"This is so bullshit!" Drake roared, dragging the unconscious man on his back across the forest. Two loud and annoying onlookers yelling in his ears as he went.
"Do not just drag his feet! That's no way to treat the King of the Asurans!" his younger self bemoaned.
"If you don't have anything useful to say, just shut the hell up will you?! I've had one hell of a day and I don't need some back from the future version of myself telling me to handle our back from the future part 2 father, while we are running for our lives!" Drake roared.
"You could always leave him for the titans," Mir'phyra smiled next to him.
"You shut up too! You and your stupid Asuran little boy fetishes! Isn't he like 1/1000000000th of your age you old hag?!"
"Please… I am not that old, in fact Han is quite close to me in age, give or take a few thousand years."
Drake did a double take, looking at the dragon woman who was objectively goddess level beautiful. However, Drake's interactions with her made him nothing but sick to his stomach when he did. The problem was what she said had set off questions in his head.
If she is around the same age, relatively, as Han… How old does that actually make me..? The thought slightly terrifying him.
But the sounds of the ground being upheaved behind them quickly corrected his thinking to the present.
The titan children of Marun' Dune were not technically after them specifically. It seemed they were just ravaging the swarm's ranks for purely fun at this point.
However, the problem then arose of what happens when they've had their fill of fun? Would they go after the next strongest on the planet? The guards protecting the young masters and mistresses of the Primordials.
Or would they simply grow bored and consume the whole planet just as the lore about them said.
Drake thought that it would be the former. After watching the fight with Marun' Dune and Han Kol, he became suspicious of the information on Primordials and other history the system and their adjutants provided. Which sadly included Natto after a small strange interaction he had with her after visiting the church.
There was also another creeping and lingering problem, that Drake was conveniently ignoring ever since he saw Han fight with the Primordial Titan. The problem, that his blood was boiling.
The quick exchange that happened was a masterclass in fighting outnumbered against more powerful opponents. Which was something Drake hadn't dealt with since the tutorial and if he was being honest hasn't felt since.
It felt like years since they had been upheaved from their lives and cast into the tutorial where every day was a fight for survival. Where every mistake could be your last. And frankly, Drake missed it.
Looking over his shoulder again as he saw Han still out cold, a little over him the fiery mountain wading in the distance. He felt a need to try it.
Just like when he saw the B-Rank guards in the auction house. Something inside him was compelling him to fight them.
Drake had recovered enough after Han's display of aura to run while carrying him, however, he still was not at full strength. His status had filled, but the lingering pains of expending his strength was still a constant reminder that he had gone overboard once again.
Each stride he was made painfully aware of where he measured up against the other E-Ranks of this place right now. He lacked the proper skills, experience, and fighting aptitude to have a proper mindset for this type of fighting.
No, for war.
Drake hadn't grown up a real Asuran, or at least he didn't remember a spec of it and still remained sceptical to say the least. But he was at a point where he was looking for more holes than finding them.
The way that a life can be extended so far beyond what he used to know was possible made placing events hard. Mir'phyra alone could be older than Earth itself used to be and who knew if someone was even older than that.
Despite the situation at hand, all he could think about were the questions in his head. The surroundings cutting off the trains of thought as if telling him to stop asking every time he got too deep.
He shook his head, unable to ignore what was happening around him.
"Damned stupid swarm, I can't exactly fight with Asuran Goku on my back," he grumbled.
The swarm had finally caught up. And Drake wasn't in a good position to stop and clear the army of insects. There was also no telling if one of the chosen he had fought before could be lurking inside the swath of bodies buzzing and clacking.
He couldn't stop pressing in the direction he last saw Ganeer and the rest going, especially with the Titans on his heels. But he also had no real idea where the meeting point Han sent them to was either. At least not until he woke up and told him.
Summoning a spike of earth, Drake used it to make a small cage around Han and himself.
"Lo hicimos! We did it Boots! Now we just have to wait for the map to wake the hell up!"
Impatiently the swarm did not wait for Drake's joke to play out as the insects buzzed, charging him from all directions. Many of the same insects he saw before coming at him in spades.
But Drake had recovered enough to at the very least defend himself from the run of the mill E-Ranks and below.
His arms flared as he summoned his fire magic, producing a makeshift endowment and armament to boost his strength.
As they closed in, his right hand rose, dozens of spikes of earth and ice manifesting above him.
Suddenly the spikes of earth were set ablaze in black fire, Drake's hand lowering.
"Brimstone Salvos!"
The spikes rained down on the swarm, each spike pinning and skewering sets of insects to the ground as the kill notifications poured in left and right.
With the way ahead somewhat cleared, he rushed forward once more, using the spikes of ice to take out the odd insectoid that tried to impede him.
Drake focused on pressing forward, only getting into close combat skirmishes whenever he had no other choice. Letting his magic do the bulk of the work, he began getting into a rhythm of dodging, striking and impaling the bugs with his magic.
His status remained stable, never expending more than he had to as he waited for what might be lurking in the buzzing of the swarm. Or beyond it.
Making progress, or what little he could he continued for what felt like hours.
He was quickly reminded of his time in the tutorial when he fought the Tyrant Ant colony, but his current situation many times more taxing.
There was no telling when a powerful E-Rank would spontaneously spawn in and put him into a dire situation. Just knowing that, having it in the back of his mind as a constant. On top of the possibility of the Titans somehow finding their way to him, made a part of his mind nervous, scared even.
His human side.
But there was another part of his consciousness. A very distinct part that grew more and more elated at the thought of being caught. Of being pursued by someone stronger. Of a fight that was nigh impossible to win.
The Asuran part.
Drake suddenly felt a smile creep across his face. And at some point he had stopped moving forward to find a way back to the others, to escape. He was moving forward in search of those E-Ranks. For the next fight that made him feel alive.
His vision had gone red but this time it wasn't as if he blacked out. No, he was fully aware of his surroundings, wading through the swarm with ever growing vigor.
Each kill pushed the needle forward for a fight with something stronger, numbing himself to the previous fight.
It wasn't enough. He needed more, he needed something more. A deep empty hole at some point had opened up inside after seeing Han Kol fight Marun' Dune. A hole he needed to fill.
Scouring the swarm looking for a fight that could satiate this widening discontent he felt deep inside.
And just like his skills the legacy chamber seem to be of the mind of 'ask and ye shall receive' as A larger bulkier insectoid with red carapace pushed the others out of the way. Its aura much denser and oppressive than the surrounding swarm.
Drake's own aura flared as he stripped away handfuls of buffs and beneficial skills from the swarm.
The call of Drake's Asuran blood overrode everything in his mind as he shot forward towards the hulking figure. His hands ablaze in makeshift attunement buff magic along with every spell at his disposal point right at his foe.
Drake slammed into the insectoid, not even bothering to identify it as they collided, the force kicking back the weaker insects and jossling Han but somehow not enough to wake him.
His spells then attacked from every angle, serrated shards of ice coming down like endless hail as they fell from the sky then reformed a moment later from where they had fallen. The barrage of spells left no room for the red insectoid to breathe let alone counter attack.
The ice bombarded it from all sides, some cracking against its natural chitin armor, others piercing the small cracks. But regardless of how little damage they were doing, they were still dealing damage and keeping it on the back foot. And Drake had a near endless amount of mana to spare in a one on one.
Drake's smile was quickly turning flat as he muttered under his breath.
"Disappointing."
The bulky insect continued its best to fight off Drake, blow after blow from the front and the spells bombarding its natural armor from every other direction as the rest of the swarm was unable to get close. Those that tried were skewered to the ground by the sheer mass of additional ice spells in the vicinity.
Drake despite not having a full list of skills was able to overwhelm the instectoid in a one on one. Many of his status boosting skills simply allowing his stats to give him an insurmountable advantage on top of Asuran's having a boost to single combat.
With every exchange, the tough natural armor of the insectoid cracked and chipped away. Leaving Drake more and more disinterested in the fight.
What he craved for, what he needed wasn't this one sided beatdown. The images of Han and Marun' Dune's fight flashed in his mind. The life and death struggle both had where a single blow was able to tip the fight into either one's favor.
The pure skillful exchange they had where each one's metal was tested. Almost as if everything they had done was leading up until that point.
Drake had unknowingly begun to understand his craving more through watching Han Kol and reflecting on his battle.
This is what being an Asuran is all about… This fight, this opponent. And the next fight and the next. Today, tomorrow, in a week, a month, a year, a century! He thought, regaining his smile. My growth, my progress, honing my skills, my blade! Sharpening my senses, controlling my fear, pushing forward for my family, my people, my race!
His smile grew wider as every description and flavor text of the Asurans began falling into place.
For my honor, my legacy. My pride!
Drake lunged forward, his spells corning the red insectoid allowing him to throw an attuned and endowed enhanced punch into the gut of his opponent.
But he quickly withdrew, feeling a strong aura and presence suddenly appear behind him.
Drake raised his beaten and battered gauntlets, encasing them in dark brown earth to reinforce them as he guarded.
He felt the impact but couldn't see the attacker.
Raising a brow he realized it was another one of the invisible insects that he had nearly died to earlier today.
"Sorry, but I'm in top form right now! Going to have to do more than that to-"
Then another presence appeared, Drake forced to remove one arm from his current guard to block another invisible attack.
Both arms raised in defense, Drake went from an overwhelming advantage to now being on the back foot. Yet he smiled still.
"Three on one. That's more I like it!"