15 sDo you know whats an Immortal?s (1/2)

Ah, how I miss women from the capital. Even in town there were some ladies easy on the eyes, but the ones from the capital, well, those had a different flavor. They seemed to have a body made of fire, and then she…

Lying on a straw mattress, Vidio was flooded with memories of the young girls who had made his head spin so many years before. How many delightful nights he had spent in the company of those girls…

But he had dared too much. He associated with women that he should have never even thought about… And these were the results. Now, he had to go back to the capital, since Floralivory City had been razed to the ground; at least according to the Rangers' report.

He wondered how he would settle business with the old guy… That dude was over three hundred years old and he was an expert in holding a grudge. Maybe he would have sent him on the other side of the world again, to waste his life on kids and idiots?

It was really difficult to find real talent in small towns. Helial was the exception; it would have been impossible to meet another Helial.

Vidio had long dreamed of entering Helial in the tournament held in the Capital for kids up to 18 years old. It was one of the biggest events in the Nation. It was held every year and only young people up to 18 years of age could take part. Vidio's plan was to train Helial until he could fight at the best of his abilities and then enter him in the tournament. With his talent he could easily classify in the top 100. He had never seen him fight for real, since he wanted to hone his already exceptional Mana Control first. People that had a better control over Mana than him could probably be counted on one hand, in the entire Nation.

That boy always refused to show me his Mana Seed. Maybe he was ashamed… After all, he didn't listen to me and condensed it on his own. He must have condensed a very weak one. What a shame. However, this doesn't mean much. Even though he could have never become the best warrior in the Nation, his control was a talent worth cultivating.

Vidio was really sorry. He regretted losing the boy. He was his ticket to the official gallery in the tournament…

***

Helial picked up some coins and a pair of torn pants from the Goblin that he had just killed. The objects were all low-level. Goblins could not be expected to go around with expensive equipment.

He approached the other body. Nothing valuable on that one.

Helial's right hand was covered in blood. Using Mana Pistol twice in a row put his body through a lot of stress. If he had lowered the impact of the blow, however, he could not take out even an Infantry Goblin.

He sighed. He was weak, too weak. In spite of that, the corners of his mouth curled up in a smile. He was still free. He could decide his own destiny.

Many people believe that one needs power to be in charge of their own destiny, to be in control of their actions. Helial was convinced that these people were mistaken: to be free you just needed to be up for anything.

He walked back and picked up the Longsword with all the strength he had left, then left that place one step at a time, bent down by the weight of the weapon.

While walking, he kept flowing and reflowing the Mana inside his body. The constant tearing up and healing of the muscles were awarding him with Stat points.

He had earned two more Strength and Vigor points. He could clearly feel his muscles being remolded that burden was forcing him to make a ridiculous effort. Despite that, the regeneration of the muscular fibers was ensuring not only to regain but also to build up more strength.

Helial drew a conclusion: pushing his body to the very limit, and then healing it, could have been extremely beneficial. No one knew exactly the extent of the influence of Strength Points on the overall physical potential of the person. Theirs was a still unexplored world, despite all of the research conducted over the years.

During the Ancient Wars, people had found many more answers than in the present times; that valuable knowledge, however, had been lost in the destruction of war.

At 150 Strength Points, before reaching the First Phase, the arms had a strength of 300-400 pounds. As said before, this was not a general rule. If Helial still had had his old Stats, he could easily have picked up the Longsword. But now that he had the same Strength as Lumia, he could barely drag it around. Those four Strength points had helped lighten the burden, but it was still hard work.

While deep in thought, he had reached the cave.

He moved the rocks that covered the entrance almost completely . He left only some small openings to let light and air go through. Now it was almost dark. Helial and his sister did not dare to light up a fire, for fear of attracting the Goblins.

”Lumia, it's me, I'm back. I think I've found a place. We'll go when you're ready”, said Helial with a sigh, entering the cave. He was completely drenched in sweat. Even though he was not physically tired, his mind had been put through a lot of stress. He could not keep those Skills always activated.

”Idiot, this Breathing Technique is not bad at all. I earned several Stat Points today, almost ten!” cried Lumia excited, finally starting to feel useful.

Helial smiled. Lumia though was giving her back to him and did not see the kind smile that appeared on the brother's face. Helial's short and badly cut hair, dark as coal, were full of dirt and framed a face that did not look his age. His brow frowned constantly, the eyebrows knitted together. luckily, his sister could not see him…

But suddenly a thought crossed his mind. I never really tried to level up the other Skills, I never sought to force them to their limits. Today I want to see if the same principle I use with muscles can be applied to Skills.

Helial clenched his fists. He had to become stronger fast and he had to start now.

He decided to start from Perception. Right now it was one of him most valuable Skills. Despite being one of the first Skills to be learned, it was easy to get good results from it. Most people could not even take it to Master level.

Skills had 20 basic levels, the highest of which was the Master level; but there were many other above it. Helial was far from reaching even the middle of the basic levels.

Let's check…

Skill Activated:

Perception

Lv: 3

Exp: 20.6%

Cost 70 Mana/Sec

Effects:

You can clearly detect every Aura within a 1000 yd radius.

Helial kept the Skill window open, before activating it. Meanwhile, Lumia had fallen asleep. She was exhausted. Moving such huge amount of Mana was taxing on the mind and the Soul. No one had ever reached the sky from earth in just one leap.

Helial relaxed his muscles, then sat down cross-legged.