— Hikari —
[Physique : 850]
[Mana : 950]
[Defense: 850]
[Mind: 870]
[Height: 5.1 meters]
[Weight: 3200 kg]
[Heart of wyvern: 100]
[Telekinesis: 400]
[RazenHeir flame: 250]
It was morning.
The golden sun rose over the grey stone of the wyvern peaks.
Hikari spent the night meditating in the ritual circle.
The husk of the knight's heart sat quietly before her.
She spent the night absorbing its power.
Sleepily, she raised one arm and flexed.
Did she get bigger? Stronger?
She can't tell just from flexing her arms.
Her boot soles lay flat before her.
She took off her boots and socks to make sure her muscle expansion didn't damage them.
Now she'll use them to find out if she's gotten bigger.
The edges of her toes spilled slightly over the sole.
She's bigger now.
Same thing for her sock bottoms.
She might have to march barefoot back to Escher.
Even if she assembled her socks, her small boots would feel too uncomfortable to wear.
Walking with bare socks on the country dirt would get her in trouble with the laundry maids.
Her master Sheela would approve of a barefoot march.
She checked her armor.
Gaps appeared in the wyvern skin.
She avoided sealing them tight so as not to damage the weaving runes.
She planted both feet flat on the ground and stood.
The stone warmed in the morning sun.
She felt the ground's warmth beneath her bare feet.
The cold wind breezed over the tops.
She tried walking.
Small steps.
Good, she did not fall over.
Her body felt heavy.
The knight's heart was not the only thing she ingested.
As she meditated, she drew power from the last remaining mana sphere she hadn't shattered during the fight.
She examined it closely.
Drained of its power, it was nothing more than a ridiculously large marble.
Still, it could sell pretty well.
High-grade mana crystals could still make mana batteries.
It's just too bulky even for her to transport all the way back to the estate.
Perhaps the broken pieces?
She walks around the ritual circle.
No good.
She fried the broken pieces of the mana sphere when she shattered them.
Overused crystal dust is only good for paving roads, making it worth little more than the random stones lying around her.
She walks up to the dead knight.
Even on its knees, it was roughly her height.
It was certainly a powerful foe.
If she hadn't disrupted the ritual, she might have fought it head-on.
In that case, she would lead it further into the wyvern peaks or deep into the desert and lose it in the sandstorm.
That was a tough fight, she thought.
Plenty to reflect on once she returned to the estate.
Especially its fire, which turned the stone into lava.
It's fire.
She returned to the middle of the circle.
Since she absorbed its mana, she might be able to use it.
It seemed like a damn good spell, able to melt stone and possibly steel armor.
The only downside might be its range.
Its extremely quick drop-off is what let her survive the monster's first wave.
She picks up her sword.
She can immediately recognize its potential.
In fact, she already used it against the abomination she fought the previous knight.
A searing sword that melts her opponents' flesh on contact.
It dealt upfront damage that would preclude a counterattack.
This was unlike her slow-burning RazenHeir flame, where she had to defend herself after a strike while the flames gradually consumed her opponent.
She closed her eyes and visualized holding the searing sword.
Her mana courses through her body.
She feels the warmth in her hands.
Her sword responds to her.
That's it! A searing sword that melts stone.
She stands and holds the sword in a thrusting stance.
The surrounding rock formations make for good training dummies.
Thud. She charged, thrusting her sword into the rock formation.
The tip of her sword chipped off a piece of rock.
She examined her handiwork, hesitant to pick it up, thinking it might burn her hand.
Nope. It was just a cold piece of stone, like the others lying around.
Hikari scratches her cheek.
No one, including her, could master a new mana form that fast.
Her innate ability to use multiple forms at all was already genius.
Back to humble practice.
She lays down her sword and begins her meditation.
Start with what she already knows.
Her body expanded again, so she has to retrain.
She gathers her throwing daggers.
She managed to recover most of them.
The ones she used to parry the mid-sized giants guarding the last spire took little damage.
The ones she threw at the abomination knight were no longer usable.
The knight fried their runes with a kind of mana flow that extinguished her RazenHeir flames.
The blades themselves were bent and melted when it channeled its flames through its body.
Gently, she channeled her telekinesis.
The daggers chattered on the ground because she hadn't channeled enough mana.
She pushed; the daggers started shuffling around.
That wasn't what she wanted; she wanted to lift them.
It was annoying that she had to figure it out every time she grew.
She pushed more mana.
The daggers flew in all directions, plunging themselves into the rock formation.
"Ivory berries."
She cursed.
She tried to retrieve them, but only caused a rock storm, messing everything up.
She cursed again.
Now she has to collect all her gear by hand.
She needs the exercise anyway.
After some menial labor, she gathered everything in one corner, so her telekinesis wouldn't blow it away.
She'll practice with random rocks.
Back to meditation.
It seemed like she had to start from the very basics.
Before she knew it, her stomach rumbled.
Hungry.
Only the remains of some branches were left.
The night before, she had found some fruit growing at the base of the tower.
She had already eaten half of her ration packs.
Time to gather more.
She'd eat her staple food more sparingly; it is a good rule of thumb for surviving in the wilderness.
There was a small cave. Vines sprouted from the underground water below.
Golden flowers that glowed in the dark.
She ate them fresh, plucked directly from the vine.
As she chewed, her body absorbed their mana.
It was just like ivory berries that grew in the spire cities.
They contained the mana that powered the cities.
Chewy and unseasoned- that's what it's like to survive in the wild.
She's had enough; it's time to wrap up and return to Escher.
Her lady must be worried about her by now.
Just as she was about to leave the cave, she darted back.
A huge shadow on the ground, shaped like a wyvern.
The wyverns she was used to would have to fly very low to cast a shadow that big.
"What was that?"
Probably nothing friendly, she thought.
Perhaps it was the wyvern queen everyone was talking about.
She was ill-prepared to face it.
She put up a sound barrier and remained absolutely still within the cave.
There was silence.
Nothing but the howling winds of the wyvern peaks.
Something that big would be making loud sounds just by flying past.
Perhaps it was just her imagination.
She used the time to stuff more of the glowing golden petals into her harvest sack.
She hopes they survive the journey.
They are a better substitute for ivory berries, simply because they taste slightly better.
Even if she could only gather enough for a few meals.
She emerged from the cave and began packing.
Boot soles and socks in.
Sheela's binding and salamander skin would have to carry the march to Escher.
She could only recover the golden flowers.
The abomination knight absorbed the mana crystals from the herds of monsters.
In turn, she absorbed its heart, so she guessed she'd already looted those.
The knight's armor was too heavy for her to move.
She hates metal armor anyway.
They are inflexible. They don't block much anyway, and their weight restricts her mobility.
So was its sword.
It was too much even for her.
Winding it up for a swing would make her too exposed.
"Time to go."
Strapping her sword to her back, she turned away from the tower.
She stopped.
She sensed a presence coming from the tower.
No harm in checking it out.
She walked up the stairs towards the tower's gate.
The broad steps were big enough for her feet.
She stood before the tower gate.
It was imposing even for her.
From afar, she thought the patterns on the gate were nothing but erosion from centuries of exposure to the air.
Up close, they looked like murals from a long-lost civilization.
"Interesting."
It would be a nice find for her lady to hear about.
Bird-like creatures, presumably wyverns.
People in robes, some riding wyverns.
Some tossing nets and spears and them.
And some depicting wyverns burning things.
"Mount."
Hikari wishes she had one every time she saw the other knights riding horses.
But even the wyverns she fought while escorting the merchant convoys through the wyvern pass wouldn't hold her weight.
Much less fly with her on their backs.
She takes a mental picture of the mural.
She has much to talk about once she rejoins her lady.
But beyond that, there was nothing else interesting about a gate she could not budge.
There doesn't even appear to be a keyhole anywhere to pick.
She shrugs.
It had been an interesting journey.
"(flames)"
A voice rang in her head.
She felt dizzy and gripped the gate for support.
"Flames?"
She was confused.
The gate seemed to be made of metal similar to her sword.
She had wielded it long enough to believe it was fairly impervious to flames and actually an incredible conductor of them.
She gives it a shot anyway.
Her palms pressed onto the cold metal.
She closed her eyes and channeled her mana, trying hard to visualize the searing flames the knight had just faced.
Her palms felt warm.
A small patch of runes on the gate glowed.
Then, a chain reaction.
Column after column of runes glowed, spreading across the gate.
It was as if the whole tower was awakening to her presence.
The ground trembled violently around her.
Hikari leaped backward.
She couldn't believe what she saw.
The massive gate opened before her.
Wind blew into its chambers, sweeping away centuries of built-up dust.
Whoosh! Baizers all along the stairs flared.
They appeared to be ignited by pure mana from the tower.
She senses a strong mana presence ahead.
Just to be sure, she released her mana sense to check for any living beings around her.
No one but her and the centuries-old mechanisms of an abandoned tower.
"Loot."
If she were the first to open the tower in centuries, the loot would still be there.
She marched forth.