Waking up the next day Helo lays in bed while stretching. Lelai who was sleeping under his arms whimpers because she got woken up. Petting her fluffy ears Helo apologizes while getting out of bed.
Heading into the attached bath Helo cleans himself for the day and pulls some clothing out of his necklace. Grabbing onto the fang as it dangles on his chest Helo uses ‘Identify”
A mothers first gift, a fathers first lesson. (Mythic/Hidden) (Rare/Shown)
This is a fang made from a divine being and soul bound to you.
It is enchanted to by another divine being and will awaken when you are ready.
- Bloodline Awakening 1.9 %
- Hides its nature and yours from others.
- Only another divine being will be able to read this item’s full status.
- Seal of Protection and Secrecy.
- A seal placed on you from your soul bound item.
- This seal helps you awaken your bloodline in gradual process. It allows you to better control your growing power and instincts.
- Soul Manifestation: This item was enchanted into your soul.
Tier 1 Awakening:
- Spatial Storage: 10m^3, stasis
- Tier 1 Compendium of Knowledge.
- +5% to all stat efficacies.
Tier 2 awakening: (???)
It has been a while since Helo last identified the gift from his parents. He isn’t sure how to feel about it. He can only assume that he was abandoned during the fire at the orphanage. Ms. Accleas never returned, and he knows that she was awakened.
Helo never stopped studying enchantments with Elder Shelby. He is three months into his training and can comfortably make all kinds of Teir 1 enchantments. One of his greatest advantages is the amount of knowledge inside of the Tier 1 Compendium. That is inside of the necklace. But it is also a memory of something he knows nothing about.
Shaking his head Helo almost misses the changes within the necklace. Previously his bloodline awakening was at 1.1% now it is at 1.9%. Taking a moment Helo looks inward and can feel that the power within his bloodline has increased. Three months of constant training and he gained .8%.
“Damn, this is going to take forever.” Helo says to himself while heading into the kitchen. The house is massive and has enough rooms to hold everyone that came plus more. With his enhanced hearing Helo can tell that some people are already awake.
Making his way to the kitchen he stops as he hears a voice that he remembers. Speeding up Helo enters the kitchen and sees Wendy near the stove. She is in the middle of an argument with Aiko, Delila, and Mila.
Aiko is Hinata’s longtime friend and maid. Mila runs the servants for the entire BrightMoon family and Delila is Alli’s maid. “No, I get to cook. I’m sure that Mr. BrightMoon is getting sick of your cooking. He should get something new and fresh.” Wendy says to Mila with a flip of her wrist that sends her hair over her shoulder.
“AHH, you did not just say that.” Mila says while looking at Wendy with a glare. “At least I work for a clan head. I don’t just sell my services to anyone who looks my way and waves money.” Mila smirks as she can see Wendy stop. The energy around Wendy flares and the stove stops flare to life. Mila on the other hand is standing and glaring as all the light bends around her.
Helo is watching this happen and wants to step in. Both women have unconsciously released their aura. From what he has learned, as you get stronger you have to start intentionally holding in the power of your body otherwise it flares around you. This is part of the reason that you need an aura to reach tier 3. It is how you control that power outside your body.
As he is about to step forward, he feels a hand on his shoulder. Turning around Helo can see Micah, Graham, Cheyeene and Kiyoki. Micah has a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head.
“Well, it looks like food will have to wait.” Cheyeene says. “They are always like this.” She steps forward and hugs Helo. This makes him a little uncomfortable but also is kind of nice. “They both are stuck at tier 2. They are close to unlocking their auras but have yet to. Because of this they both started cooking and get competitive about it.”
The group in the doorway watches as Mila and Wendy storm out the door and to the training field. They all turn to follow so that they can watch the fight. The only person left in the room is Aiko. She looks out the front door before smirking and heading to the kitchen.
Outside at the training field Wendy and Mila stand on either side of the area. They are about one-hundred feet apart. Both have their powers flared and are putting pressure around themselves. Wendy is surrounded by a heatwave that looks like she is in an oven. While Mila is warping the light around her creating bright and dark spots.
On the sidelines Graham speaks up. “This will be dueling rules. It should be good for Helo to watch.” Both women nod at his words and rush at one another. “Keep your eyes peeled Helo. You have been shown skills from Micah but this will be your first tier 2 fight.”
On the left there is a tornado of flames that washes over the area. Stepping out of the flames Wendy is now wearing a red and gold form fitting battle robe. On the other side there is a bright flash of light followed by darkness. Stepping out of the darkness Mila is now in a white robe with black accents.
“Also keep in mind that the Starhaven family are the descendants of the Celestial Elves. They don’t have the celestial affinity. But they do tend to have light affinities.” Micah points at Mila as she takes a step forward and raises her hand.
It looks like reality bend as the light around her is drawn to her hand. As it glows brighter her mana flares and a lance of light races forward is a flash. Wendy can see Mila raise her hand, so she bends low and send up a fall of flame. The light and flames meet with an explosion of heat and the lance of light pierces through.
They light pierces through the flames where Wendy was standing but by the time it does, she is running to the left of her flame wall. Jumping in the air Wendy spins and fire spreads out around her. She is lifted up in the center of the fire tornado on a warm air current.
As Wendy is rising up Mila is gathering more light. Pulling a staff out of her storage pouch Mila spins it on her left side and the light follows. Lashing out in front of her Mila sends of a blade of searing light toward Wendy.
As the light blade is traveling toward Wendy, she raises her hands in the air and all the spins around her rising up into the sky and dropping her toward the ground. The abrupt drop makes the light blade miss. But the vortex of flame continues to rise into the air and spin in a whirl of reds, blues and oranges.
Landing on the ground Wendy lets out a heavy breath and claws into the air in front of her. As she does the vortex of flame turns in the air and heads directly toward Mila. As the flame crashes down in a conflagrating directly over Mila, Wendy smiles.
As she flames wash out in a circle and clear away Wendy’s smile vanishes. She expected to see a burned Mila in a circle of charred grass. But there is nothing frantically looking around Wendy can see a flash of light out of her periphery vision.
Mila appears looking a little sweaty but otherwise fine. After her light blade she controlled the light to send her image toward Wendy from the wrong position. The only reason she had time to do something so complicated was because Wendy’s attack had a lot of buildup.
Holding up her hand the light is drawn into her fist and she punches forward. A ball of light shoots toward Wendy and she dives to dodge. A blast of fire leaves her feet, pushing her away but she gets clipped by the light ball. It sears into her arm and continues forward.
“This is the problem with chefs like you.” Mila says to Wendy. “You feel a need to show off your goods to make more money, when a quick and simple technique is usually better.” Mila smirks at her and scoffs.
“Awwe. At least I know how to entertain everyone.” Wendy says and the air heats up again.
The fighting continues for another thirty minutes. Wendy uses vortexes to draw in air and increase the power of her fire. While Mila warps light around her and send it forward in piercing attacks of heat.
Neither woman is using attacks that will do major damage, but both of them have been fighting for half an hour. They have been using large amounts of mana and are running out their reserves.
This is one thing that surprised Helo, Mana regeneration is slower than natural energy regeneration. He can fight for hours on end if he is liberal in his use with his skills. Both of these women are peak of tier 2 and are using massive amounts of mana.
As everyone is enjoying the show of the two women fighting, they are all surprised as they hear steps coming from behind them. Looking back Micah starts laughing loudly. “Hahaha! Aiko! Your amazing!”
Aiko is stepping up to a table behind them and setting down platters for food. Back on the field Mila and Wendy stop their fighting as they hear Micah’s laugh.
“Keep fighting! This is breakfast and a show.” Micah says to the two women. The rest of the group laughs as the head toward the outside seating and start eating the food Aiko made.
The two fighters are almost bottomed out on mana and join the table. As they are all eating everyone else comes out to join. Calain is there with some of the members of his party. The rest of Helo’s party is there as well.
“Well well well!” Bernard says as he walks into the backyard. “What a beautiful day for us all to eat outside.” He takes a seat next to Cheyeene and starts digging into the food. Entering into the backyard is a massive stag. “Oh Twigs. Come and get some food.” At this Bernard pulls out a carrot and tosses it into the air.
Helo could feel the mana wafting off the vegetable from across the table. From the look on the giant deer’s face, it is also delicious.
“Alright now that we are all here let’s talk about how the rest of the day will go.” Graham says to the group. “We have a duel that can take place now that Helo is fifteen-years old. It is tonight at five. It will be a simple duel, but it is to the death.”
Looking at Helo, Graham speaks to him. “You can expect light magic and a higher level. But, the Starhaven family tends to let their assumed superiority get in the way of training.”
“Yeah kid. He is gonna be an arrogant bastard.” Micah adds. While everyone else is eating and listening.
“So, what do you recommend?” Helo asks the two.
“Well light magic is fast. You saw Mila’s attacks. She tends to draw in light and then strengthen it and launch it. The Starhaven family just uses spells. He is only tier 1, so it will be a lot of light bolts and screens.” Micah says to Helo. “Dodge initially, then get in close and take him down.”
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With that said the group gets back to eating, once they are done everyone else leaves but Micah, Bernard, Graham, and Calain. “Hey Helo, just one more thing.” Graham says to him.
“You need to be careful while you’re here. The Starhaven family are a bunch of assholes.” Micah says to him.
After that Helo walks away and goes inside with the group. Outside Micah, Bernard and Graham are talking while Calain sits aside and scowls. “I don’t see why you put some much effort into the child.”
“He is a strong kid Calain.” Bernard says to him while trying to sound reassuring.
“He should be more respectful to us. We are the clan leaders, but he acts like he is above us.” Calain says back with a scowl.
“Calain. It isn’t about him bowing to us.” Micah says to him with a squint in his eye. “We don’t require that out people worship us.”
“Hmpf. How will we stay in control when the integration happens.” Calain says to the older men. “Everyone is going to grow stronger. We need to have a backup plan if we need to take control!” By the end he raised his voice and is looking between the three men with anger.
Calain doesn’t have the same potential as his sister and has been letting his resentment eat him up. “You know what. I’ll be the clan leader soon. I’ll figure it out.” He gets up while shoving his chair back. The chair shoots through the air and cracks against a wall.
Leaving the area with his fists clenched Calain starts making plans to get rid of his sister. She is his biggest obstacle to taking his father’s place and Helo will get in the way.
Back at the table with the three men, Micah waves his hands to the servants that are outside of the tables silencing enchantment. As they come in and clear the table from breakfast Graham speaks. “I’m not sure how things got this bad with him. Ever since Allie was shown to have the fate affinity, he has been getting harder to deal with.” Shaking his head Graham pushes off dealing with his son.
Looking at his phone that is ringing on the table Bernard gets up. “I have to go. People are arriving and I need to be there to make sure everything goes smoothly.”
“We are going to be around for a long time Graham.” Micah says to his younger brother. “We will be able to work with him.”
In side the house Helo is getting changed into some training clothes and is planning on practicing.
All around the resort people are arriving to watch the duel. This is a massive hassle for Bernard because everyone has their own needs and customs. Not to mention some groups are far more confrontational.
The Italian family runs a branch of the mafia and uses it to smuggle goods and people around the world. The brother of the clan head Enzo Carbani is the nominal leader of the mafia. The cousin that is related to Kenneth and on Calain’s team has ties to them as well.
The brother is the head of the mafia because the clan leader spends most of his time training and in the dungeon. He is one of the strongest people on earth and his strength is the reason that the other families haven’t wiped out organized crime.
The Lopez family are in a similar situation. They run a lot of gangs and organized crime in North and South America. Due to these family’s strengths the other families tolerate the crime.
It is due to families like these that Bernard has to be incredibly cautious as he plans for their arrivals. Many people within the awakened community will be using the connected mana-tech systems to watch the duel. The neutral families will broadcast the fight to the other families.
Even if the fight will be broadcasted using magic there are still many important people coming. The Japanese, Egyptian, Russian, Guatemalan, and Italian families are all visiting and came to watch the fight.
While Helo is practicing Akira Kashiwagi arrived and heads straight to the BrightMoon clan compound. All of the BrightMoon guards bow as he walks past.
“Mr. Akira! It is good to see you.” Mila says as she steps outside of the house. “Bernard and the others are out back talking.”
Turning to walk around the house Akira starts going to the back of the house. As he is walking Calain stomps up and hits his shoulder. Bouncing off his shoulder Calain looks up with a grimace and stops short before he yells.
“Mr. Kashiwagi. Sorry.” He says with a glare before heading inside.
Watching Calain slam the front door to the house Akira shakes his head and goes to see his friends. “Your son is very angry Graham-San. This seems like it will turn into a problem.”
“I know Akira-San. He won’t get in the way of our daughters’ growth. I know it is important to you.” Graham says to him with a serious voice. “We are already planning on talking with him.”
“I can’t believe they respect him so much!” Calain shouts as he is inside.
“Well, we should do something about it.” Braden says. He is Luca’s cousin-in-law to his mother’s side and is the older brother to Kenneth. “My brother is having issues getting closer to your sister. We need to get rid of Helo.” Braden says to him while patting his shoulder.
“You want to what? Kill him off? All I wanted was for him to be shown as incompetent. That is why I helped you teach your brother how to augment his ‘Taunt’ skill.” Calain shrugs Braden’s hand off his shoulder.
“We don’t need to kill him. Maybe we just get a note to Victious Starhaven about Helo’s strengths and weaknesses. If he tells his son than it is his own decision.” Braden says back and starts writing a note of all the things Kenneth has told them about Helo.
“Wait.” Calain says. Looking like he is struggling with his decision, he nods his heads and keeps on speaking. “Only tell him about Helo’s recent training and speed.” Anything else is a betrayal to the family.”
Calain ends up looking out the window of his room as he finishes speaking. He doesn’t see Braden’s face as he looks angry for Calain’s choice. “Yes, your right. We wouldn’t want that.” He says while acting respectful.
“Get out of my way!” Victious Starhaven yells as he walks into the arena complex at Bernard’s Spa. The elf is tall with blonde hair and an arguably beautiful face. But the constant sneer makes him appear cruel. Walking into a lounge near his personal seating box, Victious shoves past a serving girl as he enters.
When he hits her, she falls to the floor, spilling the tea she was carrying all over herself and Victious. “Do you know what you have done!” Victious yells at her with a snarl in his voice before kicking her in the stomach as she is trying to get up.
The kick from the tier 3 mage sends the serving girl off the ground and into the nearby wall. Hitting the wall with a scream the girl falls limp to the floor. After he attacks her Victious casually casts a spell that cleans his clothing, then he sits in a chair and waits to be served.
Outside the door way you can see a group of men and women who want to rush in to help, but they are scared that they will be attacked as well.
A new girl named Emily pushes past all the other servers. Entering in the room she gasps and has tears pool into her eyes as she sees her new friend slumped onto the floor bleeding.
Rushing forward she doesn’t even look at the man who is casually sitting down staring at her dying friend. Getting to her friend she rolls her onto her stomach and casts a cleansing spell that clears her airways. Wiping the blood from her friends mouth she doesn’t notice as a shadow falls over her.
“Well, they sent a beast to clean up the trash.” Victious says as he reaches down grabs Emily by her ears. She is a rabbit-kin, her hair is white and she has cleansing magic. “At least I have a new pet to entertain myself.” He says this while pulling the far weaker girl toward the chair by her ears.
As he sits down knocking can be heard from outside the door. “My Prince, Luca Carbani is her to see you.”
Looking down at the tear-stained girl at his feet, Victious sighs before kicking her back and saying, “Get out of my sight you filthy animal, and take the trash out with you.”
Scrambling to her friend Emily grabs her by the shoulders and drags her out of the room as fast as she can. Outside the door one of the servants has healing skills and quickly uses them on the girl.
Hearing a scoff all the servants turn to look as a handsome young man walks by. “How unsightly.” He says while entering the room. Slightly nodding his head, he says “Prince Starhaven, I have some information for you.”
With a laugh Vicitous looks down at the young man, even from his position sitting on a couch. “What do you think you know that will be of any use to me?”
“Well, what if I said that I have information on the child your son is fighting?” Luca says while holding his hands out.
“Kuh, why would I care about him. He will be dead soon.” Victious says while waving Luca away. “Just leave Carbani child. Don’t you have some drugs to hand out or something.”
A flash of anger goes through Luca’s eyes. That side of the family is dealt with by his uncle on his father’s side and has nothing to do with him. He finds that work to be a nuisance. “All I wanted was enough of your Celestial Metal to make an anti-dark charm. My little cousin Camilla doesn’t care for the night.”
“What makes you think that your information is worth even a drop of my family’s metal?” Victious sneers, the truth is he is getting a little more interested in this deal. If Luca is asking for Celestial Metal, then he must have important information.
“Well, I guess you just have to ask yourself, what is your sons life worth?” Luca says with a concerned face. Both men know that Luca cares little for Dorimer, but he can act like he does to get a deal.
“My son needs no help fighting that child.” He says with his family’s classic smug attitude. As Luca raises an eyebrow, his face turns into a sneer. If this was any other kid Victious would have him kidnapped and tortured. But Luca’s father is one of the most powerful men on earth. “Fine, I’ll be the judge.”
With a smile Luca nods his head. He knows that Victious is far to proud to go back on a deal. At least he is if he can’t just have everyone involved tossed in his clan’s jail. Luca was given all the information Kenneth had about Helo. Calain told Braden to only give away information on Helo’s ability with a naginata and his speed. But Braden gave all the information to his cousin-in-law Luca.
Now Luca is going to give away as much of the information as he needs to create an enchantment that can be used to fight dark energy. This brings a quick smile to his face. His last plan two years ago didn’t work. Helo ended up saving the girls, not him. But this time he wants to weaken both Helo and Dorimer.
Luca knows that if Helo goes all out Dorimer stands no chance. Even if Dorimer is creeping up on peak tier 1. But the BrightMoon family are trying to hid Helo’s true strength. So, win or lose if he can make the fight more difficult for both of them, he will be in a better position. Especially if he gets the required materials to have a pendent enchanted to counter Helo.
“Well, Helo has gained initial proficiency with the BrightMoon fighting techniques.” Luca says this first because it should be the first thing revealed during the fight. Looking at Victious he can see his surprise by it isn’t enough. “His stats are also higher than his level reveals. He has some kind of bloodline.”
At that he can tell he almost has him. One last thing and he knows exactly what to reveal. “He also has a few high tear items. My informant talked about how Calain was shouting when Helo soulbound them after his beginner trial.”
At that Victious stands to his feet. He is a few inches taller than Luca and looks down on him. “Fine. I must go speak with my son. I will have a quarter pound of Celestial Metal sent to your box.”
As Victious leaves the room with a swish of his cape and a flash of light, Luca is left with a smile on his face.
In the locker room under the arena Victious appears in a flash of light. He is as cocky and proud as he appears. But he also wears his attitude like a cloak. Harassing others sets them on edge and gives him leverage.
He would have had leverage over Graham in the last clan meeting. Micah struck him, he was surprised by the hit. But he was trying to set the brothers off. He would have had room for concession if one of his subordinates didn’t try to steal someone’s pet.
Striding into the room Victious finds his soon in the midst of stress relief with one of his personal servants. “How unsightly.” He says as he enters the room. The woman scrambles to her feet and searches for her clothing, while his son just lays there and looks at him with a frown.
“What do you want father. I was in the middle of training.” Dorimer says with some anger.
“Don’t you raise your voice at me boy!” Victious yells. His yell shakes the room around them due to the power of his mana. “You can treat the lesser being however you please. But I alone am greater than you.” He says while pressuring his son with his aura.
“Akk, hu, hu, yes father.” Dorimer coughs and pants trying to catch his breather. “What do you need?”
“I have some new information. Helo is skilled in the staff sighting techniques.” Victious says to his son. “He also has some impressive gear.”
“This is perfect. When I kill him, I can claim them as my prize.” Dorimer says to his father. “This day just gets better; can you leave so I can get back to my training?”
“Dorimer, have you truly trained at all?” Victious says to his son with some disappointment in his tone.
“Why would I have to do that? I am a descendant of the Celestial Elves. I have no need to train.” Dorimer says back flippantly.
With a slight grimace that his son doesn’t catch Victious turns to leave. “Just finish the fight quickly.”
“Don’t worry father. I’ll put him in his place. Then I will kill him. I need to show everyone why I am superior.” Dorimer says with confidence as he calls in another girl.
Leaving the room Victious isn’t sure what to do. He instilled into his son the confidence of the Celestial Elves. They are one of the original races, and are born better than most. Victious might be haughty and lean into it to win, but he also has hundreds of years of experience. One of the issues with the elves is that some of their children see their long lives as a reason to take their time. On an elven world that might not be an issue. But on a mixed-race world where power matters, they need strength.
Realizing his son is a lost cause, at least when it comes to taking this fight seriously. Victious has to come up with another plan. His son might be older and higher level, but Victious knows that levels are not everything.
All around the arena everyone else is starting to gather. It is the afternoon and is almost time for the dual to start. Many of the families are using this duel as a means to connect and make plans.
There are sixteen main clans. But each of those clans has multiple cities or towns. All around the arena people are meeting to talk business, drink, or gamble.
Helo and his party are just starting to arrive that the arena. It is in the center of the compound in a walled of section that is connected to the front entrance and the resort. The arena is separated from the public, but once the integration starts the arena will be open to the public.
They have technology to scan an individual and make a copy of them that can enter into a virtual simulation to fight. These can project individuals into the arenas and allow them to fight without the fear of death. It can also project them into other arenas. This is a great way for the world to stay connected and entertained.
But this fight is different. It is to the death, so there is no simulation.