, even without guidance. This is the path of Magi. Only those on the Magi path can become pharaoh. However, what about those who want to become gods like the wondergods? They also have a path."

"What path is that Phu?" asked Riot eagerly, completely forgetting about the screaming pirates and battle around him. In fact, he had temporarily forgotten his reason for being here.

"I never told you this because you were too weak to understand before," Miracle crossed her arms and spoke like an elder teaching and imparting magic. "Most wondergods are born as true godly beings of unimaginable power. The weaker ones are born as strong as pharaoh, and the weakest wondergods are at least profound life-forms from birth. Their starting point is way higher than ours, understand?"

"Phu, you told me that plenty of times," Riot interjected, feeling bemused.

"Shut it! This is the part I didn’t tell you," Miracle rapped her brother on the head as she continued. "Us humans are all born humble. The humble are all like a blank canvas. All it takes is an able artist to turn them into something wonderful or something terrible. Ancient wondergods discovered the human race's potential and thus carved out a path for us to inherit their power. By training our physiques to the absolute limit, we can awaken our soul's sleeping potential through the body. Once your heart and soul start to become one, humans can transform their life rating to match the valor monsters. We call those humans Creatures of Valor. That is what you just became."

"YAAAAHHHHH!"

Right at this moment, a fierce wind blew over from where Mikah was standing. The lad in question had his fists balled tightly as he let out an envigorated shout. A soft green light flashed in his eyes. A balloon of wind with Mikah as the center suddenly popped, resulting in those fierce winds. As the winds subsided, Mikah looked down at his hands in shock and elation. He could feel a unique force building up in his abdomen. The wind particles that he had been absorbing subconsciously seemed to be constructing a sort of vessel by combining themselves with this unique force.

"Powerbase!" Mikah exclaimed in excitement. "I formed a powerbase. I formed a real powerbase! I can't believe my luck..."

Hearing the boy say the word luck, Miracle couldn't help but glance at her brother in amazement. However, the latter was unaware of the strange look his sister was giving him.

Both Mikah and himself had become heroes through different paths?

Riot fell silent as he pondered this new information.

Training the body to the limit?

Riot had always trained his body because his step-father forced him to do so for the smallest mistakes. However, he had never felt like he reached a limit. That is until Micayle suffered from that curse, and Riot reversed it. The endless streams of vitality he received from Micayle had transformed his body on a qualitative level, and at the time, Riot really felt like he was bursting with energy. Unfortunately, there was no way for the young boy to return Micayle that vitality. In fact, Micayle hadn’t even spoken to Riot since that time. He decided to narrate these concerns to his sister, hoping for guidance.

There was no one he trusted more in the world than Miracle Drakel, after all.