The Wind Flygon Clan based their offensive arts on the dragonflies. Dragonflies were considered the apex predators of the old human world. With 360-degree vision, flight speeds of 35 miles an hour, and a prey catch rate of 95%, nothing in the insect world could contest. Well, that would only apply to how the human realm used to be before the Convergence.
Before there was Virya, and before there were more realms than just the human realm. A time that Jack would only hear stories about from his mother. Jack never knew what to make of her stories. She regaled him with things like technology that seemed inferior to what a regular Forged soul can do.
What’s the point of an explosive grenade when a Forged soul could make a fireball? Or what would be the point of a plane when one could fly? He never understood why his mother shared her memories of her past. Maybe cause his life is flashing before his eyes. Or perhaps he wished his mom were with him. Jack stood frozen in front of the lizard beast as it munched away on the Spiker.
Memories of his mother telling stories of her past filled his brain, and the rapid beating in his heart told him why these memories were surfacing. It was a safer time. His mother consistently told him of how the human realm used to be and how humans were the apex predators.
No animal could rival them.
Only humans could rival each other.
In this world that Jack grew up in, there were more than just animals. There were beasts like Annoids, who are basically animals that could walk and talk like humans. Or Demons, which Jack only heard horror stories of. Even Angels and Spirits.
Annoids were the worst.
Jack’s father has always told Grant and him how Annoids were the pinnacle of scum and would do nothing less than kill a human when they had a chance. Thankfully, he did not run into an Annoid, but that didn’t make his situation any less dangerous.
A loud crack followed by a crunch snapped Jack out of his stupor. He had no idea how long he stood frozen in front of this lizard, but it was long enough for it to get through half of the Spiker. Somehow, Jack broke the trance his own fear had placed him in, and he finally came to his senses.
Jack slowly lifted his right leg and then carefully controlled the Virya under him to make him hover inches off the ground. He did the same for his left while keeping his eyes on the beast. The beast cared no mind for Jack as he used all his focus to make himself slowly glide backwards and away from the lizard.
Even after losing the lizard in the darkness, he never took his eyes off that direction until he was sure he could turn around to glide away faster. But before he knew it, the wind from under him slipped from his control as well as his conscience.
He woke in the forest with his body aching from the encounter with the Spiker. His right arm felt as if a thousand needles pricked him, though the pain felt distant. Jack turned over on his back and stared at the sky. He must’ve used too much of his Virya Reservoir, which would explain what made him pass out. Or perhaps it was the blood loss.
Regardless, Jack felt angry.
He doubts an hour or so has passed by since he first awoke in the forest, and he has almost been killed by a Spiker, blessed by the disinterested tier 1 lizard beast, and passed out as vulnerable prey in the middle of the forest due to Virya sickness.
Was he not the prodigal son of Gerald? The Human revolutionist? The strongest human?
How could someone of Jack’s stature fail so miserably? He would have a talk with his father and ensure his tutors are ones who know how to teach. It made no sense for Jack to fail to protect himself. It only made sense that the ones who failed were the ones who couldn’t prepare Jack enough for such an experience.
Jack’s stomach rumbled once more as he tried to stand on his feet. With the sap to help his wounds and the Sayana tree leaves to hold his wounds close and free of infection, he would heal within the week or so. Jack sealed the last bit of his leaf bandages and leaned against a tree, staring at his hand that held a Sayana tree leaf and a clump of sap.
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While the rumblings in his stomach yelled at him to eat it, his brain made him paranoid. He couldn’t remember if it was safe to eat or even edible. What if there were parasites inside the sap? Many questions ran through his mind, but his hunger won out in the end. He shoved the leaf into his mouth and chewed with all abandon. His eyes widened at the surprise that met his tongue.
The sap was sweet like candy, and it filled him with something he had forgotten entirely about. Hydration. He didn’t realize he would also need water until he ate the sap. But the more he chewed, the more the bitterness of the tree leaf filled his mouth, and the more his mouth became dry again. He spat out the leaf and shook his head. What made him think a leaf could taste any kind of good was beyond him. If Jack wanted any kind of real food, he would have to hunt for it. The question was what he could hunt.
Spiker’s to Jack’s knowledge, were not predatory at all. They were actually territorial in nature. So the fact that they attacked Jack at all meant that they were protecting something. Now that Jack remembered, he was about to eat a handful of berries before being ambushed by the Spiker. He wondered if he could find another berry bush; maybe he could set a trap to kill the Spiker.
He would have fruits and meat. Not water, but the pouches of sap he made with the Sayana leaves would fill his need until he finds some water. Before he set off to find another berry bush, Jack decided to fashion himself a thick stick that would be his weapon until he could find an actual one. And by fashioning his weapon, all Jack truly did was find a thick and long enough stick, then wrapped where he would hold the stick in tree leaves. It was more like a baseball bat than anything, but against a spiker, it shouldn’t break. He hoped.
Jack’s shirt was all torn from his fight with the Spiker, so he decided to turn it into a small cloth he could hold his items in. Items include a few pouches of sap and a few leaves ready to be used as bandages. He picked it up and put it on the end of his stick and hauled it over his shoulder, all while muttering curses of what others in his clan would think of him with this unsightly image of himself. A dirty, wounded, and shirtless boy who is weaker than a mortal. Jack nearly toppled over as he tried to control the Virya under his legs. He cursed again. He was too determined in hunting a Spiker that he forgot to meditate.
Why was he not a Forged Soul already? He would have no problem handling a Spiker, and he certainly wouldn’t pass out using such meager amounts of Virya manipulation. While his mother regaled him of times that were primeval, his father always talked to him about the world of today. Back when they were young, the world as they knew it relied on technology or their own physical strength to do what a simple Virya cultivator can do. Though in their day, anyone with wealth or connections could acquire any substandard strength. In the Convergence, they learned that any power they gain must be gained through their own hard work and talent. In this world where there are more realms than just the human realm, souls are born as a Null. A mortal soul.
But through cultivation of Virya, a soul can ascend different levels that equate to different levels of power.
While a seedling is more durable and in tune with Virya than a regular mortal, or Null, a Forged soul transcends a Seedling by a wide margin. Being thrown through a couple of trees would kill a mortal and wound a Seedling. A Forged soul would get up with a bruise. And that would be an early Forged Soul. While a Null cannot feel or sense Virya around them, a seedling would be able to sense and, to an extent, manipulate the Virya around them. But to manipulate Virya would require the use of your Soul Reservoir. Seedlings have a very small amount of reserves and cannot naturally replenish their reserves after they used it to manipulate Virya.
That is why Jack sat with his eyes closed, cursing. If his teachers did their jobs and taught him instead of letting him skip lessons, he would have been a forged soul already. He probably would have never been in this mess if he had better teachers. His reservoir was slowly filling as he had these thoughts, and he took a deep breath in. As he let out his breath, he tried to focus on the Virya around him. He let it seep into his soul, but couldn’t allow the thoughts of incompetent guards and tutors to leave his mind.
After what seemed like hours, but more like 30 minutes, he stood up feeling a lot better. He grabbed his belongings and started to silently look for a berry bush. He knew he couldn’t manipulate the wind Virya around him until his reservoir attuned the Virya he absorbed to his element. It was a similar feeling to how one would feel gas building up in their stomach until it subsided. For now, he would have to trudge around as if he were a mortal.
With the blue moon still at the apex of the sky and nothing but its rays to light Jack’s path, he could find no berry bushes. It was either too dark to tell or maybe the fear of being ambushed again that made him overlook the bushes. He was sure hours had gone by since he last set off, but then again, he had no sense of time.
The moon did not look like it moved one inch, and the hunger that scratched at him didn’t let him keep a focused mind. Eventually, his prayers were answered when he came across a tree he hadn’t seen since he wandered around this forest. Unlike the Sayana tree, this tree had purple leaves and dry brown bark. Where there was sap all over the bark of the Sayana tree, this tree had no sap on the outside.
This tree did, however bear green fruit. Jack was sure a spiker would be guarding this area. He would make no mistake like last time. This time he would prepare. He just needs to think of a trap.
