[Location: Planet Grania.]
[More Specifically: Mount Grania; the Smallest Mountain across the planet.]
For more than two hours, according to the system’s timer, the Humans had trekked tirelessly without any signs of perspiration, exhaustion, or fatigue. With their tendrils wrapping the barrels on their backs, they effortlessly walked uphill without facing any difficulties so far. In fact, it was so easy that they were all sprinting as fast as they could. The space between them and the edge of the mountain was vast, allowing them to run at effortless speeds. What would have taken them almost twelve hours to do had taken them roughly two hours with a couple more miles of land left to cover.
’This is an excellent exercise for my endurance,’ Ace thought to himself. ’If I keep this up, I might be able to hit over sixty points for both agility and stamina.’
Four more hours passed. The Granian sky developed a greenish-blue hue as the planet’s sun started to set over the horizon. Jim, having assumed the position of leader himself, decided that it would be best to set up camp for the night.
"We should get some rest and resume early in the morning," he said while placing his barrel on the ground. "I think it’s safe to say that neither of us is hungry, right?"
"But since neither of us is hungry or tired, why should we rest now?" Anya asked, having failed to see the purpose of resting since no one was exhausted. "We should be moving on so that we finish this phase as quickly as possible."
"It makes sense," Cherry added, "but we’re on a strange planet and have no idea what’s waiting for us up there."
"One Horn did say we would encounter dangerous beasts. The level of their danger depends on our own individual strength, so that should be something to consider," Ace also added. "But in her defense, Jim, we don’t know how long it’ll be until sunrise. We’ve all been cooped up inside for days and haven’t had the opportunity to understand this planet fully."
Jim remained quiet for a while, pondering the critiques from his comrades. He then formulated a plan which he thought would be the most suitable.
"Alright then. Since neither of us is showing signs of exhaustion yet, we should go ahead."
They agreed, just before Jim had something else to add.
"These barrels are going to slow us down. I suggest we do this." Jim opened his barrel and manipulated all the green Granian blood into a long, green staff. "It would be much easier for us to solidify our blood weapons. You never know when we’ll need to squeeze in through tight spaces. Do we all agree?"
The others answered and did the same as Jim. Anya turned her blood into a large hatchet since there wasn’t much of it left. Cherry turned hers into two long blades and used a little bit of blood to create a hard scabbard. Ace, on the other hand, turned his blood into a longer sword and unlike the others, he stored it in his system’s inventory.
’How am I just remembering this now?’ he questioned himself.
"Good. Shall we all proceed?"
"You don’t have to ask me twice." Anya muttered and started walking before the others followed shortly. The sky darkened from a greenish-blue hue to a pitch-black color. The environment was echoing with the sounds of insects, each one varying in size. Some were as large as small dogs, while others were no larger than a flea. They didn’t bother any of the Blood Mutants, but it didn’t keep them safe from being killed either.
[+2 Stat points for gaining a new blood sample.]
[Total Stat Points: 2]
"Show me more blood skills you got, Ace," Cherry, who was walking side-by-side with her brother, decided to use their little trekking adventure to learn new blood moves. "I’ve learned the explosive blood technique, and I showed you how to make a blood clone."
"What else do you want to learn?" He asked, having gone through most of his skills and learning that Cherry already knew them.
"Show her the pulse breaker," Anya said, remembering the same move she and Ace used on the Ethisians not so long ago.
"It’s a skill Anya and I came up with," Ace went on to explain. "It’s simple. All you have to do is to place your hand directly on your target’s heart and coagulate the blood in their heart. This will stop it from beating and give them a few short seconds to live."
"Oh, I get it now," Cherry cheered. "Why didn’t you use it on Grania, Anya?"
*Huff* Anya sighed heavily, having hoped that people would stop asking her about her confrontation with Lord Grania.
"I did get my hands on him but for some reason, I wasn’t able to extract blood from him," she answered. "I think it’s that green aura that protected the pores on his scaly skin from my attempts to drain his blood."
"He must be more powerful than we think then," Jim added. As he spoke, Ace went quiet all of a sudden and started looking around. With his night vision, he scanned the area they were in and noticed that the terrain changed from a soft, dirt texture to a hard, rocky terrain.
"We’re on the second layer of the mountain," he pointed out, quickly utilizing his system scan skill.
[Over two hundred life forms within a one-hundred-foot radius.]
"We’ve got signs of life." he added once more, quickly turning his hands into claws. Just then, the others heard the sounds of gnarls, snarls, whimpers, and bellows encamped around them. They slowly stood next to each other, each one having pulled out their weapons.
"Now’s a great time for me to exercise that Pulse Breaker skill," Cherry added as she too turned her hands into claws.
"Ace, what do you see?" Jim asked for Ace was the only one with a skill that allowed him to see what the others couldn’t, despite the fact that they all had night vision.
"Err, I’m spotting creatures that look like those damned Xof creatures," he said. "They’re hiding in the rocks."
"How big are they?" Official source ıs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✦𝓷𝓮𝓽
"No bigger than a wild dog."
"Alright, everyone stick together. Don’t go too far off," Jim answered while he pointed the ends of his blood staff. Anya halved her large hatchet into two smaller and more compact ones, allowing her to move swiftly and quickly.
{Species Name: Drof.}
{Strength: Tough, thick layer of skin. Little to no blood within.}
{Weaknesses: Stubby legs which impair their movement and slow down their agility.}
[The Foot of the Mountain.]
Lord Grania, Grim, Helda, One Horn, and Skyler were all gathered in a small tent that was pitched up for Lord Grania’s accommodation. Since he wasn’t going to be returning to his castle any sooner, he ordered that his sleeping arrangement be brought to him as he taught Skyler about the Granian aura or Eneraflux.
At the moment, Lord Grania ordered Grim, One Horn, and Helda to stand with Skyler as he went over the basics of Eneraflux.
"Eneraflux, an energy that is within every intelligent being in the universe. Humans call it aura. Similarly, we call it life energy or essence. I believe your people call it that as well, yes?"
"Very good. Unlike you humans who use it for enlightenment, we Granians use it for strength and protection over our mortal bodies. Eneraflux comes from two words, Energy and Flux. Flux is simply something going through a continuous change or flow so Eneraflux is our energy going through a continuous change or flow.
"Since this energy’s constantly flowing and changing, we learned how to conjure it, master it, and bend it to our will. Behold."
Lord Grania’s body emitted a green glow which slowly created a misty version of himself. The aura split itself once more and created another mist, giving Lord Grania two clones of himself made of his aura.
"As you can see, I have manipulated my Eneraflux to create clones of myself. These clones will repeat exactly as I tell them to. Some manipulators can give their aura’s life and free will. Sadly, I am not at that level yet."
"How do I get this energy then?" Skyler asked, having beheld what could truly become of her if she learned to manipulate her energy. If she did, she would be at the same energy level as the Blood Mutants, or maybe even higher than them.
"Listen carefully," Grania spoke while his aura clones vanished. "Learning this skill takes a good amount of time and dedication. Depending on one’s willpower, they can learn it within a matter of months. Converted to the time scale you understand, it will be approximately a human year."
"Don’t fret, human," Grania smiled. "Thankfully for you, you have nothing important to do. Therefore, you are to dedicate half of your days to training and learning how to control your energy. Grim, Helda, and One Horn will teach you. When they see that you have learned how to control it, I will show you how to skillfully use it. Understood?"